Lav's Music Corner

Teen Suicide is the lo-fi indie and experimental music project of Baltimore musician Sam Ray who solidified their status in the early 2010's as one of the most intriguing underground acts in the indie circuit, culminating in their acclaimed 2016 album It's The Big Joyous Celebration , Let's Stir The Honeypot . After changing the name of the band to American Pleasure Club and operating under that moniker for numerous releases, honeybee table  is the return of the Teen Suicide name for the first time since Big Joyous Celebration .  Review by Lav: I think I was a sophomore in high school when I saw teen suicide in concert for the first time and bought a Stir The Honeypot  shirt. For the next few years I wore that shirt a genuinely exhausting amount of times. To me Teen Suicide was one of those bands that only cool people liked and if I saw anyone in a Teen Suicide shirt I would assume they were cool and hoped for that same courtesy in return. Does that make me look like even...

After the first time this year that there were so many good songs I had to include an honorable mention, we've got the second week in a row of less than stellar results. So be it, there are a lot of good albums coming out recently and going forward to fill in the gaps.  5.  One Twenty Two  - Botch Remember Botch? Probably not as it's been like 20 years since the heavy metal band last released any new material. This new song won't necessarily explain the absence or push their sound forward into anywhere crazy or unpredictable it is raw as fuck and the repetition helps sell the catchy refrain it's built around. In a year where Gospel came out of nowhere to become a new critical darling, it isn't that farfetched to imagine a similar fate for Botch. Listen 4.  All You Do  - Magdalena Bay When B-Sides make the singles list you know it's been a slow week but that's just how the cards fell this week. This track which wasn't good enough to land on their somewhat...

At some point in any great indie bands career, for some reason, they turn to a more synthetic and often more dancy sound. This isn't perfectly true for the pipeline of all three of these acts but it comes in varying degrees and covering them all together just made sense.  Life Is Yours  - Foals I didn't review this record right when it came out because I thought I knew what Foals were doing. After Part 2  of their previous studio effort failed to impress despite a great and hard-hitting lead single, they had turned towards making what is ostensibly a synth-pop album. I was wrong. Unlike many bands who enter the fray having abandoned their songwriting principles completely, Foals actually manage to bring out a number of catchy hooks alongside their ever-present satisfying compositions. The first half of this record features one shimmering high point after another as we breeze through a trilogy of singles that I wasn't crazy about at first but make the start of the record S...

Black Thought & Danger Mouse are a pair of veteran producer and even more veteran MC who have had their hands in dozens of classic records respectfully. After teasing a collaboration for years the pair have finally delivered a proper full length record and brought many high profile friends along with them.  Review by Lav: I love these two. From Danger Mouse's versatile and impressive catalog of production which is nearing two decades of work to Black Thought's time with The Roots and his continued success as a soloist. It's through this lens that the title of this record Cheat Codes  starts to make a lot of sense. The level of professionalism in the delivery and creation of these lo-fi and jazz inspired hip hop tracks really is a cheat code and the pair live up to it.  I was pretty sure this was gonna be good based solely on who made it, but the trio of singles certainly helped. No Gold Teeth  left my rotation at some point in the past few months and I don't know...

Every once in a while there is just a week like this. Not only were there very few high profile singles dropping this week but even some of the few that did failed to live up to the hype. So here is probably the lamest rendition of this list in 2022 so far.  5.  Shake The Feeling  - Iceage It's such a slow week that a single from a B-Sides & Demos collection has cracked the list. But to give the band credit Iceage has been one of the most consistently great modern post-punk bands around and I'm not the least bit surprised they have plenty of great material just lying around. The raw and bouncy taste of the compilation is certainly good enough to warrant having been slipped into the tracklist of either of the bands two most recent records.  Listen 4.  Mania  - Daphni Another consistency of 2022 has been Daphni singles being just alright. While I don't think there's been a true flop in the bunch I also think none of the tracks, including this one, have st...

Panda Bear & Sonic Boom are a pair of musicians who have been rumored collaborators for years leading up to this debut collaborative album from the two. Panda Bear is most well known as a member of psych pop group Animal Collective and has released solo albums with production from Sonic Boom in the past. Since founding the space rock group Spacemen 3 in the 80's Sonic Boom has provided production to a number of notable albums in the realm of indie music. Review by Lav: At a few points throughout this year I've called in Animal Collective's comeback year and most of that obviously has to do with their very good new album but I think it goes deeper than that. From a newfound presence of sounds clearly influenced by their music to a newfound respect for the individual members and their respective projects, there's actually quite a lot working for the group. Reset  was a chance to send that into overdrive if Panda could release another fantastic project and while it is...

Megan Thee Stallion is a Texas rapper who has been pretty much impossible to ignore over the past few years. With numerous hit songs displaying her uncompromising artistry and big personality as well as some very public dramas unfolding around her. Traumazine  is Megan's 2nd studio album following 2020's Good News  and a number of EPs and mixtapes released in the years before and since.  Review by Lav: Like MANY great artists before her Megan knows her way around a great single. Her hard-hitting performance style and creative wordplay have served her well in releasing both hit songs and critical smashes over the past few years. However, like many other great artists this hasn't really translated that well into her full-length material. Whether it's her debut album, EP's like Suga  and Tina Snow,  or mixtapes like Fever  and Something For Thee Hotties  everything that makes Megan great on one particular song fails to get stretched out to the length of a...

