Shabazz Palaces - Most important musical group/moment in Seattle since Nirvana at OK Hotel?

Some people seem to think that Shabazz Palaces recent debut live show was a legendary performance that will go down in history as one of the most important musical moments in Seattle history. I really like a few of their tracks, especially the one that shamelessly rips Bootsy Collins. Do musicians sue anymore? Seems like Bootsy has some duckets coming his way from this track. Anyway, what do you think? Are they really special/unique/game changing like some people say or is it just the dude from Digable Planets making backpack hip hop for white kids into indie rock?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fueaDkmczg ,<- Live on KEXP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pSUfl37y3Q <- A Mess, aka I'd Rather Be With You track

LOL

There honestly was an incredibly charged atmosphere at that show, like this has the potential to blow up something huge. Can't speak to how it compares to Nirvana, Ok Hotel '91. (btw, who are you, brotherlovesdub?)

i like the video to belhaven meridian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMZKPaSF0GE

and the artwork and bullshit story here is kind of endearing, but neither are quite enough for me to dig any deeper.

can we clear up who "some people" are w/r/t the LOLthread title

thx google

http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2010/01/11/shabazz-palaces-bigger-than-jimi

i pulled out the Cherrywine cd and have been listening to that a bit lately. the whole 'important' thing is pretty lame. this might be good but it'll go nowhere.

I think they call'em legends 'cause it's how we mark the time.

lol where did he steal this line from, that's a good 'un

also yeah jaxon OTM nothing's "important" anymore

There honestly was an incredibly charged atmosphere at that show, like this has the potential to blow up something huge. Can't speak to how it compares to Nirvana, Ok Hotel '91. (btw, who are you, brotherlovesdub?)

― fucking in the streets, Tuesday, January 12, 2010 5:12 PM Bookmark

indeed. sorted that one out off-thread.

Was he in the next cubicle or two over?

I was not but I do know how to contact Fucking In The Streets via email.

I decided to go ahead and purchase the 2 cds on their webpage and received download links to both albums as a bonus. They offer just the downloads for $9.99 and the CD's w/ a patch for $14.99. I'm assuming i'll be able to sell these to a Seattle Central Freshman in the year 2020 for approximately one million dollars since this is the most important band to come from Seattle since Nirvana. Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Shabazz. Makes sense to me.

as far as pseudonymous people on the internet go, you don't exactly shroud yourself in mystery so the inquisition was a bit weird.

anyway i guess you ride for these guys? the "belhaven meridian" vid was a highlight of last year fro me mainly for the gorgeous black and white, and the Killer of Sheep ref (just saw that movie in a new print last year), and the seasick inversion. didn't fall in love with the music but did feel the infectious "that's what's up" refrain and the marimba sounding coda and the way it sounds cut from a larger thing of musical directions that're different but all of a piece.

but that larger thing wasn't what i was in the mood for when i came across it, having just used my bohemian quotient up listening to the Mos Def album, which, though not similar in sound, does wander around different ideas and struck me as half-assed and out-of-focus. still passing on investigating Shabazz Palaces more for now.

what're you going to sew your patches onto?

I hadn't heard about this project (although I am familiar with Ishmael Butler, obv). Sounds good. Sounds like the discourse around them, as such exists, is entirely eyeroll-worthy.

Is the Bootsy bite just that little, three-note guitar flourish? or the "yeah"? I'm not hearing like a litigation-worthy debt here, although my standards are likely different than Bootsy's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5RG8k2WPw0

No, basically the entire Shabazz track is constructed from samples / loops lifted directly from I'd Rather Be With You.

geez gotta be the first time someone's ever ripped off a p-funk track eh

not at all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxY___mqgZw

On closer inspection, I wouldn't say 'entire track' but there are plenty of bits of I'd Rather Be With You in A Mess...

Interestingly, the mp3s I just downloaded didn't have A Mess... on them so perhaps they're/he's aware of the potential litigation.

tbh, maybe it's the shitty cell phone recording, but i don't hear the bootsy sample at all in that clip. just sounds like muddy drums and vocals

http://www.amazon.com/Shabazz-Palaces/dp/B002EOUPC8

Check it on on this Amazon mp3 link. Track 7.

Most independent-label hiphop acts don't bother clearing their samples unless they are aiming for mainstream success.

based on the video posted upthread, I'm actually really digging the vibe of this. exactly what I wanted to hear right now, but didn't know it.

might check out the albums if/when I stop being broke. I think they'd go well with the weed I also plan to buy if/when etc

I'm listening to the album right now and it's great. I wish I'd known about it sooner. Sounds kind of like if The Bug was American.

has anyone on this thread heard the Cherrywine album? because according to this thread, not that many people have. i really like it btw

Cherrywine - Digable frontman goes solo - how is it?

Nope. Has Ish done anything other than DPs/Cherrywine/Shabazz Palaces?

I'll search out that Cherrywine cd.

I kept an eye out for that Cherrywine thing but never came across it. love love the second Digables album especially, myself. this sounds okay but earth-shattering...? eh, I dunno. clips upthread are pretty inaudible.

Critical consensus around these parts of the cubicles is that Cherrywine was wack.

I like what I hear of this so far

fuck a critical consensus. have you heard the album? do you also hate sa ra and the q-tip 'soul' albums?

yeah I was gonna say if the above clips remind me of anything its the Sa-Ra stuff jaxon gave me years ago lolz

I've gone from lukewarm/this is ok but nothing more than a Clipse rip-off to non-stop listening/holy shit this is amazing in about 24hrs. BTW, this is basically a "laidback Clipse without the booger-sugar obsession" as Dave Segal stated but it's still fun to listen to.

http://www.biznotic.com/images/01_13_09.jpg

what? how does this sound anything like Clipse beyond "it is rap"?

