Lovebox 2012 preview (Sunday)

On Sunday, a few members of the Sound Influx staff will be heading down to Victoria Park for the second time this month for Lovebox, who are celebrating their 10th birthday this year, 'A Decade Of Love'. Hot Chip, Friendly Fires and Grace Jones are headlining the festival, accompanied by both critically and universally acclaimed artists such as Lana Del Rey, Crystal Castles and Special Disco Version (James Murphy and Pat Mahoney of LCD Soundsystem). Although the weather is currently rain, rain and more rain; let's hope that this bill of summery acts can bring the sun out.

Here are five acts that we're excited about seeing and think you should too:

Lana Del Rey

Having made a big impression last year with her debut single Video Games and quickly following that up with her full length, Born To Die, Del Rey has become one of the most sought after artists, with many of her gigs selling out in minutes. However, shaky TV performances and her uneasy presence have made for some unfavourable comments on how her assured and confident music translates in a live setting. Nevertheless, it could be very different at Lovebox as she has no doubt has some practice playing her songs to crowds across the world.

Special Disco Version (James Murphy and Pat Mahoney)

I'm still not entirely sure what Special Disco Version entails but anything that's a collaboration of two LCD Soundsystem members has to be good. After the news that LCD would be splitting up back in 2010, fans knew this wouldn't be the end for James Murphy and co. There's a video of Youtube with an extract of Mahoney and Murphy playing together as Special Disco Version from last year when they did a 2 hour DJ set so perhaps we can expect something similar at Lovebox.

Niki & The Dove

Sweden has been on a roll this year, with the likes of Icona Pop, iamamiwhoami and of course, Niki & The Dove showing everyone else how pop is meant to be done. Their debut album Instinct was released not long ago and received critical acclaim from across the board as every song on the album has its own merits. However, it's tunes like The Drummer, Last Night and DJ Ease My Mind that are likely to get a crowd going, whether the sun is shining or it's torrential rain.

Patrick Wolf

Having already seen Patrick Wolf a couple of times in a festival setting in both sun and rain; you can be reassured that whatever the conditions, he's guaranteed to raise spirits with his music. After 5 albums, though, it's no surprise that Wolf performances are so polished as he effortlessly converses with the crowd, switches between instruments and bounds across the stage with so much energy and youthfulness. We can expect nothing less than enjoyable from Patrick Wolf's set on Sunday.

Azari & III

Azari & III are one of the bands I've been waiting to see all year and was so disappointed that I missed at Heaven back in February. Their self titled debut is packed full of sexy electro house that slowly constructs itself offset by soulful vocals. Perhaps what looks to be one of the more lively sets at Lovebox on Sunday, it'll be interesting to see how the music comes alive with the two DJs and two hypemen.

Aurora Mitchell

Why has Lana Del Rey got the feminists riled up?

In ‘A Room of One’s Own’ Virginia Woolf stated that ‘it is fatal for a woman to lay the least stress on any grievance; to …in any way speak consciously as a woman’. Over 80 years later there is still something shockingly relevant about the statement, particularly in relation to a music industry where pop stars, especially female ones, are torn apart for any perceived fault or misconception, even if it is trying to be anonymous. The unavoidable recent example of this is Lana Del Rey: pop star, feminist icon and fraud, all rolled into one.

Lana Del Rey has unwittingly managed to expose everything that is wrong with the music industry, if you’re a woman. Whole album reviews have been a dedicated discussion from whether she’s undergone surgery to get ‘those’ lips to whether she’s a record company construction, who’s duped all the indie darlings into thinking she’s an incredible pop chanteuse. But everyone seems unable to perceive how fatuously irrelevant the discussion is. It’s indicative of the culture we live in that we have to minutely analyse and dissect every pop star that comes on the scene.

Unless they’re male. I could list pop stars (and celebrities in general) who have been massacred by blogs, tabloids and gossip magazines. But curiously, they’re all women. I can’t think of a single example of a man being criticized for not wearing the right clothes, not being the right size or for possibly being manufactured by a record company. Look at everyone from Jay Z to Ziggy Stardust (Bowie’s manufactured alter-ego). They haven’t received the same backlash because they used to be plain, old Lizzie Grant from New York. It might seem incredibly cynical of me to blame the anti-Lana Del Rey movement on sexism within the industry, but it’s equally as naïve to assume that the sense of universal disdain Del Rey is prompting is due to a dislike of her music, when clearly her record sales and youtube viewing figures can’t be based on her infamy alone. 

