Consumer Guide: August, 2022

Women having fun (with and without Basquiat-buying power), the best-sounding battle rap you're likely to hear this year, adulthood alt-rock narratives, and pop-rock devoted to the arts.

Beyoncé: Renaissance (Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia) I first heard the album of the year on a clogged Merritt Parkway in the rented Corolla that conveyed my family to our overdue vacation on the Connecticut shore. By the time I’d bought it at the Westbrook Wal-Mart two days later (“What’s a CD?” the clerk asked), the Bluetooth-enabled car stereo versi…