Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: Soccer Mommy is the singer-songwriter alias of Nashville's Sophia Regina Allison. She's released 4 albums under the moniker and each have been met with a hefty helping of acclaim, highlighted by 2020's sample-heavy Color Theory . In my time covering Sophia's music I've thought she is consistently good but never really separated herself from her many indie folk singer-songwriter contemporaries. Tbat was different on her 3rd album Sometimes, Forever  in 2022. She teamed up with Oneohtrix Point Never on production for a record that takes a few bigger swings. But the result is a similarly mixed bag that serves up some of my favorite songs of her entire career, but also some of my least favorite.  Through that lens Evergreen  seems like a record that hones in its focus. It's also one I was pretty excited for after hearing the 4 singles. They start off good, "Lost" kicks the album off soft and swaying in the same way many a Soccer Mommy t...

Review by Lavender: Pharmakon is a New York experimental noise project spearheaded by Margaret Chardiet. Though she's developed a reputation for blistering live shows, MAGGOT MASS  is just her 5th studio album and first in 5 years. Through that lens, it's been a while since she dropped a project that I really loved in 2017's Contact  and a full decade since her best work Bestial Burden . But after a dynamic ripping lead single I was optimistic going into MAGGOT MASS . On the record, Margaret clearly has a lot to say, though how she says it and the presentation surrounding those themes can sometimes leave a bit to be desired.  Let's talk about that great lead single "WITHER AND WARP", which may still by my favorite song here. It lives up to its name dishing out 8 minutes of brooding music that, well, withers in certain places and warps nearly beyond recognition in others. In between, Margaret dishes out these dragging gritty refrains over distant booming percus...

Some HIGH profile new singles dropped this week, see how they shake out against some underground favorites.  5.  Afterlife  - Sharon Van Etten I'll be the first to admit I was skeptical from the moment this song kicked off with its anthemic drum beat and even after I heard the fluttering keys backing Sharon's chorus. While you would think inherently that the grandeur would rob her music of the power it has in its intimacy, she seems to have taken a queue from some of her singer-songwriter contemporaries who impressively expanded their sonic range. This track isn't perfect, but her writing and energy shines through.  Listen 4.  Noid  - Tyler, The Creator Tyler's newest single has justifiably been met with quite a bit of acclaim for both its sound palette and compositional dynamism. Even if some of the altered vocals and MANY of the song's lyrics leave quite a bit to be desired, there's still plenty here to grab onto as potential green flags for Tyler's new a...

Review by Lavender: Kelly Lee Owens is a singer and producer who has received acclaim dating back to her 2017 debut for her fusions of electronic music with her own presence as a singer-songwriter. She has 4 albums under her belt now and in my opinion they get better with each new release. Her last effort LP.8  significantly increased the scope of her experimentation and made for a pretty interesting release. While Dreamstate  is less experimental by comparison, it feels like she brought those ambitions and that knowledge back to her core formula and assembled a collection of thumping electronica songs with her always beating heart at their core.  I had a feeling this album was going to be good based on two singles in particular which pop up back-to-back in the album's first half. "Love You Got" was the lead single and I absolutely love it. The track manages to deliver a well-textured glistening array of punchy instrumentation while also serving up refrains that are extre...

I love shoegaze and that's no secret. So in addition to some of the shoegaze records I've already covered from 2024, I wanted to hone in and catch up with a few I missed.  my anti-aircraft friend  - julie LA-based shoegaze outfit julie didn't start out 2024 as one of my most anticipated new bands. But after a few singles where they seemed to drown themselves even more in vintage shoegaze and noise pop styles that I've long found irresistible, I started to look forward to their debut album my anti-aircraft friend  more and more. While a song like last year's "catalogue" surely helped, it was their best song to date "clairbourne practice" that really sold me on the band. Even as parts of it feel like classic shoegaze worship it's one spoonful of Slowdive and one spoonful of My Bloody Valentine. Splitting that difference perfectly is what brings the band to their most interesting points.  That contrast pops on deep cuts like "tenebrist...

Review by Lavender: Bon Iver is the beloved indie folk project of Justin Vernon which has been a magnet of critical acclaim for nearly 20 years. The project's 4th album I,I  dropped in 2019 but Bon Iver hasn't exactly been quite since then. In addition to two singles that dropped in 2020, Vernon has popped up as a producer and collaborator for a variety of other artists in the meantime. The most notable of the bunch are Taylor Swift and Travis Scott, but he's also collaborated with Zach Bryan, The Japanese House, and most recently Charli XCX. But now Bon Iver is back returning to the format where they once made a smash with the critical darling Blood Bank  EP all the way back in 2009. The EP has a short intro, but its bulk is made up of just three songs. Let's start with the single S P E Y S I D E which lands in the middle of SABLE. It's an absolutely wonderful song I've loved since the moment it dropped. Not only is it catchy in the same way Vernon's best w...

5.  First Rodeo  - Kelsea Ballerini Kelsey Ballerini's vulnerabilities continue to be the highlight of her music. While the track does have a gentle swaying instrumental and a pretty memorable chorus it's really the bearing of her soul that she displays through second-guessing and pure admiration that fully sells the song.  Listen 4.  the cost of giving up  - Poppy While Poppy has become pretty damn hit-or-miss since a great 2020 effort, you can't say she doesn't occasionally hit the mark. It's the songs where she manages to slice directly between her girlish dreamy pop side and her crushing dark metal instincts that hit the hardest. the cost of giving up  throws it back a few years in her discography to when she had that sound even more honed in and it's all the better for it.  Listen 3.  Defense  - Panda Bear (feat. Cindy Lee) I'll be the first to admit that this song may not have lived up to the impossible level of excitement generated pur...

