ishmaelites

sp tumblr site up

2012-02-11T03:24:00.000+01:00

someone has begun a shabazz palaces tumblr site. i don't know what tumblr is but the site is cool and has a smorgasmabord of photos n stuff some of which i'd not seen. like this.

i love it. it looks like an oil painting!!!

Battles ~ White Electric (Shabazz Palaces remix)

2012-02-10T17:49:00.002+01:00

This is sweet but also bitter since the first verse is from the unreleased jewel "Allahu Akbar" inclining me to think that song won't get a studio release. "Trapped tightly in the eagles claws" that's a homage to the Last Poets it's from them. Interesting to hear it now amidst the rising dissatisfaction with "Reaganomics/Bushanomics/Obamanomics". it's cool to see ish becoming a remixer it's a whole new phase in his career since he's never done this before.So Shabazz has remixed Foe and now Battles... Ish always has had a strong love for British artists going back to the 90s and his work with D-Influence, Tek 9, and 4Hero

palaceer laz SPEAKETH

2012-02-10T17:06:00.001+01:00

*sorry there are no spaces.. the new blogger interface is obviously fucked up but i'm working on it or i'll migrate* this is one of the best interviews with ish i've heard since the interviewer goes straight to the point: spirit. i'm glad someone asked him point blank what kind of meditation he does since i've been wondering that too. it's not surprising that he made his own style rather than following a set method. you have to listen to the audio embedded below since that's a whole different interview than the printed one. enjoy>

artwork by jacob wilson.

Divine Palace: MC of Shabazz Palaces talks funk, spirituality

By Daniel Means

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Ishmael Butler has been redefining what it means to be cool since his days under the pseudonym Butterfly of the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop trio, Digable Planets. Now, reigning at the forefront of modern hip-hop as Palaceer Lazaro of Shabazz Palaces, his musical experiment acts to liberate a genre confined by the formulaic production of recent years. Dropping the profusely praised album Black Up in 2011, Palaceer along with multi-instrumentalist and finger piano master Tendai Maraire, have created a musical space between psychedelia and hip-hop so sonically dense that the two genres can’t help but gravitate towards a funky sound.

Palaceer touched down at Yoshi’s in San Francisco last Thursday, putting on a mind-bending show with psych-indie rockers Siddhartha and saxophonist David Boyce both opening. Palaces’ performance could be imagined as the musical product of putting an ancient tribal-drummer and a beat-generation poet into a swagged-out space shuttle blasting off for an inter-galactic voyage.

The dynamic duo filled the jazz bar with astronomical chimes, organic conga drumming and enigmatic verses all the while keeping a danceable groove. With live experimentation ranging from a cache of voice modulations to laser-sharp synth tones, I was surprised that Palaceer was able to simply keep a flow — just imagine the feat of a musician taking the experimental beats of someone like Flying Lotus, rapping over them, while keeping his breath (not to mention sanity).

Underneath the thick, atmospheric layers of sound, there is something at the core of the group’s music that fundamentally challenges the state of current hip-hop. Their music confidently echoes from a sonically distant realm, bringing listeners a distinct noise that unveils the potential of a genre. Recently, I had a chance to talk with the Palaceer himself, carrying a free-form conversation on divinity, ghosts and all things funky.

Daniel Means: So you’ve had several characters from Butterfly of Digable Planets to the current Palaceer Lazaro. Is there a different individual behind each of these personas and how do these name transitions change the way that you make art?

Ishmael Butler: There’s not a different individual behind them. It’s like, when you get up and let’s say you have a job interview, maybe you’re going to a party, maybe you’re going to a date. All of these things require a different self of yours, both internally and externally. Now, we go to great extents to dress up that self or at least get into that self, so I just go a step further to name that self. The name is just a part of it all. It doesn’t allow or influence anything, it’s more like it’s the name of what’s happening to me, the name of the things that I’m understanding about myself and that’s why I attach it to whatever’s going on musically or artistically in me at that time. You know what I mean?

DM: I feel that. I’m curious. In your opinion, what’s the funk?

IB: The funk? Well, it’s kind of a cool word in the sense that there is no definition. It’s what you make of it really, and by that what I mean is this: It has to do with rhythm, it has to do with meaning, it has to do with instinct, it has to do with your talent. It’s the way you see things, hear things and want to make music feel. It all has to do with your ability to bring that shit together into something that people will either like or not like or call funky or not funky. A lot of it has to do with you, but a lot of it has to do with what is thought of, after you do what you do, of what you’ve done.

DM: So, lets talk about Black Up, which you released last summer. In the song “Are you…Can you…Were you? (Felt)”, you repeat the line “It’s a feeling.” For you, what does it mean to actually feel, and is there a feeling that you aim for throughout the music that you make?

IB: I’m not sure what it really means. I feel like, the feeling of surprise, of a good a surprise — the feeling that you notice something that you didn’t know before and it becomes apparent to you and how it sinks in and how you deal with that and what it does to you is the feeling to me. It’s being able to kind of grasp onto something that you didn’t know prior to finding out about it. And that excitement is something that I always look forward to in life.

DM: In your music, you talk a lot about freedom. For you, what does it mean to be free?

IB: Well, it’s an abstract word, you know? It varies, I think that a lot of it is attached to your courage, your level of courage. Because there’s a lot of people in this world born into situations that don’t really offer a lot of freedom. Yet, we see often that people from situations like that do amazing things because they kind of carve out a meaning for freedom in their situation for themselves and pursue that and do amazing things. To me, it’s like the courage to understand who you are in whatever situation you’re in, and maximize what can happen in that situation both affecting yourself and affecting other people.

DM: Awesome. Back to Black Up. Many of the tracks like for example, “An Echo from the Hosts that Profess Infinitum,” they have a spooky echo that’s almost ghostly. In fact you even discuss ghosts in your lyrics. So, do you believe in ghosts?

IB: Yes.

DM: And how do they affect the way you make music?

IB: Just timelessness. Life is not something that begins and ends with the ability to go and buy something at the mall. There’s just realms. There’s realms that are existing on top of each other and we get caught up in this realm so much because we’re losing our spirituality and our humanity and our connection with nature, so we just ignore a lot of shit that’s going on around us. I try to pay attention to things as much as I can and have a conversation with the universe instead of just going through it numbly. There’s ghosts of all kinds, not just people. It’s infinite too. Things that deal with ghosts, they’re not really to be talked about. You experience them. You know what I mean? It’s kind of like between you and that experience really.

DM: You were just talking about how certain things are read. Do you believe in fate, do you believe in a divine presence?

IB: Yeah I do. I don’t think it’s shaped anything like we’ve been taught. It’s something that people can discover through observations of things other than themselves. We live in such an individualistic society where everybody’s trying to get to the bottom of themselves. But, I think that if you can observe and have respect for the things that you’re observing and have sort of a child-like curiosity in it — I think you’ll find divine. The way things are working, the mechanisms of humans in the world, it’s not difficult to see how amazing and divine it is … I just think we have to pay attention to different things, I don’t think its that deep.

DM: When was the last time that you found the divine?

IB: Well, to be honest with you man, I find it all the time. Like I’m sitting at the park and there are people walking by … it’s just always here.

view this interview in its original setting on the daily californian website.

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

2012-01-30T19:59:00.003+01:00

directed by maikoyo alley-barnes.discuss.

FOE - Shabazz Palaces Remix!!!

2012-01-30T00:45:00.001+01:00

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

2012-01-24T23:16:00.003+01:00

autumnishphoto by owen richards

tune: prince far i and the arabs

2012-01-11T01:47:00.004+01:00

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

2012-01-11T01:15:00.004+01:00

JAZZY SENSATIONAL JUST PASS ME by SENSATIONAL

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

2012-01-05T23:57:00.000+01:00

another interview from the land down under. when women glow and men plunder. from theage.com.auBy 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 belowThe 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

2012-01-04T23:06:00.003+01:00

2012-01-03T23:47:00.000+01:00

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

the palaceer's best of 2011

2012-01-01T15:09:00.000+01:00

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 Palaces1.belaynesh2.all american/Weekend3.kola boof4.toyin odutola all her work5.lob stop sta (feat Coco o.)6.nov 57.black bean burger zippy’s8.the view from saul’s rooftop9.the mavs10.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

tunes - thee satisfaction "kinks"

2011-12-31T02:00:00.001+01:00

Transitions by THEESatisfaction

"i've moved on." = new australian interview

2011-12-31T00:50:00.005+01:00

this is a really interesting interview, mostly because the journalist is so jaded and obnoxious. i love what ish says about names. i just gave my self a new name yesterday, shamål, which means 'wind' and 'north'. also- rumours of future digable planets reunions are put to sleep.

shabazz palaces interview with musicfeeds.com.au by patrick abboud

2 new interviews

2011-12-17T18:55:00.004+01:00

one with Beat.com.au (australia)

beat.com.au shabazz palaces interview

...and another from manchester's (uk)

ill communication radio show with nick costello:

Ill communication - show 8 / pt. 2 by Ill Communication on Mixcloud

NEW TRACK... for most of u anyway

2011-12-17T11:53:00.009+01:00

thanx to stacia, a devoted ishmaelite, for going down to the cellar and tracking down this vintage bottle of cherrywine. she recorded it off the video, then i boosted the gain. like she said "the quality sux, but it's ish."

this song came at the end of the movie "planet brooklyn" (formerly known as "men without jobs") and was made towards the end of the cherrywine era, like '06 or so. speaking with ish in '05 he let me know that he had finished recording the 2nd cherrywine LP which was going to be called little epic. he described it as "real minimal". i'll stick my neck out and say that this song was meant to be on that album. so that's 2 albums that ish has recorded but which never got released. fuck! but i'll also venture that some of that material made it onto shabazz palaces. i'm thinking in particular about "a mess, the booth soaks in palatial musk" which is definitely "real minimal".

anyway, this one's also notable for the fact u can make out (almost) all his lyrics straight away. turn ^ the volume

tunes: charles bradley

2011-12-17T10:57:00.003+01:00

2011? yes. buy it! support this greatness.

Charles Bradley - The World (is Going Up in Flames) Official Video

Charles Bradley - Golden Rule (Live)

tunes: forest swords' hjurt

2011-12-14T07:46:00.002+01:00

what i'm listening to now:

forest swords - hjurt

it starts off pretty normal but aroud the 2 minute mark the cosmic angel revelation love descends

vice magazine interview

2011-12-13T12:25:00.001+01:00

Coming and Going with Shabazz Palaces

By Toby Fehily

Baba Maraire

2011-12-13T12:17:00.002+01:00

Great piece of SP's other half by that writer Zwickel (who wrote that great feature on Ish for city arts magazine). Trust me you want Tendai's LP, I have it and it's super. Here's the piece:

Baba Maraire: Shabazz Palaces' Other Half

Baba Maraire: Wona Baba Maraire by hearth_music

live studio performance

2011-12-08T09:16:00.003+01:00

for the guardian newspaper (uk). shabazz been getting much love from the british press. barksdale corners w/ bronny on a breakaway:

tonight: miami

2011-12-08T08:51:00.003+01:00

shabazz play miami tonight. someone made this cool poster with lyrics to that song "whats up" that they've been playing live. that's one of most incredible things i've ever heard and surely one of their top tracks... hopefully we'll get a studio version soon. here are 2 live versions of it. with the second video (the treasure island one), you have to forward to 3:15.

interview with tendai maraire

2011-12-07T10:41:00.004+01:00

(artwork for tendai "baba" maraire's new lp, wona, by dumbeyes)

while in manchester, groovement did an interview with tendai maraire, in which this weblog gets a shout out =D tendai he gave me a copy of his new cd of shona music (the traditional sound of zimbabwe) which i've been loving and which you can get here

SHABAZZ PALACES x THEESatisfaction // 19NOV11 by Groovement Interviews on Mixcloud

slumchella latest

2011-12-06T23:20:00.001+01:00

the $3 holler. and.. dead prez will be joining shabazz in kenya!!

knowledge

2011-12-06T09:50:00.003+01:00

antidote to the "what happened to hiphop? everything's bullshit now" handwringing and moaning. don't people tire of being in that state of woe?

Tama

2011-12-05T13:57:00.002+01:00

Every once in a while Ish sends some thoughts or in this case a photo straight to this weblog. Looks like this one of him, tendai, cat and stas (of thee stisfaction) was taken as they ended their european tour. i had a chance to hang out with all of them plus their manager jonathan in brimingham. such cool folk. report coming soon.

BLACK UP VIDEO (KAHLIL JOSEPH)

2011-12-03T12:42:00.002+01:00

Don't ask me how I missed this one... it's been out for a couple weeks apparently. Blew my mind. Look out for another SP video from Kahlil Joseph coming soon, according to Palaceer who I caught up with in Birmingham (full report coming soon)

Footage from Berlin

2011-12-03T12:20:00.001+01:00

Are you..? Can you...? Were You..? (Felt)

friday night

2011-11-17T09:19:00.003+01:00

The Europe Tour w/thee satisfaction kicks off tonight at the jazz cafe, london. i'm going over for the birmingham show tomorrow night (friday 18th) at the HMV institute. any readers of this site going? get at me either at eaglessoaroilflows AT gmail.com or in the comments section below. so excited!!! peace> O

lost in thought ~~\_/\_/~*~ divine styler

2011-11-11T12:24:00.004+01:00

check out this from one of the masters of electronic emotion john tejada, who i got into through the one and only divine styler

talking of divine, here's a nice episode of stocktown that sheds some light on what he's doing post-wordpower 2. damn - that album came out in 99! when are we going to hear some new shit from DS??! it's cool how he, like lazaro, has no time for the hip hop 'purist' backpacker brainswashed midstate. to me ish and divine styler are the essence of hip hop, flowing like water over and past the heavy stones. wow - imagine a collaboration ep or suchlike. now that would be immense. fast forward to 19:15 if you want to get straight to styler.

shabazz answer questions posed by music journalist

2011-11-01T11:30:00.003+01:00

Check out this interview below from DUMMY MAGAZINE, or click here to read it in its original home.

