LittleFool

In no particular order:
 
Hounds of Love - Kate Bush
Goddess - BANKS
The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos
Pleasure Boy - Hannah Cohen
How Big How Blue How Beautiful - Florence + The Machine
Melodrama - Lorde
Diploid Love - Brody Dalle
Norman Fucking Rockwell - Lana Del Rey 
Confessions on a Dance Floor - Madonna
 
jfc that was harder than I thought it'd be.

I'm not surprised LDR was angry about the Ann Powers review on NPR.
 
It's fine for Powers to intellectualize and analyze as she did in the review and to publish her thoughts--those are her interpretations, perceptions and standards--but to hold LDR, or any other artist, to those standards, or particular vision, when those interpretations are that complex and that individualized is absurd.
 
LDR is not Ann Powers, just as Powers is not LDR and does not have LDR's often-extraordinary music talent. LDR is a pop star who is also branching out into other kinds of writing, like poetry, and artist. LDR's talent would probably come to a screeching halt if she tried to 'intellectualize' her every creative impulse to attempt to meet some sort of impossibly high standard that in fact has nothing to do with her life or even with music ` that in fact, belongs to someone else. A massive case of writer's block would result, even if only temporary. 
 
I say, 'Art For Art's Sake,' first and always, and then yes, let the artist take responsibility for whatever she or he creates, as art that is made public in any way does not exist in a vacuum. 
 
I think of really creative artists like Blondie and Kate Bush, who have written songs about virtually everything--adult/child sexual attraction (Bush, 'The Infant Kiss'), alien abduction (Blondie, 'Shayla'), sister-brother incest and suicide (Bush, 'The Kick Inside'), the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Blondie, 'War Child'), death pacts between young lovers (Blondie, 'Suzy & Jeffrey'), bank robberies (Blondie, 'The Hardest Part,' Bush, 'There Goes A Tenner'), sound weapons created by the government used against the public (Bush, 'Experiment IV'), Wilhelm Reich (Bush, 'Cloudbusting'), the end of the world by meteor and by nuclear war (Bush, 'Hello Earth' and 'Breathing'), seductive computer programs that paralyze the user (Bush, 'Deeper Understanding'), sex for sale (Blondie, 'Call Me'), blue collar life (Blondie, 'Union City Blues'), etc.--that have had absolute creative freedom to write about whatever interests them at the moment or strikes their fancy. The burden of history should not rest on their shoulders every time they pick up their pen or sit at their keyboard. 
 
Elisabeth Grant, over the course of her musical career, including before she became LDR, has written about a great number of things, and I have been saddened to see the scope of her writing getting narrower with time and with what seems like necessary seriousness ~ thus I am happy with the ending of 'The Greatest,' which suggests she and others are watching the end of Earth from another planet. Serious yes, but visionary and literally other-worldly. 

I wasn't very happy with how the cover turned out so I made an edit and I think it looks a lot cuter now. it's my first time using photoshop so please be nice
 

Last week: "I live in San Diego now"
 
This week: "I live in San Diego sometimes"
 
Next week: "I've never been to San Diego in my life"

california is such a sad song i love it but it's too powerful for me 

Can we just have one Lana era without her impulsively saying something stupid
 
That bridge is a little slice of heaven wyd

A masterpiece.

me listening to LFL again and trying to find one song i like 

Can we speak of the fact that there's literally not a skip/worst song on the album? truly a flawless record

Fuck this album for being so good and dredging up all of my ugly emotions from my breakup

careful what you wish for...

If you insist 
 
Norman fucking Rockwell
Great song honestly, I don't think I'd change anything other than the fact that it's the first song. It gives me second-third track vibes.
(Really personal opinion: I don't like the way Lana uses her voice in the chorus; though throughout the song she sounds excelent.)
 
Mariners apartment complex
Simply amazing. Nothing to say. A 10/10 track.
 
Venice Bitch
10/10 track. I've never been a huge fan of the "If you weren't mine..." section though, but I still like it.
 
Fuck it I love you
The first version we got is magnificent; it really captures the whole surf rock sound. Her voice sounds natural and playful and the lyrics are great. The leaked album version though... that's probably the worst beat I've heard in a Lana song. Also too much focus on her voice; it overshadows the otherwise incredible instrumentation.
 
Doin' time
I feel like I'm enjoying this song less and less. It's too noisy for my taste, and I can confirm I don't think it fits the album very well -- this is, for the first time, what I'd call a LDR 'filler', and it's so obvious why it's on the album. I don't skip it though.
 
Love song
Amazing, spectacular, brilliant, never the same etc etc. Gorgeous piano, incredible vocals full of emotion, beautiful lyrics, simply outstanding. My only complaint would be the non-existant outro; a very consistent issue on the album.
 
