Lav's Music Corner

For this bulky rapid-fire reviews segment I gathered together 5 bands who to varying degrees of commercial success and critical acknowledgment, occupied the blog-driven world of indie and alternative rock in the late 2000s. Many of their contemporaries have fade, but these five are still going strong to extremely varying degrees of success in 2024.  All Hell  - Los Campesinos! Verbose indie-punk outfit Los Campesinos have been quiet with studio albums since 2017, but their presence has never faded. Whether that's due to the many bands who are obviously influenced directly by their vibrant, youthful sound and lyrical snark, or because they dropped an EP a few years ago and some compilation material since then, the band still feels much more relevant than others from their era. I was on board with this new record right out of the gate when I heard the fantastic lead single Feast Of Tongues . It sees the band channeling their righteousness into pinpoint catchy songwriting with nu...

What a great week for new singles, let's get into it. 5.  New World  - Tindersticks According to Tindersticks themselves, this is a shift into a more poppier and accessible direction. Given this less-than-4-minute edit from the band is still a distinctly composed swaying chamber ballad it's not like they're exactly making an Imagine Dragons song or anything. But I see what they're going for and despite a slow start I appreciate where the song eventually ends up.  Listen 4.  Joker  - Porches Porches got my attention earlier this year with the great single Rag  which is probably why I was so open to this deeply strange follow-up. This weird indie-slacked jam that seems to meander through weird lyrics about getting a dog and kissing him on the mouth. I know it may not exactly sound enticing but there's something so effortlessly smooth about the songs rambling demeanor that I find pretty captivating.  Listen 3.  Oh No!  - The Decemberists This is...

Mark Kozelek is an Ohio born and San Francisco based singer-songwriter who first gained recognition as the frontman of legendary slowcore band Red House Painters. Since the disbanding of that group Mark has released a ton of records many under how own name, many under the Sun Kil Moon moniker and many collaborations with a number of other musicians like Jesu, Jimmy Lavalle, Desertshore, Ben Boye, Jim White, Sean Yeaton and now violinist Petra Haden of The Decemberists fame. Review By Lavender: It's not a secret that I have loved just about everything Mark Kozelek has ever done, and the prolific recent era of his career is no different. He has released an absolute ton of music over the past few years and there has been no shortage of his monologues, observations. and stories for him to tell. Earlier this year I dished out a lot of praise to his Sun Kil Moon record I Also Want To Die In New Orleans  where he played part time animal expert and part time political observes over ...