One day late, sorry. Lav's quest for stable wi-fi is still an ongoing one and there were so many good songs it was hard to put it all together.  HM. Easy On Your Own?  - Alvvays Normally I wouldn't include an honorable mention on a list like this but I just couldn't leave Alvvays out. The bands turn into a far heavier and more shoegaze-inspired sound is a worthwhile one that I've now enjoyed for back to back tracks.  Listen 5. Saturdays  - Broken Bells Broken Collective? Animal Bells? The year of highlights for Animal Collective manifests itself in a very strange way here with James and DM taking on the band's trademark watery psychedelia and doing a genuinely admirable job of it. While it's far from what I expected I do think it's the best song I've heard from the project in a LONG time and did a significant amount to boost my excitement for their upcoming return.  Listen 4. I'll Fight You  - Open Mike Eagle Another lyrically sharp track from Open M...

Domi & JD Beck are a duo of drums and keyboard jazz prodigies who are teaming up as the first artists signed to Anderson .Paak's nee APESHIT label imprint. The pair generated popularity through a series of online videos and their debut record features a number of high-profile collaborations.  Review by Lav: I was a little bit late to this one admittedly. While I was aware of these two and some of their first singles as a collaborative effort somehow it slipped through the cracks and I didn't even know the record was about to come out when it did. But once I saw it and listened though for the first time I knew I had to cover it because there really is so much potential between these two. While this record has its problems I think it also sets them up to be a fascinating pair going forward and it's one of the more exciting debuts I've heard in 2022. The record gets off to a great start with singles WHATUP  and SMiLE  both of which are highly indicative of the records ...

All of a sudden there's quite a few EPs to be covered and we're pretty light on new records this week. So let's handle some recent short-form projects from the world of hip hop. RED & WHITE EP - Lil Uzi Vert It's no secret that I've been a pretty big critic of some of Uzi's music in the past but at the very least I can say that one of their most enjoyable projects to date was technically the most recent one not counting his collaboration with Future.  Lil Uzi Vert vs. the World 2  remedied many of the big problems I had with Eternal Atake , namely much stickier hooks and many features that helped make up for some of Uzi's shortcomings as both a rapper and singer. So I was a little suspicious going into this nearly 30 minute EP once I saw that Uzi is handling the entirety of vocal duties by themself. Thankfully both the production and songwriting here are better than on EA and while I think there is still some distance between Uzi and their biggest contem...

Nothing special this week, a blend of highly anticipated new songs but not very many that really knocked my socks off. Enjoy <3 5. Edge Of The Edge - Panda Bear & Sonic Boom Am I crazy or is the second taste of Panda and Sonic's upcoming collaborative album kind of Beatles-ey? Not even just in the way that much psychedelic pop music can be it feels directly inspired on both the production and songwriting end from some of the Beatles most accessible tunes. Despite some of the silliness they do manage to nail the refrains in a way that grabs me right out of the gate. Listen 4. Happiness  - The 1975 The 1975's new 80's flavored pop rock song shows that they've learned a lot about the nostalgic style since they last took it on for their sophomore record. Happiness delivers more nuance and improved songwriting while managing to maintain the hooky 80's sheen and infectious riffs and refrains all around.  Listen 3. On GOD - Meechy Darko (feat. Freddie Gibbs & ...

While there are always a million allegedly great local hardcore records that I get recommended every year, I only really have the time to cover the ones I'm most excited for. That informs this decision which features three albums I went into anticipating being VERY good. These are the results. Enjoy <3 God's Country  - Chat Pila This is the highly anticipated debut album from Oklahoma hardcore act Chat Pile who have released some successful EPs in the past few years to generate a lot of hype going into the album. While I was a bit of a late comer to those EPs I did hear the record's singles as they were released which also helped immensely to get me excited for it. Now that the record is here I can say that it's one of the darkest and most versatile hardcore records you'll hear this year. In fact even just saying "hardcore" feels like a catch-all for a band that interpolates numerous styles of experimental rock and metal into their songs. The record beg...

Beyonce is a figure who really needs no introduction. After wowing audiences with her surprise released concept album and film Lemonade  in 2016 she's worked on a variety of projects since, but Renaissance  is a proper studio return for the queen. Review by Lav: After being one of the biggest commercials stars of the 2000's Beyonce graduated into being one of the most critically acclaimed pop auteurs of the 2010's, so what's next. That was the question I had going into Renaissance  which has the chance to be a part of her most ambitious undertaking to date and is allegedly the first in a trio of projects. But with a lead single like Break My Soul  the ceiling for this record is high. While it didn't quite blow me completely away there is a lot here that firmly cements Renaissance  on the same tier as some of her best work, even if the filler time and lesser songs hold it back. While the album is pretty consistent relative to all pop records out there it does sti...