Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell (2019)

this is one of the remarkable strengths of the record - it has a consistent sound and can burble along in the background while reading (presumably loads of dinner parties and after-first-date sofa chats are gonna be soundtracked by it this month)

but you can tune in for a second and catch a hilarious couplet, or subtle weirdness in the arrangement, and appreciate that before going back to background

or pay attention all the way through and follow the developing story of a melody, or the thesis of each song being built out from the crafted gems and jokes in individual lines of lyrics

xpost Usually! I'm very pro drum. But mostly in Tool. Speaking of which (xpost again), Tool day was last week, and the album evinced a similar A+ background reaction.

back in my day you'd have 1 or 2 songs that were sans drums, maybe also fully acoustic, so the band could show their tender side, the rest of the album would have aggressive breakbeats throughout, you'd all smile at each other while clinking Zimas together and ahhhh now that's an album.

I kind of want to hear a Tool album that is only drums.

Speaking of comparisons, I hear a lot of solo John Lennon in this album, is that popping up in reviews?

subtle weirdness in the arrangement

maybe i should listen again, because besides the burbling synths on the singles, i don't really hear weird touches in the arrangement

playing again now and the hidden-ness of the drums is great, but would also listen to a remix where they were booming and upfront

xpost I dunno, I'm up to "Bartender," and can imagine it sung by, say, Joanna Newsom, and she=weird.

I think the relative lack of drums kind of *is* a weird arrangement touch!

right, but that's a very upfront decision, not a subtle touch.

not weird-weird, but for something that can just wash over you, there are LOADS of layers and different players and filigrees mixing in and out. the tail of Venice Bitch changes lead instrument every 6-10 bars, sometimes with (what sounds like) a completely different take from the same player crossing over and playing against the previous one.

she's certainly a Lennon fan anyway (there's a John and Yoko-referencing, Sean-featuring song called "Tomorrow Never Came" on her last album)

xp fair enough--venice bitch and mariners stand head-and-shoulders above the rest imo

bartender is certainly a highlight too. gonna check out the zoladz review soon, maybe that'll help me unlock that morass in the middle of the record.

I liked Bartender a lot. The little stammering vocal tick ... I don't know why she made that choice, but it's a good one.

The final track is strong (its melody seems really familiar, but I can’t place it)

Sounds like you guys should listen to a little band called Tool

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, September 3, 2019 3:28 PM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink]

i like tool and have seem them in concert!

The final track is strong (its melody seems really familiar, but I can’t place it)

― One more cup of yogurt for the road (morrisp), Tuesday, September 3, 2019 3:59 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

"hope is a dangerous thing..." is one of the peaks

Great line from Zoladz (that she seems to be citing but google suggests is original?): "Sometimes you wanna go where everybody on the jukebox is dead."

also word up to tool for #honouringthefire and bringing killing joke through arenas in the u.s. this year s/o to the big homie alex in nyc wish the tour was coming to minneapolis

xpost Wasn't that just a doofy Cheers reference?

"hope is a dangerous thing..." is one of the peaks

― na (NA), Tuesday, September 3, 2019 4:02 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah agreed. the alb is really strong in the beginning and end.

Josh - Probably, but it's a great NFR!-like line to describe NFR.

The final track is strong (its melody seems really familiar, but I can’t place it)

― One more cup of yogurt for the road (morrisp), Tuesday, September 3, 2019 3:59 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Not her first song to remind me of this but it reminds me of “wicked game”

I can't quite call it her best because the middle faffs around a bit; the first and last couple tracks are new peaks, though.

I really tried but the middle of this album just ain’t grabbing me. I think I’ll get rid of Lovesong, Cinnamon Girl and How to Disappear from now on.

Love Song is the one that stunted my enthusiasm, but I think the album recovers.

Not her first song to remind me of this but it reminds me of “wicked game”

That's it! Thank u

I think there's also a touch of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwHlKQot0I

this really lost steam for me starting around “california”

she's def in that lineage of samey, Moody cinematic vibes, Isaak, Mazzy Star, Cowboy Junkies, but she has unique spin on it

she's a better songwriter than all of them

I'm not denying the lineage, though (add: Bryan Ferry). I mentioned Chris Isaak last week on a friend's FB thread.

I didn't really notice, is there much (?) any guitar on most of this?

The songs are so uniformly slow & sleepy. She's a good singer, and it's a well-made album, but I wouldn't listen to it again (it's just not my thing).

― One more cup of yogurt for the road (morrisp), Tuesday, September 3, 2019 4:20 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is my stance -- it's an improvement that she's not trolling us anymore, but for the past several albums everything is just so dreary, beige and undramatic, for an artist who supposedly embodies drama. people keep comparing her to cat power but it's a very boring version of cat power who never wrote songs like "cross bones style" or "nude as the news" or "speak for me"

The secret is to not have heard anything else she's ever done.

not really sure where you're going with that but I've listened to cat power since high school including songs that aren't tose

*those

I meant LDR. This album sounds good to me, but I've never listened to any LDR.

Can't really speak to Cat Power.

I also don't hear much mazzy star, for what it's worth -- they either have energy (much of she hangs brightly) or a hypnotic minor-key simplicity (most of among my swan; "fade into you" probably qualifies)

I don't mean she sounds like Mazzy Star or really any of them just that they all have a vibe that they pursue and perfect that I could see why the thing that attracts some to them could be viewed as samey by others

I am enjoying this album a lot but it also makes me feel a bit for for Tori Amos' Scarlet's Walk which tried the "overly long soft rock feels-like-a-concept-album about America" gambit first but got nothing like the critical plaudits.

(not that they ultimately sound that much alike although you can imagine LDR doing pretty great versions of "I Can't See New York" or "Gold Dust")

I really tried but the middle of this album just ain’t grabbing me. I think I’ll get rid of Lovesong, Cinnamon Girl and How to Disappear from now on.

these are all among my faves, lol
I attempted a resequence upthread that might address the pacing issue a bit

i've never really listened to her since she bombed on SNL but i'm really enjoying this, a lot—album does often seem to get overlong for the four songs before 'hope is a dangerous thing', though. (i.e. about 45 minutes in)

everyone who hasn't really listened to her before much at all really should listen to Ultraviolence too

is that the one that sounds like kyuss

i've never really listened to her since she bombed on SNL

I'm finding it difficult to imagine an SNL performance being a factor in anyone's enjoyment (or not) of any artist. Like, of all things... Did that really turn you off to her? Why?

Ultraviolence is great, but there are almost-as-good Ultraviolence-length records hiding in the two that came after

xp i dunno, it's not like i even made a habit of watching snl then—i think i saw the video when someone pointed it out. so i just formed a permanent association between her audience- and critic-driven rep and her awful performance, and wrote her off. lots of stuff to listen to! and i find i don't have much of a taste for keeping up with popular/praised artists anymore.

I like Ultraviolence but this one is so much better

i've never really listened to her since she bombed on SNL

Funny, I mentioned the new album to someone this afternoon and she said the exact same thing.