Shabazz Palaces interview: "All rap." Universalist rapper unafraid to throw a little black glitter in the face of the rest takes ten minutes out to chat to Sunil Chauhan.

Text: Sunil Chauhan

Second chances in hip hop aren’t common but just as the late 90s indie-rap scene saw Zev Love X become MF Doom, Ishmael Butler has shed all traces of Butterfly (his moniker in 90s jazz-rap trio Digable Planets ) to reinvent himself as Palaceer Lazaro, the cryptic figure behind Shabazz Palaces, a Seattle-based outfit who – alongside rappers like Lil B, Death Grips and Odd Future – are making underground rap vital again.

Not so much conscious as subconscious (sub could also mean sub-bass – they have industrially heavy low end) rap, the Sub Pop-signed outfit’s debut ‘Black Up’, released at the end of June, might bring to mind 90s isolationism and dubwise labels like Wordsound but it somehow exists in its own vacuum, with hollowed out chasms and elusive imagery that relate back to Lazaro’s insistence that the album stay a personal, private experience. Reluctant to push any of his own ideas onto what anyone should get out of the record, he wriggles his way out of definitive answers, often just repeating “it’s a feeling”, the chorus of a song on ‘Black Up’ that could also double as the Palaces’ motto.

I spoke to Lazaro over the phone from his home in rainy Seattle.

How much did MF Doom’s reinvention make you think you could do something similar?

The idea of masks and not just literal masks but symbolic ones, artistic ones, it’s old African shit. But Doom, I’ve always liked him and I was a KMD fan so his music inspired me. I felt like the mask thing was dope, but it wasn’t directly influential to this thing here.

What difference did moving from New York back to Seattle make?

The environment you’re in is definitely going to influence the expressions you have. You spend 24 hours in a day, the type of influences that you get from your neighbours, or the weather, or something in the local news, it will influence you.

Did it make your music darker?

My music’s not really dark. It’s like comparing stuff you were wearing 20 years ago to the clothes you’re wearing now. Everyone’s changing all the time. I don’t feel it’s darker though. If anything, it’s more light, more luminous. I feel much more liberal now. My opinions are much less concrete. I appreciate more, and I do my best to appreciate things even if they’re not in my taste. I reserve judgement on almost everything. And I rarely talk about the judgments I do come to inside myself. I’m way less cynical. I’m not cynical at all, if I ever was. But definitely less than I was.

Not having photos or detailed credits, song titles that might be hard for most people to remember – is that to force concentration onto the music alone?

You play a guitar part or come up with a melody or a cadence, yeah someone did it, but the ideas came from somewhere else. It could be deep inside them or it could be from outside of them. So to then sit down and start talking about ‘hey tell me about the evolution of this’ and then someone else starts talking ‘I was with this guy and he did this’, that’s not really how the song came about. That’s just what the person is deciding to say. Some are more talented than others at remembering those things and making a historical anecdote out of them. We’re not. We just feel like this is what happened to us. Here it is. There’s the song. Now, if you like music, if you’re a critic, if you’re a talented listener and you got some thoughts and feelings, run with it. That’s what we expect from people that are doing that. It’s just that asking us about it, we’re not that good at saying what it’s all about. Without sounding self-centred or self-oriented, we don’t wanna do that. It’s not about being mysterious or hiding behind anonymity, we just made the song. What else is there? I thought it was a music thing. I didn’t know it was a talking thing.

Do you miss the pre-internet era when artists weren’t expected to be so visible?

I think a lot of artists today want that. Music is some secondary thing to maintain their public personality. I wasn’t made for this digital age. But I’m not into taking it back to no other days. I’m cool with how things are. I like it and I enjoy it. I don’t do things that don’t subscribe to my taste like a lot of shit on the internet, but I still love the internet, I still like to do what I do on there. It’s just not Facebook and Twitter. But artists don’t have to do it. They don’t have to do anything. Everyone’s given a choice.

Is there more pressure on rappers to constantly have something new available?

They’re entitled to that desire. I don’t think it’s not worthwhile, I just think it’s not always necessary. But I don’t feel like I’m engaged in some sort of battle with them. I think we got more similarities than we have differences. It’s still hip-hop, it’s still rap, it’s still black culture. It’s only going to be so many degrees of separation. But I don’t think about myself enough in the genre, in the realm of rap, to be wishing it was something other than what it is. I’m enjoying the stuff that I like. If I don’t like it, I don’t think ‘oh I wish it was more like this so I could like it’. I’m moving on to try and find something that I dig.

Do you listen to new rap?

Yeah.

Who do you like?

In the mainstream, I like Bun B a lot, I like how prolific Lil Wayne is, I like how Rick Ross went into the recent black culture in terms of finding figures to mythologize instead of Caucasian movie stars. I like that concept. I like Odd Future. I like all the classic 90s and 80s hip hop cos that’s the stuff I grew up on. I’m a hip-hop head, like the rest of the cats in the crew.

The album’s production reminds me of old dubstep. Was that an influence for you?

It’s interesting. They’ve used that to describe this, but I’ve never heard it. I mean, I’ve probably heard it but I can’t recognise the genre and then say something about it when I hear it. I’m not that loyal. I’ve probably heard a dubstep song but I don’t know what it is. Again, these ideas, these rhythms, as African descendants, when you go to your instinct, when you’re creating something, it could be coming from a place inside you that you can’t really pinpoint. So the fact that different cats are coming with similar rhythms, it’s not that surprising.

There’s the line on the album: ‘Things are looking blacker but black is looking whiter’. Is that about black music sounding European or about cultural assimilation, buying into the status quo?

It’s like all rap. It’s poetry. It has a literal purpose but it has infinitesimal layers of meaning as well because it’s symbols that we recognise. And when you see them, it could be the same symbol but we might have a different interpretation, especially if it’s in rhythm over a beat with harmony and melody. I don’t know what it meant. But I know what it meant to me. I’m not going to say what it is now though cos I don’t think it’s that important. But what it means to you I think, is.

Why is ambiguity so important?

But it’s only ambiguous until you make your decision, especially if you trust your feeling. When it comes to music, or some interpretation of a scene in a film, there’s not much at stake here, other than entertainment and maybe some learning. It’s not that serious you know? We don’t think about what people are going to do prior to them doing it. We’re not like ‘oh we’re gonna do this’ or ‘oh people have to do this’, we’re not trying to control or manipulate them. We don’t think about what we’re going to make. This is an expression based on instinct and love.

recollections of the wraith (remix) by tender buttons

2011-10-31T10:33:00.001+01:00

check out this unofficial remix by tender buttons, from san francisco - it's fantastic

Shabazz Palaces - Recollections of the Wraith (Tender Buttons Remix) by Tender Buttons

soaked in sex n bathed in light

2011-10-28T01:56:00.002+02:00

lazaro surprises the fans at the sbtrkt show last night in seattle to sprinkle some shabazz flavour on the place for the last song "wildflower". wow... imagine being in the seattle crowd and getting a surprise like that, that's beautiful

oblivion

2011-10-26T23:25:00.002+02:00

grimes - oblivion (off her upcoming 3rd album 'visions')

grimes is a genius. i love the android singing that comes in at 2:30... fun fact: she makes everything on garageband...!

weekend ~ all-american

2011-10-23T23:51:00.002+02:00

lazaro has been biggin up this band, and this song especially, in interviews. as intense to shabazz' sound. nothin hits the spot like this when you're in the right state

gold n brown

2011-10-21T23:44:00.001+02:00

when i listen to this i understand the meaning of the lyrics to 'the king new clothes were made by his own hands'.

interview: stars align

2011-10-06T12:51:00.003+02:00

(preying mantra by wangenchi mutu)

interview by dream hampton on lifeandtimes.com can't wait to check out those books

Shabazz Palaces is Tendai Maraire and Ishmael Butler. The former employs ancient instruments from his homeland Zimbabwe while Butler provides the group’s vision and vocals. Their album Black Up is arguably the best reviewed album of the year. For Butler, who never stopped making music since he released his classic album by Digable Planets, Blowout Comb, Shabazz palaces is his latest place to play with ideas. Those ideas have always been simultaneously global in their expansiveness and basement ceiling low in their commitment to hip-hop’s bottom line. Here we talk to Butler about what he likes to hear and wear.

Life+Times: What’s the best thing in your closet?
Shabazz Palaces: White cordoury coat. 3/4 length. Vintage. Pimpish.

L+T: What’s your favorite character from City of God? What scene made him so?
SP: Benny at the party when he was telling Little Ze he was leaving and he was like “Dude I’m about to smoke, read and listen to rock’ is one.” But the best scene in the whole movie was when the little kid got shot in the foot. I felt that. Like, my foot hurt.

L+T: Name three books that permanently shaped your thinking.
SP: [Ben Orki's] The Famished Road, [Octavia E. Butler's] Wild Seed, [Richard K. Morgan's] Altered Carbon.

L+T: Tell me about the high school music teacher you had who taught you about jazz.
SP: Wadey Earving in Meaney Middle School was the man who taught me how to play saxophone. He was a very regal and elegant cat. Attentive and smart. My mom liked him. The kids dug him, he was patient and firm. He wore a suit everyday, a nice one too.

L+T: What’s special about Seattle?
SP: Thee Satisfaction and OCNOTES are really doing revolutionary things. OCNOTES is really walking on the outer reaches of music. These kids are kids of frontiersman, people who read a flyer and moved to a city in the 50s where no black people were. So we all innately have that explorer spirit. When Seattle kids go to other places like New York other people know and like them. Then there’s Punctuation, run by Maikoyo Alley-Barnes who’s making good shit and curating monthly art shows for local artists and providing a space where he’s designing functional and socialwear that’s well made and well designed. His spot is an epicenter for all of us.

L+T: He made those African inspired masks you wore when you played the Natural Museum of History last year, yes? Tell me what masking means to you.
SP: Yes…we talked about doing some theatrical and african stuff for the shows. He executed them and we wore them for the Stranger show too. Masking. It’s an understanding that when you’re given creative thoughts you know that it’s not all you. The mask is an extension or an indication that you’re representing something other than yourself.

L+T: Eric Dolphy pioneered what came to be known as “free jazz”. I know it’s not your term, but what frees music? And if you’ve ever found yourself feeling confined in any way musically, how’d you rediscover your musical freedom?
SP: Early on I wanted to be like Q Tip. When I came to hip-hop everything was constructed with 16 bars and a hook. I think at first you have to be involved in following in the footsteps of someone’s who’s done it. So you learn how it’s “supposed” to be done and you do that til you feel free enough in the foundation to depart from it. Going from your instinct to the finished product. After I learned how to follow the rules I abandoned them.

L+T: Artists Mikalene Thomas and Wangenchi Mutu, who you shout out on this album are favorites of yours, how do they influence you?
SP: That’s a good question cuz most people ask other musicians which musicians influence them. They both do sampling, pattern on pattern, color, texture, layering, title…like the text in Mutu’s work, or even how she approaches naming are all things I’m absorbing.

L+T: On the first album you did a lot to obscure of obfuscate your identity. On this album you relaxed.
SP: It was never about being an MF Doom or being mysterious or even anonymous. I just wanted to start fresh from Digable. Plus journalists are just wack they just ask the same mundane questions, they claim to be observationists but most of them are lazy. So I wanted to limit the extent that I participated in that whole dance, at least for the beginning, the first album. This is the second Shabazz Palaces album, and doing it this way felt right for this album.

new song

2011-10-06T12:34:00.000+02:00

love this more melodic soulful direction

SLUMCHELLA

2011-10-04T19:04:00.002+02:00

a magnificent project; ishmaelites blog will do its bit to support.

palaceer lazaro freestylin for berliners - allahu akbar

2011-10-03T10:55:00.002+02:00

damn i wish they'd release a studio version of "allahu akbar"

the king's new clothes were made by his own hands remix

2011-10-03T10:29:00.004+02:00

thanks to yours truly and gorilla vs bear i know you've all heard this by now. it's been on repeat round my neck of the woods for a while. ish and tendai remix black up's tribute to the elusive perfect beat. an ishmaelite saw them perform this beat in new york but with completely different lyrics in celebration of the apple. tendai is perfect on this. so much poise

say the producers:

"Somewhere in Dallas, surrounded on all sides by the deep-fryer-high heat, Chris and I picked Ish, Tendai and Jon up at a beaten down Best Western a few miles from Tomcast Studios. There were too many of us to ride legally in Chris’ SUV, so Tendai stuffed himself into the trunk beneath brick-filled suitcases and bulky stage equipment. Ish looked like a retired running back, a white gym towel draped over his head sopping up beads of sweat like a squeegee. Inside the car Ish didn’t say a word. He took a hundred yard stare, gripped his hands on the “oh shit handle,” and sat motionless, frozen. He had the look of a boxer on the scale, or a pitcher on his way to the mound — not lookin’ atcha, lookin’ past ya.

