Lav's Music Corner

Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian pop singer who released a pair of critically acclaimed albums over the last five years that both attained cult status with those who don't generally indulge in much pop music. After her last record which she allegedly wrote hundreds of songs for she released a B Sides EP that was also met with critical acclaim and spawned numerous fan favorite songs. Dedicated  however got an even more through secondary release as this is a full 40 minute record.  Review By Lavender: If it wasn't apparent enough that I've been a Carly Rae Jepsen fan for years based on the fact that both Emotion  and Dedicated  cracked my top 5 albums of their respective years, Emotion Side: B  made it onto my list of my favorite EP's the year that it came out. Given how great Carly has been I wasn't surprised that even her rejected songs were as good as her peers and I had no doubt that Dedicated  had some excellent leftovers too. I was surprised to see that t...

The 1975 are a Manchester pop rock band who has been releasing commercially and critically successful records for the better part of a decade now. Notes  follows a long run of singles in the two year gap since the bands last record and it was delayed in order to be fully completed, and the result is the groups longest record yet at 80 minutes and 22 tracks.  Review By Lav: I have been a 1975 fan for as long as the band has been around and both their self-titled debut record The 1975  and their third record A Brief History Into Online Relationships  landed on my albums of the decade list at the end of last year. Normally with a record this long with this many songs I would generalize to try and synthesize my opinions but with a bad that I have the respect and admiration for like The 1975 I want to do this right, so strap in. This record is long, indulgent and features a wide variety of sounds and genres which means making any sense of the record can be difficult but I...

The Magnetic Fields is the long running indie music project of Stephin Merritt that has released a number of heavily themed album in their nearly 30 year existence. Quickies  follows Merritt's 50 Song Memoir  which contained a song for every year of his life, and this new album is centered around shorter songs with it's 28 tracks totaling just 46 minutes.  Review By Lavender: I have been a pretty casual fan of The Magnetic Fields for a long time now. I have just as much admiration for their 1999 classic 69 Love Songs  as most people do and when they show up to drop a unique conceptual record every few years I always tune in and they usually provide a few pretty great moments. Quickies  is no different and while I won't drive myself crazy breaking down every single one of the records often brief 28 tracks I will just say that as a blanket statement I like more of these songs than I don't and I'm happy to pick out a few highlights.  The Day The Politicia...

Future is an Atlanta trap rapper who really needs no introduction at this point. He has been around for almost a decade now and has frequently released commercially successful projects that have heavily influenced the popular psychedelic trap sound. High On Life  is technically Future's 8th album but with a dense catalog of mixtapes and EPs we have had no shortage of music from the man and at 70 minutes long this record is no different.  Review By Lavender: For somebody that has been popular and influential for nearly a decade now it can be kind of difficult to narrow down Future's music to just the good stuff. While there is certainly enough Future tracks for a greatest hits album or two that is just a drop in the ocean of content he has released and with the exception of DS2  those tracks rarely align into a cohesively great record. Just last year Future wowed me with a handful of tracks on his The WZRD  album and even more on his Save Me  EP yet I consider th...

Moses Sumney is an Asheville, North Carolina based R&B singer who broke out with his 2017 debut album Aromanticism , grae  follows two EP's Sumney released over the last two years and the first half of the album was released back in February. Review By Lavender: I thought Moses Sumney's debut album Aromanticism  was pretty good and I regret missing out on doing a proper full review of it even though the album ultimately found itself on my year end list. The moment I really fell for Sumney's music was on his 2018 Black In Deep Red, 2014  EP where he fused R&B with captivating spoken word passages and tribal percussion to make for one of my favorite EP's all year. I waited on the first half of grae  because I wanted to wait and hear the record in its entirety and now that it is here I see all the things that make Moses Sumney's sound so compelling here, but at 65 minutes the album comes with some excess.  The excess parts of the record isn't the short...

Perfume Genius is the project of Mike Hadreas an American singer-songwriter who first emerged at the beginning of last decade writing intimate piano ballads. His music has become more grand over the years culminating in his most popular and acclaimed release No Shape  in 2017 which featured detailed and fully orchestrated instrumental arrangements from production wizard Blake Mills. Set My Heart On Fire  is once again produced by Blake Mills and doesn't feature the tracks Eye In The Wall  and Pop Song  that Mike released last year.  Review By Lavender: It's no secret I have a ton of admiration for Perfume Genius and it started early in my reviewing career when Mike released his 4th album under the name No Shape  and I gave it the 2nd official 10/10 score of my reviewing career. To this day I adore the record for its ability to satisfy with both lush extravagantly arranged songs and the most stripped back, dark and intimate tracks. But this didn't come out o...

