Lav's Music Corner

Andre 3000 is famous, quite obviously, for being a rapper. The ATL legend served as one half of Outkast one of the best and most influential rap groups of all time. But since the pair called it quits between them Andre has been remarkably quite musically only making a handful of appearances in the nearly 20 years since. Though he is surprising fans with his long-awaited debut solo album its definitely not the album that many fans were hoping for. New Blue Sun  is a long and very indulgent ambient jazz album which prominently features Andre playing flute alongside a variety of expansive and occasionally quite minimal compositions.  Read More:  I had a lot of thoughts on this album before I even got the chance to hear it. Unlike a lot of the more idiotic rap fans online I don't hold any resentment against Andre for going in this direction artistically as he's always been very clear with fans on where their expectations for a new album should actually be set. But as someone who lo

Rough week, we're getting to that time of year. Despite the slim pickings I did my best to make a complete list.  5.  Free My N***a  - Sexyy Red This one isn't all that complicated. It's a pretty dry week for new releases and despite a chorus that does almost nothing for me, Sexyy Red's intensity and personality carry the track through compelling verses that don't stick around beyond their welcome. Listen 4.  Cosca  - Conway The Machine & Wun Two If you did a double take hearing this instrumental and thinking it was Freddie Gibbs and Tyler, The Creator's Something To Rap About , you aren't alone. Despite the similar vibe sonically Conway is definitely focusing his bars elsewhere. He takes on the ways that he's trying to overcome from past traumas, looking forward and moving on. It isn't my favorite song from this new series of collaborations with Wun Two, but it's another solid entry.  Listen 3.  Labios Mordidos  - Kali Uchis (feat. Karol G)

We're getting to that point in the year where I'm just trying to make every recap count as much as possible. Here are the loose collection of albums I've assembled to cover under the broadest possible umbrella of electronica.  Bolted  - Forest Swords Forest Swords is the kind of musical project you don't easily forget. So even though it's been a full 6 years since the last proper studio album from FS, the distinctive brand of dark electronica with the occasional naturalistic field recording style mixed in still feels both instantly recognizable and artistically engaging. Though the album came out at a busy time for new reviews I still listened to it right away and I've had a lot of time to sit with it. Much of that comes from realizing just how good all of the album's singles really are. Tracks like the records first two songs Munitions  and Butterfly Effect  did win me over when I first heard them but the eerie, textured sonic anguish they both manage to ac

Danny Brown is a Detroit rapper who broke through with a confrontational and cartoonish style more than a decade ago. In the years since, he's become an experimental rap staple releasing numerous highly acclaimed albums, most notably his experimental rap opus Atrocity Exhibition  in 2016. Earlier this year he teamed up with fellow beloved underground rapper JPEGMAFIA for a fan-favorite collab album called Scaring The Hoes .  Review by Lav:  If Scaring The Hoes  sees Danny Brown following some of his most bombastic and experimental sonic instincts, then Quaranta  all about his most introspective and self-reflective thematic ambitions. On this album Danny is not only embracing the role of experimental rap mainstay, but also the role of experimental rap veteran. Across the album he doesn't just meditate on lessons he's learned, but share that wisdom and perspective with anybody that chooses to listen.  That didn't really seem like the case with the lead single Tantor . I w

And Then You Pray For Me  - Westside Gunn The main core of Buffalo-based rap collective Griselda releases a LOT of music. So sometimes you just have to pick your battles and only cover the most relevant releases. That's why I wanted to make sure to get my opinion out on this album after missing some of Westside's other work last year. The biggest reason being that from the album art and sonic motifs of the record it is clearly meant as a sequel to Gunn's 2020 album Pray For Paris . That project is one of my favorite in the entire Griselda catalog and I had high hopes for him returning to that well of icy, spacious, and vintage instrumentals with his lethal, detailed and distinctive flows. Unfortunately though, And Then You Pray For Me  delivers a full 75 minutes of music and much of isn't Gunn's best work.  That doesn't mean that the album doesn't have highlights. Mamas PrimeTime  is an early standout on the record with a chilling JID verse that might be my

Not exactly a world class week of new music, but here are the highlights regardless.  5.  The Mad Stone  - Everything Everything While this still isn't the band at their peak, I do think this is an improvement from the previous single they dropped. It contains some of the always unique vocalizations you expect to hear from them and it does rise dramatically with a creeping piano phrase that I like a lot. My only issue with the song is that the band isn't writing anywhere near their catchiest material here and the song never really worked its way into my head.  Listen 4.  Get Close  - Ari Lennox While this track is definitely getting more from Ari as a performer than the songwriting itself I don't really see that as all too much of a complaint. Ari continues to be a world class vocalist and even when she isn't given the strongest direction it's still entrancing. The song isn't as memorable as some of the best moments on her last album but I still enjoy what she s

Chris Stapleton has become a critically acclaimed mainstay of modern country music. Just as his 2015 debut album Traveller  was being anointed as one of the definitive country masterpieces of the 2010s, he was reinventing himself entirely. In 2020, Stapleton started over on the album Starting Over  which took an even more defined narrative and often quite uncommercial focus. Regardless the album was a smash hit with basically everyone that heard it. With his status firmly cemented, Higher  had every opportunity to be a victory lap.  Review by Lav:  I still considered myself a Chris Stapleton skeptic in 2020. I liked his music but I didn't LOVE it. Starting Over changed that. The album featured the dynamic musings of a truly compelling songwriter presented with the raw grime and intensity of great country and folk music. So to say I was excited for a follow-up would be an understatement, especially after I liked all of the singles a lot. While the album is plenty good, and better th

