Lav's Music Corner

Purity Ring are a Canadian synth pop duo consisting of Megan James on vocals and Corin Roddick's instrumentals. The pair released a critically acclaimed debut record in 2012, and it has been five years since we last heard from the band and they kicked off this era with three singles and an interactive puzzle on their website. Review By Lavender: I quite enjoy Purity Ring's debut album even to this day, but since then there has been a bit of a disconnect. Purity Ring's second record another eternity  came out three years later and myself as well as a lot of other people didn't connect to it in the same way. Despite the fact that there wasn't a huge sonic change the songwriting was much more vapid and the sounds were so washed out that it was hard to make light of anything specific throughout the record. Here five years later the bands signature sound has gotten a little bit more refreshing but ultimately falls into the same shortcomings. The two big tracks r...

Fiona Apple is a New York based singer-songwriter responsible for one of the most unique musical outputs in the world of indie for the last 25 years. The time between her releases has increased with each consecutive era of her career, and it has been 8 years since the release of her critically acclaimed 4th record in 2012. Fetch The Bolt Cutters  was released with no singles and very little promo, but was still welcomed immediately by the indie community at large, proving how much influence Fiona has to this day. Review By Lavender: I've always been a pretty strong fan of Fiona Apple's discography, with the lone exception of her third record 2005's Extraordinary Machine . Her debut record Tidal  and even more its follow-up When The Pawn  are unique and interesting pieces of 90's indie that hold up remarkably well in the singer-songwriter heavy modern indie landscape. I also enjoyed her most recent record The Idler Wheel  although maybe not quite as much as som...

Thundercat is a Los Angeles based singer-songwriter who is well known for his unique style of bass playing. He has appeared on songs with artists like Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott and Childish Gambino but is most well known for his attachment for Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder Records and his numerous collaborations with FlyLo. It Is What It Is  is the 5th record from Thundercat and his 2nd since his big breakout singles. Review By Lavender: Thundercat is one of my favorite musical personalities. He's great on Twitter and has released a number of awesome singles over the years, not to mention excellent contributions to fantastic hip hop records over the past 5 years or so. The only issue I have with his music is that I haven't loved a single one of his records yet. They all carry some pretty similar issues starting with tons of short and meaningless interludes that round out already stark tracklists, as well as production that often falls on the dryer side and hurts his s...

Rina Sawayama is a Japanese-Brithsh pop songstress who first made waves all the way back in 2017 with her RINA  mini-album/EP. The record was a critically acclaimed progressive pop piece that got a lot of attention for its production from then up and coming Clarence Clarity. Over the past few years Rina has put out a number of successful singles in the wake of her breakout moment and developed a large devoted fanbase. After releasing some of her most acclaimed songs to date in the lead up to her debut record it was hard to identify a record that music fans were more excited for this year than SAWAYAMA . Review By Lavender: To this day I still really enjoy RINA , I got some flack from friends and early readers when I didn't name it my EP of the year back in 2017, although in my defense that Young Thug and Carnage EP went incredibly hard. But since then it has felt like Rina has hit on one single after another after another, and I've been right there with her. This was one...

Pearl Jam is one of the legendary big 4 Seattle grunge bands of the 1990 who have released 11 studio albums up to this point. While the band is most famous for their early work in the 90's they have received a consistent stream of attention from the world of alternative rock radio, as the bands last two records have both been Billboard #1 hits. But it has been 7 years since the bands last record and a much longer time since they last had an album drop to large scale critical acclaim. Review By Lavender: Pearl Jam were a force to be reckoned with in the 90's where their first three albums are among the most classic grunge and rock albums of the decade. Since then the band has had records that hold onto their original sound as well as records that push into other directions but nothing has particularly stuck with me. Even later records that Pearl Jam fans insist are good have failed to click with me, so I didn't have very high expectations for this album. After I onl...

Sufjan Stevens is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has become an indie legend over the past twenty years for his incredible range of unique songwriting. Albums like Illinois  and Carris & Lowell  are among the most critically acclaimed of their respective decades but it has been five years and counting since the last proper Sufjan studio album. He has passed the time by working on side projects like Planetarium, his music for the film Call Me By Your Name  and his ballet soundtrack The Decalogue . So this collaboration with his step-father and Lowell from the  Carrie & Lowell  album title is yet another in a long line of outside the box experiments from Stevens. Review By Lavender: I love the music of Sufjan Stevens, and I think its hard not to. From the biggest most acclaimed records like Illinois  and Carrie & Lowell  to the next grade of satisfying releases like Michigan , The Age Of Adz  and Seven Swans . Si...

