Lav's Music Corner

FKA Twigs is one of the most acclaimed voices in all of contemporary R&B music. Across two studio albums she has teamed up with a world class selection of producers to create a futuristic and off kilter style of R&B entirely her own and has been met with massive critical acclaim for almost everything she's done. Caprisongs  was carefully marketed as a mixtape rather than a follow-up studio album and trades out grander thematic concepts for shorter tracks that cover a wide variety of different sounds and styles. Review By Lav: Like most people on Earth who have ever heard FKA Twigs music I really enjoy it. A few years ago I called Magdalene  a top 5 album of 2019 and in that same year called her single cellophane  my single of the year. Her talent is absolutely whimsical and manages to display truly raw vulnerabilities but with a staunch and occasionally even intimidating confidence that is absolutely mystical. On top of that she has an ability to conceptualize pro...

Kai Whiston is a London based electronic music producer who has worked with a number of contemporary electronica's most interesting artists. Drayan!  is a mixtape that follows Kai's sophomore album in 2019. Also in 2019 Kai served as one third of the band Gloo with Iglooghost and BABii on their album XYZ . Review By Lav: My introduction to Kai Whiston was his Kai Whiston Bitch  album, but the first time I got to actually review his music was the next year on Gloo's XYZ  which I enjoyed. Given that we got projects from fellow Gloo albums Iglooghost and BABii earlier this year it felt fitting that Kai also got something out, and something pretty exciting at that. Drayan!  is a heavily thematic mixtape about Kai's alien son who is fittingly named Drayan. As weird as that sounds it is 100% the case and if you'd like to have Drayan give you your horoscope check it out here . Given that in the past one of my few complaints about Kai has bee a lack of truly defining feat...

Kali Uchis is a pop and R&B vocalist who first emerged with a number of high profile features in the second half of the 2010's. She followed this up by releasing her debut album in 2018 to massive critical acclaim for its refreshing songwriting and infectious genre blending. After releasing a quarantine EP earlier this year she announced the release of her 2nd studio album just two weeks before its release date.  Review By Lavender: I really enjoyed Kali's debut album and it's best tracks Miami , Just A Stranger  and Your Teeth In My Neck  haven't left my summer rotation in the two years since the record came out. While I wasn't a huge fan of the lo-fi bedroom pop songs from Kali's EP earlier this year I was excited for this new record given the singles taking a distinctly latin direction in sound. The resulting album isn't perfect but is isn't bad either and at a breezy 34 minutes doesn't bring much of anything it doesn't need.  The record ...

So Help Me God  - 2 Chainz   I was pretty excited for this record given how much I've enjoyed 2 Chainz in the past even leading up to his record last year which landed on the back half of my albums of the year list. Unfortunately some of the issues I had with the singles leading up to this record lasted onto the project itself, starting with a stacked roster of features that come off really lame more often than not. With the exception of Kevin Gates none of the high profile names end up really showing their best side and a handful of tracks are nearly ruined by bad supporting cast. Pair this with some very average production and the only saving grace the record has is 2 Chainz himself. What makes the record worth hearing is 2 Chainz animated and infectious performances, hilarious lyricism and generally great attitude that's as infectious as always. Even though this isn't the longest record in the world I still wish I had dialed back on the feature overload because some of t...

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...