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Underground > Radio & Music >

Regina Spektor

Jawsus-son Starship

17:18 / 04.05.06

Heard her song "Us" on a sky (of all things) advert at the cinema today, and I must say it's simply beautiful. I was worried when I heard it that it might be that Vennesa Carlton lass, and then I'd have to hang myself. It's not, it's Regina Spektor, and by god the album is great. Heartly recommend it, though I feel that it might have to be a guilty pleasure that I can never tell anyone in the real world, only on the interweb. Gotta level of credibility to maintain and all.

So yeah, please, you kind kind Barbelitians, please tell me it is ok to love this ladies music. And she most certainly is a lady - a fox no less. Like a thinking man's Deta Von Tesse. Which doesn't explain why I like her at all.

Any howzen, here's the link; Regina Spektor

23:02 / 04.05.06

i'm not sure why a thinking man's dita von teese isnt, well, dita von teese.
she's not an idiot, y'know, nor is her predeliction for corsets and stylish nudity only enjoyed by the brain dead.
i'm not her biggest fan, but what you said still rankles.
that whole 'thinking man's...' line always does, to be honest.

who would be the thinking man's regina spektor?
surely i should be listening to that, thinker that i am?

etc, etc.

all that said, i think some of ms. spektor's stuff sounds pretty good on the site you linked to.
it has a strength and a softness that work well together, and she seems to know her way around a decent tune.
i'd need to hear it a lot more to know for sure if i loved it, but i certainly wouldnt turn it off.

do you know who she writes with?
is it all her stuff, or does that chris kuffner guy do the beats?
whoever does has managed to make at least one track with a beat i like.
'fidelity' has a hip hop thump to it i was banging my head to and it did so without getting all RnB on the vocals.
i reckon if they are a partnership they should try to stay that way.

i might have to hear a bunch more.
perhaps more once i do.

Jawsus-son Starship

07:19 / 05.05.06

When I say a thinking man's Dita Von Tesse - this is what I mean. DVT's job is to be sexy, and as such it doesn't take much effort to find her sexy. It's all very one demensional. So a thinking man's Dita would be someone who's job wasn't just to be a sex object, but brought all other kinds of reasons why you would find her attractive, so you had to actually think about it to be attracted to her. So with Regina Spektor, she's quite beautiful, but then she's also got this crazy voice, and she plays the piano, and she's probably got a great record collection and a million other mixtures, like a complicated smoothy. DVT might have all these attributes as well, but they're not presented to her audience as reasons to find her sexy - the only reason she presents is because she looks good, so it's a very base thing, first level, primary school, plain ol' chocolate milkshake kind of attraction. It's when other variables are introduced that it jumps up a notch. Does this make sense toksik?

07:42 / 05.05.06

i understood what you meant, but i find the concept flawed.

even if i agreed that she was one dimensional and 'just a sex object' i wouldnt like it.
einstein would probably shag dita, given the chance.

this isnt a misunderstanding, dude; it's a disagreement.

07:47 / 05.05.06

...and that's leaving unmentioned the idea that a female musician is a sex object with extras...

Jawsus-son Starship

07:51 / 05.05.06

...and that's leaving unmentioned the idea that a female musician is a sex object with extras...

well that's another discussion really. one to be figured by a greater mind than mine, methinks. But yeah, I get your point, it is a dodgy phrase, with a dodgy idea behind it. I'll have a sit on it for the day, see where I'm coming from tonight.

07:56 / 05.05.06

"...and that's leaving unmentioned the idea that a female musician is a sex object with extras... "

Oh Mathlete... bail, bail, bail.

Anyway, yeah I love her music. Read a review about her in the Metro about 6-7 months ago and picked up her album. Completely quirky, oddball lyrics... Soviet Kitsch is a really enjoyable album to listen to.

18:53 / 28.05.06

[fanboy]
I LOVE REGINA SPEKTOR!!
I'm going to sound like a slavering fan boy, but I've been listening to her for yeeears. She is teh bomb. I saw her live, I was drunk, she smiled at me while I was dancing, in the front row. SHE PLAYED A CHAIR AS A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT! I use "The Ghost of Corporate Future" as spiritual literature and as a life guide. SHE USED A CHAIR! A GODDAMN CHAIR FORCHRISSAKES!
[/fanboy]

Yes, it's fine to love her. She is quite good.

18:56 / 28.05.06

Also, I don't think your supposed to "get" what the "all" in that song is about. As I understand Anti-Folk (which is barely) the lyrics are meant to be highly personal and idiosyncratic, and clarity is not really an important issue so much as the effect for performer and audience.

Jawsus-son Starship

16:56 / 17.07.06

New Regina Spektor album, begin to hope. More with the beautiful voice, still great pianos, still great lyrics - including the frankly brilliant line;

she is twenty years of strangers looking into each others eyes

This has hit me like a blunt instrument. Maybe it'll soften out in a couple more listens, which is exactly what I'm gonna do now.

17:57 / 17.07.06

I bought it yesterday and am on the seventh listen, it's great!

18:27 / 17.07.06

Oh, and it's called Begin To Hope, my fave tracks so far are Fidelity, 20 Years of Snow and That Time but I'm sure that'll change.

06:03 / 18.07.06

Was no-one else rather disappointed with Begin to Hope? I was all set a couple of weeks ago to wander down the road to see her, then downloaded the new album to learn the songs and decided that I didn't particularly want to see it played live.

I just can't really detect much of the, well, strangeness that endeared me to her in the first place; it feels to me less like something born out of the New York anti-folk scene of which she was a part, and more like "pleasant listening for discerning adults". She's a talented singer and pianist, certainly, but the new style just turns me off...

Jawsus-son Starship

14:24 / 26.07.06

Went to see her last night in Brighton, at the concorde 2. Apart from the fact the place was crazy hot she was amazing. Her voice sounds so crisp, no bum notes, a wry smile here and there and we've got an amazing night.

00:52 / 28.07.06

How odd, I never come to the Music forum and just now came to search for a Regina Spektor thread, but here it was right near the top!

I read a good-ish review of Begin to Hope so I went to itunes and downloaded several songs off each album in a haphazard way... so I am not enjoying them as separate works as most seem to have been. The songs I mushed together in my playlist mesh well, and there really isn't any striking difference between the two sets as I've consumed them....

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned her sense of humor, which I just love - it reminds me of PJ Harvey's humor but with a bit more whimsy. "Carbon Monoxide" I find very funny, "Edit" has a wicked humor to it as well... even in some of the more apparently sad and lovetorn lyrics I feel there is some subtle and lovely - not sure what to call it, sarcasm's too heavy, maybe cheekiness? - coming through in her delivery.

Jawsus-son Starship

06:54 / 28.07.06

maybe wryness? is that even a word?