Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: The Weeknd is a superstar of the highest order. After breaking through as a critical darling of underground R&B he launched into fame in 2015 and has had a consistent string of absolutely massive hits ever since. That culminated in 2020's After Hours  an album that features his biggest hit to date "Blinding Lights" and was both a critical and commercial landmark. He followed such a monumental project up strangely, with the divisive oddball concept album Dawn FM , which I personally liked even if it's the weaker of the two. Now he's back with the massive 22-track 84-minute conclusion to that trilogy Hurry Up Tomorrow . One thing I want to get out of the way immediately is that this album isn't as good as it could have been. What I thought at the time would be its lead single "Dancing In The Flames" was ultimately left off the record, likely due to its underperforming on the chart,  which is a shame because it very likely would ...

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...

Late again, I have a good excuse this time though (she doesn't have a good excuse.) 5.  Wild God  - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds After a trio of albums under the Bad Seeds name that very fittingly saw Nick Cave exploring something more somber, introspective, and poetic, he got weird again on a 2021 collaboration with Warren Ellis. Now that bizarre tone and style of songwriting that's always existed in his music is coming revving back to the Bad Seeds in this new single. I appreciate his uniquely bizarre imagery and the way the song dramatically rises throughout. Listen 4.  Summon  - Jlin As has been the case throughout her career Jlin is a master of texture. Leaning away from some of the grinding electronics deployed on last year's EP this song focused more on the combination of an array of chimes with what sounds like some of the tensest strings I've heard anywhere so far this year. The result is quite striking at first but it's something I settled into more and m...

Getting back into a normal routine for 2024 this week we're actually going to look back at the best new songs released this week again. Though there were some high-profile drops, it's a surprising array of best tracks that result.  5.  Instincts  - Erick The Architect (feat. WESTSIDE BOOGIE) While I think I may prefer the previous Erick single more than this one I've always had a soft spot for when he strips things back to tell it like it is. There's one lyrical highlight after another on this song and I love how uncompromising he manages to keep the subject matter while curating such a gentle and touching vibe on the song.  Listen 4.  See you soon  - Wisp Wisp is an artist I've been hearing ABOUT a lot more recently than actually hearing from. That was sorted out quickly by this murmuring hazy shoegaze jam. From the eerie girlish vocals that seem like a midpoint between Nicole Dollanganger and Vyva Melinkolya to a bridge that manages to conjure a surprisin...

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...

Justin Bieber is an obviously high profile artist whose contributions have been hard to miss over the last 15 years of the music industry. After an extended absence from studio albums during which he released a number of incredibly successful singles he returned with last years critically maligned but commercially successful Changes . After a trio of singles managed to once again be hits earlier this year Justin is now gearing up for another record barely a year later that represents a sonic and thematic change of pace for him.  Review By Lav: I like Justin Bieber and I think that he's probably a cooler and more genuine person that people often give him credit for. That being said I've never been a huge fan of his music with a couple of singles standing out as highlights but not many of what I would consider to be worthwhile albums. I was particularly let down by last years Changes  which felt like Bieber making more generic and less interesting music than ever before, but I w...