Lav's Music Corner

The Clocktower At The Beach - William Basinski When it comes to ambient music, with the exception of Brian Eno it doesn't get any more legendary than William Basinski. The tape loop god is responsible for one of my favorite albums of all time The Disintegration Loops  which when combined with its three sequels have collectively soundtracked some of the most thorough dissociations of my entire life. But William Basinski isn't a one trick pony and his return to those droning impressions on 2017's A Shadow In Time  was a welcome one, as was it's much more difficult to pin down follow-up In Time Out Of Time  a few years later. But the real crown jewel of Basinski's recent output is 2020's Lamentations , whose haunting darkness came served with a Caretaker-esque nostalgia that still enthralls me from start to finish. That flirtatiousness with nostalgia returns on this 42-minute archival piece that has sat unreleased since 1979. I've expressed interest in the past...

Streetlands EP - Burial It's been a weird few years for Burial as fans lament the loss of the more beat-driven elements of his music and ultimately the loss of drums entirely. You'd think that would mean that fans who come down more on the ambient side in the first place like me would be thrilled, but even I haven't necessarily been head over heels for the recent Burial output. His Antidawn  EP earlier this year felt like the most significant statement any Burial project had made in a long time in concept, but it turned out to be yet another VERY loose collection of ambient motifs. Thankfully, Streedlands  while still a very disconnected trio of ambient songs, does actually seem to give a lot more attention to how these songs develop and how the individual parts form a whole. A good example of this comes from the title track whose nearly 15 minutes makes up about half of the EP all on its own. It opens up with a thick cloudy mix and the pitched-up fizzled vocal samples that...

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...

Brian and Roger Eno really need no introduction. Both have spent decades doing soundtrack work as well as their own compositions. And Brian is one of the most respected experimental musicians of all time having basically invented the concept of ambient music alongside an extensive collection of collaborations and solo releases with so many influential artists. There was a lot of talk about this project that sees the two pairing up for what they described as a "musical conversation" that has apparently been worked on for years.  Review By Lavender: Brian Eno really needs no introduction even though he got one. He is one of those artists with such an incredible discography spanning decades and a wide range of genres that when you see his name it's just worth a listen. I was surprised to read that this was the first ever project he and his brother Roger had truly collaborated on and while I didn't get the review out right away, after sitting with the album for a while I...

Toro Y Moi is the stage name of Chaz Bundick, one of the pioneering voices in the rise of Chill Wave during the first half of the 2000's. After releasing six records under the name and a collection of side projects Toro y Moi teamed up with some acclaimed indie artists to dip his toes into the world of ambient music on  smartbeats . Review By Lavender: While I haven't always agreed with Chaz on the sounds of Chill Wave he is clearly an incredibly talented musician and has a number of albums in his catalog that I really enjoy. Earlier this year he released a record that I thought was a bit too inconsistent but highlights like Ordinary Pleasure  and Monte Carlo  have been in my rotation all year. On smartbeats Chaz switches up his approach and drops a mostly ambient album that recruits vocals from a number of indie darling vocalists to assemble some longer form tracks with minimal instrumentation and chopped up original vocal samples. The first and third tracks of ...