Tag Archives: music

Lana Del Rey’s New Pre-Video Video & Commentary

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I recently had an email discussion with one of my favorite AfterEllen readers regarding the origins of Lana Del Rey (née Lizzy Wright) and my self-imposed restrictions when it comes to checking out her previous music. As much as I would like to say I am not a judgmental person, I know that I would be full of shit – particularly when it comes to music. So, I refuse to seek out the music she put out under her previous name because I don’t want it to ruin the way I feel about what she is putting out now. In other words, Lizzy Wright is dead to me and Lana Del Rey is a new artist on the rise whose lyrics are sometimes totally shit but whose voice and choruses have a tight grip on my ears and, most times, heartstrings.

Her latest video release is a placeholder for the actual music video “Born to Die”, and is the title track to her upcoming album “debut”. My eyes can’t stare at one thing for too long without getting bored so 30 seconds into topless Lana being held by a tatted dude in front of a waving American flag, I let my eyes leave the page but continued listening. It’s no “Blue Jeans“, but it will definitely do the trick and I hope some of the pitchfork-wielding internet users will be able to see past her collagen-enhanced lips and name change and just pay attention to the music she is putting out.

I challenge anyone to a duel who can listen to this live performance and tell me she isn’t extremely talented.

Props to Stereogum for their great video/LDR-haters write-up.

“Enough Thunder” or “How James Blake Made Me Want to Sob”

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I am naturally inclined to listen to female vocalists but as of late have been drawn to an incredible crop of men who can emote with the power of ten women PMSing while watching Beaches. James Blake is one of these gems and, sadly, it’s taken me until now to start listening to his music. Maybe it was for the best as his music is really better listened to when you aren’t in the mood to play outside.

I Finally Made A New Couch to 5K Podcast! Week 4 Version 3 Is Ready For Download

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I’ve been a bad podcaster lately and for that I apologize. Life, ya know? Totally gets in the way a lot of the time. You may ask, “Mia, have you figured out what you want to be when you grow up since you’ve been ‘so busy’ with your time?”. Sadly, the answer is still no but only because there are even more things I want to do now than I did in the past. In fact, I’m pretty sure I can add “Super Sleuth” to possible future professions thanks to my desire to hunt down and kick the shit out of the assholes who have repeatedly used my stolen identity information to open up credit lines in my name regardless of there being fraud flags listed on my social security number. I’m fairly certain I’ve tracked one of the offenders down – now it’s up to the respective fraud agencies to see if they want to go after them.

This has also made me want to speak with someone in the government about doing a better job of protecting consumers. Considering the technology available these days, I find it very hard to believe it’s too difficult for any companies handing out credit to figure out whether someone is using a child’s social security number in order to get a credit card. I also think it’s ridiculous that grocery stores are able to scan your driver’s license to make sure it’s valid and you are of age, but other retailers don’t have the same scanners to ensure someone maxing out the credit card they just applied for is who they say they are. Who do I speak to about this?

Ok, I know, I’ll get off of my soap box for now and just give you the goods you’ve been patiently waiting for. Without further ado, here is week 4 version 3 of the Chubby Jones Couch to 5k Podcast (now brought to you in Soundcloud form, so just click the downward arrow to get it to your desktop):

This interval features the following bands:

No Surrender – “Young World”

Grace Jones – “Painted Eyes”

Grace Jones – “William’s Blood” (Aeroplane Remix)

Destructo – “Technology”

Boy – “To The Sea”

TOA – “Magic Fountain” (New Wave Acid Remix)

Katy B – “Lights On” (Gigamesh Remix)

The Ghost of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez Lives With Us

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Mah boo and I have both felt as though we were in tune with some supernatural forces from the time we were very young. For me, it’s usually been dreaming about scenarios and conversations that would eventually take place pretty much verbatim. It’s always kind of freaked me out because I never know which of my dreams will end up taking place in reality, but thankfully it doesn’t happen often enough to where I start pimping my services out on a bad daytime talk show.

This morning, for no reason at all, I woke up at 5:30 with TLC’s song and video for “Unpretty” in my head and it wouldn’t leave. The part of the video that kept repeating in my head was when Left Eye started doing the sign language for their lyrics. When MB (mah boo) got up at 6:30, she looked at me and said, “For some reason I have that ‘Waterfalls’ song in my head.” So…I think it’s totally reasonable to assume that the ghost of TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye Lopez” is hanging out in our condo. Of all the ghosts that could be hanging out here, I guess she’s a pretty good one as long as she stays away from our fireplace.

Speaking of “Unpretty”, that’s a tough look Mel C. Tough. Look.

On another weird note, when I went looking for a picture of Left Eye, I found that there are a lot of people who think her death had something to do with the Illuminati. Should I take cover?

Mood Music

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As I’m waiting impatiently to receive the “yay” or “nay” phone call from the company I am most excited about working for, I have realized just how stressful all of this really is. The idea of not having a full time job with benefits lined up has turned me into one seriously crazy bitch. The worst feeling: I can’t seem to stop myself.

Every time the phone rings or every time I see the little email wheel spinning to tell me I might be getting a new message, my stomach does flips until I see the phone call is a wrong number and the email is just the same press release I’ve gotten three times over each day for the past week. Needless to say, my usual smile and laugh has been replaced with some minor doom and gloom but some major growls.

Peggy SuePeggy Sue (formerly Peggy Sue and the Pirates) have an album dropping today, Acrobats (stream at Spinner), which suits my mood pretty well but also seems to match the vibes of some of the other artists I’ve been into lately, such as Radiation City and Dark Dark Dark. It is moody, yes, but not quite angry and not dark to the point of feeling as though all is lost.

I’ll enjoy this for now, but I’m really looking forward to when I can comfortably be happy singing “All I Want for Christmas is You” again.

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