Review by Lavender: Caribou is the biggest and most acclaimed musical project of Canadian producer and vocalist Dan Snaith. I've enjoyed multiple projects in the Caribou back catalog including 2010's Swim  and the previous record Suddenly  in 2020. I've also enjoyed other moments like his side project Daphni's 2019 Sizzling EP, even though I wasn't a fan of the album that followed it. Snaith can be hit or miss, but his potential is high. That informs this record, which features some awe-inspiring highs side-by-side with some of his most confusing tracks ever.  The album gets off to a decent start with three of its 4 singles popping up right away. Lead single and title track "Honey' is the best of the bunch by far and one of my favorite Caribou songs in a long time. I love the glitchy textured splashes during its build-up and the extraordinarily satisfying conclusion it eventually reaches. "Broke My Heart" opens the album and while it didn't bl...

This is a special guest review written by all-around smart girl Alice Fulmer. She stopped by to share her thoughts on producer, songwriter, and Billie Eilish affiliate/sibling Finneas' new album For Cryin' Out Loud! . <3 Review by Alice:  There’s something to be said about songwriters who are better at songwriting for the masks and voices of others, than for themselves. While I don’t mean to poke at sore spots more than necessary, I think Finneas O’Connell (sometimes styled as FINNEAS) – better known as the co-songwriter and frequent collaborator of his younger sister Billie Eilish – struggles to find his voice on the aptly named   For Cryin’ Out Loud!  (2024). There is a longstanding misogynist criticism of his sister, that she isn’t “talented” because her brother “writes all her music”(he doesn’t). I actually think that it could very well be the other way around. I want to stress I don’t admit this lightly. His last album,   Optimist  (2021), is relatively ...

Review by Lavender: Chat Pile are a noisy metal outfit from Oklahoma who were building up tons of momentum and acclaim as an underground outfit before releasing their debut album God's Country  in 2022. The album was immediately met with acclaim upon release, and I called it my favorite debut of the year. So as you'd expect I was pretty excited for a follow-up even before I heard standout singles like "Funny Man" and "I Am Dog Now." In one of the least surprising revelations of the year, Chat Pile throttles listeners once again on a follow-up that lives up to its expectations.  Let's get to those singles first, just as the album does with its lead single "I Am A Dog Now" which also serves as the opener. After a short, cloudy introduction you get right into the thumping downtuned guitars and short ripping lyrical refrains. The lyrics are fittingly animalistic and absolutely visceral making for an excellent opener. A few tracks later "Funny ...

Review by Lavender: The Smile is a supergroup consisting of Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood alongside Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. After debuting in 2022 the project quickly returned with new singles in 2023 and a new album early this year. But that's nothing compared to how quickly they're back now. The band's third album Cutouts  arrives less than 9 months after it's predecessor and yet that short amount of time allowed the band to once again lead off the album with a series of massively acclaimed singles.  And let's talk about those singles, because they're great. First came "Don't Get Me Started" which emerged in a time where I wasn't expecting to hear from The Smile and just blew me away. The opening synth lines flashing between channels is so enticing and every sound in the song just seems to bounce back and forth forever into this massive space. It's such a chilling song that's so isolating and magnetic. Cl...

5.  Have Nots - The Underachievers Welcome back Underachievers. For the record this isn't the first thing they've dropped in ages or anything they had a new single just last month. The point is that I haven't even been doing this segment long enough to have talked about them before and I've been doing it for YEARS. In what sounds like a Griselda song of all things AK and Issa split chilling and calculating verses that remind me of how much I liked them both in the first place.  Listen 4.  DINORWIC  - Bibio Bibio is back with a sequel to his surprisingly beloved turn for ambient music Phantom Brickworks . This bulky lead single is a perfect introduction to the record delivering a serenity that feels in line with the naturalistic sounds and styles his music has always dabbled in. It's a song that creeps along but never feels eerie or ominous, instead more than welcoming you to engage in the nuance and details of its delicate core.  Listen 3.  A Fragile Thing ...

At some point I've got to get better about reviewing metal records. Since I'm so bad at it I felt the need to do a recap of some of the most notable ones to drop this year so far.  The Promise Of Rain  - Scarcity Scarcity are a NY black metal band that I'm a bit late to the party on. They debuted a few years ago on The Flenser, which really should be enough to get me to tune into anything at this point, but I let the debut slip by me. I almost made that mistake again when this new record didn't immediately blip on my radar beyond the actually beautiful album cover it sports. Thankfully some positive coverage the album received has led to me attempting to right both wrongs with an overdue review.  Promise  serves up just 6 tracks, but with four of them powering past 6 minutes it's grand total runtime reaches 40 minutes. It opens with the bold "In The Basin Of Alkaline Grief" which wastes no time introducing its brutality and ferocity. It takes a seemingly b...

Review by Lavender: Clarence Clarity is an electronic music producer and vocalist who first broke through with a surprise underground hit in 2015's No Now . That gave way to a sophomore record called Think: Peace  in 2018 and eventually part 1 of Vanishing Act , an EP that dropped in 2021. Simultaneously Clarence has continued to produce for a variety of other artists like Dorian Electra, HMLTD, Sundara Karma, and most notably, Rina Sawayama. Now his long awaited 3rd studio album has arrived 6 years after its predecessor and three years after the EP it's serving as a sequel to. The record dropped with no singles, so there's really no choice other than to dive right in. Where to even start with this record, the beginning I guess? The first half of this record is pretty standard Clarence, and it's a god damn banger factory. You have to get 4 songs deep into the album just to find a track that reaches 4 minutes, which makes the opening salvo of the record a dizzying affair...