A Coordinate Inspired by Cinema Strange & Lolita Music Musings

Every now and then I like to play around on Polyvore and design an outfit around a favorite song of mine. This particular coordinate is based on Needlefeet by Cinema Strange, a song about a little girl playing in the forest with her dolls and hears some strange things.

The lyrics allude to a very elegant and old fashioned time period. The little girl is not simply a little girl, she is a marchioness, her dolls are maids, her fort made of sticks and leaves a manor and they are sitting down for tea. It is both a charming song and a creepy song. The vocals and the music are a stark contrast to the lyrics and, typical of the post-punk/deathrock genre, feature nearly unintelligible dramatic vocals and scratchy guitars. If I was actually trying to turn someone on to Cinema Strange I wouldn't turn them straight to Needlefeet, but instead to the song Catacomb Kittens, which is the song that turned me onto the band.

I would post the actual song, but I don't know if anyone would actually like it XD So instead, the story version of the song, which I somehow managed to hear first, or at least, I noticed it first. Whenever I would put my music on random this story always caught my ear and held my interest. It's not a spoken word version of the song, but instead a whole story based on the song.

I occasionally get questions on my formspring asking about Lolita music, much like what to do when your petticoat deflates, I am really clueless about most Lolita music! To me, there is really no such thing as "Lolita music" because I don't really think that Lolitas have to listen to specific music, and if they did, you would get a bunch of different opinions, depending on who you asked! The Momoko purists would claim that classical music is Lolita music, Jrock fans would claim that the Jrock bands who wear actual Lolita is Lolita music, some people claim that Emilie Autumn is Lolita music simply because she once wrote a song called "Gothic Lolita", and the list goes on. Of course, none of these people are either right or wrong, if to them that's what Lolita music is then it is, for them.

Personally, I don't really go out in search of Lolita bands. I have tried in the past but have been mainly uninterested in what I found. Although, there are a number of bands I listen to who remind me of the Lolita aesthetic for one reason or another. Some other time I would like to get a play list of sorts up of "Lolitay" songs, but in the mean time, here are a few bands that remind me a bit of the Lolita aesthetic:

• Rasputina- The number one Lolitay band on my list. Besides being fronted by a bunch of girls in Victorian underwear with cellos they are well known for singing about obscure and strange historical events and Victorianesque themes. If the music that Rasputina makes could create a world, I feel that Lolitas would make up a large percentage of the population, or at least frequently vacation there!
  
• Sopor Aeternus- One of my favorite musicians of all time! Like Rasputina, Anna Varney of Sopor Aeternus creates a sort of world with her lyrics, this world is often much darker than Rasputina's, very much on the Gothic side of Lolita, but it is still a beautiful world.
  
• Cinema Strange- They have a lot of lyrics that are about creepy Victorian things, and a lot of their lyrics are very cemetery/death centric, but they are sung in a very dramatic and fast-paced way so they aren't exactly gloomy.
  
• Dead Can Dance- Dead Can Dance has a very wide range of styles, ranging from mellow folk to rock. They are a much more peaceful band than the other bands on this list and often have a very ethereal feel to their music.
  
• Kokusyoku Sumire- The only band on this list that is actually considered a Lolita band! Also the only Lolita band that I found I really enjoy. They wear the fashion, with their own twist, so I guess that's how they became known as a Lolita band, I don't speak Japanese, so I have no idea if their lyrics helped them become known as one. Despite the fact I don't know what they are singing about, they are very dramatic and operatic and quite fun to listen to.
  

Now, just as much as I listen to these bands I listen to things that are in no way, shape, or form Lolita, ranging from early 90's rock to Arabian pop/dance to power metal. While I don't think that fitting music is needed to even be a Lifestyle Lolita, it is sometimes fun to come across a band that reminds you of the frills, or to find out a band that you have always loved sings about loli-appropriate things, whatever they may be to you!

Do you feel that proper music is a requirement for Lolita, or are your favorite bands about as far as you can get from Lolita? I would love to hear any more Lolitay music suggestions, while I don't go around looking for music to match my frills, I always love to hear new bands!