Lav's Music Corner

These debut albums came from artists that people have had their eyes on for quite a while. With their first big swings some hit a home run and others completely struck out. This Could Be Texas  - English Teacher I remember hearing about a British indie rock band called English Teacher sometime around when their 2022 EP dropped. Somehow that attention got lost in the mix and when they dropped their debut album earlier this year it blindsided me. Without it worked into my plans a full review of the album fell by the wayside, that was at least until it surprisingly won this year's Mercury Prize. I had to grind everything to a halt and cover this record. But that framing isn't entirely true. I have developed a pretty strong familiarity with one of the record's singles R&B . Though I didn't encounter the thoughtful and ferocious indie punk jam until after the album was released, I like it so much I'm surprised it didn't inspire me to review This Could Be Texas  o...

playing w/ fire  EP - redveil Redveil is a Maryland rapper whose music I first became aware of last year when his Learn 2 Swim  album picked up some traction in online hip-hop spaces. I thought this project was decent and flashed some pretty serious potential but nothing about it begged me to cover the record in depth. So this year when Redveil ended up as the lone feature on the biggest underground rap album of the year so far, Danny Brown & Jpegmafia's Scaring The Hoes , it felt like an endorsement too big to ignore and I wanted to be sure to cover his next project. That project is this new EP which runs pretty scant at just 15 minutes across 6 tracks. It was preceded by a pair of singles which when combined with the grand sweeping opener stuck  makes for a dramatic first half of the project. Across this EP redveil is trying to show himself as a versatile talent and lead single giftbag is no exception as he sings the hook in a very Juice WRLD emo-rap flavored demean...