Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: MATMOS are an electronic duo whose experimental and conceptual albums have dazzled me for a VERY long time. Across their discography, albums like A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure , The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast , and a spectacular three-album run from 2016 to 2020 have both challenged and delighted me. The middle of that trio, Plastic Anniversary,  is of particular note as it saw the band crafting an entire record out of samples of various plastic objects. That same technique is used on this record, but appropriately, with metal objects.  I think the record got off to a strong start with a pair of great singles. “Changing States” may be the most conventional composition here, with a percussive style that sounds like a lot of other Matmos records. I love the way it has so many different metal sounds weaved together, and yet so many of them are instantly recognizable. It's the kind of readymade song that made an album like Plastic Anniversary ...

 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...

In celebration of Charli XCX's brat  I decided to do a week dedicated to dance music here on the blog. Since brat  didn't turn out to be the nonstop dance record I was anticipating, it's somewhat fitting that this week has blown so far off course. Earlier we discussed Iglooghost and Kaytranada and now were going to cover an actual dance music outfit's new dance album, a dance music producer's new ambient techno effort, and frequent Charli XCX collaborator AG Cook's completely undanceable new album. Enjoy <3 Hyperdrama  - Justice Justice is one of the definitive dance acts of the 2000s whose debut album made a crater-sized impression on the genre's history. Since then the pair have shared two follow-up records neither of which I was particularly head-over-heels for. In fact, it's Gaspard Auge's 2021 solo album Escapades  that stands as my favorite thing to spawn from the duo since their debut. So it's out of respect for the duo and acknowledgem...

These are three electronic music projects that I have a lot of respect and admiration for. Had I not been so sick and busy I would have definitely covered these albums in full but I still want to get my feelings out there on all of them.  Three  - Four Tet Even though I've been a Four Tet fan for a long time it's been a while since I was truly blown away by something he released. He's pretty consistent, but I find myself always hoping for more high-end material. That seemed like it would continue to be the case when I came away from the record's singles feeling just okay. That was made even worse when I realized that my favorite Four Tet single in years, Mango Feedback , also wasn't appearing on the album, though it seems like elements of it were reworked into the single Daydream Repeat, although I'm not positive.  After beginning with a dancier cut in Loved  the album shifts its focus towards ambient. That's not a complaint as I've enjoyed quite a bit o...

ULTRA PARADISE  - Angel Electronics Angel Electronics is a new music project from Black Dresses' Ada Rook and collaborator Ash Nerve. Putting the album into genre categories is exceedingly difficult as it blends pop punky refrains and sentiments with layering of screamo vocals and crushing metal guitars. Of course, as you'd expect there's also a thick electronic haze over everything and a vast array of synth leads heard across the record. So yeah, it's a bit of a whirlwind but that chaos is clearly on purpose and it keeps you from ever knowing where the album will go next. One thing I absolutely didn't expect this record to be was cute, but it's insanely cute. Not only are the sentiments here often overwhelmingly lovely but they're also played with an angsty pop-punk sentiment that is pulled off earnestly. Highlights like Party Girl  and One Thousand And One Nights  are genuinely adorable songs that if played only slightly less chaotic would be the kind of t...

Let's get freaky with some outside-the-box, difficult-to-describe electronic artists.  Golden Skin  - Pale Sketcher Pale Sketcher is the long-running electronic music side project of Justin Broadrick of Godflesh and Jesu fame. I like Godflesh quite a bit and I absolutely LOVE Jesu so I've been paying attention to the short Pale Sketcher releases dropping every so often for the past 12 years. Given that this is the project's first full album I was excited to hear what Justin had to offer, especially after I read on the records Bandcamp page that the music was recorded between 2009 and 2013 and has been shelved since then for some reason. All things considered, it sounds pretty aligned with the annuls of contemporary electronica which makes me wish even more that it had been released years ago as it might be looked back on as ahead of its time. With that being said I also don't think the record is necessarily strikingly unique all things considered. For those versed in th...

This weekend's (or possibly week's by the time I finish) rapid fire reviews will cover a few records I've really wanted to talk about mostly because they have something strikingly unique about them that at the very least you won't hear anywhere else in 2022.  Enjoy <3 LP.8  - Kelly Lee Owens I think both of Kelly Lee Owens first two records are both quite solid but in the back of my mind I've also always held onto that belief that she has a classic record in her. Her willingness to adventure into compelling sonic directions compared with her vocals talent which thrives over sparse electronic landscapes makes for a great combo that reminds me a lot of what initially made James Blake so appealing. This album is far and away Kelly's most experimental yet trading a lot of conventional song structure out for atmospheric haze and methodically repeated phrases that echo out into the void. It's an artistic choice that I think makes a lot of sense coming off a rec...

