This is weird, Lana, Keith, Kurt and Gary? I’ve dismissed all of these guys recently but a specific song has hit my pleasure zone and who am I to deny it? In a perfect world. Garfunkel and Oates would write the lyrics to all of Lana’s songs. My only problem with G&O is when they make nasty noises like gagging on dick and being nauseated by pussy. It sounds terrible over earphones.
If you are sick of the Oldies But Goldies segment look at it this way: if I was to repost one article a day till I’ve reposted every story I’ve written since 2009, it would take 56 year years. By which time I would be 114 years old . So shut your face
That’s the thing about this brave new pop moment, if I don’t l like “High On The Beach”. all I have to do is wait a minute and here Lana Del Rey comes around again with a song to take the nasty taste out of my mouth.
‘It started with the chorus,’ she explained to DJ Zane Lowe, ‘ I was driving by the beach a lot. This was probably one of the last ones on the record…Even with the harmonies, it almost sounded monotone. But with the beat, it has this trap influence.’
Wait for Life – Emilie Hayne, Lana Del Rey – Gorgeous song, a slow burning ballad that seems to shimmer in your ear and Lana really has a haunting voice: it’s like she is constantly in a mood over something or the other and here she has a song to suit it well – A-
‘Although I still respect her, I’m friends with her. I just left, I was tired, I was not willing to make that part of the video. Eli and I originally had intentions of making a video with her, but that is not the intention that is represented in that film clip because that is not what I filmed, not for my video.’
However, I love both of Lana’s albums and it should be something of real interest Love opening for her. It could be the worst thing ever seen by man, or it could be better than it has any right to be. Either way, Lana and Courtney are touring next year
I should say first that Manson’s representative, Kathryn Frazier of Biz3, has declared that the Goth singer has nothing to do with the video and that ‘It must be a fan video splicing up old Manson video footage with someone else’s Lana Del Rey footage’
But I may fight for gay rights, especially if the dyke is more of a knockout than Janay Rice / Play nice? Bitch I’ll punch Lana Del Rey right in the face twice, like Ray Rice in broad daylight in the plain sight of the elevator surveillance / ’Til her head is banging on the railing, then celebrate with the Ravens.”
‘I’m tired of men who aren’t professional or even accomplished musicians continually offering to ‘help me out’ (without being asked), as if i did this by accident and i’m gonna flounder without them. or as if the fact that I’m a woman makes me incapable of using technology.”
Leave Your Lover – Sam Smith – Smith’s absolute and final and timeless masterpiece of thwarted romantic desire, plays like a gorgeous nightmare in the back of your head while Sam’s falsetto reaches forward in desire and sadness. one of the great songs of our time
Not bad right? Two years ago I was watching Ed Sheeran at the Mercury Lounge and now, holding tight to Taylor Swifts coattails, here we are. Sam smith was probably still a virgin two years ago and as for G. Easy? Man, he must have deep pockets, I bet it cost a coupla million on advertising to get him here. iIt must break down to $20 per sold CD!!!
Noise Vs Beauty – Bassnectar – The House album of the year lives up to its name as one of the best DJs Lorin Ashton, the Santa Cruz party album who added metal to a taste for bass. This is a step forward, a hard pressed masterpiece of beats and sound effects.
380 songs make up my best of 2014 so far, but if I hear a better song than “Leave Your Love” this year it wil be a miracle, a torchy swoony dream of adoration and disassembled love which makes much more sense when now Smith has come out as a homosexual.
No one shocked to see this list, though I wonder if Ed Sheeran can maintain. He is a huge star in the UK, and this is the best selling first week of the year so far, but there is only one “Thinking Out Loud Here”, and I wonder if it will be enough.
The idea is barely new or original, and Lana Del Rey automatically adopted the concept, because it is fitting so well with her façade of depraved poster-girl for the slutwave-sadcore who flirts with death.
A 14 year old boy killed the boy who had bullied him for months while New York fiddled mindlessly. This is such a horrible story it is hard to find the good guys. But the murderers Mom who threw away the cellphone because she sells drugs and thought the cell might have a GPS tracking device is a damn good place to start. Or the Principal who wouldn’t do anything. Or the Police who refused to intervene. You know, there’s enough blame to go round.
Caryn Ganz’s (for editor at Spin) excellent Rolling Stone review of Lana Del Rey’s sophomore effort Ultraviolence does exactly that. “the epic schmaltz of Ennio Morricone, reflected through the haze of a thousand dramatic selfies” is a pretty damn good description of the album. It isn’t a put down, Lana is what she is and what she is is the teenage girl locked in her bedroom, imagining her mom and dad crying at her grave with a sort of grim satisfaction.