Have you heard Til The Casket Drops? It's a pretty obvious comparison to me.

Raw, minimal drum machine beats, similar lazy cadence and delivery.

Bah, this actually sounds nothing like Til The Casket Drops but it does still sound like Clipse to me. Better than Clipse though cuz i'm sick of listening to coke raps.

Looks like there were two 2009 releases - were they at the same time?

Good question. I don't think they were released simultaneously but I think they were released close together. I've ripped the stream from their live appearance on KEXP. It's not very good but here it is in case you want to check it out: http://www.mediafire.com/?ky1ynzu5bjw

I like that little "film" although I wouldn't mind someone explaining it to me

Ok, I listened to the SP album again and thought about the whole Clipse thing. I really don't see at all how those two groups are more similar to each other than any other two randomly picked rap acts. The most notable stylistic difference between them is Clipse's fussy concision in rhyme/beat/song construction vs Shabazz's more ramshackle nature. As far as the rapping, besides their divergent subject matter, the Clipse deliver everything with a sneer, in contrast to Ish's more laconic rap style. The comparison with The Ecstatic makes more sense, but the Shabazz album(s?) is/are way better and altogether less boring than Mos' most recent.

Can we change this silly title already?

maybe use some iteration of the thread title for the next excelsior?

New Kingdom 2010 edition

The CD's are at Sonic Boom for 10 bucks but if you order them from the website, they ship from 420 High Street!

This is pretty tite imo.

into shabazz btw

i like almost everything i've heard, keep forgetting to dl the ep's

I love the two eps. Met Ishmael at a show. Super nice guy. If you get the chance to see them perform live, don't miss it. Can't wait for their Sub Pop debut.

thetroyblog.com/2010/12/13/shabazz-palaces-re-mystifying-cool/

this is a v nice piece on shabazz places

also, i'd like to take back my clipse comparison. it was hastily made and ill-considered.

positions him w/in a historical milieu & seems to accurately gauge precedents & how his work has changed over time, also I like the constellation of different-but-similar rap artists he describes (i would also include it was written-era nas in it tho)

I think "Gunbeat Falls" is my favorite track from this.

ayo deej, have you read this article about Blowout Comb? http://archive.ohword.com/features/5/slicker-that-year

yah thats thun too, he posts as thun on philaflava

i checked shabazz palaces out on deej's mention in another thread—i'm really enjoying it.

I'm listening to the album right now and it's great. I wish I'd known about it sooner. Sounds kind of like if The Bug was American.

i can't really say about the bug but i do get a kind of british/international beat science vibe from the EPs—in a good way, kind of like that stuff has been improved on by being americanized. (i don't think it's just hearing an american voice, either.) it makes it sound fresher than you would expect for what is otherwise pretty traditionalist.

it's odd how many of the tracks just kind of end.

lol i had no idea this was revived when i linked keyes to it. just followed my own link, listened to belllhaven film again, scrolled and here were u guys

maybe use some iteration of the thread title for the next excelsior?

― The Book of Eli Porter (ojo), Friday, January 15, 2010

Most important excelsior group/moment in Seattle since Nirvana at LOL Hotel

Just wait until LJ gets in here

i seriously would have never recognized him

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5214/5398811172_49bc0bca45_z.jpg

http://kjphotos.tumblr.com/post/3024965302/portraits-of-seattle-19-ishmael-butterfly-butler-aka

ok i've been listening to the eps on repeat all week

man i had wu-tang idea for an excelsior thread:

I'mma Put Your LOLZ on the dresser and EXCELSIOR them shits with a spiked bat

probably should end with "LMAO!"

haha yeah. i think weird stuff at like 3am when i've fed the lil' one and can't get back to sleep

ok i've been listening to the eps on repeat all week

― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Friday, February 4, 2011 1:03 PM Bookmark

Perfect blend of hard beats and blunted/laid-back cali style.

http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/08/shabazz-palaces-an-echo-from-the-hosts-that-profess-infinitum

new track is great, can't wait for the album.

can never have too much kalimba

has anyone here gone back and listened to Cherrywine yet?

never tracked it down in the first place, altho I am curious

This is totally nuts so far, esp. "A treatease..."

Album of the year?

where'd you find it?

slsk

One thing I'm noticing is where the eps occasionally got bogged down in murk, there's always some element in the mix here that shines through with just enough levity to keep my ears perked.

Oh shit the beat on the last song :o

damn, not on what.cd yet. ish said it would be coming with a patch like the first 2 eps. hope that's true.

ok i just cackled like crazy when this ended. lovin it

has anyone here gone back and listened to Cherrywine yet?
― jaxon, Tuesday, March 8, 2011 7:48 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i downloaded cherrywine but can't find the files. think they got archived somewhere without being added to itunes.

ha. no love

Wow, this is great. A Street Gospel sounds exactly like something off one of the Shabazz eps.

"Yeah You" is the evilest shit

what you wearin tonight?
shit, i'm dressin like i was at the ali-frasier fight

great line. the new album is damn good.

