It’s Tuesday, which means a bunch of new records have been released for your listening pleasure. Let me try and give you a brief rundown of some of those new records, keeping in mind this is just a list and not a collection of recommendations. A Place to Bury Strangers have a new EP out this week, as do Deer Tick and Fredrik. Full albums are coming out from Air, Ben KWeller, Blondes, The Darlings, Davila 666, Die Antwoord, Dr. Dog, The Duke Spirit, Mark Lanegan Band, of Montreal, Paul McCartney, The Plimsouls, Pretty Good Dance Moves, Royal Baths, Sharon Van Etten, Swell Maps, Trailer Trash Tracys, The Twilight Sad, The Unthanks, The Valery Trails, and Zee Avi. Speaking of things also available today, here’s a fresh set of Pick Your Poison mp3s for you, and a few of these I will recommend. Be sure to check out tracks from Ani DiFranco, Baby Eagle & the Proud Mothers, Jonathan Segal, The Quiet Americans, Realistic, Two Suns, and White Arrows’ remix of Active Child.
The first time I saw and heard Sharon Van Etten was at the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival, in which she had the “honor” of being the first artist to perform that year. The issue of course is that at 3PM on a Friday afternoon, most attendees were either still at work or simply hadn’t made their way past the front gates yet. In other words, it made for one of the most sparsely attended sets of the weekend. Those that were there in time though were treated to one of the most endearing sets of the 3-day fest and a proper introduction to a major new singer-songwriter talent. Her first proper album Epic had not yet been released, and she had no backing band, so the reality of it was one woman playing a bunch of songs nobody had heard before to a crowd of about 100 people. And you know what? You could barely hear a sound other than what was coming out of the speakers. That’s not because they were loud, but because everyone was quiet and attentive and completely taken in by a truly lone wolf performance. In the middle of it, one of the strings on her guitar broke, and she didn’t have a replacement, so Modest Mouse (headlining that night) lent her one of theirs. Effortlessly charming was a good way to describe it, and in some ways that set suggested the birth of a star. Epic would go on to critical praise and moderate success, and Van Etten made a whole lot of important friends thanks in no small part to incessant touring.
The National’s Aaron Dessner was one of Sharon Van Etten’s earliest supporters, and was so swayed by the Epic track “Love More” that he performed a cover of it at the 2010 MusicNow Festival with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. That developed into a friendship and a working collaboration, as Dessner produced Van Etten’s new record Tramp. The recording sessions were sporadic over a year, scheduled between touring responsibilities for the both of them. Van Etten also found herself courted by a record label or two, eventually choosing to sign with indie superlabel Jagjaguwar, which is a strong match to her style of music and increased visibility. She chose to title her new album Tramp as a comment on the transient lifestyle she’s been leading the last couple years. Touring is one aspect of it, but she’s also not had a permanent residence in awhile, instead bouncing from couch to couch, friend to friend and sublet to sublet when she needs to stay anywhere for longer than a day or two. As she puts it, the decision ultimately came down to either paying rent on an apartment, or keeping her backing band. Things have been better in recent months however, and she’s been able to find a place in Brooklyn to call home even as she prepares to hit the road for another few months of touring in support of the album.
Things are also getting better on record as well, as Tramp sees Van Etten truly growing out her voice and overall sound into a much stronger and more collaborative effort overall. For the first time, she truly sounds comfortable in her own skin, as if she just needed the right people around her to get all the pieces perfectly in place. She’s been building towards such a sonic revelation across her previous two releases, and now that she’s finally reached that healthy place seems more determined than ever to make it count for something. Opening track “Warsaw” holds a remarkably dark bounce to it, the main electric guitar chords bearing a surprisingly strong resemblance to some of the more angular approaches used by Nirvana in reworking some of their songs for the Unplugged record. Perhaps the song that best echoes Van Etten’s growth is first single “Serpents”, which is a beast of a composition that intertwines multiple guitar parts, militaristic drumming from Matt Barrick of The Walkmen, and full-on overdubbed vocal harmonies. It’s beautiful and sad, but has serious muscle to it, a display of aggression that was only been hinted at up until that point. Not everything on the album is so intricately constructed and energetic though. The balladry of “Kevin’s” comes soberingly close to the sparse solo guitar and vocal of Van Etten’s earlier material, as does the late album drama of “Ask”. Other songs like “All I Can” and “I’m Wrong” take a more subtle approach and build steadily over their duration. The bright energy and use of ukulele on “Leonard” brings a decidedly Beirut-esque feel to the track, and it’s almost a disappointment when a horn section doesn’t emerge to buttress the melody. But speaking of Beirut, Zach Condon does make a guest appearance on the equally ukulele driven “We Are Fine”, a song about overcoming social anxiety. The track’s positive message is that much more engaging and beautiful thanks to Condon’s backing harmonies and solo vocal on a verse. Additional contributions come from Julianna Barwick and Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, among others, and each does a superb job whether you notice their presence or not.