It wasn’t until after they nailed the take you see in the video above that the plates in Ish’s face parted, and the kid in him jumped off the front porch and sprinted into the street to play. He and Tendai high-fived, the teeth in their smile happy to see and be seen again.

The focus on the faces of Ish and Tendai as they prepped themselves to create that day remind me that creativity is a gift, shaping it into something special is a blessing, and the determination it takes to do so is rare. No one is more grateful to share in the act of creativity than yours truly, and every single session reminds me that I’m lucky."

Interview

2011-10-02T23:55:00.003+02:00

art by leif podhajsky

new interview with The Prague Post... shabazz palaces are in now in the baroque capital of the czech republic.

Meditations on Belhaven Meridian

2011-09-30T14:03:00.018+02:00

As we await the new Kahlil Joseph-directed shabazz palaces vid which should be dropping soon, it seems about time that we spoke on Belhaven Meridian, the first and only official SP video, released in 2009.

settling dust

Back then, no one, including me, was really ready to offer more than a few words on the impression that this startling work of art made. Everyone caught on that it shouted out Killer of Sheep, Charles Burnett’s recently ‘rediscovered’ 1979 classic. There were comments on the trippy upside down effect, but beyond that and the murmurs of awed appreciation, not much else.

It starts with the ignition of an engine, that of Palaceer Lazaro’s ’68 Chevy Camaro (serious car) After putting down his phone he declares, “It’s time.” We’re left to conclude that the impulse to start the journey comes almost as a command from an unknown, mysterious source, which Lazaro (who symbolises the ‘artist’, or ‘human being seeking self-realisation’) has no choice but to obey. This fits in with what he’s been expressing in interviews about the creative impulse. His lady (symbolising us, the observing audience) isn’t privy to the same secrets, but is happy to be along for the ride. She asks “Where are we going?” which beyond its obvious meaning (‘where are now driving to?’) also indicates humanity’s first question: ‘What’s the meaning of life? Why are we here and where are we going after this?’ As they drive off with that question left hanging in the air, the intro song (a mess, the booth soaks in palacian musk, palaceer in vintage LRG, yes pure NS,uppowndet watermelon lips beat) plays out and we feel we’re going to ‘find out’ the answer.

(art below by leif podhajsky)

ينقذنا

These Arabic words then appear. The meaning is “He saves us”. The first possibility is that ‘He’ refers to the Divine, i.e. the Light/God/Allah/Jah i.e. the creator with a capital C. This would prefigure the main song’s (“find out”) lyrics - the most explicity ‘religious’ of Butler’s catalogue - which lament the fact that we ‘use God to make our dough up’ and condemn the ‘depraved devil’s heart system that got us all laid down; make us content to play around n’ let God see us get clowned’. But because Arabic is a gender language, ‘things’ can also be masculine (or feminine), so the other possibility is that ‘He’ signifies ‘the Beat’ with a capital B. After all the first shabazz palaces EP (eagles soar, oil flows) starts off with the chorus “the beat will always save us”. In interviews Lazaro has said that he believes in music (“that eternal heart dance beat” as he said in gunbeat falls), and that it will take care of us if we give it its due. A truly religious dedication to music, for him the beat assumes eternal, cosmic, spiritual proportions. This is not only a fruitful and poetic conceptualisation of the matter, but if you’re a music lover and think on how it really can make you feel, you have to conclude that it can only, in fact, be true.

watts, LA

These words indicating where the action takes place immediately bring us back from the world of metaphysical speculation. The southern california hood is one of the most significant places in African American history, the scene of the riots that erupted in 1965 in protest at blatant discrimination suffered by the city’s black population and then again in 1992 when the Rodney King beating (pictured) and the acquittal of the criminally savage policemen sparked off more violence.

Despite the ‘universalist’ nature of these 3 and a half minutes, the video is at a fundamental level grounded in Lazaro’s community, another chapter in the cultural resistance which black music has always played in the story of Amerikkka.

the hero’s journey

Joseph Cambell (see video below) is known for his work on mythology, and his concept of ‘the hero’s journey’. After spending years studying all the major mythological traditions and religions of the globe’s different cultures, he concluded that all point to a basic ‘heroic journey’ that each one of us must take if we are to truly ‘find out’ who we are. All major myths in all societies seem to follow the 3 basic stages in this journey. 1) Departure. The hero heeds the call, leaving the quotidian world of convention and conformity, and sets out on the path. 2) Initiation. The hero is tested, and with the aid of supernatural powers, or divine assistance, is able to overcome the trials. 3) Return. Having conquered his or her demons and scaled the peak of a mountain most don’t even know exists, the hero returns to normal life, and with this new insight and knowledge of self, is able to play his or her part as a responsible human being, helping others. As the camera pans up to a great height, it reinforces the sense that we’re being told a real story, a grand, eternal myth. I think that because there isn't just one 'hero' in this video but three, that's a clear message that the hero can be any one of us. We're all on our own journey, hopefully.

This initial shot of the lady walking ahead seems to reflect the first stage of the journey. She’s strong, beautiful, purposeful, and set on the journey. The dude, like his game, is weak, lame, boring. She pays no attention and continues on her way.

sheep killer, est. 1977

The camera then pans to the right where there’s a re-enactment of the filming of a scene from the 70s classic Killer of Sheep, directed by Charles Burnett. That film as far as I can see doesn’t have a literal connection to the allegorical theme of the video, but on a more subtle level, it is great art born from black America, and it portrays on a human-level the pain of a man condemned to be a have-not simply because he lives in an unjust society. You feel the pain of the film’s protagonist Stan (and his wife), how his soul suffers from having to work in an abattoir and support a family; it's touching and beautiful and sad.

Also it’s a nod to a film that wasn’t appreciated at all at the time it came out but 30 years later is revered as a classic. It’s hard not to see the correlation with Butler’s output, although the widespread acclaim that greeted Black Up is a far cry from the way that Bright Black and even Blowout Comb were ignored by almost everyone when they were released. Still, ever since 95 I’ve maintained that it’ll be a decade or two after it’s released before Butler’s work is given the recognition it deserves. This shit is just way too advanced, after all. The camera then spins upside down and the rest of the video is shot like that. I can’t see anything symbolic here but it looks very very cool, and is a second technical coup by Joseph. The main one being that the entire video is shot in one take.

initiation

Then the second 'hero' (played by Ernest Wadell of The Wire, apparently) appears, again, on the journey. He is walking, with some ominous figures on the waiting on the road ahead of him, but then an African mask appears to come down upon him from above. After some time, he turns around and grabs the mask just as it begins to float away. He then runs forward, mask in hand, towards his adversaries. This is the key point in the allegory. Only when you set out on the journey, leaving behind the status quo, will you open yourself to the ‘helping hand’ of the universe. Like Cherrywine said on A Street Gospel, if you want to be an artist, you have to “come outdoors, if you wanna breath more”, or the chorus of Swerve, the reaping of all that is worthwhile (noir not withstanding): “if you talk about it, that’s show. But if you move about it, then it’s a go.” Or the Goethe couplet:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it

But that’s not all. The supernatural power will float down into your life for a certain time, and it won’t wait for you forever. Grab the opportunity and slip through the door before it closes. But once you take that decision, you’ll make it. In the ‘heroic journey’ schema, such divine aid or guidance is often provided by a wise elder (like Virgil in Dante’s Inferno, or Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars) but in the African American context, the mask represents the supernatural mighty unseen force.

Check the first half of the Campbell clip (until 2:37) below for more on masks.

Just as he starts running forwards into the midst of the foe, (your personal demons?/the world?/the business?/personal life?/any of the sacrifices that must be made to pursue your true calling) the chorus kicks in. This is just great directing, what can I say, it’s perfect.

Find out who you are and see it
Find out what you are and free it
Find out who you love and need it
Find out what you can and be it

Find out who you love and be it
Find out what you can and free it
Find out what you love and need it
Find out who you are and see it

You could write a whole essay on each of the lines above, but that’s not the task at hand now. This other writer Graham has already spoken about the chorus, and he also sees it in a mystical self-realisation vein, enlisting Nietzsche’s words. Check out his post, which I link to at the end of this piece.

the struggle

So with this mask he able to fend off about twenty guys that are trying to pull him down, and drag him off course. Even though it seems he is finally pulled down by those two guys and disappears from the frame, he ultimately shakes them off and continues.

return

The final stage of the hero’s journey is that he has overcome the trials and is able to pass on his precious learning to the next generation. In the video, they are represented on superfast Japanese motorbikes, signifying the future. The message seems to be that even though you made that epic journey, the power that enabled you to do so was never from within you, but was a blessing that you hung on to for a time, before passing the mantle to those that follow. That’s also an allegory on the transience of life.

What’s specific about the ‘return’ stage in Belhaven Meridian is that the kalimba strains of blastit at the homie rayzer’s charm lake plateau bbq july at outpalace pk kick in and the suburban street gives way to a wider, sunnier, less built up locale, which doesn’t really look like America. What this change in sound and place indicate to the viewer is one thing: Africa. Lazaro and Joseph represent the future as African.

(Shabazz Palaces art by Leif Podhajsky)

But that’s not all. As the camera follows the bikes into ‘Africa’, Ish’s Camaro appears in a final display of technical virtuosity and drives off, in formation with the motorcycles, into the sunset. I love this ending, it’s like a really elaborate way of saying “I’ve got the unseen power now- it’s my turn to run with the mask for a few moments on the earth.”

So we sit back and think on the hero’s journey, and finally ask ourselves what it’s all for. What is our path and where should we be heading. Well, for Ish it’s obviously music (and acting?), for me it might be visual art, for you it might be architecture or motherhood or dancing or charitable work or anything under the sun. The key is, if you don’t already know what your journey is towards, then ‘find out’. Find out who you are and free it. Because, as the answer to the question goes, once we know who we are then we can go wherever we want.

==================================================

Q: What’s the name of that piece by Graham specifically looking at the chorus to this song?
A: It’s here.

Q: You didn’t tell us what “Belhaven Meridian” means…wtf.
A: Good question – any ideas? Lazaro’s cryptic references come from diverse sources (often black history, science fiction, etc.) What does Belhaven Meridian signify? A Meridian is “A circle passing through the celestial poles and the zenith of a given place on the earth's surface” which sounds cool, though my head hurts just thinking about it. I don’t know. Neither can I say why there’s what looks like a rifle poking out of the Camaro at the end…

Q: Why bring up stuff about Watts and Rodney King?
A: Obama being president doesn’t change much. The same story is going on over and over again. What about Troy Davis? It’s on a global scale too. What about the soldier who killed a boy in Afghanistan for fun, and posed smiling for pictures next to the body? He got 7 years; the ‘judge’ told him “I hope and believe you will have a long, happy life."

Q: Can you recommend any Joseph Campbell stuff?
A: I’m new to him. Reading his first book The Hero With a Thousand Faces which lays out his archetypal ‘heroic journey’ but I find it slightly heavy. Surely his later, more popular stuff explains things in a more accessible way. He’s also made lots of videos and audio books, with PBS.

Free New Track & Live UK Spot (best before end: 3/10/11) )

2011-09-28T09:53:00.008+02:00

Sub Pop recently signed this funky fresh South African rapper called Spoek Mathombo, and are offering his first EP "put some red on it" (featuring a Shabazz Palaces remix with ish's trademark tasteful handclaps) as a free download for one week only so visit The Fader's website to get yours. The whole LP is class - the originals were produced by this Danish producer called CHLLNGR from my new home Copenhagen.

as part of their uk visit, sp also turned up at the bbc studios for lauren laverne's show on bbc 6 music (a radio station) where they performed live versions of free press and curl and are you... can you... were you.. felt interspersed with banal questions from the host. check it here, noting that if you're outside the uk you can't listen to the 10 minute sp clip but can always just listen to the whole 3 hour show and skip to the 1 hour 40 min mark. it's only available for 6 days longer.

