evilentity

@@Monicker sent me a link to this fantastic episode of "Popcast", a podcast produced by The New York Times' ArtsBeat culture blog. A discussion between Jon Pareles, the author of that great NYT review, and Ben Ratliff, the skeptical yet open-minded host, this is the most intelligent conversation I've heard about LDR in the media ever. Truly a must listen. Apart from being just a great podcast, another reason @@Monicker sent it to me is because I'd told him he'd probably think I was crazy, but the guitar intro of "Cruel World" reminds me in small ways of the intros to several different Beach Boys songs. He did think think I was crazy at first, so we were both incredibly amused when Jon Pareles backed me up! Anyway, @@Monicker says it better than I can so I'll let him introduce it: You can go to the episode page, download the MP3, subscribe on iTunes, or click the player below: http://podcasts.nytimes.com/podcasts/2014/06/27/arts/music/27popcast_pod/27popcast-rev.mp3 Edit: If anyone wants to transcribe this podcast for quoting convenience I'd be more than happy to add it here.

Ha, I knew it. In my draft of my track-by-track UV review I'm working on I'd written this: "Many reviewers have interpreted this as being sarcastic like MPG & FMWUTTT, as a satire of Brooklyn hipsters... I'm not so sure. It seems a little too on the nose. I think she takes herself a little too seriously as an artist and is a little too much of a beatnik wannabe for this to be satire. I think she means it earnestly. And I think she's a little too thin-skinned for that kind of humorous self-deprecation. Besides, it's not the first time she's declared herself a 'Brooklyn baby'." Yeah, there's an entire thread discussing this question because her statements pertaining to this have been so all over the map. Despite that, I think there's little reason to doubt she probably did write a song called "China Palace" when she was very young. Probably next to some lame department store and a Thai food place she wasn't in the mood for.

His Wikipedia page says he was part of a band called The District which split the bill with Lizzy at her first Cross-Pollination show at Pianos on October 17, 2006. These shows consisted of a set by each artist followed by a set performed together. So they jammed together! I'm not sure whether that footage was taken from some longer video, but based on her hair and attire it's from the night of her October 22, 2009 Canal Room performance (photos and videos in link).

You forgot the next line, "He's got a massive phallus"

Actually, it was May 5, 2011. But thanks for playing.

The other thing I forgot to mention in my last post in this thread about @@Lanakai's theory is that in interviews Lana often used the word "guru" to describe this cult leader. "Guru" often has an Eastern religion connotation and Father Yod/Jim Baker's Wikipedia page says he "studied philosophy, religion, and esoteric spiritual teachings, even becoming a Vedantic monk for a time. He later became a follower of Yogi Bhajan, a Sikh spiritual leader and teacher of Kundalini Yoga."

Even if you don't speak German there's no translation necessary for that title. I'd like to have a beer with Lana. Or maybe I'd just like to have a beer period. What kind of beer do you think Lana used to like? I bet she was probably into the brewmasters of every genre. Ha, the yearbook photo. 1. "Sunflower" Beach Boys, 1970

^ The first verse of "Brooklyn Baby" would fit your theory too: They say I'm too young to love you I don't know what I need They think I don't understand The freedom land of the 70's As in, she's too young to sing about and identify with a cult prevalent in the '60s and '70s that was about peace, love, sex, drugs, and rock & roll. As I was reading this, the thing I was most curious about was when this documentary came out, which you said at the end was 2012, which you correctly noted would fit perfectly. Whether or not this was part of her inspiration, we have found a lot of cases where she seems to have been inspired by movies and things like that. At the same time we've so far been unable to match certain details in her songs with real life, like the elusive K. I've been thinking more and more lately that when she says all her songs are autobiographical, they're autobiographical of herself watching TV. Or perhaps Netflix in this instance. It reminds me of this quote from her KulturSPIEGEL interview: I think it's also notable there are references to TV watching in several of her songs, a pleasure she took much enjoyment from, but was denied her for a long time.

You guys are getting all worked up about an off the cuff statement to a likely hypothetical question just after she put an album out? This is Lana we're talking about here. Have we still not learned anything? Geez, you guys are so excitable. BTW, "record" doesn't necessarily mean "album". You know the Grammy award for Record of the Year? It's for the best recording of a song. Ha, keep dreaming. Oh, and no @ symbol? Coward.

