Lav's Music Corner

Editors Note: Hello angels, Lavender here. I'm about to tell you the full story of this Nav review. I've been hard at work on this review of the new Jane Remover album Revengeseekerz   for Ringtone Magazine , something that took quite a bit of time and attention away from this blog, but was worth it because I'm REALLY happy with the final piece. In the meantime, I started to speak to some friends about contributing guest reviews for projects I didn't get the chance to cover while I was busy. Surprisingly, the first to come through was from a 100% unserious joke request for one of my girlfriends to review the new Nav record. Transparently, I find the record exhaustingly boring and hadn't considered covering it myself at all. To my surprise, she leaped at the opportunity to suffer through its 36-minute runtime and collect her thoughts into a review. It's my honor to present to you the debut album review from my girlfriend Megan, in its entirety, below.  Review by ...

Review by Lavender: Playboi Carti is a rapper who rose rapidly to popularity around 2016 on the back of a few viral hits on his self-titled debut mixtape. That was followed by two records that played with unique sounds in the highly-populated world of trap music and both garnered substantial critical acclaim. 2018's Die Lit remains a personal favorite of mine whose woozy psychedelic beats remain undeniable to this day. That was followed in late 2020 by Whole Lotta Red  which substantially switched up Carti's sound and became highly influential in the worlds of vamp and rage. After several release dates were announced and never followed up on and a series of singles were uploaded to YouTube last year, we've finally arrived at Carti's follow-up. Music , by comparison, is even more all over the place than its predecessor though it delivers a comparable energy. What it doesn't deliver is anywhere near as dramatic a progression in his style or ethos as I was hoping for. ...

Review by Lavender: The Weeknd is a superstar of the highest order. After breaking through as a critical darling of underground R&B he launched into fame in 2015 and has had a consistent string of absolutely massive hits ever since. That culminated in 2020's After Hours  an album that features his biggest hit to date "Blinding Lights" and was both a critical and commercial landmark. He followed such a monumental project up strangely, with the divisive oddball concept album Dawn FM , which I personally liked even if it's the weaker of the two. Now he's back with the massive 22-track 84-minute conclusion to that trilogy Hurry Up Tomorrow . One thing I want to get out of the way immediately is that this album isn't as good as it could have been. What I thought at the time would be its lead single "Dancing In The Flames" was ultimately left off the record, likely due to its underperforming on the chart,  which is a shame because it very likely would ...

Review by Lav: WE DON'T TRUST YOU  is a victory lap a decade in the making. It's hard to think of a rapper and producer who have inspired the contemporary trap style that's dominated hip-hop for years more than Future and Metro Boomin. Both while working together and separately. the pair have defined a generation of artists and are among the most influential to the next. That's why it's surprising to say that I can't even say I'm a particularly huge fan of either artist. I certainly have plenty of moments I enjoy from both of them, but they're not the kind of superstars I could ever expect myself to LOVE. After a year-long series of teases towards this record, I was mostly expecting a lot of frosting with not much cake underneath. That's why I'm so happy to report that across the hour of material here, both Future and Metro are about as close to their A-game as I've ever heard.  The record comes out swinging right out of the gate with one ban...

Travis Scott is one of the biggest rap superstars in the world. He's managed to be both a massive hitmaker and a critical darling relative to his peers. UTOPIA  comes two years after Travis Scott found himself at the center of the Astroworld  music festival tragedy. Despite the festival's shortcomings and his maligned public reaction to it, fans were extremely excited for UTOPIA . The album was released with an impressive collection of featured artists and producers and has spawned extensive discussion among rap fans online. Review by Lav: It's hard for me to put into words how excited I was for Astroworld . After Rodeo  turned me into a big Travis Scott fan and the years he spent building up to its actual sequel generated so much hype, how could I not be excited. I stayed up till midnight to listen to the album with my friends and unpack all the features and credits that were initially hidden. But here's the thing, Astroworld  lived up to every bit of the hype. I st...

