Lav's Music Corner

Every three months I put together a top 10 list of the best records I've heard in that quarter of the year. Back in March I made my Top 10 Records Of 2019 So Far list, and now there are ten more records released since that list that are more than worth your time. 10. Anoyo - Tim Hecker Tim Hecker returned after a solid record in 2018 with yet another solid record in 2019 pulling from some vast and earthly soundscapes to create a record that is consistently as engaging and touching as it is ambient an abstract, Best Tracks: That World, In A Simulated Blur Review 9. Social Cues  - Cage The Elephant Cage The Elephant return with an album that I admittedly may have underrated in my initial review. While the album does have a handful of tracks that are a little bit underwhelming the top end of this thing is full of fantastic tunes. With sharp songwriting the band trades out enthusiasm for some simple but impossibly catchy rock tunes that have already managed to work thei...

1. The Drums - Try One of the weakest release weekends all year for singles is headlined by a well deserved #1 for The Drums, who dropped numerous great singles earlier this year that were blocked from the top spot. 2. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Organ Farmer Gizz takes the number two spot after a quick turnaround from a disappointing last record, and the announcement that their next album in just a few months will be a thrash metal release. 3. Juicy J - Three Point Stance  (Feat. City Girls & Megan Thee Stallion) Juicy J recruits hot feature City Girls and recently named 2019 XXL freshman Megan Thee Stallion for what will certainly be a grimey and inappropriate song. 4. Liam Gallagher - The River Liam follows up a surprisingly good lead single with the potential to drum up more hype than his brothers solo project this year. 5. The Soft Cavalry - Never Be Without You The Soft Cavalry takes advantage of the short week for their highest charting single yet...

GoldLink is a Washington D.C. rapper who rose to prominence on an extreme wave of hype a few years ago around the midpoint of this decade. His impressively smooth flow and sharp lyricism landed him a spot on XXL 2014 Freshman List but since then despite his talent and a handful of moderately successful songs he has yet to drop an album to critical acclaim.  Review By Lavender; GoldLink is so clearly talented. I have dished out some big time praise to numerous singles of his and last year he landed the #1 spot on my guest verses of the year list with his standout addition to Denzel Curry's Black Balloons . That's why it has been so frustrating to watch his career evolve over the years, and why I'm disappointed he has once again failed to present a quality full length album on Diaspora . While his 2014 breakout record The God Complex  is probably his best and most consistent, and I would challenge people who haven't heard 2015's and after that we didn't ta...

Baroness are a Georgia based metal group that dropped two critically acclaimed records in the late 2000's and most recently released the critical smash hit Purple album in 2015. Now off the back of three singles met with varying degrees of praise from fans and critics the band has dropped their fifth studio album and their second titled after a combination of two colors, following their least well received record 2012's Yellow & Green .  Review By Lavender: I always feel like I'm coming at Baroness from a weird place, I wasn't around to hear the bands first three records when they were released and Purple  served as my introduction to the group. So while many fans still consider Red  and Blue  to be the bands greatest works still to this day I see Purple  as the shining star of the groups discography. This made it strange seeing the band following up that record now 4 years later with a style I was very familiar with but a drastically different ap...

Your Old Droog Is a New York MC with strong ties to east coast rap pedigree and a flow so classic many believed when he first began making waves that he was Nas rapping under a pseudonym. After taking 2018 off he released his It Wasn't Even Close record earlier this year and now just a few months later has surprise dropped Transportation once again without any singles teasing towards its release. Review By Lavender: Looking at it from my perspective there isn't much about Droog that isn't likeable. He's an old school style MC who consistently delivers clever bars and a stone cold flow, so when there are weaknesses to his projects I'm usually not blaming him.  This was the case on It Wasn't Even Close earlier this year where Droog performed consistently but the complete indebtedness to east coast lyrical rap across this record makes it a bit of a drag in full length. So where Close was consistent but uninteresting, Transportation serves as its true compani...

Madonna is a legendary pop artist who has been releasing hit albums one after another since the early 80's and has amassed a level of commercial success that is almost completely unmatched, but has found less and less critical praise as the years have gone by, including two poorly received albums earlier this decade. Review By Lavender: I absolutely LOVE Madonna and there's no two ways about it. One album after another after another she has released some of the sharpest and most essential pop albums of all time throughout her career. Madonna , Like A Virgin , True Blue , Like A Prayer , Erotica , Ray Of Light  and Confessions On A Dance Floor  all make up a discography that topples nearly every other artist in pop music new and old. While the 2010's haven't been the kindest to pop's golden child I have found myself on the defensive side of both of the albums she's released so far this decade. 2012's MDNA  was met with overwhelming hate upon its re...

Car Seat Headrest is the Will Toledo fronted indie rock act who took the indie world by storm in 2016 with the release of their highly anticipated Matador records debut Teens Of Denial  and again in 2018 with the re-release of their critically acclaimed Bandcamp masterpiece concept album Twin Fantasy  re-recorded in studio format. They announced this live album recorded from shows played in the past two years just days before it was released and dropped it without a single. Review By Lavender: I went to see Car Seat Headrest at Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina in September of 2016 and I really enjoyed the show. It was right at the height of Teens Of Denial  craze and I got to sneak right up to the front row to watch Will Toledo and company play a plethora of songs old and new. In the three years since then I have dished out praise to a handful of their new singles and the remastered version of Twin Fantasy  which littered my songs of the ...