Yeah, I feel like ppl should be freaking out about this album more than is happening :/

official release isn't for a month and a half! and i'm not seeing any easy leaks (that's fine though, i don't mind getting this legit).

i found it on a forum, can't remember the name of it but i think the rar is called sp - bu.rar. was hosted on mediafire. i'll buy it anyway because i have the other eps and the packaging is really nice. they come with sweet patches.

i only got a few cherrywine tracks but really liked those, loved digable, i'm psyched to check this out

Yeah, totally copping this when it drops. xp

Yeah, I feel like ppl should be freaking out about this album more than is happening :/

― banjee trillness (The Reverend), Monday, April 18, 2011 12:44 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i'm pretty stoked. i think part of it is they don't have so many "discussion points" as OF or lil b

Ha, that reminds me of a conversation I had with a (mostly) former ilxor who was like "With Shabazz Palaces and Odd Future all we need is someone from the Bay for a trifecto of new, weird West Coast rap" and I was like "Duuuuuuuuude."

http://www.subpop.com/releases/shabazz_palaces/full_lengths/black_up

I preordered the vinyl. Looks like if you want to get the patch to go with the first 2, you'll need to preorder.

This album is seriously good.

yeah great album. "recollections of the wraith" is my shit.

my god the beat on "Swerve" is like the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Still loving this album btw.

need to hear this!

album is the shit

dont know why the thread title is about seattle tho - hes from NY

He had parents in both cities, he lives in Seattle now.

hope that just cos hes on sub pop people dont automatically dismiss it as 'rap for white indie kids'

He's not from NY. He's from Seattle, went to NY for college and formed DP while he was there, then came back after DP broke up.

hope that just cos hes on sub pop people dont automatically dismiss it as 'rap for white indie kids'

― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, June 28, 2011 4:54 AM Bookmark

This aspect has been making me :/ btw.

this album has made me think i ignored digables unfairly

Broken record here, but Blowout Comb is a great album.

I have to get a new copy: the one I acquired last month was murky as hell.

Lol @titchy

the nights are getting stronger and the days are getting longer
the building's getting bigger, outside is getting smaller
the lies are getting truer and the truth is getting bright
things are looking blacker but black is looking whiter

^ sounds soso much like digable planets, esp the way most of the music drops out for the last line. alternate universe "cool like that".

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/20/137270759/first-listen-shabazz-palaces-black-up

album is dope as fuck

Try this instead: http://www.fuckstreamingjustgocopthealbumatyrfavoriteindependentrecordstore.com

because streaming is wrong

no because you should own something this good

and the packaging for this is seriously good

i think the vinyl comes in some sort of felt sleeve!

Anyone notice that he covers the Last Poets' "Black Is" for a second time? (It was also on the first DPs album.)

preorders come with a patch designed by Ish:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/matsononmusic/2015414528_album_of_the_year_black_up_by.html

although i guess the time for preorders has passed

free SP show at easy street queen anne (seattle) this evening, as a sort of record release non-party thing

album requires that i engage my low filter ;_;

plan to steal the patch from an unwary child

so, uh, what's the line right before the first "upwards or don't toss it at all" on free press and curl. that's my favorite musical moment, and it is just a moment. "god means come price arsenal?" probably not :\

I think it's "gun beats comprise arsenal"

see, that makes some sense

this sort of "second" career/crit revival is sort of.... unusual? especially for hip hop. Kool keith being maybe the only other example I can think of

DJ Quik is having that kind of moment

With quik its more like critics just caught up to what hed been doing all along

and Quik never won a grammy

40 and Quik never really stopped/changed they just kept cranking shit out under the radar. But Butler's been through three iterations/name changes without being particularly prolific.

this sort of "second" career/crit revival is sort of.... unusual? especially for hip hop. Kool keith being maybe the only other example I can think of

DOOM!

ooh yeah duh

yeah, they even shared the mask gimmick, though butler dropped it p quickly

this album doesnt make as much sense in headphones as it does on a good system

you really need to play it loud or just on speakers

dunno about headphones, but it sounds MASSIVE coming through 4 big speakers

like how "a treatease dedicated to the avian airess..." kind of flirts with "i'll take you there" (and namedrops "where i'm from")

Yeah, the bass in this record is huuuuuge.

I would go down to Easy Street, but I've been feeling like a zombie all day and going into town might not be in the cards.

Finally got a better copy -- what a difference.

totally

Decided I will be going to Easy Street tonight. Contenderizer (or anyone else), if you see me, say what up to u mans and dem.

hey rev, missed u at easy street but did go out. solid crowd! boring though. not the show, the crowd, no one dancing or anything. felt like the music wasn't really connecting due to apathy, but did like it. bought the LP and got a patch, which i will likely put in a box and never see again.

Yeah, I thought the show itself was great. Agree about the crowd, though. The unreleased songs they did were :O

digables were awesome and this is awesome.

review in clash magazine (crappy uk music mag) that i saw excerpted in press release said something along the lines of "the only reference point for this is Odd Future" which made me weep for the paucity of knowledge at the fingertips of indie-rock-crits-writing-abt-hip-hop today.

"his album doesnt make as much sense in headphones as it does on a good system"

You must need new headphones cos it sounds prime through mine. My headphones ARE my "good system" anymore though.

The unreleased songs they did were :O

yeah, there were a few songs i wasn't unfamiliar with. one ("black is..." or something like that? awesome) turns out to be a bonus moment at the end of "swerve" on the LP. wasn't in the leak i've been listening to.

have listened to this on a bunch of different media and stereo setups now. more than most albums, it sounds p radically different depending on how you're listening to it.

