Lav's Music Corner

 Review by Lavender: Darkside is the project of prolific singer and producer Nicolas Jaar alongside multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington. The project's inception actually dates back to the earliest days of Jaar's acclaimed career and the pair's debut album together was released in 2013. Following a long dormant period, the band returned in 2021 with a second album called Spiral , which I thought was every bit as good as their debut if not better. That's why I was excited to see the wait for a third release taking just half the time and went into Nothing  expecting the pair to keep all their momentum up.  Darkside has always been a strange and difficult to define project. They're probably best described as art rock but with a production and sometimes even compositional slant inspired by Jaar's more electronica-oriented projects. But even with that premise, Nothing is by FAR the pair's weirdest and most difficult to define album yet. The project jumps all ov...

Some HIGH profile new singles dropped this week, see how they shake out against some underground favorites.  5.  Afterlife  - Sharon Van Etten I'll be the first to admit I was skeptical from the moment this song kicked off with its anthemic drum beat and even after I heard the fluttering keys backing Sharon's chorus. While you would think inherently that the grandeur would rob her music of the power it has in its intimacy, she seems to have taken a queue from some of her singer-songwriter contemporaries who impressively expanded their sonic range. This track isn't perfect, but her writing and energy shines through.  Listen 4.  Noid  - Tyler, The Creator Tyler's newest single has justifiably been met with quite a bit of acclaim for both its sound palette and compositional dynamism. Even if some of the altered vocals and MANY of the song's lyrics leave quite a bit to be desired, there's still plenty here to grab onto as potential green flags for Tyler's new a...

Another week and another round of indie dominating the list. Maybe all of 2022 will be like this and we'll witness an indie renaissance that's talked about for decades. Or maybe it's just been a good few weeks, TBD. 5. Watercolor Eyes  - Lana Del Rey In case you've been living under a rock there is this HBO show called Euphoria  that a lot of people have been talking about. One of the shows points of influence is the music its characters engage with and that it interpolates both diagetically and non-diagetically. The upcoming episode features a brand new Lana Del Rey song which fans got a taste of early and it's pretty good. While an artist like Lana has difficulty topping herself, she clearly has the focus to execute on the promise of her music consistently. Listen 4. Ecdysis!  - Darkside Darkside just keep getting it done. Nic and Dave are back with a new song from the same sessions as last years Spiral  album and it delivers experimental electronic sound palettes...

The Album as definitive of an artistic statement as you will get from most musical artists. There are no frills about this one, I listened to a LOT of albums this year. These are the best of them. Lets do it.  100. Dark In Here  - The Mountain Goats Getting us started if John Darnielle and company who haven't been on their most creative streak in the bands storied history but delivered some really good singles and interesting deep cuts that play on John's coy and humorous style of songwriting.  Listen To: The Slow Parts In Death Metal Albums , Dark In Here 99. Is 4 Lovers  - Death From Above 1979 The third new DFA record since their "comeback" in 2014 splits the difference between the first two. While it has plenty of wild moments throughout they do spend quite a bit of time playing it relatively safe and sounding like some of their contemporaries. Listen To: Mean Streets , N,Y,C Power Elite Part 1 98. The Art Of Losing  - The Anchoress Being billed as the next ...