5.  Sodom & Gomorrah  - Dorian Electra Dorian is one of the artists I flip back and forth on the most and following the recent "Sodomy" merch drop I was particularly skeptical that this might be just as phoned in. Turns out this track is actually kind of a banger which sees Dorian cleverly conjuring and satirizing the religious imagery over a ripping beat. As is so often the case I think Dorian has been inconsistent as of late, but this is a highlight.  Listen 4.  Skeleton Is Walking  - Blake Mills After producing so much good music for other artists in the past few years Blake Mills is back with a new solo project led off by a wonderful lead single which blends together the sounds of classic folk with a biting electric guitar solo. It's nearly six minutes of song that absolutely breezes by with both thematic and textural detail in nearly every moment along the way.  Listen 3.  Popular  - The Weeknd, Madonna & Playboi Carti Is The Idol ...

Every year there are literally dozens and dozens, maybe even hundreds of trap records that either get reccomended to me or hyped up somewhere significant online. While I do cover major releases or records I anticipate being particularly good I wanted to take some time to play catch up with contemporary raps predominate sound, and it probably won't be the last time this year I do.  Trip At Knight  - Trippie Redd Even though I have reviewed Trippie a few times in the past I decided to skip out on his two most recent major releases. Last years Pegasus  was a bloated and very boring project that I didn't review because I didn't really have anything to say about it. He followed it up with the Travis Barker collaboration Neon Shark  which I was hesitant of because of just how often Travis pops up on terrible trap music these days, but I actually thought it turned out decent. Given that it was really just a deluxe release of Pegasus  I never got around to it but Trip A...

Kanye West is an artist who really needs no introduction. One of the biggest and most controversial figures in popular music who has maintained a devoted fanbase and commercial success for nearly two decades. After a trio of stadium shows where unfinished versions of his 10th studio album were played to fans, Donda  finally dropped at the ever so unconventional time of 8 am on a Sunday morning.  Review By Lav: Well here it is, the record everyone has been talking about. For the better part of a month the general music community has been caught up in the tailspin of Donda  that Kanye's biggest fans have been toiling in for months if not even years going back to Yandhi . So what are my credentials. While I'm not a Kanye stan who defends his actions regardless of quality or context, I am a big fan of his music with records like College Dropout , My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy  and The Life Of Pablo  being among the best high profile hip hop records of their era....

Five must hear songs that came out this week: 5.  Bloody Future  - Kilo Kish Kilo's second single from her upcoming project is an improvement on all fronts with a shimmering club beat, infectious hook and charming lyrical angle. She continues to be one of the more underrated voices in modern electro pop but always feels like she's on the verge of a breakout with tracks like this.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ihlRO_QeHQ 4.  Life Is Not The Same  - James Blake With contributions from trap mainstays Take A Daytrip as well as Joji on production James Blake delivers another intimate heartbreaker, this time over a slick trap inspired beat. The absolute belter of a hook reminisces on earlier eras of his career but the undeniably slick instrumentation continues to mirror his journey into more popular music styles.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3qRD0mYtPs 3.  More  - Low With their third and shortest teaser yet in lead up to their new record slowc...

Drake is a Canadian rapper who really needs no introduction at this point. He ascended to be one of the biggest stars on earth over the course of the last decade and has been keeping his fans fed since his 2018 double album Scorpion . Last year he released a collection of loose end songs that had been up on platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud officially for years. But this time around Dark Lane Demo Tapes  is a collection of songs that haven't been officially released, though many of them have appeared as leaks of snippets in one way or another over the past few years.  Review By Lavender: When it comes to Drake I am in the same boat as most people. He has some great projects and songs but also some pretty mediocre moments, somewhere between the people who refuse to accept his songs no matter how great they can be and those who worship the ground he walks on even when he's at his most mediocre. I didn't have super high expectations going into this as it was clearly labell...

Hip hop has been in the spotlight of modern music for the better part of a decade now. And part of what makes following it so much fun as a fan is the thriving spirit of collaboration between artists, something that has even invaded pop music more recently and created some high profile meetups. For a few years now I've been shouting out some of my favorite performances by artists guesting on another artists songs and this year there were a LOT of different places I could have pulled from and I had to cut some excellent performances to get down to 10. These are my favorite guest features in hip hop for 2019! 10. Travis Scott - Mile High  by James Blake James Blake has had a habit of releasing remixes of some of his tracks with hip hop artists like Chance The Rapper and Vince Staples, but after becoming more of an industry mainstay than ever before last year he dropped the hazy Metro Boomin co-produced track Mile High . Paired with James spacious synths and cloudy singing is...