Lav's Music Corner

Silk Sonic is the dream combination of two of the music industries most charming voices. Proven hitmaker and pop superstar Bruno Mars alongside versatile R&B singer Anderson .Paak. Since we last heard from Bruno Mars with a handful of smash hits on his last album .Paak has emerged as a serious force in the music industry, but this is his most high profile crossover yet.  Review By Lav: This was one of my most anticipated records of the year just based on it's concept alone. Anderson .Paak has been on of my favorite artists in all of music over the past five years with the ability to deliver hilarious and charismatic performances over a variety of genres, it's no surprise at all that his versatility and charm have grabbed hold of so many within the music industry. While I've never been crazy for Bruno's music this is like a dream situation for him, playing off a very different kind of vocalist with even more prescence of personality over a set of 70's flavored se...

Time for a good old EP review. Aside from Clarence Clarity there hasn't been a ton of great EPs coming out recently but some artists I really enjoy have put their names beside short form projects and I'm excited to break them down.  Intimidated EP - Kaytranada I love Kaytranada. His debut album is still a major highlight of electronica in the 2010's and I'm planning on talking about the follow up in a video at some point in the next few weeks. Even some of the one off singles and collaborations he's dropped in the past two years have really connected with me so I was really excited to jump into this EP which features H.E.R, Thundercat and Mach-Hommy of all people. The first track is a warm blend of R&B and house that is easy on the ears, thought I can't help but wish a more capable vocalist than H.E.R was handling the song but that's a mostly minor issue. The next track is a big improvement starting with a killer instrumental that hangs all kinds of spac...

Below are the best new singles released this weekend: 5.  Queer  - Arca (Feat. Planningtorock) Arca being on this list feels like a necessary weekly occurrence at this point but I'm always excited for a Planningtorock appearance. The song is a weird slightly industrial and incredibly surreal banger that take on queer identity headfirst. If Arca really does drop three albums in December there will be a myriad of highlights in the bunch but I feel pretty safe in saying this will be one of them.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ropCEgWpdQ 4.  Stop That  - Saba Saba continues to impress not only as a wordsmith but also as a confident and technically proficient rapper. While the beat on this one is just okay it really does enough for Saba to jump on top and deliver a smart and instantly memorable performance on both the verses and hook. The only issue I have is that at just over two minutes it feels like it stops before it uses all the momentum it built up.  ht...

Courtney Barnett is an Australian singer songwriter who emerged as one of the genre's next big acts in the mid 2010's. Her unique blend of indie instrumentation with a rambling and narrative heavy style of songwriting made her a quick critical darling as songs like Avant Gardner  and Pedestrian At Best  were praised for their relentless cleverness. On her 2018 sophomore album Tell Me How You Really Feel  she shifted her sound to a more familiar indie rock approach which garnered her a lot of new fans but received mixed reviews from some already familiar listeners.  Review By Lav: I'm one of those already familiars. Courtney Barnett was one of the first artists in the indie scene that I can confidently say I was in on pretty early, because as a 14 year old I somehow spent even more time listening to music than I do now. While I do like both her albums, her debut is an utterly unique and impossibly charming piece of contemporary indie music. While her follow-up was goo...

IDLES are a British punk and post-punk band who spent the back half of the 2010's establishing themselves as one of the hardest hitters in the genre. The combination of their pounding percussion, fist pumping riffs, arena chanting refrains and frontman Joe Talbot's gnarly singing vocals they created a blend of chugging politically charged punk rock all their own. They leaned into this heavily on their third album last years Ultra Mono  which was the simplest and most commercial IDLES project to date. Review By Lav: I love this band. From the first time I heard Joe's snarling vitriol on Stendhal Syndrome  I was hooked and they expanded their themes and sound even further on their excellent sophomore record. On top of this I saw the band live recently and they absolutely killed, even if my shoes got pretty roughed up by the experience. While I was one of those people who wasn't crazy about the bands third album I still think it had it's highlights from a songwriting...

Damon Albarn is a singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and musical curator who has had his hand in all kinds of different projects across his 30 year career. He started as the front man of Britpop icons Blur in the early 90's and has continued to work with the band and its members ever since. His most well known project internationally is Gorillaz, the cartoon band that blew up for it's genre fusions and high profile collaborations. His musical imprint stretches even further into various side projects like The Good, The Bad & The Queen and Africa Express, as well as numerous soundtrack albums. Fountain  is Damon's 2nd true solo album and comes 7 years after his solo debut Everyday Robots . Review By Lav: If you know me, you know how I feel about this album. If you don't know me, hey there it's nice to meet you, yes Lav is short for Lavender, and I'm very sorry about whatever album you love I gave a bad score 3 years ago. Now that we're acq...

The five best tracks that came out this past week listed below: 5.  Waiting  - PUP The newest single from the PUP catalog is an absolute rager that explodes with jagged instrumentation and that classic punk attitude and flair we've come to expect from the band. They pull off a surprisingly emotional edge to the whole thing as the songs wonders why you continue to wait around for someone, when all signs tell you to just go. It's a punk song with more to it than meets the eye.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHG36NyvaUk 4.  La Fama  - Rosalia Feat. The Weeknd The latest in Rosalia's seemingly infinite streak of high profile collaborations is R&B crossover king The Weeknd. It actually follows the pairs collaboration on last years Blinding Lights Remix  but takes a much less pop approach sonically. It deploys a much darker instrumental palette reminiscent of Abel's early days but with a distinct Latin sound, and the blend pulls you in from it's very first ...

