Lav's Music Corner

This was yet another busy week for both new singles and new album alike. While I've been sorting through hours and hours of music I have to say that I'm quite impressed by the collection of singles we got and narrowing it down to this list was actually pretty difficult. Enjoy <3 5.  First Class  - Jack Harlow For the most part up to this point Jack Harlow has impressed mainly with his larger than life bragging, catchy hooks and general ability to avoid doing anything problematic. Not only has this song established him as a force in commercial music but it also set a kind of new bar for his level of creativity with this track being built around a sample of Fergie's  Glamourous . While it still has the scope of a simple pop rap song he pulls it off very well.  Listen 4.  Water Table  - Cola This might be the best single Cola has released yet and it looks back to some of the best Ought songs for its foundation. The steady drums and gentle echoey plucks of g...

Rosalia is a Spanish singer and pop star who has emerged in recent years for her futuristic style and take on genres like Spanish folk and reggaeton. Since her massively acclaimed 2018 album El Mal Querer  her star had grown drastically alongside her musical scope. She served up high profile collaborations with Bad Bunny, James Blake, Travis Scott and Arca before releasing a string of acclaimed singles in the lead up to this LP, one of the most anticipated of 2022 by both fans and critics. Review By Lav: So, this is a big one. I fell in love with Rosalia a few years ago and following her career has been an exciting and versatile journey ever since. Now it is finally time for her to show up and drop a third album while all eyes are on her. I won't linger on this too long, she absolutely killed it. MOTOMAMI  is an exciting, experimental and uncompromising vision of Rosalia as both a person and an artist. It's a spectacular combination of her immense vocal talent paired with genr...

Arca is a genre blending producer and vocalist who first made a name for herself with productions credits on albums like Kanye West's Yeezus , FKA Twigs LP1  and Bjork's Vulnicura . In the past few years she has risen to fame as a leading voice and frequent collaborator in the hyperpop movement, culminating in last years critically acclaimed KiCk i . Throughout the 2nd half of the year Arca dropped numerous singles from a trilogy of sequels and then released the projects one day after another in the week leading up to their originally scheduled release, followed by a surprise fifth entry into the series.  Review By Lav: While Arca may not be one of the most high profile voices in music anyone who has been paying attention knows that she's contributed as much as anybody in the past decade. At first it was largely in the shadows as a virtuoso producer, in recent years she has had a major coming out party not only with her own music, but her own personality. Given that Arca is...

Below are the best new singles released this weekend: 5.  Queer  - Arca (Feat. Planningtorock) Arca being on this list feels like a necessary weekly occurrence at this point but I'm always excited for a Planningtorock appearance. The song is a weird slightly industrial and incredibly surreal banger that take on queer identity headfirst. If Arca really does drop three albums in December there will be a myriad of highlights in the bunch but I feel pretty safe in saying this will be one of them.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ropCEgWpdQ 4.  Stop That  - Saba Saba continues to impress not only as a wordsmith but also as a confident and technically proficient rapper. While the beat on this one is just okay it really does enough for Saba to jump on top and deliver a smart and instantly memorable performance on both the verses and hook. The only issue I have is that at just over two minutes it feels like it stops before it uses all the momentum it built up.  ht...

The five best tracks that came out this past week listed below: 5.  Waiting  - PUP The newest single from the PUP catalog is an absolute rager that explodes with jagged instrumentation and that classic punk attitude and flair we've come to expect from the band. They pull off a surprisingly emotional edge to the whole thing as the songs wonders why you continue to wait around for someone, when all signs tell you to just go. It's a punk song with more to it than meets the eye.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHG36NyvaUk 4.  La Fama  - Rosalia Feat. The Weeknd The latest in Rosalia's seemingly infinite streak of high profile collaborations is R&B crossover king The Weeknd. It actually follows the pairs collaboration on last years Blinding Lights Remix  but takes a much less pop approach sonically. It deploys a much darker instrumental palette reminiscent of Abel's early days but with a distinct Latin sound, and the blend pulls you in from it's very first ...

