Lav's Music Corner

Miley Cyrus is the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus who has made a name for herself originally as a Disney child star with alter ego Hannah Montana. Though Miley released some music through this period her true solo career began in 2010 with Can't Be Tamed and since then has been a series of edgy releases that have been met with shrugs from critics and drawn controversy from many sources. But with such powerful name recognition Miley has been one of the most effective sellers of this decade and with the release of this new EP she starts off a new era that is rumored to have two more EPs following it.  Review By Lavender: Miley has always been one of my favorite personalities in pop, when I was younger I loved her edgy and youthful sense of rebellion especially after cringing at her child years. As I grew older Miley did the same and became increasingly mature without losing her sharp touch with younger audiences. So as much as I praise her social presence, he...

1. Burial - Claustro Taking the #1 spot with a last minute swipe preventing a second three-peat in the first half of 2019 if Burial who returned to drop a new split single which is his first new material since 2017 and has the electronica community waiting with baited breath. 2. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Giannis (Feat. Anderson .Paak) After dropping what is probably their best single yet and scoring a #1 on this chart Gibbs and Madlib recruit Anderson .Paak for what could have been their third chart topper but get sniped by an artist with some serious pedigree. 3. Free Nationals - Time  (Feat. Kali Uchis & Mac Miller) Anderson .Paak's touring band hits it off with their second single featuring the always indelible Kali Uchis and a surprise feature from the late Mac Miller that was allegedly recorded all the way back in 2017. 4. Dreamville - Down Bad  (Feat. J. Cole, JID, Bas, Earthgang & Young Nudy) The Dreamville sessions earlier this year were one of the...

Remo Drive are a promising young midwestern emo band who burst onto the scene in 2017 with their breakout single Yer Killin Me  and followed it up with the critically acclaimed Greatest Hits . After the departure of their drummer the duo dropped a short EP in 2018 and released three singles in the lead up to Natural, Everyday Degradation .  Review By Lavender: Not very many emo bands, or bands period get off to as promising a start as Remo Drive. The groups breakout single  Yer Killin Me  stands head and shoulders above pretty much any other emo tunes this decade and landed in my top 20 singles of the year back in 2017. The album that the song ultimately landed on Greatest   Hits  was a solid collection of tunes but the band needed to develop some new elements of their style. I was happy to see the start this transition on the short but sweet Pop Music  EP in 2018 which contained another single I liked a lot and landed on my year end list wi...

Denzel Curry is a well established Florida rapper who has released some of the most critically acclaimed hip hop albums of the past 5 years. On the back of his mega hit and meme feature Ultimate  Curry dropped two critically acclaimed studio albums Imperial  and Taboo  and has now returned with yet another project after coming off of two excellent singles in Ricky  and Speedboat .  Review By Lavender: Denzel Curry has been nothing but sharp for years now. Even if some of his earliest material was punching below his weight once Ultimate  took off Curry proved that he made it for a reason and dropped the cutthroat and excellent Imperial  in 2016. This was followed by one of my favorite EPs of 2017 the similarly hard hitting 13  and finally in 2018 he dropped an album that ended up landing in my top 15 of the year Taboo . Given that Taboo  was thematically as dark but executed a wider variety of sounds with even sharper consistency it...

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...

$uicideboy$ are a New Orleans based rap duo who released their debut album last year after years of many, MANY mixtapes and EPs. The group recruited Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and screamo vocalist MUNKY for this six track EP which featured two singles.  Review By Lavender: Jesus christ.  $uicideboy$ have been an act I have followed for a few years now taking in whatever of their releases and solo material and collaborations that I can, but on Live Fast Die Whenever  they have chosen to clash their styles with some absolutely abysmal results.  The two singles for this EP we're strange but honestly the only highlights it has to offer. nothingleftnothingleft  is a pretty fiery and true to form punk tune.  Unfortunately it clashes directly with the style of the two very uncompelling rap verses delivered on the song and contains one of the most underwhelming choruses I've heard all year. There is some decent material here but the strange ...

1. Bon Iver - Hey Ma Bon Iver takes a strong number one with a highly anticipated return single that picks up just where 22, A Million  left off.    2. Whitney - Giving Up Whitney starts the era for their second album with a much anticipated lead single that comes three years after their debut album made huge waves. 3. Kim Petras - Clarity Coming off one of the years premiere sex bops Kim Petras snipes the highest charting spot of her career as she continues to release single after single in preparation for a studio album. 4. Blanck Mass - House Vs. House Blanck Mass add to the 2019 debut singles this week with another much anticipated return coming off 2017's excellent World Eater . 5. Madonna - Dark Ballet Madonna finally drops a solo single and after a rough start to her new era rides her namesake to the #5 spot. 6. Big K.R.I.T - K.R.I.T Here K.R.I.T turns around quickly and attaches his name to yet another song and project here. 7. Goldlink - U Say  (...