Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: Venturing is one of several side projects of singer-songwriter Jane Remover. It's been around since at least 2023 and focuses on a vintage shoegaze style. It's a sound that's analogous to the dissonant instrumentals on her landmark 2023 album Census Designated , one of my favorite rock records of the entire 2020s so far. Fittingly, I was excited to see what Jane had to offer drilling more directly into the sound and the results are pretty solid.  Let's get some of the tracks I didn't care for as much out of the way first. The opener "Play My Guitar" is striking at first but the more times I re-listened to the album the less impressed I was by it. That's mostly because it builds to a very dramatic finale but the vocal performance kind of falls apart completely right when it's hitting its stride. There are even worse singing issues on my least favorite track on the record "We Don't Exist" which seems like it needed a...

This week featured some familiar faces that have popped up on the best new tracks segment all year, see if they made it again. <3 5.  Ruby Rosery  - A$AP Rocky (feat. J. Cole) So we're officially back in an era where Rocky is releasing music regularly and it's brought us to the reserved, J. Cole-featuring Ruby Rosery . Like Cole's appearance on Metro Boomin & Future's album earlier this year it's a more reserved moment than anticipated and yet his intimacy works well in this format. Both Rocky and Cole are casual but confident and as slick as ever on this memorable crossover.  Listen 4.  I Walk  - Mount Eerie It's been a noticeable few years off for Mount Eerie since Phil Elverum returned to The Microphones with a unique and conceptual project in 2020 that sought to tell the story of how the project evolved with one single album-length track. Now he's back as Mount Eerie with a sonic palette that still exists within the intimate folds his music always...

Welcome to the songs list. More than any other list I publish this is the one that is most purely about what the best work is. Many artists appear on here multiple times and none of the placements have anything to do with anyone else's reception but mine. These are MY favorite songs of the year, though please take the chance to share yours wherever you can. Enjoy <3 100. Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily - Shadow Forces Thank god for the positive critical buzz surrounding Arooj Aftab's last solo album because without it I would have never heard this strange and surprisingly dark chamber jazz album. That also means I wouldn't have heard its defining moment Shadow Forces  which uses its expansive and in the second half even oppressive composition to really surround you on all sides with its eerie mysticism.  Key Lyric: "Oh God, I love my heart, oh God, I love my heart, no one can cure my heart, oh God!" (translated) 99. Jane Remover - Backseat Girl Jane Re...