Review by Lavender: Drake, what to say about Drake. The Canadian rapper and singer has been one of the biggest stars in music for well over a decade. But in case you're living under a rock, you probably know that he's coming off of one of the biggest defeats of his entire career in a beef with Kendrick Lamar that just resulted in an instantly iconic Super Bowl performance. Of course, Drake doesn't fall like the rest of us. The beef spawned multiple huge hit songs for him as well and he's continued successfully touring the entire time, but he just released his first new music since the beef concluded, a Valentine's Day record in collaboration with label mate PartyNextDoor. If you're approaching $ome $exy $ongs 4 U hoping for a the next cultural development in Drake's arc you're going to be disappointed. Save for a few passing mentions the album largely exists outside that sphere, focusing mainly on returning to a similar kind of songwriting about rich ...
Duster are a California band who experimented in slowcore and space rock during a run of material in the late 90's. In particular their 1998 album Stratosphere made them an indie darling in critical circles with a cult following. After years of inactivity in the 2000's and 2010's they reformed and released a self-titled 3rd album in 2019. Together is their 4th album and was released as a surprise with no singles or promotion. Review By Lav: While I am no doubt a critic, and there is plenty of reason to lump praise onto Duster's Stratosphere , what makes it so truly transcendent is a much more personal and emotional affair. The bands lucid, nostalgic and spacey style of largely instrumental rock is truly unique and seemingly universal in the way it evokes sad distance and isolation. While I enjoy the bands entire discography that moment in particular has always felt like an era defining masterpiece. For that reason I'll always be in tune with Duster whenever they r...
Lil Baby Lil Baby is an Atlanta rapper whose music I've never particularly cared for. I have stuck my neck out twice to at least pay him a little bit of love on a pair of collaborative projects. That included his breakthrough Drip Harder alongside Gunna in 2018 and his album The Voice Of The Heroes alongside Lil Durk a few years later. But as far as his own studio albums go I can't say I've enjoyed any of them a bit. Hit completely flavorless style and AI-generated lyricism almost do enough to mask just how unpleasant his voice is to listen to, almost. But on WHAM he takes a risk or two that pays off, not enough to make the album good but enough to make it marginally more enjoyable than some of his others. This is gonna be a quick review, because if you've ever heard any Lil Baby music before you already know exactly what most of this album sounds like. Let me bring up some of the highlights though. "Dum, Dumb, And Dumber" has been one of the breakthrough ...