Every year it just seems like there are WAY more rap albums than I can listen to and review. I've had rapid fire reviews for rap collaborations, trap albums, conscious rap, abstract hip hop and even one that was just for Griselda. Yet there are still mountains of rap albums I want to cover. I'm taking on these four in an attempt to make a dent in that pile with some of the most pressing of the available choices.  The Color Blu(e)  - Blu After having not heard much about Blu in quite a while he has entered an incredibly prolific and acclaimed stretch across the past few years. His last two collaborative records have both been fan favorites and the latter, last year's Miles  was one of my favorite rap records of the year and one of the smartest rap albums I've ever heard. So I was excited going into this concept album because it's clear how talented Blu is and if anybody could stretch a concept album about a single color to nearly 45 minutes it's him. While I do h...

Snail Mail is the indie rock and singer-songwriter alias of musician Lindsey Jordan. She first turned heads in 2016 with her Habit  EP before signing with Matador records and releasing a fan favorite debut album Lush  in 2018. Now three and a half years later we are finally getting the follow-up, which quickly became one of the most anticipated new albums of the year for many young indie fans. Review by Lav: Every time one of these records comes out I suppose it's a chance to redeem myself from the narrative that I hate them. By "one of these" I mean a young indie singer-songwriter girl that is probably huge on tik tok and with people who have Smiths fan accounts on Instagram. Faye Webster, Clairo, Caroline Polachek to some extent and pretty much the entirety of boygenius. Every once in a while when I toss out a good review for one of these albums like Phoebe Bridgers last year or Faye Webster earlier this year I hope that it can turn the course, but no. I still get plent...

Amine is a Portland rapper who broke out a few years ago with his viral single Caroline . Since then he has dropped two albums and managed to keep a foot in both the world of contemporary radio rap music, and it's more critically acclaimed and experimental counterpart. TWOPOINTFIVE  is a mixtape that is designed to bridge the gap between Amine's 2nd and 3rd albums just like it's predecessor ONEPOINTFIVE  did for his 1st and 2nd albums.  Review By Lav: For most artists I wouldn't go out of my way to write a full review for a mixtape like this. Clearly this is a step down in terms of focus, depth and in all likelihood quality from Amine's core album releases. The reason I decided to take this record on in depth is simple, I really liked Amine's last album. Limbo  was a great example of the artistic versatility he's capable of an featured one song after another of his infectious performances and immeasurable charm. So yeah, I had a feeling this thing wouldn...

This weekend absolutely fucking ruled. I ended up with more then 15 songs just on the list for consideration for the best tracks of this week so please do yourself a favor and look around for all the great stuff that came out this weekend. The best new tracks of the week are below: 5.  Smokin Out The Window  - Silk Sonic This track relies on the one thing that Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars have in spades, charisma. On the surface it's a male music classic story of female money chasing and betrayal that comes from exactly as shallow a perspective as you'd expect. What makes it work is both their voices which can deliver narrative hooks and team up for beautiful harmonies on the hooks. If you can ignore the icky premise that the entire track is built on it's buttery smooth.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG7fLOmlhYg 4.  This Side Of The Sun  - Shame Shame have never been a gentle band but on This Side Of The Sun  they dig in on some of the best lyricism yet....

On todays edition of rapid fire reviews we are giving in to our simple side and indulging on some plain old pop rock. Bands that won't test you with complicated things, but try to lull you in with measured pleasures. Does it work? Rarely. But they continue trying. Music Of The Spheres   - Coldplay "Coldplay averages out to be a pretty good band". That was always my line. I'm an adamant defender of the bands first three records and I really enjoyed their last album Everyday Life  in 2019. So yeah when you average everything out, the good outweighs the bad. They are stretching that formula to its absolute limit here. Believe it or not this isn't the worst album Coldplay has ever released which I promise you is not a compliment directed at Spheres . Believe it or not I didn't even approach this album with the critical cynicism that most do for a new Coldplay release. I thought the lead single Higher Power  was actually one of their more tasteful pop crossovers an...

Grouper is the musical project of singer and songwriter Liz Harris who has received loads of critical acclaim across her long career in a myriad of genres. From indie folk to ambient to a nearly undefinable blend of psychedelic folk micro genres. Shade  follows Liz's previous album Grid Of Points  in 2018 which was a short but conceptual experiment with minimalism. Shade  takes that indulgence to a whole new level with some of the most sonically reserved folk tunes of 2021. Review By Lav: Everyone has their favorite Grouper project and for most people it's 2008's  Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill . While I love that record I also have to say that in 2011 she followed it up with A I A Alien Observer , an ambient record unlike anything else I've ever heard in the genre. So when I heard some of the early press I got pretty excited about the promise she made to continue fusing extreme minimalism and ambient music traits into her songs and she absolutely did not disapp...

The War On Drugs are a Philly band whose blend of psychedelic rock, heartland rock and indie made for a break-out moment on their 2014 album Lost In The Dream . On top of being a critical darling and massive hit among indie fans the band became a highly sought after live act and went on to win a Grammy with their next album A Deeper Understanding .  Review By Lav: I know there were plenty of people aware of The War On Drugs before 2014, but I was right in the thick of their breakout and it's unlike anything else I've ever seen. Lost In The Dream  was an album that delivered the expansive instrumental palette and compositional dexterity that indie fans crave, but also had the psychedelic soundscapes and soaring hooks of a classic rock staple. Everybody I knew loved this record, from experimental music fans who were in an edgy "Pink Floyd actually sucks ass" phase to commercial radio listeners high off of Foo Fighters and Imagine Dragons. I loved the hell out of that al...