Archive for the ‘Shabazz Palaces’ tag
shabazz palaces recently released this pretty transfixing video for standout (and my favorite) track “are you… can you.. were you? (felt)” from their super-lauded album black up.
It’s been a hot minute in internet time since last we heard from South Africa’s dapper don, Spoek Mathambo. Luckily for us (aka you), the man is back, and he’s giving you something for free.
“Put some red on it” is the lead single off of Spoek’s upcoming release, and to commemorate/promote the occasion, duders combined forces with some of the baddest asses in the game – namely, Machinedrum, Telepathe, and LxNxM faves Shabazz Palaces – to give you a series of remixes that whet the appetite for more.
The catch: it’s a short-term deal! You want this music in your life? Yes you do. Get on that thang thang.
h/t to Sir Andrew of Matson.
Uh son. Shabazz Palaces doing what they do, live in the studio of Seattle’s beloved independent radio station KEXP. Coming through with style, substance, and unfuckwittable creative veracity – these 206 luminaries demonstrate they have been around the block and see into its future. In this intimate, in-studio session, they perform a few cuts from Black Up, the first album since their recent signing to the world-renowned, Seattle-based independent label Sub Pop. Do yourself a favor and cop Black Up here.
This video contains footage from the upcoming documentary by Village Beat titled Tough Bond — a film about kids sniffing glue to survive street life in Kenya’s disappearing villages and exploding urban slums.
Original documentary score was provided by Shabazz Palaces.
Learn more about the film and cause on the Village Beat Non-Profit Company page on Facebook
Shabazz Palaces is making the best music to come out of Seattle since Jimi. Do not sleep on the Black Up album when it drops on June 28th.
Turns out hot days are perfect for sitting in the sun with a cold beverage. The French Legation Museum – the former French embassy grounds – hosted a lawn party with two stages and many places to lay your weary head to rest. It turned out to be the perfect environment to hear James Blake perform, as his low-tempo melodics translate into even more of a relaxed vibe when performed live (as a certain Hollis Wong-Wear said, he is the Mayer Hawthorne of dubstep). Also caught San Francisco two-piece the Tune Yards, who I’m definitely going to be looking into more.
No mention of the day would be complete without Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. OFWGKTA is the single most buzzed-about group going right now, and the line at the Fader Fort reflected it (side note: even Fader cover boy James Blake was having to work his talking magic to get through the lines).
Odd Future is hip hop that is about as punk rock as it gets. The music is heavy and energetic, driven by bass hits and sharp snares, and the lyrics are about what you would expect from an eight-person deep crew of 17 to 21 year olds. Despite the intense water bottle throwing (chill, guys), they owned the crowd for every single minute of their set.
After swinging by Shabazz Palaces (and THEE Satisfaction) at the Sub Pop showcase, the night wrapped up at Emo’s with a showcase that could very easily make one’s head spin: Pharoah Monch opened up, with Mela Machinko on vocals, and a surprise appearance from Jean Grae; Asher Roth continued to be terrible; Freddie Gibbs brought some serious midwest lean – and a seven-deep crew – to the stage; the Cool Kids played their hits and have apparently grown up into being the Cool Men; and Das Racist finished out a six-show day by bringing down the house.
Granted that the Shabazz Palaces show at Neumos in Seattle earlier this month went off like a supernova, we figured some of the neophytes might be hungry for some past works. Dj.Alex J, cooked up this mixtape to promote the digable planets tour that kicked off in Oct.09′. The tape includes exclusive rare remixes of classic Digable Planets material, and also includes (then) unreleased music from Butterfly and Doodlebug. There is a smattering of other classic cuts mixed in, with Busta, Talib, MF DOOM, Pete Rock&CL, Chali 2na… which can’t hurt. Download Sounds from the 7th Dimensions. peace to okayplayer where I scooped this.
Aight. It’s official. Official official like. Shabazz Palaces just tore down the house over at Neumos, and if you weren’t there, I’m sorry for your loss. There’s about to be hella video, etc coming out, but in the meantime, check the vibe with these pictures, courtesy of Mr. Tang himself.
Rappers: learn a new way. The shit is here.
We would be remiss not to tell you about this show. Shabazz Palaces, the product of once and future legendary Seattle mc Ishmael Butler, aka Butterfly of Digable Planets fame, is performing live for the very first time on home turf.
Now, we’re not promoting this show officially. And we have no financial gain to be made by you showing up this Friday. But, it’s safe to say that this show will go down in history. Shabazz Palaces has been pretty much universally recognized as the best Northwest release of 2009 (sorry indie rock kids). When Larry Mizell Jr, Andrew Matson, Josh Powell and our own Wordlush all agree, you know you’ve done something special.
But don’t take my damn word for it. You should take a listen. Since we’re not in the habit of blowing up local artists’ music free to the world (support your peoples), there are some more videos below the jump (notably their live KEXP performance a few months back), but to whet your appetite, here’s the official video for Belhaven Meridian, directed by Kahlil Joseph (Update: and not Pun(c)tuation Gallery impresario Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes).
Watch it. Then come to Neumos on Friday.
