The Reluctant Whore

I have multiple deadlines and am under weird pressure and therefore I'm finding it difficult to get everything done and so blog posts this week are less than they should be. Regardless, Xavier Smith pointed out Janelle Monae to me and I thankfully listened to her. That managed to pluck me at least partially from the quagmire of inefficiency. This is “Many Moons”. She seems like blending of Outkast, Gwen Stefani, Grace Jones, and The Cocteau Twins. Maybe a little of "The Avengers" too. Sort of in the tradition of Lady Gaga’s high concept persona based pop even though I wouldn’t credit Gaga with having invented it or anything, really. I still don't quite get what Gaga is about. She's all so vague and "Fashion", "Fame", "internal", "external", multi-media metanarrative with three props and some severe hair. Monae seems like she’s got this delightful, 60s Mod brightness juxtaposed against a visceral involvement with the music.


Also, here’s new music by The Killers, “Human”.

I had their all their albums and the last one, Sam’s Town, despite all critical failure, inspired me to go to South America for some reason. I think because of the music video to “When You Were Young”. I was watching TV late at night with my boyfriend at the time, David, and it really amazed me. There was something attractive about the setting for that piece compared with New York’s hyper-urbanity. We went to Venezuela and on New Year’s Eve of 2006 I found myself isolated on an island located four hours into the Amazon jungle, and 15 minutes on a boat away from the shore, at the base of the Andes with no internet, no phone; alone with someone who wanted to kill me and I was never quite sure why. Maybe I won’t take any more cues from The Killers. This song seems geared toward being remixed for greater play in clubs. Whatever, something’s got to keep Brandon Flowers in coke and whores.