Tour Dates autumn/winter 2011 (London TONITE)

2011-09-27T12:31:00.006+02:00

shit, the european tour kicked off yesterday in paris and tonite is the plush madame jojo's (pictured) in soho, london ... i'm unable to be there so post your reports as comments on this site and please take some footage, someone with a good camera. if not, describe the atmosphere and how your felt experiencing it. i've a feeling that it's going to be a really special one tonite. it has definitely sold out as guys are asking for tickets in desperate net messages. here are all the dates so far via Songkick (the official website AND subpop's website both dont' have complete listings... (how come they didn't make a tour poster or at least an announcement something?!) and bear in mind that the beirut lebanon gig got pushed back to late october and all the australian dates (oct i think) haven't been posted yet)

Tuesday 27 September 2011
Shabazz Palaces with LA2019 and Paul White
Madame JoJo's
London, UK

Thursday 29 September 2011
Shabazz Palaces with Shabazz Palaces Off Centre and Tim Hoeben
Melkweg Sugar Factory
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Friday 30 September 2011
Shabazz Palaces with Infinite Livez
Festsaal Kreuzberg
Berlin, Germany

Saturday 01 October 2011
Radio Wave Stimul Festival 2011 Shabazz Palaces, Emeralds, Hildur Gudnadottir, The City Kill, and Peaches Dj Set
Prague, Czech Republic

Saturday 15 to Sunday 16 October 2011
Treasure Island Music Festival 2011 Death Cab for Cutie, Empire of the Sun, Cut Copy, Beach House, Friendly Fires, Dizzee Rascal, Chromeo, Explosions In the Sky, Aloe Blacc, The Naked and Famous, Flying Lotus, Warpaint, The Antlers, Battles, Wild Beasts, and 15 more…
San Francisco, CA, US

Monday 17 October 2011
Shabazz Palaces
The Casbah
San Diego, CA, US

Tuesday 18 October 2011
Shabazz Palaces with Theesatisfaction
The Echo
Los Angeles, CA, US

Wednesday 19 October 2011
Shabazz Palaces
Detroit Bar
Costa Mesa, CA, US

Friday 21 October 2011
Shabazz Palaces
The Triple Door
Seattle, WA, US

Thursday 17 November 2011
Shabazz Palaces
Jazz Cafe
London, UK

Friday 18 November 2011
Shabazz Palaces
HMV Institute - The Temple
Birmingham, UK

Saturday 19 November 2011
Shabazz Palaces
The Deaf Institute
Manchester, UK

Tuesday 22 November 2011
Shabazz Palaces with Theesatisfaction
Start The Bus
Bristol, UK

Wednesday 23 November 2011
Shabazz Palaces
TRIX Centrum voor Muziek
Antwerp, Belgium

Thursday 24 November 2011
Le Guess Who? 2011 Panda Bear, Okkervil River, Pinback, Low, Gang Gang Dance, My Brightest Diamond, Fruit Bats, Bill Callahan, Zola Jesus, Akron/Family, Braids, Other Lives, Givers, The Besnard Lakes, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, and 38 more…
Tivoli Oudegracht
Utrecht, Netherlands

Le Guess Who? 2011 Panda Bear, Okkervil River, Pinback, Low, Gang Gang Dance, My Brightest Diamond, Fruit Bats, Bill Callahan, Zola Jesus, Akron/Family, Braids, Other Lives, Givers, The Besnard Lakes, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, and 38 more…
Le Guess Who Festival
Utrecht, Netherlands

Tuesday 29 November 2011
Exodus, Sepultura, Destruction, Dota und die Stadtpiraten, and 1 more…
Backstage
Munich, Germany

Wednesday 30 November 2011
Shabazz Palaces
Luxor
Cologne, Germany

Thursday 01 December 2011
Shabazz Palaces
Frannz Club
Berlin, Germany

denmark

2011-09-09T10:47:00.002+02:00

i just moved to denmark- thanks to all the messages and whatsups from everyone in the past few weeks... i'm in the middle of painting and decorating our new place, unpacking, looking for a job, interviews, and turning to the light as much as possible. havent' had time for many posts but here's a beautiful quote from a recent interview that Dazed n Confused did with Ish:

DD: You’ve been in this business 20 years, but ‘Black Up’ sounds fresh, original and kind of like you made it tomorrow. How do you do that?
Shabazz Palaces: I follow my instinct In every facet of life. I also concoct secret potions that elix my swerve and sparkling my creative health floats me away from the anchor of banality. I also kiss a lot. Long soft adventures where I fall up into a 'rose scented abyss', and there I learn the secrets that I need for the rhythm

Hokuto No Ken

2011-08-14T13:47:00.002+02:00

Leon Carr - Urban Utopia (Reinforced Records, 199?)

a 30 minute tv show about s.p.

2011-08-08T16:23:00.005+02:00

(above art From a Sudanese folk story-1993, first edition print. Illustrated by Hassan Ali Ahmad courtesy of Soorah)

Someone/thing called Noisey has made this excellent 30 minute documentary combining footage of the Black Up release shows in Seattle with interviews with the band and associates. The live version of Youlogy literally made the hairs stand up on my arms. Their website is really slow and it might take ages for anything to load so keep your swerve in control

NOISEY 093: SHABAZZ PALACES, SEATTLE

SP Live in Alaska (entire show)

2011-08-08T14:53:00.003+02:00

I love this video with its funky lo-fi effects. Sound quality could be better though. The way the palaceer and tendai are exploring the outer edges of their continent even if it means they're only playing to a small crowd. This is what sun ra and his arkestra were doing for most of his career. Once ish recommended me his bio "space is the place", by john f szwed, and it opened my eyes to the sheer dedication of true artists who believe and sacrifice everything for their art, as long as they live.

CRITICS DELIGHT I : national print publicationz

2011-08-08T13:01:00.007+02:00

So a few years has passed and Ish has released another classic album. The strange thing is, that this time all the critics seems to 'get it' too. That might have happened with Reachin' (a new refutation of time and space) but it definitely didn't with Blowout Comb (at the time anyway) or Bright Black. Of course, Eagles Soar, Oil Flows and The Seven New weren't promoted anyway. I'd gotten so used to the larger media's ability to somehow ignore the output of one of the most original voices in modern music that the tsunami of critical praise over Black Up left me a bit startled (as did listening to the LP itself). Life surprises. In this post I'm sharing some national (USA) print publications' reviews of Black Up:

ROLLING STONE gives it 4 out of 5 stars, and concludes that "we have no choice but to be compelled"

FILTER MAGAZINE gave it 88% and proclaiming that "Shabazz Palaces have truly arrived"

THE L.A. TIMES also gave it 4/5 stars, adding: "Like the Tribe of Shabazz from whom they take their name, Shabazz Palaces is the sound of survival, inured against extreme climate, adamantine as diamond clusters, and levitative as any insect."

THE NEW YORK TIMES breathes a sigh of relief: "Yes, hip-hop still has an audacious progressive fringe. "

"only do what you mean"

2011-08-08T00:48:00.001+02:00

Riffin' with Shabazz Palaces from Take the Handle on Vimeo.

the power of belief

2011-08-04T12:06:00.002+02:00

from the talented hand of leif podhajsky.

full of eastern promise.

2011-08-01T01:14:00.001+02:00

i grew up watching this. the use of light had a huge effect, still does

New Interview - with Lowdown Mag

2011-07-21T11:34:00.003+02:00

This was funny. PS I've been off the scene for a while I know. It's a combination of being pulverised by the new record and enjoying the feeling (not wanting to write much) and also just being busy with stuff, like moving house every 2 months. Hey: Black Up. What can I say?

Check the interview with Lowdown Mag... wit and wisdom. Most enjoyable.

straight up big up kexp

2011-07-09T02:50:00.001+02:00

features "bop hard" or "pilgrim marketing plan rebuttal take 7" the bonus track only on the digital download version of black up.

BLACK UP

2011-06-16T02:58:00.006+02:00

yeah, you

those are 24karat gold specks in the paper... i've just pre-ordered my two vinyls from subpop to get the new patch designed by lazaro himself

that typeface they used for the tracklisting is ridiculous

is this the best palaceer lazaro interview ever?

2011-06-14T20:40:00.005+02:00

(art by champoyhate)

it might well be. lainna fader and the l.a. record, thank you. finally a journalist pushes the palaceer's metaphysical buttons and delivers some beautiful insights. any idea what those "mental landmarks" could be?? fader read ish's words to this very site and interpreted them as being that lazaro saw the title or light but i think he was talking about the 'palaces of light' an din fact contrary to what everyone says, that isn't even the ep's title; that's to be found on the back in arabic, which i've had translated. it reads "the seven new" which is a very significant concept in the ancient history of arabia and simultaneously, freestyle hip hop as i will write about in future...

read it below or click here to read it in its original larecord website home.

SHABAZZ PALACES: THINGS ARE VERY CLEAR
- by Lainna Fader

Ishmael Butler is known by many names, most of which we aren’t meant to ever discover. In another lifetime, he was Butterfly of Digable Planets. Now, he stands at the center of the universe of the mysterious Shabazz Palaces, holding court as Palaceer Lazaro in the first hip-hop group ever signed to Sub Pop. He speaks here about divine inspiration, being in love, and keeping perspective. This interview by Lainna Fader.

Why do you make music?

Palaceer Lazaro: I don’t know. I hope to never know. I think that it’s something that—I’m compelled to do it by things that are deep inside of me. They’re just my instincts. They’re the unrecognizable—or undefinable parts of myself that compel me to make it. I don’t have any reason—the reason is that it happens.

You said you felt compelled to write, that it was instinctual—when did you first recognize those instincts?

I was always predisposed to follow them without recognizing them but there was something that I read about originality, being linked to instinct, and that’s when I started to try to draw the line.

What do you mean by ‘originality’?

Going from your instinct to the final piece without any alteration.

You said that the title ‘Of Light’ was a divine inspiration, and that it came from light. You said you see it in your mind and it looks like everything and nothing. What happened the last time you were divinely inspired?

My kids were around, and I was downstairs doing something, and they were upstairs. They live in different places, and they hadn’t seen each other in a long time. We were all together and they were upstairs and I could hear them—their voices—and I could hear in their voices a love, a familiarity that went way beyond the time they had spent together. It came from a place years-years-years and spaces ago, and when I heard it, I felt it. But I saw my grandmother yesterday too, and it was in her face, in her eyes, too. And in her sounds. But these things are—they are for me to see them. They’re always around. Sometimes you get caught up in the responsibilities of life. Or wanting to watch the game. Just wanting to talk to somebody or missing somebody. Not paying attention to the profound things that are right in front of us. Sometimes you do though—sometimes you are keen and sensitive to it.

How do you remind yourself to not get caught up in the responsibilities of life?

Practice. Drills. You know, repetition. Landmarks—mental ones.

What kind of landmarks?

That’s a personal thing. I don’t wanna talk about that. But that’s how I do it.

How does art connect us to something bigger than ourselves?

When you’re attracted to something it’s seductive, and when you’re being seduced, you’re most aware of yourself. You’re also out of control. It’s like—a lot of discovery and realization and excitement and I think it’s one of the funner things that happen to us.

What’s the relationship between creative input and reaching the divine?

I think that creativity is divine. I mean, cuz good ideas—you can’t really trace them back to any place or thing. For me, it comes from some place, some divinity of some sort.

How is creativity a way for us to help each other?

Yeah—that’s how it even starts. People are looking inside of themselves for something to affect what’s going on inside of themselves or inside of the people around them. It could be a small thing. You could be walking by a newsstand and see a photo and there’s a color in the photo that can make you change how you view life and then yourself and then you can make different moves.

In Shabazz Palaces, you’re Palaceer Lazaro. What purpose do these new personas serve? What is the power in adopting a character?

I have more secret names than known names. The known names—they always come about serendipitously and it’s cool. I know the story behind it, but I don’t think it’s important. Plus I think it’s more fun to not know the story behind things.

What happens when you disconnect someone from their story? What potential is revealed in that space?

I don’t believe that when you tell the backstory that you find out much because it’s a poor representation of what actually goes into something. I don’t know. I think the story is in the product. And it’s infinitely explorable by the people that are looking and listening to it and it’s better to go in that direction. Some people are good at being able to chronicle that, but I’m not one of them. Not many people are good at that—that’s a whole ‘nother talent.

On the new album, at the end of ‘An echo from the hosts that profess infinitum,’ there’s the cautionary lyric “Certain things need not be asked.”

Why do you think people are so interested in knowing your backstory? Why don’t we need to know it?

I don’t think they do—there’s just a lot of places that rely on content and in those places, the content they rely on is not very broad or imaginative and just want the content to fill up whatever they need to fill up. At the end—and at the beginning—of the day, they’re not really interested in it. Maybe for an anecdote over drinks or to wax over knowing some things. It’s just superficial—surface things. Some do, some are interested, but I think once you analyze their interest, you’re like “Nah, that don’t even matter.” [laughs] You know what I’m saying? Your imagination is a much more fertile and vast and dazzling space than having shit narrowed down for you by a megalomaniac. I just think it’s a characteristic of our times that people engage in things as a ritual—a formality—but I don’t know if it’s really substantial or if it lasts. It’s just stuff we do in the moment. And then, it just doesn’t seem to have much depth.

As an artist, how does this affect the way you think about communicating with people through your own music?

Creating shit is still an adventure, kind of a gamble, and you still believe in a lot of good things and potential in order to even be able to feel like doing something today, putting it out, so it’s hope. And fun. And adventure. And wonder. You know? It’s like going out on an adventure—you never know what you’re going to find. It doesn’t predetermine anything in terms of creating music. I definitely don’t study it while I’m doing it. I don’t think about it that much but I’m sure it’s in me—in different kind of ways. It’s hard to say.

You’ve said you’re not interested in looking into the past but what about the future? Octavia Butler said ‘the very act of looking ahead to discern possibilities and offer warnings is an act of hope.’

It’s interesting because she was up here. She lived up here, and died up here. I’ve read every word she’s ever written—but I’ve never read any quotes of hers or anything. But that’s what I’m saying—about trying to pinpoint backstories. Her influence on me is profound—I could never put it into words—but that correlation that you just drew just does it.

In “Swerve… The reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)” the lyrics are “Black is me, black is us, black is free.” How is black free? How can anyone be free?

Some of it is a call to act, as much as it is a declaration. Some of it is something to try to do—to try to figure out, to try to pursue. I do think that people can be free.

What does being free mean to you? What kind of freedom do you hope for the most?

I don’t know if I understand freedom. I just kind of know what the word is supposed to mean, and that’s kind of my point. I don’t know if I believe in the word as an absolute. I haven’t figured out what it’s supposed to mean, but I do know what it means to the world and I used that to shape the way I use it in the music. But freedom? It’s all relative. I think it means having the confidence to pursue your instincts at any quote unquote cost. There’s so much power in belief. And when you do believe, then you can be what you believe and there isn’t any doubt about it. Other people can look at it and think you’re a fuckin’ nut! But you feel it and it is so. There are so many roots to freedom. Even if you just look at physical slaves—emancipation comes in all kinda ways. It’s like—it’s a mixture of things both in the realm that we live in and in realms that we don’t dwell in that get together to emancipate and free somebody. I don’t really know, and you never know how it’s gonna happen, or if it even will. The important thing is that you can kinda help yourself to it. But some people try to help themselves to it but they still get blocked—they still remain confined by things. You never know how things are gonna happen but you can have a courage and a strength and a bravery about life that puts you in the position when these things do fall into line—you can capitalize on the exits and escape routes and fight your way to a little bit more light.

