Posts by Matthew Littlewood
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Hard News: Review: Lana Del Rey, 'Born…, in reply to Russell Brown,
I think you've touched on why so many serious reviewers are having trouble with the record; they're expecting it to be something it's not. I'm more inclined to hear it as a series of grand pop productions that I won't be listening to for ever. I think you've nailed it in observing that its strengths are also its weaknesses.
The excellent Kitty Empire's review manages to unpack a lot of her contradictions while tackling a lot of the flack she's received head on. It's certainly worth a read. Essentially, KE's review picks up on the distant feel to the record.
And yeah, the Lynch/Badalamenti influences are all over the record- LDR's even mentioned in interviews that she was "inspired" by the infamous "Bang Bar" scene in Fire Walk With Me ( perhaps the most nastiest, most unhinged scene, from Lynch's nastiest, most unhinged film). Which makes sense: Born to Die doesn't have the pure dreamlike pull of Lynch's best work (e.g. Blue Velvet or Mulholland Dr), but it does have the juddery, cluttered feel of his "flawed but interesting" work (e.g. Fire Walk With Me, Lost Highway) -
Hard News: Review: Lana Del Rey, 'Born…, in reply to Danielle,
People bitched about Liz Phair not being able to sing, too. (This makes me want to hop around immaturely flipping them off and waving about a copy of Exile in Guyville.)
True, although my problem wasn't so much that she couldn't sing rather than after her first record, she didn't really write much worth a damn. Then again, I wasn't really much into her in the first place, and her dreadful self-titled record was one of the more brazenly unsuccesful attempts at "crossing over" I've had the displeasure to review. Much more of a PJ Harvey man myself- although they're not really comparable other than the fact that they're women rock stars who ame to prominence in the early 90s (although PJ Harvey's still going strong, her most recent record Let England Shake being the best thing she's done in more than a decade). But I digress.
Going back to the Lana Del Rey record, thanks for the extra links, RB. Initial impressions suggest that their very strengths- their wilfully electic nature, the big, sweeping qality, Del Rey's blankly alluring vocals- are paradoxically, also its weaknesses. I mean, it's so removed- particularly something like "National Anthem" and "Radio". The very qualities that capture my attention give me pause for thought as to whether I would stick with them after a few more listens. Lyrically, she seems to have one trick- although it's a very good one, to be fair.
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Hard News: Review: Lana Del Rey, 'Born…, in reply to linger,
For the LDR songs I’ve heard so far, I’d make a distinction between the music, which is pretty much everything you’ve claimed for it, and the lyrics, which are something of a mess, with no real sense of any message or worldview that the performer really believes in; and this is at least in part because the character of the songs’ narrator is not fully inhabited. Both meaning and character are sacrificed for superficialities of sound.
But, OK, it’s pop, style-over-substance is only to be expected. And it does sound amazing.The four songs I've heard ("Born to Die", Blue Jeans", "You Can Be The Boss", and of course, "Video Games") seem to be all about the same thing- namely an ingenue attracted to seriously bad or slyly abusive men because they're so glamorous, and she wants to be something bigger than herself.
Certainly, it fits in with the nakedly cinematic quality of the arrangements, although there is something distant about the way they're recorded at the same time, and I wonder whether a whole record of it would be wearying, to say the least. But as stand-alone singles, they hit the spot.
But as a creation, her persona is very now, and seems to hock into a lot of things bubbling in the mainstream at the moment. That said, am I the only one reminded of Mazzy Star, specifically, this song:
While we're talking about pop stars who get a second chance at reinventing themselves, perhaps the most interesting one of recent times is Robyn who was actually successful the first time around- albeit as a late-90s prefab artist who had no control over her image or songs. Cue a period of obscurity and re-thinking, hooking up with one of the most interesting producers in the business, and almost a decade later, she's reborn, as a wryly known pop artist, whose two most recent albums- Robyn and Bodytalk- are everything Lady Gaga isn't: sharp, funny, concise and charming (I find Gaga's stuff graceless, overbearing, opressive and just not a lot of fun), plus anyone who opens a record with the line "I've got some news for you/Fembots have feelings too" wins my admiration.
