Amara-Fe has definitively shifted from the messy business of becoming into the absolute certainty of claiming with her new album, "A Queen’s Ambition". The rising solo artist, tethered to deep musical roots extending through Mission and Dallas, Texas, arrives fully formed here. There is a palpable weight to her cinematic R&B and electropop arrangements. You can almost feel her surveying her territory, setting borders,...

With Twaang’s latest release, "Zone", we aren't so much listening to a collection of tracks as we are stepping inside a distinct architectural layout of the human psyche. This innovative solo project has constructed a psychological journey that feels suspiciously like the progression of a panic attack resolving into a state of zen-like lucidity a transition usually reserved for monks or people who have...