Beyoncé’s seventh studio album, Renaissance, is a dazzling nightclub fantasia, a lighthearted, freewheeling journey through decades of dance music, whose ambition feels almost like Prince. increase. Seamlessly sequencing between the humid beats of “Cozy” and the impeccably crafted disco throwback “Cuff It,” the Afrofuturistic “Alien Superstar” is a bold pop homage to ballroom culture. There is, “Renaissance.” Grace Jones, who appears later on the album with the charismatic “Move,” certainly feels like a touchstone here, but in the album’s liner notes, Beyoncé also screams the influence of the late Uncle Johnny’s family. . , was “the first to expose me to the many musics and cultures that inspired this album”.words Individual serves as a motif throughout “Alien Superstar,” and the song’s ending reverberates with a sampled speech from Harlem’s National Black Theatre’s founder, Barbara Anne Tear, to reinforce the point. , we speak a certain way, we paint a certain way, we love a certain way. All of these things we do in our own different, unique and tangible ways. ’ By the end of this song, needless to say, so does Beyoncé.Lindsay Zoraz
Rosalia, “Despécha”
Rosalía sounds aggressive and unpretentious in the studio version of the fan favorite ‘Despechá’, performed live on the Motomami World Tour. Dominican meringue-influenced “Despechá” is a quintessential summer jam built around a buoyant piano riff and a nagging beat. But Rosalía’s vocals have a rebellious streak as she tries to shake off the memories of her disappointed lover on the dance floor. “Que yo estoy ocupá olvidando tus males” (“I’m busy forgetting your illness”).Zoraz
U.S. Girl, ‘It’s always like this now’
The music on Meg Remy’s ever-evolving project US Girls rarely sounds as smooth as synth-pop’s “So Typical Now.” “Brooklyn is dead, Kingston is booming,” Remy chides in this cheeky critique of pandemic-era population exodus, gentrification, and rising housing costs. Midway between Robin and Kylie Minogue, a thumping beat and glossy sheen provide the foundation for Lemmy’s social commentary, while Kyle Kidd’s tall backing vocals take the track to the next level. increase. “You have to do your best to sell,” Remy sings proudly.Zoraz
Rina Sawayama “Hold the Girl”
Orchestral anthems? Dance floor thumpers? Fingerpick Folk Pop Ditty? Hyper Pop Twitcher? Affirmation of chorus? Rina Sawayama chooses all of the above in ‘Hold the Girl’. This is what she vows to reconnect with her younger self. each claim.John Pareles
Robert Glasper featuring Masego “All Masks”
Pandemic fatigue and endurance are the foundations of “All Masks,” which looks back on the years of “All Masks, No Smiles.” Over a dark, oozing track where synthesizer chords patiently rise and then just snap back into place, Masego says, “Every day it seems like I’m wearing a disguise / I look like I’m breathing my own breath.” singing Born out of an extended version of ‘Black Radio III’ due for release this fall, ‘All Masks’ is keyboardist Robert Glasper’s decade-long ‘Black Radio’ album that fuses R&B, hip-hop and jazz with his series of albums. Continue. A pensive, dart piano improvisation near the end of the song is a hint of possibility within constraints.pareles
Brian Eno “There Were Bells”
“There Were Bells” is an apocalyptic ode to Brian Eno’s forthcoming album, Foreverandevernomore. According to him, the LP is about “our narrow and precarious future”, returning to songs with lyrics and vocals after more than a decade of mostly instrumental and ambient work. Were Bells” opens with birds chirping and floating shimmering sustained tones. About the beauty of nature, it is sung by Eno in lullabies and mourning, but then followed by human destruction. As the track grows deeper, darker and thunders, he observes “storms and floods of blood” until no one can escape.pareles
Rat Tully, “Prettier”
Addy Harris, who records as Rat Tally, faces chronic depression on the elegant and poignant song “Prettier.” “I’ve always thought I was prettier when I was unhappy/So are you,” she adds, with synths bubbling behind her. I will,” she sings — examining herself with cool compassion and wondering what might change.
Plains “Problem With It”
Plains is a new group formed by Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield and underrated singer-songwriter Jess Williamson. The two Southern-born musicians began their careers in the indie rock world, but their recent albums reconnect with their country roots. Crutchfield and Williamson’s voices blended beautifully on Plains’ hard-driving debut her single “Problem With It,” which will be on her upcoming album, “I Walked With You a Ways.” Crutchfield’s smoky twang takes center stage in the verse, but Williamson’s harmonies flesh out the chorus, so the lyrics land like a bold, confident mantra. ” Zoraz
Amarae “A Body A Coffin”
Amarae from Ghana has an auto-tuned aerial soprano on “A Body, a Coffin,” an EP called “Wakanda Forever Prologue,” which kicks off the rollout of the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Crisp, staccato Afrobeats her rhythms her tracks, tiny flute licks, clusters of non-computer-controlled voices sing her about confronting deadly possibilities. /I needed a savior.” The track ends on a cliffhanger like in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.pareles
Palm — once a jerky, asymmetrical, tangled, guitar-wielding indie rock band — spent the four years between albums mastering electronic instruments. “Feathers,” from the upcoming album in October, is a rattling, meter-shifting song that revels in programmed multitrack precision as much as Eve Alpert sings about spontaneity. It reveals the band’s new proficiency. “Imma make it up as I go,” she quips, and for all that planning, the song swings.pareles
Bobby Cririck, KJ’s Discovery
Bobby Krlic, who usually records as Haxan Cloak, composed the score for Amazon’s new series Paper Girls. “KJ’s Discovery” is from that soundtrack his album. Aggressive 6-beat and 4-beat propulsion unfolds over his minute and a half. Drums and gongs interweave with electronic blips and thumps like an ominous time warp his gamelan.pareles