Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: Perfume Genius  is the musical project of Mike Hadreas and one of the most beloved voices in the indie and art-pop scenes of the past 20 years. Since debuting in 2010, there has basically be an uninterrupted stream of critically acclaimed Perfume Genius records every few years leading up to the newly released 7th album Glory . In my opinion, the peak of the Perfume Genius catalog came in the form of 2017's masterpiece No Shape , which saw Mike beginning to work with producer and arranger Blake Mills, whose work is still present on Glory . For that reason and the fact that I've enjoyed every record he's ever released, I went into this album fully expecting great things.  I had no reason to think this album wouldn't be excellent based on the singles. "It's A Mirror" came first, and I think it's spectacular. I love the shift to more rustic instrumentation; you can really feel the physicality of it all, plus the refrains and vocals are ...

I've been doing quite a few rapid fire reviews in the past few days as I wait for more substantial new album to drop. This is probably the last one for a bit as a BUNCH of new records are on the horizon. I Inside The Old Year Dying  - PJ Harvey I've always enjoyed PJ Harvey's music even if I've never been absolutely HEAD OVER HEELS for one of her albums the way many people are. I love classics like Stories From The Sea  and even though I wasn't crazy about her previous album there is definitely something to say for its predecessor Let England Shake . So I didn't go into the project with astronomical expectations, but after really enjoying the eerie single I Inside The Old I Dying, I did at least see plenty of potential in the project. As you'd expect this album is eerie, naturalistic, often introspective, and yes, singer-songwritery. It's really the winteryness of the album that I appreciate the most. Beyond the bright naturalism of something like Spelll...

5.  Sodom & Gomorrah  - Dorian Electra Dorian is one of the artists I flip back and forth on the most and following the recent "Sodomy" merch drop I was particularly skeptical that this might be just as phoned in. Turns out this track is actually kind of a banger which sees Dorian cleverly conjuring and satirizing the religious imagery over a ripping beat. As is so often the case I think Dorian has been inconsistent as of late, but this is a highlight.  Listen 4.  Skeleton Is Walking  - Blake Mills After producing so much good music for other artists in the past few years Blake Mills is back with a new solo project led off by a wonderful lead single which blends together the sounds of classic folk with a biting electric guitar solo. It's nearly six minutes of song that absolutely breezes by with both thematic and textural detail in nearly every moment along the way.  Listen 3.  Popular  - The Weeknd, Madonna & Playboi Carti Is The Idol ...

This is a collaborative album that I was looking forward too given the pair of names attached to it. Both Blake and Pino have done most of their work in the music industry from behind the scenes with Pino in particular playing bass on a ridiculously stacked amount of legendary projects over the years. Given that Blake has completely blown me away with his production and arrangements on the last two Perfume Genius records I was excited for what the pair was going to bring. Notes With Attachments  is a strange series of instrumental compositions with a wide variety of instrumentation that is unafraid to be unconventional throughout.  The first leg of the record makes liberal use of a horn section which I didn't anticipate, but rarely do they sound like a conventional execution of the sound. Soundwalk  has quite the unpredictable arrangement of keys and brass. It sounds like one of those YouTube videos where they take a song and put the beats out of order because everyt...