Lav's Music Corner

Poppy is a Youtuber, singer, songwriter and wrestler? Not really. She is a genre and medium fuser known for elaborate visuals that connect to her music and a sound that blends together bubbly electronic synth pop and brash pummeling punk and metal. Flux  is Poppy's 4th studio album and follows an extremely prolific run dating back to last years I Disagree  which included a few EP's and a soundtrack album.  Review By Lav: You guys should be used to me talking about Poppy by now. I enjoyed her music during her distinctive synth pop era which saw her breaking into the music business after a pretty unique stint on YouTube. I enjoyed her sound once she started to push into heavier and heavier territory, and I really enjoyed her sound once she threw everything against the wall on a true experimental rock EP in 2019 . While I think it's nearly impossible to cover absolutely everything Poppy has had her hands in over the past 16 months or so I have at least heard all of it and tr...

Public Service Broadcasting are an English instrumental and progressive rock band known for their highly conceptual albums which in their early days made heavy use of recordings that were available on public record. Their breakout project was 2015's The Race For Space  a concept album that used instrumental passages and a myriad of audio recordings to tell the story of the cold war era space race across the record. They followed it up in 2018 with an even more narrative focused record following the collapse of the British mining industry. Review By Lav: This band has always felt like a little secret of mine. Sure they get more press in England than over here in the states but plenty of indie acts have managed to cross the Atlantic and achieve strong fanbases here. For some reason Public Service Broadcasting never seemed to have the level of acclaim that their highly conceptual and unique albums warranted. I liked their debut but The Race For Space  really blew me away a few ye...

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine are a pair of signees to Sufjan's Asthmatic Kitty Records label. After releasing two decades of his highly acclaimed indie folk records on the label, Sufjan signed Angelo for the release of his 2nd album and to open for him on tour. Now the duo are collaborating for the most recent in a string of experimentations, side projects and collaborations that Sufjan Stevens has undertaken in recent years. Review By Lav: Like most fans of indie music I went through a pretty big Sufjan phase in my life. Somewhere between The Age Of Adz  and Carrie & Lowell  I took a deep dive into his catalog and fell in love with a number of his records. While I haven't quite been head over heels for a lot of what Sufjan has done in the years since Carrie , there is an understanding that a lot of the projects are one time experiments that see him pursuing his creative passions outside the world of indie folk, indietronica and folktronica and probably shouldn...

The five best new tracks released this weekend below: 5.  Big Energy  - Latto Latto's most recent banger is built around a feature of Tom Tom Club's Genius Of Love , yes you heard that right. It uses the songs indelible key phrase as the base for an impressively sung hook while Latto attaches her trademark charisma to the verses all themed around the title concept. It's like a more mainstream and more danceable version of Shygirl's BDE  from earlier this year.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8GpG8C0YzA 4.  Nightfall  - Explosions In The Sky The best track so far from post-rock outfit Explosions In The Sky's new PBS affiliated soundtrack album is a short dreamy cut. It kicks off like a lullaby before driving into a wonderfully slinky and atmospheric conclusion, all in under two minutes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FghKzKLgBlU 3.  U+Me  - alt-j Despite their extended break alt-j still sound just like themselves with an exciting and instr...

Clarence Clarity is a British singer and electronic music producer known for his bright, loud and detailed take on electronic music whose rise to fame slightly pre-dated hyperpop's peak in popularity, and occurred alongside frequent collaborator Rina Sawayama's. VANISHING ACT  follows his 2019 ambient album Dead Screen Scrolls  and his 2018 sophomore record THINK: PIECE . Review By Lav: Clarence Clarity is like my grade school crush of music. His exciting brand of experimental electronica completely wowed me on his 2015 debut and his adaptability in the pop music sphere with his 2nd album and work alongside Rina is just as impressive. After he dropped a pretty compelling ambient album last year I had to ask myself if there was anything Clarence couldn't do. I was pretty curious going into this EP if he would continue the trend he started on his 2nd album of taking his sound in a brighter more poppy and straightforward direction, or deep dive back into the insane experimenta...

Normally with these weekly-ish segments I look for a few records that have something in common with each other that I can cover together because its cute and congruent. Once we get into the last few months of the year however, there becomes a point where I just have some records that I need to talk about before the curtain closes on 2021. These are three records that I really only put together because I originally went into them anticipating they would be good, didn't quite have the time to fully review them, but still wanted to talk about them in some capacity. So without further meaningless delay here are those concise reviews.  Texis  - Sleigh Bells Sleigh Bells are one of those groups that kind of disappear in between album cycles and don't get the same level of press they once did as early 2010's indie darlings. But every time they emerge I see fans come out in mass to praise the duo for their infectious noise pop fusions. I've always had a soft spot for the band a...

Moor Mother is the musical project of Camae Ayewa a Philly based artist who has dabbled in numerous experimental takes on hip hop, jazz and spoken word across 4 studio albums. In 2020 she ramped up her output with a pair of collaborative records, first teaming up with Mental Jewelry for the Moor Jewelry record True Opera . Then followed it up with the billy woods pairing BRASS . Her experimental sound and sonic fusions have made her a critical darling across the last few years.  Review By Lav: I was late on Moor Mother I'm willing to admit that. 2016's Fetish Bones  slid by me and I didn't hear it until 2018 at which point I still didn't fully get it. Last years Moor Jewelry project was what really made it click for me and revisiting some of Moor Mother's older records at which point I really came around to her discography. That plus a couple of singles that I really dug got me excited for Black Encyclopedia Of The Air  and that proved to be for good reason. The rec...

