Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Review: Lana Del Rey, 'Born To Die'

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  • linger, in reply to Yamis,

    I’m also stuck on the ball tickling line. I encourage such use of words.

    eh, whatever tickles your balls. different strokes, as they say...

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report Reply

  • JacksonP,

    different strokes, as they say...

    Because I'm crazy, baby
    I need you to come here and save me
    I'm your little scarlet, starlet
    Singing in the garden,
    Kiss me on my open mouth

    If you expect more than what it is, you might be disappointed. But yeah, I'd like to hear this in a club loud, in whatever compressed form is available on the night.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2011 • 2450 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    This one is OK, even if her voice lacks accuracy in places:

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    Just BTW: how live vocal performance is done!!

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg,

    The saga of Lana Del Rey reaches its inevitable Taiwanese animation chapter (via The AV Club)

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • bob daktari,

    I love and loathe video games, it is a great pop song... ruined, for me, by the marketing ride.

    Leaves me wanting to smash one of those huge street posters of her in the face

    Her other songs haven't grabbed me and I don't want them to. Refer to poster comment.

    I doubt she will have much time in the marketplace (sucess in that time is all but a given) but the impact of her style on video games at least just may - expect to see the 'marketing and development model' repeated a lot, as we do and always have done

    For me its the Woon remix (this summers James Blake in my world) that really shows what is so exciting about "pop" and this particular right now and the strength I believe in the original song

    give some of these crazy talented young producers the parts (or not as is generally the case) and they can make wonderful things

    and breathe life into a song that many would run a mile from normally - ie give it real "indy" cred (spits on the ground)

    I do wish someone would repect her potential market enough to be honest about where she came from and the like - respect the medium and the market

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 540 posts Report Reply

  • JacksonP, in reply to Martin Lindberg,

    The saga of Lana Del Rey reaches its inevitable Taiwanese animation chapter

    That is hilarious. I stumbled upon this fairly scathing review from the Harvard Crimson yesterday too.

    "Off to the Races” is the worst of these anachronistic pairings, as its lyrics form a scattered assortment of over-the-top, clichéd lines and tasteless subject matters. "

    Yeah, and your point is? This is not limited to LDR.

    The more I read of the negative stuff the more I think she is an easy target for the pent up frustration with manufactured pop. Well, YMMV I suppose.

    Still, she should stick to the recorded world, or do a lot more practice, as her live stuff is truly awful, all things being treacle.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2011 • 2450 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Lilith __,

    Wow. I had never heard of them. Thanks for that, Lilith.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to JacksonP,

    I stumbled upon this fairly scathing review from the Harvard Crimson yesterday too.

    That's a terribly-written review. Oh dear.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • JacksonP, in reply to Russell Brown,

    That's a terribly-written review. Oh dear.

    It is a student paper, but yeah, it looks a bit like an assignment. C- ?

    Auckland • Since Mar 2011 • 2450 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Lilith __,

    not bad for a new girl eh

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Cue my usual rant about how tiresome rockist obsessions with 'authenticity' are, sexism, Ziggy Stardust, yadda yadda. I will spare you all. :)

    It may also be time for my 'I am a philistine' moment, James: I think the Pixies albums sound pretty underwhelming (quality-wise, I mean) and I wish someone would make them louder. Plus some of my favourite music sounds great on shitty AM car radios, and it was made to sound like that - 70s hits like 'Brandy' are ace-sounding as far as I'm concerned. I think maybe I suck?

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Danielle,

    You so do NOT suck. Brandy is indeed a fine, wonderful song.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • James Butler, in reply to Danielle,

    It may also be time for my 'I am a philistine' moment, James: I think the Pixies albums sound pretty underwhelming (quality-wise, I mean)

    Hey, I'm not making any claims about their quality; you're right, they're mostly pretty lo-fi recordings. That's kinda the point - they're recorded without too much post-processing, because that's the punk ethic, right; and that gives them more dynamic range more-or-less as a side-effect. Of course it's possible to have high-quality hifi recordings and large dynamic range - in fact modern studio gear should make it really easy - but the only people who do so are those recording classical music.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to bob daktari,

    I love and loathe video games, it is a great pop song… ruined, for me, by the marketing ride.

    Leaves me wanting to smash one of those huge street posters of her in the face

    But why? Why so angry?

