Album Reviews

This Melbourne-based busker-gone-legit raises the “do it yourself” stakes with her debut, which is a top-to-bottom showcase of her varied virtuosity; she’s the lone musician credited on the album, as well as its producer and songwriter. Given Sultana’s playing-for-tips roots, it’s probably appropriate that Flow State whirls through styles — “Cigarettes” starts …

Beyoncé and Jay-Z have closely guarded the particulars of their private lives for years. Lately, though, they’ve shown signs of trying to balance their massive public profiles with a desire for accessibility and superstar demystification. It’s a gesture Beyonce telegraphed with the unofficial campaign slogan of her Formation Tour: “God …

BJ Barham earns every bit of his Southern Springsteen cred on American Aquarium‘s first studio album since 2015’s Wolves, and its first with an entirely revamped lineup. The change, as they say, does Barham good, who’s been gifted the perfect players to soundtrack his bewilderment and rage over the 2016 …

You can never go home again, especially when home is your college dorm room. On their fourth LP, the studio scientists of MGMT do a great job evoking the fizzy, dizzy New Wave psychedelia of mid-00s hits like “Kids” and “Electric Feel,” songs the duo cooked up while still at …

After putting in work on Frank Ocean’s Blonde (“Seigfried,” “Ivy”), Solange Knowles’ A Seat at the Table (“F.U.B.U.”) and various collaborative projects, ex-Vampire Weekend MVP Rostam Batmanglij has finally gotten around to releasing a proper solo LP of his own. And, admirably, he’s refused to choose between his former group’s …