New music reviews: Azealia Banks, the Maytags

Azealia Banks, "Broke With Expensive Taste" (Prospect Park)

So often in the music business these days, endless talk about the biz itself overshadows how the music sounds. Such was the case with this album, which Harlem rapper Banks first announced in 2012, when her foul-mouthed, fast-paced track "212" (included here) announced her as the brightest young talent in hip-hop. Since then, drawn-out record-label battles and endless Twitter wars have ensued, and another less-talented female rapper with a similar sounding name — Iggy Azalea — stole Banks' thunder. "Broke" is a work of impressive range and confidence. Banks navigates a variety of styles with ease, spitting rhymes with dazzling speed and rhythmic complexity, or whispering enticingly on "Miss Camaraderie" as she moves from Latin to electronic to house-music grooves to surf-rock. "Broke" could possibly be the hip-hop album of the year.

Dan Deluca, Philadelphia Inquirer