What is the light, and how is it different from the dark?

In the light, things are obvious. Things are very clear. In the dark, it’s just a little less manageable. The same things are there—but you can’t see them so clearly or feel them or express them so clearly.

What do you see for your own future and the world at large?

That’s a big question! I don’t—I don’t see into the future. I do, you know, but I can’t talk about that cuz I won’t be doing any justice to the things that I see. Plus, it’s hard to put into words, the feelings. I don’t know, man! [laughs] What do you see for the world? I’d like to hear you answer that! Do you know any people who are dead, and they’re kinda too young to be dead? Well, if you think about what they would feel about living right now, then you’ll have another perspective on things. If you can’t understand what the gift of it is, then maybe you don’t deserve it. And I want it. And I want to be able to recognize the gift of life. So I just do! So when it feels like shit’s fucked up and not going the way I want it to go, then I recognize that as a ludicrous approach and just get out as quick as possible and move on to some work—making something, helping somebody, looking at somebody elses’ work—things that affirm life. The easiest shit to find—and they’re everywhere. And plus, you never know what tomorrow’s gonna bring. You just gotta work on things you can do, today. Cuz when you do … it’s result oriented—always. Something’s gonna happen when you make a move. That’s the way things work. I think everythings alright. The world is definitely nuts, you know what I mean? There’s a lot of bad in it cuz we set the tables for ourselves so that shit that’s gonna happen as a result of what we been doing is not gonna be cool but at the same time I think a lot of cool things are gonna happen too. And when things are just happening and they’re inevitable and they’re real you kinda have to look at them and accept them for what they are instead of just dwelling on how bad they are or why. Because tomorrow is the only thing that you can really impact.

If you didn’t have love, would you be so willing to trust the universe?

Yeah. If you’ve ever had it, then you know. You know the possibility that you could again. Love is—it makes things feel a lot brighter, no matter what. It’s hard still, but advice from someone that’s other than you: the thing is, you just have to believe. And beliving in things takes practice and a lot of explaining to yourself. Spending time with yourself and figuring out that it’s not about dwelling on what you don’t have, or what isn’t there. Cuz a lot of times when you do that, you set up barriers to ever having it again anyway. You know what I’m saying? You just gotta have courage. Bravery about believing in life. It sounds cliché, but when you really get to the bare bones of the real meanings of those things, it’s pretty bright.

Summer 2011 Tour Dates

2011-06-05T13:49:00.006+02:00

(Above: The Final Touch by Janne Parviainen)

6/9: Los Angeles CA
@ Troubadour: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/39597?utm_medium=bks

6/10: San Francisco CA
@ Brick & Mortar Music Hall: http://shabazz-palaces.eventbrite.com/

6/28: Seattle WA
@ Easy Street Records - “Black Up” Album Release In-Store Performance - www.easystreetonline.com

6/30: Seattle WA
@ Neumos: https://www.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?performance_id=1466477&cobrand=neumos

7/1: Seattle WA
@ Neumos: https://www.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?performance_id=1466480&cobrand=neumos&language=en&searchType=venue

7/15: Sitka AK
Sitka, Alaska - Home Skillet Festival

7/17: Chicago IL
@ Pitchfork Music Festival: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3532695

7/23: Dallas, TX @ Gorilla Vs Bear Festival

9/3: Seattle WA
@ Bumbershoot Festival - www.bumbershoot.org

9/11: Portland OR
@ Music Fest North West - Roseland Ballroom - www.musicfestnw.com

9/24: Beirut, Lebanon
@ Beirut Indie Sessions Music Festival www.beirutindiesessions.com

AND WITH DIGABLE PLANETS:

July 16: Halifax, NS, Canada Halifax Jazz Festival
June 18: Syracuse, NY - Westcott Theater
June 19 (Sunday): Toronto, ON, Canada - NXNE (w/ The Pharcyde), Yonge-Dundas Square, (free!)

Pitchfork redeem themselves and O extrapolates a mixtape from Palaceer Lazaro of eleven years ago.

2011-06-05T01:55:00.013+02:00

(Above art by Dumb Eyes. The Arabic Writing is the name of Shabazz Palaces first EP which everyone thinks is self-titled. But actually it's Eagles Soar, Oil Flows which is what the Arabic words mean.)

I hereby forgive pitchfork approximately 5 years of their prior transgressions due to their new piece on Ish's musical faves. They have this series called "5, 10, 15, 20" where they get an artist to talk about what they were listening to at 5 yearly intervals up to the present. You can read the article by clicking:

5-10-15-20: Shabazz Palaces (Pitchfork)

But don't click it yet. I just want to say that this piece was stupendous and tremendous. It also reminded me of all the good music I've been introduced to through Ish. So I checked out our old email exchange from 2000 where we talked serious shop for a few letters, exchanging our current musical input. Here's a list of all his mentions interspersed with some links to the music concerned. OK so now you can go and read the Pitchfork piece.

* * *

Good eh? Shows the wisdom in controlling your child's TV watching time. OK now check out more of what the Palaceer was digging aged 30, having just recorded The Ten Commercial (aka Ishmael Since 1999).

Duke Ellington - Sentimental Mood

Sun Ra - We Travel the Spaceways LP, Nubians of Plutonia LP (he also recommended the biography by Szwed, which I subsequently read. Very inspiring to see Sun Ra's singular vision and unrelenting dedication to his music despite being too far ahead of his time for most people to get it.)

Sly and the Family Stone - Small Talk LP (he was digging Freddie Stone's guitar playing)

Curtis Mayfield - Live! at the Bitter End LP (said how Jimi and Bob were both influenced by him)

Bob Marley - Bad Card, Zimbabwe

Wayne/wendy Carlos's - Score to Clockwork Orange LP

Bjork - Homogenic LP (especially "unravel", "all is full of love", "hunter")

Blur - Blur LP (for tracks "death of a party", "strange news from another star", "essex dogs)
Blur - 13 LP (especially track: Trimm Tab, mentioned their great drummer)

Show Review: Santos Party House, NYC, 12 May 2011 (with Thee Satisfaction)

2011-05-30T13:42:00.010+02:00

A guest review from the pen of Crooklynite artist Y. Misdaq aka Yoshi!! (photos by Eric Phipps):

This gig was an insult to anyone who wanted to hear something familiar. It was a slap in the face for anyone who wanted to be comforted with warm boredom. Ish’s lyrics may not have completely burst through the heavy bass of the speakers that line the walls of Santos Party House, but enough shiny nuggets passed through the void to assure familiar fans that the inspirational-heart, beating deep inside the million-styles-per-hour is still thriving-vibrant on the new LP. What more to say? It was an onslaught, with pleasure (pleasure, pleasure, pleasure).

It’s difficult to describe how impressive it is to see a man in such control of his throne. Ish stands behind a desk that was not there during the warm up acts moments before; a desk packed to the brim with electronic devices that are somehow all linked together. And this is not impressive in its own right. I have played a gig at Santos before with a troupe of electronica musicians who had almost as much gear. But to hear such finely crafted vocals linked up with those machines, those beats, those trillion-styles-per-hour, and to hear those beats and those flows linked up so nicely with the percussion, and to have ALL those elements the subject of momentary filters and effects that seem to rise from the kinetic of the moment, of the second... It is in line and fitting with what the 11th century philosopher Al-Ghazali said

In the [spiritual] worlds of Power & Royalty, things do not have the fixity we associate with rocks, mountains, tables etc. Rather, reality moves rapidly, shifting from moment to moment. Each single moment brings a new order of being on whose face is written an entirely new meaning... "Every moment He manifests himself in yet another (wondrous) way." [Qur'an, 55:29]

At the start of the show Ish would place his hand over a glowing red-light that created effects in relation to where he moved it. The sound was incredible, and embedded perfectly within the beat, both in terms of its timbre, texture and even its volume. And of course, it made him look like Ryu from Street Fighter 2 with a thunderball of sound emanating from within the palm of his hand. The vicious, merciless snares ripped through the air like jets, and yet they were kept under the control of the man behind the desk, like wild dogs at the total command of a master. It makes one respect the concept of hard work, the kind of work I know it must have taken to craft and polish such near-flawless execution. In this respect, gig is such a pathetic word, I have never much cared for it before. but here it seems even more insulting. Perhaps for some tired ageing rockers, gig is okay, but this performance should not be called a gig. It should be called Ice Ageless. Fire changes. A Returning. A Performance.

Such mastery makes one inspired and at the same time, completely intimidated (this is speaking as a musician with some basic understanding of shows, venues, electronic setups etc. I should like to think for other listeners, perhaps there exists only sheer escapism, with zero intimidation. This would make sense). All in all, between the two performers and the audience, it was a tri-symbiotic relationship of wild osmosis bordering on telepathy and resulting in black’d up manhood, in breathing bodies that are made to feel refreshed. Ready to run back out into the world with their own idea, fuel’d.

The beautifully choreographed moves of Ish and Tendai served as one such informant of that aforementioned heart beneath the music, they seemed to say, ‘if the music is too much for you, which we understand it might be, then we still want you to be involved on as many other levels as possible’. And so, periodically, despite their distance from each other, they would spin in perfect harmony, or clap hands on a snare slap, always repeated three or four times, because the beat always saves, and these beats are all about repetition of thunder, and power. Being saved by thunder feels great; and the hand-claps set to rhythm did indeed keep the audience involved. Everybody was feeling it, despite the multitudinous ways in which they showed it. There were numerous hip-hop heads, hoodied and all, who seemed too inhibited to do anything other than cooly bop from left to right (reacting as if this were a grimy Wu-Tang production from ’93!) and yet the very fact that they were bopping, and doing so non-stop throughout the entire show spoke of something very significant. Countless young (incredibly young) and curious people were there. Many young African-Americans. One could sense from their hip-clothes and earnest expressions that they were expecting something special, awaiting something to believe in. It sounds incredibly corny, and who knows if they found it, but for absolute sure, everybody was as blown away as I. Indeed, halfway through the set, some people, including myself, were no longer dancing like maniacs, but stunned and standing still, mouths hanging open. This happens when you are beaten over the head with the future.

Afterwards Ish came straight back out and we spoke for a very few nice moments. He sent a whatsup to brother O of this very blog. Most memorable however was the sheer enthusiasm. It had been 5 years since Ish had graciously invited brother O and I backstage at the Jazz Café in London where we spoke for a good hour or so about all new things under the sun. At that time, the digables were doing a reunion tour, and Ish still looked like very much like Butterfly. Things were awaiting then, time was building. This year, especially with his shaved-Palaceer head, Ish definitely looked much less Butterfly and much more the seasoned music veteran. And this year, along with last, when the world seems to be imploding, this music feels to be absolutely on point. Ish’s age, however, is the counterpoint of what so many remarked on after the show, to see someone in their 40s with such a commanding presence, radiating such pure youthful energy and power. It was part of what made the performance so surreal. What other words can one use but Hip-Hop? And Elemental? And Spirit? And indeed, this was what I found most remarkable about my brief exchange after the show.

At the side of the stage, which as I said, I know well, the audience are basically standing at eye-level with the feet of the performers. And there are black bars separating you. When he had come back out, Ish asked me, with the smile and enthusiasm that I recognize from an artist who knows he has just done a really good gig, ‘what did you think?’ And as I tried to convey, in blunted words that probably made no sense, what I felt, I saw a radiating smiling face, full of sweat, that was right next to my own, through the black bars. I do not know if he was literally lying down on the floor of the stage, or kneeling down, either way it seemed so very child-like. I was facing a pure, radiant smile of happiness and enthusiasm. And this face is the answer to the chorus of the song ‘Find out’. When an artist is expressing his art, and doing it to his perfection, the answer is this kind of happiness. This look of Life.

Ish’s grin, as I stumbled to get the right words out, was that of pure youth, belying age, experience, and belying what we think of as time. It finally spoke, in a categorical way, without words, of the need for us all to do what we love. Evoking, or kindling in all of us willing to listen, our natural ability to remain ageless. I frequent art modern exhibits in Chelsea from time to time, and I don’t know why I do because it is all so affected compared to this. There is no contemporary art I have come across as powerful and inspirational as this music. Find out what you are and free it.

Songs of the Universal Week

2011-05-30T13:10:00.006+02:00

This week's sounds come from an as yet-unsigned, spectral presence in music over the past few years. The artist calling himself "Y. Misdaq aka Yoshi" has released some startlingly original LPs over the past few years, not to mention a hilarious and touching novel and some fresh short films including this classic. He even went to Libya recently in his guise a videographer for Democracy Now! and sent back two choice reports on the Libyan resistance's shoestring media effort and the plight of African & South Asian migrant workers stuck at the borders unable to escape respectively. It's safe to say that due by mixing of his sensitive artistic style with factual reportage, he's created a whole new style of his own as the reports illustrate. He's also the guest Ishmaelite who reviewed the Shabazz Palaces NYC gig above. His new LP is entitled Maghreb Isha and Space and sounds like nothing else out there. Below is his self-produced video for the first single, and also a link to a 3 part piece (Dream Suite) of which the last third is my favourite. It was at the Shabazz Palaces gig that he had a chance to say whatsup to Palaceer Lazaro, and give him a copy of his new album. Ish later wrote back with the thumbs up, saying how much he was digging it.

