Lana Del Rey is better than Radiohead

[epilogue]

For the record, I'm listening to the album front to back right now. It's my first time through and I'm completely in love with it. I think this will settle as either #1 or #2 on my LDR list. But it's too early to say for sure. First impression is that this is a masterpiece (for me) and a record I'm SO looking forward to returning to again and again.

I'll give it another try later this week. The weather is perfect for this sort of music.

Nice.

If you want to try something else, I'd recommend Ultraviolence. I can already imagine the issues you may have with it. But I think it's a tour de force and highlights the aspects of her whole persona that really speak to me.

The line "He hit me and it felt like a kiss" is just as important and necessary to the whole LDR experience as "My pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola."

And, of course, Brooklyn Baby is a quintessential millennial/hipster anthem. As a piece of irony it's sharp and articulate and hilarious. But should one choose to embrace it and wear it un-ironically it's just as rewarding and a kind of sonic tattoo. I think I'm able to love it on both levels.

Anyway,.. all that to say, I totally understand why people would be turned off or uninterested in her music. I just happen to think she's the real deal.

[tragabigzanda]

[epilogue]

For me, post-modern art always walks a fine line between "destroys conventions" and "trying too hard." Consider Ed Ruscha.

The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire is amazing!





Another Hollywood Dream Bubble Popped is not.

I think I tend to agree. These two examples are certainly relatable to me. But (as you probably know) I struggle a lot with these labels and sub-genres a lot. It's one the biggest barriers between me and LV, for example. He has such a pure love of genre and I'm really not interested in that. So the whole concept of "post-modern" isn't meaningful or interesting to me.

Art, to me, whether we're talking about film or stage or music or painting or whatever is so much more about the emotional reaction than anything else. And LDR sparks very real, deep, complex, and surprising emotions within me.

[tragabigzanda]

[run2death]

When did reposting a bottom-paged post become acceptable?

[epilogue]

I guess I'd say -- and anyone should feel free to push back on this -- I always think of post-modern art as anything that intentionally fucks with the conventions of the form. So like Shellac, Ed Ruscha, LDR, David Lynch, all examples of creators taking a known quantity then trying to turn it on its head.

With LDR specifically, it's like she's taking the LA 60s torch songs, and imbuing them with sardonic anger and irony so that the conventionally sweet becomes very unsweet.

I enjoy this type of art the most, I think.

This is interesting and I need to think on it a bit. I don't know that I disagree. But my brow scrunches as I read it. So there's something going here. A lot to chew on for sure.

Again, I'm not saying that I think your definition is wrong or inaccurate -- and certainly the kind of thing being defined speaks to me, too; I think this kind of thing is also a super appealing brand of art -- I think my issue (and again I would need to think this through more before I made a definitive statement about it) is the inherent idea that any artist, rather than speaking with their own voice, is only defined by turning someone else's voice upside down.

I think I probably agree... but there's something distasteful (to me) to the idea that David Lynch (for example) is only subverting or turning a know quantity on its head. Something in that idea, instinctively, cheapens the artist.

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[epilogue]

I guess I'd say -- and anyone should feel free to push back on this -- I always think of post-modern art as anything that intentionally fucks with the conventions of the form. So like Shellac, Ed Ruscha, LDR, David Lynch, all examples of creators taking a known quantity then trying to turn it on its head.

With LDR specifically, it's like she's taking the LA 60s torch songs, and imbuing them with sardonic anger and irony so that the conventionally sweet becomes very unsweet.

I enjoy this type of art the most, I think.

This is interesting and I need to think on it a bit. I don't know that I disagree. But my brow scrunches as I read it. So there's something going here. A lot to chew on for sure.

Again, I'm not saying that I think your definition is wrong or inaccurate -- and certainly the kind of thing being defined speaks to me, too; I think this kind of thing is also a super appealing brand of art -- I think my issue (and again I would need to think this through more before I made a definitive statement about it) is the inherent idea that any artist, rather than speaking with their own voice, is only defined by turning someone else's voice upside down.

I think I probably agree... but there's something distasteful (to me) to the idea that David Lynch (for example) is only subverting or turning a know quantity on its head. Something in that idea, instinctively, cheapens the artist.

Oh well I didn't mean to imply that's ALL they're doing. It's like a play being staged in a black box theater will resonate differently than if it's a full-blown Broadway production; it's an intentional use of form to communicate whatever it is the artist is trying to get across.

Ah. Interesting. I think then insofar as you're talking about post-modernism, we're in agreement. And I think I agree that it's an interesting and appealing kind of artistic statement.

[psychobain]

Whats going on here?

[run2death]

Whats going on here?

Trag sucks.

[epilogue]

Went ahead and scooped this up on vinyl.

[Bammer]

I don’t know this singer other than the recent Sublime cover which sounds roughly like a wet fart.

[Birds in Hell]

I've never really paid attention to LDR before however this is good.

I doubt I'll come back to the album very often but Bartender is really great.

[epilogue]

I've never really paid attention to LDR before however this is good.

I doubt I'll come back to the album very often but Bartender is really great.

Definitely a stand out track for me, too.

[Kevin Davis]

I don’t know this singer other than the recent Sublime cover which sounds roughly like a wet fart.

I heard this in some retail establishment and had no idea it was Lana Del Rey. I always struggle with covers of songs where the originals have a lot of by-name first person refereces.

However, it's a weird anomaly on what seems to be an otherwise outstanding album. One time through and I really liked "Happiness is a Butterfly" and "Hope is a Dangerous Thing."

[epilogue]

"Hope..." slays me. I thought the impact would be diminished some since the song was dropped a while ago and I've heard it so much. But it delivered big time on the album experience.

[Kevin Davis]

Other than "Video Games," which I really liked, this is the first I've really listened to Lana. I dig it, I will probably purchase it on the popular compact disc format sometime soon

[epilogue]

Other than "Video Games," which I really liked, this is the first I've really listened to Lana. I dig it, I will probably purchase it on the popular compact disc format sometime soon

This makes me so fucking happy.

[epilogue]

New album ranked:

Venice Bitch
hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have
How to disappear
Bartender
Fuck it I love you
Norman fucking Rockwell
Happiness is a butterfly
The greatest
Mariners Apartment Complex
California
The Next Best American Record
Love Song
Cinnamon Girl
Doin' Time

The bottom three are good but totally expendable, I think. Maybe I'll change my mind on that as I live with the record. But I think if you cut those three tracks and just had the remaining eleven, it would be a perfect record. Those top 9 are all excellent. I expect to see them change positions a lot as I continue to absorb the album.

What a fucking MONSTER of an album. I absolutely love it.

[Kevin Davis]

What's the deal with the Sublime cover? Is it the California thing? It seems so random.