Lav's Music Corner

If there's one type of artist I've had trouble with consistently in the past, it's the beloved indie-pop girl. Plenty of artists, usually but not always championed by cis lesbian women, that haven't clicked with me in the same way. From Mikski in 2018 to the various boygenius members at points throughout each of their careers, I've taken a lot of shit online from singer-songwriter fans. So I picked out some of those exact kinds of artists who dropped new albums this year to give them another go round and see if they click with me anymore this time.  Charm  - Clairo First up is Clairo, whose now beloved 2019 debut album still does absolutely nothing for me. I thought her Jack Antonoff-produced sophomore record was an improvement, though it still missed my end-of-the-year list, and I include a full 100 albums. This time around she's traded out Antonoff for Leon Michels, who absolutely dazzled me last year alongside Black Thought on their collaborative effort Glori...

I'm actually early this week to make up for the past two, enjoy <3. 5.  Ark  - KMRU & Kevin Richard Martin With two singles under their belt, I'm becoming incredibly excited for prolific ambient producer KMRU's upcoming collaborative record with The Bug's Kevin Richard Martin. This second single deals in spoken word samples and thick walls of gritty haze that give the track a distinctive texture. It's the louder of the two singles so far and yet in some of the methodical repetition and pure haze of it all I find the song more soothing than its predecessor.  Listen 4.  Sexy To Someone  - Clairo Clairo fans will be the first to tell you I haven't been nearly as crazy about her music thus far as many other critics but I've seen glimpses. That's why I'm surprised by how much I like this song. It's crafted in the image of some of my favorite up-beat tracks of hers to date with a vibrant instrumental now free of Jack Antonoff's touch. What r...

If there is one genre that always had way more releases than I could possibly ever cover, its rap. But a close second is indie/singer-songwriter records which are easy to produce and there are a LOT of them. It is also one of the most homogenized genres out there with so much of it sounding functionally indistinguishable sonically and relying on the personality or story-telling of its artist to bear the entire weight of the project. This means that I typically don't enjoy these style of projects as much as most, but I still think it's appropriate to get my thoughts out there on some of the bigger ones.  Home Video  - Lucy Dacus While I haven't been head over heels for much of Lucy's work so far it's difficult to deny her talent as a vocalist and her infectious personality. When she's at her best as a soloist or member of boygenius she is capable of great things and after hearing a few good singles I was hoping that Home Video  would be her best outing yet. The r...

Charli XCX is a British pop singer who rattled off a big hit single as well as a huge feature with Iggy Azealia earlier this decade. Since then though she has mainly reserved herself for a devoted cult following as she receives moderate chart success but major critical acclaim. After having a busy and lucrative 2017 Charli geared up for the release of this self-titled record last year with a breakout lead single and by announcing a number of high profile collaborations leading up to the records release. Review By Lavender: As far as liking Charli XCX's music goes, I go way back. While her earliest MySpace stuff may have missed me by the time True Romance  came out in 2013 I was tuned in and enjoying it quite a bit. She took a big step up the next year with her breakout record Sucker . While the record may have only had one huge hit in the excellent Boom Clap , the album had a ton of worthwhile moments and was a standout in 2014. Since then Charli has been sparse about releas...