On the compression front: yeah, it's one of my major bugbears. There have been a few acts which have done interesting things with it- I really like the way Sleigh Bells and Battles use it as a sonic weapon- but mostly, it's exhausting. In fact, some recent reissues have been quite badly affected by it.
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Not wanting to derail the conversation too much, but Ian Dalziel, do you remember this interview with Mark E Smith from Rip It Up's George Kay, back in 1982? The rumour goes that George, my old history teacher, actually scheduled the school's first XI football match with Christ's College to coincide with the Fall's Christchurch show. He's never confirmed nor denied that rumour. The interview's pretty fascinating, even if there appear to be some typos in the transcription.
Anyway, back to further #BDOmemories. One thing that struck with me after the first time I went back in '03 (hey, I'm a lot younger than some of you guys here!)...as soon as it finished and the lights went up after Underworld's awesome, extended version of "Born Slippy", I knew I wanted to come back the next year. I don't think you can ask for more.
On another note, I hope some kind soul has uploaded the Flaming Lips' BDO 04 performance up on Youtube. Everything about it was generous, joyous and jubilant. And it proved a real antitode to Metallica, that was one example of very clever scheduling by the people involved (most of the time, I felt scheduling was pretty good, given the constraints, although some years, 2010 in particular, were marred by clashes).
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Hard News: #BDOMemories, in reply to Russell Brown,
Me too.
We were safely up by the East Lounge and we were gobsmacked at the way the stadium suddenly filled with kids going mental. It was an amazing thing to watch.
Yeah, just incredible. I must have been not too far away from you at the time! If I'd known, I would've said hi. I think it taps into what you're saying about the BDO at its best being something of a pop culture window. I mean, I never would've expected something like that to happen at all.
A couple of other #BDOmemories spring to mind, both from 2007, in the Boiler Room.
The Streets' Mike Skinner and the rest of his band getting a packed Boiler Room audience to all crouch down and then jump up in unison. He did it about three or four times in a row. It was a really corny move, but somehow (particularly if you're watching it from the lighting control centre), it looked absolutely awesome. I'm amazed no one else had tried that one before. Also, given how hot and sweaty it always is in the Boiler Room, perhaps it was quite sensible to slow things down for a bit.
Also, and perhaps embarassingly, one of my abiding memories of BDO 2007 was how amazing Lily Allen looked up on the Boiler Room stage. She really worked that crowd, there were dozens of Lily-lookalikes that year. That said, she really is shorter than you'd think.
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Hard News: #BDOMemories, in reply to Mikaere Curtis,
Does anyone else remember the sight of literally thousands of sleeves-T-shirted bogans moshing in unison to Pendulum in the searing heat? I can't say I'm much of a fan of Pendulum, but I must say it made me smile. I mean, it seemed so illogical, and so far away from the music you would've expected that particular crowd to respond to...until you realised that it was amped-up and testerone-laden as any AC/DC record.
Anyway, I'll treasure the memory of it, perhaps not for reasons involving music. And yeah, count me as one who would've been there with funky purple bells on if Prince had been snagged. That could've been as big a deal as Neil Young.
The Prodigy (best karaoke band *ever*)
Oh, shit yeah. They were a strangely perfect way to end BDO 2009 after the astonishing majesty of Neil Young too. The performance, and response, couldn't've been more different. It was hilariously enjoyable. And let's face it, anyone who loops Max Romeo's "Chase the Devil" a dozen times in a row gets my vote.
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Another thing:
Over the years, the Big Day Out essentially mapped itself onto the Mt Smart venue and its facilities, to the point where actually running it was a matter of following the handbook.
