BEST NEW MUSIC: LANA DEL REY - HOPE IS A DANGEROUS THING FOR A WOMAN LIKE ME TO HAVE - BUT I HAVE IT

Shit, did I just become a Lana Del Rey fan? Sure, I’ve always sort of dug her brand of drone/ dream-pop, but “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but I have it” is something else entirely. With a title reminiscent of Fiona Apple’s magnum opus When the Pawn… this is a brand new version of the singer, with a significantly more stripped down and raw honesty that feels like the final form of the singer behind numerous songs we’ve already come to know and love. This is her true to self pokemon evolution. From Pikachu to Raichu. Lana Del Rey to LANA DEL REY.

There are no facades here, Del Rey even going so far as to include a baggy-eyed / no-makeup close-up photo for the cover art, as if to say love me or hate me, flaws and all. And boy do we. Love her, I mean. No hate. Flaws showing deeply, I’ve got nothing but respect. Even more so than ever before. I mean “Video Games” is cool, but this is unreal. This is something special. This is Dylan plugging in his guitar at the Newport Folk Festival special.

LANA DEL REY - HOPE IS A DANGEROUS THING FOR A WOMAN LIKE ME TO HAVE - BUT I HAVE IT

I am deeply affected by the lyrical content of this tune. There are so many lines in this track that are more golden than pony boy. Like Midas’ touch with the lyrical flair, who knew that Lana Del Rey was secretly Paul Simon, Randy Newman, or-- who’s got cutting and precise, but also self-reflexive and deep as all hell lyrics?-- That person!

“I’ve been tearing around in my fucking nightgown / 24/7 Sylvia Plath” might be the single-best line I’ve heard since the literal dawn of time.  But then she comes up with “Hello, it’s the most famous woman you know on the iPad / Calling from beyond the grave, I just wanna say, ‘Hi Dad’” and I feel a chill run up, down, across and over my spine. Serious stuff. Lana Del Rey ain’t fucking around. She’s officially become the fourteenth or fifteenth member of Wu-Tang Clan because now she sure as shit ain’t nuthin ta fuck with.

This track (too long to reprint a third time) comes from the forthcoming Jack Antonoff produced full-length Norman Fucking Rockwell (great title. How Americana!) due from Del Rey sometime soon. WHEN THOUGH? We want it now! Us REY-STANS (Last Jedi!). Give us a release date! If only every song were to only be this moving. One can only hope.

From deep within the murky depths of the Los Angeles River emerged a creature: 50% raver, 50% comedian, 10% Robotcop. Kurt Kroeber doesn’t own a dog, operates Soundbleed (the world’s only dance party comedy talk show rave), and is down to party with you. Come up some time and say “Hey dude!” But definitely make sure to casually drop the secret Illuminati password.