Lav's Music Corner

Cola is a Canadian post-punk act that follows in the footsteps of one of the most critically acclaimed indie acts of the 2010's, Ought. The band features the lead vocalist and bass player from Ought teaming up with the drummer from indie band U.S Girls. Deep In View  is their debut album under the Cola name and follows five singles dating back to last year.  Review By Lav: I LOVE Ought. Across the 2010's they managed to drop three excellent albums which featured a number of the best indie songs you can find anywhere. I would have been extremely excited for a new Ought project and though they announced the project was no more as of last year, the fact that we got Cola in its place also really excited me. Unfortunately, the mixed bag of singles resulted in an inconsistent record, but I'm also happy to report there are still some excellent tracks here that follow in the footsteps of great Ought tunes. Let's talk highlights first because the record had a few singles that gr...

Given the sheer volume of highly anticipated material that came out this week, it's hard to not see the final product as slightly disappointing. Regardless these are the best new songs I heard this week and they likely aren't the ones you're anticipating. Enjoy <3 5.  Hideous  - Oliver Sim (Feat. Jimmy Somerville) This is quite an interesting track that I've been digesting upon repeat listens because it moves through some very distinct phases. Ultimately it's when Oliver Sim is at his most intimate that the song hits its emotional highs and when the Jamie xx produced instrumental hits its orchestrated peak that it finds the most impact. Unfortunately, I'm not crazy about Jimmy Somerville's addition to the track where he serves as a HUGE outlier. Honestly having another vocalist on the song at all feels like it takes away from what should be really gripping and raw intimacy.  Listen 4.  Freight Yard  - The Garden This is The Garden alright. From the wacko ...

The Smile are a new supergroup made up of longtime Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood as well as Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. A Light For Attracting Attention  is the project's first record and features production from frequent Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich.  Review By Lav: Have you guys heard of this band Radiohead? Well as it turns out they're one of the most universally acclaimed and beloved acts on the entire earth and just about anything that any of their members do is likely to draw attention. Not to mention perhaps the two most visible creative forces in Radiohead history, Thom and Johnny, collaborating on a side project together. Enter The Smile a new project which has been teased since last year and featured six singles of varying but mostly pretty good quality. Like most music fans I was pretty excited for this record on namesake alone, not to mention once I heard some great singles. As it turns out that excitement was well placed because A Li...

Matmos are an experimental electronic duo who have spent decades making some of the most acclaimed experimental and underground electronica. They are well known for their highly conceptual projects including their recent run of acclaimed projects. Their past three records have included an album made entirely with samples from a washing machine, samples from various plastic objects and most recently a 3-hour album made with 99 different collaborators. Regards  is a tribute album to Polish composer Boguslaw Schaeffer where they were given access to his entire catalog to rearrange various sounds into the music on this record.  Review By Lav: I've loved Matmos for a long time. Their 2001 album A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure  is one of my favorite experimental music projects of all time and they've been on an incredible creative streak since 2016's Ultimate Care II . Because of this I was going to be excited for anything Matmos did next. While the singles for the record d...

Harry Styles is a British pop star and one of the biggest names in all of music in 2022. After rising to fame as a member of boyband One Direction he transitioned seamlessly into a massively successful solo career which has netted numerous commercially successful records and hit singles. Harry's House  is his third solo album and comes three years after Fine Line . Review By Lav: Oh Harry Styles. From the massive backlash generated by One Direction spearheading the second great wave of boybands to the complicated discussion surrounding his willingness to blur gender and sexuality lines in his fashion. Whether or not Harry is queerbaiting, or has any sense of style at all is a discussion I am NOT wading into, but musically his early legacy is just as complicated. Commercial success was always going to be in the cards for Harry as the most popular member of One Direction but critically speaking he's been on a tightrope. His lead singles so far have been excellent. Sign Of The Tim...

Flume is an Australian electronic music producer who has spent the last decade fusing mainstream EDM with various subgenres of electronic music. This has given him a wide-ranging fanbase of electronic music fans following his career. Palaces  is Flume's first full-length release since 2018's  Hi: This Is Flume  mixtape and his first album since 2016's Skin .  Review By Lav: This was one of my most anticipated albums of the year. Not only did I just call Flume's self-titled debut one of the best albums of 2012 a few months ago, but I also loved his previous project in 2019 and still feel like I underrated it in both my initial review and on my year-end list. Since then he's released a number of singles that I really enjoyed punctuated by the excellent Toro Y Moi collaboration The Difference  in 2020 and numerous singles from this record which I've dished out praise to this year. While the singles still worked for me and there are some very satisfying deep cuts in...

At the 11th hour, I returned home from vacation having only recently remembered I had to write and publish the best tracks of the week. Here they are. Enjoy <3. 5. 2001 - Foals While Foals have basically been in their dance-rock era for quite a while now they finally leaned heavily into the disco influence on this track and made their best single from this era. It's certainly not complicated and I wouldn't say it has much of the extravagant rush that you might expect from a good Foals track, but it's bouncy and charming in the way the good disco revival music has to be.  Listen 4. Funeral Solution  - Thee Oh Sees After not loving the last few Oh Sees records, this was a punch in the face that I was excited for. The band needs less than two minutes to absolutely pummel you with chugging riffs, short screamed vocal refrains and an absolutely filthy mix. This one is simple, it will crush you, you should let it. Listen 3. Through The Fires  - Angel Olsen Angel Olsen delive...