At the core of Tramp are Van Etten’s lyrics, the topics of which haven’t really changed much since her earliest days. Romance tends to be her favorite vice, and the highs and mostly lows of relationships is something she continues to explore. On “Give Out” she bluntly sings, “You’re the reason why I’ll move to the city/or why I’ll need to leave.” Yet sometimes she takes the blame for a failed relationship herself, as on “Leonard” when she musters up the courage to say, “I am bad at loving you.” One thing you’re almost guaranteed with any Sharon Van Etten record is that she’ll be very frank and up front about her thoughts and emotions. It’s just nice at times to not have to wade through symbols and extraneous wordplay while trying to decipher the songwriter’s true intentions. And Sad though many of the sentiments might be, often made sadder by the heartbreak evident in Van Etten’s voice, this album isn’t about the destruction of relationships. It’s actually about the lessons we learn in the aftermath of those tragic moments. “I want my scars to help and heal,” she confesses on “All I Can”, the implication being that the wounds of past loves will hopefully assist in finding someone new and better. Couple that with a song like “We Are Fine” and the theme becomes moving on and forward. Funny, because Van Etten is not only doing that lyrically but sonically as well, and the combination makes for her finest record to date. She’s come quite a long way from just a couple years ago playing unreleased music all alone on a festival stage. To say she’s earned the success that continues to come her way would be quite an understatement.
Did everyone enjoy the Super Bowl yesterday? Well, if you aren’t in the U.S. you may not have known or cared about it, so no worries. The big controversy that emerged from it this year didn’t happen during the game, nor was it some sort of crazy thing that halftime musical guest Madonna did. Yet halftime was the scene of the crime, for despite the hefty load of guest artists during Madonna’s show that included LMFAO, Cee Lo Green and Nicki Minaj, it was M.I.A. that got caught with her middle finger up to the cameras. It was about the polar offensive opposite of the “wardrobe malfunction” Janet Jackson had at the Super Bowl a few years ago, but of course everyone’s up in arms again with apologies being issued and fines being considered. According to a contract signed before the performance though, apparently M.I.A. will be responsible for paying any fines issued, because she’s responsible for her own actions. It has the potential to cost her a pretty penny too, if we’re going by previous offenses. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. Why am I not surprised that M.I.A., complete with so many controversial or politically motivated music videos and crazy statements to the press, was the one person in trouble at the Super Bowl? As her career has been fading rather quickly, I guess she needed something to keep people talking while we wait for her next album. Okay, let’s talk about something else, that being today’s Pick Your Poison. I’ll advise you to check out tracks from The D.A., Guy Capecelatro III, Leland Sundries, Qualms, and the remix exchange between Ra Ra Riot and The Submarines. Both bands remixed one another, to good end results. In the Soundcloud section, please stream and enjoy a new song from Here We Go Magic.
It’s Friday, I’m eager to get my big Super Bowl weekend started, and so we’ll just get on with it. By the way, I don’t really like either team playing in the big game because I think they largely bought their strong rosters, but when pressed for a choice I go Giants. They’re the underdogs, I believe New England may cheat a bit, and Tom Brady has enough going for him being married to Giselle. Okay, let’s do this extra large Friday edition of Pick Your Poison. I’ll recommend tracks from Big Sir, CFCF, Dada Trash Collage, First Person Shootr, Lindsay Fuller, Lissy Trullie, Rhye, Sauna, and Teitur. Lots of great stuff. And in the Soundcloud section, you should probably stream the track from oOoOO as it’s damn good. Have a great weekend!
Oh my, it’s Groundhog Day. It seems like we go through this every single year without end. That’s because we do, and I was also making some vague allusion to the classic Bill Murray film. My how I love that movie. But for those that paid no attention to the groundhog forecast, it seems that we’ll be dealing with another 6 weeks of winter. Considering “winter” this year has mostly been about 45 degrees and sunny, I’m not going to complain too much. That is, until we get hit with a bunch of snowstorms in a row. You know that’ll happen just to break the streak of nice weather. Also nice is today’s Pick Your Poison. I’ll throw a hearty thumbs up at tracks from Baby Baby, Cultfever, Escort, Mike O’Neill, Nick Waterhouse, Prinzhorn Dance School and Sophia Knapp. In the Soundcloud section, I hope you’re as intrigued as I am by The Dø’s cover of a Janelle Monae hit. That’s wild, wild stuff.
