Lav's Music Corner

 Check out the first video recap of reviews from 2021 so far on the Music Corner YouTube channel right here

Tindersticks are a British experimental chamber rock band who made a number of essential experimental rock records in the 90's and have maintained an experimental sound in the decades since as a Stuart Staples led project. The band found late stage critical acclaim in 2016 on The Waiting Room  and are continuing to experiment, evident by the two singles from the record being a deep cut Television Personalities cover, and the records 11 minute opener.  Review By Lav: Anyone who knows Tindersticks knows that they are experimental, envelope pushing and boundary expanding within the world of British rock music and have been for a few decades now. Even given their history, and that they've continued to experiment late in their career, Distractions  is still impressively weird at nearly every turn.  Despite being nearly 50 minutes long there are only 7 tracks in the mix on this record. The first two and last two tracks are originals with 3 covers laid in-between. Man Alone  is the op

Mogwai are a veteran post-rock band out of Scotland who have been putting out numerous studio albums and soundtracks full of expansive instrumental rock music since the late 90's. With classic albums like Mogwai Young Team , Mr Beast  and Come On Die Young  in their catalog the band is worth paying attention to whenever they release new material. Despite being quite prolific in recent years this is their first proper studio album since 2017's Every Country's Sun .  Review By Lav: I'm a big fan of Mogwai's classic, particularly their groundbreaking debut Mogwai Young Team  as well as their modern post-rock classic, 2011's Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will . While I haven't reviewed any of the bands non studio album material over the last few years I have definitely been paying attention to any of the soundtracks, compilations or live projects they release which all came together to make me excited for this project. While I wasn't head over heels for a

The Hold Steady are a long running New York indie rock outfit fronted by charismatic frontman and narrative heavy lyricist Craig Finn. After a prolific run of records in the 2000's the band slowed down in the 2010's before releasing a long list of singles leading up to their 7th album, Thrashing Thru The Passion  in 2019. This follow-up came relatively soon after and featured only a trio of singles in its lead up.  Review By Lav: I've always considered myself a Hold Steady fan, even if most of what's considered there best work came before I was really old enough to be an active listener of the band. That's why I felt so justified when the band released Thrashing Thru The Passion  a few years ago and it was the best thing they'd done in a long time. Overflowing with memorable storytelling and instantaneous hooks it was exactly what I could have hoped for from a late stage Hold Steady project. That's why I was so excited for this project even though the single

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are an American indie project who made major waves in the indie scene in 2005 with their self-produced, self-released and self-titled debut album. While they never quite reached that level of critical success again then did release a number of subsequent projects as a group, before taking a break and returning as an Alex Ounsworth solo project in 2017. While their return album didn't necessarily generate a ton of buzz this time around there's been more attention pointed in the bands direction.  Review By Lav: I've always had a soft spot for the lo-fi indie music of the 2000's. Partly because I grew up listening to it and scenes parallel to it, but in the BandCamp era of bedroom indie revivalism there are plenty of new bands carrying the torch. I'm a big fan of CYHSY's debut album so I've kept tabs on pretty much everything they've done and the singles for this album had me pretty excited. As it turns out this is by far my favorit

JPEGMAFIA is a Maryland based rapper who has spent the last 5 years or so establishing himself as one of the most acclaimed and influential artists in the world of underground hip hop. After collecting all of the singles he released last year into a compilation style EP he's following that release up with a 2nd EP of nre material.  Review By Lav: I've been a pretty big fan of Peggy's work over the past few years particularly his pair of studio albums Veteran  and All My Heroes Are Cornballs . Even though I was a little mixed on his output of singles last year he still managed to drop a couple of incredible tracks regardless, and I'm always anticipating whatever creative sonic directions Peggy will take his sound in next. On EP2  his sound is a bit more hymgonized than before with one slick pop rap song after another making up the tracklist. While I do miss some of the versatility you can expect sonically and compositionally from Peggy's projects, I do have to admit

Slowthai is a British rapper who turned heads in 2019 with his explosive debut album Nothing Great About Britain . He crafted provocative and politically charged songs with a unique and hard-hitting take on grime and synonymous British rap genres. In the two years since he has massively expanded the scope of his collaborations appearing on tracks with Flume, Brockhampton, Denzel Curry, Amine and Gorillaz.  Review By Lav: I really enjoyed Slowthai's debut album. While he certainly had a sound he was comfortable with he consistently executed it and made for one explosive track after another. Since then he has shown up across a number of tracks showing off his versatility. Versatility has proven to be the word defining this era of Slowthai's music as the record is split into two halves. The first half is made up of tracks that would mostly fit in with his first record, in your face, hard-hitting bangers. The second half however shows a much more vulnerable and emotional side of Sl

