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

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yeah, this album is truly great imo

Dan S, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 02:04 (nine years ago) link

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.

StillAdvance, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 11:13 (nine years ago) link

It's the record label

Spottie, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 14:35 (nine years ago) link

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

all that glitters ain't cyber gold (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 14 January 2015 15:37 (nine years ago) link

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.

The Reverend, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 20:07 (nine years ago) link

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

this is what the beats on LM remind me of.

StillAdvance, Monday, 26 January 2015 11:23 (nine years ago) link

six months pass...

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

marcos, Monday, 3 August 2015 16:46 (eight years ago) link

also wtf @ this thread title?

marcos, Monday, 3 August 2015 16:49 (eight years ago) link

haha yes it is... unfortunate

Οὖτις, Monday, 3 August 2015 16:58 (eight years ago) link

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

brotherlovesdub, Monday, 3 August 2015 17:03 (eight years ago) link

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.

drown zoowap (The Reverend), Monday, 3 August 2015 19:35 (eight years ago) link

would read again

Spottie, Monday, 3 August 2015 20:08 (eight years ago) link

does anyone really think lese is better than black up?

StillAdvance, Tuesday, 4 August 2015 14:53 (eight years ago) link

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

StillAdvance, Tuesday, 4 August 2015 14:53 (eight years ago) link

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

marcos, Tuesday, 4 August 2015 16:24 (eight years ago) link

xp

marcos, Tuesday, 4 August 2015 16:25 (eight years ago) link

does anyone really think lese is better than black up?

*this guy*

Credit: howtokeepapositiveattitudedotcom (stevie), Tuesday, 4 August 2015 17:03 (eight years ago) link

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

marcos, Tuesday, 4 August 2015 17:12 (eight years ago) link

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

Credit: howtokeepapositiveattitudedotcom (stevie), Tuesday, 4 August 2015 17:13 (eight years ago) link

clear some space out so we can space out

marcos, Thursday, 13 August 2015 16:24 (eight years ago) link

one month passes...

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!

marcos, Friday, 18 September 2015 13:57 (eight years ago) link

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

marcos, Friday, 18 September 2015 14:03 (eight years ago) link

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

I Am Curious (Dolezal) (DJP), Friday, 18 September 2015 14:04 (eight years ago) link

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

marcos, Friday, 18 September 2015 14:12 (eight years ago) link

EarthEE is fantastic

please don't shampoo your eyes (stevie), Friday, 18 September 2015 15:24 (eight years ago) link

"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

marcos, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 18:06 (eight years ago) link

one year passes...

in a spa or

sometimes ppl need spas

j., Tuesday, 15 November 2016 02:25 (seven years ago) link

five months pass...

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

na (NA), Tuesday, 25 April 2017 15:50 (six years ago) link

Quazarz is out there now. kookoo good

Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Sunday, 7 May 2017 01:02 (six years ago) link

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.

yesca, Sunday, 7 May 2017 02:57 (six years ago) link

two months pass...

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

j., Monday, 10 July 2017 18:10 (six years ago) link

or an english horn or somethin

j., Monday, 10 July 2017 18:10 (six years ago) link

im more into what his son's doing:

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

Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Monday, 10 July 2017 22:04 (six years ago) link

Keep thought leading!

Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 10 July 2017 22:22 (six years ago) link

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

Shanty Brunch (stevie), Tuesday, 11 July 2017 09:40 (six years ago) link

three weeks pass...

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).

StillAdvance, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 12:18 (six years ago) link

three weeks pass...

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.

Frederik B, Monday, 28 August 2017 12:13 (six years ago) link

one month passes...

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

Week of Wonders (Ross), Saturday, 7 October 2017 01:25 (six years ago) link

Yes. Their second album, especially.

Dr Keith Assblow (stevie), Sunday, 8 October 2017 12:08 (six years ago) link

three years pass...

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...

candyman, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 00:35 (three years ago) link

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.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 00:55 (three years ago) link

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.

candyman, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 09:17 (three years ago) link

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.

change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 15:22 (three years ago) link

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...

alpine static, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 17:47 (three years ago) link

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.

candyman, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 19:41 (three years ago) link

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.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 19:47 (three years ago) link

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

Ray Cooney as "Crotch" (stevie), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 20:47 (three years ago) link


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