Lav's Music Corner

Now that I'm done undergoing the album rush leading up to my mid-year list video, it's time to cover some EPs that I've been neglecting in the past few weeks and there's three big ones we need to talk about first.  CMYK 002  EP - James Blake Having a "favorite" artist feels like an emotional distinction, to me at least. But if you look at my entire output as a critic it's hard to identify any single artist I've directed more praise towards than James Blake. That's come from numerous albums he's dropped both as they're released and in retrospect as well as numerous singles and shorter projects that have been equally as satisfying. In fact, the last time he indulged in the EP format with new original material came on 2020's Before , a stroke of absolute brilliance that is still among my favorite EPs of this entire decade.  So its no surprise that I was pretty excited for this surprise drop and spoiler alert, I like it. That's right ou...

Okay I promise this is the last rapid fire review of the week before we jump into some actual new records. The last trio of tracks I wanted to cover are a bit difficult to categorize so they're ending up here in a slightly electronic slightly ambient haze of experimental music that I had to make sure I covered sooner rather than later.  Skitzofrenia Simulation  - Sewerslvt Sewerslvt is an experimental electronica project that I only just heard of last year on the back of the very solid Draining Love Story  which overcame its title to be quite an enjoyable experience. I was hoping that this record would achieve the same jump in quality from what you'd expect out of the title, but quite a bit has happened for the Sewerslvt brand in the past year, some of which can be very hard to collectivize. After old posts were dug up making insensitive jokes Sewerslvt apologized before seemingly leaving social media entirely, with communication via Bandcamp emails becoming the primary m...

  Autechre - Plus Two months ago if you had told me that Autechre would drop two records of varying intensity I would confidently say I'll take the higher octane of the two, but after putting off the more reserved Plus  for a few weeks I found myself even more enamored with it than it's big brother Sign . This record too is over 60 minutes in length but trades out its predecessors shrill synths and jittery percussion for something more sustained and steady. The three tracks on the record that last over 10 minutes each bring not only a unique sonic palette but also a meaningful and ultimately worthwhile progression. While Plus  isn't completely devoid of up-tempo moments the mixing aims for a much calmer experience this time around and it pays off big time. Even many of the shorter tracks here let their pulsating percussion patterns unravel around  backing instrumentation designed more to calm than to confuse. With improved sonic cohesion and more effective use of a s...