It’s not pleasant asking a pop star if she thinks the idea of dying young herself is attractive – it’s a dark question, but it’s not a leading one. She has every opportunity to say no. And she can hardly complain about the subject matter: she’d been talking about her icons all dying young, she named her debut album Born to Die
Mutineers – David Gray – Joined by the bloke from Lamb (a great band in their own right) , this is a beautiful, slightly muted collection of singer songwriter songs like Elbow without the quirk and also without the anthem. Another great album by Gray that should buy him a larger than cult audience but probably won’t – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Lana drops a celebrity name after another, she hangs out with street people but miraculously never gets an STD or a good beating. And She even pretends to still be doing this street wandering. Let’s sum up her myth so far, she has been homeless, alcoholic, she still sleeps with strangers she meets in the streets and she is so unhappy she wants to die
A huge week, the debut album by Big Freedia, a really great disco guy whose 2012 “Booty-Whop” and current “Explode” are just so much fun, Cerebral Balzy are a blast live, everything I’ve heard off Lana’s Ultra Violence has been first rate, and J Lo better come up with the goods, but the week belongs to soul brother # 1 Sam Smith’s eagerly anticipated debut album.
It seems to me, Brian Wilson’s decision to make a new album featuring the likes of Zooey Deschanel, Lana Del Rey, Frank Ocean and Kacey Musgraves is a great one… and except for Zooey all these names excite. Especially Frank Ocean, the only name here with real production chops that might work well in tandem with Wilson.
‘For me, the issue of feminism is just not an interesting concept. . . Whenever people bring up feminism, I’m like, god. I’m just not really that interested. I’m more interested in, you know, SpaceX and Tesla, what’s going to happen with our intergalactic possibilities.’
“My career is a reflection of journalism, current-day journalism. My public persona and career has nothing to do with my internal process or my personal life. It is actually just a reflection on writers’ creative processes and where they’re at in 2014. Literally has nothing to do with me”
Del Rey was supposedly paid an astonishing $2.8 million to sing like four songs? Not a bad deal. However, the Born to Die singer denied the whole thing to TMZ while she was doing some signing of her album. ‘I would never let a friend pay me to sing at a wedding’, she declared
When I saw him perform this Phil Ochs song at Carnegie Hall, it was a very moving experience. But this dumb ass concept, recording it in a “Voice-O-Graph” from 1947, you know, like the one Presley recorded his first vinyl on and gave it as a gift to his mama. That one. Anyway, it is OK listening to him so lo-tech but it sounded better at Carnegie Hall – B+
This takes us half way through the summer and it isn’t all bad. A new Imelda May is always a pleasure, Conor Oberst new songs might have sucked so far but who is to say? Miniature Tigers, Sharon Van Etten, Levon Helm is the live one we’ve deserved with any luck, but I think the two biggest will be either Manic Street Preachers or Lana Del Rey. “West Coast” is such a great song and the Manics are always excellent.
Rather Be Cash Cash Remix – Clean Bandit – One of the biggest songs of the year gets bigger with the pop DJ duo Cash Cash superb remix, it’s like listening to the song on steroids with House-y zoom effects on the track and Jesse’s vocals going through the roof – A
I know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover – or should we? – but I wonder whether she is using a song name generator to write the title of her songs, all this is so predictable
West Coast – Lana Del Rey – You know Lana believes this to be the Summer Blockbuster movie of singles with extended lyrical breaks, tempo changes and way too high in the mix drums. And she may be right – B-
The top four are all singles which is something a little different for me. Not sure if it is a reflection of the overall weakness of album releases or just a simple chance happening. That Lana cover gives darkness whole new levels of meaning.
May be they die at the end, or this is redemption, ascension, canonization, who knows? They seem to float away to join the John Wayne-Elvis-Marilyn heaven crowd, because this is Los Angeles after all and old stars hang out in the sky above.
Almost 200,000 views and more than 2,000 comments in just one day,… is Del Rey really an icon or does she has a very loyal fans who are watching the trailer all day long?
‘Hi, How Are You” is a collaborative short film by a group of dedicated Daniel Johnston fans (creators of the film Archie’s Final Project) and Daniel himself. It’s a musical tale of an aging artist encountering psychedelic dreams, nightmares, and characters from his past.