I want to take a moment, on this start to February and Black History Month, to pay tribute to a man that meant a lot of things to a lot of people. Mr. Don Cornelius, a long-time Chicagoan and the creator of the legendary TV show “Soul Train”, was found dead this morning at age 75, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. While I was too young to have ever fully experienced the impact “Soul Train” has had on our culture, I was aware of the show and even caught portions of the occasional rerun on TV during my childhood. But Don Cornelius impacted me in a pretty unique way, too. This past September he returned to Chicago for a special 40th Anniversary celebration honoring “Soul Train”. There was a concert that took place at Millennium Park featuring a number of the bands that were frequent guests on the show, and the City of Chicago named a street Don Cornelius Way. Just hours before that celebration, I had the chance to sit down and interview the legendary host about his legacy and the legacy of the show. I found him to be a class act, and effortlessly cool. We spoke for about 10 minutes, and when our time was up, he shook my hand and with a glint in his eye said, “You da man.” Without even thinking, I instinctively responded, “No, you da man.” He instantly let out a hearty chuckle. That’s the way that I choose to remember Don Cornelius – as a guy who charmed me the way he’d charmed millions all those years hosting “Soul Train”, and who, at 75 years young, could look back on his life and be proud of what he’d accomplished. What drove him to take his own life, we’ll probably never really know. I have an enormous respect for the man, and hope his impact continues to be felt for decades to come. Below is today’s edition of Pick Your Poison. I’ll place the spotlight onto tracks from Bowerbirds, Callers & Delicate Steve, Cherub, The Big Pink’s remix of Ladyhawke, The Mary Onettes, Shearwater and Teen Daze.
The first and great single from the band Hospitality is called “Friends of Friends”, and it’s a peppy and fun pop-rock song about exactly what the title suggests. The vibe of the song is warm and playful, and that’s a great way to describe the band as a whole – listening to their music is the auditory equivalent of a night out with friends. To clarify, their self-titled debut album isn’t some massive party involving drinking and debauchery, which sometimes defines our nights out with friends. No, this is more of a driving or walking around a city, stumbling into shops and goofing off with funny looking hats, and playing around in a park after sunset sort of vibe. There’s an innocence and purity that adds to the good-natured themes as well, even as a few tracks involve the ups and downs of relationships. A good band-to-band comparison would be to call Hospitality the more upbeat, less countrified American version of Camera Obscura, with strong hints of Belle & Sebastian. Considering how lovely both of those bands are, Hospitality appear to be well on their way towards a similar degree of respect.
The journey of Hospitality has been an interesting one thus far. They formed sometime back in the mid-00s, essentially a collection of friends, relative and lovers. Their lineup included sisters Amber and Gia Papini, multi-instrumentalist Nathan Michel, and bassist Brian Betancourt. Gia has since left the band, and Amber married Nathan, so they’re currently a trio. They weren’t in 2008 though, when after playing a show at Cake Shop in their hometown of New York City, they were approached by musician and producer Karl Blau, who was impressed and wanted to work with them. They very cheaply recorded a six-song EP, which was like their new album in that it was self-titled, and chose to self-release it as well. That earned them a decent amount of attention, however they put much of that early hype on hold to work on side projects and deal with some personal issues. They eventually reconvened however, and spent some time in a proper studio early last year recording their first full length effort with Michel and Shane Stoneback (Vampire Weekend, Sleigh Bells) co-producing. After a few months of shopping around, Hospitality eventually signed to Merge Records late last year, hence the early 2012 release date.
Long time fans of Hospitality from their EP days will immediately recognize a couple of older songs making a reappearance. In 2008 that EP was put together using a 4-track recorder inside an apartment in Red Hook. Naturally, the end product came out sounding very lo-fi, and things have been cleaned up significantly since then. Everything on the album has a neat polish to it, as working in a professional recording studio will do that for you. That means tracks like “Betty Wang” and “Argonauts” got the same sonic upgrade too. Structurally, the EP transfers remain very similar to their original versions, the only notable changes come via tempo and tightness. “Betty Wang” strikes far harder and better than it did originally, amping up the energy and emotional investment to really sell us on the story. The same can be said for ballad “Julie”, which feels more expansive and gorgeous than before. The additional clarity on the carried over tracks also shows off more nuanced and layered instrumentation, though it’s most noticeable on the new songs like “Eight Avenue” and the brisk closer “All Day Today”.
Where Hospitality truly shines though is through the contributions of Amber Papini. Her vocals, similarly styled to a Tracyanne Campbell or a Laetitia Sadler, have a unique and compelling tone to them that draws you into a melody without being too overbearing or off-putting. It is a little odd that she has what appears to be an English accent despite having grown up in Kansas City, but little idiosyncrasies like that bring a small dose of extra charm to a record with plenty to spare. In addition to her voice, Papini’s lyrics are quite strong as well. Her storytelling comes off as natural and evocative, and though most of the tales are NYC-based, the twentysomething characters could really be having these experiences in any major city. If you’re of that young professional age and live in an urban environment, these songs should speak remarkably well to your own experiences, the ins and outs of everyday life. To go along with that, not every day is a perfect day, and so not every song is a perfect song on this debut album. Nothing is outright bad, but the album’s midsection can get a little mediocre at times with a couple songs that never quite make an impact. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes though, the so-so songs move by quickly enough that they make very little difference in your overall enjoyment of the record. In fact, you may find yourself wishing there was more of it once it’s over. Hospitality may not be the most innovative or original band in the world, but they definitely prove through their debut album that they know how to write a great pop song. For the majority of artists, that’s half the battle anyways.
