Lav's Music Corner

These are reviews of 5 records that I was pretty sure weren't going to top my albums of the year list, but I nonetheless wanted to talk about because of the significance of the artists behind them.  AM I THE DRAMA?  - Cardi B Cardi B's story is something I've always been very interested in. After years of teasing the release of a sophomore record, I really thought she might have waited too long to capitalize on any of the meteoric hype she generated from 2017 to 2020. Now that the record is out and being digested by fans, the verdict is very much still out. One person who thinks about Cardi's place in popular culture even more than I do is Cardi herself. Her debatably triumphant return is the subject of the first two tracks on the record, the pretty good "Dead" and the mediocre "Hello." While Cardi does a lot of flexing on the record, the results are pretty inconsistent, and the best victory lap she takes on the song "Check Please" outclass...

Headlights  - Alex G For over a decade now, Alex G has been a consistent presence in indie music, popping up every few years with a new acclaimed project that critics tend to enjoy a little more than I do. I thought that might not be the case with Headlights , because I enjoyed a few singles going into it. While "Oranges" pops up on the record's far more boring second half, and fits in, the first two singles really worked. "June Guitar" is a gentle, dreamy cut that still sounds just as infectious as it did when I first heard it. The lead single, "Afterlife," is even better and still stands among my favorite Alex G cuts to date. But honestly, I can't really think of a single deep cut that inspires the same level of interest. "Real Thing" is probably the closest the record comes. Even though the song itself isn't quite as sticky, the lyricism is a big highlight, and the way he deploys the metaphor of the "Real Thing" is worth ...

Tame Impala is one of the most beloved indie bands of the past 15 years. It's the project of singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer extraordinaire Kevin Parker. While the second Tame Impala record,  Lonerism , remains their peak of critical success, its follow-up, Currents , embraced a psychedelic pop style that introduced the band to an entirely new fanbase. In the years since, songs like “The Less I Know The Better” and “Let It Happen” have been cemented as modern indie classics. Despite that, the band's 4th album was met with mixed reviews, though I came away liking the record more than most critics. Deadbeat has taken an even harsher critical beating than its predecessor, but this time I completely agree.  Not to say this record is a complete waste. The lead single “End Of Summer” still works for me. It reminds me of many great, lengthy Tame Impala songs before it, with the way it transitions from one infectious segment to another effortlessly. But it's th...

Agriculture  are an LA black metal band who erupted onto the scene with a challenging but visceral self-titled debut in 2023. While I enjoyed that record, what I enjoyed even more was the Living Is Easy EP that followed it up and contained one of the band’s best songs to date, “In The House Of Angel Flesh.” With even stronger singles leading into their sophomore effort, The Spiritual Sound , I was expecting another outside-the-box black metal experience. That's exactly what I got.  The album is essentially split down the middle by a titular instrumental interlude, and everything that comes before it is pretty great. That includes the staggering single “The Weight.” I still think it's one of Agriculture’s best songs yet, and the way it builds to an absolutely pummeling peak across 5 minutes should be studied. The way it concludes is so eerie and suspicious, it's just irresistible.  As a whole, the record is often unsettled, both in its compositions and influences. The bes...

Straight Line Was A Circle - The Beths I was late to The Beth's rock-solid 2022 album Expert In A Dying Field , something I still regret. That's why, going into this album cycle, I was paying close attention to the singles, something that paid off. The New Zealand indie rockers conjured hazy, dreamy, catchy bliss one time after another, starting with the sentimental "Metal." That same indie punk zeal pops up on the delightful "No Joy" whose verses have been drilled into my head for weeks. But the band also showed off a more sentimental side on songs like the gentle "Mother, Pray For Me" and the deep cut "Mosquitos."  The opener and title track, "Straight Line Was A Lie," is a punky tongue-in-cheek opener that sets up some of the punkier themes of aimlessness that the record explores in depth and does it with an irresistibly sweet guitar riff. Just like it starts on a strong sequence, the album ends strongly, starting with my fav...

Pile are a long-running, Boston-based indie rock band who have crossed over into other genres like post-punk throughout a pretty versatile career. I've touched on the band occasionally but never in a full review, something I knew I would have to amend after hearing the excellent trio of singles that preceded  Sunshine And Balance Beams . Even though the full record wasn't quite everything I hoped it might be, it still sports some of the best songs of Pile's already long and storied career.  That trio of singles pops up in the record's middle section, and what a run it is. "Bouncing In Blue and "Uneasy" are a stunning back-to-back punch. "Blue" has a brooding and plodding introduction that contrasts wonderfully with the high register singing. Even though the composition wanders around a lot, it manages to keep up its momentum and pay everything off with a satisfying finale. "Uneasy" deploys one of many great lyrical moments on the album...

