don't be jealous because i'm infamous..

the video has already received almost 8million hits on the youtubes with thanks from shows like the ringer and gossip girl featuring it on their soundtracks or in current episodes.  i love the feel of the vid, it’s very silicon valley of the dolls in the way it mashes up stock footage of photogs from the fifties and sixties with ipod billboards and skateboards.  lana (nee elizabeth grant) may be a year younger than me, but she has the voice and aesthetic of someone much older.  check out the video here:

controversy:  for those of you who are still reading, my guess is it’s because you wanted me to talk about the controversy of this faux-indie artist that people are so up in arms about.  fine, i have neither the indie cred nor the indie-care about it but as with everything in my life, i do have an opinion.

note:  if you’d really like to hear solid arguments my friend and fellow lambda literary fellow tracy jean rosenthal has a great article on it over at good:  ‘why the indie world hates lana del rey’  please go read it for a well-thought-out discussion on the matter.

my thoughts:  one may argue that by having her sing a song about making her boyfriend happy with video games ‘the music machine’ has set her up to placate to the fantasy of dude-music bloggers everywhere.  speaking as a proud gay male blogger, the note she strikes with me has nothing to do with her lips or my desire to marry a sixties housewife.

seeing as she’s billed as a singer/songwriter i hope that she did in fact write these lyrics, but even if she didn’t they do strike a strong chord with me.  the idea of dating someone and being so wrapped up with them.  doing everything for them, just wanting them to be happy.  when i hear these lyrics i think of a couple, one of them playing a video game, the other just content to be next to them on the couch.

the indie scene, loves to make things popular just to turn their back on it the moment that they hear it on the radio.  the only thing most indie-identified music enthusiasts love to do more than say ‘i loved *insert indie band name here* before everyone else did’ is to say ‘i hated *insert sell-out indie band name here* before everyone else did.    the point of making music is to have people hear it.  one of the pleasant side-effects of people hearing and enjoying your music (or art) is that you make money.  you sell your music, you sell out venues and then the same people that made you famous call you a sell-out.

lyrics:

Open up a beer.  And you say get over here.  And play a video game.
I’m in his favorite sun dress.  Watching me get undressed.  Take that body downtown
I say you the bestest.  Lean in for a big kiss.  Put his favorite perfume on.
Go play a video game.
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.  Tell me all the things you want to do.  I heard that you like the bad girls.  Honey, is that true?.  It’s better than I ever even knew.  They say that the world was built for two.  Only worth living if somebody is loving you.  Baby now you do.

it’s no small wonder that i’m a big fan of marriage equality, but when you see a video like this, it really highlights the hypocrisy of not allowing two adults to marry, regardless of sex or gender identity.

(side note:  the significant other ‘paul’ we can see through most of the video looks a lot like my friend and fellow lambda literary writing fellow Johnathan Wilber  .  this past summer at the lambda literary writer’s retreat i got to hear first hand his new work (an inventive retelling of the dracula myth set during the 80′s at the onset of the aids epidemic))

Johnathan has a book out on amazon called ‘out beelzebub’ which is a “rollicking farcical thriller that is sure to appeal to sexual deviants.”  it’s on my kindle and it should be on yours.

E.g.:
“It was occupied by the set up to a joke: a nerdy Asian; one cool, nerdy Asian; a stoner; and a stoider are all eating breakfast when…”

E.g.:
“The guy could talk Shakespeare all day, couplets and sonnets at the ready. But put him on the stage, and suddenly he was shakesknees.”

E.g.:

“The coffee must have kicked in, because Lukas was now set to quote mode.”

E.g.:

“So what’s your new buttfriend’s name? Buttfriend–it’s what you guys call it, right?”

So, I’ve been in a bit of a music rut lately.  Frankly, I just haven’t had the time to look for music and not much has been catching my ears lately.  Well, hopefully that dry spell is over.  Sneaky Sound System is an Australian electro/pop duo consisting of Black Angus and Connie Mitchell.  I got the album a few weeks ago after reading the music roundup on Towleroad.  Finally today I loaded it onto my iphone.  I had a freak out dance party in my room by myself at about 8AM (I had just taken an Awake pill).   I walked to work instead of biking, because I wanted to listen to it–yeah.  And I’ve been listening to it between every podcast today (i.e. 4-5x).   My first reaction while listening to it (and this may be indicative of electronic music either rotting my brain or taking it to a whole new level) was that I liked their sounds.  I wish I had better words to describe electronic music, but essentially I just like the sounds.  Blip-bloop-bleep.  Their music seems to pull from multiple genres and I hear influences of disco, 80s electro, and contemporary house.  It’s bumpin’, but it won’t give you a headache.  Connie Mitchell is gorgeous and her outfits bright and sparkly, stimulating multiple senses.  The videos are fun and playful.  I’m currently tapping my foot and squirming in my seat finishing up this post.  Get your headphones and have at it.

The video for We Love kind of reminds me of a downtempo Benassi-Prydz hybrid.

E.g.:
“Huntar hadn’t figured Sebastien to be a moped type; in Huntar’s mind they were reserved for lazy jerseys and the girls that chased them.”

-to have only one’s splayed feet and ankles visible with the rest of the body hidden, usually lying down.  Neologism from the Wicked Witch of the East.

E.g.:
“Up ahead he noticed a pair of feet east-witching out from under a bush.”