  
It is not a prerequisite of pop music to be original or to be authentic. Part of the attraction of pop is a chance to escape from reality, to be taken in by a persona. As Sasha Frere-Jones eloquently put it in the New Yorker “why is pop music the only art form that still inspires such arrantly stupid discussion?” The obsession which grips the music media is unconstructive to not only assessing the music, but upholding these pop stars as role models.

It is time to end the blatant objectification and unfair criticism of women in the music industry. People who have been criticising Lana Del Rey for being manufactured and unnatural should maybe consider a world where women weren’t targeted with abuse because of the way they portrayed themselves in the media light. Maybe in that world we would see more female pop stars willing to be themselves instead of hiding behind the mask they are criticised of wearing. 

Jessy Parker

January Round Up

As starts of years go, 2012 has started with a bang in the musical world.


 

January saw some major shifts in the ways people listen to music, with the proposals of US congressional bills SOPA and PIPA dedicated to eradicating internet pirates illegally uploading copyrighted material, which in fact threatened to damage blog and mixtape culture significantly. Luckily the act wasn't passed, but the removal of major file-sharing site Megaupload came as a shock to the system.


The internet also received (and continues to receive) significant backlash over the hyping of one Lana Del Rey. It's been well documented, the sudden rise of signature track Video Games leading to slanderous comments on Lizzie Grant's image, background and her less than thrilling Saturday Night Live performance. If anything, this shows how powerful the internet has become with influence over new artists, Lana Del Rey acting as an unwilling puppet to demonstrate the brutal nature of the modern hype machine. 

Elsewhere, legendary singer Etta James saddened many with her passing, Michael Stipe of REM kicked up a fuss about Youtube's removal of the tastefully homo-erotic Perfume Genius album promo, Michael Kiwanuka surprised many by scooping the BBC's sound of 2012 poll giving hope for boring lounge music everywhere and Disney got hipsters hot and bothered over a badly judged Joy Division t-shirt.


In terms of album releases January hasn't been too shabby either. Here are some choice picks we at Sound Influx have been particularly enjoying:

The Maccabees - Given to the Wild 
"This should be the album that catapults The Maccabees to greater things, whether it’s higher chart placements or bigger festival crowds, it will guarantee one thing; more fans of this beautiful music."
Check out Calum Stephen's full 9/10 review here




Islet - Illuminated People 
"But for all its failures, Illuminated People remains a ferociously sturdy and confident debut, because it isn’t really a debut at all, it’s the logical next step in Islet’s story. And that’s the album in a nutshell, a ball of frenetic contradictions and clashing ideas. This isn’t the first message to the world, this is them having a shot at mass communication and telling people to get ready, because no-one knows where they’ll go next, not even themselves."
See Ned Powley's full 8/10 review here


Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
 "Already developing into a major artist on the strength of her first two singles alone, Born To Die will push her further into the spotlight. The only question is whether she’ll thrive or squint her eyes and hope for a moment of darkness."
Read Aurora Mitchell's 8/10 review here



Howler - America Give Up
"Howler have crafted a very promising record, which will no doubt strike a chord with many due it's undeniable sense of fun and Jordan's witty and wholly likeable lyrics and personality. Howler have dealt with the threat of hype impeccably and the Rough Trade signed band are certainly worth investigating."
 Read Toby McCarron's full review here


Roll on February!


By Toby McCarron

Lana Del Rey - Born To Die

'I would wait a million years’ Del Rey said on Blue Jeans. It feels like we’ve been waiting about that long for Born To Die since the hype machine churned out story after story, both degrading and heralding the 25 year old New Yorker about the longevity of her music and her physical attributes, but that’s another story. Pouting her way through live performances and interviews, she owns the most talked about lips this year and plays up to the whole doe-eyed innocent act which has made people fall in love with her and appeared on so many magazine covers already in 2012. Labeling her music at the start ‘Hollywood sadcore’, Video Games certainly adhered to this with spliced footage of old Hollywood and her emotive vocals. Ever since its release, there’s been constant talk about whether the album will live up to one of the best songs of 2011.