Foo Fighters are the long running alterative rock project famously formed by Dave Grohl a few years after Nirvana ended. The band have been consistently commercially successful with numerous recognizable hits across their career, but critical acclaim has largely avoided them in the third act of their career.  Review By Lav: While there are plenty of Foo Fighters tracks I enjoy, I wouldn't really consider myself a fan. Their cheeky brand of dad rock is certainly capable of spawning some decent radio hits but it often feels tepid in full length form. It's been a very long time since the band released an album I liked from start to finish and even when they try and up the ante on their energy like their previous album, it usually doesn't hit the mark. So my expectations for the record weren't particularly high and if not for one single I surprisingly enjoyed I might have skipped reviewing the record entirely. Unfortunately Medicine  is pretty much exactly what I expected i

Sun Kil Moon is the musical solo project of veteran songwriter Mark Kozelek who is also responsible for legendary slow core act Red House Painters. While Mark has always been a controversial figure he was accused of making unwanted sexual advances on a pair of fans as reported by Pitchfork media last year which caused the delay of this record.  Review By Lav: I wasn't really sure how to handle this record. Mark has been extremely prolific over the last few years and I've spent a lot of that time not only reviewing his music, but dishing out tons of praise to it. The allegations leveled are Mark are obviously very serious and they would make me completely lose interest in many lesser singer-songwriters. But when one of the greatest songwriters of all time continues to release new music I can't help but listen. In an effort to truly hear the best music a year has to offer and to not have a glaring hole in my review catalog for an artist that would obviously be there is not fo

I took to YouTube to give my personal rankings of the bands 6 studio albums, Check out the video here

Black Country, New Road are a London based post-punk band who turned heads with their debut single in 2019. After releasing a few more songs to continued masses of critical acclaim their debut album was one of the most highly anticipated in years. With a mere 6 song tracklist and some controversial re-recordings of fan favorite songs For The First Time  has already become one of the most talked about records of 2021.  Review By Lav: Just about a month ago when I listed my most anticipated releases of 2021, For The First Time  was right up there at the top, at least among records that had been announced up to that point. Numerous times over the last 3 years the band has released singles I thoroughly enjoyed which had me beyond excited for the record despite the fact that there were only two new songs coming. This was before I learned that the bands first two singles, including their acclaimed breakout his Sunglasses , we're being re-recorded for album versions. Despite some controve

The Body are a Rhode Island based experimental metal duo who have been active for over 20 years now. They initially worked in the realms of doom and sludge metal but over the years have expanded their sound into the worlds of noise and harsh electronic music. They are just as known for their multiple collaborations with artists like Full Of Hell, Thou and Uniform as much of their core studio discography.  Review By Lav: I wasn't listening to The Body in their early days because I was just too young, but by the time I got a bit older the band had expanded their ambition and sound palette into something that really impressed me. In particular their 2018 album I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer  impressed me quite a bit with its instrumental ambition. On top of all this last year Lee Buford took part in an experimental super group that intrigued me with Sightless Pit. So it's safe to say that I was excited for this record but I wasn't quite prepared for what

Steven Wilson is a singer and multi-instrumentalist who has been operating for 30 years at this point and is often credited with carrying the torch for modern prog rock music. For years he served as the frontman of modern progs most recognizable band Porcupine Tree, before taking up the mantle as a solo artist in the lats 2000's. Since then he has released a number of critically acclaimed solo records including The Raven That Refused To Sing  and Hand Cannot Erase .  Review By Lav: I like Steven Wilson. As much as my hot bitch side thinks prog rock can be pretentious and dorky when I hear the genre at its best I can't help but love the rich array of influences, satisfying compositions and grand scale. And for a few decades now "prog at its best" has been mainly Steven and the various projects he's had his hand in. While he isn't exclusively working in the often maligned genre and this record also isn't that easy to define, it's definitely what he is mo

Weezer is kind of in a world all their own. The California alt-rock band became one of the most loved acts of the 90's with a debut and sophomore record that are both still massively revered to this day. Since then however Weezer has gone through numerous stylistic changes the results of which are often highly up for debate. From maligned mainstream pop efforts like Make Believe  and Rattitude  to power pop revivals like The White Album  it's basically impossible to make any definitive statement about Weezer's entire discography. Despite this frontman Rivers Cuomo's delightfully un-cool demeanor and songwriting has allowed the band to persist with a cult like following and maintain popularity through each phase of the bands career. Review By Lav: When I first started writing about music back in 2016 Weezer and I were on very good terms. 2014's Everything Will Be Alright In The End  had impressed me with its willingness to include more complex compositions and strang

Madlib is one of hip hop's all time great producers whose crate digging underground style became hugely influential in the 2000's. In the 2010's he continued to influence with a pair of massively acclaimed collaborative albums with Freddie Gibbs as well as being credited with production on tracks from a number of the daceded biggest rap records. While this is a record unlike any others Madlib has ever released under hit own name it is also a collaboration of sorts as co-production and mixing credits across the album are given to Kieran Hebden AKA microhouse legend Four Tet.  Review By Lav: I was excited for this record for a couple reasons. Obviously whenever Madlib puts his name to anything there is a quality standard you anticipate given his unmatched pedigree. But I was also excited that there aren't many albums you could consider true solo Madlib records and the prospect of him putting his own artistic vision to this records entirety entice me. Not to mention that I