Lav's Music Corner

Schoolboy Q is a California rapper, signed to Top Dawg Records and a member of Black Hippy as a result. He first made waves with his independently released Habits & Contradictions  album in 2012 that resulted in his signing to TDE. In 2014 Q released his critically acclaimed major label debut with Oxymoron , an album that saw him rapping with more explosiveness than ever before and hopping on more experimental beats. Two years later Q followed this up with Blank Face LP  his fourth official studio album which was met with mixed reviews and resulted in a dulled level of hype here three years later for Crash Talk . After two misses on the albums first two big singles hopes weren't high for Crash Talk  and given that Top Dawg had a miss last year with Jay Rock's Redemption, Crash Talk  had an uphill battle from the start. Review By Lavender: I have always; against popular opinion, considered Schoolboy Q to be the black sheep of Black Hippy. Given the bri...

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard are an Australian psych rock band who have made a name for themselves exploring unique concepts and a prolific album release schedule. Their first big breakthrough came in 2016 with Nonagon Infinity  a high energy blistering psych rock album where all of the songs lead into one another for one cohesive listen. They followed the success of this up with a wild 2017 where they promised to drop five albums in one year and delivered. They took a well deserved 2018 off and are back to drop their first project of 2019 with Fishing For Fishes.  Review by Lavender: So as you would expect for a band that has dropped so much music in so little time, not all 13 Gizz albums are flawless but given their tight concepts and willingness to experiment they have come up with plenty of worthwhile moments. My love affair with the band started in 2014 when the single Cellophane  made its way to me and I quite enjoyed the album I'm In Your Mind Fuzz ...

Sunn 0))) are a pioneering noise metal band from Seattle that gained popularity in the 2000's with a blend of experimental soundscapes and creative experimentation in the realm of noise music. While they have a discography full of unique albums and exciting collaborations the band made the most impact with their universally acclaimed 2009 album  Monoliths And Dimensions . The album was a blend of drone metal, dark ambient, doom metal and avant-garde music that sounded heavier and more dense than almost anything else like it. Since then the band has released a few collaborative albums but only one studio project which was met with mixed reviews. Now Life Metal  is billed as a comeback record of sorts for the duo and has their fans anticipating another great release. Review By Lavender: I'll be the first to admit that I don't know every piece of the Sunn 0))) catalog like the back of my hand. I've heard every studio project behind the group and a handful of their ...

1. Flying Lotus - More (Feat. Anderson .Paak) FlyLo scores the #1 single that FKA Twigs sniped a few weeks ago with the 3rd single in promotion of his new project. Topping a busy week the producer recruited an already legendary feature artist in Anderson Paak to drop a track that truly capitalized on the hype behind his namesake. 2. Denzel Curry - Ricky  Denzel Curry shows up with a bang for his first single in 2019 and barely falls short of #1 in a busy week but there is no reason to think he won't be back. 3. IDLES - Mercedes Marxist IDLES continue their prolific output with the attention grabbing title of the groups first single of 2019. 4. Carly Rae Jepsen - Too Much Carly gifts fans again with yet another single in the lead up to her first project in 4 years and after Julien  scored 3 weeks in the chart, expect to see Carly back here next week. 5. A$AP Ferg = Pups (Feat. A$AP Rocky) Ferg recruits Rocky for one of his most hyped up singles in years as fans hop...

Catfish And The Bottlemen are a Welsh rock band that rose to prominence in 2014 when their debut album The Balcony  blew up in the wake of the Arctic Monkeys' 2013 album AM  inspiring a market for polished throwback rock and roll sounds the year prior. The band capitalized on the hype with some notable singles and the album ultimately going platinum, before following it up with The Ride in 2016. Despite more initial commercial appeal, the album received mixed reviews and the band was quiet for two years before releasing four singles in the lead up to The Balance .  Review By Lavender: Unlike some people who were maybe a bit too obsessed with AM, I never really pictured Catfish and The Bottlemen somehow saving rock and roll. The Balcony  is a solid rock album that lacks life and variety but makes up for it with some tight and catchy songwriting and great energetic performances. Unfortunately The Ride  took a very different approach that many we're not...

Marina Diamandis aka Marina And The Diamonds, aka Marina is an English pop singer who blew up in the early 2010's with the debut Marina And The Diamonds album The Family Jewels . She followed this up with a critically acclaimed sophomore concept album, Electra Heart in 2012. But took a much more palatable and commercial approach on 2015's Froot  and was met with mixed reviews. After a four year gap Marina is back under the new title of simply "Marina" she dropped three singles for the project, then dropped the first half of it Love  before releasing the project in its entirety as Love + Fear .  Review By Lavender: I am a firm believer to this day that the first two Marina and The Diamonds albums The Family Jewels  and Electra Heart  are excellent contemporary pop albums that found a way to separate themselves from the field and make music that has aged very well. The sharp electropop songwriting and energetic instrumentals made these songs a dream to ...

Rico Nasty is an up and coming voice in rap who has spent the past five years trying to nail down her style and hopping onto some trendy auto crooner beats, before dropping her Nasty mixtape in 2018 after signing to Atlantic records. Nasty  was a big change of pace that saw her taking on some much harder beats and a much more explosive delivery in line with the emerging trend of SoundCloud rap. Kenny Beats is a west coast producer who has been blowing up the past few years making beats for the likes of Vince Staples, Jpegmafia, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Travis Scott, Quavo and of course Rico Nasty. The duo has some solid collaborations in their history and chose to drop this album without a ton of promo.  Review By Lavender: Given how little notice I was on before this album actually dropped I didn't really get the time to build up my expectations sky high. But I don't really think I would have either, Kenny Beats is a pretty good producer but one that definitely has ...