Lav's Music Corner

The Smile are a new supergroup made up of longtime Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood as well as Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. A Light For Attracting Attention  is the project's first record and features production from frequent Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich.  Review By Lav: Have you guys heard of this band Radiohead? Well as it turns out they're one of the most universally acclaimed and beloved acts on the entire earth and just about anything that any of their members do is likely to draw attention. Not to mention perhaps the two most visible creative forces in Radiohead history, Thom and Johnny, collaborating on a side project together. Enter The Smile a new project which has been teased since last year and featured six singles of varying but mostly pretty good quality. Like most music fans I was pretty excited for this record on namesake alone, not to mention once I heard some great singles. As it turns out that excitement was well placed because A Li...

Sons Of Kemet is one of the numerous projects of contemporary jazz pioneer Shabaka Hutchings. The project has been active for almost a decade but saw it's biggest moment in the spotlight when they released their third album 2018's Your Queen Is A Reptile  which brought in universal acclaim and was ultimately nominated for a mercury prize.  Review By Lav: While I may not be the biggest or most knowledgeable jazz head on earth I still have a strong appreciation for many of the genres classics both conventional and experimental, as well as it's newest and brightest voices. Shabaka is one of those brightest voices by any metric so when The Comet Is Coming, Sons Of Kemet or even Shabaka and The Acestors drop music, I pay attention. The last Sons Of Kemet record was a world class jazz experience so my expectations going into this album were pretty high and at points it really does live up to those standards. But it does have an undeniable lull in the middle that holds it back fro...