SP is kinda similar to odd future in a sense tho - both seem like genuinely fresh versions of stuff happening in indie rap in the late 90s

yeah, very much, and in SP's case, i think you can hear some early 90s conscious fallout, slam rapping, not a bad thing

completely forgot about the Easy Street show, just bought a ticket for Friday night

i have come to really hate slam rapping/poetry in the last 10 years so im pretending i dont hear it on this album

one thing it really makes me think is that j beez came along about 18 years too soon wit the remedy

j beez were basically predicting the dark/experimental underground rappers from NY a few years too early

i still havent heard the unreleased version of that album

it's not the greatest thing in the world, every version i've ever heard has sounded way too muffled, like it was never mixed properly, even (especially) the "crazy wisdom masters" EP tracks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoBlsDzc3Tg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s32wzXywWUc

^^^ NUTS in an AWESOME way

forget seattle, most important moment in underground rap since i dont know when?

i think the vinyl comes in some sort of felt sleeve!

so does the CD version, fwiw

LP sleeve feels soft and sort of velvety/felty, but i think it's just nice paper?

This is one of the best albums I've heard all year and I rarely listen to hip hop. It has an authentic cross-genre appeal. I guess that in the end being released through Sub Pop was undoubtedly a sign that it would be picked up by white indie kids such as myself.

raises eyebrow at inauthentic cross-genre appeal

I phrased it wrong didn't I? I meant that it's an album that has the potential to attract listeners that usually listen to other genres and it doesn't even seems like it's trying. Some artists and albums try too hard.

kind funny how many factory sounds from the sp404 end up on the shabazz records (lots of drum sounds, the "break!" sample etc).

the new lp is growing on me, though at first i kept turning it off and going back to the eps. the first two + last two songs would have made a killer ep.

his rapping is really what holds the album together imho - the beats/music are great but they are very disjointed and fractured, the vocals are what keep it tied together

totally, i don't think it would work at all as instrumentals

stevie/contenderizer OTM upthread about this stuff being like a sequel to J. Beez Wit Tha Remedy-era Jungle Brothers, seems like the most obvious reference point to me.

hoping this grows on me cause after 1st listen it sounds like a dude fucking around with new gear/programs

that rawness is kind of what i like about it, especially on the eps (which don't even sound properly mastered to me). i never have that sense of "how the fuck did he make that beat?", but he still has a sound and knows what he's going for & what works for his vocals.

o_O

http://dreamhamptonfilmvideo.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-am-ali-2002_13.html?utm_source=BP_recent

ok, this was the amazing, previously unknown first song they performed when i saw them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJdiUNDoYZw&feature=player_embedded#at=32

ANOTHER REGAL GUN BEAT TO THUG TO

the persona non gratis in this palace been on sacred dirt
peacock swatches of color off my leathers burst
rosé wristwatches whisper time in pleasure verse

was just listening to the album...

and shit yeah, i remember that! esp the "pilgrim marketing plan" intro line and "bop hard." where'd it come from? (and wonder why it got cut)

Apparently, it's an itunes bonus track.

http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/shabazz-palaces-concert/20054896-3738457.html

if someone gets a direct link plz post. making you sign up to download a recording you don't own the rights to is bullshit.

http://www.mediafire.com/?5nzyyg4hv37225x

here's shabazz live on KEXP in May, no signup required. the same exact songs + more.

ok so i really listened to "of light" a lot and the other EP and dug the hell out of it, but never really read anything abt shabazz palaces....is the dude from digable planets???????

yep Butterfly/Ishmael Butler

surprised you couldn't tell from just his voice!

yeah i guess now i hear it, but you know, this seemed to be bubbling up around the lil' b/oddfuture hype and i guess i just sort of assumed they were a bunch of weird kids or something....digable planets in 2010 just wasn't something that would ever come to mind i guess

anyway v cool to see a dude be able to reinvent himself and make a comeback

yeah pretty unusual (Doom, Kool Keith being the other exceptions)

"you corny, nigga"

for some reason this seems like the funniest hook I've heard all year

probably cuz of deej tbh

yeah he manages to make basic hooks sound amazing. eg 'im free, bitch you know im free' (at least i think he says bitch you know im free, well in my head thats how i rap it, if he doesnt say that he should)

and im glad hes got such an amazing 2nd wind - def rare in hip hop, fwiw i think SP is way better than DPs

GF opines that the black velvet case is cool but to her it sounded like andre 3000 but "less musical"

i want to start a kosmische hip hop thread

this album reminded me of these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN6nQP1b-Y8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90v2R2EOqeM&feature=related

somehow this sounded better listening at work on my ipod then in my basement with PA and sub blasting, go figga. maybe it was just too intense to digest a 1st listen on a bangin system.

http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=9373

this review is one of the worst i have read

i saw the vinyl of this finally - it didnt appear to be a felt sleeve :|

Ew, that review

the voice dripping insouciantly out of his nose.

still trying to work out what i think of this. the beats are really inventive, i enjoy it...i totally admire this on a head level but haven't got beyond that yet.

comment upthread "if the bug was american" rings true, and i'm also reminded of saul williams, but williams and the bug both had those moments of RAAARGHHH ferocity that really sucked you in, whereas this album kind of retreats further into itself as it goes on. almost like he's just talking to himself.

its not as abrasive as the bug thankfully (i do still like the bug though some of his earlier stuff kinda pre-dubstep is a bit too idm-noise-y) and its not as noisy/rocky as saul williams but yeah its similar in some ways, but i dont think its intellectual to the point of having no emotional impact - i love his voice and flow but the lyrics are very dispersed so its hard to really get wrapped up in them. but i find myself really liking (AND admiring) the beats. they i would say are what make it rap album of the year for me. the rappers on the very last track are a bit average though. was surprised to hear they are signed to sub pop too.

