Lav's Music Corner

Kim Petras is a pop singer who has been bubbling under for a while. After initially coming up in a hyper-pop parallel underground for years she had her mainstream pop breakthrough last year. As a guest on Sam Smith's single Unholy , Kim and Sam became two of the most successful charting transgender artists of all time. Review by Lav: Figuring out Kim Petras can be a bit difficult. When she broke onto the scene it wasn't just exciting to see a trans girl turning herself into a fascinatingly plastic pop star, but the music was good too. I still have nothing but strong feelings for her debut album Clarity  which featured one great single after another. Since then it's been much more of a mixed bag. Her Turn The Lights Off  series of Halloween albums are stylish but relatively simple. Last year she dropped the Slut Pop EP which many critiqued for its sledgehammer bluntness and repetitive songs. So despite having some absolutely amazing songs in her discography like I Don't ...

Michael  - Killer Mike Run The Jewels rapper Killer Mike has long been a favorite of mine. When I was first really getting into hip-hop his last solo album R.A.P Music  was still pretty fresh in people's minds and the landmark second Run The Jewels album was right around the corner. Pretty quickly his distinct cadence and intensity became familiar to me. In the time I've been reviewing music he has predominately been just that, one half of Run The Jewels. The groups music is often full of personality but with more sledgehammer blow than earnest reflection. So hearing Mike gear up to deliver us the most personal record of his entire career so far got me pretty excited.  One thing that has me pumping the breaks on that hype were underwhelming singles. RUN  and TALK'N THAT SHIT  are both just okay and their intensity has dulled on me since I first heard them last year. I also have mixed feelings about the record's most talked about track so far Scientists & Eng...

Day late, whoopsie I was swimming. For the record new songs from Timbre Timber, Faye Webster, Little Dragon, and Lyrical Lemonade could have made this list in a weaker week. 5.  Shy Boy  - Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen songs basically have a spot reserved on this list but Shy Boy  pushes that presumption more than most. The snappy dance beat and memorable lustful verses will sound VERY familiar for anybody whose enjoyed Carly's music before. My only real issue with the song is the singing on the hook which is clearly a stylistic choice but one that I think fractures the songs otherwise very good vibe. Ultimately it's the supplementary vocals in her normal register that save things and keep the song on the list.  Listen 4.  BABY HELLO  - Rauw Alejandro & Bizzarap Consider me surprised. Not because I didn't know what these artists were capable of individually. Rauw Alejandro first impressed me on one of his biggest hits Todo De Ti  before joining...

Jess Williamson is an LA-based singer-songwriter who blends the styles of folk and country into her sound. In 2020, she released her debut album on the label Mexican Summer, to which Time Ain't Accidental  is a follow-up. In between, she formed the duo Plains with fellow indie folk artist Waxahatchee and the pair dropped their critically acclaimed debut album I Walked With You A Ways  last year. Review by Lav: I was late to Jess Williamson I'll admit it. While I heard her 2020 album Sorceress , it didn't click with me in a way that made me want to dig into her earlier material. It's unfortunate because once I gave her collaborative album with Waxahatchee a chance last year I ended up liking it quite a bit and diving into her discography. I found that I appreciated some of her earlier music more and I was looking forward to what she had coming next. After a trio of singles that can go toe to toe with anything else I've heard this year I had extremely high hopes for t...

This weekend is Bonnaroo and like I so often do I'm attaching some rapid-fire reviews to celebrate. Because I've already covered a handful of artists in the lineup I ended up with one record I was going to cover anyway, one I wasn't planning on but don't mind trying, and one I don't really want to cover at all. You'll know which one is which. Joy'All  - Jenny Lewis While at a glance her output may not look as essential as some of her peers, Jenny Lewis has always been beloved by those in the know. More musicians gush over her talent, input, and influence than fans and critics can really even get a grasp for which is why every time she gears up to drop some new material I'm interested.Another reason is despite not completely adoring every one of the record's singles, they do add up to quite a compelling bit. The best of the bunch is Giddy Up  an eerier song than I thought Jenny had in her but one that translates that unsettling energy into dignified r...

5.  PARA PARA - CHAI While this song is too objectively cute to get left off my summer playlist, I don't think I would put it among Chai's greatest hits. The band often has such a strong knack for those infectiously catchy refrains but while this song is extremely sweet it hasn't gotten stuck in my head. I love some of the future funk flavors in the instrumental and how it just soars to an adorable conclusion on the hook. For the most part the song is exceedingly pleasant while its on but it doesn't stick with me.   Listen 4.  Damian  - Sun Kil Moon I definitely ignored Sun Kil Moon singles all year that absolutely should have been on these list behind purely the merit of the songs alone. I'm still not sure how to grapple with the legacy of perhaps my favorite songwriter of all time but as he continues to release music it obviously continues to be wonderful. This song channels one of his most strikingly beautiful outings ever Carissa  by paying tribute to a...

Squid are a UK post-punk act who broke out a few years ago alongside contemporaries like Black Midi, Black Country, New Road, and Shame.  O Monolith  is the band's second album following their 2021 debut and sees them expanding the influences and style of their sound significantly.  Review by Lav: I enjoyed Squid's debut album quite a bit. It came out in a year that was absolutely STACKED with great post-punk most of which I liked a lot. While Squid may not have been my absolute favorite of the bunch, I think they bring a punky freneticism that their contemporaries often stray away from. Fittingly enough on this record, despite their willingness to wander in different compositional directions my favorite moments remain those peaks of raw intensity.  I liked the lead single Swing (In A Dream)  a lot and it's still one of my favorite tracks here. The extremely catchy vocal refrains and creative little instrumental additions and flourishes add up to a wonderful son...