Waxahatchee is the Alabama based indie folk project of singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield. She has been a persistent voice in indie music over the past decade since first breaking out with her 2013 sophomore record Cerulean Salt . She found even more success on her most recent fourth record Out In The Storm  back in 2017 but with an EP and a handful of singles leading up to her fifth record she showed a move towards a more country inspired track. Review By Lavender: Despite the fact that I've never really considered Waxahatchee one of the premiere songwriters of modern indie music I have enjoyed her pretty consistently good output over the past ten years or so. Records like Cerulean Salt  and Out In The Storm  won't blow your mind but they will probably come together to make some of the most consistent singer-songwriter records you'll hear as of recent. After not really enjoying the country twist that Katie's last EP had and having mixed feelings towards the sin...

Little Dragon are a Swedish electro pop band who first blew up in the early part of last decade first as Gorillaz collaborators and then with their 2011 record Ritual Union . The bands next two records were both commercial and critical decreases but after some acclaimed singles New Me, Same Us  had the potential to be their best record in years. Review By Lavender: I've always enjoyed Little Dragon's music and at their high point I think they made some of the best pure synth pop of the last decade, the only problem is that they weren't at their high point very often. Their last album Season High  was the definition of forgettable, but since then it has been better. They put out the genuinely interesting Lover Chanting EP in 2018 and the two singles the band dropped leading up to this record were both pretty good. As it turns out those songs are the best of the bunch and while New Me , is better, it's still forgettable. Hold On  was the first single and it serve...

The Strokes are a legendary New York rock band who were labelled the saviors or rock music when the first emerged with a classic debut record Is This It . Since then the band has released a number of critically acclaimed records and developed into one of the most successful and popular rock bands within the indie world. Review By Lavender: The New Abnormal  was one of my most anticipated releases of this year, and the year before, and probably even the year before that. Records like Is This It , Room On Fire  and Angles  make for one of the best catalogs in modern rock music. Since the last Strokes record the band has dropped a decent EP, frontman Julian Casablancas dropped two great records with his side project The Voidzand the band released three singles in the lead up to this record. All three of which I enjoyed and two of which are among my favorite songs I've heard all year. So my expectations were high, but The New Abnormal  comfortably lives up to it. ...

Nicolas Jaar is a Chilean-America musician who first emerged in 2011 with his experimental breakout electronic music record Space Is Only Noise . Since then he has released a second record under his own name, a collaborative project with Dave Harrington under the Darkside name, and two lo-fi house records under then Against All Logic name. Review By Lavender: Nicolas Jaar has been a name I've been keeping my eyes on for years. Despite the fact that I didn't love his second studio record Sirens  in 2016, I have enjoyed just about everything else he has done. From his excellent debut that narrowly missed my best albums of the decade list, to his cerebral gorgeous Darkside project, and his production work on the recent FKA Twigs album Magdalene . Not to mention an album that did make my albums of the decade list, Against All Logic's 2012-2017 , which got a follow-up earlier this year that I also loved and has been one of my favorite records of the year so far. Despite a...

Dua Lipa is a British pop star who was already famous by the time her 2017 self-titled album was released. Singles like New Rules  and IDGAF  helped propel her debut record to huge commercial success and after carrying on with even more successful singles for this record Future Nostalgia  looks to follow in the foosteps of its predecessors commercial success while hopefully advancing some of its critical shortcomings.  Review By Lavender: I caught a little bit of flack from fans on the internet for not enjoying Dua Lipa's debut record but I stand by my original assessment of the album as focus group pop music with no personality whatsoever. But the past few years have seen Dua come into her own as an artist in a very refreshing way and before even hearing this record for the first time it was clear that things had made a big change. Dua is slipping much more of her personality into these songs and they have been much better as a result, and when this rec...

