Monicker

Dude...what the hell happened to Elizabeth's lyrical skills? She was so good and it seems after she peaked she just went gradually downhill, but in such a short amount of time. Why did the quality of her writing drop so much? ¿Que paso con esta chica, coño?

No way. It's just ultra ultra compressed. It sounds like it's a 112kbps mp3. This is not "old sounding," just terrible mp3 quality. Why are so many of her videos like this, i wonder. What a disservice to her work.

I get it geometrically and architecturally and in nature, but not so much with facial construction and music. I guess it's just because it can be applied to different aspects of music. Like, i think it has more to do with just the sequence of the notes in a melodic line and their intervalic relationships, because sometimes it applies to the overall structure of a piece, but i don't really know.

Love you guys, really. This is why i asked the question--i really wanted to hear from all of you. Good stuff. I like this point a lot. Good stuff, Sitar. Ha, this makes me think of what Buzz Osbourne of The Melvins (who was close friends with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana in their very early days) has continually said throughout the years, that he thinks a lot of Nirvana's success was due to how they were pretty boys (albeit in grungy clothing).

Can i just categorically say that Lana Del Rey is conventionally attractive? I mean, i think she is, but what makes a person conventionally attractive? Symmetry? Certain features being accentuated while others appear subtler? Vibrancy? The appearance of being healthy? A certain sense of style? Whatever the secret formula may be, it’s pretty clear that the good majority of her fans find her to be incredibly attractive. What prompted the train of thought that lead to making this thread was a further realization of how often comments and praise about her are centered on her (good) looks. Inevitably, that lead me to wonder how things would have turned out if she were less attractive--whether it was slightly so or a significant amount (however in the hell that may be measured). What if she was completely ordinary looking? Or what if she was rather homely? Would she be as adored? Would she have as many admirers? Would the makeup of her fanbase look very different? There are no ways to answer these questions, of course, but i just wanted to welcome some thoughts on this topic because i’m curious what others think. I, personally, tend to think that she wouldn’t be as successful, at least within certain strata of her fans, simply because, as i mentioned above, how much of the commentary regarding her is focused on her looks. What do you all think? When responding, maybe keep in mind the significant, crucial role that youth, beauty, and sexual capital play in being a successful woman in our society, and particularly in the entertainment industry.

I, too, have a war in my mind. I don’t know how i feel about the video. I feel a little numb, but these feelings, or lack thereof, have little to do with the actual video and Lana as an artist and what she’s created, and more to do with how i feel about life in general lately (i think watching Samsara last night really fucked me up even more than i have already been feeling). I think i like the Ride video? But i should watch it more at a later time when i'm not feeling this way. What i do have concrete thoughts on: Watching this, i realize how American i am and how inescapable it is. I really love things that are truly American. All of the imagery throughout the video is great--so classic, so iconic, so familiar but so vibrant and fresh. You know, if there was ever going to be something that hipsters latched onto and made them finally come around to Lana, it’s this video, as repugnant as that thought may be. I love the actors that were chosen and the authenticity they bring to the video. News flash for some of you: those guys are probably a lot more desirable to some women than you care to think. Man, i would KILL to be unit photographer on this set! The cinematography is great (though, in my opinion, still doesn’t top the BJ cinematography). The whole thing could have been a little rawer, but, still, this feels like real, early ’70s first wave of American independent cinema. My only problem in this regard is how fast the editing is--i HATE what has become the standard pacing of editing. Re: the headdress: I cringed very hard during those shots. Not sure what she’s aiming for there. Why is that there? However, she wouldn’t be Lana Del Rey if there wasn’t something problematic about her, and i like that about her. It's interesting to see the image of a gun being held up to a Native headdress, that's for sure. What’s funny is that for some people (those who just don’t “get it”), it takes blatant mocking of a culture or explicitly stated disdain to consider something offensive/insensitive/careless toward a culture, and these scenes, it seems, would actually fit their narrow view of insensitivity, because they actually do seem to be mocking of Native cultures (acting “crazy” in the desert with alcohol and guns!) However, on the other hand, from my subjective standpoint, i myself as the viewer am also able to take away a completely different interpretation of whatever Native metaphor may be embedded in there, and that is freedom. Which is what the whole video is about, right? Now, that’s obviously not a very common association to draw from Native Americans, but think about pre-Colonial America--is that not absolutely representative of freedom if there ever was such a thing? (i.e. a more fundamental freedom rather than a bogus, empty concept of freedom, i.e. McFreedom). Still, though, this feels fucking uncomfortable. Surprise, surprise, it's Lana Del Rey. Oh, one last thing: i don’t understand why the audio quality in all her videos is so poor. This seriously sounds like it’s 240p. I really hate the internet, it is the great destroyer of everything. Can you imagine after all the time, effort, energy, money, talent, and skill that went into the engineering and production of the song, and the production of the video, that this compressed-to-death video on youtube is what comes out? Oy. Hopeless times for art.