Cinnamon girl
Really intense and heavy, one of her most dramatic songs, especially considering the fact that it's part of such a mellow, 'anything-whatever' album. I love the concept of the lyrics. However, as I already expressed multiple times already, the outro is unacceptably poorly done. That's the only think I don't like about it, and it kind of ruins the song for me. The outro needed the heavy beat back instead of the really badly constructed 'trap' beat. I can't stand it... Bat attempt at sounding experimental. She had much more better experimental tracks. Also, the mixing is so poor at certain parts... for instance the piano in the beginning?? why is it so distorted? And right after Love song which was such a rich and deep piano; the one in Cinnamon girl sounds monotonous. And her vocals during the very last chorus (when she sings in a higher octave) make such a bitter contrast to the heavy and electronic production.
 
How to disappear
I can't describe how I dislike this song. Everything about it was treated poorly. It had potential (though I've never been a big fan of it), and they ruined everything about it: the boring, flat vocals, the mixing, the production most importantly... it feels like they simply had many ideas and tried to do them all at once. It was badly thought-out. Again though, I don't skip it.
 
California
Alongside 'Hope', it's the heaviest emotionally. It was my most anticipated track. It's beautiful and powerful. I listened to it quietly and I simply could not believe the emotion and how much I relate to it (and also to Love song and Mariners apartment complex). My only really personal issue with it is that they should've worked more on the instrumentation; I feel like they relayed too much on a very basic sound, when the sound could've been traditional yet outstanding production-wise like The greatest ; The greatest is, like many reviewers said, a song that seems straight from the 70s -- it has that classic rock sound but it still goes further. California is simply a throwback, and that's okay, of course, but I wish they would've made something, well, greater. Also the non-existent outro. Anyway the song is so powerful it's one of the best.
 
The Next Best American Record
Okay my main concern with this song were the horrible new lyrics. I don't care what y'all say: they're boring, meaningless and useless. The song itself is so grand and dramatic... the old lyrics fit incredibly well. These ones... not so much. the Eagles line Anyway, as I said before, I listened to the album as mood/ambient music so I wasn't paying attention to the lyrics and I enjoyed it much more. It went from a 4 to a 7. Still can't ignore the fact that the lyrics changed though.
 
The greatest
Perfect
 
Bartender
A really good song. However, my issues with it are mostly personal. I'm not a big fan of that style of piano playing... the lyrics from the verses sound forced and so does her voice (yes, sorry). when she sings "tea parties" I still really like it though, don't take me wrong. It's one of the most 'mood album' songs. It's such a demo though.
 
Happiness is a butterfly
Gorgeous, amazing, life changing... Such an incredible song. The lyrics are not as good as I expected, to be honest, but I still really like them. This song is genius... I adore the production, really.
 
Hope
10/10
 
So yeah. Beautiful album, I obviously liked it, I've got to admit that my reaction was a bit dramatic because, as I said, never felt such confussion and disappointment with a Lana album. I never thought I'd be here treating her as mood/ambient music: I always pay so much attention to all details, but I guess it's time to change that? 'anything whatever' 
My main issues with it, overall, are mixing, vocals and some decisions regarding production.
 
7/10 maybe? I don't know. I do hope it grows on me. It would be the first time an album by any artist grows on me. It's art, at the end of the day, I just have to connect it with my emotions and try to understand it better.

Lana's reaction to James book             

it's actually terrifying thinking that cover could've been the official one 

An excellent decision

She confirmed the UO cover was the first one that her managers eventually rejected 

lol @ her saying hope’s full name

My favorite moment was when Lana said she wasnt interested in Feminism because she liked space, ugh Her Mind.

You don’t have to keep them to yourself!! Your negative opinions are not bothersome at all! 
I like the outro but I agree I wanted it to get big again. I feel like it’ll go into HtD really well, but the way I listened to album was by having to click back a page and then load a new page so songs weren’t flowing into one another as well as they will when I listen again tomorrow or Friday. Cinnamon feels like it ends abruptly and then HTD starts kind of abruptly like it’s picking up where Cinnamon left off.

I know this is perhaps the most unpopular opinion I can ever come up with, but am I really the only one who finds Cinnamon Girl outro absolutely anti climatic; despite it being an incredible song. It simply grows so much, the bridge is so powerful, then okay a string interlude but then... the energy vanishes, and suddenly a cheap, flat, horribly constructed and mastered 'hip hop' beat kicks in... In my humble opinion as a DIY producer, I think the big beat should've re-appeared in the outro. The song would've been more epic. I don't know.
 
I hate reading negative comments on something so universally loved; so I don't want to be that guy... if my opinions will start to bother then I guess I'll save them for myself oh man I'm so confused.

i gave in to the freaking leaks  ughhhh
 
lord Jesus this album is beautiful
 
the intro to How to Dissapear AAGHHHH
 
and the minute outro of cinnamon girl 
 
best american record in hq 
 
bartender being a good song 
 
all the other songs having excellent production 

i HATED hiab when i first heard it but listening to it now.. damn i really was a fool

It's honeslty so hard not being able to listen to Love song and California without crying
I guess I'm gonna give myself a few days to process them.

I've been eyeing up this site for a while and never made an account, but here I am... It's nice to meet you all.