Lav's Music Corner

These fit together better than the last trio did, even in the vast arena of alternative dance and electronica micro-genres. This trio of somewhat longwinded dance records all puzzled me at first and after many repeat listens I'm returning to try and digest them in this fashion.  Bewitched!  - DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ When Sabrina broke out with her indelibly charming and fittingly titled album Charmed  in 2020 I gave it a positive review and promised to keep up with what Sabrina did next, but I didn't know just how daunting of a task that would turn out to be. She works hard and this nearly 90 minutes of music is FAR from the only evidence of that as she's released projects and singles routinely over the past two years. I couldn't cover all of them, but from watching the promotional cycle for Bewitched!  it was clear that this was the most significant and impactful thing she's done since Charmed  and I wanted to make sure I touched on it. That is by no means an...

Icarus  - Cryalot Icarus is the debut EP from Cryalot, the new solo project of Sarah Bonito from Kero Kero Bonito fame. It's essentially a five song collection framed around the story of Icarus which Sarah uses as a metaphor for some of her own experiences in recent years. The main thing I was curious about as the singles unfolded was what made this a true solo Sarah project. She's always delivered quite a bit of personality to the music of KKB which meant the split to a solo venture was either because she wanted to write, produce and create songs entirely on her own, or there was a thematic or stylistic shift that was too drastic to still fall under the band's umbrella. After listening to the EP I'm still really not sure which one it is. While the lead single Hell Is Here  is fine, it didn't really convince me. The track that did win me over eventually was the opener Touch The Sun  whose booming drums and maximal shimmering finale both work as a perfect sonic and t...

Matmos is an American conceptual electronica duo known for their abstract sampling and concept albums like A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure  and Ultimate Care II . The band released an album just last year but have been busy since with a release from the Drew Daniel solo project The Soft Pink Truth earlier this year and not this massive 99 collaborator, 3 hour long record. Review By Lavender: It is absolutely no secret that I love Matmos. Not only have I always been vocal about my love for records like A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure  and The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of The Beast plus I really enjoyed the album the band released last year Plastic Anniversary . I was surprised to see this quick of a turnaround especially considering the Soft Pink Truth record but I certainly wasn't expecting nearl 3 hours of new material being dropped on this ambitious and huge project. Despite the scope of the record being so grand there is so much rewarding material here that ...

The Soft Pink Truth is the side project of Drew Daniel, most well known for his work with experimental and conceptual electronic duo Matmos. As The Soft Pink Truth he has focused more on house and dance oriented music which is usually less thematic than Matmos albums . Sinning  is the first Soft Pink Truth record of fully original material since 2004.  Review By Lavender: Given how big of a fan I am of Matmos I was excited to learn years ago that The Soft Pink Truth side project existed, and while I liked Drew's first two albums they didn't stick with me the way so much of Matmos' music has. Despite that I was excited to give this record a listen once I figured out it even existed after it had passed me by when it was initially released. While some of the music here is once again pretty solid the record doesn't hit all the right notes.  The album gets off to a pretty solid start on its first two tracks. Shall  is the opener and it sets a strange ethereal tone for th...