Lav's Music Corner

Not exactly a world class week of new music, but here are the highlights regardless.  5.  The Mad Stone  - Everything Everything While this still isn't the band at their peak, I do think this is an improvement from the previous single they dropped. It contains some of the always unique vocalizations you expect to hear from them and it does rise dramatically with a creeping piano phrase that I like a lot. My only issue with the song is that the band isn't writing anywhere near their catchiest material here and the song never really worked its way into my head.  Listen 4.  Get Close  - Ari Lennox While this track is definitely getting more from Ari as a performer than the songwriting itself I don't really see that as all too much of a complaint. Ari continues to be a world class vocalist and even when she isn't given the strongest direction it's still entrancing. The song isn't as memorable as some of the best moments on her last album but I still enjoy what ...

Dirt Femme  - Tove Lo While you could argue that at points Tove Lo has maybe been a bit too stylistically trashy to break back into the mainstream, I've always been a big fan of her music regardless. This album Dirt Femme  definitely felt like her turning over a new leaf, not in terms of it being a more mainstream effort as her previous record Sunshine Kitty  already made that transition. But on the singles leading up to Dirt Femme  it felt like Tove Lo had the life and personality back that gave her a breakout hit nearly a decade ago. The lead-up to the record was marked by some killer singles starting with the Euphoria  soundtrack cut How Long , probably my favorite Tove Lo song in years and one that I'm very happy made it onto this record. It also delivered the shimmering relationship-examining anthem No One Dies From Love  which kicks off the record with an absolute bang. The record is further supplemented with solid singles in both 2 Die 4  and Gr...

JID is an Atlanta rapper who first rose to prominence as a member of the Spillage Village collective and a signee on J. Cole's Dreamville label imprint. His previous studio album DiCaprio 2  came out in 2018 and drastically rose his profile as both a commercial artist and a critical darling. Review by Lav: While I wasn't the earliest to come around to JID I have been able to watch his rise over the past 6 years where he's not only drastically increased his profile but also his talent. I did get some flak from hip-hop heads on twitter for not completely fawning over DiCaprio 2  but with this new record, I feel pretty validated. Not only has JID improved his talent on just about every level, but also his scope and ambition with it. The results are one of the best hip hop records I've heard in 2022.  I'm really glad the lead single to this record still managed to land on the record. Surround Sound  is a track I've been enjoying all year with one of the best hooks I...

Earthgang are a hip hop duo composed of Doctor Dot and Johnny Venus from Atlanta who originally founded the rap collective Spillage Village, before joining J. Cole's Dreamville label a few years ago. That led to their debut album Mirrorland  in 2019 as well as a prominent spot on Revenge Of The Dreamers III  and the Spillage Village album in 2020. Ghetto Gods  is the highly anticipated sophomore album which the band teased with a trio of singles dating back to last year. Review By Lav: I had the same read that most people did of Earthgang's debut Mirrorland . While it showed immense potential and had some huge highlights it was also decidedly bloated and a little thematically inconsistent. As for those two issues they have fixed the thematic inconsistencies quite a bit on this record with strong song concepts that connect throughout the record and create a dynamic tracklist. As for the bloated tracklist that is less remedied and more pivoted. There are very few songs on t...

The best new tracks to drop this weekend: 5.  Pressure  - Ari Lennox We will get the obvious one out of the way real quick. The biggest reason anyone is talking about this song is that literally everything about it sounds almost identical to Beyonce. While being influenced by Queen B is certainly nothing to fault an artist for, an entire album full of this much worship could come out intolerable. Thankfully as a single the track manages to be enjoyable and never quite step into complete complete sonic thievery.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E604eZ81_YQ 4.  Blackest Crow  - The Body & BIGBRAVE One of the stranger collaborations of the year has already proven interesting on prior singles and has even more intrigue on Blackest Crow . The expanded composition sees both metal bands continuing to reel it in and cover more folk influenced territory with a great degree of success. The track is surprisingly agreeable given the names involved but everything about i...

Jazmine Sullivan is a Philly based R&B singer and commercially successful holdover from the 2000's era of R&B. The last time we heard from her was on her first project released with RCA records, the commercially successful Reality Show . After a 5 year absence she's returned with either her 4th studio album or her 1st EP depending on who you ask.  Review By Lav: Is this thing an EP or an album? It's 32 minutes long and 14 tracks, but half the songs are interludes. Wikipedia says its an EP but Spotify says its an album and so do most of the reviews I read on it. We're calling it an album for the moment just to fit in. I was always casually familiar with Jazmine and some of her biggest songs and I thought her last record in 2015 was solid but her back catalog is admittedly one I didn't have much familiarity with until this record came out. Given that I didn't even know this was coming out I was pleasantly surprised with the variety of R&B styles across...