Off to the Races ... holy cow, really the worst ... just like, my jaw was dropping
― dmr, Tuesday, January 31, 2012 8:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
fuck ya, horrifyingly bad. shocked that something so painfully wretched would be given the #2 slot on a "major" album.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Wednesday, 1 February 2012 20:29 (twelve years ago) link
oh man thank you for reminding me about Mono
― I spend a lot of time thinking about apricots (DJP), Wednesday, 1 February 2012 20:29 (twelve years ago) link
xp yeah that one is a low point for sure
― call all destroyer, Wednesday, 1 February 2012 20:30 (twelve years ago) link
i think the production is too much, actually - very little is as sparse as "video games", too often the songs are sort of slathered in unnecessary strings and get corny vaguely hip-hop beats and samples tacked on to them.
― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Wednesday, February 1, 2012 7:52 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lex otm. LDR would have been much better served by something sonically closer to the chris isaak/julie cruise/david lynch touchstones she obviously draws on. the best-sounding and least awkward tracks are those that emphasize space, darkness and restraint: "video games" and "million dollar man" in particular. not that the latter is a particularly great song, but the production at least seems suitable.
turns out it's not a terrible album, but nor is it a great one. seems to use a trite distillation of 90s trip hop to sort of split the difference between "modern radio pop" and the retro signifiers in which the singer seems inclined to couch herself. it's a bad move, imo, resulting in an album with no clear sonic identity or personality.
in addition to "blue jeans" and "video games", i kind of dig "national anthem", "radio" (which is just okay, really) and "this is what makes us girls". the rest goes by in a wash.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Wednesday, 1 February 2012 20:40 (twelve years ago) link
Yep, definitely a mistake to put Kid Cudi/Eminem's producer at the helm. Too bad Angelo Baadalamenti has been semi-retired for 8 years.
"Off to the Races" is sitting in my recycle bin.
― Sanpaku, Wednesday, 1 February 2012 21:01 (twelve years ago) link
spotted at tesco this morning:
http://f.cl.ly/items/2y1N1e013f02111V0A0J/10_97.jpg
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 2 February 2012 10:36 (twelve years ago) link
£10.97!!!!!
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 2 February 2012 10:46 (twelve years ago) link
Actually the deluxe version is 13.97, I know because I went to get it from there on Monday and had to ask someone to do a price check for me. I left empty handed and headed straight home to Amazon where the regular version cost me 8.20 from a seller.
Still really enjoying this album. Radio and Dark Paradise are my two favourite tracks at the moment.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 2 February 2012 10:59 (twelve years ago) link
No wonder Tesco are struggling.
― Michael Jones, Thursday, 2 February 2012 11:07 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, 69p for Popz Butter Popcorn is daylight robbery
― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 2 February 2012 11:10 (twelve years ago) link
Someone replaced the official round 'Security protected' stickers with bootleg square ones.
― James Mitchell, Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:30 (twelve years ago) link
we participate in a civil debt recovery scheme
― lag∞n, Thursday, 2 February 2012 14:22 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, this is nowhere near as awful as the narrative would have you believe, but still pretty mediocre taken as a whole.
― Gonjasufjanstephen O'Malley (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 2 February 2012 15:01 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr52zTBp3oo
― markers, Friday, 3 February 2012 14:31 (twelve years ago) link
Okay, yeah, the more I listen to this the more the clunky lyrics glare out at me. The awkward chorus of "Off to the Races" makes me think of Annie's "sexy" song in that glee club episode of Community.
― Gonjasufjanstephen O'Malley (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 3 February 2012 14:33 (twelve years ago) link
Way good.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 3 February 2012 14:35 (twelve years ago) link
lol @ the ldr string quartet and dave trying to boost her self-esteem
― call all destroyer, Friday, 3 February 2012 14:49 (twelve years ago) link
that was MUCH better than snl though
yeah the talent is unambiguous there, it's just that the material is still kind of terrible
― I spend a lot of time thinking about apricots (DJP), Friday, 3 February 2012 14:55 (twelve years ago) link
it still blows my mind that like 20 minutes before the LDR performance SNL ran the 'You Can Do Anything' sketch where entitled YouTube performers declared "I tried, and therefore noone should criticize me." it's like they knew what was going to happen.
― some dude, Friday, 3 February 2012 14:58 (twelve years ago) link
http://cdni.condenast.co.uk/272x408/s_v/VogueMar12_V_31jan12_b_272x408.jpg
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 3 February 2012 15:05 (twelve years ago) link
"fascinating"
― johnny crunch, Friday, 3 February 2012 15:06 (twelve years ago) link
why is her head taking the place of the letter G?
