Ani DiFranco/Bhi Bhiman

So after we heard Strawberry, I was discussing its Pazz & Jop prospects on Facebook, projecting that even optimistically, it wouldn't make top fifty.  Cam said he'd take that bet, and I agree.  We never agreed on anything, but I kept it in the back of my mind.

Klosterman is not an idiot. He's very smart. But like Ellen Willis, of all people, only with a lot lower success ratio (partly because he's not that smart and partly because he's not that serious either), he generates theories off the top of his head almost at will. Most of these are wrong. But that doesn't make him an idiot. More like an intellectual entertainer. And to be fair, he's about 10 times funnier than Ellen Willis, who failed to nurture that aspect of her talent in part because she was that serious.

Okay, so my judgment last night was lost in a cloud of smoke, and accordingly I loooooved Born to Die. Listened almost three times in a row. Giving it a sober listen to see if my mood changes.

Reasons I like LDR so far:

1. The first 5 songs are nuts catchy, and some of the later songs are really catchy too ("Summertime Sadness," "Million Dollar Man," still undecided on "National Anthem").

2. I've changed my mind about my previous analysis of "Video Games." I still think that dismal reading stands, but I also feel like there's an aspect of sincerity in it that's really interesting.

3. In fact, through the whole album Lana seems simultaneously ironic/play-acting/d​istanced and sincere/vulnerable/t​roubled. I really like the idea of pure shallow materialistic pop with a really visible complicated human underpinning. The ridiculous indulgent poppiness allows me to forgive the oft-whack lyrics.

4. Charges of despondency across the entire oeuvre are warranted, but I feel like her youth and vulnerability lighten it considerably. At her most most lugubrious and morose, her fresh face and lack of experience save it from being over the top because she can't completely back up the songs with the world-wise blues woman thing she's going for. Watching her perform "Video Games" live is pretty illustrative: even the performances that aren't SNL-level flops, she is a scared baby faun girl playing dress-up, as Ioannis suggested. Sometimes she's more direct with the vulnerability ("The Lucky Ones" is an example.)

5. This hyper-indulgent but mournfully unfulfilled pop is so representative of the zeitgeist for a swathe of youth culture in this political and economic climate. I get that a lot of people probably don't have patience for first world rich white girl problems, BUT I for one can identify with it. The temptation is to pour yourself into pleasure, decadence, irresponsible relationships because your prospects as even an upper middle class young person are kind of sh!tty right now. That's a dead-end, temporary route, though, so the live-fast ideals take on a sense of foreboding, giving the shallow images more gravity. "The dark side of the American Dream," ("Without You"). "Sometimes love is not enough/and the road gets tough I don't know why/Keep making me laugh/let's go get high//The road is long we carry on/try to have fun in the meantime" ("Born to Die"). I don't think the obsession with money, fame, etc., should be read completely straight.

6. The same romantic relationship seems to be a thread through the whole album, at least you can think of the love-object as the same person easily. That reading suggests a maybe-frivolous affair that she's poured herself into and become desperately dependent on. (Jesus, I am probably projecting all over the place, oh well.) Kind of supported by other refrains: "queen of Coney Island," "take your body downtown.")

7. I hear so many different pop stars in her, which doesn't come off so much as copy-catting, but as an interesting mix for a young break-through artist. I hear unapologetic party-girl Ke$ha for sure, upfront sex-object eternal child Britney, dark romantic-sexual Fiona Apple at times, thoughtful self-referential Lily Allen a little bit, sometimes Fergie but I can't say exactly why--maybe just the voice sometimes. Man on "Radio" she even sounds like ultimate good girl Taylor Swift. Except she says "f^ckin.'"

OK, sober listen indicated that I still do like it. Definitely drops off at the end compared to the super-singley barrage of the first five tracks, but there are still good songs among the other ten. This is something that will not work without repeated listening and probably a good sampling of live performances.

Feeling like a huge dweeb that I did this.

As far as I'm concerned, there's a big difference between Imperial Bedroom and Arrested Development and Live Through This and Ragged Glory. The second two are much better records than the first two. Ragged Glory hasn't lost its lustre--it's just that he's made so many albums of equal value, none of which won PJ, mostly because the competition was better. And insofar as Live Through This has, that's an indictment of the value of hindsight and of fads in taste, not an affirmation. To many people, Shuggie Otis's album sounds a lot better in retrospect than it did at the time. But not to me, buster. I was right then, about that and a lot of other stuff resuscitated by younger people eager to create their own tradition even if they have to fib a little.

I'll see your Imperial Boredom and raise you Sandmanista!

Super Serious Rocker Rocker Suspect List

You know, I've been listening to and enjoying w h o k i l l for the past year, have read several interviews and profiles about Merrill Garbus, talked about her album with lots of smart people, and even watched her perform live at a club here in San Diego. But it was only a few hours ago while reading this thread that I learned there was any sort of discussion whatsoever about Garbus and what was or was not on her upper lip. Sometimes, it's nice to be out of the loop. Ignorance, bliss, all that. 

More to rocker rocker:

(Unfortunately this won't be a true mudhole-stomp; since RR's materialization, his/her  contributions haven't been thoughtful or plentiful enough to warrant much of a real response.)

Just wanted to say that I've learned from experience that you can get away with being clustercunty in moderation around here if and only if the following criteria are fulfilled:
A. You have an independent, topical thought to venture in addition to your spiteful aspersions. Pure, obsessive vendetta is so dull.
B. Your insults are funny and less straight-faced. You're wearing your heart on your sleeve, chump--it's embarrassing!

In case anyone things I'm defending tender young Ryan and Alex out of the goodness of my heart, no. Ryan, at least, has the capacity to annoy my pants off (he wishes). This is primarily an issue of principle and my own enjoyment of these comments. Intelligent, barbed banter is fun. Anonymous internet dickishness is pitiful and irritating.

If disliking specific female artists = hating women, I hope the brave Enya fans among us will please turn the lights off when they leave.

As ever, having offensive attitudes and obnoxious style without a redeeming heap of content is not a crime. Just gets you put on the Don't Bother To Read list.