The Lucky Ones hyperbole is pretty ridiculous. Can someone explain why that song, of all songs, gets so much shit? I really don't get it.

Uh oh, one of those bikers is black. We're in a parallel universe, you guis.

I was just thinking about Lana dancing in the desert with a Star of David armband. EDIT: Wow, weird, we all picked up on that at the same time. What's it gonna be, fashionable genocide or austere genocide?

He really went from being completely in the shit house to saving the day within a matter of hours! He got, like, a million "likes" on the OP with the download links (because he demanded that everyone "like" it) and i think he felt speshul after that, after buying back some face. I can't imagine what the fuck PinupGirls would think if he ever came here and discovered how much we still talk about this. Gosh, we are pretty ruthless here, huh? Nah, probably not. It all comes with avocados, HDB. Come on, he's clearly putting us on. This can't be real. Maybe Moy will delete his account and come back an hour later? WHAT? You were a CARNIE?? This is amazing.

WAIT. Is that Chuck? No, she can't be that much of an asshole. OH MAN. So good. Hey, do you think that in this same parallel universe Ahmed is still looking for his microphone to host Reydio? ... Thanks guys, i'll be here all week. You should really try the fish, i hear it's good, i'm friends with the cook, so.

I think that in some parallel universe one of the biker dudes in Ride is black, and in this parallel universe lanadelrey.fm never went down and PinupGirls is right now writing a post about how even though he loves black people, he just doesn't get why one of the bikers had to be black. So, who wants to place bets that Lana's response, if questioned about the headdress, will be "I just thought it looked really beautiful"?

Hey WTF, every time i went way over on essays in school (which was probably every single time because i am completely incapable of keeping things short) i got docked points for it. You gotta keep it concise and write within the limitations you've been given! FUCK THIS SHIT, PROFESSOR ENTITY. Also, why/how are you Sitar's teacher? I missed something and i need an explanation. I'm wondering if this is going to turn into a Boarding School type of situation... OMG haaa, this is amazing, we totally need this award, for real. Astonishingly, Moy, too, seems to be digging a larger and larger hole just as PinupGirls once did. That begs the question: Will this thread accomplish the seemingly impossible feat of topping the infamous NA video thread??

Even though i am actually more touched by that second section in the OP than the monologue itself, Ride already seems like it's going to be a million times better than National Anthem. I can’t wait to see it. Also, i'm getting vibes of Vincent Gallo’s The Brown Bunny It should be that fan letter you posted and read on LDR.FM rather than this monologue.

GOSH Madrigal! U R such a NAZI. U alwayz take the FUN out of everything regarding copyright registration, producers, years, etc. GOSH!

This article is THE WORST, i cannot believe i actually read this shit. It is stuff like this that gives us a need for a suicide emoticon on this forum. Please? Mods? A SUICIDE EMOTICON IS IN ORDER.

I love U 4-ever, TPD. My heart is yours.

I never said MDM wasn't Auto-Tuned, just that i don't hear it. On LDR.FM i asked people multiple times to point it out and no one ever did Dude, i said this exact same thing to you once and you gave me shit for it. Flip Flopper Maru. OMG, these meters are so cute. Only Madrigal would use something like this.

This is some of your best work yet, oh humble narrator of ours. I really like this one. While we’re on the subject, does anyone know the origin of the saying that you can't have your cake and eat it too? It makes no sense. What else is one supposed to do with their cake if not eat it? Make it levitate by concentrating really hard? Here, have your cake, go on, take it. But don’t eat it, okay? Just sit there and look at it and think about how much you want to eat it, but i swear if you lay a finger on it... God, you always want everything. So greedy, so insatiable! I mean, look at you, you want your cake AND you want to eat it too? Who do you think you are? Ingrate! SitarSlut, watch out, i’m going to flood your mind with SEXXX anecdotes from my life, like the one time i had sex to a Mister Rogers record (oddly enough, it wasn’t really an odd experience at all).

