Lav's Music Corner

  Review by k tessa Melancholy sapphic troubadour Lucy Dacus could probably make a good song out of the ways I feel about her. I admire her immensely, both for her consistency as an artist and her courage as a soft, butch-y celebrity in our contemporary culture. I think she's an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. But (and it breaks my heart to say this), much as I've tried to make it work, I don't know that I've ever loved her. Such emotions would fit right in on her fourth solo album, Forever Is A Feeling . Typically, my apathy would be unremarkable - but Dacus clearly expects her listeners to feel, very deeply, about this record. Its opening track, "Calliope Prelude", is a brief crescendo of soaring violins. It's named after the greatest of the Muses from Greek myth, the one who inspired The Iliad and other epic works. The cover presents Dacus herself inside an ornate gold frame, draped in golden silk like a deific Renaissance subject, the album...

jasmine.4.t is a British singer-songwriter who was announced last year as a new signee of the Phoebe Bridgers-led Saddest Factory record label. You Are The Morning  follows a trio of singles that dropped last year and features Phoebe Bridgers' entire group, boygenius, on production throughout the record as well as occasional backing vocals from the trio. I was extremely excited for the release of the album after loving all of the singles and this style of indie-folk and singer-songwriter music in general. Delightfully, Jasmine didn't disappoint. When I say my expectation were high for You Are The Morning  I mean it, because the album's three singles are an astounding bunch. Lead single "Skin On Skin" is a wonderfully written tune that's able to convey some unique sensations with the physical descriptions in its lyricism. It's also the moment where I first fell in love with Jasmine's subtle but beautiful singing and when the song rushes into its surpris...

boygenius is the beloved trio of critical darling singer-songwriters Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker. The trio first united in 2018 for a short EP that received lots of critical acclaim but in the years since they've each, Bridgers in particular, become even more critically and commercially successful. After each of the trio released studio albums in 2020 or 2021, they've returned as a group for a formal studio debut project.  Review by Lav: Some of my biggest haters are waiting to feast on this one. While hip-hop reviews will always be the most controversial because hip-hop fans have very little to do other than complain about reviews online, my apparent tirade again singer-songwriter girlies is a close second. I think everyone in boygenius is very talented but with all of them, Julien Baker in particular, I've been far lower on their work than the critical consensus. In fact, this reared its head with boygenius itself when I gave the EP a just okay verdict t...

5.  Worms  - Ashnikko I can see this not going over well since on the surface this song is a pretty severe aesthetic mismatch with lyrics that don't seem to particularly add up to anything and a plucked bassline placed precariously over a rattling trap beat. Once I gave myself into the theme of the song, having brain worms, it's sonic clashes started to click with me a bit more. Whether this will hold up will be put to the test on the album but I see the potential in what Ashnikko is going for here more than on the first single.  Listen 4.  Since I Have A Lover  - 6LACK The decision to switch from darker, moodier R&B to something brighter and even a bit indie flavored was one I didn't understand at first but it did grow on me ever so slightly. Maybe it's just that I'm so excited for 6LACK to be back but some of the things that normally bother me on songs like the weak hook or the track just bowing out completely out of nowhere at the end didn't really dampen...

5.  Same Problems?  - A$AP Rocky While Rocky has been far from silent over the past few years. this song's live debut last month and the serious nature of its subject matter feels like the biggest sign of future endeavors since Rocky dropped 2018's Testing . That's exciting enough on its own, making the song's meditative style an interesting choice, but one that grew on me as the week went on. Ultimately, how much I enjoyed the messaging of the track and how well it fits the presentation won me over.  Listen 4.  brrr  - Kim Petras Like a lot of recent Kim Petras singles there are things I don't like about the track, they're just overpowered by the things I do. The instrumental here is basically a "we have SOPHIE at home" type beat, though if I wasn't so familiar with Sophie's work I might be a bit more interested in the beat because it really does match the song's icy demeanor. What really sells me on the song as usual is Kim's confiden...

SZA is one of the most beloved stars of modern R&B whose 2017 album CTRL  has become one of the genre's most endearing modern classics. After releasing singles here and there for years it's all come together on her highly anticipated follow-up album SOS . While hype has been building for the project for years the actual release cycle was relatively short with SZA announcing the record's release date on SNL less than a week before it dropped.  Review by Lav: If you've followed me on ANY of my social media for the past month you know that I don't just love SZA, I'm obsessed. An album that I liked and reviewed positively in 2017, CTRL  slowly became one of my favorite records of the 2010s as her journey from side-chick to self-actualized and empowered modern woman scratched an itch over and over again. Not only that but I have LOVED almost every single she's released in the years since most of which do end up on the tracklist despite being years old. That w...

