Lav's Music Corner

These are reviews of 5 records that I was pretty sure weren't going to top my albums of the year list, but I nonetheless wanted to talk about because of the significance of the artists behind them.  AM I THE DRAMA?  - Cardi B Cardi B's story is something I've always been very interested in. After years of teasing the release of a sophomore record, I really thought she might have waited too long to capitalize on any of the meteoric hype she generated from 2017 to 2020. Now that the record is out and being digested by fans, the verdict is very much still out. One person who thinks about Cardi's place in popular culture even more than I do is Cardi herself. Her debatably triumphant return is the subject of the first two tracks on the record, the pretty good "Dead" and the mediocre "Hello." While Cardi does a lot of flexing on the record, the results are pretty inconsistent, and the best victory lap she takes on the song "Check Please" outclass...

Review by Lav:  I was pretty damn excited for this album. From his breakthrough around 2015 leading up to his sophomore album i am > i was , 21 Savage underwent one of the greatest and quickest artistic improvements I've ever witnessed in hip hop. That left me pretty excited for what he's gonna do next. While his output in the years since certainly hasn't been bad, he hasn't continued progressing artistically in the way I had hoped. I was really excited to see him cross paths with Metro Boomin for a second time on 2020's Savage Mode II  but the album didn't really live up to the hype I had for it. On the other hand, I was pretty surprised by just how good his collab album with Drake Her Loss  was in 2022.  That led us to american dream , the long-awaited third solo studio album from Savage. The album dropped with no singles and was only announced just a few days before its release. Without much to set expectations for the record in advance, I'll start the...

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 th...

5.  inferno  - yeule I was surprised by how much I liked the previous yeule single and for that reason I wasn't surprised by how much I liked this one. Both tracks feature MAJOR instrumental improvements from the previous yeule album which creates a drastically more interesting sonic palette for the understated vocals and mysterious songwriting.  Explore 4.  I Got Heaven  - Mannequin Pussy Welcome back, Mannequin Pussy. While this new song lacks the earworm hook they often deliver I find it hard to complain about the dreamy blown-out replacement. Especially when it contrasts with some of the most pointed and explosive verses I've ever heard from the band. It's immediate, vicious, and totally unflinching.  Explore 3.  Demons  - Doja Cat If you had told me that Doja Cat's newest song would see her doing her best Baby Keem impression I wouldn't have necessarily been more excited. But do I like the song? Oh yeah. It sacrifices some of the sheer catchi...

This was a strange week of subverted expectations and curious returns, none of it really assembled into anything rational. Let's break it down.  5.  Evicted  - Wilco This sure is a Wilco song. While it doesn't necessarily have any of the compositional or instrumental adventuring that has kept the band fresh at points deep into their career, they still do what they do. This gentle bouncy indie-folk tale of love lost is simple but memorable.  Listen 4.  Angel In The Marble  - Stormzy After loving Stormzy's new album last year I haven't been as crazy about some of his new singles. This one is definitely my favorite so far and I think it sees Stormzy returning to a style that worked for him earlier in his career. He delivers a series of bars that bounce between ridiculous opulence and occasional flashes of honesty that add up to something really compelling. Paired with the thumping beat and wild vocal samples this is kind of a banger. Listen 3.  Munekita ...

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...

5.  Portraits  - Panchiko There's been at least something to admire about pretty much all of the new Panchiko singles so far and this one is the best so far at pinning down the crackling nostalgia and lo-fi textures of their surprise classic material. The glitchiness of the song impugns a character that's entirely unique from their other songs while also feeling physically aged as you listen to it.  Listen 4.  FaceTime  - billy woods & kenny segal (feat. Samuel T. Herring) If you're familiar with the names involved in this song then it sounds exactly what you're imagining it will. There are no surprises here just a successful blending of styles with kenny's often poignant and jazzy production serving as a perfect middle man for the vocals. The high contrast of billy's gritty vocal delivery on the verses and Sam's subtle hook sounds great.  Listen 3.  Back In Office  - Saba & No I.D. Saba and No I.D are teaming up for a mixtape coming soon ...

Lil Nas X is one of the newest and biggest stars in the world of contemporary pop and rap music. A few years ago he scored one of the all time most dominant summer chart hits with his breakout song Old Town Road  and has been teasing tracks on social media leading up to this debut album for almost two years. Earlier this year he broke potential one hit wonder claims with a trio of singles, two of which managed to be major chart hits. Review By Lav: I think it's worth stepping back and realizing just how meteoric the rise of Lil Nas X has been. I vividly remember when the news story broke that Old Town Road  wasn't eligible for the country music charts and my only thought being that I was surprised that a song I had only ever heard on Tik Tok was even scoring enough streams to chart anywhere. So clearly after he teamed up with Billy Ray Cyrus and the song became a mega hit the questions becomes is he capable of bucking the sonic aesthetics of his first big hit to become a caree...

While the connection between these records may be loose, they are pretty loose.  This is honestly just a couple of albums I want to talk about before the year is out and there doesn't seem to be any better time than now.  HARAM!  - Goldlink Goldlink is a DC area rapper who has immense talent and has shown it off more than a few times in his career so far. Unfortunately it hasn't translated into many great records as he consistently provides inconsistency as a singer rapper and songwriter. It's been 2 years since we last heard from him and in my review of his last album I mentioned that when he and his features are operating at their best the highlights are excellent. But just like is often the case those tracks were mixed in with underwritten and underperformed cuts. HARAM!  seemed to come out of nowhere shortly following Goldlink's return to Twitter and features a pretty busy and impressive selection of features among its tracklist. It also features a mixtape like c...

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...

Ariana Grande is an artist who turned from a pop star into a mega star over the past few years. With her last two album cycles she's collected numerous #1 hits and translated that success into a massively successful multi-media presence. Unlike many contemporaries who travel the same path Ariana has done so with critical success at her back alongside her commercial success, with her 2019 record thank u, next  in particularly receiving massive critical acclaim across the board, positions  is a relatively quick follow-up for an artist of Ariana's stature and only had one single dropped just a week before the album was ultimately released.  Review By Lavender: I was always a casual appreciator of Ariana's music in her early days but it wasn't until the one-two punch of Sweetener  and thank u, next  that she established herself as one of the best and most capable performers in all of pop music. The prospect of her releasing one of my favorite pop albums of the year ...

City Girls is a Florida based hip hop duo that consists of MC's Yung Miami and JT. The pairs single Act Up caught fire in 2018 and after they got a Cardi B cosign on their debut record and a spot on Drake's mega-hit In My Feelings they have gained a very high profile in hip hop over the last year.  Review By Lavender: City Girls entered the world of hip hop which is so universally dominated by strong attitudes and showed how stellar their personalities are while putting the industry on notice. While I loved some of their early singles I thought their debut record was just okay as the production ran pretty standard for mainstream trap and it felt like they overlapped the same territory a few times. On City On Lock  the pair improve on a few things and make a pretty good record although the shortcomings can be obvious.  The highlights on this record typically do the same things right. Raunchy lyrics with a TON of personality and great bars throughout, usually placed over a ...