Yeasayer is a New York rock group who have been consistently releasing ever evolving indie and experimental rock music for over a decade. While the most acclaimed Yeasayer album is 2010's Odd Blood  many fans have a particular favorite of their many different styles and sounds. Review By Lavender: I have never considered myself a Yesayer fan and while I do believe that Odd Blood  is by far the groups best album I still don't know if I would consider it all that fantastic. Albums like Fragrant World  and All Hour Cymbals  have some good ideas and even a few decent songs each but my expectations going into this project were basically nonexistent, Surprisingly enough Yeasayer manage to deliver just under half an hour of simple but effective synth and indie pop tunes that usually do a pretty good job of filling time with sweet hooks and dancy melodies.  For as short of an album this is the band chose to release four singles of varying quality leading ...

Silversun Pickups Are a long running indie project out of Los Angeles that dropped an EP and two critically acclaimed indie rock albums in the second half of the 2000's. And even though most critics haven't reported a dip in quality the bands two albums released in the 2010's so far haven't received near the volume of attention as their heyday in the 2000's and  Widows Weeds  is an attempt as a return to critical and commercial success after four years of studio album silence. Review By Lavender: Silversun Pickups are underrated, and I have been a proponent of that for a long time now. As far as indie bands of the 2000's go they are very solidly among the second tier, yet bands that have released far worse material over this decade continue to garner attention that eludes SP even though I would argue they've never released a bad album. Though their most recent release  Better Nature  isn't quite the blistering indie jams that the bands tour-de-forc...

Future is the now iconic Atlanta rapper who helped put mumble rap on the map and has become one of the breakout successes of the trap era with popular albums and mixtapes like DS2, EVOL and Monster . Future dropped two collaborative projects in 2018, the Future and Zaytoven album Beastmode 2  and the Future and Juice WRLD album WRLD On Drugs . While neither of the two we're met with critical praise or great commercial success Future was still a substantial name going into 2019 when he dropped The WZRD  just a few months ago that was immediately a much more popular release. He is following this up with a shift in style on the much shorter Save Me EP.  Review By Lavender: I definitely caught some hate for the review I gave to Future earlier this year and while I understand it, I stand by my review. There are a handful of great songs on The WZRD  but Future's inability to be consistent has harmed all of his music, especially the few projects I feel could have...

Frank Iero Is the former rhythm guitarist for one of pop punk's most popular acts My Chemical Romance. After 4 studio albums the band called it quits and since then Frank Iero has started an ever evolving solo project and released three albums under changing monikers. Though none have been met with overwhelming critical praise or popularity they continue to appeal to Iero's cult following as well as fans of the first two My Chemical Romance albums. Review By Lavender: While I am a pretty strong supporter of the idea that the My Chemical Romance discography is underrated and much more innovative and consistent than people give it credit for, I will also be the first to admit I didn't have high expectations for a Frank Iero solo career. This came true for me when he released Stomachaches under the  frnkiero and the cellabration moniker. The albums was a misfire that tried to blend the expressionism of emo with the extremity of Post-Hardcore but fell short in its organ...

1. Nicki Minaj - Megatron Nicki takes a storming #1 with the highly anticipated MEGATRON  that arrives after a huge viral marketing campaign and a quick turnaround from last years Queen  era. 2. Spoon - No Bullets Spent Spoon returns after a two year absence likely to continue their reign as indie's most consistent band with more sharp riffs and catchy tunes. 3. Poppy - Choke Poppy is playing the genre bender game once again and by dropping the title track to her upcoming EP she asks the question what do you EXPECT her music to sound like? 4. Lupe Fiasco - Run Game Out of nowhere Lupe Fiasco returns with a new single looking to build off of a solid release last year and potentially building to a third album in the Drogas  series. 5. YBN Cordae - Bad Idea  (Feat. Chance The Rapper) Cordae scores his highest chart spot since last years J. Cole response song, by recruiting in demand feature Chance The Rapper and ramping up for his big debut solo release. ...

Skepta Is a british Grime rapper who has established himself as one of the most well respected and veteran MCs of this decade. His 2016 album Konichiwa was a huge critical and commercial success and through his association with the A$AP Mob as well as a crossover hit with A$AP Rocky in Praise Da Lord he has also become one of the most well known grime rappers internationally. Review By Lavender: I will be the first to admit I was a late comer to Skepta as I am to far too many grime rappers being an American, and as I am trying to remedy with Slowthai. But by the time Konichiwa came around I was more than comfortable with Skepta's back catalog and that album blew me away. Leading up to this record I had heard Skepta drop some great verses on various A$AP Mob tracks as well as drop a decent EP in 2017 I was excited for this release. After hearing it I certainly am not head over heels but it is still a solid outing. The lead single for this thing was an excellent track that I...

One year ago the day this list is being posted Florida rapper XXXTENTACION was tragically shot and killed far too young, and to remember his greatest works and legacy we're counting down our top 10 X songs spanning his entire career discography to find his most shining moments. 10. What In XXXTarnation If there is one characteristic of X that kept him in the minds of so many young people all the time it may have been his incredible and persistent memeability. One of the most clear moments of self-awareness in his brief career came on What In XXXTarnation  where he proved his connection to meme culture and the youth that devour it with a song right at the "What In Tarnation" memes height that helped further jumpstart his career in the wake of Look At Me!  and is a pretty damn good tune on its own. 9. #IMSIPPINTEAINYOHOOD Though it may have not been peak X memehood those who have been around him for a long time certainly remember when Sippin Tea In Yo Hood was a ...