Lav's Music Corner

Stumpwork  - Dry Cleaning Dry Cleaning dropped a pretty hyped-up debut album last year that I thought was just okay and which barely cracked my Top 100 albums of the year list. I wasn't surprised to see the band back so quickly given that they still have some hype to capitalize on and do feel like they have a genuinely youthful and creative spirit to them like so many of their burgeoning post-punk contemporaries. In fact, after hearing the singles I was excited enough for the record that I planned on doing a full review of it but never got around to it due to a busy release weekend. Singles like Anna Calls From The Arctic , Gary Ashby  and in particular my favorite Dry Cleaning song to date No Decent Shoes For Rain  forecasted the band further sinking into the methodical darkness of post-punk which excited me quite a bit. Unfortunately, I can say for the second time in as many years that I wasn't as impressed with the deep cuts here as I hoped I would be. On their debut a...

Alvvays are a Canadian indie pop and dream pop band who have been around for almost a decade now but Blue Rev  is just their 3rd album. The five years since their sophomore record Antisocialites  hasn't dissuaded fans from generating a lot of hype for their new project, which predicted a shift to heavier shoegaze-inspired sounds across its 5 singles.  Review by Lav: I've always been a big fan of Alvvays since I first heard Archie, Marry Me  on some indie blog years ago. While I can't say they've ever been one of my favorite bands even within their genre niche, you can always expect consistently enjoyable songwriting and execution from the band. Both of those pretty much continue onto Blue Rev  which isn't rewriting the book on anything, but it still solid.  The album had 5 singles and the first two serve as the opening stretch of the record. Pharmacist  opens with a perfect meeting of the band's typically sweet sound and catchy refrains with more shoeg...

DIIV is a New York based shoegaze and dream pop band who exploded in 2012 with an excellent debut record  Oshin . They got praise from all over for their revitalization of Shoegzae music and the energetic pacing and songwriting that appears all over the record. After dropping a second record in 2016 there was some questioning about the groups switch to a sweeter more dream pop oriented sound and  Is The Is Are  was a record that let down some early fans, but found the group a whole new crowd. Now three more years later the band is returning with a record whose singles indicate a return to form to the groups shoegaze roots. Review By Lavender: It's never been a secret that I love Shoegaze music new and old so I was already a big fan of DIIV by the time they released their second record in 2016. Despite the fact that their sophomore album wasn't what I was expecting, I thought it was still a decent record. The wait between releases made me forget just how blistering ...