Lav's Music Corner

1. Bon Iver - Faith Bon Iver grabs a second #1 debut of 2019 with the announcement of a new record and two follow-up singles to the two excellent songs they released a few months ago. 2. Jenny Hval - Ashes To Ashes Jenny Hval takes off strong in 2019 after her excellent solo EP and the debut of the lost girls project made waves in 2018. 3. Of Monsters And Men - Wild Roses Of Monsters and Men return with their second single and attempt to turn back the clock to the early years of this decade. 4. Common - Hercules  (Feat. Swizz Beatz) Common recruits veteran Swizz for production on the lead single to the legendary rap artists new project. 5. Nas - Jarreau Of Rap Nas' Lost Tapes  series gets its first true taste with this out of the blue single. 6. Future - 100 Shooters  (Feat. Meek Mill & Doe Boy) Future proves to be as prolific as ever and drops yet another single after releasing a full length album and a follow-up EP earlier this year. 7. Rosalia - M...

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib Are a veteran MC/Producer duo both of whom have a high tier pedigree in the rap game. Freddie has spent the better part of this decade releasing cutthroat mixtapes and albums full of lyrical bars detailing his upbringing and trapping. Madlib on the other hand goes further back and has a long history of working with legendary MCs and rap figures like MF Doom, J Dilla and Talib Kweli. The two connected in 2014 for Pinata, one of the most critically acclaimed rap albums of the 2000's, and after going their separate ways to continue working they are reuniting five years later to release a follow-up to their already classic first album. Review By Lavender: I certainly won't be the first person to tell you that Pinata is a masterpiece. Freddie Gibbs and Madlib teamed up at a point where they were both working at their sharpest and what resulted is a blend of Madlib's jazzy and soulful sample heavy instrumentals with Freddie's lyrically dense ...

Mark Ronson Is a veteran music industry producer who has worked with a number of different artists across a myriad of genres for nearly 20 years. In that time he has developed numerous strong connections across the industry while only releasing three true studio records. Late Night Feelings, his fourth record arrives on the back of a string of critically acclaimed singles with a number of high profile features. Review By Lavender: I have never really been a fan of a Mark Ronson record before, while maybe you can count on a single or two to be decent or at least some solid hits, for the most part I paid much more attention to his name when it wasn't as the primary artist. I was hoping after a span of collectively good singles that this woult no longer be the case on Late Night Feelings . I'm happy to report that while the album isn't perfect it's the most complete Mark Ronson experience yet. The a;bum had a number of singles making sure that half of its 13 track...

Gucci Mane is a now legendary Atlanta rapper who came up in the 2000's and has made a sharp transition to trap music while staying relevant and releasing tons of music in constantly released mixtapes throughout the first half of the 2000's. While it is hard to point to any specific Gucci Mane mixtape that encapsulates his influence or style, his entire back catalog is one well worth diving into. Review By Lavender: Trying to review all the nearly 100 Gucci Mane projects is a job for somebody with patience well beyond me, but that doesn't mean I haven't at least heard nearly all of them and have my favorites. Honestly Gucci had been on a little bit of a creative peak recently releasing three albums in 2017, two of which I actually enjoyed quite a bit Droptopwop and the even better Mr. Davis . Unfortunately the single release he dropped in 2018 was one of the most generic and uninspired releases I had heard from him in years and Delusions Of Grandeur  follows in it...

Two Door Cinema Club is an Irish indie rock group who struck gold with their debut album Tourist History in 2010 combining bouncy performances with instantly catchy songwriting to create one of the big breakout successes of the year. Since then the band has released two more albums to much less acclaim and commercial success. False Alarm is the bands fourth record and hopes to see them recover some of the form they achieved on their debut. Review By Lavender: Anybody who doesn't like Tourist History is hilariously kidding themselves out of one of the best indie pop albums of this decade and one that executes so consistently it almost seems objective in its wonderfulness. Smash hits like What You Know and Undercover Martyn are blissful and bouncy examples of the bands potential but unfortunately on the two albums proceeding it they couldn't find their way. Beacon was uninspired when it released but its follow-up 2016's Gameshow was straight up wallpaper pop in its lac...

Hot Chip are a British synth pop band who released a number of critically acclaimed dance records in the latter half of the 2000's and into the 2010's. The bands last release was the critically underwhelming Why Make Sense? in 2015. They have released two singles for Ecstacy that predicted a potential change to longer and more abstract songwriting. Review By Lavender: While Hot Chip had an excellent run in the 2000's releasing four great albums starting with The Warning and moving up to In Our Heads , 2012 feels like a very long time ago for a band that feels like they have to prove themselves all over again. While Bath Full Of Ecstacy isn't the best Hot Chip album yet it definitely paints the picture of a veteran band creatively assembling and solid, but not watertight tracklist. I'm more positive on both of the singles within the context of the album than I was but themselves. Melody Of Love wasn't initially a favorite of mine but I've come to te...

1. Ride - Repetition The legendary shoegaze band steals a #1 in what may be the weakest week of 2019 so far. On the back of a great lead single Ride is gearing up to drop their second album of the 2010's 2. Rosalia - Millionaria Rosalia continues building up her namesake in 2019 with a split single calling back to the ever growing popularity of latin pop music on the charts. 3. Post Malone Goodbyes  (Feat. Young Thug) Post Malone is back with what will likely be another nondescript chart topper, but thankfully he has brought along Young Thug this time and hopefully Thugger can give a little bit of life to a track we will all grow to hate quickly. 4. Dreamville - Costa Rica  (Feat. Bas, JID, Guapdad 4000, Reese LAFLARE, Jace, Mez, Smokepurpp, Buddy & Ski Mask The Slump God) Sneaking in before the Friday release of ROTD3 is this massive posse cut that features some Dreamville favorites and some of traps brightest young faces. 5. Cupcakke - Ayesha Cupcakke return...