Lav's Music Corner

It's getting to that time of the year already where I'm seeing just how many albums I want to talk about have already begun passing by. That's where these shorter, rapid-fire reviews come in handy. While I was working on my Jane Remover review for Ringtone Magazine , weekend 1 of Coachella was going on. Each year, I like to take the time between Coachella's two weekends to review some records of artists performing there that I probably wouldn't cover otherwise. SO that's exactly what we're gonna do, enjoy.  The Crux  - DJO My interest in DJO began last year and was pretty short-lived. The music project of Stranger Things actor and former Post Animal member Joe Keery scored a surprise chart hit with the dreamy “End Of Beginning,” which took off last year. I liked the song well enough and gave it an honorable mention on my best hit songs of the year list last year. But once singles started dropping for this new album with sun-kissed ultra-casual disposition, i...

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...

BLACKPINK are one of the biggest voices in the current wave of genre blending K-Pop groups. Despite having a very slim discography the band has turned heads and achieved major commercial success. After some major collaborations including Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez and Cardi B the group geared up to release The Album , their most definitive statement yet.  Review By Lavender: I haven't done many, if any reviews sharing my thoughts on any of the emerging girl and boy groups coming out of Korea recently, mainly because the sounds are usually so generic and derivative that I didn't have much to say. But Blackpink have always been the exception to that rule. Since their Blackpink  project they have brought an engaging sound through a number of EP's and live projects that had me highly anticipating this statement record. While The Album  is anything but generic, it only goes as far as the girl's personalities do.  This record gets off to an absolutely killer start across its ...

Lady Gaga is one of the biggest artists in the world by all measure. Since her 2008 single Just Dance  hit #1 on the Hot 100 Stefani hasn't looked back as she released one commercially successful album and single after another. Over the years she has transitioned from the world of electro dance pop she made her debut in towards the more folk inspired album Joanne  in 2016 as well as her huge part in the A Star Is Born  soundtrack a few years later. But with the teaser tracks leading up to Chromatica Gaga signified a return to her dance floor roots and takes a dive headfirst into the sound.  Review By Lavender: If you are around my age then you have not only grown up with the music of Lady Gaga but have grown up in a world where it was inescapable. From the nauseating Born This Way  to the creative but messy Artpop  and even to the genre shifting Joanne  commercial success has followed Lady Gaga like a shadow. While Lady Gaga hasn't put out a record I t...