I Love LA - Starcrawler


"I Love LA" is a single off Starcrawler's upcoming titular debut album, Starcrawler, and if "I Love LA" is any indication of how Starcrawler shapes up, then I'm going to be the first to download it when it drops on January 19th of next year. From an aesthetic and visual perspective, based on this music video, I can see that these guys are wild, in your face, ebullient and must be a fun-ass time to see live, so I will also be hoping to see them live.

"I Love LA" is an ode-of some sort-to LA but not like Randy Newman's fantasy of Los Angeles in his, I Love L.A. Starcrawler takes a more grounded and satirical approach to the city, as if to say 'this place is shitty, but I love that it's shitty,' sort of deal. Although the lyrics to this song aren't anywhere to be found, I can still make out the verses, and the obvious "I Love LA" reprise. "Talking to a friend/who never want to come back again," or "living down here/cruisin' everywhere/ just to get into your nightmares," are a few instances where the love for LA is ironic as the negative connotation of talking to a friend who never wants to come back is a clear indication of satire, because not seeing your buddy obviously sucks. Cruisin' into nightmares also has not a positive outlook as you would want most to be in someone's dream, or be someone's dream, not their nightmare unless you hate the person which again, shows more of a dislike for LA and its citizens.

"I Love LA/I don't want to leave today," being the chorus is where the core of the irony lies as it proceeds after the aforementioned verses to re-instate the paradox of the song. The music video actually does an apt job in demonstrating this theme, as the beginning video shows the slow, tumultuous and heated wait for doughnuts due to an unorganized staff. The staff is clearly showing LA, due to the traffic and heat of frustration they create but when you wait long enough you can get your doughnut, but is that really worth it?

Apart from the visual point of view, the sound is pretty damn electric. It is in the vein of a pop-song; the bravado of the catchy "I Love LA," and the build-up of the beat to this chorus is pretty synonymous with elements of a pop-song. However, like Charly Bliss' "Scare U," "I Love LA" works, and it's damn good. It doesn't cop-out with the mix of optimism, simple imagery, and focus on the encroaching be, as most pop anthems contest to. The instrumentation is polished and extremely well-played, with a sick-ass guitar solo in the latter part of the song, but what distinguishes "I Love LA" as a solid pop-song is the presence of a legitimate theme, and that theme is well-executed. The rolling-eyes vocals, and aggressive 'whatever' style of the instruments show that ironic and satirical glamorization of LA quite clearly.

Don't forget, Starcrawler comes out January 19th through through Rough Trade Records, so you might want to jot that in your calendar because I have a feeling it's going to be tight. If you want some more information about Starcrawler, or want to buy some doughnuts or something, check out these following links:
https://www.facebook.com/starcrawlertheband/  https://www.instagram.com/starcrawler/  https://twitter.com/thestarcrawler
http://rtrecs.co/Starcrawler 

Comments

Post a Comment

Your Favorites

Sink into the Floor - Feng Suave

Image
"Sink into the Floor" is a groovy-ass tune off the Daniel duo's latest self-titled ep, Feng Suave , available now. To me, this song is so reminiscent of a bluesy, and psychedelic rock song that came out of the early 70's, with its soulful vocals and dreamy guitar licks. However, Feng Suave is not the only group producing such a blues-oriented sound today; another good example is Michael Kiwanuka and his recently released album, Love and Hate  who mixes influences of blues, soul and rock, much like Feng Suave. Nonetheless, this song is probably one of my favorite releases of this year thus far, rivaling the likes of " Garden Shed " by Tyler, the Creator, and that song was tiiight. The melodic, and melancholy guitar, sounds like the guitar is melting just as he's playing it, and the accompanying bass is a reverberating and psychedelic pulse that seems to blur the foundations of the song, making it seem like we are in a dream-like state. The drums c
Read more

Bad (feat. Flowdan) - The Bug

Image
Now this is some crazy nonsense, I think for the sake of crazy nonsense. "Bad" is a track off of The Bug's upcoming album Bad / Get Out The Way   to be released on November 17, 2017, and is a reggae-house endeavor that is just...well...it's strange. I came across "Bad" on bandcamp's  "new and notable" section, which was next to Angel Olsen 's Phases , a must-listen-to album, and I was just more or less intrigued with the cover art for Bad / Get Out The Way with no clue what the hell I was going to get into.  As I mentioned in my entry for Jawn Rice's " Messages of the Tribe ," I am not a huge fan of EDM or any house variation so I did not know who The Bug was prior to listening to this song, but I dig this. The song is literally called "Bad" and the track does a good job to communicate that theme, like "Messages of the Tribe," which is something that really is not too common in this genre. Usually
Read more

The Ten Undercover Best Songs of 2017

Image
Long time no see! I apologize for my absence it was as if the universe did not want me to contribute to the blog anymore. Finals came around and turned me into a zombie, my laptop suddenly stopped working, which took about two weeks to fix, but the icing on the cake was the concussion I suffered over the holiday season when a puck struck me in the head during practice. So, to make up for lost time, I thought do a post that is just fun for the whole family; a barrel of monkeys if you will. I decided to cover the ten undercover best songs of 2017 that you may have overlooked or had just gone unnoticed due to that damn top 40. You may also notice that most of these entries I had not even posted about, which is not to say that the songs I have been discussing have been bad, but they may been released prior to my blog's inception (and I try to keep these songs as recent as possible) or have slipped under my radar.  10. Ruru - There You Go                                        
Read more

Ten Undercover But Genius Lyrics

Image
While we can all sing along with our favorite songs, sometimes verbatim, there are a few lyrics that stand out to us so much that we know by heart, and are lyrics that we end up singing the loudest or on the toilet because it's inescapable. Some artists are gifted songwriters and lyricists and are able to evoke incredible and often palpable emotions be it with a single terse verse or with wordy and long collective lines and that diversity is definitely apparent in the following list. So here we go, ten genius undercover lyrics that we can't help but recite: 10.  "Jesus Christ" - Brand New "Jesus Christ, that's a pretty face" Upon reading the opening line from what is arguably Brand New's best song, you wouldn't think anything of it in terms of evocation as it simply is a commentary on a person's face. However, when listening you have an entirely different frame of reference aside from its literal meaning. Instead of the indicati
Read more