Snail Mail is the indie rock and singer-songwriter alias of musician Lindsey Jordan. She first turned heads in 2016 with her Habit  EP before signing with Matador records and releasing a fan favorite debut album Lush  in 2018. Now three and a half years later we are finally getting the follow-up, which quickly became one of the most anticipated new albums of the year for many young indie fans. Review by Lav: Every time one of these records comes out I suppose it's a chance to redeem myself from the narrative that I hate them. By "one of these" I mean a young indie singer-songwriter girl that is probably huge on tik tok and with people who have Smiths fan accounts on Instagram. Faye Webster, Clairo, Caroline Polachek to some extent and pretty much the entirety of boygenius. Every once in a while when I toss out a good review for one of these albums like Phoebe Bridgers last year or Faye Webster earlier this year I hope that it can turn the course, but no. I still get plent...

The Killers are a Las Vegas based indie and heartland rock band who have undergone a bit of a transition in sonic approach as their songwriting matures. Pressure Machine  follows last years Imploding The Mirage  and sees Foxygen's Jonathan Rado returning on production for a set of tracks inspired by frontman Brandon Flowers childhood in Utah.  Review By Lav: It's no secret that I've been a fan of The Killers for a very long time and I've dished out positive praise to the band repeatedly since I started reviewing. Last years My Own Souls Warning  saw the band leaning into Springsteen aesthetics more than ever before and recruiting Jonathan Rado from another one of my favorite bands Foxygen to ham it up instrumentally to great effect. I was excited to see Rado unite again with the band on Pressure Machine , but this record is a very different beast from Soul's or really from anything else in the bands discography. Brandon Flowers and company pen their most folk inspir...

Julien Baker is a Tennessee based singer-songwriter who first emerged in 2015 with a breakout debut album Sprained Ankle . She followed this up with a critically acclaimed sophomore album and as a member of the indie supergroup Boygenius with Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers. This collaboration explains the uncharacteristic 4 year gap between studio album releases that has lead to Little Oblivions . Review By Lav: While I enjoyed the versatility and creativity put on display on the short but incredibly sweet Boygenius  project I haven't been quite as in love with Julien's solo work. While 2017's Turn Out The Lights  was an improvement I saw Julien Baker as merely above average prescence in the incredibly saturated world of singer-songwriter music. While she is no doubt a gifted lyricist I feel like her music so often falls into the same painfully generic tropes of the genre. I heard a few singles that didn't get me particularly excited for the record as a whole, but now t...

Tyler showed up earlier this year with credentials as a photographer and tagged along through most of 2020 penning judgement on the quality of each of the album covers accompanying the albums and EPs I reviewed for the blog. So just like I'm recapping the year musically Tyler put together a list of his 10 favorite album covers of the year for Day 2 of List Week 2020.  10. HAIM - Women In Music Pt. 3 I like this cover. Knowing the previous aesthetics of the sisters, I think this fits in well with their indie vintage photo style and it encompasses what their style is and has been for a while. It has a lot of detail packed into the simple photo and it takes time to look into all the background gems. I appreciate that the sign in the back is used as the title and it adds itself into the composition rather than sitting on top of it. Overall I think this is wildly successful and adds to the list of the other very strong covers in their discography. 9. Moses Sumney - Grae This cover is gr...

Kid Cudi aka Scott Mescudi is an Ohio born R&B and hip hop artist who first made a name for himself on the druggy and psychedelic Man On The Moon  records in 2009 and 2010. Since then Kid Cudi has released some material that received widespread backlash from critics with 2012's WZRD  and 2013's Indicud  but reached a new peak of critical ire in 2015 when he released Speedin Bullet 2 Heaven an album that many consider to be one of the worst of the entire 2010's. After releasing a better received record in 2016 then collaborating with Kanye West as Kids See Ghosts  Cudi seems to have recouped some of his reputation as hype for Man On The Moon 3  was incredibly high despite it's lack of any singles.  Review By Lav: I certainly wouldn't consider myself a Kid Cudi fan. Speedin Bullet 2 Heaven  is mostly deserving of its reputation but I'm even more willing to pick a fight with one of my least favorite albums of the entire decade Indicud . The first...