Apparently came onstage (although a different stage) at the Pitchfork fest right after Odd Future

checking this out thanks to Spotify... this is HOT HOT HOT

strangely actually sounds better on cd than vinyl - i thought the lp would bring out all the bass and texture more but it doesnt have the clarity of the cd unfortunately, its not as well defined, or it could just be my system, though i dont think so, lots of bassy dubstep sounds fine on my hi fi.

I mentioned the Bug in reference to the EPs, which are a bit murkier and darker in tone than Black Up.

(and inferior to)

the eps still feel more vital to me, the highs are higher and the verses and hooks are lot more engaging.

you're

the shit

like ear

ly summer

the breeze

the birds

the bees

they humming

noz otm (re song titles at least):

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnzfq3oFn71qztoauo1_400.jpg

ha

The enjoyment of this album is completely dependent on where and how you're listening. It might as well be an IDM album. If you listen to it in a silent room with good headphones and give it undivided attention the beats and textures are very interesting but if you hear it on public transportation/walking around/not really paying attention it becomes a somewhat annoying experience.

Disagree, I listen to this on the train a lot and it sounds great there too.

As w/ first cloudead album, I think it's prob best enjoyed on a warm summer evening getting all cocooned while shopping slo-mo for your tea

so this is like my new favorite rap. I used to rly only like tyler the creator for his over the top evilness and stuff but this is like animal collective but also hiphop. The music is just as important as the message.

xsquaredthemusician 1 month ago

way to fucking ruin it for me, dickhead

lol

You'll get that kind of thing with yer critically acclaimed underground hip-hop albums

what is the "message" that Shabazz Palaces has for us, exactly?

Save people, put out fires, go to school.

Oh I thought Tyler was saying "bum shit" but that makes more sense

ha spottie

This is a weird group of collaborators
http://www.thefader.com/2011/08/15/sbtrkt-f-drumma-boy-yukimi-nagano-and-shabazz-palaces-wildfire-remix-mp3/

Watched their performance on KEXP tonight. Really like the use of instruments on their set, at times it seems to me like they're doing the hip hop approach in a way noone has ever done it before and they're closer to greatness than I give them credit for. Next to the Cool Kids and the Cunninlynguists this one of the best hip hop records I've heard this year, still not sure if I'd classify it as hip hop tho.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djFrCb03-OI

Whoa now, not hip-hop you say?

http://soundcloud.com/chiefboima/chimurenga-renaissance-pungwe

New stuff, different name eh
http://exclaim.ca/News/members_of_shabazz_palaces_announce_new_album_as_chimurenga_renaissance

yikes, chimurenga renaissance

Chimurenga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimurenga‎

Chimurenga is a word in the Shona language, roughly meaning "revolutionary struggle". The word's modern interpretation broadly denotes a struggle for human ...
‎
First Chimurenga - ‎Second Chimurenga (1966–1979) - ‎In music - ‎References
Chimurenga music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimurenga_music‎

Chimurenga music is a Zimbabwean popular music genre coined and popularized by Thomas Mapfumo. Chimurenga is a Shona language word for liberation.

Great name! Goes well with Shabazz Palaces. Can't wait for the record.

Mapfumo is the man, and you can actually hear some echoes of Chimurenga in that track, nice.

And Mapfumo lives in the Pacific Northwest, no? Eugene? I demand collaboration!

Tendai Maraire is Zimbabwean.

I guess this is apparently mostly Tendai's project (that Ish is contributing to)? That would make sense.

This kind of reminds me of the Shafiq Husayn album?

This thread title always blows my mind.

(also, thanks for pointing out that I need to listen to that SH album)

That was referring to Tendai's solo album, if not clear

Lese Majesty, July 29. It's amazing but oh there will be backlash.

why's that?

It makes Black Up sound conventional by comparison.

thee satisfaction presence?

Cat is on maybe like 3 tracks, don't think Stas was?

I wasn't able to make out (or remember) a ton of lyrics but one song has the line "the streets is undefeated"

cannot wait to hear this

It makes Black Up sound conventional by comparison.

Preordering now...

Got the thumbs up from Mudede but i'm not sure he's capable of being impartial wrt Shabazz.

My guess is this will include more guitars and conventional instrumentation considering their work with whatever shitty 3rd rate Seattle band they were working with last year.

Hope I'm wrong though, their collaboration was pretty dire.

You're wrong.

If anything it's more synth-driven.

Oh sweet. More electronics would be welcome. Shit, i'd actually love to hear what they'd do with an 'unplugged' set.

can't wait

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8se-majest%C3%A9

My guess is this will include more guitars and conventional instrumentation considering their work with whatever shitty 3rd rate Seattle band they were working with last year.

― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, May 1, 2014 3:50 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hope I'm wrong though, their collaboration was pretty dire.

― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, May 1, 2014 3:52 PM Bookmark

btw if you're talking about Erik Blood, he's mixed all of SP's records from the beginning and has been an integral part of their whole thing from the getgo

ooh, I just remembered this part where this really spaced out dubby song with minimal (or no?) percussion suddenly dissolved into this really fast, aggro, almost gabber-ish track. That was a big whoa for me

new jam is very much in character...i like the first beat in better than the second, which sounds like a bridge or an outro that goes on for way too long. but it'll probably make sense in this 'suite' structure.

