Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lav:  The moment Taylor Swift's new album The Tortured Poets Department hit, it was lauded by numerous major critical outlets who, let's face it, got a copy in advance and likely wanted to maintain their positive relationship with Swift and her team going forward. Ever since then though, it's been an absolute barrage. Some of the nicer publications have pointed out that the record is a little on the long side and that Jack Antonoff's contributions continue to spark absolutely no joy. More honest critics have torn the album virtually to shreds for its awful lyrics and deeply formulaic melodies. So stepping into an album getting this much hate from all corners is a difficult position to be in and one I approach with trepidation.  That's why it might surprise you to know, there were some things I liked about The Tortured Poets Department .  Let's start with the title track. It was already burdened by a viral lyric about Charlie Puth that circulated from a...

Review by Lav: COWBOY CARTER  is the HIGHLY-anticipated follow-up to Beyonce's 2022 album Renaissance , an album that I was a pretty big fan of like everybody else. What's so interesting about COWBOY CARTER  is that it was billed through its marketing and promotion as an embrace of country music. And make no mistake, Beyonce does spend part of this record embracing a measure of country that is FAR more authentic than most of her contemporaries are capable of. But that sells the ambition of this album short. Bey genre hops a LOT throughout the nearly 90 minutes of this album and while its ambition can occasionally swallow it whole, for the most part this is pretty damn good.  COWBOY CARTER  starts out INCREDIBLY strong. You have to get a full third of the way through the album before it serves up anything I don't absolutely love. That includes the records two singles 16 Carriages  and Texas Hold Em . Those songs were definitely picked deliberately to help market ...

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...

Justin Bieber is a Canadian mega pop star who first blew up off of some viral singles in the beginning of last decade. Even though it has been five years since his last studio album he has maintained a consistent presence in the news as well as on the charts as he has featured in a number of major hits. Review By Lavender: I never really hated Justin Bieber as much as the basic ass tasteless dudes who shit on his personality for internet points when he was famous as a 15 year old. Rather I just thought his music was a bit too boring and generic for me to really grab onto it. This definitely got better on his 3rd proper record Purpose  which at the very least had some defining personality that made the tracks actually sound like Justin Bieber music rather than computer generated pop tunes. But the 5 years since then clearly hasn't helped the problem, as Changes  sounds as devoid of anything defining as any of Bieber's previous works. The singles did not have me excited...

September served as the follow-up to a pretty brilliant august, but despite having a few more duds on its calendar September did feature a number of great records, and my favorite album of the year so far. Norman Fucking Rockwell  - Lana Del Rey Serving as the first 10/10 review of the year Norman Fucking Rockwell  is yer another brilliant piece in one of the greatest pop discographies of all time, and it should be enjoyed by everyone from die hard Lana stans to those arrant listeners that have been avoiding her all these years. Review Fear Innoculum  - Tool While Tool may not have dropped a record that matches their legendary discography up to this point they did manage to release a pretty unique and captivating metal album that stands tall in 2019. Review Forever Turned Around  - Whitney Whitney follows up their indie darling debut with a second record full of charming and boyish indie tunes that sounds just as unique as ever in the indie landscape...

Post Malone is a Texas based hit-maker who has ridden fame off of his breakout single White Iverson  into a complete dominance of popular music. With a number of high profile collaborations across his discography Post has certainly been one of the most influential figures in popular music the past few years and with two #1 singles and a potential mega hit collaboration with Young Thug all being released before this record dropped in full it is certain to be one of the years most commercially significant releases. Review By Lavender: Post Malone is an artist I am more than comfortable saying that I have never really enjoyed. His breakout tune still does nothing for me to this day and through his Stoney  era he spawned some of the weakest and most uninspired singles and features of any mainstream artist around. He began a slight upswing on the bloated but bearable Beerbongs & Bentleys  when he traded out flat out annoying for blissful background pop and tr...

1. Have A Nice Life - Sea Of Worry Legendary post-punk band Have A Nice Life has returned with their first single since 2014 and the announcement of their incredibly highly anticipated third studio album, frankly this weeks #1 was a runaway. 2. A$AP Rocky - Babushka Boy Fresh out of his highly publicized prison stay in Sweeden Rocky has returned to drop a song and video that mark his first solo single of 2019. 3. Pusha T - Coming Home (Feat. Lauryn Hill) King Push recruits The Fugees own Lauryn Hill for a spot on his new Kanye produced track while announcing that a second entirely Kanye produced album is likely to come by the end of 2019. 4. Pinegrove - Moment Pinegrove gear up to put their past behind them and release some of the unique brand of indie rock just in time for fall season. 5. Iglooghost - Lamb  (Feat. Kai Winston & Babii) Iglooghost follows up a wild single earlier this year with yet another collaborative track that is sure to show us a glimpse into t...

1. Ride - Repetition The legendary shoegaze band steals a #1 in what may be the weakest week of 2019 so far. On the back of a great lead single Ride is gearing up to drop their second album of the 2010's 2. Rosalia - Millionaria Rosalia continues building up her namesake in 2019 with a split single calling back to the ever growing popularity of latin pop music on the charts. 3. Post Malone Goodbyes  (Feat. Young Thug) Post Malone is back with what will likely be another nondescript chart topper, but thankfully he has brought along Young Thug this time and hopefully Thugger can give a little bit of life to a track we will all grow to hate quickly. 4. Dreamville - Costa Rica  (Feat. Bas, JID, Guapdad 4000, Reese LAFLARE, Jace, Mez, Smokepurpp, Buddy & Ski Mask The Slump God) Sneaking in before the Friday release of ROTD3 is this massive posse cut that features some Dreamville favorites and some of traps brightest young faces. 5. Cupcakke - Ayesha Cupcakke return...