I find it amusing that you say "Born to Die" is the only song about death in this paragraph and then discuss "Dark Paradise" (which is even more about death) in the next. Let's review, shall we? Born to Die - Duh, obvious. Also, she dies in the video. Blue Jeans - Not explicit, but suggestive of a dead or incarcerated lover ("They took you away, stole you out of my life"). She drowns in the video. Video Games - "Only worth living if somebody is loving you". National Anthem - "Overdosing, dying". A$AP Rocky as JFK is assassinated in the video. Dark Paradise - The whole song is about her dead lover and wishing to be reunited with him through death. Radio - "I've been raised from the dead", "I swore I'd chase them 'til I was dead". Carmen - "I'm dyin', I'm dyin'", French spoken part translates as "You could not live without me, I will die without you, And I will kill for you". Million Dollar Man - Possible death reference in "Holding me tight in our final hour". Summertime Sadness - "I know if I go I'll die happy tonight". Video is about suicide. This Is What Makes Us Girls - "Teachers said we'd never make it out alive", "something that we'd die for". Without You - "Your love is deadly". And that's just BTD. I could go on all day with her other albums and unreleased material.

When the Kill Kill EP was up on the 5 Points Records site (you can still access the original mp3 files on archive.org here), the track fields in the metadata numbered them according to their placement on AKA (i.e. "Kill Kill" says "1/13", "Yayo" says "13/13", and "Gramma" says "4/14") rather than their placement on the EP. The album fields in the metadata say "Nevada (Master Ref 1)". It is hypothesized that "Nevada" was a working title before they decided to call it Lana Del Ray. (I personally think this would have been a better title. Plus it would've avoided the confusion about whether "AKA Lizzy Grant" was actually part of the title or not.) Before this, she considered titling it "God Bless America" after the song by the famous singer Kate Smith, whose home was owned by the Grant family which they somewhat controversially tried to sell at an asking price five times what they paid for it just ten years prior and for a profit of over half a million dollars despite a cash-strapped non-profit's wishes to buy it in order to create a Kate Smith museum on the site.

Is that Barrie talking at the beginning?

No problem! I think you're giving her way too much credit.

Agree with this. Or just trying to appear up on pop culture to the kiddies following him. Or maybe I'm just projecting. I'm pretty sure fans tweeted her about it. https://twitter.com/LanaDelRey/status/35538290404900864 She should be more worried about someone linking Frances Bean to "Hollywood's Dead" than this.

The point of a discussion forum is discussion. If you don't like hearing about a subject, don't read posts about it. Or perhaps try to shift the conversation by engaging people on another topic.

I'm just disappointed that they didn't last long enough to fulfill Barrie's manager's prediction that she would be his "future ex-wife".

Reminds me of her past comments that she just wants things to be easy and people to like her and be nice to her, she doesn't care why. No, Lana, your own words and images-- your lyrics, videos, photoshoots, past interviews, and the answers you gave The Guardian-- give this impression, intentionally or not. Have you listened to any of your music? Lana Del Rey, casual Lana fan. Barrie

Although I think she's probably talking about BTD, this is something that could easily be said about Paradise too (*cough cough* "Body Electric" *cough cough*), and she could be thinking of AKA as well. She's mentioned in several interviews that it didn't turn out quite the way she wanted and that David Kahne "was interested in a more traditional vocal style" than she was.

IT AIN'T JUST A RIVER IN EGYPT

I think this was the first time I bought an album the day it was released in 8 years. (Fuck, has it really been that long since the last Tool album?)

A lot of other members say they have and I've heard some things secondhand from CalendarGirl that David Kahne supposedly told her, but I've actually never contacted him myself. I was always too gun-shy. But it's probably overdue for me to do so. This assumes good design sense (Have you seen the Paradise cover or the various Kill Kill EP cover designs?) and that the cover art we know of was the cover art that went with this back cover. I don't necessarily assume that nor that this back cover definitely is legit. But I'm personally inclined to believe it may be for a few reasons. Nothing else seems obviously wrong about it and a lot is right. It says "Lana Del Ray" not "Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant" even though I'm pretty sure this surfaced on LDR.FM before it was pointed out there that the title is really just Lana Del Ray. It spells her name "Ray" which was correct at the time and correctly spells and capitalizes the titles. It titles "Little Girls" the same as it was when you could still download it from the 5 Points web site. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that photo has surfaced apart from this cover design. If it's a fan-made fake, it's a fucking good one by someone with an exclusive photo that has never leaked.

Here's what I said when this question was asked before: Here is the back cover I was referring to (which I should note has never been definitively confirmed): The notion that these songs were redone for BTD is incredibly speculative. I also think the notion that multiple registrations necessarily corresponds to multiple versions is also somewhat speculative.

Don't worry, Barrie. Taylor Swift will be calling you asking you to star in a knock-off of a Lana video before you know it. And of course Lana will ask you to open for her while she's dating Jimmy Gnecco.

That awkward denial stage when the premise of your username comes crashing down. My guess is maybe he sang on the demo.