Today is the last day in January, and what a month it’s been. For the first 31 days of 2012, I’ve been chewed up and spit out like a flavorless piece of gum. To put it another way, things haven’t exactly gone well for me thus far. I’m hoping February has a whole lot of changes in store for me, the good kind. Not only is it Black History Month, important for its own reasons, but it’s also a leap year, meaning we get an extra day to do with as we see fit. Most will work, I imagine. But here’s to the end of January, I will not miss you. The Pick Your Poisons have been pretty solid though, I’ll say that much. Today’s is no exception, and I’ll recommend tracks from Anothers Blood, Class of 2012 student A$AP Rocky, kayln rock, Mirror Lady, Night Genes, and Wild Nothing. In the Soundcloud section you may want to check out tracks from Neverever and Sameblod, among others.
Have you heard? Jack White is going solo! Yes, it’s been a long time coming, right? After The White Stripes and The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather and a host of other guest work on other records, he’s finally doing something for himself. The record will be titled “Blunderbuss” and it will be out on April 24th on his label Third Man, in association with Columbia. Expect it to be magic. If you’re itching for a taste of what the album is going to sound like, enjoy this first song from it, “Love Interruption”.
As far as today’s Pick Your Poison is concerned, I’ll recommend tracks from Ane Brun, BBU, Damien Jurado, Doe Paoro, Mark Lanegan Band, Pelican, and Terry Malts.
Prior to this Metro show, I’d only seen Los Campesinos! twice before. Both times were at Lollapalooza, but both were vastly different from one another. The first time, the band was playing one of the small side stages, had just released their first EP, and the crowd to watch them numbered less than 200. For a festival set, even on a side stage, it was a small crowd. Yet it was as if the band was hoping to win every single person over, even the ones casually walking by on their way to see another artist at another stage. They had an intense energy, playfulness and songs that showed it off while being catchy as hell. After the show, I immediately bought their EP and had them sign it, which all of them did while drawing doodles on it and chatting with me for an inordinate amount of time. There’s just something about those super young bands, so full of life and possibility, that you hope they never lose such charms. A couple years and a couple albums later, Los Campesinos! returned to Lollapalooza, this time on a massive stage with a massive crowd. I was excited to see my old friends again, but watching their set became a bit like going to your favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant to find it’s now become super popular and there’s a 2 hour wait to get in. The band was getting the success they so rightly deserved, but I felt as if some of their edge had been lost. Throw on top of it the fact that one of their core members Aleks Campesinos! would be leaving the band at the end of the tour, and I began to worry about the future of these indie pop upstarts. Their last album Romance Is Boring was also much darker and less energetic than their previous efforts, though it was still one of the best records of 2010. That darkness held strong on their most recent effort Hello Sadness, but that album felt like it took the band full circle, the lyrics holding strong and the hooks suddenly perking up to increase the likeability factor. Turns out they’re doing just fine without Aleks (and a couple other now-former members) in the fold. It had become high time, in my mind, to finally see this band outside of a festival setting and see if they could win me over once again.
All ages shows tend to bother me just a little bit, mostly because so much of the youth of today feels that talking to their friends while a band is performing right in front of them is a good idea. If you paid money to see a show, you’re there to watch the band, not talk to friends. You can do that anytime. For free. But the one thing all ages shows bring to the table is the spirit of youth. When everyone’s paying attention, there’s jumping around, sing-alongs at the top of your lungs, and generally good vibes to be absorbed by all. Los Campesinos! provided a great assist in all of this straight from the beginning of their set, starting with the dynamic first single and track off Hello Sadness, “By Your Hand”. Following it up immediately with prior singles “Romance Is Boring” and “Death to Los Campesinos!” both kept the energy level high and also provided a great retrospective of where the band is at present vs. where they were in their early days all of 4 years ago. It was the sonic equivalent of a knockout punch from the get-go, which is probably why everyone behaved themselves in the most immature way possible. There was dancing, there was singing, there was crowd surfing and even a touch of moshing, but thankfully it appeared that everyone was physically okay for the duration of the show. Gareth was doing his best to keep a cool head as the ringmaster of the proceedings, encouraging everyone to keep having a good time but also to be mindful of others and helping those in need. It was about building friendship and community as much as it was seeing some great songs performed, and it seems everyone got their way. Those hoping for catalogue-spanning highlights from Los Campesinos! weren’t really disappointed either, though as expected the majority of songs were from their new album Hello Sadness. It was grand to hear bouncing around from “Songs About Your Girlfriend” to “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” to “There Are Listed Buildings” and “Straight in at 101” without so much as a blink of an eye. Things slowed down just past the midpoint of the set, as new songs “To Tundra” and “The Black Bird, The Dark Slope” were emotionally tough but dragged in a crowd that was looking for a good time all night. Nothing that a little “You! Me! Dancing!” couldn’t fix though, which it did and kept the celebration going for another few songs, including the encore.