Perhaps to please fans, the first five tracks of Born To Die are ones we’re already familiar with. Whilst Off To The Races, Born To Die, Blue Jeans and Video Games stay untarnished, Diet Mtn Dew receives some production adjustments; sprinting through the song and giving it a rather callous nature as the intro is a chorus of discordant vocals that sound as pleasant as nails down a chalk board. More often than not, artists tamper with perfectly good songs, make a right mess and end up with something less aurally pleasing than they started with. Although, there’s no doubt that standing alone, these are strong songs but hearing them together consolidates just why Lana Del Rey has become so popular over the past few months.

Standout ‘National Anthem’ incorporates the two styles Del Rey switches between for a patriotic anthem. Many photographs of Lana Del Rey show her flaunting her patriotic nature, whether that is by saluting in front of the American flag or wearing a baggy sweater with the American flag on it so it was only a matter of time until she transferred this into song. You can hear the 4^th of July fireworks fizzling and crackling in the background as the sweeping violins, that sound eerily close to those on The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony, foreground and then quickly switch to a hip hop beat as Lana half raps, half sings, reminding us that she ‘grew on hip hop’. She epitomizes the corruption of the American Dream as she asks ‘Money is the anthem of success/so before we go out, what’s your address?’ hinting that where you come from reflects on your wealth. What on the surface is a catchy ode to America is actually rich with dark and sexual themes. The subject of money and sex having a close relationship is also the clearest here as she sings ‘Money is the anthem/God you’re so handsome’

In the second half, Lana swaps chiming orchestral elements for brash drums and high pitched bratty pop vocals. As a whole, Born To Die has an early ’00 pop vibe to it and parts sound like a mix between Nelly Furtado and Gwen Stefani but unmistakably there are resemblances to older artists such as Nancy Sinatra and the cartoon Jessica Rabbit. There are a lot of points on the album where the instrumental sounds borrowed but you can expect that from any pop album nowadays. Already developing into a major artist on the strength of her first two singles alone, Born To Die will push her further into the spotlight. The only question is whether she’ll thrive or squint her eyes and hope for a moment of darkness.

8/10

By Aurora Mitchell

Lana Del Rey - Off To The Races

In the lead up to Lana Del Rey’s debut full length ‘Born To Die’, she has released Off To The Races as a free single on iTunes. Following in the footsteps of the likes of Drake who released free tracks before the release of Take Care, it’s becoming clear that you can achieve success as an artist and in The Weeknd’s case, his whole career has been based upon the release of his trilogy of mixtapes that have set him up to be the next big thing.

With the huge success of ‘Video Games’, everyone’s breath is baited for each step Del Rey makes in her path to success. ‘Off To The Races’ is an entire world away from the aforementioned hit and takes a dominating role instead of commenting from a sulky corner of the room. As usual, she lets her male subjects take the spotlight as Del Rey quickly comments that ‘He has me by my heart’. But instead of indulging in 5 minutes of sad musings, she turns on a fiery edge as the vocals are harsh, a contrast to the doe-eyed innocence that she switches to for the chorus. ‘Off To The Races’ takes it up-tempo with a heavily produced drum machine beat but keeps the atmospheric orchestral undertones that have taken a more central role in previous songs. It’s beyond the stage of speculation on plastic surgery, her previous music venture and whether her career is PR fuelled and has turned into genuine adoration from fans and a heavy weight of expectation for her debut since there are many who would be happy to watch her fall flat. 

By Aurora Mitchell

UK Top 40 watch - Edition #1 (Lana Del Rey, LMFAO & Rihanna)

The UK top 40, the beacon of glory all budding pop artists and bands dream of penetrating. The top 40 acts as a comprehensive check on the public's musical purchases, and is traditionally the place to find all the hottest sounds. Well, not so much any more.  In a time with more musical genres and sub-cultures than ever before, the top 40 is less of a consensus for the masses than a representation of those who download things on itunes (because lets face it, sales of CD singles are hardly breaking the banks) and generally, the stuff people buy on itunes is absolute crap.