Yeah, having seen how the guys worked backstage at the Boiler Room (fun anecdote: one year, the frontman for Hot Chip was accidentally mistaken for a lighting dude by security, who suggested he should help move some stuff for the next act- which was Hot Chip), I was impressed by how smoothly the operation ran. Thing was like clockwork, and they knew where and when things needed to go, and everyone was on point. It was a helluva slick operation.
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Hard News: #BDOMemories, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,
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My favourite BDO photo – Sam Scott doing the “IT’S A LIE!” bit in “Nest Egg”. I was up the front during the Phoenix Foundation’s set in 2008. I figured something amazing was going to happen, hit my shutter and hoped for the best.
I love that song, and I always love it when they perform it live, but I admit I didn't see them at the BDO that year, because I ran into Luke Buddha and he told me to go see Bjork, who were playing at the same time. Which I did. And she was great, even if some of the people waiting for RATM weren't exactly fans.
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Hard News: #BDOMemories, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Memories? Neil Young played what I think was the greatest Auckland Big Day Out show, rivalled only by the magic of the Flaming Lips. LCD Soundsystem were blinding, twice, and Hot Chip were gorgeous. There was Lady Saw at the Lilypad, and The Stooges, with Ron Asheton peeling off licks of thunder, in the stadium. Lily Allen in the tent, Dizzee Rascal and the utter madness of 2ManyDJs. Not to mention getting up to mischief in and around the bFM broadcast room. There’s been a hell of a lot to like.
Those chime in with my faves (apart from that last sentence). I'd also add that Underworld and Kraftwerk in 2003 were spectacular, Sleater-Kinney in 2006 were beyond fierce, PJ Harvey was sexy and classy, Girl Talk in the tent were hilarious, the Clean were gorgeously droning in 2008, and every time Shihad played, it was worth being there just for the sense of strange community that built up around their performance- the fact they seemed to have exactly the same timeslot and stage every year may have something to do with it. It was almost worth getting squashed among everyone else. Dimmer were always on fire at the BDO, and I think the Datsuns' performance in 2003 was
What I've liked about the BDO is that it provided a "one stop shop" for people, like me, who couldn't necessarily afford to fly up to Auckland very often to go to big gigs (confession: most years, I didn't have to pay for my BDO ticket, due to family connections, and then due to media accreditation). Ironically, this year, although I could've easily got a free ticket, I decided to give it a miss, essentially because there wasn't anything in the lineup that truly excited me this time around. If I had known earlier it was likely to be their last, I may well have changed my mind.
Actually, what I did like about it was the fact that even during years that held less appeal to me than others (it would've been my 10th in a row if I'd bothered to go this time), I just liked the fact you could all those people in a bloody cramped area and it didn't descend into total chaos. It was often surprisingly laid-back, all things considered. And I loved spotting trends amongst the BDO-goers: like the fact that in 2008 you couldn't move for fluro, while in 2007 (the year My Chemical Romance first played), it seemed to be infested with young goths whose blackeyeliner melted in the sun.
Yeah, it could overly cramped and unhealthily sweaty (especially in the Boiler Room), yeah there were times when big acts probably didn't deliver as well as they could, but I will miss it. And I wonder whether we will see its like again, in the age of more niche events like Laneways.
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Did anyone else look at that list of words and think "holy shit, this has been one fucked-up (munted, even) year"? It's a shame we could only pick three, because nearly all of those words listed seem very 2011. And it is fascinating how certain words did take on resonance because of the earthquake, to the extent that it's exactly what I associated them with.
Either here or abroad, in terms of major events, you'd be hard pressed to name a crazy year, at least in terms of what's dominated the media landscape- whether it's the earthquakes (here and in Japan), Fukushima, the Pike River Inquiry, the cargo ship Rena, the NOTW phone-hacking (and the courageous work of the Guardian stuff to finally break the dam on that story), the Occupy protests, the Rugby World Cup...the freaking election that went into meltdown over a conversation over a teacup...and that's just for starters.
Madness. Utter, utter madness.