slang

As much as I'm warming up to @@DeadAgainst analysis, I still think Carmen is principally about LDR's alcoholism. There is also a strong alcoholism theme in the *video* for Ride as there are just too many cut shots to booze for that not to be an important idea in the personal meaning for that video (also notice LDR's character is abstinent, it's the men who partake the booze). The extension of Carmen to pop figures in general might be reasonable given LDR's (and Barrie's) fascination for tragic loss of amazing talent due to substance abuse and/or depression. Also on "Carmen represents the phenomenon of the pop music singer as objectified image" @@DeadAgainst I've always thought the song Dum Dum was the precise expression of how LDR views her own image in pop music, but it is not the average image of a female superstar. She seems a little freaked out at her effect on her audience (e.g. me AKA Dum Dum). I also like the bit of S & M there: I’m a bad jazz singer Givin’ You the finger No matter what you linger Cause you like me even when I’m mean I’m the queen In short, her images of herself as "objectified image" seem much more personally tailored to herself, to be specifically about other artists, although So Legit and Hit and Run do seem to be about objectified images in general, imo.

If you're talking about the windy-subway-like sound, he does something similar to begin Mary. Otherwise don't know what sound you mean.

LDR in her GQ interview talks about Born to Die being about lost loves with alcohol being mentioned as one of them. Here's a quote from the article: "A great deal of what I wrote on Born To Die is about these wilderness years. A lot of the time when I write about the person that I love, I feel like I'm writing about New York. And when I write about the thing that I've lost I feel like I'm writing about alcohol because that was the first love of my life. Sure, there have been people, but it's really alcohol." It is not improbable that the song Carmen refers to herself in a cautionary fashion as a possible LDR, it also has a historical flavor (as does Ride) being about a teenage alcoholic with a thrill-seeking wanderlust, a past which LDR seems to have shared. So yes, I think Carmen is LDR but only within the scope of the song. Carmen is not a personna like May or Lizzy(?), but possibly a phase of her life.

Well my interpretation assumed no aliens, so consequently I didn't see any either. But there's some choice about whether you see certain aspects of the video (e.g., meteor as spaceship, clouds/sun reflections as spaceships while ascending to heaven/mothership). I can remember in an article LDR is actually quoted as saying there are ETs in Tropico but without hearing how she said, it could have been a facetious comment about Shaun Ross's previous music-video role (Katy Perry's ET).

Well, I don't know, LDR looks really fine to me. The lopsided grins suggest quixotic, whimsical, or sphinxlike characteristics not necessarily depression or anger. One might also look at peers who attended the party for comparison purposes. So consider Taylor Swift ... http://www.becauseiamfabulous.com/2014/03/taylor-swift-wearing-oscar-de-la-renta-weinstein-company-academy-award-party/ There is a hugely different lighting choice. LDR has much less light so there are shadows under her eyes in contrast to Taylor's negative racoon image (almost). The makeup is also much more intense on Taylor and the look more CGI and Vampirific as a consequence, imo. Not trying to shade Taylor, but it all depends on what kind of a style you like.

Barrie covering Nick Drake "River Man"

So if she had more upper-register songs on Ultraviolence, her live would get better, given she had to sing more upper-register live? I'm also into the side of LDR that does alternate versions of the same song, so I often wonder what Summertime Sadness or Body Electric might sound like if sung by May Jailer.

What's cringeworthy about Leto (I guess) is the attempt to treat Kurt Cobain the same way an Elvis Impersonator treats Elvis. But I don't see that with Barrie. That's why I juxtaposed Kurt's original one. Barrie has a similar voice to Kurt, at times, but doesn't impersonate him (sonically). In fact, Kurt doesn't even always sound like Kurt in this one, does he?

