Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lav: I absolutely love MGMT and I'm not ashamed about it. Their debut album Oracular Spectacular  was one of the first records I fully fell in love with as a budding music fan and it holds up spectacularly well. I also loved their follow-up the more expansive lean into psychedelia Congratulations. And even as I came away mostly lukewarm from their third album they returned a few years later with the absolutely spectacular Little Dark Age. All of that love for their back catalog combined with singles I mostly adored made this one of the most anticipated releases of the year for me.  Right out of the gate I think this album started a spectacular 3 for 3 on singles. Mother Nature  came first and I think it was genuinely one of the best songs I heard in 2023. I love the soaring Beatles-ey harmonies and the sugary pop hook. It manages to be both theatrical and youthful but also deeply heartfelt and I just adore everything about it. I love MGMT and this may be one of ...

Okay so I'm getting a late start to the year at least on the blog. I woke up one day this week and realized I had somehow just kind of forgotten the weekly segment I've done on here for years. So there's been three weeks of the new year so far and quite a few high-profile songs released, these are the 10 best. 10.  Right Back To It  - Waxahatchee (feat. MJ Lenderman) Fresh off a breakthrough year for Wednesday, MJ Lenderman teams up for a supporting contribution to Waxahatchee's new song, and boy does it go over well. The pair aren't exactly charting new ground stylistically but Katie's vocals are somehow even more infectious than ever before and the woozy folk instrumental palette is still a near perfect fit.  Listen 9.  J Christ  - Lil Nas X Much like Doja Cat did last year with Paint The Town Red , Lil Nas X is leaning into his most controversial instincts. I think he ended up with a pretty catchy song which keeps up the line of his short and incredibly infec...

5.  Petroleum  - Yard Act While I came away from the first Yard Act album pretty mixed something tells me I'm going to like the follow-up a lot more. The singles have seen the band leaning into their grooviest eccentricities and the results are post-punk that fringes on danceability in the way very few bands can achieve. This may not be the most bombastic or infectious of the songs but I still like it quite a bit.  Listen 4.  Tunnel Lights  - Chelsea Wolfe While this track may not blow me away in quite the same way Chelsea's past two tracks have it still has everything I would want in one of her songs. From the spacious percussion marked by booming distorted drums to her haunting voice wrapping itself around mystical fairy tale refrains it's all still so compelling.  Listen 3.  The Fight  - Future Islands The most reserved single from Future Islands' new era might be its best moment yet. It has the patience to squeeze every moment of somber drama ...

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 ...

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...

What a shitty week for the credibility of whoever writes WALK THE MOON lyrics. Boy am I happy to see a personal favorite come back in such great fashion this week, I can't wait for 2018 to be the ultimate neo goth comeback year. A girl can dream right. 5. High End - Chris Brown (Feat. Future & Young Thug) I didn't start the week expecting to see Chris Brown, Future and Young Thug release a track together but now that it's out I'm not sure how I didn't see it coming. It's wavy distant trap vibes fit perfectly. Future does what he always does, Thugger brings a typical verse and Chris Brown handles the chorus. Sure there's not enough here to top the billboard charts but it's made to be background noise, and it does that so so well. 4. Heartstruck (Wild Hunger) - Hamilton Leithauser (Feat. Angel Olsen) Apparently collaborations are Hamilton's new thing now. He doesn't do a ton to separate this single from the rest of his catalogue but...