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi - Dawn Song (off the LP Maghreb Isha and Space, 2010, Nefisa UK)

Yoshi - Dawn Song from Nefisa UK on Vimeo.

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi - Dream Suite: i) Toki / The Untangling ii) Song of Delicious Affirmation iii) Returning Dream about Eternity / The Stars in Space (off the LP Maghreb Isha and Space, 2010, Nefisa UK)

Dream Suite: i) Toki / The Untangling ii) Song of Delicious Affirmation iii) Returning Dream about Eternity / The Stars in Space by Yoshi (Y. Misdaq)

the last poets

2011-05-25T19:01:00.007+02:00

A new track is on GvB but listen to this if you think the closing chant's genealogy is to be traced baclk no further than reachin:

and this which you'll find familiar if you've heard barksdale corners or been to the shows:

From a recent interview:

THEE: Describe your first experience with the Last Poets?

PL: Jalil is my favorite rapper of all time. I was with my pops in Philly driving in the Duster when WPFW played "E Pluribus Unum" and my little mind was blown. Jalil remains the pinnacle of wordsmanship. The last poet.

this here blog gives more away about the link:

http://milkcratebreaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/last-poets-jazzoetry.html

but there are many more. remember in "3 slims dynamite" when butter rapped "i peel with omar, jalil, and sulaiman"

also check the excellent writing of kalamu ya salaam on the breath of life blog (which did that excellent cherrywine piece years ago) introducing them here.

the moral of the blog entry is listen to the last poets if it's the last thing you do.

Weekly Love

2011-05-21T12:35:00.007+02:00

Thanks to Stacia for reminding me of the sunrising brilliance of Ish's classic collab with Seattle's Hardison (pictured above) from the Cherrywine era. Check out Hardison's smashing new album Alphanus Rolandri, available as a free download on their website. If you're feeling Slower Than Love, why not pick it up for like a dollar (79 pence in the UK) on itunes.

Hardison & Ish - Slower Than Love (off the LP Time and Cash, Dig Records, 2006)

shiny new interview

2011-05-15T12:18:00.003+02:00

Nice new interview thanks to Passion of the Weiss. The answer to the last question blew my socks off, as the Palaceer drops some gold dust about the new album's packaging.

Question in the Form of an Answer: Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces - interview by Douglas Martin

Tune of the Week

2011-05-15T11:52:00.007+02:00

Gonjasufi - Duet (off the LP A Sufi and a Killer, Warp Records, 2010)

This is I think a fan-made video for one of my favourite Gonjasufi tracks. Gonjasufi is actually Ish's younger cousin and in this interview he mentions how Ish gave him advice and books when he was was growing up. There's a more substantial interview here thanks to The Quietus where he talks more about Sufism, living in America, and how he approaches his art.

watch out for a write-up by a mystery guest ishmaelite on the recent shabazz palaces show in NYC. coming soon...

SHABAZZ OF THE LEVANT

2011-05-15T11:06:00.002+02:00

Shabazz Palaces will be playing in the Middle East this autumn ya heard?. Phoenecian tactics. Details to follow...

Weekly Music

2011-05-05T00:26:00.000+02:00

Burial - Unite (white label, 2007)

Selected Readings from the Digable Planets Chronicles: Formation and early years

2011-05-02T15:37:00.010+02:00

Reading the City Arts article got me thinking about the early origins of Digable so I checked out this book called Check the Technique: Liner notes for hip-hop junkies by Brian Coleman (Villard, 2007) which is the best document so far of this subject. As well as an unparalelled interview on the subject with Butterfly and Doodlebug, there's a song by song commentary on the debut album. Here's what they had to say about their breakthrough song "Rebirth of Slick (Cool like dat)":
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Doodlebug: The original beat for that was off an old demo by my original group from Philly, Dread Poets Society, called “Skin Treatment.” It had that Art Blakely sample, the horns, the bass. Once I started to become more involved with Digable, then it worked its way in that direction. With Dread Poets, we never went to a studio- it was all homemade demos. Recording in studios costs money and we didn’t have any. I remember that the group didn’t think “Rebirth of Slick” was going to be the hit. I think the label chose it as the first single and we went along with it. Any of the songs would have been fine with us. The single came out in September or October of 1992, and then Giant Step [a popular, jazz-informed dance club in New York, which later became a record label as well] got behind the single and that helped a lot. Maurice Bernstein [of Giant Step] was very helpful. Right before the end of the year, Ruben Rodriguez called us to the label to meet somebody, and that person was Rosie Perez. She chose the groups who would appear on In Living Color and we were like: “Oh, hell yeah!” So after Christmas break, we flew to L.A. and filmed that episode. When it aired [on January 3, 1993], [sales of the single] just went crazy. The album was released early in 1993 [February 9] and we started touring, and it was over after that. That song got to the point were it was just everywhere, on the radio every five seconds.

Butterfly: We actually thought the song “Brown Baby Funk” would be the hit, and that one didn’t even make the album! We were definitely shocked when that song started blowing up. In Living Color is what pushed it over the edge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd love to hear the old demo tapes that got Digable signed... hmm maybe one day as their legend grows more and more, the demand will be there. But then I remembered that there was footage of that very performance from 1992 on In Living Colour uploaded on to youtube (thanks to jackyabody0091) and here I present it to you. Also noteworthy for is that a young Jennifer Lopez dancing behind Ladybug at 1:38?? Digable always had great energy and positivity live, but this performance is on another level... they just seem so.. happy, hyped. Ladybug raps some new lines, everyone is just so energised, shame they cut off Doodle's verse; he must've been pissed off at that, but anyway here's the one that set it all off:

SP Feature in City Arts

2011-05-01T14:58:00.004+02:00

A while ago I was contacted by one of the followers of this web log, thus 'an Ishmaelite', a writer named Jonathan Zwickel who wanted to interview me as part of the background research he was doing for a feature on Shabazz for City Arts magazine. The feature has just been published and it's probably set a new benchmark in terms of writing on Shabazz, and is one of the best things I've read on Ish generally. Nuff respect due JZ. The fact that he went the extra mile by talking to his high-school basketball coach, checking out the yearbook, talking to about twenty people, these are all things one would normally expect for a biography as opposed to a magazine article. But it's right here in the new issue of City Arts. Now don't be put off by the uninspired cover design - the article is a gem. The quote chosen from myself was included unaltered as I think were all of the quotes, letting everyone speak for themselves which I'm a big fan of. I wouldn't have included all the personal info about myself but that's a minor quibble. Reading that I'm 31 reminds me that the next time I read about myself it has to be for my own artistic accomplishments (as self-important as that phrase sounds). Anyway, it's just a joy to read and nice to see someone really giving the respect SP deserves. When I was 14 I knew that Ish's music came from a place unparallelled in specialness. Like Doug Collins said of Michael Jordan: "He's so good he's literally embarrassing the league", that's exactly how I felt about Digable and all his subsequent projects. But people are slow to catch on and it's only now almost twenty years later that I have the satisfaction of seeing the wider public waking up to one of the most under-appreciated voices in art. This article will contribute to that.

Shabazz Palaces by Jonathan Zwickel (City Arts Magazine)

~ S ~ * ~ P ~

2011-04-29T16:38:00.005+02:00

Weekly Jazzoetry

2011-04-28T13:02:00.002+02:00

The Last Poets - Jazzoetry (form the LP Jazzoetry, 1976)

Check out the Milkcrate Breaks website which mentions the influence of Last Poets on Ish's work with Digable. Of course it continues big time with SP; I'll write more about that soon.

Stuff (news)

2011-04-28T12:41:00.005+02:00

Good news, great news, and ugly news.

Shabazz Palaces are playing in New Orleans this saturday opening up for Mos Def, Booker T, and a host of other cats playing at the Howling Wolf: More details here.

SP will provide the score to this upcoming documentary called Tough Bond about village children surviving in the slums of Kenya. Check out the trailer above and go to the film's website to learn more. Released summer of 2011 aka the summer of Shabazz.

And the bad news: according to Sub Pop's website, Black Up release date has been pushed back buy a whole month. Now it's coming out on June 28th! I'm sure they have their reasons but still... damn.

Some Thoughts on An Echo From the Hosts That Profess Infinitum (part I of II)

2011-04-27T03:19:00.016+02:00

The only thing we know about the LP, beyond the release date and tracklisting, is this song. It became a sensation on the web immediately and everyone is gushin over it, calling it spacey etc. but what is it about? To me it’s one of the more cryptic of Lazaro’s productions but, here goes.

An Echo From the Hosts That Profess Infinitum - lyrics

[Intro]

Pin-ups in a shady purpose
(Wow)
All that diamond dust,
Blowin’ up your hopes?
Flamboyant obstacles, or deals made to cope?
(Wow)
???? ???? ???? ????
Shouts at all these soft niggas,
Ideas in recline
Rise of the lost
Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
No, yeah
Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah

[first verse]

Hey
Here we stand
Slaves to networks’ master plans
Swag’s the brand, open a can
Chains off, still y’all never ran.
“I brag, I boast, I kill, I coast,
I toast to cake and crime.”
Doing the most
A stronger dose
A king at leisure time
So
So erase your mind (?)
Dough is laced, fantasticize
Gang signs point to hang ‘em high
“Who, swindle? Oh yeah, that’s my guy”
The forecast: heat with chance to blast
Hustle dough sure don’t seem fast
My kiss, my list, my dreams, my stash
Since certain things need not be asked

[second verse]

You.
You.
You.
Are you.
You think I’m selfish
Exist only to wish on stars
Lay in wait n’ cut the bars down then go ice the guards
Touch the hood (?) n’ go kiss gran n’ catch a box of food
Play that blade n’ feel that sunlight till you’re in the mood

But who you think you are?
Who you think you are?
Who you think YOU are?
Who you think who you are?
Who you think who you are?

[thanx to Anonymous for correcting these transcriptions... see comments below]

Let’s start by acknowledging the track’s most startling feature: that disturbing sample. One of my friends can’t really even listen to this because it freaks him out! It’s disturbing for a reason (or two), though. This is a song about self-discovery. That’s a scary proposition for most of us. We’ve become used to what we know and think we are, and going deeper into the self elicits terror. But the sample is also apt because the reason for all the world’s problems is that people are not asking the question that this song wants us to each ask of ourselves. Who am I? That has resulted in a terrifying reality and future. We’re afraid of finding out who we are but in fact we should be afraid of staying the same and maintaining the status quo.
Ultimately, and despite the darkness of this track, it is optimistic. By virtue of the fact that it encourages us to go in this direction it shows the artist’s belief that we are basically good, even divine. I say divine because of the word “infinitum” in the title “An echo from the hosts that profess infinitum”. ‘Infinitum’ is the latin root for infinity. ‘Host’ is an archaic term for a multitude, a throng, a legion. Until the modern age, the vast host of humanity has professed infinity, which is to say has believed in eternity. That this existence is part of a much older and greater story. Calling this song an ‘echo’ acknowledges that we live in different times, but nevertheless we’re being urged to follow the same advice carved in stone above the portal to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi: Know thyself.

(Above: Ruins of the Delphic Oracle)

“Pin-ups in a shady purpose” This line gives the impression of people wanting things which aren’t what they seem, or have a sinister purpose lurking behind. Advertising? “All that diamond dust, blowing up your hopes” I love this line. Beyond the obvious cocaine reference, it recalls the consumerist stupor that we find ourselves in. Like some giant just sprinkled this magic dust on us all and hey presto we forgot about deeper issues, but instead are often inflated with vain, false hopes. What is it that we want? New iphone, big house, ridiculous car, girl like that one in that video, ice, drugs to escape, … what are these things? If you’re after knowledge of self, they’re just ‘flamboyant obstacles’. Even worse, and if we’re more truthful, they’re “deals made to cope” with the false selves that the larger society has convinced us is us. A most vicious circle. Creativity has been put on the back burner for most of us. That beautiful intuitive alive child we once were is buried under years of learning what to be, our innate creativity is “in recline”, a word which contrasts with what/who has “risen”: the lost. And he’s not pointing figures in an us-and-them type way. We need to start with the man in the mirror. We need to find that which has been lost. That’s been a key theme of Shabazz Palaces. “Find out who you are and free it”, and the recent song which is titled “Lost foundling”.

The first few lines of the first verse are self-explanatory. I especially like “dope in a can”, meaning how dopeness which is free (in both senses) and natural has become commodified and can now be bought in a handy container for your convenience.

“Chains off, still y’all never ran” is a vivid picture and beyond the obvious slavery reference which directs it at certain African Americans, it can be taken in a more general sense by all people. For many of us, the modern world gives us freedoms that our ancestors, toiling away in their lifelong jobs, never had. But what are we doing with all this freedom? The thug mentality then articulates, saying how “I brag, I boast, I kill, I coast, I toast to cake and crime.” ‘Cake’ I assume indicates luxury in Ish’s lexicon; it appears elsewhere in SP music.

