Lav's Music Corner

Just barely a month into the year, I've somehow already missed three pop records I planned on talking about for various reasons. Let's remedy that. Gloria  - Sam Smith Normally I wouldn't even be paying attention to a Sam Smith release, much less reviewing it. But then of course, Unholy  happened, not only the best single I've ever heard from them, but also their most interesting song to date. That meant I was obviously going to pay attention to this album to see if it was some kind of sea change for Sam Smith or at least a point where they would be offering more stylistic risks than on any of their previous efforts. Given the scant tracklist of just 11 full songs, almost all of which are quite short, I was hoping there would be some major swings at different styles one after another. But the actual result is a record that's still pretty tame and also pretty scant on top of it.  Thematically the album has a general tide of accepting yourself, coming to terms with yo...

JPEGMAFIA is a New York/Baltimore rapper who has taken the world of experimental hip hop by storm in recent years. With his breakout record Veteran  in 2018 he used unconventional song structures and a wide array of experimental influences to craft a truly unique and eclectic rap sound. He has prolifically released music since then with a number of one off singles, the 2019 album All My Heroes Are Cornballs  and a pair of EP's over the last two years. Both of those EP's helped lead up to the visual stylings and sonic composition of LP! .  Review By Lav: Peggy made it pretty difficult to write a review of this record that reaches any kind of conclusion but I'm gonna try. I really enjoyed his last two records and his sound was a refreshingly weird take on hip hop that impressed me even if not every single experiment hits it out of the park. I wasn't quite as enamored with either of the EP's he released even though they both certainly had their highlights, I thought th...