Although we at Sound Influx like to focus on the more 'alternative' side to music, this new feature will help navigate you through the myriad of shit in the top 40, critiquing the bad stuff and shedding light on the songs that are actually listenable and hell, maybe even pretty good.

Best Song Of The Week:

Lana Del Rey - Video Games

 

No doubt probably 2011's most talked about song, is riding high in the charts at number 13 as it damn well deserves to be. In writing this I'm very much mirroring the praises of many before me, but the fact is Video Games is such a beautiful anomaly in a chart full of cretins like The Wanted. Unlike many modern pop songs, it has lyrical and musical substance, any listener can immediately feel the emotion Lizzie Grant exudes as she coos in her soon to be trademark sultry tone "It's you, it's you, it's all for you, everything I do, I tell you all the time heaven is a place on earth with you". Grant's vocals have a remarkable ability to not become grating after repeated listens (unlike female pop contemporaries Florence & Adele) which is an impressive achievement indeed. It is a song of such sweeping and utter devotion, which will be treasured for a long time to come.

Worst Song Of The Week:
LMFAO - Sexy and I Know It

'Party Rock Anthem' wasn't too bad. The processed beeping present on nearly every modern floor-filler was present, but managed to be uplifting in small doses and taken generally in good humour, I mean they must know their music is a bit of a joke, their name is LMFAO for christ's sake. 'Sexy and I Know It' isn't a massive shift in sound, but it does certainly feel like the joke is getting old. Essentially it sounds like a couple of frat-boy tools attempting to impress girls (who they would most likely refer to as 'bitches' or 'honeys' as many morons do) with a series of hollow boasts over the top of the most basic and drab club synths. The lyrics could have been written by a horny 12 year old boy "Girl look at that body, I work out!" and nearly all of them would make anyone with any sort of taste or decency cringe so much their neck collapses. A few years ago LMFAO would probably be a one-hit wonder, but unfortunately their ringtone happy fans seem to be genuinely buying into it. But for those of us maintaining a degree of sanity, AVOID LMFAO AT ALL COSTS.

The current number 1:
Rihanna - We Found Love

I have to admit, Rihanna is one of my guilty pleasures. With Lady Gaga and Beyoncé both releasing records this year about as memorable as Joe McElderry's pop career, Rihanna is surely by default the new queen of pop (I mean it's hardly ke$ha is it?). However Rihanna has more claim to being queen bee than just being more tolerable than the others, she's actually got tons of super catchy mega-hits under her belt and probably many more to come. 'We Found Love' then isn't her best, but has the kind of chorus you think nothing of at first but cant help humming to yourself the next day. The real testament to Rihanna's power here though, is that having Calvin Harris on the song doesn't completely ruin it. The instrumental to the song isn't the most notable, but this allows Rihanna to fully take flight and stamp her sassy romantic story-telling all over the track as she wails "We found love in a hopeless place" over and over. It's perhaps not deserving of the number 1 slot, but certaintly isn't a bad song, and will no doubt get many a fan's hunger for forthcoming album 'Talk That Talk' palpable.

By Toby McCarron

Bands to look out for #11

Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey has the spirit of an old Hollywood star in the aftermath of their fame but with modern narcissism.  She has aptly named her music 'Hollywood sadcore' and you could argue that there's a pretentious air about her for creating yet another sub genre for blogs to go crazy about. Her debut single 'Video Games' romanticises about celebrity life but in an old fashioned way which reflects in the video, which includes many clips of events including an Oscars after party, depicting a woman stumbling around drunk which sums up the whole song. This nasally lament puts Lana Del Rey into a good position where the likes of Adele and Florence have been blocking up the charts with their whiney and over reheased voices. It's rare that you find a voice as raw and powerful that has the ability to capture your heart and spit it out in the same song. You can tell she knows she has talent so it's just as well people agree with her. This one's for the bitter women sat with a cigarette in one hand and a stale glass of gin in the other.  Debut single Video Games is out October 16 on Stranger Records
http://www.facebook.com/lanadelrey

By Aurora Mitchell