This was just one of those week. Sometimes good releases pile on top of each other and there are at LEAST 10 songs I could have included. But for my own sanity here are the five best new songs I heard this week. 5.  Luna  - Stillblue Another inexplicably blissful new single from Stillblue. While it will certainly remind you of the band's other new singles from this year, they're starting to prove exactly why this is their sound. This track features an expansive second half that might be among the grandest things the group has done yet and it pays off all the poignant patience deployed up to that point perfectly.  Listen 4.  My Room   - Ty Segall Ty Segall showing up and dropping a song that sounds more like Radiohead in the 90s than Radiohead themselves did in the 90s was not on my 2023 bingo card. But honestly, I'll take it I love the sour wining guitar leads and as much as Ty can conjure with his voice at its loudest he manages to makes quite a bit of a reserved performan

God Games  - The Kills It's been a while since we heard from The Kills with their last album Ash & Ice  dropping back in 2016. I do like the album but it's been even longer since they last really sounded like they were hitting their stride. On top of the excitement I already had going into the project I think the singles are a particularly strong bunch. Lead single and opener New York  in particular is a ripping indie rock jam with more muscle than I even knew the band was capable of. Generally speaking, I enjoy almost all the moments where they return with that intensity. For example, I fell in love with the third single 103  pretty much the moment I first heard it rush into a grinding, punchy chorus.  Shockingly, it's some of the quieter moments on the album are some of the least impactful. That's very surprising given the band has long made their name serving up some brilliantly patient tunes and their masterpiece Goodnight Bad Morning  is notoriously creeping. T

Matmos is an experimental electronica duo who have become well known for their highly conceptual albums. That usually consists of a common origin among all the sampled sounds on the album. Examples from the past have included medical equipment and things made of plastic. Now, the duo were given access to the archives of Moses Asch, who spent decades collecting the sounds of the world through field recordings.  Review by Lav: This is SUCH a Matmos concept. For a pair of musicians who have long been capable of extracting unpredictable and genuinely experimental sounds and textures from everyday objects, giving them access to a massive amount of field recordings like this must have been like a kid in a candy store. I'm surprised the duo resisted the urge to make 10 albums. So needless to say, I was pretty excited about this project even though the previous Matmos album wasn't one of my favorites. But on the album, the pair deliver a similar, if slightly improved caliber of music f

the rest  EP - boygenius Earlier this year Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker released their long-awaited debut album as Boygenius. The album itself was, fine. It features some big highlights like Not Strong Enough  but I definitely had my issues with the album which I talked about in my full review. That's why I wasn't particularly thrilled to dive into the leftovers from the album, but given the pure talent of everyone involved it felt worthwhile.  The project leads off with Black Hole  a song whose instrumentation is roughly assembled in a pretty compelling way that I didn't anticipate the band experimenting with. While I think it fits Julien's fragile vocals on the first verse more than the harmonizing on the second I was still surprised to enjoy the song every time. Voyager  is a pretty solid Phoebe Bridgers-led ballad that reminds me of deep-cut Punisher  highlights like Halloween . Yes, it does fall victim to some of her songwriting "quirks"

5.  Cobra  - Megan Thee Stallion Okay, this feels like a song we're gonna be working through for a LONG time. Firstly, the track sees Megan getting VERY raw about her mental health and how her fame and success haven't helped. If anything after the second verse it feels like it's all making her even more paranoid. She delivers a LOT of interesting thoughts to chew over on the song, but the presentation really hasn't changed much from almost any other Megan banger. It seems worth asking if this sonic style if the best way to deliver her message. I can't not talk about this song though. Listen 4.  i got the fear  - Torres The second offer from Torres' forthcoming album is a ballad which achieves a bit of a creeping aesthetic with the physicality of the acoustic guitar really seeping its way into every single strum. It also unfolds in a very patient manner that isn't afraid to use space between the refrains and work in a distant synthetic drum that feels like a

Lost Girls is a collaborative project between Norwegian singer-songwriter Jenny Hval and collaborator Havard Volden. After an EP released years ago, the duo made their formal debut in 2021 with Menneskekollektivet  in 2021. Selvutsletter is a follow-up focused on shorter, more conventionally presented songs than their more compositionally abstract debut.  Review by Lav:  Very few artists keep their fans fed like Jenny Hval. I've often said that. not just because Hval releases music often but because it's always so good. Coming off of her excellent 2019 album The Practice Of Love  I enjoyed the first Lost Girls album quite a bit. She followed it up last year with a solid solo album in Classic Objects . Even though I think the project is just okay within the wider scope of her very impressive discography, it featured the incredible track Year Of Love  which went on to be my single of the year for 2022. Now once again Jenny Hval is back with a second Lost Girls album. Unfortuna

nadie sabe lo que va a pasar manana  - Bad Bunny In case you somehow don't know, Bad Bunny is one of the biggest musical stars on earth. With his 2022 album Un Verano Sin Ti  he dropped not only some of his best material yet, but some of his biggest. In the aftermath of the album's smash success both commercially and critically he became one of the most prominent figures in international music. That's why I was pretty surprised when he turned around barely more than a year later with another substantial helping of new material. One of the reservations I had about Un Verano  was that it ran for a full 80 minutes and had ideas that absolutely felt like retreads of each other. But Bad Bunny's new album nadie sabe lo que va a pasar manana  is exactly as long, much less sonically adventurous, and lacking in the high points of its predecessor.  The album is a dive headfirst into trap flavors and it really isn't all that bad. WHERE SHE GOES  was an early single that I like