01. Dawn In Luxor
02. Forerunner Foray
03. They Come In Gold
04. Solemn Swears
05. Harem Aria
06. Noetic Noiromantics
07. The Ballad Of Lt. Major Winnings
08. Soundview
09. Ishmael
10. …down 155th in the MCM Snorkel
11. Divine of Form
12. #CAKE
13. Colluding Oligarchs
14. Suspicion of a Shape
15. MindGlitch Keytar TM Theme
16. Motion Sickness
17. New Black Wave
18. Sonic MythMap for the Trip Back

It didn't feel 18 tracks long when I heard it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVSSESLaZHQ

lol Cat damn near stole my jacket tonight

This album is properly brilliant. One of the best things I've heard all year.

Black Up is seriously one of my favorite albums ever. :D

Black Up's great - but the new one is something else. I love when artists just go, 'Fuck it, I'm going to try for something remarkable, and who gives a shit if I fail?' He hasn't failed on this one.

Did ILX ever get excited about THEEsatisfaction? felt like I was in a wilderness raving about that when it came out.

what i heard i didn't like, but maybe i heard the wrong things

yahhhh, I've heard the new one I know. I still haven't heard it not on edibles tho :P

Theesatisfaction I love in concept and they are totally nice in person but their music doesn't do a ton for me. I always love their contributions to Shabazz shit tho.

Loved Black Up and wanted to love this one but it's a bit of a snooze apart from They Come in Gold, Ishmael and Motion Sickness. Feels like a big statement that doesn't quite come off.

i still reach for the eps over Black Up, even though Black Up sounds way better. 'yeah you' kills though.

Black Up not only sounds better but has way better songs that form a much more coherent vision. Why do you prefer the EPs?

Not saying you're wrong for it but I can't wrap my head around it.

could just be because i heard them first, but they're just a little harder and weirder and hookier to my ears, both the lyrics and the beats. listening back now and 'chuch', 'gunbeat falls', 'blastit' are all so memorable.

i'm an EPs > album guy, too, I think primarily because I spent several months listening to the EPs, mind blown, stoked on this new discovery (i was lucky to read an early Stranger blog post about SP and ordered the EPs from Ish via email) ... the album is great, and obviously sounds better, but (a) my expectations were massive, and (b) the thrill of discovery was impossible to replicate..

i love both -- all three, whatever -- but i do feel like the album has a sort of shadowy evasiveness that the EPs don't have. like on the EPs, Ish is just making music. on the album he knows people are gonna be listening and wants to make 'em work / fuck wit 'em a bit. (not that that's a bad thing.)

^^ that said i'ma listen to all of it now and see if anything's changed

Ishmail

the EPs are obv better because they came w patches, where you had to cajole a patch out of someone for the lp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tk9e7FG2ww

this, ratking, .clipping, the kate tempest record (which is easily my album of the year)... 2014 has been a banner year for hip hop with pretentions that is A*W*E*S*O*M*E*

+ open mike eagle and the upcoming busdriver & milo records. don't know ratking or kate tempest.

i have open mike eagle on my desk but haven't listened to it yet (we just had a baby) will get to it tomorrow! ratking = new york brats w/grime and avant overtones. kate tempest = uk poet whose debut lp tells one long story of mixed up kids caught up in drugs, poverty and sexual confusion from multiple perspectives, and is majestic.

i like this ratking album

it's great, isn't it? Snow Beach is my favourite.

I top tenned the last album; I'm not feling this yet.

that Ratking track mentioned above, if anyone is curious
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVMByBIYWHg

I finally got to listen to this on a decent system after being on vacation for a year and it's my AOTY until further notice.

This is great.

http://www.npr.org/2014/07/20/331345354/first-listen-shabazz-palaces-lese-majesty

When we inevitably poll this great album, we should poll suites. I think at the moment my favourite is number three, the blissful dub-jazz one.

this is very enjoyable! can't really pin any of it down yet, it's just sort of flowing over me, but i imagine that's an intended effect

I liked the first album, played it for months. The novelty might have worn off for me.

this album is quite a lot different to the first, I think

Loved this on first listen.

i stopped listening to shabazz palaces because my current system was too shitty to reproduce the bass : /

Legit. The bass sounds amazing on this album.

not a huge fan of the constantly-dubbed-out vocal mix on this

Now on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/6Xx2yfMXUlZZZfiPbIuWFH

Loving this atm.

Me too. I was put off by the first track that came out a few weeks back but as an album, Lese Majesty sounds amazing.

this is really great

EA-TING CAKE

The line about fiends / crows / ezells makes me so happy.

Yes, definitely my favorite line on the album but one I realize won't quite scan for non-Seattlites.

Ha just realized up thread I said I was in vacation for a year when it was three weeks.

Yes, definitely my favorite line on the album but one I realize won't quite scan for non-Seattlites.

― The Reverend, Tuesday, July 29, 2014 1:28 PM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

pls to explain?

Already listened to the whole album three times today.

Ezell's is a Seattle-area chicken joint chain. I assume he's talking about the one in the Central District (with the wooden fence).

I've listened to the album at least a dozen times, apparently.

cool

i only know places that were in posse on broadway

Here's the street view with Ezells and the fence in question: https://www.google.com/maps/@47.606549,-122.302756,3a,75y,222.17h,91.23t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sCkMy4T3RJdzBQxeHpwU4RA!2e0!6m1!1e1

It's on 23rd about half a mile north of Jackson, a few blocks south of Union. Sir Mixalot and his posse definitely rolled past it but were more set on Mexican eatin'.

