Lav's Music Corner

It really does feel like we're starting to reach that point in the year where releases dry up, almost to the point that this weekly segment takes a hiatus while I work on my year-end stuff. Not quite, but almost. 5. Ahimsa  - The Antlers Technically letting something I wouldn't normally slip into the singles list go this week because it's honestly the only way I'm gonna fill this thing out. this is an Antlers remake of a Peter Silberman solo song that came out a few years ago and while I don't find it to be a particularly life-changing update I do think it hits at the slow development and pacing that have always made The Antlers such a compelling music project at their peak.  Listen 4.  God Is A Circle  - Yves Tumor There have been many a busy week that a decent Yves Tumor song slipped through the cracks but in one of the weakest release weekends of the entire year for singles allow this to be the beneficiary. This dark rumbling single features some characteristics ...

I Walked With You A Ways  - Plains Plains is the new collaborative project of Waxahatchee aka Katie Crutchfield and Jess Williamson and it just felt like it was gonna be good. It's hard to explain exactly why because it's not like the singles were completely blowing me away or anything. It just seemed like a half hour of good country folk music from these two would do great things for the soul, and that's exactly what happened. The images you might be conjuring of country folk aren't even the limitations of this record anyway, while there are plenty of wonderful harmonizing and forlorn metaphors the second track is a ripping rock song with a guitar solo bridge that doesn't sound out of place at all in the tracklist. The record is just remarkably consistent with a sonic palette that is simple but rewarding and vocal performances that shine throughout. I wouldn't even say it reminds me of some older Waxahatchee projects that I liked quite a bit for how much her vo...

Benjamin Clementine is an alarmingly talented British, singer, songwriter, poet, multi-instrumentalist, and even now an actor. And I Have Been  is his 3rd studio project following 2017's I Tell A Fly  and his Mercury Prize-winning debut At Least For Now . In the Instagram post announcing the record Clementine specifically stated that And I Have Been  isn't intended as his third official studio album, which has apparently already been written and recorded and will be released sometime soon.  Review by Lav: While it was slightly disappointing to read that And I Have Been  may not be the record I was anticipating from Ben, or to put it more honestly, the record I've been craving for 5 years now, I was still pretty confident that anything he put out would be good. That sort of wavered when the singles both individually and as a whole failed to really blow me away but I think I see now that the project is meant as more of a stepping stone in a literal way.  Firs...

Last best new songs of October, here's hoping my year-end lists will come out on time.  5.  I Killed Captain Hook  - Unknown Mortal Orchestra I had a pretty negative reaction to this when I heard it for the first time as it very purposefully sounds like a demo but it seems like it's genuinely the next single of this UMO era. While it's nowhere near as good as last year's That Life  the presentation did grow on me, particularly after really digging into the song's instrumental bridge where every little nuance of guitar sound is put up front and center behind the thin crackling distortion.  Listen 4.  Feedback  - La Roux (Feat. Baby Tate) Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you are. La Roux is back and her new single is an R&B banger with a Baby Tate verse that honestly kinda rules. That sentence feels randomly generated. There certainly isn't any new territory broken on the song but I am genuinely shocked at how comfortable La Roux sounds on it. This is ...

Dirt Femme  - Tove Lo While you could argue that at points Tove Lo has maybe been a bit too stylistically trashy to break back into the mainstream, I've always been a big fan of her music regardless. This album Dirt Femme  definitely felt like her turning over a new leaf, not in terms of it being a more mainstream effort as her previous record Sunshine Kitty  already made that transition. But on the singles leading up to Dirt Femme  it felt like Tove Lo had the life and personality back that gave her a breakout hit nearly a decade ago. The lead-up to the record was marked by some killer singles starting with the Euphoria  soundtrack cut How Long , probably my favorite Tove Lo song in years and one that I'm very happy made it onto this record. It also delivered the shimmering relationship-examining anthem No One Dies From Love  which kicks off the record with an absolute bang. The record is further supplemented with solid singles in both 2 Die 4  and Gr...

Arctic Monkeys are one of the UK's biggest indie acts that have been delivering a variety of punk, indie and lounge-flavored rock albums for over 15 years. On their 6th album, 2018's Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino  they strayed away from rock music entirely into a much more lounge-focused sound that divided fans. 4 years later The Car  is a continuation of the band's journey into lounge aesthetics. Review by Lav: I don't care how many people call me Tumblr core, I really like Arctic Monkeys. Their first two albums are among the best of the 2000s including a debut album that's a certified all-time classic. When they came roaring into the USA in 2013 on the back of singles like Do I Wanna Know?  and R U Mine  for their 2013 album AM . They followed that success, surprisingly, by taking a 5 year break and returning with a lounge concept album about a hotel on the moon. While I wasn't head over heels for Tranquility Base  right when it came out, it grew on me q...

Taylor Swift really needs no introduction. She's one of the biggest stars in all of music whose various eras, controversies, and commercial successes have been documented ad nauseum for the past 15 years. Midnights  is her 10th record which comes loosely themed around all the songs being conceptualized late at night and promising a return to pop after the folk departure of her previous two records. Review by Lav: When I started this blog in 2016, I was a Taylor Swift "hater". I didn't actually hate Taylor Swift but my own reputation among my friends and the people I interacted with online didn't have room for that nuance, but it was when Taylor started evaluating her own Reputation  that my tone shifted. For the first time, I found myself genuinely enjoying her music and more importantly, interested in her as an artist. Despite following that up with a very putrid record in Lover  I think Taylor Swift has generally been on a much more enjoyable artistic path throu...