I have a lot of albums that I'd like to catch up on. So during the next few weeks, which at least look initially like down weeks relative to the heavy schedules of May and June, I'll be covering as much as I can through these rapid fire reviews. Starting off we are diving into some accessible and more importantly danceable cuts from the indie pop and indietronica worlds that I have been meaning to talk about for a while now. Islomania  - Islands Islands is the indie pop project of Nicholas Thornburn, once a member of a personal favorite band of mine from the indie world of the 2000's, The Unicorns. The band has had a diverse selection of members around Nicholas, including fellow Unicorn Jamie Thompson across their 8 albums on 4 different labels. This is the bands first new album in 5 years since they dropped two records back in 2016, and the era got off to a good start with (We Like To) Do It With The Lights On , the records lead single which has been one of my essential su...

 

Iglooghost is the experimental electronic project of British musician Seamus Malliagh that first drew attention with the Chinese Nu Year  EP released on Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder records. The debut Iglooghost alhum was released to widespread critical acclaim in 2017 but the project has continued to be busy since then. In 2018 Seamus released a pair of EP's that expanded the Iglooghost discography and lore, and in 2019 he teamed up with Kai Whiston and BABii for a collaborative project.  Review By Lav: The sounds of Iglooghost music were absolutely insane for 2015. Looking back on the explosion of hyper pop it is clear how much Iglooghost's fusion of drum and bass with jittery electronica helped set the genre in motion, even though he doesn't necessarily fit in perfectly with the label. I've been enjoying just about everything released under the project since as well, Neo Was Bloom  was a great debut, the Steel Mogu  EP was a great cohesive set of bangers and even hi...

The Soft Pink Truth is the side project of Drew Daniel, most well known for his work with experimental and conceptual electronic duo Matmos. As The Soft Pink Truth he has focused more on house and dance oriented music which is usually less thematic than Matmos albums . Sinning  is the first Soft Pink Truth record of fully original material since 2004.  Review By Lavender: Given how big of a fan I am of Matmos I was excited to learn years ago that The Soft Pink Truth side project existed, and while I liked Drew's first two albums they didn't stick with me the way so much of Matmos' music has. Despite that I was excited to give this record a listen once I figured out it even existed after it had passed me by when it was initially released. While some of the music here is once again pretty solid the record doesn't hit all the right notes.  The album gets off to a pretty solid start on its first two tracks. Shall  is the opener and it sets a strange ethereal tone for th...

Clarence Clarity is a London based songwriter and electronic music producer who emerged in 2015 with an electric and critically acclaimed debut record. After following it up with a second successful sophomore record in 2018 he took a break to produce for some other artists most notably Rina Sawayama before returning with his first collection of ambient compositions. Review By Lavender: Clarence Clarity has been a name that for the last five years I have been following very closely. After his unique and explosive debut record I was hooked on his style, and after he perfectly applied his sound to a poppier style a few years later I was in awe of his versatility. Given how much I liked his work I was still excited for this project even though it was only an ambient project, and for good reason as his creativity certainly creeps into the medium.  The album consists of nine tracks that reach just over 30 minutes. While the record gets off to a great start and ends on a series of great s...

Flume is the moniker for Harley Streten, the Australian record producer who has been building up his name since 2013, when he dropped his self-titled debut album to universally positive reviews. In between doing remixes and production work for some popular artists like Lorde, Arcade Fire and Vince Staples he released a second studio album, 2017's Skin , which was met with less positive reviews but granted Flume his first big hit with the Kai featuring song Never Be Like You . Since then Flume has released two Skin Companion  EP's full of material he made for the album that contained some well received tunes and he announced the surprise drop of Hi This Is Flume  just two days before its release.  Review By Lavender: Flume's debut album Flume  was one of my favorite records of 2012 and as far as pure dance music goes it's one of the shining examples of the genre in the 2010's. The decent but not amazing follow-up 2016's Skin  slightly dulled my expectati...

Matmos is the electronic duo of M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel who have spent two decades making some of the most creative, genre bending and conceptual electronic music around. From sampling sounds like cutting hair and crayfish neural activity to crafting an entire album around surgical sounds Matmos have always been interesting and conceptual and their most recent effort revolves entirely around samples of plastic.  Review By Lavender: I am a very big fan of Matmos, lets get that out of the way. Albums like Quasi-Objects and The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of The Beast  are excellent efforts that help bookend their true masterpiece. 2001's A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure is a once in a career burst of creativity that results in a truly special album full of experimental electronic music that helped break ground for the genre. Given that the last Matmos project 2016 Ultimate Care II  was both a unique experiment, created entirely from samples pulled from wash...