Sometimes I wonder what happened to Larry the White Guy, he was in real estate I hope he didn't lose it all when the bubble burst

From what I've heard, Mix (later) made a lot in real estate investment himself and I've hoped the same thing.

"this album is quite a lot different to the first, I think"

yeah i think so. i get much more of an ambient vibe from this one. there's a few tracks which are as abrasive as black up, but mostly, this is a pretty serene experience.

O_O O_O O_O ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

(finally listening to this, I'm considering pushing a meeting so I can keep playing it)

apparently I forgot to actually schedule the meeting so I pushed it half an hour #priorities

Surprised there's not more discussion about Lese Majesty; this is one of the best albums I've heard this year. Endlessly inventive and really enjoyable.

It's fully an album; hunting and pecking for tracks to focus on feels counterproductive

apart from a few songs, its really like the opposite of black up in a lot of ways. that album was pretty confrontational, this is a welcoming, meditative, serene experience for the most part. taken me a while to get used to it.

yeah this is excellent

I remember when the term "witch house" first popped up, the mental image I had in my head of what the music would sound like is very much like what's going on with the Shabazz Palaces albums, especially Lese Majesty.

i dunno jay and silent bob's young cousin from flint rapping "Bissssh you alooooowne" over casio presets was p cool too

this ticks off a lot of boxes for me, and i enjoy listening to it, but it's so vaporous, i have a hard time holding on to what I've heard after it's over. still v impressed with the album, just wish it grabbed me more.

agree, there is very little in the way of hooks here (vocally or instrumentally).

it's occasionally zappaesque

Can't decide if the Loser edition was named that way because only losers would worry about getting ltd edition purple vinyl or some other reason but I felt like a loser walking around hunting down a copy. Glad I have it now though. Strange title for the ltd ed though.

that's not a Shabazz thing, it's a Sub Pop thing. they call all their limited colored vinyl runs Loser Edition...a reference to their famous tshirt, but i'd guess also a cheeky way of poking fun at vinyl collector nerds. more here: https://www.subpop.com/news/2012/06/05/sub_pop_loser_edition_faq

#CAKE video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DDRPf8KHawY

weird video. nsfw fyi

that video looks great tho I have no idea what's going on. kind of a gigantic terrifying statue vibe in the final shot

it's a feeling

the black constellation?

i should go back to the new album; songs on it have stuck with me most all year

xp: their collective, also includes Thee Satisfaction, OC Notes, Erik Blood, some visual artist peeps

new song about Richard Sherman :D

https://soundcloud.com/yung-bruh-1/sherm-stick

this album is still one of the most interesting from 2014, but it is basically just rap music that (apart from cake and a few other songs obv) you could maybe hear in a spa or get a massage to.

http://31.media.tumblr.com/120892984cc145db4accd2b35c4c9a8b/tumblr_mw2ebd2Nv71qbipv3o1_500.gif

if it was instrumental, i would def give it to the masseur next time to go to get my back sorted.

Times have changed. In my day if the masseur played hip-hop he'd be run out of town.

seriously, if was instrumental, im not sure anyone would even know it was hip hop. its pretty ambient stuff imo.

forthcoming THEESatifaction album is excellent

this album owns

#latepass

otmfm

Also I relistened to Black Up recently and two years later it completely did my mind in

both great records that I love but rarely am in the mood to listen to.

Black Up is my favorite album of the decade so far.

^this is why I spun it again. It's prob top 3 for me now. It sounds really radical to me

yeah, this album is truly great imo

black up is 10 times better than lese. which is good but just a bit too meditative. this group need to be careful they dont become a new kind of pm dawn (not in sound, as i actually liked pm dawn, but in perception). but it is interesting how shabazz seem to get more love in non rap than in rap circles.

It's the record label

I need to listen to LM a little more before I can offer any more opinions w conviction but it kind of is like the Tree House to Black Up's Dark York, where both Le1f and SP are sort of evoking cloud rap as a way to transmute their tendencies towards abstraction into something more luxuriant and luminous, aesthetically speaking

good analogy

it is interesting how shabazz seem to get more love in non rap than in rap circles.

― StillAdvance, Wednesday, January 14, 2015 3:13 AM Bookmark

I get why, but a lot of my love for SP has to do with how artfully they capture the hyperspecific context of being a black Seattlite. Moreso on Black Up than LM, even if it doesn't have anything as geographically specific as the line about the fence at Ezell's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYeTod70_GE

this is what the beats on LM remind me of.

this album owns

― example (crüt), Monday, January 12, 2015 1:09 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

#latepass

― example (crüt), Monday, January 12, 2015 1:09 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

also wtf @ this thread title?

haha yes it is... unfortunate

it came from a twitter post mentioned in The Stranger: http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2010/01/11/shabazz-palaces-bigger-than-jimi

A few days ago I was on a date and we randomly walked past Ish chilling on a park bench eating from a takeout container by himself. My date didn't know who he was. Cool story.

would read again

does anyone really think lese is better than black up?

thee satisfaction are a tad on the corny side as vocalists/writers btw. musically theyre much more interesting.

i don't particularly care that much if black up is better, they're both good

xp

does anyone really think lese is better than black up?

*this guy*

yea they have very different vibes imo and sometimes i like the spacier more out there ambient vibe of lese, sometimes i prefer black up

i mean i still think black up is a masterpiece too!

clear some space out so we can space out

does anyone really think lese is better than black up?

