Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

The American art-pop singer Lana Del Rey (real name: Elizabeth Woolridge Grant) has fashioned a form of dream pop that has been described as “beach noir” and “Hollywood sadcore”, painting hazy pictures of a Southern California that is as seamy as it is steamy, backed by mood music that is sometimes orchestral, sometimes languid, always cinematic. She has also crafted an image of herself as a contemporary tragic icon, a sort of modern-day Marilyn Monroe, and uses symbols of Americana in her lyrics and visuals to add flavor to her often sordid tales of troubled young women who seek out relationships with unsavory men. As of this writing, the singer is showing signs of a stylistic shift towards more commercial terrain with her 2017 album Lust For Life , but I’ll leave it to others to discuss that. I’m here to talk about her rare self-titled digital album from 2010, which predated her official 2012 debut album Born To Die . This album, titled Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant , was available...

The 32nd set of exclusive vinyl items offered to Platinum members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in June of 2017. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, who is the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and is now a solo artist as well. The Vault service promises to deliver exclusive vinyl-only records (one full-length album and one 7” single) to its Platinum members every three months. The 32nd Vault package featured three items by the Dead Weather, the Goth-rock band consisting of Jack White on drums, Alison Mosshart (from the Kills) on lead vocals, Dean Fertita (from Queens Of The Stone Age) on guitar and keyboards, and Jack Lawrence (from the Raconteurs and the Greenhornes) on bass. The package contains a 2-LP live album recorded in 2009, a DVD documenting the same concert, and a 7-inch single containing two songs from the band’s 2015 album Dodge And Burn . The live double-...