Lav's Music Corner

Steve Lacy is a singer, songwriter and producer who has worked with dozens of artists over the past decade and been a part of numerous already classic tracks. He's also been a member of Odd Future off-shoot band The Internet since 2015. Despite his long-running prescence in the music industry Gemini Rights  is just Lacy's second studio album and follows 2019's Apollo XXI . Review by Lav: While I like Steve Lacy quite a bit and am more than aware of many of the wonderful contributions he's made to songs and records I love, I've never been crazy about his solo work under his own name. I gave a pretty harsh review to his previous album which came up again recently when I talked about it in my " Great Songs From Bad Albums " video. Despite not loving his last record I did think that his bassline talent plus a single I really enjoyed was enough to warrant hype for this record. Unfortunately, as it turns out, Lacy's ear for rewarding sonic direction is prett...

More big releases this week so lets not waste any time in sorting through them.  Enjoy <3 5.  We're Not In Orbit Yet...  - Broken Bells After teasing the return of Broken Bells for years, the duo of Shins frontman James Mercer and Danger Mouse are finally back with this meandering five minute piece of spacey indie rock. It's lackadaisical approach makes the drifting through these passages sometimes feel a bit monotonous but when they hit their stride pairing exciting instrumentation with good refrains it makes for some amazing moments. Listen 4.  Hot Shit  - Cardi B (Feat. Kanye West & Lil Durk) Cardi's long awaited and highly anticipated new single is a collaborative effort with features from Durk and Kanye alongside a booming Tay Keith beat and even an Electric Boogie  sample. It's a big swing for one of the biggest artists in the industry but does it work, sort of. Despite all the grandeur Cardi is actually right in her comfort zone with this extr...

Thundercat is a Los Angeles based singer-songwriter who is well known for his unique style of bass playing. He has appeared on songs with artists like Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott and Childish Gambino but is most well known for his attachment for Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder Records and his numerous collaborations with FlyLo. It Is What It Is  is the 5th record from Thundercat and his 2nd since his big breakout singles. Review By Lavender: Thundercat is one of my favorite musical personalities. He's great on Twitter and has released a number of awesome singles over the years, not to mention excellent contributions to fantastic hip hop records over the past 5 years or so. The only issue I have with his music is that I haven't loved a single one of his records yet. They all carry some pretty similar issues starting with tons of short and meaningless interludes that round out already stark tracklists, as well as production that often falls on the dryer side and hurts his s...

Steve Lacy is a California based multi-instrumentalist and producer and key member of Odd Future spin off group The Internet. Over the past few years he has rapidly gained a huge increase in profile after securing production credits for some major artists like J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Denzel Curry. He has also been recruited for features from other high profile artists like Tyler The Creator, Vampire Weekend and Kali Uchis. He released a mixtape of demo songs a few years ago and has finally aligned to release his long awaited debut album.  Review By Lavender: While I have been an admirer of Steve Lacy's work for quite a long time it is really difficult to say I consider myself a fan given that his only true solo release let me down, even given it was a demos tape. Despite this I had some expectations going into this project as Lacy is clearly a talented producer and bass player, but the ideas on Apollo  proved to be too inconsistent from the start for him to buil...

Solange is an American singer and actress, and sister of pop icon Beyonce. She found herself in backup dancing and acting roles for much of the 2000's but had a critical and commercial breakthrough on the back of her spectacular 2016 album A Seat At The Table . One of its singles Cranes In The Sky  also became a huge success and ultimately took home a best R&B performance Grammy. So after two and a half years of mostly silence on the musical front Solange recorded When I Get Home  in secret and dropped two teasers for it throughout the final week of February of this year before announcing on February 28th that the album was to be released that night.  Review By Lav: I was like most people, never really a huge fan of Solange until 2016, when she dropped her fantastic 3rd studio album A Seat At The Table . Not only did it show she was capable of making a fantastic album it proved that she had huge single potential with the brilliant Cranes In The Sky  and ...