Closing out the main set was a very good rendition of “Baby I Got the Death Rattle”, even if much of the crowd apparently didn’t know the song’s closing lyrics of “Not headstone, but headboard/is where I want to be mourned.” Gareth clearly tried to get a sing-along started and it unfortunately didn’t quite work out. Finishing the encore with the classic “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks” worked out far better, and there was a distinct smell of satisfaction in the air when the band walked off the stage that last time. That smell may also have been sweat. What helps make Los Campesinos! an exceptional band, outside of their dynamic and fun live shows, is the respect they have for their fans. They walked off the stage, through the backstage area, and straight to the merch table, where they remained until the very last person had cleared the room. They signed stuff, drew stuff, took photos, shook hands, engaged in too-long conversations, and basically did the same thing as the first time I saw them in 2007. To know that in spite of all their success and growth the last few years that they still care for their fans and put in the time and effort, well to me that’s the mark of a great band. It’s also a big reason why I’ll probably be a fan of theirs for as long as they’re around.
Set List
By Your Hand
Romance Is Boring
Death to Los Campesinos!
Life Is A Long Time
A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show Me State; or, Letters from Me to Charlotte
Songs About Your Girlfriend
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
There Are Listed Buildings
Straight in at 101
To Tundra
The Black Bird, The Dark Slope
You! Me! Dancing!
The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future
Hello Sadness
Baby I Got the Death Rattle \\**ENCORE**//
Miserabilia
Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
Upcoming Los Campesinos! U.S. Tour Dates:
Jan 31 – BLUEBIRD THEATER, DENVER CO (16+)*
Feb 1 – CLUB SOUND, SALT LAKE CITY UT (ALL AGES)
Feb 3 – ELECTRIC OWL, VANCOUVER BC (19+)
Feb 4 – NEPTUNE, SEATTLE WA (ALL AGES)
Feb 6 – WILD BUFFALO, BELLINGHAM WA (21+)
Feb 7 – DOUG FIR LOUNGE, PORTLAND OR (21+)*
Feb 8 – DOUG FIR LOUNGE, PORTLAND OR (21+)*
Feb 10 – GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL, SAN FRANCISCO CA (ALL AGES)*
Feb 11 – ECHOPLEX, LOS ANGELES CA (18+)*
Feb 12 – CASBAH, SAN DIEGO CA (21+)*
Feb 15 – CLUB DADA, DALLAS TX (ALL AGES)*
Feb 16 – FITZGERALD’S, HOUSTON TX (ALL AGES)*
Feb 17 – THE PARISH, AUSTIN TX (ALL AGES)*
Feb 18 – THE PARISH, AUSTIN TX (ALL AGES)*
Lana Del Rey is a magnet. People are drawn to her, and to her music, and everyone that hears her or knows about her has an opinion. Four or five months ago, you probably heard far kinder things being said about her compared to today, where the inevitable backlash has reared its ugly head and nearly swallowed her whole. All this before her major label debut album Born to Die even sees release. To be fair, the build up and press surrounding Del Rey has been huge – she is signed to a major label and the sky high hopes of executives are that she’ll eventually join the ranks of a Lady Gaga or a Beyonce in the realm of pop superstardom. That’s a very real possibility no matter how much crap she puts out there, so long as it sells. This is coming from the same world in which Ke$ha has a lucrative career despite being one of the more reviled pop stars in recent memory. But what is it about Del Rey that has drawn such ire from people? There’s a laundry list of things, so let’s try and break it down.
Lana Del Rey’s real name is Lizzy Grant. She had a privileged upbringing in New York that eventually resulted in a trip to boarding school and a stint at Fordham University. She dropped out of school to pursue a music career, and built a relatively respectable reputation as a Nancy Sinatra-esque, classically inspired crooner. Doors were opened for her, but not exactly the right ones or the ones she was looking for. As such, she invented her own persona and drastically changed her look to go along with it. Gone was the plain Jane Lizzy Grant, and in her place was the glamorous, full-lipped Lana Del Rey. Under the new name and style she quickly flourished, and though her 2010 debut A.K.A. Lizzy Grant went largely unnoticed, last summer she released the single song “Video Games” and the internet grabbed hold of it with a fierce intensity. It was a matter of months before Interscope Records came calling on the wings of yet another new and excellent song, “Blue Jeans”. It seemed that Grant was getting everything she wanted via the transition into Lana Del Rey. But was it too much success, too soon?
