Lav's Music Corner

I've had a busy few weeks but this was yet another massive release weekend on top of the hundreds of albums I already feel like I have to play catch-up on. So hopefully there will be a LOT of rapid fire reviews coming soon. SPARK  - Whitney I've been a fan of pretty much everything Whitney has done since they first started out. Their very raw debut album turned up the folk influences and ciphered it through their own eccentricities, giving the impression of a true local band gone international overnight. Their sophomore album was another treat even as it shifted their sound into a much more familiar and polished brand of indie folk. In fact, the first inclination I had that I might ever actually not like a Whitney record was when I heard the lead single from this album, which seemed to predict a sea change I wasn't really vibing with. But after a parade of singles that reinforced to me why Whitney are who they are I was excited for the record all over again. That excitement...

Four Songs EP - Blood Orange Dev Hynes AKA Blood Orange is an artist that I can honestly say I've never been that crazy about. When he was breaking out with projects in his early days I didn't really love them, but when he dropped 2018's Negro Swan  I totally changed my tone. That record's dark R&B stylings were completely irresistible to me and I hoped it would signify the start of a run of music that I enjoyed more. That record was followed up the next year by his Angel's Pulse  mixtape which I can't say I was crazy about and since then it's been radio silence for projects of any kind. When this EP was announced and the lead single was dropped and I still wasn't crazy about that song, I didn't go into this necessarily thinking it would knock my socks off. That lead single Jesus Freak Lighter  combines a pretty beautiful New Order-style bassline with some rickety drums that sound pretty out of place. An even bigger issue with the song is how few...

It's A week at least. I'm on time you gotta give me credit for that. Enjoy <3 5.  Love On The Run  - Broken Bells The latest and likely final single from Danger Mouse and James Mercer in the lead-up to their return as Broken Bells is yet another that lulls you in and grows over time. The wandering composition and spacey echoing instrumentation aren't likely to blow you away immediately but every time I heard the song I found myself enjoying it more and more as it went on.  Listen 4.  Belinda Says  - Alvvays Alvvays continued dive into the world of shoegaze has resulted in heavier and heavier singles and with one hit after another, it's easy to hope they never look back. The noise isn't just there for the sake of it either these songs are an all-out rush that never get less exciting. If hype for the record is the goal of their continued single rollout, it's working.  Listen 3.  All I Need To Hear  - The 1975 the second slow-burner single from Th...

Rina Sawayama is a Japanese-British pop singer who first broke through with a Clarence Clarity produced EP and broke out into the world of elevated pop and critical acclaim with her 2020 debut Sawayama . Hold The Girl  features a familiar roster of collaborators but focuses on the more emotionally earnest elements of Rina's music. Review by Lav: Hype is a fragile thing. Coming into the year if you had told me we were in for new Rina it would have shot to the top of my list and after an excellent lead single my excitement had only gotten stronger. The continued releases since then were far from disappointing, in fact, I like most of them. But they seemed to serve as foreshadowing for Rina slipping from her pedestal as a creative pop innovator to just another of the genre's very solid and reliable voices. Far be it from me to complain about that level of quality given that Hold The Girl  could still be among the better pop records released this year. It's really just that two...

I'm late, sorry. No more wasted time. 5.  Talking To Yourself  - Carly Rae Jepsen While this may be the least spectacular of Carly's new singles this year it's still quite a solid song with an exciting climax that lends credit to just how infectious of a song crafter she is. While the short runtime and verses that don't really take the song anywhere can be issues, ultimately the song has the fundamentals of what a good Carly song needs.  Listen 4.  Washed Away  - Kelela It's good to have Kelela back. While her progressive and futuristic style of R&B has always been closer to maximalizing than distancing, this new song plays it straight with very promising results. Kelela's perfectly powerful yet perfectly intimate singing vocals fit excellently over this creeping instrumental which makes for a song that just has me in its clutches and refuses to let go.  Listen 3.  Ovule  - Bjork Two weeks and two new Bjork singles, what have we done to be so ...

Jockstrap is a British experimental music duo, one half of which is violinist Georgia Ellery who also serves as a member of Black Country, New Road. Jockstrap's EPs at the end of the 2010s turned enough heads for the band to sign with Warp Records and Jennifer B  is their debut full length album. Review by Lav: When I reviewed Black Country New Road's Ants From Up There  earlier this year I tried to both complement the brilliance of the band's most present voice, Isaac Wood, while also complimenting the talent, creativity and willingness to experiment that all the members of the band possessed. I was itching for an opportunity to dive into their details as individual songwriters and performers which is a big part of what made me so excited for this record. What Jockstrap deliver on their debut is a hectic but beautiful and careful series of experimental pop songs that refuse to adhere to that label or any others.  One of the things I'll say about this album is that it...

Preoccupations are a Canadian post-punk band who rose from the ashes of Women as Viet Cong before changing their name to Preoccupations and evolving their dark and rumbling post-punk sentimentalities throughout.  Review by Lav: Not every review I publish will start with a direct personal connection to the band despite the past two weeks where I confessed to having an embarrassing Teen Suicide phase in high school and being hopelessly attracted to The Garden. My relationship with Preoccupations is simpler, they're a great band and I love their music. I liked Women, I liked Viet Cong even more when various members of Women reformed as a new band and I liked Preoccupations when they debuted the name change in 2016. If there's one project in their catalog that I'm less than high on it's their previous album, 2018's New Materials  and that isn't an unpopular opinion. So four years removed I was excited to see where the band went next and I honestly think that Arrange...