Janelle Monae is one of the most versatile entertainers out there. They're talents range from singing to writing and conceptualizing concept albums to acting to modeling and a dozen other things. It's been 5 years since their last project Dirty Computer  the first one released not as a part of a Suite assessing futurism and feminine robotics. Review by Lav: While I've always been more mixed about Janelle's music than most critics I am still a HUGE Janelle fan. Their uncompromising style is intoxicating enough on its own but when combined with boatloads of charisma it's pretty much irresistible. On their last album Dirty Computer,  it felt like they were living up to their full potential for the first time despite its lack of conceptuality. For that reason, I was pretty excited to hear what Janelle would come back with. The result is The Age Of Pleasure  a pseudo-reggae album whose only real conceptual tie is being glamorous and sensual throughout. I wanna get this o...

Blossom  - Pupil Slier While I wasn't the earliest adopted to Pupil Slicer I had been catching some buzz about the band for a while, even before their lead singer made a memorable appearance on Backxwash's fantastic record last year. Lead single, title track, and closer Blossom  was my favorite song from the band to date when it dropped as a single and I still love the frenetic pacing and composition a lot. I also love the more sheer brutality of the record's first full song Momentary Actuality , together the two tracks bookend thing quite nicely. So going into the sophomore effort of the genre-fusing metal group all I was really hoping for was a versatile collection of songs that held my attention throughout.  On that first point, they delivered. Songs here exist on a spectrum from dark but somewhat languid space to blistering technicality, sometimes making drastic shifts within the song itself. Creating The Devil In Our Own Image  is one of the best examples whose ...

5.  TUYA  - Rosalia Even though this is a lane that feels extremely familiar for Rosalia, it's still worth remembering how far ahead of her peers she is in the first place. Her stylistic blend and unmistakable vocals certainly make for a distinct combo and while this isn't necessarily the most stunning display of either, even a decent Rosalia is shades above anyone else. Listen 4.  I Inside The Old I Dying  - PJ Harvey PJ Harvey at her eeriest is no joke. Between the subtle touches of vocal distortion and what sounds like whispers and chimes distantly occupying the messy mix this is an unsettling listen in all the right ways. I was consistently surprised by how captivated the song's mystique was despite how simple it appears on the surface.  Listen 3.  Moonless  - Julie Byrne Call it 3/3 on singles so far from the highly anticipated return for one of the gentlest singer-songwriters in the game. Like many of her songs this one doesn't seek to blow liste...

Protomartyr are a Detroit post-punk band who've been around for over a decade and released 6 albums. Formal Growth In The Desert  is the group's second release of the 2020s and follows Ultimate Success Today  three years ago. Review by Lav: In the span of a few years, Protomartyr made a LOT of post-punk music that I really enjoyed. Their third and fourth albums The Agent Intellect  and Relatives In Decent  are still favorites of mind in retrospect and the band turned around and released some of their best material ever on the Consolation  EP in 2018. Though I did enjoy Ultimate Success Today  when I originally reviewed it back in 2020 but after a recent re-listen of the album I didn't think it was quite as interesting. That's something I wasn't really nervous about going into Formal Growth.  Even though I have very mixed feelings on the singles one thing you can't call them is forgettable. This record definitely lives up to the promise it made of a num...

Beach Fossils are a New York dream pop band who have been going for well over a decade now. Their 2010 self-titled debut is seen by many as an influential release in the development of the lo-fi beachy sounds of indie music in the decade following. Bunny  is the band's 4th record and comes after a long 6-year gap in studio material. Review by Lav: I've always enjoyed Beach Fossils' music and I was pretty excited for this record following the first two singles. I had a vision of what the record would be like going into it but my biggest question was whether it would drown in a haze of sameness or if the songs would work together to be more than the sum of their parts. Turns out it's the latter, I like the record even if none of the deep cuts wowed me as much as I might have hoped.  There are some songs on this record like Tough Love , (Just Like The) Setting Sun , and the closer Waterfall  that fail to completely distinguish themselves. Thankfully the tracks are all vary...

5.  Sodom & Gomorrah  - Dorian Electra Dorian is one of the artists I flip back and forth on the most and following the recent "Sodomy" merch drop I was particularly skeptical that this might be just as phoned in. Turns out this track is actually kind of a banger which sees Dorian cleverly conjuring and satirizing the religious imagery over a ripping beat. As is so often the case I think Dorian has been inconsistent as of late, but this is a highlight.  Listen 4.  Skeleton Is Walking  - Blake Mills After producing so much good music for other artists in the past few years Blake Mills is back with a new solo project led off by a wonderful lead single which blends together the sounds of classic folk with a biting electric guitar solo. It's nearly six minutes of song that absolutely breezes by with both thematic and textural detail in nearly every moment along the way.  Listen 3.  Popular  - The Weeknd, Madonna & Playboi Carti Is The Idol ...

Probably my last rapid fire for a while with a lot of great new music coming out, maybe. Love In Exile  - Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily Even though I was late to formally cover the album, I really enjoyed Arooj Aftab's 2021 breakout Vulture Prince  and I was really looking forward to how she was going to follow it up. What I didn't expect, though I maybe should have, is this trio of veteran musicians linking up for a deeply compelling explorative jazz record. The group take a pretty sparse approach to filling in the cracks with their sound, serving up just vocals, keys, and bass with almost no studio interference to their original live recordings. The record is also thematically sparse with compositions built around short lines of poetry often repeated throughout and expanded upon through the developing instrumentation. Take the opening track To Remain/To Return  whose vocal diatribes often take a backseat to long wanderings on the piano only to return at surpr...