    For me its the Woon remix (this summers James Blake in my world) that really shows what is so exciting about “pop” and this particular right now and the strength I believe in the original song

    That’s an extraordinary remix – it takes both the music and the lyrical theme places. (It’s here on the Hype Machine for anyone who doesn’t have it.)

    Edit: It's also here as an easy download on Soundcloud.

    I’m actually looking forward to remixes of several songs on the album – the hip hop bones are there to work with. I hope they make the parts of ‘Radio’ available to remixers – I’ve just driven home from our editorial meeting singing along to it again. It’s such an odd combination of elements.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Danielle,

    I think maybe I suck?

    Nah. The big Motown hits of the 60s nearly all made great use of compression – this little article called The Exciting Compressor explains the technique the house producers came up with to make the records sound extra-awesome:

    With the Motown mix approach there were problems. If you wanted the lyrics to be heard you had to use a lot of compression on the vocal so that the the softer words could still be heard over the higher-level music. In addition you boosted the “presence range” (around 5 kHz) with an equalizer. The only problem with this is that it took the life & natural dynamics out of the vocal.

    Lawrence Horn came up with a brilliant idea. He took the vocal and split the signal so that it when to 2 console channels. Before the vocal signal went to the second channel, it went through a compressor. Now he had two channels of the vocal – one compressed and one uncompressed. On the uncompressed vocal he added very little with the equalizer and he added the reverb. On the compressed channel, he compressed the h**l out of it and added a ton of high-frequency equalization. What he would do is bring up the “natural” channel to full level to get the basic natural sound on the vocal. On the other compressed and equalized channel, he brought this up just enough to add excitement and presence to the vocal sound.

    The result was nothing less than amazing. In the mix the vocal sounded very natural and bright. None of the music ever “stepped on” the vocal and you could hear each and every syllable in the lyrics. The vocal never got lost.

    But compression is used now on so many records that don’t need or benefit from it – Lucinda Williams, for goodness sake – and it’s just a way of making them louder. It’s basically just the same thing that makes TV ads sound so annoying.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to JacksonP,

    Yeah, and your point is? This is not limited to LDR.

    FFS, Sondheim wrote brain-meltingly clever, formally-perfect lyrics but you try dancing to this. I double dog dare you.

    Or this:

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Will de Cleene,

    Now we're cooking...

    Meatloaf...

    My first thought too!
    I don't understand Americans.
    One minute they are all about the illusion
    next minute they're saying we wus conned
    I sense... a nation with issues...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Ah, now I really like this mash-up of 'Born To Die' with bit of Calvin Harris, Steve Aoki, and Afrojack. It's big and downtempo and heavy.

    I think some dubstep remixers will have have a field day with the album.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • James Butler, in reply to Russell Brown,

    The big Motown hits of the 60s nearly all made great use of compression – this little article called The Exciting Compressor explains the technique the house producers came up with to make the records sound extra-awesome:

    Yep. That's compression applied to individual tracks for artistic effect, and you won't hear me complaining about that at all.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to JacksonP,

    Still, she should stick to the recorded world, or do a lot more practice, as her live stuff is truly awful, all things being treacle.

    I don’t quite understand why they keep sticking her out there in bare-bones live TV settings to perform songs that are bloody difficult to carry off live without a production.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    Just for you, Jackie!

    This track is from Volume One; Volume Two is even better. Zooey writes most of the music herself. It’s very jaunty, which isn’t to everyone’s taste, but I’ve got a lot of enjoyment from their albums.

    And thanks for the heads-up, Sacha. I don’t habitually watch tv so I rely on other people to tell me if there’s something worth watching! :-)

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Lilith __,

    I'm an admirer of jaunty. It not only lifts the spirits, it's also a great pace for walking.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to James Butler,

    under pressure...

    I think it's getting worse in the era of pervasive iPods and mp3s, because compression gets around some of the failings in lossy (size) compression codecs (ever tried to listen to a capella choral music on even a 320k mp3? Not pretty, partly because the dynamic range is too great), and because you can hear it over the sound of the traffic/bus/parents etc.

    ....and according to Neil, Steve was a vinyl purist!

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • James Butler, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    ....and according to Neil, Steve was a vinyl purist!

    Meh, I'm a little sceptical that any new format (as described in that link) would be audibly better than a FLAC or Apple Lossless version of a CD track. And this kind of statement:

    Such a format, he said, would contain 100 percent of the data of music as it is created in a studio, as opposed to 5 percent in compressed formats including Apple's AAC.

    is a little bit tenuous on information-theory grounds.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report Reply

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