Barrie covering Kurt covering Leadbelly covering ??, old folk song: Kurt's version:

There are lots of dramatic orchestral composers one could suggest (e.g., Atterberg, Mahler, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich) but the trick is getting something not too intrusive (so you can study) but good enough to stay awake? That was sort of how I interpreted your request, so these examples struck me as possibly appropriate. Some are famous; some off the beaten track. Phil Glass does movie scores: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG76gIvzUeY There's Karl Jenkins, known for the "Diamonds" commercial, but he writes a lot of other stuff (this is just a random selection): Alla Pavlova writes symphonies cinematically but pastorally. This was just a random selection off of Youtube from stuff available. It's like the one or two CDs I have of her: Maybe Myaskovsky (whom I'm more into). This written just after WWI so he's a little more PTSD than usual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjpf_Gcspok

St. Vincent's new album preview: http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/feb/18/st-vincent-st-vincent-album-stream?CMP=ema_565

This is a serious topic. Just think how much videos like Mark Dice's on Tropico (which @@DeadAgainst shows us) will influence certain types of people. Dice has similar ones on Jay-Z and Miley Cyrus. These seem a bit more "well-reasoned". However, the Tropico video is basically an unsupported rant. Dice focuses on the snake, but how could he possibly miss all the Christian references, including a baptism, in that video? Dice cites corrupting morals and promoting hedonistic, non-Christian lifestyles as the agenda for the illuminati. Promoting (the following of) Satan is a kind of method for achieving the agenda. Unless you believe there is a Satan that gets warm fuzzies from corrupting morals, this is a stupid goal for a shadow organization. There are smart people who think about illuminati-like agendas without Satanism/Symbolism. So for Noam Chomsky, it is the super-rich that constitute a kind of illuminati. He alleges they fund a propaganda war to insure democratic societies don't use their political power to further majority concerns over minority (super rich) ones. When he talks about these agendas, it's backed up by a lot of historical fact. Chomsky lectures are all over Youtube, and on a lot of varied subjects (e.g., foreign policy). He's one of the sharpest, harshest, and best US critics of the US, imo. Here's a snippet from him on zombies and apocalypse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Yd2ZCxcTc This snippet was interesting to me, because he suggests that invectives against a group -- such as Dice's Tropico video and others -- can indicate a dominant group with "the foot on the neck of a less dominant group". Which is to say you only rant against the ones you're really fearful of and think might overthrow you. So Dice is a Ke$haphobe, because he thinks Ke$ha (or LDR or whomever) is trying to program his kids to be sexually promiscuous (or whatever). This is a fair enough concern, but I'd like to see Ke$ha's impact objectively described in terms of actual events, and not just the fear of possible results. For all we know, Ke$ha might be a kind of vacine for sexual promiscuity (i.e., make people more thoughtful about it). Finally, two further issues: 1) I doubt Lana belongs to any illuminati; however, I always thought the reaction to her Born To Die "debut" in the US critics community indicated the presence of a lesser illuminati group (focused on entertainment). She obviously didn't belong to it as they were trying to make her unfamous, and it seemed clear she hit some kind of a nerve. 2) I do not believe in reptile people.

^ Sort of looks like LDR trapped in the "phantom zone". Also aren't triangles one of those symbols illuminati-exposé people are fond of?

^ I know he did it to showcase his own work, but a part of me hopes he also did it to show Lana how easy it was to do. Then again, he's probably not represented by a label, and so he might just have the freedom to do this, though he would need Black Sabbath's approval?

For Paris she musically quotes Debussy Clair De Lune (in the beginning and end of Paris). Where does "girls just wanna, just wanna have fun" come from?

I love the way LDR gig announcements can hype Ultraviolence (and LDR). For example, if I were LDR, I would frame this: http://www.state.ie/news/bob-dylan-lana-del-rey-and-elvis-costello-irish-shows I would have described LDR as "odd man out" rather than "wannabe" (because I like the irony), although maybe wannabe isn't fully a diss (or is actually complimentary) in this context. I love her name being used in the context of these others and her bad-ass-stare picture (an interesting one to use as it sort of channels Godzilla for me). As for LDR, herself, "hyping" Ultraviolence: it seems important to me that even though she says it's "good", she mainly focuses on how it makes her feel (e.g., likes or is satisfied with it). This doesn't (strongly) imply that she thinks everybody else will like it (or that she even cares much about that). Whatever, her confidence now is a nice contrast to her confidence back then, when she wasn't even sure she had anything left to say after BTD.