Dirty Projectors are a long running indie project based in Brooklyn that has been subject to more line-up changes than can be reasonably kept up with. The one constant through the entire discography of the band is singer, writer, multi-instrumentalist and producer David Longstreth. The bands last two records, the first of which 2017's Dirty Projectors  was entirely a solo effort from Longstreth, have been a big time change of pace from the indie sound that they made their name off of, but Windows Open  is largely a return to it. Review By Lavender: There is no part of the long running and ever changing Dirty Projectors discography that I don't enjoy. From the more experimental tracks David made in the early days, to the bands peak on indie relevancy on records like Bitte Orca  and Swing Lo Magellan . A lot of fans have been divided by the most recent two records but I have to say I enjoyed them both quite a bit. 2017's Dirty Projectors  saw David revising the ...

PARTYNEXTDOOR is the moniker of Jahron Brathwaite a Canadian R&B singer who has been attached to Drake's OVO label since 2013. This is his third studio album on the label and has also released a number of EP's that are just as essential to his discography as the albums. It's been four years since we least heard a studio album from PND making this record a highly anticipated one for fans and critics alike. Review By Lavender: I've been around the music of Partynextdoor since he first emerged on the back of his self-titled EP in 2013 and I've been underwhelmed by much more of his catalog than I haven't. Pretty much the entire reason I have stuck around so closely is PND's 2014 debut studio album Partynextdoor 2 , a moody, sultry and gorgeous contemporary R&B album that I wasn't prepared for at the time it first released. The record was refreshing and catchy throughout and had me excited for what he would do next, but since then I haven't...

Morrissey  is a legendary British musician and former frontman of The Smiths. Despite a successful ongoing run as a solo artist he has been frequently controversial for many of his political views which sometimes manifest through songs. The record had three singles that continue in his long running social commentary heavy indie rock and pop approach. Review By Lavender: There is no secret that The Smiths are incredible, everyone knows that. But even since then Morrissey has continued to impress me with his incredible Bona Drag  compilation album and a number of solid solo records. Though I skipped his recent covers record his last true studio album Low In High School  was far from perfect but included a handful of highlights that had me excited for what may come next, and Dog  is certainly an improvement and on par with his best records of the last two decades. The records singles were a little bit inconsistent and the record itself becomes fittingly inconsi...

Grouplove is a Los Angeles based pop rock band who blew up early last decade with their breakout hit song Tongue Tied . Since then they have released four records over the past decade and maintained a moderate level of commercial success throughout. Review By Lavender: Grouplove's 2011 debut record Never Trust A Happy   Song  was a fun catchy pop rock record that didn't take itself too seriously and didn't pretend to be anything its not. If this was the continuing approach the band took I think I could be consistently pleased with their discography but since this solid debut record I think the bands sound has gotten weaker and more derivative with each release, culminating in Healer . The record is their weakest to date and a textbook example on how not to write a compelling hook over and over again. The lead single Deleter  failed to impress me earlier this year and most of the record is in line with its sound. The track is a corny pop rock number with a pretty ...

Joywave is a New York based indie rock band who emerged in the middle of last decade with a handful of moderate hits including their huge collaboration with Big Data,  Dangerous . Posession  is the bands third record and their first since 2017's Content . Review By Lavender: I am more of a fan of the first two Joywave albums than most. Even though I didn't flat out love either of them I do think the band has always deserved more recognition, mainly for their last record Content  which still sounded pretty good last month when I listened to it again in preparation for this album. But on Posession  the group kind of fades out of favor with meas not only do I think this record is their weakest yet, but their least original as the album is major glam rock worship that borders on Killers rip off. The record had a number of singles that ran the full gambit of great to very wack, some of which have been out for over a year at this point. Blastoffff  is one of ...

Don Toliver is a Houston based rapper and singer who blew up off of some huge features on Travis Scott's Astroworld  in 2018, alongside Eminem earlier this year and a staring role in the Jackboys label mixtape late in 2019. With a strong industry backing and a very unique vocal style Don Toliver's debut record was one of the more highly anticipated among hip hop fans in 2020. Review By Lavender: It's fair to say that I had some expectation going into this record given how much I loved Don Toliver on one of the many highlights from Travis Scott's Astroworld , Can't Say . He was one of the only solid parts of the Jackboys  record last year and he was even tolerable on this years new Eminem record. With such an infectious and recognizable voice I think Toliver has the potential to drop a truly great record but on Heaven Or Hell  he plays it so painfully safe that none of his personality or charm is able to shine through. The record had three songs released in ...