Lav's Music Corner

Rather than locking in on a super-specific genre of experimental rock, this time we're just going to do a sweep of several already difficult-to-define records from under that umbrella, enjoy.  Lower  - Benjamin Booker Even though I'm not a particularly bit fan of Benjamin Booker's first two album's in the 2010s, I went into Lower  all the way back in December with genuine hype. That's because he had made a few notable appearances on various billy woods projects where he slotted into the world of the mysterious rapper nicely. Additionally, one of billy's frequent collaborators, Kenny Segal, normally a hip-hop focused producer, is on board for wall to wall production on Lower . That all came together on singles like the solid "SAME KIND OF LONELY" and the even better "SLOW DANCE IN A GAY BAR" where Segal's production gave Booker's muted rock stylings a nocturnal and hypnotic boost that I found pretty infectious.  Lower  gets off to a pr...

While there are always a million allegedly great local hardcore records that I get recommended every year, I only really have the time to cover the ones I'm most excited for. That informs this decision which features three albums I went into anticipating being VERY good. These are the results. Enjoy <3 God's Country  - Chat Pila This is the highly anticipated debut album from Oklahoma hardcore act Chat Pile who have released some successful EPs in the past few years to generate a lot of hype going into the album. While I was a bit of a late comer to those EPs I did hear the record's singles as they were released which also helped immensely to get me excited for it. Now that the record is here I can say that it's one of the darkest and most versatile hardcore records you'll hear this year. In fact even just saying "hardcore" feels like a catch-all for a band that interpolates numerous styles of experimental rock and metal into their songs. The record beg...