Help, I'm Alive!

Here's a Halloween-inspired mix with the creepy, crawling, and dangerous side of music.

Tracklisting:

1. Ghost Song - Best Friends Forever
2. Walk Like a Zombie - Horrorpops
3. Ghosts - Laura Marling
4. Scary Monsters - David Bowie
6. The Garden - Mirah
7. Monster Hospital - Metric
8. Chain Saw - the Ramones
9. Sighs - Goblin
10. Totale Paranoia - Prototypes
11. Les Feuilles Mortes - Iggy Pop
12. Skeletons - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
13. Ladykiller - Andrew Jackson Jihad

Download here!

Re-thinking “Born This Way”

 

It’s obvious from this blog, and my entries, that I am in fact a Lady Gaga fan. I’m admitting it straight out. That being said, I was definitely underwhelmed by her most recent album release. Where was the edgy, monster, ‘Bad Romance’ Gaga we’re all used to? So I listened to Born this Way, deemed it too poppy, and was prepared to set it aside.

 

Then I was reading the newspaper yesterday (there’s something about the physical reading of an actual paper newspaper that is so nice), and the Arts section featured a review. Curious, I read it, and not surprisingly it began with remarks on similarities between Gaga and Madonna … and David Bowie.  I can see her being musically and fashion-wise inspired by him, absolutely, but the reviewer picked up on something else.

 

“She refreshes her image at Internet speed. David Bowie developed a new guise for each album[...]” (source).

 

This seems to be the way to frame Born This Way. Not as a continuation and a progression of her past identity, but as a shape-shifting exploration of a whole new look and sound. And likely, if you’re not a fan of this Gaga, she’ll be revamped again within a couple of years. She’s not trying to create a totally coherent story or picture, but keeping an undertone similar while constantly changing the surface .

So, I think I’m going to like Born this Way, though I may not buy it. It’s not the Lady Gaga of the Fame Monster (my favourite), but another facet that is daring but still hopelessly pop-y. Can’t we enjoy this album the same way that we with a joyful grin, knowing that it is cheesy and not our style, enjoy Young Americans? Respectfully, I have to disagree with some reviews and take Born this Way to be liked and listened to for what it is, not pummeled for what it is not.

Leaked: JUDAS

If you’ve been reading, you know I’m fairly into Lady Gaga. She’s one of my current favourites, for the Fame Monster album at least though I’m not sure yet about Born This Way. Her video for JUDAS just leaked.

 

 

My first impressions:

• Love her eye makeup in most of the looks in this video
• Not big on the Kiki Kannibal style at the end
• The choreography in here is unfortunately weak, I was disappointed in that
• But, it is very visually pleasing and interesting

Verdict: Not her best video by far, but I don’t hate it.

 

What’s your first impression from this video? Are you a Lady Gaga fan? Does this video change how you view her / her music?

I’m Not A Big Decemberists Fan, but

 

 

this song is nearly perfect.

Thanks to Last.fm

My Top 10 Artists of 2010
1. Lady Gaga
2. Andrew Bird
3. David Bowie
4. Iggy Pop
5. M.I.A.
6. Ke$ha
7. Katy Perry
8. Rilo Kiley
9. Regina Spektor
10. ORCHESTRA de NODAME
11. 木村カエラ

My Top 10 Tracks of 2010
1. Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
2. Lady Gaga – [BONUS] Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) (Electric Piano & Human Beat Box Version)
3. Katy Perry – Teenage Dream
4. Beyoncé – Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix)
5. Lady Gaga – Dance In The Dark
6. Katy Perry – California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg)
7. Andrew Bird – Imitosis
8. Ke$ha – Your Love Is My Drug
9. Bikini Kill – Rebel Girl
10. Lady Gaga – Speechless

iggy pop is sad sometimes too

 

So check these songs out when you need to sulk a little.

 

 

 

Iggy Pop – American Caesar (Album)

Garage Glamorous

Warning: Spoilers for ‘the Monster Ball’ below.


Yes, Thursday night I saw Stefani Germanotta in concert. I went, by myself, with my $85+fees ticket, amidst the crowds of tweens with lightning bolds and crazily dressed up gaga-imitations.

And it was great.

I can’t tell you enough how much this made me love Gaga as a person as well as an artist – she had many short monologues throughout the concert, and they were pretty damn meaningful. She’s not the messiah, but she’s amazing. If I remember the tracklist correctly, she played all the song off both her first and second albums (not any bonus songs from Disco Heaven), and one song from her upcoming release.

I wore a gold brocade blazer, wooden cross necklace, white tank, black pencil skirt, headband bow, zipper earrings, and a pair of red faux-snakeskin heels.


