Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: Jpegmafia is a complicated rapper to follow both artistically and personally. Earlier this year he found himself in hot water, seemingly betraying much of the political righteousness of his early work by cosigning and collaborating with Kanye West. He then doubled down on the controversy with a very poor handling of his interaction with fans on social media. I've also had an up-and-down experience with his music in recent years. After nearly everyone loved his breakthrough album Veteran  in 2018, I seemed to enjoy the follow-up more than most. That switched when Peggy transitioned into his EP  and LP  era where most of his music came off far less exciting to me despite the fact that he continued to rack up critical acclaim. So here we are, fresh off another critical darling with last year's Scaring The Hoes  collaborative album with Danny Brown. What I was looking for most in Peggy's next outing was a continued experimental ambition but one that h...

Denzel Curry is a Florida rapper who has been omnipresent in hip hop for both his acclaimed albums and numerous standout features and collaborations. Melt My Eyez See Your Future  follows a shorter and more mixtape style release from Curry in 2019 and a collaborative EP with Kenny Beats in 2020. It serves as his first fully fleshed out studio album since 2018's critical success Ta13oo . Review By Lav: I've been a fan of Denzel Curry for quite a while. Some of his most rabid and diehard stans will certainly have a leg up on me in some areas but I've heard his entire commercial discography and responded pretty positively to most of it. For that reason I was excited to hear another full length project given how much I've liked his most conceptual and well thought album to date Ta13oo . If you're expecting Eyez  to be as cohesive that really isn't the point of the record, which deals in the most varied tracklist on any of Curry's records to date. While moments o...

Hello and welcome to the almost late for a second week in a row sort of weekly list we do on this little blog. I listened through a number of brand new songs this week and these are the best of them, simple as that.  5.  Sex Magik  - Bloc Party After what I would describe as a bit of a misstep on their previous single Bloc Party are back with style on this new song. From a weird chanted hook that's bouncy in their distinct way to some of those wiry guitar riffs that give everything the band does such a youthful edge this has everything a good Bloc Party song should.  Listen 4.  Zatoichi  - Denzel Curry (Feat. Slowthai) The second single from Curry's new album sports an attention grabbing title and feature, though isn't quite that bold. The Slowthai hook is unrelenting and the beat does occasionally make use of some punchier and more distorted beats but generally this is a far tamer outing than the duos previous. Regardless it's a solid and infectious single...

Slowthai is a British rapper who turned heads in 2019 with his explosive debut album Nothing Great About Britain . He crafted provocative and politically charged songs with a unique and hard-hitting take on grime and synonymous British rap genres. In the two years since he has massively expanded the scope of his collaborations appearing on tracks with Flume, Brockhampton, Denzel Curry, Amine and Gorillaz.  Review By Lav: I really enjoyed Slowthai's debut album. While he certainly had a sound he was comfortable with he consistently executed it and made for one explosive track after another. Since then he has shown up across a number of tracks showing off his versatility. Versatility has proven to be the word defining this era of Slowthai's music as the record is split into two halves. The first half is made up of tracks that would mostly fit in with his first record, in your face, hard-hitting bangers. The second half however shows a much more vulnerable and emotional side of Sl...

Nyck Caution is a New York rapper and long time member of the Pro Era hip hop collective. He released his first mixtape back in 2016 but attracted much more attention on collaborative projects like his mixtape alongside Kirk Knight, Nyck @ Knight , or the Pro Era, Flatbush Zombies and Underachievers super group Beast Coast. Those projects led up to this, his debut album which features numerous Pro Era and Flatbush Zombies members in its tracklist.  Review By Lav: While Nyck Caution has never been one of my favorite Pro Era members he does have plenty of standout moments and consistently shows up to contribute solid material to nearly every project he appears on. Most of my favorite Nyck Caution moments thus far come on the Nyck @ Knight  mixtape where he and fellow Pro Era member Kirk Knight deliver sharp introspective hip hop dark intimate instrumentals to great success. Given how many years its been since Nyck's last solo mixtape I was hoping we would see improvement and whi...