― some dude, Friday, 3 February 2012 15:07 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.vogue.co.uk/blogs/the-culture-edit/2011/10/20/lana-del-rey-interview
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 3 February 2012 15:07 (twelve years ago) link
VOgangstanancysinatraUE
per the vogue blog post i think you mean "Ghetto Monégasque"
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 3 February 2012 15:31 (twelve years ago) link
she is good at coming up with these taglines for herself, cf "Hollywood sadcore"
"she" is good at coming up with the taglines "for herself"
― Gonjasufjanstephen O'Malley (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 3 February 2012 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
haha again with the puppet business
― Critique of Pure Moods (goole), Friday, 3 February 2012 15:37 (twelve years ago) link
Not the puppet thing, but come on, those taglines reek of PR people.
― Gonjasufjanstephen O'Malley (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 3 February 2012 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
"I had no idea about the fashion shows," she told us. "But I think they chose Video Games because it embodies summertime sadness. Fashion is inspired by youth and nostalgia and draws inspiration from the best of the past. I think both the song and the collections touch on the light and the dark side of life."
she is definitely very shrewd about marketing herself, while at the same time not shrewd at all about how to not make it feel like marketing
― some dude, Friday, 3 February 2012 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
her interviews are like a wordcloud of the phrases she wants people to associate with her
― some dude, Friday, 3 February 2012 15:39 (twelve years ago) link
actually kind of brings me back to something i thought about Vampire Weekend a couple years ago -- like they were almost TOO savvy about not just what they were going for in terms of image/signifiers to the point of spelling it out for people constantly, which might have almost motivated people to get all meta about it because critics already had so much of the work done for them of just covering the basic surface level aspects by the artist
― some dude, Friday, 3 February 2012 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
ok strike the "not just" from that sentence, kind of awkwardly hanging there unresolved
― some dude, Friday, 3 February 2012 15:43 (twelve years ago) link
I don't know, I'd blame Myspace for all that more than marketers. How many indie rock bands had "crunk" or "hip-hop" in their description?
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 3 February 2012 15:53 (twelve years ago) link
― some dude, Friday, February 3, 2012 10:42 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this actually makes a lot of sense the more i think about it.
― call all destroyer, Friday, 3 February 2012 15:56 (twelve years ago) link
somedude OTM about the wordcloud.
― Suede - the fabric, not the band (DL), Friday, 3 February 2012 16:32 (twelve years ago) link
watching that letterman thing it seems like her puffy lips effect her singing! and that song just seems weirder and weirder to me every time i hear it.
and no matter how much sex scandal stuff about letterman we know he just can't stop leching...talk about retro.
― scott seward, Friday, 3 February 2012 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
mad men HAS to be dave's favorite show of all time.
― scott seward, Friday, 3 February 2012 17:02 (twelve years ago) link
her tone is exactly that of the press release - but i don't think she's unique in it, i've noticed this tone creeping into more and more places of late, whether that's hypeblogs or churnalism
― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Friday, 3 February 2012 17:06 (twelve years ago) link
did you just make up "churnalism"? or is that a real thing?
― scott seward, Friday, 3 February 2012 17:10 (twelve years ago) link
maybe it's the profession of music critics who write about choons
― pfunkbo bryson (some dude), Friday, 3 February 2012 17:13 (twelve years ago) link
it's a neologism used by uncreative journalists to complain about uncreative journalism
― mh, Friday, 3 February 2012 17:14 (twelve years ago) link
well, it's specifically about rehashing press releases in the guise of journalism
― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Friday, 3 February 2012 17:16 (twelve years ago) link
― scott seward, Friday, February 3, 2012 7:02 AM (11 minutes ago)
lol otm
― ⚓ (gr8080), Friday, 3 February 2012 17:18 (twelve years ago) link
how does the word 'churn' relate to plagiarizing or rewording PR exactly?
― pfunkbo bryson (some dude), Friday, 3 February 2012 17:19 (twelve years ago) link
i think dave likes LDR because she basically looks like julia roberts in the 90s when she was dave's favorite guest to flirt with
― pfunkbo bryson (some dude), Friday, 3 February 2012 17:20 (twelve years ago) link
'churn' is kind of either stirring something. you're coming up with a "new product" but you don't really add or remove anything. so if you rearrange words in a press release and publish it..
― mh, Friday, 3 February 2012 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
err, I mean either stirring something or it's used to reference turnover within a field
― mh, Friday, 3 February 2012 17:23 (twelve years ago) link
i'm surprised this term hasn't made it to the US yet
― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Friday, 3 February 2012 17:25 (twelve years ago) link