new video: "are you... can you... were you... (felt)"

directed by maikoyo alley-barnes. discuss.

FOE - Shabazz Palaces Remix!!!

A while ago I hear internet bubblings about a Shabazz remix of this group called FOE. A search finds the group but no remix. I instantly become a fan of Hannah Clark. Months later, the coveted remix mysteriously surfaces on FOE's Soundcloud page. Free download too! so good to hear ish sprinkling his flavour on already great songs. or more like totally reenvisioning and reconstructing it. the original is below. and below that is 'handsome stranger called death' my favourite FOE jam. they've just released their debut. she's only 20 (thus born when ish released the first digable record). big tings a gwan i feel.

seasoned prose

autumnish photo by owen richards

tune: prince far i and the arabs

these tunes labelled such aren't by shabazz but for fans of the palaceer's directions they might be found a snug fit.
prince far i & the arabs ~ abderrahane (from the 1978 lp crytuff dub encounter)

tunes: sensational's new 1

JAZZY SENSATIONAL JUST PASS ME by SENSATIONAL

interview: "don't need money to turn a prophet"

another interview from the land down under. when women glow and men plunder. from theage.com.au By Craig Mathieson

Ishmael Butler predicted his fame but he's never cared for cash. ISHMAEL Butler is fond of saying that he always knew his music would take him where he was meant to go. It's a statement that speaks to the hip-hop veteran's quiet belief in his own ability as a musician, as well as being a nod to the mysticism that permeates his current outfit, Shabazz Palaces. A career, as Butler sees it, is the last thing on which a musician should focus. ''I never had a desperation about fame and fortune being my primary focus. But this outlook is obviously one that has come after a lot of experience, which equals into my own - if you will - brand of maturity,'' says the Seattle-based rapper and producer. ''You're trying to go from your instincts to the finished product without commercial predictions or expectations.'' Butler was previously best known as Butterfly, one-third of the 1990s New York hip-hop trio Digable Planets, whose 1992 single Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) was a Grammy Award-winning hit single. Advertisement: Story continues below The group broke up after two albums and Butler eventually returned to his home town of Seattle, where after various projects he started Shabazz Palaces with multi-instrumentalist Tendai Maraire. After a pair of EPs, the pair announced themselves with a debut album that proved to be one of 2011's best releases. Astral in outlook but earthy in its construction, Black Up moves through spectral soundscapes in which history and the everyday intermingle. Black awareness, sci-fi electronics and twisted funk are all identifiable elements but Shabazz Palaces use them to make music that is sinuous and unpredictable; in an era of tightly compressed radio mixes, it's hip-hop for headphones. ''That's always been the listening experience I've liked,'' says Butler, who now stands outside hip-hop's mainstream (Black Up was the first hip-hop record released by renowned Seattle rock label Sub Pop). He believes the current multi-platinum order, with their voracious consumerism, is a reflection of the US's growing obsessions with commercial profits, fostered in the years before the global financial crisis. Hip-hop, like the housing market, is a bubble waiting to burst. ''The whole thing with America falling financially and helping to sink the whole world is that the machines and systems behind traditional means of exploitation are trying to keep a hold of things in face of these revolutions cropping up,'' he says. ''The music for us is a direct reflection of where we stand - we respect the song form and the traditional way you do it but there's more to life than that.'' Shabazz Palaces can be viewed as a retort to established structures. Even a song, they appear to suggest, can experience a revolution. ''For sure,'' Butler says. ''The notion that inspiration comes from inside you, we don't believe that. We believe it comes from an unnameable place. And when it comes, we like to go in that direction.''

"blackness" interview

the ten first time interview with ishmael butler (shabazz palaces)

the palaceer's best of 2011

sorry that this new blogger interface is messing up and won't let the space bar do it's thing. one of the bestest things ever is when someone gets ish to do something like this cos you're guaranteed to be introduced to myriad delights of unknown secret gardens. i like this new music blog mileau where artists do this journalist stuff cos if it's a good artist they show the journos how its done and don't take it too seriously. half of the subpop list seems to be personal stuff. the list is from subpop and also a couple of tracks from gorilla vs bear and there was a third list but i lost it, all i remember was his favourite album was the new chico mann so i've also included something from that. also the bit of writing for his number one (alien in berlin kebab shop) was one of the most hilarious things i've ever read. i need to read more stuff like that that just cracks me up... any tips for funny writers/novels/short stories? the closest i've read to that style would be tom robbins but he's a bit wooden... i'm looking for something absurd but also totally unpredictable and stupid. advice please. bye. ======= Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces 1.belaynesh 2.all american/Weekend 3.kola boof 4.toyin odutola all her work 5.lob stop sta (feat Coco o.) 6.nov 5 7.black bean burger zippy’s 8.the view from saul’s rooftop 9.the mavs 10.the alien i saw working in a kebab shop in berlin. he looked like a slightly melting arab gary shandling. i knew something was funny watching him move something in the way it poured the tahini. then a weird incandescent light was poured out of his ears sort of like honey. a leak of sorts.he peeped me noticing it saw the confused horror explode through my expression and moved in a time folding way, like a film jumping. it looked shocked like a young boy discovered stealing quarters from his moms purse to play galaga at the corner store. i backed away into the door and almost broke through it but then it said something that sounded like “xeeulis” or something and i felt comfort like never before. we spoke for about an hour but everything it said i immediately forgot. except this, that kanye west was the greatest artist of any kind in the history of man. weekend ~ all-american (for less than a quid, including a charity donation) i'm sure you'll have as much fun as i did finding out who/what kola boof is... boom clap bachelors - Løb Stop Stå (i never knew danish could sound so nice) and from gvb: trouble ~ bussin' (now there's a gunbeat literally) jonny nelson ~ put em in a bodybag (love the fun, energy, and the karate kid reference) pissed off that this list, i think it was on pitchfork was taken down, but all i remember was this album was on it: chico mann - go to that place from analog drift lp on wax poetics records