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>» ae Del Rey matures with ‘Ultr

Angela Espinoza
News Editor

ana Del Rey has comea
long way since her Kill
Kill EP back in 2008. While
her lyrical themes and vocal
style have remained the same
from her Lana Del Ray (2010)
days, Del Rey’s evolution as an
artist is most prominent in her
following albums’ instrumental
arrangements.

On Lana Del Ray, tracks
like “Kill Kill” and “Yayo” sound
stripped down, while tracks like
“Mermaid Motel” and “Brite
Lites” experiment heavily—
almost to ill-effect. Two years
later, Born to Die dialled back
the club sound that tracks
like “Brite Lites” attempted,
and successfully balanced

ee
> ee

: the remnants with Del Rey’s
: matured vocals. Ultraviolence
: (released June 13) has nearly

00000

: difference on her latest album

: is the use of guitar featured

: prominently throughout. This
: change is heard as soon as

: opening track “Cruel World”

: begins. This song is the longest
: of the tracks at nearly seven

: minutes, while many of the

: other tracks are well over four

: minutes each.

eliminated any club sound and
replaced it with instrumental
accompaniment.

Perhaps the most notable

Title track and third single

: “Ultraviolence,’ like much of the
: album, is beautiful albeit bleak.
: Some of Del Rey’s darkest lyrics
: appear in this track, including,

: “He hurt me but it felt like true

: love” and the referential, “I can

: hear sirens, sirens/He hit me

: and it felt like a kiss.”

The term “ultraviolence”

: specifically refers to extreme

: violence and comes from

: the 1962 novel A Clockwork

: Orange. In the popular 1971 film
: adaptation, despite an intense

: emotional journey and a prison
: sentence, the protagonist fails

: to change his aggressive ways.

: He continues to crave sex and

: violence, not unlike Del Rey’s

: musical persona.

“Shades of Cool” follows

: “Ultraviolence” and was released
: as the album’s second single.

: Del Rey’s gentle, soaring

: soprano notes in “Shades of

: Cool” triggered images of

: Disney princesses for me,

: specifically Cinderella, Snow

: White, and Ariel (The Little

: Mermaid), in their respective

: films and singing styles. Each

: has at least one song where, in

: a similar rising soprano, they

: sing of their hopes and dreams.

: However, here Del Rey sings of a
: drug-addicted, and possibly sex-

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: addicted, lover whom she hopes
: the best for but can’t help.

The albums first single,

: “West Coast,” is a hybrid,

: opening with a quick drumbeat
: before contrasting with Del

: Rey’s slower vocals, changing

: its pace several times. Despite

: being the first single off the

: album, “West Coast” doesn’t

: showcase Utlraviolence’s overall
: musical tone, with its slightly

faster moments reminiscent of

: tracks on Born to Die.

Born to Die in comparison

: to Ultraviolence is more upbeat
: instrumentally, where the slow
: beat of Born fo Die’s “Million

: Dollar Man” is most like

: Del Rey’s abundant pace on

: Ultraviolence.

Closing track “The Other

: Woman” sounds like it would

: fit nicely in a ’50s-style musical,
: and is sung ina similar way.

: Singing from the perspective

: of the titular other woman,

 

By www.lanadelrey.com

: Del Rey manages to end the

: album with some of her most

: disheartening lines (“The other
: woman will always cry herself

: to sleep / The other woman

: will never have his love to keep

: / Andas the years go by the

: other woman will spend her life
: alone’).

The persona Del Rey

: portrays in her music is tragic

: and broken, moving from

: one bad situation or toxic

: relationship to the next. What’s
: most tragic about her music is

: how defeated she often sounds,
: as though she knows she’s

: doomed to repeat her mistakes
: yet she still continues on.

Listening to Ultraviolence

: is like embracing those

: mistakes, because as sad and

: heartbreaking as it is, there’s

: so much beauty and romance

: woven throughout that you can’t
: help but love it—and want to

: experience it all again.

 

Who's ready for a fight?

» ‘EA Sports UFC’ PS4 game review

  

Steven Cayer
Senior Columnist

00000

[I been a long four years since :
: that doesn’t excuse the fact that

: they have barely anything in

: terms of gameplay. They have

: Challenge Mode, where the

: game teaches you the plethora

: of moves and combos. Then

: you can use those moves in

a UFC game came out, and
I’ve been left wondering: has
it been long enough? In short,
yes and no. Since the company
that made the last game, THQ,
has gone with the wind, EA
Sports has decided to pick up

the pieces and release EA Sports :
: repetitive Career Mode, where

UFC.

Created exclusively

: for the next-gen consoles,
: it’s completely evident in
: the visuals. It has the best
: character animations I’ve

ever seen in a video game to
date, making their personality
and behaviours like their
counterparts.

It’s visually stunning, but

the seemingly endless and

: you train, fight, and upgrade

: your fighter, then repeat. If

: the fights had a realistic sense
: of fear that you might have if
: you were really fighting in the
: octagon, it would’ve made it a
: lot more fun.

The saving grace of this

: game is its online fights. You

: can choose any fighter and try
: to get promoted to the next

: belt. It was really fun playing

: against actual people fora

: change.

If you are a huge UFC fan,

: byall means get this game. If
: you're not, like me, at least wait
: until it’s at a better price.

 

By Electronic Arts