For me 2019 was not a particularly memorable year for music. I found pleasure in some old favorites but made no significant new discoveries.
Mostly, female artists struck the strongest chords with me. Billie Eilish’s debut ‘When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go’ and Lana Del Ray’s ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell’ were rightly rated highly in many ‘best of’ lists.
I wrote around 10 reviews a month for Whisperin’ & Hollerin’ , about half of my output from the previous year. Continue reading
Tag Archive: Lana Del Rey
Tom Carter who, with ex-wife and musical partner Christina, makes up one half of Charalambides had more opportunity than most for self reflection this year but not in the happiest of circumstances.
During a UK tour he was struck down with severe pneumonia and spent long periods in isolation as part of his treatment. Due to the absurd health system, this also meant he faced huge medical bills.
Thankfully, if his prolific contributions to Twitter are anything to go by, he now seems to be on the road to recovery. One of his Tweets was to the effect that, this year, instead of making lists of the best new albums, we should go back to past years and check if those records we raved about have stood the test of time.
While I understand where he’s coming from, for me, one of the key appeals of contemporary music is that it fuels an insatiable desire for something truly radical and fresh. Needless to say, 2012 passed with plenty of good new sounds to enjoy but nothing that could be described as life changing. Continue reading
Not exactly a ‘sisters are doing it for themselves’ tune I’m intrigued by Lana Del Rey’s song Video Games enough to choose it to as a soundtrack to this year’s International Women’s Day.
She may cultivates a Lolita look but this is more than the usual sugar-sweet pop tune. The lyrics could have made a brash disco anthem but it is a rendered as a nervous piano ballad where she sounds like she’s about to crack up remembering good times gone sour. : “Heaven is a place on earth with you /Tell me all the things you want to do /I heard that you like the bad girls/Honey, is that true?”
For her debut UK television appearance on Later, the look of shy vulnerability is either highly contrived or perfectly genuine.
I think she looks pretty cool but you decide.