This weekend absolutely fucking ruled. I ended up with more then 15 songs just on the list for consideration for the best tracks of this week so please do yourself a favor and look around for all the great stuff that came out this weekend. The best new tracks of the week are below: 5.  Smokin Out The Window  - Silk Sonic This track relies on the one thing that Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars have in spades, charisma. On the surface it's a male music classic story of female money chasing and betrayal that comes from exactly as shallow a perspective as you'd expect. What makes it work is both their voices which can deliver narrative hooks and team up for beautiful harmonies on the hooks. If you can ignore the icky premise that the entire track is built on it's buttery smooth.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG7fLOmlhYg 4.  This Side Of The Sun  - Shame Shame have never been a gentle band but on This Side Of The Sun  they dig in on some of the best lyricism yet....

The best new tracks released this weekend below: 5.  Scripture  - Eartheater After experiencing a pretty significant breakout across her last two albums Alexandra is back with a new Eartheater sound that combines some of the beautiful vocal melodies she's so well known for with a highly digitized and jittery instrumental. It's certainly a strange and unique combination of sounds that benefits from shimmering sonic textures in the backing walls of synths.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMGyY6ufADE 4.  Born Yesterday  - Arca (Feat. Sia) In perhaps the most unlikely pairing of the week Arca's newest single sees the experimental producer teaming up with pop's gold standard in songwriting who was responsible for the controversial Music  film last year. The jittery electronic production we've come to expect from an Arca song is still but distant among the spiraling synth lines and Sia's trademark vocal harmonies. It's a combination that surprises throughout and...

The best new tracks released this weekend below: 5.  The Unanswered Why  - William Doyle Following up his pretty solid album earlier this year former East India Youth frontman William Doyle announced a new EP this week and dropped a charming little lead single with this track. It ups the tempo from his standard outing but doesn't lose any of the poise with pleasant strumming electric guitar and sharp refrains. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv1hF7dWYYI 4.  Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To  - Courtney Barnett Courtney's most recent single may be the most nondescript so far but that doesn't stop her from effectively capturing the breezy indie rock vibe that she's always been known for. The song has a slinky reverbed guitar lick and a swaying momentum that lulls you in from the very start.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTrdzqGHqu4 3.  Incendio  - Arca Arca came out of nowhere to drop a new track that deals in many of her typical stylistic lan...

Arca is a Venezuelan based record producer who first emerged working behind the scenes on projects like Kanye West's Yeezus , FKA Twigs' LP1  and Bojrk's Vulnicura  and Utopia . She has released 3 prior studio albums to increasing critical success and has grown massively in name recognition in the three years since her last record. Review By Lavender: Despite the fact that I have never quite been blown away by an Arca solo project I have been in love with her production credits for quite a long time. Both the immense creativity and willingness to innovate and experiment made Arca an enigmatic figure in the music world, with her mysterious persona adding even more intrigue to the mix. But much like SOPHIE before her Arca has had a major coming out moment in the 3 years since her last record. Not only publicly identifying as non-binary but also lending her face and body to numerous music videos and pieces of promotional material for the first time. Combining this with an incr...

Blood Orange is the long time project of British R&B singer and songwriter Devonte Hynes. Dev has released four records under the Blood Orange moniker met with varying degrees of critical success and announced the  Angel's Pulse  mixtape just days before its release and dropped it without a single. Review By Lavender: For a long time my opinion caught the ire of many Blood Orange fans when in 2013 his  Cupid Deluxe  record began to turn heads, but I wasn't convinced. Still to this day the record reads to me as an homage to 80s synth pop with a funky/R&B twist, but made by somebody who didn't really understand what made that music so good to begin with. The follow-up  Freetown Sound  was certainly an improvement but I still wasn't head over heels for the sound, especially given how much acclaim the record received upon release. It wasn't until Blood Orange's next release that I finally came around to his sound, as it transitioned into a much s...