Lav's Music Corner

I don't really have anything to say about this week from a high spun cultural observation standpoint but I did recently release a video on the Music Corner YouTube channel about how terrible the charts have been recently, so maybe one of these songs will be a big hit. 5.  John Woo Flick  - Conway The Machine (feat. Benny The Butcher & Westside Gunn) These three have enough tracks together for a greatest hits album and while this isn't anywhere near the best it does have the chemistry you'd expect from them at this point. They deliver verses that are separate in composition but built on one another and show off the similarity in all of their talents and the reasons they work so well together.  Listen 4.  Saoko - Rosalia Rosalia's newest single is short but makes the most of its runtime. The rumbling beat is an absolute hard hitter and she brings the vocal intensity it deserves with both the primary vocals and the impressive array of background singing. The song i...

Krallice are a New York black metal project helmed by black metal virtuosos Colin Marston and Mick Barr. The project has been releasing albums consistently for almost 15 years and during the later half of the 2000's and early 2010's they established a reputation for being one of the most technically impressive acts in the genre. Review By Lav: Krallice have been one of the definitive bands in black metal for pretty much as long as I've even been aware of the genre. While that is admittedly only 10 years or so it still placed me right around the time of what many consider to be their most significant and influential release, 2012's Years Past Matter . I didn't appreciate the bands ability to apply their technicality without sacrificing any of the harsh crushing energy of their songs nearly as much at the time as I do now in retrospect I see them as a must listen band for those exploring black metal. While I didn't get the chance to formerly review their quarantin...

A month into 2022 it's time for the first rapid fire reviews of the year and as we often do we're diving into some trap records that I don't have the time or patience of preservation of mind to break down in their entirety. We have never been short for trap music and I suspect this year won't be any different. So lets cover some of the newer and older stars of the genre who are turning heads in the first month of the year. Brightside  EP - Rich Brian I haven't reviewed Rich Brian specifically in a long time, like 2018 long I think. I wanted to talk about this EP because I saw a surprising amount of people online talking about how much they enjoyed it and saying it was the best thing he'd done in years. The first thing you'll notice about this EP is that every song has at least one pretty significant beat switch-up which goes a long way to keeping up its hype energy but can make it a bit difficult to judge when the different portions of a song are wildly inco...

Your Old Droog & Tha God Fahim are a pair of prolific New York rappers who have managed to stand out in the already extremely prolific world of underground hip hop. On top of their own solo material they dropped a pair of collaborative tapes last year the first of which was the predecessor in the Wolf On Wall St.  series and the second of which was a tribute to one of hip hops favorite lyrical subjects, basketball. Review By Lav: I haven't made my enjoyment of either of these artists a secret particularly in recent years. Droog had a fantastic 2021 dropping two of my favorite projects of his to date in Tha Wolf  and Time . Even given that, I did come away from the pairs second collaboration of 2021, The YOD Fahim  thinking it was one of the least impressive and most scrapped together projects I heard that year. So getting a sequel and a third collaboration in just over a year had me a bit skeptical of whether this thing would be getting the treatment it deserves, even...

Pinegrove are a New Jersey indie rock and who have spent the last decade crafting a unique and extremely recognizable blend of lo-fi indie rock, emo and folk that has significantly divided listeners. The band has a dedicated fanbase but also sports plenty of haters citing how similar all of their songs sound and the occasionally shortcomings of their lyrics.  Review By Lav: While I've never been crazy about Pinegrove I'm also far from a hater. They have a greatest hits album worth of spectacular songs which I've reflected in my year end lists over the past five years. As much as I hate to play into stereotypes however, listening to the band for an entire album has never been something I'm a huge fan of. With so much instrumentally familiarity you really have to be invested in two things, the progression of each song and the lyrical vision. If both or even one of those is executed well they can create very compelling songs, but much like all of their records that isn...

This was definitely one of the best weeks of the year so far and there was some competition for the top 5. Between the new Weather Station single, Tove Lo's surprisingly great Euphoria  song and a Charli/Rina collab there were a lot of new songs worth hearing, but these were the best of the best over the last 7 days.  5.  The Smoke  - The Smile Round two of new music from the Radiohead meets Sons Of Kemet super group is a much more reserved track than the lead off single but just as satisfying. Thom Yorke proves he is still the master of extracting feeling out of gentle falsetto vocal harmonies and the steady instrumental palette behind him works in impressively quiet but high impact form. Another hit from The Smile.  Listen 4.  Walkin  - Denzel Curry Denzel Curry's highly anticipated return wasn't quite the pure banger that some fans were expecting but that's nothing to hold against he song. Walkin  is an incredibly slick two part spacey rap tune...

Foxtails are an American screamo band from the northeast who have been around for almost a full decade with 4 albums under their belt. They've received attention from both critics and fans in the hardcore underground for their fusions of screamo with genres like classic post-hardcore and contemporary emo.  Review By Lav: I feel like I've been aware of this band for a while and have heard buzz about their singles or records here and there but this is the first time I've taken a deep plunge. It also felt like in my head that this was a relatively new band but I blinked and suddenly their four albums deep so I had to do a little bit of catching up before doing this review. But now I'm here and I can say for certain that I appreciate some of the unique things the band does among their hardcore contemporaries. I can also say that this is my favorite of their records to date and the increase in buzz among critics is appropriate.  The thing that really sold me on this record a...