Updated with new music every weekend through September check out the official summer playlist at the link below along with playlists from all the various lists we have made over the years and some thematic song sets for specific vibes all below! Summer Fun  

Charli XCX is a British pop singer who has been one of the loudest and most critically acclaimed voices in the world of hyper pop. Alongside frequent producer A.G. Cook Charli has transitioned into a groundbreaking and experimental pop music artist who released her most acclaimed album to date just last year. How I'm Feeling Now  is a record assembled as a result of the Covid-19 quarantine and deals thematically in that subject matter after Charli marketed the album as her "quarantine record". Review By Lavender: I'm no stranger to dishing out tons of praise towards Charli, I have given out great reviews to her music like clockwork over the years and after a handful of killer singles I was anticipating this would be no different. Now that the record is here it was not exactly what I expected, instead of a set of bangers to dance to in your living room the album is just as much an exploration of the emotional state that being in quarantine has left so many in. Aside fr...

Hayley Williams is a Tennessee based singer and songwriter who has served as the frontwoman for pop-punk band Paramore for over a decade. After 4 records with the band Hayley is venturing out as a solo act with Petals For Armor  her solo debut. Review By Lavender: It is safe to say that I have never been a fan of Paramore. When they were in their most popular pop-punk phase during the 2000's I found them more annoying than engaging, but it was their follow-up self-titled album in 2013 that really rubbed me the wrong way and still does to this day. A lot of people who we're never fans of the band found themselves coming around to the fourth record the band dropped which was a huge change of pace that dropped the edginess for a much more approachable sound. While even I will admit the lead single Hard Times  is a great track I can't say the record really won me over, being the best Paramore album just isn't saying much in my book. So when Hayley emerged with a solo record...

Ka is a New York hip hop artist who has gained acclaim over the past decade for his strong lyricism and conceptual albums. He had some of his most critically acclaimed releases over the last few years starting with 2016's Honor Killed The Samurai  and his Greek mythology themed release under the name Hermit And The Recluse, Orpheus vs. The Sirens .  Descendants Of Cain  features many of Ka's typical themes but this time set to the story of Cain and Able and filled with Christian symbolism. Review By Lavender: Early in Ka's career as I myself was just getting into experimental rap I wasn't that impressed with what he had to offer. But in recent years starting with his third record The Night's Gambit  in 2013 I have been impressed with everything he has touched. After particularly enjoying the Japanese samurai and Greek mythology themes on his last two records I was excited about the exploration of Christian theology throughout this record and while the concept is...

Little Simz is a British rapper who had a breakout moment last year when her record Grey Area  became one of the most critically acclaimed rap records of the year. Following up the hype of the album quickly she has returned with an EP of material completed during the COVID-19 quarantine, Review By Lavender: When I finished Grey Area  last year I was excited to hear whatever Simz had coming next, but I also assumed that we may be waiting a while for that new music to come. Thankfully she had something ready for a pretty quick turnaround and just barely a year out of releasing her breakout album has dropped a five song EP that serves as a real quarantine blessing.  The only song here that goes out of its way to be a hard-hitting banger is the opener might bang, might not . The song has a rumbling lowkey beat that never lets up as Simz delivers rapid fire bars over top with a swagger that is impressive throughout. The hook could be a touch better but I still really enjoy the...

Mark Kozelek is a San Francisco based singer/songwriter who fronted two hugely acclaimed slowcore bands in Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon before a major change in his sound came just a few years ago. Since Mark switched to a predominate spoken word almost stream of consciousness style songwriting in 2016 he has split critics down the middle regarding his music as he has prolifically dropped albums with a number of collaborators and under a few different names.  Review by Lavender: If my consistent praise towards Mark over the past four years has been any indication of my standing regarding the split in opinion on his new music, I am firmly in the camp who loves it. Year after year Mark has dropped some of my favorite records like clockwork from Jesu/Sun Kil Moon  to  Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood , Mark Kozelek  and even just 6 months ago with Joey Always Smiled  we have never been short of good Koz projects over the past few years. I th...

Chris Brown & Young Thug are a pair of veteran music industry players who have come together for a surprise collaborative mixtape. Chris Brown is a controversial but successful R&B singer who has been around for nearly 20 years now and Young Thug is one of the more unique and critically acclaimed voices in modern trap music, so it is safe to say the pairing is a slight surprise. Review By Lavender: I didn't really have any time to prepare my expectations for this mixtape give that there were no real singles for the project and it was basically surprised dropped in the middle of the week. But had I had the time to develop expectations for the record I think I would have ended up anticipating this thing to be exactly what it is. The beats here are simple and the songs are inconsistent but when Thugger and Chris Brown bring their strongest personality to the fold they can make some great tracks.  The opening track is an example of the pairing going right. The song Say You Love...

X is a California punk and alternative rock band who released some of the genre's most essential and acclaimed work in the early 80's. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of their seminal 1980 debut album Los Angeles  the original line-up of the band reunited for the first time since 1985's Ain't Love Grand .  Review By Lavender: I would say that X is among my favorites of the original punk bands of the 1980's and 95% of that is due to my huge admiration for their debut Los Angeles . While I do enjoy pieces of their next few records the most essential moment of the bands catalog is their consistently underrated first record. When this record was surprised dropped out of the blue I was certainly caught off guard given how long it has been since we last heard anything from the band, and even more excited once I heard that the original line-up was writing and recording together for the first time in a long time. I had hoped that the band came back because they had someth...