Early Del Rey detractors started by citing her fake persona. She couldn’t make it with her real name and real style, so she had to invent a character instead? How disingenuous of her! Not only that, but her character of Lana Del Rey is this pretty, platinum blonde with pinup style that appears to sell her sex. Listen to the lyrics of “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans” as well and you’ll notice she’s singing about needing a big, strong man to keep her safe and warm, and how she’ll stick with him and essentially live to serve him while he goes off and plays video games. She’s playing up antiquated notions of women, that they’re supposed to slave in the kitchen all day, stay home with the kids, and generally accept whatever their husbands want. It’s a far cry from today’s women, fiercely independent and proving they’re equal with men on every level, even as the pay scales still don’t entirely reflect that. So yes, the controversy surrounding Del Rey is understandable. Many have undoubtedly been rooting for her to fail, and their wish is swiftly being Grant-ed. A few weeks ago she turned in a disastrous performance on Saturday Night Live, one that sent the internet abuzz yet again, this time with far more jeers than cheers. As NBC News anchor Brian Williams said, it was foolish of the show to put Del Rey on when her album hadn’t been released and her only notable accomplishments were having two songs popular with the online community. Very few people have gotten so far by doing so little. We’ve finally reached the apex though, the moment that will truly make or break Lana Del Rey – the release of her much-anticipated album Born to Die.
From start to finish, Born to Die feels like a statement. It seeks, as a whole, to try and be the official definition of what and who Lana Del Rey is. The two tracks that made her a rising star, “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans” both show up early on in the record, and right next to one another. They are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the grandiosity and melodrama in place here, yet they also provide ample evidence that perhaps she doesn’t have much going for her otherwise. The opening title track signals its arrival with a rush of orchestration and sweeping majesty, quickly paired with a very basic electronic beat that holds steady for the duration. From the very start Del Rey is in a sad emotional state, wandering the streets in her heels, hoping that when she arrives at her man’s house he’ll open the gate and let her in. That theme of neediness and essentially pleading for acceptance extends through much of the album and is also a mirror to real life, in which the pop singer tries everything she can to ingratiate herself to a less than adoring public. Things change in a remarkably interesting way on “Off to the Races”, wherein Del Rey seems to want some street cred. She tells of how her “old man” is an evil gangster, involved in everything from drugs and maybe even murder, but she doesn’t care about that because he holds her hand and loves her with every beat of his “cocaine heart”. He sips Cristal while she swims around topless in the pool for his enjoyment. But she also says that she’s crazy and demands money and gold so she can go to the races and spend money all over town. The coup de gras in all this comes in a few lines in the chorus in which she says, “I need you to come here and save me/I’m your little scarlet starlet singing in the garden/kiss me on my open mouth”. Sure, it’s bad enough just to read it, but the WAY she sings it, in the most innocent, high-pitched baby voice a la Betty Boop, feels like an affront to women everywhere. Yet thinking about it from a different perspective, perhaps it’s just the opposite. A ruthless and tough girlfriend of a gangster one minute and an innocent young girl in need of saving the next, it appears she’s playing the latter role with her man to obtain money and access. Again, we’re dealing with parallels to real life.
Lizzy Grant is playing the role of Lana Del Rey. She must know the stereotypes she’s portraying and is either comfortable with lowering herself to obtain success, or is doing it to be ironic. In a perfect world it’d be the latter, but at the moment it appears to be the former, or at most a little from column A and column B. If she gave a little wink or even a smirk now and then, it’d be easier to say she was faking it to get people talking about gender issues and to work that much harder to change how success is obtained. Instead, everything about her, from her videos to her interviews to her live performances and the songs on Born to Die, smacks of overwrought sincerity. Yet it’s difficult to think a person would purposely sell their entire gender short just to earn money and popularity. Maybe Lizzy Grant really does have more in common with Lana Del Rey than one would reasonably think. Maybe she’s not a good person in the least. Or maybe she simply needs an outlet through which she can channel a life and emotional state built upon sadness, allowing the character to live and work through the situations she herself has trouble dealing with. What we’re searching for is clarity. Something to help us truly understand how Lana Del Rey came to be, and where she might go in the future. The record doesn’t provide any answers, or at least appears not to. What you get instead are a mixture of heavy ballads and tracks that take closer cues from hip hop and R&B, each one like the layer of an onion peeling back to try and explain or re-explain this persona Lizzy Grant has created.
