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

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