Lav's Music Corner

1. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Crime Pays Along with an announcment of a release date for the long awaited follow up to Pinata  came a single the help drive up even more hype and secure the duo a second #1 this year. 2. Cardi B - Press Cardi B is back to prove 2019 won't be her conqueror and re-establish herself as the queen of rap with a highly promoted new single. 3. Poppy - Scary Mask  (Feat. Fever 333) Poppy recruits Fever 333 of all acts for a single that is attention grabbing enough based on its collaborative effort alone. 4. The Voidz - The Eternal Tao The Voidz are back after dropping their indie darling sopohmore album last year with their first new single of 2019. 5. Titus Andronicus - Just Like Ringing A Bell Titus Andronicus have dropped a series of fantastic punk anthems and they are at it again with a two part single pushing closer to the groups new album. 6. Tove Lo - Glad He's Gone Tove is back after what feels like a long wait but falls victim to o...

The National are a long running Ohio based indie rock band who first received critically success in the mid 2000's and have released a series of well received indie project since then. Their last album was released in 2017 after an extended break and since then the various members have participated in a number of side project including Planetarium  and Big Red Machine . After four singles that captured the attention of their fans and the broader indie community the band has returned shortly after their last project with one of their longest albums to date in I Am Easy To Find . Review By Lavender: Of all of the introductions I do one review after another prefacing the review with my own opinions leading up to the album I'm talking about, this one may be the most controversial. Of The National's 7 albums up to this point I really truly only consider myself an outright fan of one of them, 2007's Boxer . While some others like 2005's Alligator  and 2017'...

Interpol is a legendary post-punk revivalist and indie band whose debut album Turn On The Bright Lights  is widely considered one of the best albums of the 2000's and one of the best modern post-punk albums. The band instantly received veteran indie status after releasing an excellent follow-up project two years later and have since released a handful of projects of varying quality. The groups last project before Fine Mess  was 2018's Marauder  which was met with poor reviews from both critics and fans.  Review By Lavender: Interpol's 2002 album Turn On The Bright Lights  is an undeniable masterpiece and worthy on its own of the bands legend status in indie music. Since then the band has released five more studio albums which range from excellent, ( Antics,   El Pintor ) to underwhelming, ( Interpol , Our Love To Admire ) to the straight up boring Marauder  released last year. Given that the lead single and title track of this EP was the mos...

Injury Reserve are an Arizona based hip hop trio of MCs Ritchie With A T and Stepa J Groggs as well as producer Parker Corey. The trio turned heads with their debut mixtape Live From The Dentist Office  and continued to receive critical acclaim for their futuristic and hard hitting rap style on their 2016 mixtape Floss  and their 2017 EP Drive It Like It's Stolen . Now the trio has taken a year off and lined up to release their debut studio album After attracting features from Amine and Rico Nasty to serve as singles Injury Reserve  has the potential to be the groups most popular release yet.  Review By Lavender: Injury Reserve have been heroes of underground rap for years now and while many fell head over heels for them my admiration for the group has always been a touch more tempered. They consistently release very solid material with exotic and experimental highs that have landed them on my singles of the year lists twice but I had my questions about th...

Wu-Tang Clan is a legendary New York hip hop collective that truly needs no introduction. The group released one of the most acclaimed and influential hip hop albums of all time in the early 90s and the individual members have a laundry list or critical and commercial successes in their back catalogs. A handful of the remaining members of Wu-Tang got together to release a brief 20 minute EP of new material inspired by the upcoming Showtime documentary series about the group. Review By Lavender: Since the moment in 1993 when Wu-Tang dropped one of my favorite albums of all time Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)  we have had a near constant stream of good to amazing content from the various members. Liquid Swords, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Supreme Clientele and Return To The 36 Chambers  proved that the various members had a lot left in the tank, but as far as collective Wu-Tang project they haven't really released much else that is essential. Due to the complex and intr...

Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian pop singer who blew up in 2011 on the back of her viral hit single Call Me Maybe . In the wake of this success and underwhelming sales for the album it landed on Kiss  she took an extended break from studio releases before returning with a drastically different style on the critically acclaimed Emotion . Despite underwhelming sales Carly has been universally acclaimed for her work starting on Emotion  and following everything since, but Dedicated  is the long awaited fourth full length project and follow-up to Emotion  that has been in development for years. Review By Lavender: Like many people I first heard about Carly when Call Me Maybe  became one of the biggest mega hits of this entire decade and while the song is a decent but overplayed one the album Kiss  was a disappointment for me. Which is why I was so surprised to find out a few years later just what Carly had in her when she dropped the absolutely fantastic a...

Tyler, The Creator is a California based rap artist who came up in the early 2000's out of the Odd Future collective. Since then Tyler has evolved into a genre bending superstar dabbling in fashion, television and of course producing and rapping. His 2017's album Flower Boy  turned his popularity dial up to 10 with its sharp shift in sound to a much poppier approach that attracted many mainstream fans and IGOR  is the follow-up to the project now two years later.  Review By Lavender: I was born at just the right time to have grown up with Odd Future and I remember so many essential moments of their rise to fame like they were yesterday. You may think this would land me in a position to be constantly defending the achievements of Tyler, The Creator, but I find myself more often than not arguing with his stans over those very same achievements being drastically overhyped. Unlike his Odd Future contemporaries Earl Sweatshirt and Frank Ocean who have dropped numero...