Here are some of the better pictures I took:

\

[all (c) me 2010]

If you ever get the chance to see this woman perform, don’t pass it up.

Lady Gaga / Metal

 

 

I’m seeing this free bitch on Thursday night.

one song, two ways.

I almost ALWAYS am singing this song in my head. Just, you know.

Love This

5 reasons to hate ‘glee’ .. and 5 reasons to love it

1. Irrealism: High school isn’t like this. Everyone in the glee club is easily 23+. Campy, campy, campy.
2. Ignoring Non-white characters: Mercedes is the typical ‘loud, sassy, black diva’ character, Tina is the mostly reclusive asian, and Santana is a womanizer. Notably, none of the POC on the show get much for storylines.
3. Rachel and Finn: get 99% of the storyline time/song leads/solos. Sorry, you’re funny and sweet and your characters have stories but FOR GOD’S SAKE LET SOMEONE ELSE SING SOMETIMES.
4. Sue Sylvester: even though she’s a mean nasty character, is still promoting close-mindedness and transphobia very often.
5. Will is not sexy. And he was way physically rough on Teri during their last fight.

 GLEE-less or GLEE-full? 

1. Sue Sylvester: Here’s the double-edged sword. Sue is hilarious, sarcastic, and probably would be the most fun character to play if you were an actor.
2. Kurt’s dad: coming to terms with and defending his son’s sexual orientation, he’s already made a few touching speeches throughout the season.
3. Not only showtunes, but re-done pop songs. Need I say more?
4. Glee is still pretty progressive. It’s dealt with a lot of issues – drugs, safer sex, sexual orientation – that many ‘teen’ focused shows still do not. That being said, I hope we’ll see it become more progressive in the future.
5.Every episode leaves you feeling good afterwards, at least mostly. And, I just love it.

My verdict: Glee passes. Maybe just a B-, but a pass.
Readers: What do you think of Glee?

M.I.A.’s new single ‘born free’

Specifically, the video. Short film, a collaboration between M.I.A. and Romain Gavras. Amazing. Warning: It is NSFW and contains graphic violence.
 
View the full video here
This video reminds us about the treatment of minorities by subbing in red-haired caucasian folks instead of PoC: society has become far too complacent and desensitized to images of people of colour being treated harshly, tortured, killed by Western forces of one sort or another.

This is one of the reasons – perhaps THE reason – why M.I.A. is always on my radar. She is unwaveringly politically-oriented in not only her personal life, but in her music.

For my readers: What do you think about mixing politics/music?

My Conversion to a Black Metal Fan

Last night, I went to my first black metal concert.
I haven’t been to a proper metal show since high school, and that was only with some local crappy bands in my small town. All I can remember about the bands is that one of them had a song called “Ship of Flesh”.

Behemoth is based around the Nietzschean idea that after the (conceptual) death of God, you yourself must become God. Their music was loud, harsh, melodic. The guitarist and bassist headbanged constantly, and their hair swirled around in perfect syncopation.



Drinks were expensive, but aren’t they always? I sipped on vodka-crans. Shining didn't come, a couple of crappy local bands opened instead. There were a lot of "try-too-hard" people in the audience. Behemoth played several songs from their newest album, and a few from earlier ones. They ripped a bible in half and threw it in the audience.

When it comes to the nitty gritty, I had a good time. I'm definitely not anti-Christian, but the imagery and ideas of this music are interesting.

This is going on my download list!

opera is badass

OPERA IS A BADASS TRADITION

So over the summer I watched this:








and also read this:






Now, I've always thought opera to be a bit hoity-toity, even though I did own 'Journey Through the Magic Flute' as a child. And loved the Queen of the Night. My father owned a 3- or 4-CD set of Carmen.





However, I think I've gotten over this. I'm already the kind of person who tries to find some deeper meaning in music (oh David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Rachael Yamagata). Whereas Amadeus may strike some as philosophical, it's still about opera. And that book, well, it's about a crazy old Danish lesbian opera writer. Judge it for yourself.



So opera may be a bit hoity-toity - it's the uppity big sister of the Broadway musical. But you can't deny the drama, action, and just crazy shenanigans that go on. We all saw the Bugs Bunny version of the Barber of Seville, so damned if it's not funny! Even one of my favourite contemporary artists, Rufus Wainwright, has created an opera!



That being said, I decline my former title of opera-is-too-high-class-for-me, and have started attempting to download mp3 versions of Mozart and Puccini, among others. Too many files in FLAC!

Where do you classical/opera nuts get your music?