One time i was going down on my then-girlfriend while she was eating a piece of chocolate cake. It wasn't, like, "food play" or anything like that, she was just sitting there eating it casually and was actually a little more focused on the cake than anything else, but something about that was really erotic to me. I'm going to change the subject now. Here's a picture of two lions fighting:

guis cum 0n 69 iz lyke a metafor n0t a misteak! lana kn0wz wutz up, iz lyke ab0ut sexxx & stuff And that right there is perhaps a big part of the reason why part of me sympathizes with any artist who has a problem with their unreleased music getting out.

Haa. But it was taken away from them, right? I think when they were EXPOSED as lip-synchers the committee was a little embarrassed and revoked that shit.

No. Unless she dies. Seriously. Eh, i think that's more idealistic revisionism/misconception than reality. The pop music industry has always been about sales. Of course, a lot of people think that pop music used to be better and that that explains things. I'm not really convinced of that either. I think there's always been great and terrible and everything in between and that the percentages/ratios shift around from time to time.

Ha, you are a mad man! What a terrible thought. Although Auto-Tuned Loon instead of theremin on GV is a hilarious thought. You know, Pet Sounds does end with the sound of barking dogs... Oh my god, that is the BEST, seriously. What a great memory/thought. Especially checking off each song as you went along. Yeah!! And as you probably know, Pet Sounds and Odessey & Oracle actually have differences in the music between the mono and stereo versions--missing overdubs and double tracked vocals on some of the stereo versions, things that were overdubbed live during mono mixdown! Because the multitracks obviously don't have those overdubs, when stereo mixes were later created, they had to be done without those parts, so it becomes even more of a unique experience when you compare the mono and stereo versions. Take, for example, You Still Believe In Me on Pet Sounds: Brian's lead vocal is double tracked on the mono because he overdubbed the second vocal during mixdown to mono, so the stereo version is a single tracked lead, and this really gives the song a very different feel, in addition to the general mono/stereo difference! Awesome! Blue Velvet sounds better in mono to me! I definitely also recommend doing Blue Jeans and Lolita, those both seriously rock in mono, especially the bridge of BJ, oh my god. Lolita is just ridiculous, it sounds like you're being pummeled over the head in the best way possible. And like i said before, it takes a bit of the shine off of Emile's production.

HDB, check these out. I wanted to give you something more tangible rather than a rambling post. Here’s Wouldn’t It Be Nice by The Beach Boys in mono (how it was originally mixed in 1966) and a modern stereo mix of the song. First Stereo: Make sure you do NOT turn the volume all the way up, leave a little room to play the mono back louder. Listen to the clarity and separation. You can pick certain instruments apart. In this mix you can actually hear that, yes, indeed, the driving force of the backing track is two accordions! Listen to how the background vocals pop out and shimmer. Listen to the bed of horns and all the percussion. You can hear different parts weaving in and out and you feel the sound sort of enveloping you from all around, like you're in a pool that's filled with the music rather than water. The song has a certain elegance in stereo. Now Mono: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E4FRtrD9aQ Turn the volume up slightly louder than you did the stereo mix. All of the aforementioned is gone. Everything blends. It’s like the whole song is one big well-oiled machine, all the parts indistinguishable from each other, coming together to create a whole. It’s not about the details at all (many of which are lost!) but rather the big picture. If everything before was a collection of separate sounds, this is just one big mass of a single sound, but listen to the power that it carries. It’s like a train that’s coming straight at you and it’s going to rip your head off. Is one "better" than the other? Of course not, it comes down to personal preference. But it also doesn't have to be about one or the other. To me, they're BOTH essential, they both have their own value for totally different reasons. When i listen to the stereo mix, i marvel at the intricacies of the composition, arrangement, and production and i think, Wow, Brian Wilson was not of this earth. How the fuck did he compose, arrange, produce, and sing this? When i listen to the mono mix i just FEEL the song and it makes me want to cry.