― StillAdvance, Tuesday, August 4, 2015 10:53 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i actually do!

also the opening two tracks on lese are so inviting that i just think of those opening vibes and immediately feel compelled to put the record on

Ha, that's how I feel about Black Up.

ha black up is also inviting for sure.

also i have really been digging theesatisfaction's EarthEE, tried a while back and it didn't really stick but i am really enjoying it right now

EarthEE is fantastic

"lavishments of light-looking" track from WOKE, new group w/ fly lo + thundercat + shabazz - https://soundcloud.com/adultswimsingles/woke, this tune has george clinton on it too

more info

http://pitchfork.com/news/61398-flying-lotus-talks-woke-his-new-project-with-shabazz-palaces-and-thundercat/

http://www.thefader.com/2015/09/28/flying-lotus-shabazz-palaces-thundercat

in a spa or

sometimes ppl need spas

new song: https://shabazzpalaces.bandcamp.com/album/quazarz-born-on-a-gangster-star

Quazarz is out there now. kookoo good

This is a group that feels like they should be way more massive than they are. Reminds me a little bit of Animal Collective pre MWP in terms of it being a mass kept secret.

two new albums

http://www.npr.org/2017/07/06/535282090/first-listen-shabazz-palaces-quazarz-born-on-a-gangster-star

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/25/534316470/first-listen-shabazz-palaces-quazarz-vs-the-jealous-machines

think the first one's got a little oboe solo on it

or an english horn or somethin

im more into what his son's doing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwIX4GwN8U&t=2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwIX4GwN8U

Keep thought leading!

The new albums are great. I feel like I'll be spending the rest of the summer unravelling them.

i like the albums but ive a feeling nothing will be as good as blackup from these guys. obv these two albums are going to take a long time to figure out, but these two sound much looser than the last two. kind of relaxed, like its just two albums from a group not really striving to do anything in particular, and releasing the results (i know theres some sort of narrative at work, but im not sure it was that sustained).

The problem with these two albums to me is that it's basically just a sketched out version of a story that was also there on Lese Majesty. But, some of the details are great. I'm not the worlds biggest hip-hop expert, has there been much talk of 'Quasars' before? It's brilliant as a concept, not a star (which were negative on Lese Majesty, too corporate, too gilded pharaoh) but a quasar, QUAsi-StellAR, star-like but in fact powered by a black hole at the center. That's kinda afro-futurism at it's finest, imo.

cuz there's no theesatisfaction thread - classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2powgJ-7t_Y

Yes. Their second album, especially.

Is it just me or did these guys peak already? Def some interesting stuff on what they've done since but they seem to (despite the big concepts that they seem to adore) have become much more low key, like they just keep making music and putting it out, without any great game plan...

They peaked with Black Up. That is one of the top 10 best hip hop albums of the 2010s for me, nothing they’ve done after feels as concise and visionary.

Yeah, I feel the same. Also just weird that they went from black up to almost totally avoiding anything that sounded as tough. Maybe black up was an anomaly, and they approached it diff as it was their sub pop debut and after that they just went back to what's their comfort zone, kinda trippy, ethereal, stoner ish, less concrete material.

The first two EPs were pretty tough, and are still my favorite even if the production sounds kinda thin/DIY (though it works in their favor imo). Black Up sounds like the full realization of those EPs, and from there it seems like they kept getting more and more into ornate synth-psych production. I haven't kept up with the last couple tbh.

Last year's release was good.

Jordan xpost every word otm

i treasure my early-DIY copies of the EPs and Black Up holds up, but after that...

Theres no ambition to their post black up stuff. Or maybe its just too spacey, idk. But it seems like stuff that's fairly easy for them. Or maybe they're just taking a hell of a lot of drugs, idk.

EPs prior to Black Up are great I agree!

It’s the stuff after Black Up that has let me down. There’s still some good ideas here and there, but they don’t get even close.

I've liked most of their stuff but Lese Majesty was a peak for me

I think I preferred lil b doing ambient weirdness

I'm relistening to Lese Majesty and it sounds way better than how I remember tbh

lese majesty is at least as strong as black up, songwriting-wise, but the heavy-hitting sonics of black up put it over the top for me.

Lese Majesty was a peak for me

same here. don't think I've ever been so awed by an album on car speakers. also really liked what I heard from Don of Diamond Dreams, should probably go back to that.

same for me too

id like instrumental versions of their last few albums, esp lese majesty

Lese Majesty feels like you're lying on the floor staring at the ceiling in a darkened room where someone has different coloured spotlights trained on a spinning disco ball

I thought lese would be cool music to have playing if your masseuse was rap inclined

Hip hop spa beats

best way to experience Lese Majesty is at a laser show out of your gourd on edibles. I haven't really connected with any of their post-LM material tho. I've also just had mixed feelings since Tendai was transphobic to me in person -_-

ugh, i'm sorry.

I should give their albums more proper listens, LM sounded really cool but didn't have tracks that were as immediately arresting as a lot of Black Up, and I don't think I heard the Quazarz albums in their entirety. The last time I tried to see them live was at the Sub Pop anniversary party on Alki and the bass was so ridiculously loud that it drowned out everything else. The show I saw a couple years earlier was excellent though.

damn i'm sorry to hear that EM

he's not in the group anymore, left sometime between the last two albums so it's just a butler solo project these days i think

revisiting the first two EPs now ... shit felt revolutionary at the time.

and still does, kinda

ish butler has a new e.p. out, it’s really nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEoE_1-Ctq4