Lav's Music Corner

PORTALS  - Melanie Martinez A few years ago when I reviewed Melanie's long-awaited sophomore album K-12  I called her a cult pop star because her dark and thematic songs attracted a cult following with the way they tackled adult subjects through childhood imagery, but they hadn't broken into the mainstream. In the years since however, Melanie's music has repeatedly gone viral and her fans have gotten a LOT louder. One thing that hasn't changed is my opinions on Melanie's first two albums. Crybaby  still deserves its cult status and probably deserves a lot more recognition in retrospect for how many indie and underground pop artists of today were clearly influenced by it. While her sophomore record K-12  is more inconsistent it's also rewardingly conceptual and the plotless but heavily stylized movie it was attached to is equally fun. In combination with those two albums and the fact that I still enjoyed the lead single DEATH  a good bit, I was fully anticipating...

Nicholas Jarr preceded his second Against All Logic record with a strange and indulgent EP that has some high profile names attached to it, but lacked the immediate charm that his music under the moniker has so often had. Review Dan Beyar is back in his stride with yet another excellent entry into the long running sophisticated piano pop legacy he has built the Destroyer name under, Have We Met  is an absolute treat. Review Torres unique approach to singer-songwriter music brings a sharp electronic edge and the beauty of chamber pop instrumentals to her intimate and passionate vocal performances to make for one of the genres more unique listens in recent memory. Review Funeral  shows off some of Wayne's creativity across its tracklist but it is ultimately a wildly inconsistent set of songs that runs on well past the point where it stops being interesting, Review The follow-up to Nicholas Jarr's surprise 2018 hit came sooner than anticipated but once again...

Kesha is an LA based pop singer who blew up in the early 2010's off of some huge viral singles and a pair of successful albums.After a long break that included plenty of non music related drama she emerged with a brand new sound on the much more personal and ballad driven Rainbow. Now on her fourth record High Road  she looks to blend her old and new styles, and even some other sounds we've never heard from her before into a defining moment. Review By Lavender: Kesha is an artist that I've always liked just a little bit less than most people. When she was at her commercial peak she was dropping big hits, but critics we're going after the short-sightedness of her music. And given how dated some of those songs feel just ten years later proves they were right. Rainbow  was without a doubt a huge improvement but I still wasn't quite as sold as some of the critics calling the record a masterpiece. The singles were excellent sure but the record had depth issues and...