Features are a part of the backbone of collaborative spirit and personality upon which hip hop is sustained. While every year high profile collaborations make their way more and more into other areas of the musical landscape there's nothing like two electric MC's meeting up on a song a dishing out their respective fire one after another. Each year I like to highlight some of the best guests of the year who build and improve upon the songs they're brought onto. Like every year there was an extensive list of great features I heard throughout 2020 and it wasn't easy to assemble into just 10. I even briefly considered extending it to 15 to fit solid contributions from Joey Badass and A$AP Rocky onto the list but ultimately making it into the top 10 is an achievement not worth souring.  10. Conway The Machine on Babies & Fools  by Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist Conway The Machine may not have had the loudest or most acclaimed record among his Griselda contemporaries i...

The Avalanches are an Australian trio most well known for their heavy use of sampling and their critically acclaimed 2000 album Since I Left You . The band waited 16 years to follow the record up with the feature heavy Wildflower  in 2016 and have thankfully taken a shorter turnaround releasing this, their 3rd album, 20 years after Since I Left You . Review By Lav: I love The Avalanches. I have loved Since I Left You  since I first heard it sometime around 10 years ago and I was thrilled to see the band return on Wildflower  which I also thoroughly enjoyed.  Despite my love of the bands work I wasn't expecting quite as much from this record. The primary reasons being that it was less sample based than either of their first two projects and I thought the singles leading up to the album were a bit of a mixed bunch despite some major highlights. As it turns out there are still plenty of samples used perfectly all over the record, the original instrumentals are used...

Smokepurpp is a Florida based rapper who emerged alongside the ever growing wave of SoundCloud rap over the latter half of the last decade. His frequent collaborations with artists like Denzel Curry and Lil Pump, who he fronts the group Gucci Gang alongside, as well as producers like Murda Beatz and Ronny J has given him a contemporary and influential sound. Despite consistent public interest in his music he has largely avoided critical acclaim with simple formulas and poor lyricism.  Review By Lavender: I'd be lying if I said I hadn't enjoyed plenty of singles from Smokepurpp over the last few years. Despite the fact that he tends to attract a little bit more genuine attention for his talent than most of his trap contemporaries both records in the Deadstar  series as well as his Murda Beatz collaboration have suffered from similar shortcomings. Not only does Florida Jit  suffer from the same problems just as heavily but it also features a lack of true highlights that mak...

Nicholas Jarr preceded his second Against All Logic record with a strange and indulgent EP that has some high profile names attached to it, but lacked the immediate charm that his music under the moniker has so often had. Review Dan Beyar is back in his stride with yet another excellent entry into the long running sophisticated piano pop legacy he has built the Destroyer name under, Have We Met  is an absolute treat. Review Torres unique approach to singer-songwriter music brings a sharp electronic edge and the beauty of chamber pop instrumentals to her intimate and passionate vocal performances to make for one of the genres more unique listens in recent memory. Review Funeral  shows off some of Wayne's creativity across its tracklist but it is ultimately a wildly inconsistent set of songs that runs on well past the point where it stops being interesting, Review The follow-up to Nicholas Jarr's surprise 2018 hit came sooner than anticipated but once again...

Unlocked is the new collaborative EP from Florida rapper Denzel Curry and one of raps hottest producers Kenny Beats. The EP dropped with no singles attached to it and serves as the music behind a backing visual that saw the two downloading themselves into the internet to chase after leaked songs. They also claim that most of the beats and all of Curry's verses were recorded in just a 24 hour span. Review By Lavender: I am typically somebody who doesn't love these types of projects. Artists will take a shotgun approach to recording music and drop the output giving the project a unique story behind it, but the music often suffers as a result. I was more than willing to go into this project with open arms given that Denze and Kenny are both immensely talented and I've enjoyed so much music from them both in the past few years. Despite this Unlocked  suffers from some of the same pitfalls as records of its type tend to, though the two artists talents manage to shine thro...