Lav's Music Corner

nadie sabe lo que va a pasar manana  - Bad Bunny In case you somehow don't know, Bad Bunny is one of the biggest musical stars on earth. With his 2022 album Un Verano Sin Ti  he dropped not only some of his best material yet, but some of his biggest. In the aftermath of the album's smash success both commercially and critically he became one of the most prominent figures in international music. That's why I was pretty surprised when he turned around barely more than a year later with another substantial helping of new material. One of the reservations I had about Un Verano  was that it ran for a full 80 minutes and had ideas that absolutely felt like retreads of each other. But Bad Bunny's new album nadie sabe lo que va a pasar manana  is exactly as long, much less sonically adventurous, and lacking in the high points of its predecessor.  The album is a dive headfirst into trap flavors and it really isn't all that bad. WHERE SHE GOES  was an early single th...

Mitski is a Japanese-American indie musician who successfully made the transition from indie darling across her first 3 albums to full blown sad girl sensation in the wake of her 2018 album Be The Cowboy . Mitski's notoriously low profile on social media has generally kept her out of the news since then but she emerged last year with a series of singles leading to this highly anticipated follow-up. Review By Lav: There's a LOT of love for Mitski out there, trust me. When I published my review of Be The Cowboy  I thought I was fairly assessing what Mitski did right as a lyricist with a strong grip on stringing conceptual emotional themes through her music, as well as what she did wrong as a songwriter penning tracks that lulled with no momentum and ended completely abruptly like the album equivalent of edging. That didn't go over well. As you know if you've ever tweeted anything about Phoebe Bridgers, talking about Mitski online will flood your DMs with Lady Bird  profil...

Last week indie got off to a ridiculous start in 2022 and this week it was raps turn to have tons of notable releases within just a few days. The only difference, these tracks average out to a MUCH weaker group and other genres of music still managed to sneak into the ranks of the best singles this week. With some major disappointments these are the tracks that still managed to rise to the top. 5.  Jackie Down The Line  - Fontaines D.C I've been one of the bigger critics of this band over the last few years but this may be their best single yet. The driving rhythms and monotone delivery make for a confrontational sound but I could never call the song overly aggressive or loud. This is also the first time I've thought the band used vocals in a really effective way to combine with the dark sound of the instrumental to create something really interesting.  Listen 4.  Surround Sound  - JID (Feat. 21 Savage & Baby Tate) This was a collection of talent that was al...

The five best tracks that came out this past week listed below: 5.  Waiting  - PUP The newest single from the PUP catalog is an absolute rager that explodes with jagged instrumentation and that classic punk attitude and flair we've come to expect from the band. They pull off a surprisingly emotional edge to the whole thing as the songs wonders why you continue to wait around for someone, when all signs tell you to just go. It's a punk song with more to it than meets the eye.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHG36NyvaUk 4.  La Fama  - Rosalia Feat. The Weeknd The latest in Rosalia's seemingly infinite streak of high profile collaborations is R&B crossover king The Weeknd. It actually follows the pairs collaboration on last years Blinding Lights Remix  but takes a much less pop approach sonically. It deploys a much darker instrumental palette reminiscent of Abel's early days but with a distinct Latin sound, and the blend pulls you in from it's very first ...

The best new tracks released this weekend below: 5.  Scripture  - Eartheater After experiencing a pretty significant breakout across her last two albums Alexandra is back with a new Eartheater sound that combines some of the beautiful vocal melodies she's so well known for with a highly digitized and jittery instrumental. It's certainly a strange and unique combination of sounds that benefits from shimmering sonic textures in the backing walls of synths.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMGyY6ufADE 4.  Born Yesterday  - Arca (Feat. Sia) In perhaps the most unlikely pairing of the week Arca's newest single sees the experimental producer teaming up with pop's gold standard in songwriting who was responsible for the controversial Music  film last year. The jittery electronic production we've come to expect from an Arca song is still but distant among the spiraling synth lines and Sia's trademark vocal harmonies. It's a combination that surprises throughout and...

Allie X is a Canadian pop singer who has been around for quite a long time for this to be only her second studio album. She released CollXtion   II  in 2017 but Cape God feels like more of a proper introduction, though its releases seemed to be over-taken by a number of other popular records and singles. Review By Lavender: I've never been the biggest Allie X fan in the world save for a spare single here and there. I didn't even properly review her first record because I heard it a ways after she first released it and it just didn't click with me. Given that this feels like a more proper record, and surprised me with both Troye Sivan and Mitski features I thought I should give it a proper listen. But not only did I find Allie X completely drowning in the wake of other pop stars sounds, but not even doing so particularly well. The record had only one proper single that I actually did catch back when it came out, and I should have known how predictive it would be of ...