Lil Nas X is one of the newest and biggest stars in the world of contemporary pop and rap music. A few years ago he scored one of the all time most dominant summer chart hits with his breakout song Old Town Road  and has been teasing tracks on social media leading up to this debut album for almost two years. Earlier this year he broke potential one hit wonder claims with a trio of singles, two of which managed to be major chart hits. Review By Lav: I think it's worth stepping back and realizing just how meteoric the rise of Lil Nas X has been. I vividly remember when the news story broke that Old Town Road  wasn't eligible for the country music charts and my only thought being that I was surprised that a song I had only ever heard on Tik Tok was even scoring enough streams to chart anywhere. So clearly after he teamed up with Billy Ray Cyrus and the song became a mega hit the questions becomes is he capable of bucking the sonic aesthetics of his first big hit to become a caree...

The five best new tracks released this weekend below: 5.  Valentine  - Snail Mail The lead single kicking off Snail Mail's new era is a bit of an instrumentally dry indie rock cut. It's mostly made up for with personality both vocally and lyrically spinning a worthwhile tale in Lindsey Jordan's recognizable style.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxarOZ0JBcc 4.  Earthlings  - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds One of experimental rock and chamber music's all time great acts is releasing a B-Sides and rarities collection which is being teased by this previously unheard track from the Ghosteen era. It features a bright and intense organ arrangement and anguish vocals from Nick all of which set up for a satisfying full chorus finale in just under 3 minutes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_xnkVhz270 3.  Tales From The Trash Stratum  - Oneohtrix Point Never (Feat. Elizabeth Frazier) On this track Oneohtrix Point Never further proves his experimental clou...

Injury Reserve are a Phoenix based hip hop trio who released a string of critically acclaimed mixtapes culminating in their 2019 self-titled debut. Last year one of the groups two MCs Steppa J. Groggs tragically passed away and By The Time I Get To Phoenix  is the first new music from the group since his death. The writing and recording process for the record was underway before Groggs passed away and he has a number of appearances on the album. Review By Lav: I have been a massive admirer of Injury Reserve for years now. They showed off quite a bit of versatility on their self-titled and I said at the time that I was thrilled to see where they would go next. It was obviously an extremely painful and unfair tragedy that someone as young and talented as Groggs so tragically passed away and I wasn't sure we would ever hear another album from the band. On By The Time I Get To Phoenix the band throws convention completely out the window creating their most thematically dark and instrum...

Kacey Musgraves is a Texas based singer and songwriter who has spent the last few years shifting from a country artist on her first few records to a full blown pop star today. star-crossed  is the follow-up to 2018's  Golden Hour  Kasey's most commercially and critically successful album to date.  Review By Lav: While I've always been aware of Kacey Musgraves' music I was never really crazy about her sound until she really impressed me on Golden Hour . It was the first time that she consistently executed both good songwriting and good sounding songs, and the fact that it became her breakout record is no surprise. For those reasons  star-crossed  was a follow-up album I was pretty interested in and I'm not surprised at all that Kacey dove head first into the world of pop. The thing I was surprised about was how difficult of a record it would turn out to be. From the awkward songwriting and topical approach, to the straight up unfinished mixing and production...

Low is most well known for their legendary run of slowcore releases in the 90's. But have since filled out their catalog with numerous other sound of indie and experimental rock music. The band shifted their releases to Sub Pop in the mid 2000's but didn't find a massive success on the label until 2018's Double Negative  which became a massive critical success.  Review By Lav: Imagine if Slowcore one day experiences the online renaissance and retroactive appreciation that shoegaze has gotten in 2021, that's the world I want to live in. Bands like Low and their contemporaries in Duster, Songs: Ohia, and yes even Red House Painters (despite the actions of Mark Kozelek) all deserve to have their brilliant work recognized. I think Double Negative  inspired a lot of people to give Low's back catalog a chance and I was pretty excited for their follow-up given that a lot more people were likely to hear it. Despite that reality the band is refusing to compromise their s...

The best new tracks to drop this weekend: 5.  Pressure  - Ari Lennox We will get the obvious one out of the way real quick. The biggest reason anyone is talking about this song is that literally everything about it sounds almost identical to Beyonce. While being influenced by Queen B is certainly nothing to fault an artist for, an entire album full of this much worship could come out intolerable. Thankfully as a single the track manages to be enjoyable and never quite step into complete complete sonic thievery.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E604eZ81_YQ 4.  Blackest Crow  - The Body & BIGBRAVE One of the stranger collaborations of the year has already proven interesting on prior singles and has even more intrigue on Blackest Crow . The expanded composition sees both metal bands continuing to reel it in and cover more folk influenced territory with a great degree of success. The track is surprisingly agreeable given the names involved but everything about i...

There's a hundred million trillion albums that came out this year that I want to review and there's no way I'll have time to cover all of them. Coming off a slow week I'll jump on the opportunity to cover a few of the more talked about indie pop, pop rock, synth pop, parallel records that don't really have a ton to do with each other. But hey whatever checks the box right.  Screen Violence  - Chvrches Like many people I was incredibly impressed with Chvrches 2013 debut The Bones Of What You Believe  which delivered catchy synth pop but with a distinctly loud edge edge that made for high impact tracks throughout. Since then I've been less and less impressed with each Chvrches release culminating with their third album in 2018, Love Is Dead  and a truly obnoxious Marshmello collaboration Here With Me  a year later. I was pretty hesitant going into Screen Violence  given that I thought the singles were a pretty mixed bag. With that being said I did thing that ...