1. Young Thug -  The London  (feat. J. Cole & Travis Scott) Thugger pulls the number one spot in one of the weakest week for singles in 2019 so far by recruiting big names J Cole and Travis Scott for a contemporary posse cut. 2. Denzel Curry - Speedboat Denzel Curry gets left at the alter once again with a second single and a second #2 spot, made even a little bit worse by landing as a feature at #3. 3. Flying Lotus - Black Balloons Reprise  (feat. Denzel Curry) FlyLo drops a highly anticipated collab just days before the release of his album to secure a very rare release week pedestal spot. 4. Ty Dolla $ign - Purple Emoji  (feat. J. Cole) J. Cole is once again recruited for a feature from Mr. Feature himself Ty Dolla $ign for what could serve as the beginning of a new era for him. 5. Beast Coast - Snow In The Stadium Beast Coast also sneak in one more single just before the release of the supergroups first studio album. 6, Kim Petras - All I Do Is...

Tim Hecker is a long running ambient and experimental electronic music producer that has been working out of Canada since the early 2000's. His big breakthrough moment in ambient music came in 2006 with Harmony In Ultraviolet a fantastic ambient piece that helped gain him attention and make classics out of a few of his earlier projects. But Hecker had another breakthrough moment when he dropped what was seemingly his masterpiece and full potential on 2011's brilliant Ravedeath, 1972 . The album was a reinvention of sound pulling from dark and atmospheric noise to create patient but incredibly rewarding ambient compositions. This continued on the even darker follow-up Virgins  but the train seemed to fall off there. After a break he released 2016's Love Streams  one of his least acclaimed releases of his entire career. A switch-up in production found a lot of fans feeling like the compositions were a let down and the details and textures that usually make a Tim Hecker a...

Mac DeMarco is a Canadian singer-songwriter who has become one of the most popular figures in indie music this decade. He has received critical success and increasing commercial presence with each of a line of his last three project. 2012's 2  was his breakout success and he followed it with the indie darling Salad Days  in 2014 and found even more increased commercial success in 2017 with the long and personal This Old Dog . After leaving his label with rumors of creative conflicts he has released a series of singles that seem to point towards an album that is more stripped back and slower paced than ever before, but his fans appear to have followed.  Review By Lavender: I've had a pretty consistent and solid relationship with Mac over these past few years. While I think his first two projects may be a touch overrated Salad Days  showed me his full potential and became one of my favorite albums of 2014. Since then I enjoyed 2015's Another One  mini p...

Vampire Weekend are a new York rock band fronted by Ezra Koenig who have dropped three universally acclaimed albums in their decade plus run as a group. Among the most critically acclaimed indie bands of their time 2008's  Vampire Weekend , 2010's  Contra  and 2013's  Modern Vampires Of The City  are all among indie fans favorites and contenders for the title of modern classic each in their own right. In the long 6 years between 3rd and 4th studio albums the band has built up an unstoppable hype train for their return and the album has been topping many most anticipated lists since long before it had a name or release date. But now that it is finally upon us it feels like the indie world has stopped in its tracks to watch what Ezra and one of the most loved indie bands of all time will do next.  Review By Lavender: It is no secret that I LOVE Vampire Weekend. Their 2008 self-titled debut album was my second favorite of the year and songs like...

The Mountain Goats are a long running indie project based in North Carolina that is focused around singer-songwriter John Darnielle. They have over 25 years of history diving into numerous concepts and transitioning through different sounds and styles. In League With Dragons  features a wide variety of personnel and was labelled by Darnielle as a "rock Opera" with influences from various literary sources.  Review By Lavender: Despite the fact that I believe Darnielle is quite talented and that the band reps my home state of North Carolina I haven't been the biggest Mountain Goats fan. Most of their material in the 2010's struck me as creative, but not essential. There is almost always a baseline element of songwriting and there is almost never a drowning in influences or contemporary sounds and that is as true as ever here, but once again the band fails to make a significant mark on me. The lead single for this album didn't thrill me straight away, ...

1. Chance The Rapper - Groceries (Feat. Tisa Korean and Murda Beatz) Chance recruits Murda Beatz and Tisa for the lead single that's starting off his new era and a shift towards his debut album, he runs away with #1 this week.  2. Amine - Places + Faces Amine drops his first new solo single of 2019 and as the young rapper continues to make great collaborations and fun, contemporary music he has ironed himself out a spot in raps canon.  3. Charli XCX - Blame It On Your Love (Feat. Lizzo) Charli always has hype behind her singles and this time around she grabbed up and comer Lizzo to join her for a dynamic pop connection.  4. The Black Keys - Go The Black Keys try to drop a third straight solid single to promote their return album, their first in 5 years.  5. Baroness - Throw Me An Anchor Baroness continues to drum up support in the alternative metal community for their highly anticipated upcoming new record.  6. The Raconteurs - Help Me Str...

Peter Doherty is an English singer who fronted one of Britain's premiere punk revivalists bands of the early 2000's The Libertines. They released two now legendary albums in the mid 2000's before breaking up and waiting until 2015 to reunite and release a third studio album. In the meantime Doherty has released two solo albums met with moderate acclaim and a handful of albums under the Babyshambles band name, but all have failed to capture the magic of the original Libertines projects.  Review By Lavender: Now I am one of the first to admit that I enjoy punk music more than your average listener and that there are a lot of groups that aren't necessarily essential. But a steady intake of Libertines should be a crucial part of any musical diet. 2002's Up The Bracket  is one of the greatest modern punk albums of all time and one of the best rock albums of the 2000's and is purely an essential listen for all music fans. Unfortunately aside from Bracket  a...