Earworm of the Day: Patrick Wolf - "Born to Die"

As part of a promotion for his new album, Sundark and Riverlight, Patrick Wolf released this cover of Lana Del Rey's 'Born to Die." Normally I hate women's songs re-imagined by men, but I was really excited to see this pop up on my Tumblr dash.

Lupercalia's Underrated Genius

I have a love/hate relationship with all things listical. I'm weirdly addicted to categorizing and cataloging the best of the best, but as the cries of "Hey, you left out my favorite (book, movie, album, insert-you-own-medium here) get louder, I tune out.

Yeah, I wasn't planning on counting down my favorite albums. For one thing, as I get older, more things fly under my radar. I'm okay with that, really. I'm okay with irrelevance in general. Plus I see nothing wrong with being a person in her late-thirties who has the taste of someone in her late thirties. The Keshas, the Katys and the Gucci Guccis mean nothing to me. However, there were a handful of good -- nay great -- records that held my short attention span for most of the year. Since it was one of my most anticipated, I'll start with Patrick Wolf's Lupercalia.

I've been pretty surprised at the lack of attention Lupercalia has gotten. Wolf's been a bit of a critic's darling in the past, but his latest record was pretty much ignored by critics and the music listening public at large. Admittedly, Patrick's music was a hard sell for me at first, and I stand by what I said earlier this year:

If you were to described Patrick Wolf's music to me -- a mix of electronic, pop, and folk paired with earnest, sometimes brutally earnest, lyrics and a predilection for the flotsam of 80s glam -- I'd say, "No thanks. I think I'll pass,"

But that's the beauty his music, Lupercalia in particular. It's redolent of the pop music I grew up with in the 80s, but without a trace of irony. In theory, I shouldn't like it. The shimmery pop/glam sound mixed with the earnest lyrics shouldn't work, but it does, perfectly.

Rewind: Patrick Wolf - Lycanthropy

If you were to described Patrick Wolf's music to me -- a mix of electronic, pop, and folk paired with earnest, sometimes brutally earnest, lyrics and a predilection for the flotsam of 80s glam* -- I'd say, "No thanks. I think I'll pass," but I was sold on the single "Accident & Emergency " a few years ago and haven't looked back. His latest album, Lupercalia, has been in heavy rotation on my iPod since early summer, but his debut, Lycanthropy , I'll admit, was a much harder sell.

I have this habit of walking backwards through an artist's career, latching on to a later record, deeming it "the definitive," when in reality, it's often the result of years of stylistic experimentation, especially when the debut was recorded while the artist was still so young. Lycanthropy's precociousness is overshadowed by its standout songs, period. (Full disclosure: I'm a full decade older than Wolf, making it impossible for me to see hims as something other than a "young" artist, particularly when listening to this album, which was recorded when he was barely out of his teens.)

"The Childcatcher" is one of those songs that makes you stop and catch your breath when its over. I don't want to label someone else's experience, but the lyrics are terrifying. In his words:

It was a certain relationship, I was 15 at the time but I was still a child. It wasn’t like I was 6-years-old, I was 15. I was still mentally a child and the person knew I was still mentally a child. It’s hard to communicate at the time because it’s like a complicated thing, but maybe put it into the context of a child being eight-years-old or seven-years-old; it was an easy way of communicating what was actually happening. But then there’s also the other side that five years later, like 19 I wrote the second part where it comes in with the voice of the person who did the abuse, and it turns out ‘Oh come on, you know, it wasn’t so much an abuse, maybe you just weren’t ready for it. Maybe you enjoyed it? (source )"

 

*How I'd describe it.

Links & Bits: 7/15/11

Arwyn from Raising My Boychick has a letter for Erica Jong.

The Singles Jukebox discusses Patrick Wolf's single, House.

Colorlines introduces us to eight openly queer rappers.

R.I.P. Rilo Kiley

From Racialicious: Who get's to be "mixed race?"

NPR's All Songs Considered asks, "Which songs make you cry?"

Patrick Wolf Continues to Tempt Us With Videos from His Upcoming Album

The US release of Lupercalia, Patrick Wolf's fifth studio album, isn't for another month, but the singer-songwriter has been steadily releasing videos for "The City," "Time of my Life," and now, "House":



Emily Manuel for Tiger Beatdown dissected some of theses new songs in a post titled, "Taking Liberties With Patrick Wolf ." It's definitely worth the full read, but here's an excerpt:

Where pop narratives more usually refer to obstacles like parents or spouses, Wolf takes the unusual tack of seeing the city itself as an antagonist to relationships. When I interviewed him recently for Billboard, he clarified that the song was a response to the recession, and seeing friends of his re-evaluate their relationships for financial reasons.

I'm really looking forward to the new record, but I could have easily written Patrick Wolf off as guilty pleasure -- except he's far too talented for that. What officially sold me on his magic was "Accident and Emergency,," a song that is by turns self-destructive and uplifting. Sick Mouthy  had another take on why a lot of people are reluctant to embrace Patrick Wolf as a serious artist:

Throughout all the music Patrick Wolf has released so far in his career (four albums with one due soon, and he’s not yet 28), there’s a musicality, a fluidity, a grace, and a melodicism to his songwriting that, for me, would transcend all the electronic splurges, the flamboyant showboating, the love of drama and poetry and passionate commitment to his art that might seem to others to be narcissism, if all those seeming pejoratives weren’t actually just as much a part of the attraction.

As a jaded, aging member of generation-x, his brand of pop/electronic/folk initially confused  me. There's a self-seriousness there, in addition to the flashiness,  that would really be off-putting if he weren't so good at what he does. And at times he does seem to be blatantly repurposing the sound of my generation's electronic pop, and doing it without a shred of irony. As someone who came of age with that music, and the backlash that followed it, that's just... weird. But I like it.

Links & Bits for 3/25/11

Why We Love......Dolly Parton (I Fry Mine In Butter)

Man, what’s not to love about Dolly? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again until I’m blue in the face, I think that Dolly Parton is The Great American Songwriter. No offense to Willie, Bruce, Woody, Bob, Joni, Hank, Jon and Exene, but when I think of great artists with a capital A, I think of people who can communicate every facet of being a human being.

Jay Smooth gives Chris Brown a history lesson (video)

Why does everyone hate Patrick Wolf? (Sick Mouthy)

Maybe it’s that people are still scared of homosexuality, especially when it’s not manifested within strictly delineated and accepted paths. Homosexuality manifested as flamboyant camp is perhaps acceptable when it’s delivered with an undertone of impotence (and thus safety), but it petrifies when the voice is deep and the stride long.

Also, two posts that address the lack of women and people of color in Bravo's Top Chef finale from Post Bourgie and Shakesville. On the accusations of sexism,  Shakesville's Melissa McEwan sums it up:

The consistency with which men on the show who break the rules are lauded as rebels and the women who break the rules are scolded as not understanding the challenge is really getting old.

Colicchio says there's no sexism on the show, and most of the contestants agree, but there is absolutely a covert double-standard that routinely results in women getting eliminated. Men are rewarded for creativity; women are rewarded for compliance.

And on a show where creativity wins, not compliance, it's no fucking wonder there's only been one female winner.