Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: Clipping  is a rap trio that in certain circles needs absolutely no introduction. One of those circles being my long-time readers as I've always been a huge fan of the band. I dished out a lot of retrospective acclaim to their progressive rap masterpiece from 2014 and their highly conceptual follow-up a few years later. I was also a big fan of their multi-album indulgence into horror-core which resulted in the excellent 2020 album Visions Of Bodies Being Burned , their best record yet and one I called my album of the year for 2020. But it's been a long 5 years since then and what the group returned with is a shift in style to the equally conceptual world of cyberpunk. While they tackle the new sound and style with just as much commitment, it's far and away the dorkiest thing I've ever heard them do, which is an issue at points.  Dead Channel Sky  isn't precisely a tale of two halves but a majority of the highlights pop up on the first half, which...

Had 30 songs on the shortlist this week, wish me luck.  5.  Driver - Soccer Mommy While Soccer Mommy has never really consistently dazzled me the way some of her singer-songwriter peers do, she is pretty good at delivering something consistently solid. That's the case with her second single of the year which features a punchy instrumental marked by brash cymbal clashes and a great guitar solo on the bridge. But even more than that, it's her killer vocals on the hook that really sell the song.  Listen 4.  Ballet  - The Garden After loving the most recent Garden album WAY more than anything the eccentric pair had done before I'm glad to see them keeping their momentum up on this new single. They once again combine punk snarl, synthetic drums and dizzying production to serve up a short but incredibly memorable song that's just as punchy as it is catchy at every moment.  Listen 3.  Dancing In The Flames  - The Weeknd While this may not have been the m...

Musically the album is king. While singles top charts and generate radio play it's the album that fans stay up all night waiting for and constantly ask for online. Everything about these collections of songs seems just as innocuous as well, a collection of songs. But what they mean to us and what they meant to us specifically in 2020 is immeasurable. I listened to just over 250 albums this year and reviewed almost 200 of them and as usual there were tons of records I just didn't have time to get to. As much as I wish I could have listened to absolutely everything, this list is the best of everything I actually could listen to this year. These records range from solid and slightly inconsistent experiments to some of the best and most groundbreaking music of the year, and is neatly arranged into a 100-1 list as best as I could do, enjoy. 100. Freezepop - Fantasizer One of the premiere synth pop bands of the 2000's returned in 2020 with Fantasizer . While it came completely ou...