“Doing the most, a stronger dose” just captures the extreme nature of our situation, the lengths we go to for our slice of cake. The next line is one of the song’s most memorable to me: “A king at leisure time”. The previous line about ‘chains off’ make you think of slaves, which we have all become to some extent and what is the opposite of a slave? That’s the whole point of this dilemma we’re in now. This new slavery isn’t about forcing us to do back-breaking work but it’s about sucking the life out of us by relentlessly feeding what Leonard Cohen memorably described as our ‘swollen appetites’. And I’m sure if we’re honest with ourselves we can all agree, no matter how aware or noble our intentions are, that we’re both “products and victims, to perpetuate this sickness” (that line’s from Belhaven Meridian by the way). You slave away at a job you don’t enjoy… what’s the reward? Well at leisure time you’re a king. You can sit on your couch in your castle, in front of a huge plasma tv with hundreds of channels at your fingertips, the web, every device you can imagine they’ll sell you if they can. Even the choice of the phrase “leisure time” is sharp- a term and concept invented by marketing men.

I’m lost with the rest of the verse, but “gang signs point to hang ‘em high” is interesting. At first it made me think of gang’s killing each other echoing lynchings by whites in the past. But also the phrase ‘hang ‘em high’ is short for “Hang ‘em high and leave ‘em dry” which is a sailing phrase meaning when a ship get’s stranded on dry land with no hope for recovery. With either reading, it’s a regret-filled observation on what is going on.

The last two lines show that with all these distractions, (‘my kiss’ = my lust/emotional wants; ‘my list’ = all that stuff I want; 'my dreams' = my vain hopes; ‘my stash’ = drugs, or escape/avoidance/denial mechanisms) it becomes possible to not even ask certain questions… namely:

Who am I?

To be continued….

PS: I realise that I’m making it sound a lot more ‘preachy’ than it is. This is a limitation with this kind of rational line by line ‘interpretation’ exercise/experiment. The great thing about it is that it’s music, so listen and say your feelings. Not just the lines where I couldn’t understand what he said, but also my readings might be totally different from others, and I’d like to know different ways of understanding this. Help.
PPS: Like the beat, the song lightens up towards the end so have no fear, check out part two of this post coming soon.

Tour Dates spring/summer 2011

2011-04-21T09:56:00.005+02:00

Here's a provisional list of tour dates. Obviously this is a very early list and will probably grow extensively:

Saturday, April 30, 2011: Howlin Wolf Jazz Fest, New Orleans
Wednesday, May 11, 2011: Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia PA (21 & Up)
Thursday, May 12: Santo's Party House, New York NY (18 & Up)
Thursday, June 30, 2011: Neumos, Seattle WA
Friday, July 1, 2011: Neumos, Seattle WA
Sunday, July 17, 2011: Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago IL

The two back to back nights at Neumos in Seattle are billed as the album launch party... at first that puzzled me since the album would have already been out for a month by then. But thinking about it, it sort of makes sense. I think that as with the previous releases, when they first come out they'll just be too much for people to digest immediately. Like all classic albums, it'll arrive as a fully self-contained universe that smashes our preconceptions about what hip hop, music and art can do. It'll take a while for people to catch on to it. So rather than having the album launch when it's actually, which would result in a room full of mostly bewildered, shell-shocked listeners, they pushed it back a month to give us a chance... that's my theory anyway. As for the album itself, does it not seem like May 31st seems years away and time is even slowing down as the release date looms? Black up!

Song of the Week

2011-04-17T11:18:00.005+02:00

D'eon - Kill a Man With a Joystick in Your Hand (Palinopsia EP, 2010, Hippos in Tanks Records)

New Song- Lost Foundling

2011-04-12T22:24:00.007+02:00

New sounds from the palace. The white horse delivers the Lost Foundling via the Sub Pop Record Day Sampler CD (pictured above, free, very limited edition, I emailed Bekah at Sub Pop to send me one- I know she's going to come through!!) and you can listen to it here:

Shabazz Palaces - Lost Foundling

Shabazz Palaces - Lost Foundling by subpop

Remember this is not going to be on the upcoming LP so it's an exclusive to the sampler, which also comes with card for each of the artists. Thanks to Brian (see comment below) who has uploaded the card, you can see the fron tand back below:

Like all Shabazz tracks that I haven't had a few months to digest, all I can say now is that I'm disorientated in the best possible way. It seems like the whole approach sonically of SP is to break you down, to shatter the image we've all built up of what hip hop should sound like, and then drag you into its wormhole and just give you some other dimensional head nod shit to get lost in. But with time, it has the overall effect of waking you up. That's what I'd say. If you want to be awake then listen to a lot of Shabazz Palaces.

I'm glad we're getting so many followers these days. Please feel free to comment on whatever you feel, this site is supposed to be a discussion forum too. What do you think of the new jam? What do you love about this music? Did you have any personal 'magic' moments with it? I remain, Brother O.

WEEKLY TUNE

2011-04-12T22:13:00.003+02:00

This is the only footage I've ever seen of Graffiti that also has Jeru on it. He rips it up, and Doodlebug also comes off powerfully here too. Live at the Apollo, summer of 95! They went out in to the field, and rapped to these people...

Digable Planets f/ Jeru the Damaja - Graffiti (Noise) (Live at the Apollo, June 22nd 1995)

Weekly Song Time

2011-04-08T15:20:00.004+02:00

I was recently interviewed about this blog for a Shabazz Palaces feature in City Arts magazine and through the writer Jonathan Zwickel found out that Ish was listening to nothing but P-Funk (and Native Tongues) when making the Digable Planets record. So what's Bernie Worrel up to now? He's still in the zone: Check out his intro to this smooth track with Laswell on bass.

Method of Defiance - Cosmic Slop (Nihon tour, live in Japan, 2009)

Khalil Joseph & Palaceer Lazaro work together again

2011-04-04T11:11:00.010+02:00

"You Ever been swallowed by the light?"

Thanks to Yoshi for sending me this 'exclusive'... The Palaceer in an uncredited appearance for a new Vans viral piece. Cool, beautifully shot, and thought-provoking. Uncredited is apt since he plays a kind of mysterious godfather figure overseeing what the yoots are up to but looking down from above on the drama: watching, interrogating, pushing it. Whispered vords from the recent for-charity non-LP track Star Studded. Hoping sincerely that I'm not just imagining when I recall Ish saying that he and Joseph were working on a longer Shabazz Palaces film for the future, or that if it was a vague plan then it has come/is coming to fruition. Please. Let it be.

3 became clear after rewatching:
one - telephones are significant. phone lines, antique phones
two - trees are amazing, and green
three - definitely going to buy a pair of vans. i had already planned to get some white ones and customise them when back in london, but even if i hadn't this sold me. ads never work like that on me but this one is just the sickest

SXSW 2011: reviews, photos, & footage

2011-04-03T10:04:00.007+02:00

I've been in Denmark recently, it's been good for the soul. SXSW: All I can say is that I wish I was there. Funnily enough Gorilla vs Bear picked SP and Grimes as highlights and Grimes is my top new artist, check the music of the week entry recently to hear her track Devon. I'm going to see her live next thursday when she comes to play my hometown Brighton for the Great Escape Festival (Brighton's version of SXSW). But SXSW. I will be there one day, and hear 100 sph live. So here are some nice polaroids from GvsB by David Bartholow.

Classic shot below is by Joey Maloney for LA Times:

Finally some nice shots of SP and TheeSat by Diavid Lichterman.

Write ups flowed in abundance. Here are two from the LA Times and Pitchfork respectively. Rolling Stone said: "Ex-Digable Planet does impossibly funky, dubby avant-rap with shakers, kalimbas, ideas without boundaries. Truly a unique and wonderful mix that deserves to be one of sxsw 2010's breakout stars. Get Googling!"

Video too thanks to Trinity stardust blog:

Gunbeat Falls:

Hottabatch (Do it for my people):

new sneaks to rise jews the trap is

rhyme of the week (it's a london ting)

2011-04-03T09:38:00.003+02:00

The Bug f/ Killa P & Flowdan - Skeng (off London Zoo LP, 2008, Ninja Tune Records)

worse
shot inn aface make you send for de nurse
nurse
doctor can't fix you send for de hearse
hearse

Digable Planets Live @ Neumos, Seattle.

2011-03-22T11:28:00.003+01:00

Performing Where I'm From (Auhral G Ride mix). Now *that* is MCing. Love C Knowledge's thoughts on music in the interview.

week in music

2011-03-19T10:49:00.004+01:00

Dedicated - on the b-side to Dial 7: Axioms of Creamy Spies (Pendulum EMI, 1995)

The memory of a 16-year old me going into a record shop specialising in dance music, in the North Laines Brighton and being sold this record is sacred. Lyrically, a fond farewell.

SXSW clip and interview

2011-03-19T10:45:00.002+01:00

Is anyone at SXSW? Report! Pleeeze. thanks to TastyKeish and Randam Acts of Music...

BLACK UP

2011-03-14T09:56:00.003+01:00

New album is called BLACK UP and it's coming 31st May!!! The whole net is aflame with the response to the track previewed:

And I found a tracklisting:

Disc 1
1 free press and curl
2 An echo from the hosts that profess infinitum
3 Are you… Can you… Were you? (Felt)
4 A treatease dedicated to The Avian Airess from North East Nubis (1000 questions, 1 answer)
5 Youlogy
6 Endeavors for Never (The last time we spoke you said you were not here. I saw you though.)
7 Recollections of the wraith
8 The King’s new clothes were made by his own hands
9 yeah you
10 Swerve... the reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)

(Produced by Knife Knights.plcr)

Does that mean there'll be a disc 2? That's the question. But like I said when I spoke with Ish almost a year ago he said soemthing about a Shabazz film. Now is that going to be released with the LP? Aren't those track names stunning? Who do you think you are? But as the music tells us, this will be no normal release. Shabazz is pushing it out there as no one else has even dreamed in every possible way. Honestly I am not sure dude is even human any more. The shit he's coming up with, if you'll listen to the new track, is just too much. I'm dumbstruck. How can the apocalypse sound so... good? Or should I say: we are all going to feel this album deep in our bones just as we can feel the trouble in the air of planet earth circa 2011. Shabazz Palaces is the zeitgeist. Still reeling from the "Echo" but what did you all think of it?? PS if you can get to SXSW in Austin Texas later this week then do so, for Shabazz will be playing two sets:

Weekly Tune

2011-03-05T13:23:00.001+01:00

Directed by one of the best new directors Kahlil Joseph, who also did the Belhaven Meridian video. You've all heard and loved this tune (what a voice) but perhaps there are some who haven't seen the beautiful video:

Aloe Blacc - I Need a Dollar (2010, Stones Throw Recordings)

Noir Night Ship - reviews

2011-03-03T19:39:00.011+01:00

'Shabazz Palaces and TheeSatisfaction's show at Neumos two weeks ago. A very cool, very black evening. I've never heard of a show like this before but nothing surprises me any more when it comes to freshness from The Source which is definitely what SP and TheeSat are connected to. As well as playing their music they made a chat show where Ish was this corny host and interviewed the ladies of TheeSat. It made me laugh reading that he asked "So... psychedelic space rap. How did you come up with that?" The pastiche of the clueless journalist armed with his abstract labels which he sticks on to the art at arm's length, not needing to get into the messy business of interacting with. Imagine if you made some music and then every time for the next twenty years that you came out with new stuff, you had to listen to the words "jazz rap" or "boho hip hop"?! Now as the wiser veteran, it's like he's baptising his spiritual children into the freakish world of the music industry. It's just too cool to comprehend. Anyway:
Trent Moorman penned a compact but artistic paragraph for The Stranger's music blog called "Line Out".

Joe Gustav from Seattle Show Gal website wrote a nice piece with an oddly cynical aftertaste

The excellent Eric Grandy from Seattle Weekly hits the spot again with his review, which concludes rightly that "they're only just warming up..."!

The Stranger's Line Out music blog also had Jason Baxter on the case, and his write up is also worthy of your attention.

Proving that there were very few non-journos in the crowd, Mike Ramos of the wonderfully named guerillacandy.com ruminated on the night, saying much the same as everyone else: it was astounding, next-level shit.

Finally, LB of Seattle Subsonic gives us another rave review, highlighting the contribution of TheeSat LB says the answer to a question about why Palaces is pluralised was laughed off on the night but in Lazaro's exclusive message to the Ishmaelites Weblog, he gives the lowdown on the band's name.

Photo galleries come courtesy of Alex Crick and Lucas Anderson.
The wicker chair is a reference to a famous Black Panther photo, which is another thing I've learned from all this Seattle music press I'm imbibing recently (good- introduced me to loads of good music)

And finally, check out Thee Satisfaction's amazing blog Black Weirdo for around twenty different promo posters they made for the event, one of which is this:

Interview from September 2010

2011-02-27T00:16:00.005+01:00

Nice interview and article from a few months ago:

2010 Stranger Music Genius: Shabazz Palaces - by Eric Grandy

the response to the question "when did the SP project begin" is hilarious and telling. a simple: "why?". why do we think we need to know all this stuff? it's because philosophically speaking we're all obedient little followers of 19th century european thinkers who decided that time is linear and in order to understand anything we have to have a historicist approach. the poet, the artist, doesn't buy into that set of restrictions. What difference does it make when the project came together? why check that box along with others so we can feel like you know have some kind of handle on it. it's an impulse i find myself battling in myself frequently. i hear of a recommended book or film and thanks to the internet i'm on google and wikipedia and checking out the author/director etc... why? all the crap i read, well all it's going to do is allow my mind to put stuff into pigeonholes and connect things with other patterns my mind's already trapped in. no. much better to approach things with a fresh mind and being amazed like a child. input, without commentary. now our generation needs to be told what to think of everything. Another good point he makes in the interview is how the marketing machine has gotten us all to expect all these anecdotes about how a record was recorded. Recently someone was telling me about this 'amazing' electronic artist so I listened to it but it was boring and flat. Damp. but she was enthused saying how she read that during the record's synthesis the guy didn't leave his home for 2 months, not even once. My response was firstly: bullshit, just a story to sell mediocre music, and secondly even if it's true, he's a fool to stay indoors for that long. well i didn't say all that to her out loud obviously. but that's what i thought!!!

the next update is going to be all about the show last week with Thee Satisfaction.. the seattle press was agog so much writeups and photos to come. but no video yet. i know someone out there has some fotage. yeah you. give it up!