The important thing about the leaks/unreleased, for me, is that they are an interesting trajectory/history for an artist I care about. So the songs are more like keepsakes than songs I've consumed like bubble gum. Doing both new releases along with retrospective (multi-volume) leak releases would be a best-case scenario for me. I would also be quite happy if LDR brought out the May/Lizzy personas from time to time. Wouldn't you like to see Fordham Road or Go Go Dancer performed live? I don't think it diminishes LDR's current musical style to show off past styles.

Whoops, I was focused in on contestants. So we can infer Keith Urban is not an inveterate watcher of the series then?

It was interesting that somebody finally sang Video Games on American Idol (Hollywood trials), but then Keith Urban's comments afterward just blew me away. Listen carefully at the very end ("Gosh I like that song, don't know that song, gonna download it now" I saw this on my DVR too). Not sure whether he had a serious case of "living under a rock", or was just (sarcastically?) stanning for LDR. Anyone know whether he's said nice things about LDR before? Or maybe it's part of a buttering up plot by American Idol (who uploaded the video) to get her to perform some Ultraviolence there. Sorry about the commercial you'll have to sit through. Trust no one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wxCAJRgNvY&feature=youtu.be&t=0m54s Dang, go to 54 seconds into it

Yup, here's the link for continuity: http://lanaboards.com/index.php?/topic/1993-barries-band/ But if I'm going to post new info (like the live youtube performances w/o Barrie) it seems less dissful and more accurate to do it in a new thread.

A search of 'Kassidy'-- this forum-- turns up empty as a topic. So I'm taking up @@lola @@Rafael suggestions for an independent Kassidy thread here (see 'Barrie's Band' <--- 'Lana Thoughts', which I guess could also be moved here as a separate thread and then perhaps locked? Or just locked? Just an idea.). Anyway, New Kassidy? I haven't found these songs on (2) past albums so they may be new (or covers?). Anyone know? Very different sound and possibly direction. Vocals might need some work but some decent songs. 8/31/13 quite the funkmeister here: channelling queen here: 7/9/13 high octane: Also do old songs (Stray Cat): Old Kassidy: pre-paradise: 2011 (video games with demo instrumental stem?): 2012 (part 1 and part 2 best I've found for an intro to old Kassidy): 2013: paradise tour: Hanging out with LDR would have been reason enough for me, but perhaps the 'artistic differences' reason also has some validity. Though it's a pity to lose the quitar-quartet form, as it seems rare. Does anyone know of any others in pop (which I take to include rock, folk, jazz,..) that are like that?

^ No expertise on this, but how have people ruled out more mundane explanations for LDR's lips? such as:

He seems to be saying he could go back, because they parted amicably. Kassidyuk have never tweeted anything (that I know of) unsupportive of his decision. Barrie also makes a point of saying that the decision to leave is *prior* to the Paradise tour (about 3:41, though I can't make out all the words, presumably he told Kassidy at that time, otherwise I don't see how the parting could be amicable). He seems to take special effort not to talk about LDR other than to establish a time frame for his decision. His talk about his own future work could have been stronger and less morose ("lurking in the shadows of madness"). The possibilities are: he may not know, or he may not want to wreck a surprise.

One of the more minor LDR enigmas (for me) is why she didn't fully cover Big Spender either before or after Smiler's use of her quoting it (or -- gasp -- are there rumors she actually did cover the full song?). Other than Shirley Bassey, Peggy Lee and Chaka Kahn also covered it. Freddy Mercury on Youtube does some of it. It's a powerhouse diva song, and it sounds like she's really nails her part (or is it just autotune?). So I've always thought her releasing a full version of Big Spender would have gone a far ways in promoting her as a singer.

'Girl in a Coma' have opened for Morrissey twice and recently got on Spotify, so they're not unknown, but whenever I listen to their (3) albums, I always think they should be a lot bigger than they are. I have a super infatuation with Nina Diaz's voice (and her look as well). This song is fairly representative of the band's writing skill. studio "control": live "control": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_in_a_Coma