While this wasn't the biggest week I've ever covered it also wasn't necessarily slow and highlighted by a few very high profile announcement singles, there was quite a bit to talk about this week. 5.  Gary Ashby  - Dry Cleaning I was worried a bit about Dry Cleaning's short turnaround from album one to album two when I started to hear singles that sounded VERY familiar. Turns out they could circumvent the problem by just reusing ideas that I didn't mind hearing again. This new song which evokes pretty strong Scratchcard Lanyard  comparisons is a solid reimagining of that track's fundamentals in a shorter and slightly less pessimistic fashion.  Listen 4.  We Let It In  - Brian Eno Continuing Eno's ongoing return into the world of vocals he brings along his daughter for a very gentle and expansive duet. The song didn't really connect with me at first but the more I observed it's gentle tones and the remarkable sonic restraint shown throughout, I was ul...

The Garden are a difficult to classify experimental two piece music project from California. The Garden's music has morphed between numerous different genres over the years but have always kept a foot in both electronic music and punk rock, with splashes of hardcore worked in throughout.  Review by Lav: Let me put my cards on the table. I'm a music critic, but I'm also just a girl, and the crush I have on Wyatt and Fletcher when they perform in full clown attire as The Garden, it's embarrassing. Did that cause me to go a little bit too crazy when I saw the duo perform earlier this year? Yes. But it also helped me get excited for this upcoming new record alongside a trio of pretty good singles. All things considered, I think this is at least as good or better than any project the duo has released before even if I can see some avenues for improvement. I still like the first two singles from this record a LOT. Freight Yard  has more reserved vocals than a lot of the other ...

Icarus  - Cryalot Icarus is the debut EP from Cryalot, the new solo project of Sarah Bonito from Kero Kero Bonito fame. It's essentially a five song collection framed around the story of Icarus which Sarah uses as a metaphor for some of her own experiences in recent years. The main thing I was curious about as the singles unfolded was what made this a true solo Sarah project. She's always delivered quite a bit of personality to the music of KKB which meant the split to a solo venture was either because she wanted to write, produce and create songs entirely on her own, or there was a thematic or stylistic shift that was too drastic to still fall under the band's umbrella. After listening to the EP I'm still really not sure which one it is. While the lead single Hell Is Here  is fine, it didn't really convince me. The track that did win me over eventually was the opener Touch The Sun  whose booming drums and maximal shimmering finale both work as a perfect sonic and t...

The title says it all with this one. I wasn't going to let these records pass me by.  You Still Here, Ho?  - Flo Milli Flo Milli's first album snuck up on me. She had the kind of fancam-ready breakout hit that often pigeonholes an artist so I was very surprised to find just how much she had to offer on a full-length album. While she hasn't exactly spent the two years since taking over the world or anything, if she paired her myriad of features with a solid sophomore effort I think she could buy herself some genuine longevity in hip hop. As it turns out the similar title this record sports to its predecessor is more than surface level as the two records are very similar. The major difference is that I would say there are generally harder beats and more intense flows across this record than the previous one which comes with good and bad. The misses here are much worse purely out of the desire for everything to be bigger in both sound and personality, yet in contrast to that I...

FIIIIIIIINALLY. After two weeks of absolute snoozing on the singles chart we are finally back to a week that has it all. Big new releases from huge artists that actually live up to the hype, continued quality music from some of the best acts around and even a few surprises working their way into the mix.  Enjoy <3 5.  Too Much  - Freddie Gibbs (Feat. Moneybagg Yo) Sometimes simplicity is all it takes. The hook of this song is a perfect example because it manages to spin some absolute bliss out of a short sequence of refrains. While I wish there was a bit more to separate the verses from the hook I have to say this song goes hard in all the same ways one could hope a Freddie Gibbs track would.  Listen 4.  New Gold  - Gorillaz (Feat. Tame Impala & Bootie Brown) Even though this high-profile collaboration doesn't quite live up to the hype throughout I will say that it gets off to an excellent start that is more than enough to land a spot on the list. Go...

JID is an Atlanta rapper who first rose to prominence as a member of the Spillage Village collective and a signee on J. Cole's Dreamville label imprint. His previous studio album DiCaprio 2  came out in 2018 and drastically rose his profile as both a commercial artist and a critical darling. Review by Lav: While I wasn't the earliest to come around to JID I have been able to watch his rise over the past 6 years where he's not only drastically increased his profile but also his talent. I did get some flak from hip-hop heads on twitter for not completely fawning over DiCaprio 2  but with this new record, I feel pretty validated. Not only has JID improved his talent on just about every level, but also his scope and ambition with it. The results are one of the best hip hop records I've heard in 2022.  I'm really glad the lead single to this record still managed to land on the record. Surround Sound  is a track I've been enjoying all year with one of the best hooks I...