Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender:  Little Simz is one of the best rappers alive. I feel pretty comfortable saying that. It began at the tail end of the previous decade when she broke through with the ferocious Grey Area . Two years later, she followed it up with one of the best albums of the decade, the staggering rap opus Sometimes I Might Be Introvert , which I gave a perfect 10 and called my favorite album of 2021. Then, just a year after that, she punctuated it with another great record in NO THANK YOU . But since then, Simz has had a falling out with her principal collaborator, Sault mastermind Inflo, whom she sued for an unpaid loan and spends LOTS of time on Lotus  attacking. And in her first outing since breaking through without Inflo by her side, her talent continues to shine through, even if some of the production and conceptualization is more hit or miss than usual.  Lotus censors Inflo's name whenever it comes up thematically, but that's the only courtesy it gives the dram...

These are a trio of multi-faceted artists I've talked about before and wanted to make sure I reviewed before their records faded too far out of the lens of music fans, if that hasn't already happened. MAHAL  - Toro Y Moi I had high expectations for this record for a couple of reasons. The first is that I thought both of the last two Toro Y Moi records were pretty decent and that he might be building to his most substantial release in years especially given the more perceivable concept that runs through this one. I also liked the singles quite a bit as a general group but specifically the song Postman , one of the most infectious singles I've heard anywhere in 2022. Surprisingly given the personality of the singles this record is actually a lot more innocuous than I was anticipating and while it isn't exactly chill wave levels of cool, there's a sense of hesitation here to anything too sonically unpredictable. While there are certainly lots of good vibes and pleasant...