Lana Del Ray. Captivating.
Performing her single Video Games on Later Live with Jools Holland last Tuesday evening, the “internet sensation” stole the show. Forget Later Live… Five Minutes With Ms Del Rey would have been a more appropriate programme billing. Lana’s ballad leaves me almost as spellbound as Adele’s spine-tingling performance of Someone Like You on the Brits.
Resisting the initial compulsive urge to switch off, the melancholic piano keys lure me in. Something about the young New York girl in the white dress and heels is simply fascinating. Her mysterious voice, cute facial expressions and delicate swaying are transfixing. On a par with Marilyn Monroe? You decide. I confess that I am glued tighter to my sofa than Derren Brown ever promised with his hypnotic methods. My finger hovering over the remote’s off button has gone numb, my mouth agog. I know I just witnessed something special.
“They say that the world was built for two”. How I would love to meet her.
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Ther. Theryy. Thoros… Excuse me, where was I? Oh yes, half-way through a programme review… THE HORRORS. Faris Badwan’s troupe of post-punk revivalists also star tonight with their ghostly, transparent single I Can See Through You. It’s echoing noise and keyboard overtones are thrilling, like listening within the vacuum of a tube or with one’s hands clasped over one’s ears. Ahead of their time, or out of place?
Badwan’s pallid-faced band resemble the Damned in their later gothic years, now more than ever. Faris’ image carbon-copies Joey Ramone’s with his lanky figure, skinny jeans, crooked nose and scruffy barnet trim. Debut single Sheena Is A Parasite also flashed back to The Ramones’ Sheena Is A Punk Rocker, if only in name.
Jools also welcomes Noah & The Whale; Peter Gabriel too (reference for Vampire Weekend fans, think Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa).
Riot on the Radio 