Lav's Music Corner

2024 is wrapping up and as I start working on year-end content we need to do a few quick round-ups to make sure we're prepared. I've reviewed a few dozen EPs so far this year and I plan on counting down the 10 best in a few weeks. But first, we need to take a look at a few projects with a very strong chance of landing somewhere on the list. Let's do it. Six Desperate Ballads  EP - The Garden After being pretty mixed on California weirdo-punk duo The Garden for a while, I was quite fond of their last record. Combined with some solid entries into their solo projects and the ever-expanding Garden-adjacent universe and I had no reason to think this EP wouldn't be a riot. Even as I was a little mixed on the lead single "Filthy Rabbit Hole" I've warmed up on it especially with how propulsive of a start it is for this EP. I also loved the other single, the short but incredibly memorable "Ballad" which serves as the EPs wonderful closer.  In between ther

A massively hype week with some huge new releases this late in the year is a surprise, but I'll take it! 5.  The Laugh Is In The Eyes  - Julia Holter Julia is back following a remarkable new album earlier this year and in this new single she finds herself playing with similarly indulgent palettes of space. The song has a dreamy sauntering demeanor with an imprecise poise but all of the instrumental sounds that do seep through are wonderful and wrapped around the core of Julia's beautiful vocals.  Listen 4.  Luciferine  - Ichiko Aoba The charm and whimsy of folk music has officially returned with a new Ichiko Aoba album on the way next year. She's teeing the record off with this fittingly beautiful lead single which deploys gentle strings and ornate backing vocals. It all swells to life around Ichiko's girlish vocals and swaying poetry, to great results. She may not be rewriting the book, but it works for a good reason.  Listen 3.  Crispy Skin  - Squid As Squid's sop

As the year comes closer and closer to an end and the criteria for my rapid fire reviews narrows, it's always worth looking for outside the box categorization to put together some of the records I want to talk about the most. That's what we're doing here with 5 albums I didn't get the chance to review earlier this year, but ones that have landed high up on RateYourMusic's 2024 charts, and therefore have dominated quite a bit of music discourse online. Surely fans will be civil in reaction to all of my opinions on these various records, right? The New Sound  - Geordie Greep Somehow with the release of his new solo album, Black Midi frontman Geordie Greep managed to supersede the discoursing power of his post-punk outfit's entire 5+ year run with just one record. That's because The New Sound  has been a WILDY divisive record online. It's hard to knock the instrumentation and production anywhere on the record. Talented musicians weave a dizzying array of vi

5.  TURN YOUR HEART AROUND  - SBTRKT The strange phenomenon of new SBTRKT singles being lightyears better than anything on the project's new album from last year continues. This is a short but sweet track that really puts its head down and grinds out a pummeling pseudo-industrial little dance track with tight loops and fuzzed-out vocals for a mostly pretty irresistible result.  Listen 4.  PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VII  - Bibio Another helping of the familiar solemn piano and isolating ambient compositions of Bibio's  PHANTOM BRICKWORKS  series feels perfect right now. It also feels in line with the trio of singles released so far from the upcoming ambient-focused project. This may be my favorite of the bunch offering up another bulky runtime that manages to impressively weave together a beautiful, gentle series of piano passages effortlessly.  Listen 3.  PLAY DEAD! PLAY DEAD!  - Vylet Pony Color me surprised as someone who has always had mixed feelings on Vylet Pony's music, this

Review by Lavender: Freddie Gibbs is a critically lauded rapper who has been at it for a full 15 years at this point. He broke through in the 2010s on the back of great collaborative records with legendary producer Madlib like Pinata  and Bandana . He's continued a run of solid projects into the 2020s, garnering acclaim for his 2020 crossover with The Alchemist Alfredo  and more acclaim, from me at least, for 2022's $oul $old $eperately . So when he surprise announced a new solo album last week I had no reason to think it would be anything less than solid. And that's pretty much the expectation that You Only Die 1nce  lives up to.  One of the best parts of this record are the instrumentals. Tracks here serve up dreamy blends of fluttering keys and vintage soul that create a great palette for introspection. "30 Girlfriends" is a great example where Freddie takes on this relaxed instrumental with an impressive series of flows that don't require him to up the int

Rap is one of those genres where I'll never be able to keep up with all the relevant releases. I do my best and there are still way more than just these 5 records that slipped through the cracks, so let's try and catch up.  The Thief Next To Jesus  - Ka This one hurts. I wanted to cover this record but it came out in a busy week and slipped past me when I took vacation but I certainly would have prioritized it if I could go back in time in the wake of the news of Ka's tragic death. Through that lens it's worth looking at this record with a closer gaze than what I'm able to here. In fact, it's probably worth pouring over his entire excellent discography to pull out highlights. His finale album The Thief Next To Jesus  is fittingly soaked in Christian themes, something he's indulged in before on records like 2020's Descendents Of Cain . But in particular on this record through both his own lyrics and several perfectly selected samples, he examines the hist