After a moderately strong first 5 tracks, which include the aforementioned singles and most likely future singles “Diet Mountain Dew” and “Off to the Races”, Born to Die slowly descends into bland and boring ballads that are overlong and similarly styled to what came before them. They reiterate many of the same lyrical points as well, only with less emotion and less compelling melodies. The second half of the record is a chore to listen to in many ways, and the 3 bonus tracks on the deluxe edition only make it worse. Somehow 60 minutes with this thing feels nearly twice as long. Perhaps it’s the lack of briskly paced, faster tempo pop songs that are the main source of the drag. In an alternate universe somewhere there’s a 10 track, 35 minute version of Born to Die that is nearly perfect. The reality is we don’t need songs like “Dark Paradise” or “Million Dollar Man” as they feel more like padding than legitimate attempts to write smart or engaging songs. That’s a talent we know Del Rey has, because in spite of all the bitching, “Video Games” still completely devastates with every listen. It’s the high watermark she will continue to try and return to for the rest of her career, however long it may last. And though almost all of Born to Die doesn’t live up to the stratospheric expectations that were established for it by months of hype, you have to admire the risks it takes to even make a record like this. For a major label release of course there’s a couple of blatantly commercial elements to it, but between the dominance of 50’s-style melodramatic ballads and the brazen commitment to a purely fictional character, it’s got more of a story to tell and is more sonically adventurous than a whole lot of other big name artists. At least Lizzy Grant is trying something unorthodox, whether it’s for the right reasons or the wrong ones. Will it all work out for her in the end, or will she end up like one of her lesser songs – sad, pathetic and antiquated? That’s for you and your wallet to decide.
I literally get hundreds of emails about this here site each and every day, and that’s not an attempt to brag but makes for just a little note of concern on my part. If somebody really wants or needs a response from me about music they’ve sent me or want to send me, I do my best to write and send replies. On occasion though, some people have a tough time getting enough oxygen to their brains and they’ll ask me a silly or downright stupid question. If you’re an artist or a promotions/public relations person for an artist, please try to do a little leg work yourself. I get all kinds of emails asking if “Artist X” can have their mp3 featured in an edition of Pick Your Poison. These are the second and third emails I get from such people, and if I’m able, I’ll try and put their mp3 into a Pick Your Poison edition within a couple days of the very first email sent to me. Some artists and promoters are impatient, especially if they don’t see their song up on this site within 24 hours. Others fail to recognize that the music they’re hoping to promote has already been posted on my site, days or weeks beforehand. Here’s a helpful hint to all those people, and to you dear reader as well: there is a search bar. It is located near the top of the page on the right side. Type in whatever you want, an artist name, a song name, and so forth, and the search function will do its best to find all the posts matching your criteria. Brilliant, isn’t it? Just a helpful Friday tip from me to you. Oh, and thanks to the artists and promoters that are clearly paying attention to what’s being posted. You’re the smart ones and I appreciate the leg work you do to make that happen. Okay, now let’s do today’s Pick Your Poison. I’ll place the spotlight on tracks from Bleeding Knees Club, David’s Lyre, The Ex-Girlfriends Club, Isidore, Leema Mountain, Po Po, and Sharks. In the Soundcloud section enjoy Rick Rubin’s remix of Justice’s “On’N’On”, among others.
Let me do my best on this Thursday to give you a Class of 2012 update. I try to do this once a week, because typically there’s at least something to report. For example, this week it seems that Azealia Banks has been spending time with fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld. He’s apparently become smitten with her, and it’s not hard to see why. If you’d like to watch her perform at his house, simply click this link. Additionally, Class of 2012 artist A$AP Rocky unleashed a brand new, NSFW music video for his track “Wassup”. There are some naked people in it, just be aware of that before following this YouTube link. I should probably also say something about Lana Del Rey too. She’s been on the receiving end of some serious backlash the last couple weeks, spurned primarily from her disastrous SNL performance. They can’t all be winners. The anti-LDR sentiment is growing, and her debut album “Born to Die” is out on Tuesday. I’ll have a review of it before then, so pay attention to the site the next couple days if you’re itching to learn more. Would I slam one of the artists I predicted success for this year? Ah, there’s the rub, and the hook to hopefully grab your interest. What should have your attention right now though are the songs in today’s edition of Pick Your Poison. Plenty to love here, including tracks from Ariane Moffatt, Evan Voytas, The Darcys, Grace Woodroofe, The Just Barelys, The Head and the Heart, and Yukon Blonde, to name a few.
So the Joy Division-inspired Mickey Mouse shirt has been stopped. Yes, Disney decided that there may be some issues with the design, specifically the legality of it, and so they’ve decided to stop selling the shirt altogether. You can no longer find it for sale on the Disney website. They probably also got some flak from some people upset the company would align themselves with a band whose name had Nazi ties and whose lead singer killed himself. But whatever, it was an interesting piece of merchandise while it lasted, and got people talking. If you’re desperate to own one, right now your best friend is eBay, where they’re going for hundreds of dollars. Good luck. Okay, today’s Pick Your Poison is a good one, as they tend to be. I’ll give gold stars to tracks from Cardinal, England in 1819, Erin Passmore, Grand Duchy, Theresa Andersson (with Peter Moren of Peter Bjorn and John), Xiu Xiu and Zammuto (aka one half of The Books). Oh, and I can’t forget about Cynthia Lennon, John’s first wife, singing a ukulele version of the Beatles classic “In My Life”. There’s something just a little special about that.