Earl Sweatshirt really needs no introduction for hip-hop fans at this point. The Odd Future alum has transitioned his edgier, more provocative rap style into a much more earnest and human darkness as the years pass and collected heaps of critical acclaim every step of the way. I'll tip my hand and say that I got to catch the record early at a listening party Earl threw in LA. Because of that I went into my first proper listen already knowing that Earl recently became a father. As a result, both the sonic and thematic palettes have taken a turn for the brighter, but none of his unmistakable talent has faded in the transition.  That's how the album starts, with "gsw vs sac." It has this vibrant psychedelic instrumental that sets up the record's woozier sonic palette. It also concludes with a spoken word passage about introspecting and facing problems rather than running away from them, which feels perfectly aligned with the album's themes of fatherhood and matur...

 \ Ethel Cain is a singer-songwriter who has ridden a wave of popularity spawning from her 2022 album Preacher's Daughter . The record's vivid conceptual portrayal of rural living, vibrant coming-of-age narratives, and willingness to tackle difficult subject matter made it a critical darling and developed Ethel an instant cult following. Personally, I liked but didn't love the record, with my biggest complaint being the length of the album overall and the length of the individual tracks that often extend past what feels necessary for their emotional impact. That issue extended to her record Perverts  earlier this year. It proved divisive with her fanbase as she abandoned many of her folk and singer-songwriter conventions in favor of an indulgence into the world of drone. But on Willoughby Tucker , Ethel returns to her familiar style and encounters similar pros and cons.  I went into Willoughby  with high expectations based on its two singles. The longer, darker, and ...

Review by Lavender: JID is an Atlanta MC who spent the latter half of the 2010s establishing himself as a versatile and endlessly talented MC with a series of memorable mixtapes and features. His rise all culminated in the 2022 album The Forever Story, one of the best rap albums of the entire decade so far. In the 3 years since, JID has risen drastically in popularity due to a bizarre crossover with Imagine Dragons and an unpredictable TikTok hit in the Forever Story deep cut “Surround Sound.” Now he's back with a frequently promised new record, God Does Like Ugly.  The lead single is as good a place as any to start because it affirms the level of talent JID is working with. “WRK” didn't necessarily blow me away, mostly because its beat feels painfully standard and the chorus is very much nothing. But the longer JID goes on in his verses, it feels like he develops more and more to say. So even though the song is far from a highlight, it's a great example of how, even at th...

Review by Lavender: Tropical Fuck Storm exists within a scene of Australian psychedelic rock bands with silly names that I've only briefly touched on throughout the history of this blog. I briefly talked about their 2019 album Braindrops , but haven't said much since. That was, until earlier this year, when they started dropping one fantastic, experimental, dynamic single after another. In fact, it's Fairyland Codex ’s compositional dynamism that caused me to be so late on covering it. Somewhere in my drafts is an obnoxiously long, extensive, and frankly unbearable review of this album. Instead, I'm keeping it on the shorter side (relatively) as the record really speaks for itself.  Lead single “Goon Show” is a strong way to introduce the record, even if it avoids some of the wildest sonic excesses. It has these brooding undertones and a hypnotic chorus. I love the restraint the band deploys, saving any extra instrumentation for just the right moment. It makes for such...

Reviews by Lavender: For this week's rapid fire reviews, I'm taking a look at some rap albums I missed from earlier this year, with the underlying theme of artists who I absolutely adored at one point in their career. That's pretty much it, glad I finally got to talk about a lot of these. Enjoy! 13 Months Of Summer  - Amine My soft spot for Amine has been around for basically his entire career. Since the moment I first heard his song “Caroline,” overflowing with Amine's own charm and charisma, I was hooked on his catchy flows and sense of humor. On the flip side of that, I think most of his projects tend to be on the inconsistent side, including the last time we heard from him on a collaborative record with Kaytranada that seemed like a slam dunk, but didn't quite live up to it. In fact, 2020’s Limbo remains the only time in Amine's career that he's put it all together and made a truly great album.  13 Months Of Sunshine led off with a pair of vibey single...