Weekly Music

2011-02-24T19:04:00.002+01:00

This one's for the hardcore Digable nostalgists. Not exactly an under-appreciated song, but it's cool for Ish's verse which I've heard nowhere else plus Ladybug Mecca also switches it up, giving her verse from Black Ego, while they bring is the chorus form Blowing Down to mix it up further.

New Song!!!

2011-02-24T18:45:00.004+01:00

For wooziness it's up there with Girl Crazy and Barksdale Corners... an intoxicating reality check, if you listen to the lyrics. It's on the compilation 4 The Love of Music released on Tendai's label. 2 minutes. I'm sure a CD is obtainable somehow but if you can't find it then the mp3 is on sale at Amazon for a measly 99 cents:

Shabazz Palaces - Star Studded (Maraire Enterprises, 2010)

Don't sleep on this shapeless snippet of hiphop uniqueness. Endless ideas, abundant sounds in just 120 seconds. I've found it has burrowed its way into my consciousness with repeated listens.

Music for the Weekend

2011-02-18T10:38:00.004+01:00

Here at Ishmaelites we post a song every week or so that fans of Shabazz might dig. The only thing they have in common is a marked originality, or startlingness. Sometimes they're even vintage Digable performances. This week we hip you to Claire Boucher aka Grimes, a 22-year old artist from Halifax, Canada. Despite making music for only 4 years this lady has something special. A Shabazz connection is that Grimes sounds like she's a Cocteau Twins fan. I remember coming across an old issue 1991 of Rolling Stone when I was like 16 and it had a sidebar on up and coming college bands. Sure enough there was Digable Planets (v.1) there. It said that Butterfly was "a fan of the ethereal Cocteau Twins", and that his group had "just signed a publishing deal". Being a true fan(atic) I immediately went out and bought The Pink Opaque... almost the first non-hiphop album I'd ever purchased. 'my little mind was blown' to say the least, and I became a committed Cocteau connoisseur. Anyway if you find Grimes as nice as I do, there's also a nice mini-documentary on her by Emily Kai Bock called Human Heart, which gives a nice glimpse into her world. So check out Grimes and let's hope she gets her publishing deal soon...

Grimes - Devon (unsigned, 2010)

If you have some nice songs you think could feature on the weekly music post, let me know by commenting below. PS I know we said the next update would be the new Shabazz track, but we'll give you that next time. Promise.

Word of New Album

2011-02-18T01:05:00.002+01:00

Flyer above is to remind Seattle Towners to get to the show tonight... you only have a few hours left!!! No doubt you'll be hearing stuff off the new album...

Seattle Journalist Eric Grandy was among a select few who were invited to listen to this upcoming collection (coming 31/5 on subpop) and he's penned a mouth-watering piece HERE which gives us some idea of the unrestricted hotness that is soon to be turned up. Global warming.

Stay close to Ishmaelites because our next post is going to hip you to a new track you can get your hands on right now. Something for us fans to sustain ourselves until May.

Out Now: "Live at Sasquatch, 2010" digital album

2011-02-15T01:39:00.010+01:00

(photo by Dave Lichterman)

Thanks to SP facebook page for this: Just released on itunes, the entire performance from Shabazz Palaces' set at Sasquatch, 2010. The 'cover' looks like it was done by Dumb Eyes... it's sharp, so check it out here along with a sample track.
Tracklisting is this:

1 Waking Sasquatch
2 32 Leaves Dipped In Blackness
3 Gunbeat Falls
4 4 Shadows
5 Kill White T A Parable
6 Hottabatch
7 Find Out
8 100 Sph
9 W'Shappenin'
10 Chuch
11 Blastit
12 A Mess

Much has been written in praise of Shabazz live, but unless you're lucky enough to have seen them, the only clue you'd have had was the KEXP appearance, and a few youtube clips of variable quality. Now mysterious forces have brought us this stellar performance from last spring in a fertile green canyon deep within Washington state. Unsurprisingly, I'm going to recommend this purchase (it costs 8 pounds here in the UK) loudly. Not only is there a new track "W'Shappenin?" but the album songs are all presented in crystalline clarity, with cavernous bass and crunchy sparkles from the MPC all played live, varying from the album versions to the attentive listener. Avid fans will experience somewhat shallow breath and goose bumps as they hear the passionate, almost demonic energy of Palaceer Lazaro on "Find Out". Throughout, he just rips it up. The feel of the show is strange though: you really feel like these guys just beamed down from space. They don't acknowledge the crowd, much less interact with them. They opened up the festival, and what a wake up call for those thousands of kids rolling up expecting a gentle, fun intro to their weekend. Nope. Shabazz just sonically sliced them up before pulverising them with an ancient wall of sound which crashes down from start to finish. It has now become one of my life ambitions to witness "100 sph" live at a music festival, and to join/begin a riot therein. Also let me ask who you think sings at the end of "4 Shadows"... it's either Tendai, Dougie, or a sample... what a rich voice. The famous final verse of "Chuch" is enunciated to a different, modest beat, while they wisely close with the miminalistic masterpiece, "A Mess". The bass on this song is nuts. Yes, even more nuts than the studio version. The whole rig at Sasquatch must have been something to behold: birds must've been dropping out the sky. In an email to me later on that day, Ish described the sound as "crispy and solid", and noted that Tendai brought 6 drums. This decent addition to the SP catalogue draws our attentions to what's happening next spring: A new album... on Sub Pop Records. [Long sigh]

Weekly Music

2011-02-14T19:43:00.003+01:00

Forest Swords - Rattling Cage (No Pain in Pop, 2010)

London keeps on bringin it...

THEESatisfaction interview Shabazz Palaces

2011-02-11T01:15:00.003+01:00

and then... Shabazz Palaces interviews THEESatisfaction. This is the best thing I've read for ages... real insight into the life of an artist. The first time I've seen Ish interviewing someone too. Thanks to the Seattle Times' Matson on Music blog:

Click HERE to read.

SXSW 2011

2011-02-11T01:11:00.001+01:00

SP playing at SXSW (Austin Texas) on March 18!!!

"Forgive them, even if they are not sorry"

2011-02-07T01:17:00.008+01:00

Yesterday I was checking some Shabazz videos on youtube, surprised to read every comment underneath saying something like "THUMBS UP IF JULIAN SENT YOU :)"... "thanx jules" "haha Julian sent me here The power that man has haha :) Good song tho, he has awesome taste in music ♥" etc etc etc. Reading on a bit it turns out this Julian was none other than Julian Casablancas (singer and songwriter known for The Strokes) who tweeted in November that Digable were his favourite band growing up and that Lazaro's last verse on Chuch was the "best ever". Being the same age as Jules, I see how it was to strike such a deep vein at that age of 13 or 14 when DP were big... it changed my life. So anyway naturally thousands of adoring fans were introduced to SP through these few words. I then got curious, finding out that he had recorded a solo album. I liked Stroke's first album and purchased Room on Fire when it came out but it had limited shelf-life to me. After playing it non-stop for 2 weeks, I never felt like hearing it again!

So he's made this song 11th Dimension, which is not only excellent pop but has one of the best videos I've ever seen. It takes Bruce Lee's Game of Death idea with a pagoda and having to rise through the levels, but applies it the spiritual struggle. So his first task is to conquer his anger, provoked by being ripped-off by a fat theatre owner who personifies "America" as Julian sings, "America, I looked up to you, but you thought I'd look the other way." He then learns the lesson and scrawls it on a wall: "anger is weakness, patience is strength" and then ascends to the next level, where he has to learn to defeat 'desire', and on it goes until... self-realization/nirvana/enlightenment whatever you want to call it. There are so many momentous sides to this magical 4 and a half minutes. The bottom line: This older and wiser Julian Casablanca can write serious music from the heart. Inspired by Shabazz, and inspiring to this blogger for one. Did I mention I read an interview with him where he was saying how much he loves Rumi?

Lyrics:

I'll just nod, I've never been so good at shaking hands
I live on the frozen surface of a fireball
Where cities come together to hate each other in the name of sport
America, nothing is ever just anything
I looked up to you, but you thought I would look the other way

And you hear what you want to hear
And they take what they want to take...

Don't be sad, won't ever happen like this anymore
So whens it coming, this last new great movement that I can join?
It won't end here, your faith has got to be greater than your fear

Forgive them, even if they are not sorry
All the vultures, bootleggers at the door waiting
You are looking for your own voice but in others
While it hears you, trapped in another dimension

Drop your guard, you don't have to be smart all of the time
I've got a mind full of blanks, I need to go somewhere new fast
And don't be shy, oh no, at least deliberately - cause no one really cares or wonders why anymore
Oh, I got music, coming out of my hands and feet and kisses...

That is how it once was done
All the dreamers on the run

Forgive them, even if they are not sorry
All the vultures, bootleggers at the door waiting
We're so quick to point out our own flaws in others
Complicated mammals on the wings of robots

If you believe in this world then no one has died in vain
But don't you dare get to the top and not know what to do

Nex Sho

2011-02-07T01:12:00.003+01:00

Yo Mr Jordan please take some video if you go!

Music's IN your Heart

2011-02-07T01:03:00.004+01:00

Toumani Diabate - live at Metrotech, Brooklyn NY (July 19th, 2007)

A Portrait of Seattle

2011-02-01T00:55:00.008+01:00

The photo above is by Kyle Johnson for his Portraits of Seattle project. The other photo (Lazaro solo) is featured here along with a great little (and I mean little) interview by Andrew Matson at the bottom of the page.

In other news, former Cherrywine guitarist Bubba Jones has recently posted the following on his website:

The new Shabazz is Erik Blood certified "in the can." Are we up for another Grammy?!!!!!!!

You know, though seems we've been awaiting the new songs for so long, when they hit us we will in no wise be prepared. Excitement. I miss it, that feeling of looking forward to a new release...Ish said in the Cherrywine days that excitement is anticipation with certainty. Now there are very few releases that get me excited. A new Shabazz Palaces record? My feelings are thankfulness, with the knowledge that we don't fully deserve such a blessing. Knowing I'll be revived. A good time to reread my main man Yoshi's ode to Shabazz.

And top-left coasters don't forget: SP @ Neumos, Thursday 17.2.11

ishmaelites

sp tumblr site up

Battles ~ White Electric (Shabazz Palaces remix)

palaceer laz SPEAKETH

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

FOE - Shabazz Palaces Remix!!!

seasoned prose

tune: prince far i and the arabs

tunes: sensational's new 1

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

"blackness" interview

the palaceer's best of 2011

tunes - thee satisfaction "kinks"

"i've moved on." = new australian interview

2 new interviews

NEW TRACK... for most of u anyway

tunes: charles bradley

tunes: forest swords' hjurt

vice magazine interview

Baba Maraire

live studio performance

tonight: miami

interview with tendai maraire

slumchella latest

knowledge

Tama

BLACK UP VIDEO (KAHLIL JOSEPH)

Footage from Berlin

friday night

lost in thought ~*~\_/*\_/~*~ divine styler

shabazz answer questions posed by music journalist

recollections of the wraith (remix) by tender buttons

soaked in sex n bathed in light

oblivion

weekend ~ all-american

gold n brown

interview: stars align

new song

SLUMCHELLA

palaceer lazaro freestylin for berliners - allahu akbar

the king's new clothes were made by his own hands *remix*

Interview

Meditations on Belhaven Meridian

Free New Track & Live UK Spot (best before end: 3/10/11) )

Tour Dates autumn/winter 2011 (London TONITE)

denmark

Hokuto No Ken

a 30 minute tv show about s.p.

SP Live in Alaska (entire show)

CRITICS DELIGHT I : national print publicationz

"only do what you mean"

the power of belief

full of eastern promise.

New Interview - with Lowdown Mag

straight up big up kexp

BLACK UP

is this the best palaceer lazaro interview ever?

Summer 2011 Tour Dates

Pitchfork redeem themselves and O extrapolates a mixtape from Palaceer Lazaro of eleven years ago.

Show Review: Santos Party House, NYC, 12 May 2011 (with Thee Satisfaction)

Songs of the Universal Week

the last poets

Weekly Love

shiny new interview

Tune of the Week

SHABAZZ OF THE LEVANT

Weekly Music

Selected Readings from the Digable Planets Chronicles: Formation and early years

SP Feature in City Arts

~ S ~ * ~ P ~

Weekly Jazzoetry

Stuff (news)

Some Thoughts on An Echo From the Hosts That Profess Infinitum (part I of II)

Tour Dates spring/summer 2011

Song of the Week

New Song- Lost Foundling

WEEKLY TUNE

Weekly Song Time

Khalil Joseph & Palaceer Lazaro work together again

SXSW 2011: reviews, photos, & footage

lost in thought ~~\_/\_/~*~ divine styler

the king's new clothes were made by his own hands remix