Surely you remember the band Chairlift from those countless times you heard their song “Bruises” a couple years ago in an iPod commercial. Don’t remember “Bruises” exactly? Does the line “I tried to do handstands for you” jog your memory? If not, don’t worry yourself too much. The band was in many ways a one-hit wonder, and their 2008 debut album Does You Inspire You didn’t really inspire on the whole. Outside of touring, they haven’t really done much the last couple years, though there have been some changes. Band co-founder Aaron Pfenning is gone, choosing to focus exclusively on his other musical project Rewards after his romantic relationship with bandmate Caroline Polachek dissolved. Polachek now only has multi-instrumentalist Patrick Wimberly to back her up, and that’s impacted Charlift’s sound somewhat. Pfenning’s occasional vocal presence has vanished, as has his guitar work, leaving the band’s sophmore album Something in a very synth-based 80s pop space. And you know what? The results turn out much better for them.
First thing’s first, Polachek spends much of Something in the role of a woman scorned. That is to say breakups are on her mind, and that’s not surprising given she experienced one with her former bandmate Pfenning. You’d be smart to be wary of reading too much into any of the lyrics though, as many of them are clearly fictitious or fantasy-oriented rather than literal. She’s not REALLY trying to kill or seriously maim another person, though we can’t really rule out emotional hatchet jobs. There are a few moments of pure passion and love though, as on “I Belong in Your Arms”, which with its tenderness, brevity and addictive chorus makes for one of the album’s strongest moments. It is the “Bruises” of this album, though not quite as catchy or marketable. Mostly what’s stronger on this record outside of the subject matter is the way it gets dealt with. Polachek backs off on some of the more vexing metaphors from the band’s debut and instead tries something more emotionally direct, to excellent effect. She seems genuinely saddened singing the line, “The look in your eye says you don’t love me anymore” on “Cool As A Fire”. The soaring chorus only provides more aid to her excitement as she sings, “Have we met before/amongst the buzzing of billions/clear like yesterday when you look at me and smiled” on “Met Before”. Also impressive is the chorus to “Guilty As Charged”, which rightly claims, “If I gave you what you’re asking for, you know you wouldn’t want it anymore”. Smart, plainspoken and with hints of humor, it appears Polachek has a much better idea of what she wants to say and how she wants to say it – a sharp difference from the debut in which many of the moments felt forced or uninspired.
Equally intriguing about Something outside of the great lyrics are how all the songs are put together. Save for “Met Before” and “Frigid Spring”, there’s very little use of guitar on this record. Synths are the instrument of choice, and that combined with some excessive polish on the production end takes you straight to the 80s. If you were to play this album for someone without telling them anything about it, most would probably guess it was either made in the 80s or is new coming from an artist that was popular in the 80s. Polachek’s voice earns more gravitas on this record versus the last, and she takes those reins and runs with them. She channels everyone from Kate Bush to Laetitia Sadler to Christine McVie and maybe even a touch of Cyndi Lauper at times, and not once does she sound uncomfortable or out of her element. Wimberly is far quieter than Pfenning was behind the microphone, in that his vocal presence is barely felt. His true star turn comes with backing vocals on the occasional track and a pseudo-duet with Polachek on addictive single “Amanaemonesia”. The rest of the time he’s simply that guy crafting the beats or sending a melody soaring just to keep up with Polachek’s strong singing. They are the yin and yang of Chairlift, perfectly complimenting and pushing one another to excel in different ways.
It’s a shame that Something is a record that will probably be just as, if not more ignored than its predecessor. Despite the strong collection of healthy and marketable pop songs, it’s unlikely you’ll be hearing much from the band on the radio or in TV commercials. There’s just a slight element of offbeat weirdness to many of these tracks that can turn off more mainstream audiences, to start. While there’s not a massive difference between Does You Inspire You and Something sonically, that first album at least had several moments that felt rooted in the present, likely caused by more guitars and less synths. Given that The Killers aren’t still rocking their 80s pop-rock sound established on Hot Fuss, it’s relatively safe to say not everything old becomes new again and stays that way. Still, as glo-fi/chillwave continues to survive and mine much of their material from the 80s, so Chairlift can do so in a much bigger and blatant way. Besides, a great pop song is a great pop song, no matter what decade it’s rooted in. This is the record that may not give the band the additional popularity they were hoping for, but it does earn them one crucial piece of success pie – critical acceptance. There’s no sophmore slump for Chairlift, maybe because they were already in a slump with their first album. Something is the record where they rise to the occasion, learn from their mistakes, and hit back at the hearts of the coldhearted. They’re alive and well and will run you over in their car to prove it.
Click past the jump to stream the entire album (for a limited time only)!
