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I heard of Shabazz Palaces via Constant Gardner and Pretty Much Amazing, who gave praise to the group’s latest album Black Up. I was already late by the time I got into it, so I’m happy that this video popped up and provided an excuse to post. If you haven’t already heard Shabazz Palaces, definitely check them out.
Led by Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler, formerly of Digable Planets, Shabazz Palaces feature hints of a simplistic, old school style in their music. Besides those hints, nothing about the music is typical. It’s avant-garde on some Antipop Consortium type stuff, sometimes pushing the sounds so far into space that it’s a little hard to wrap your head around. Despite their lofty ambitions, Shabazz Palaces comes across as completely honest and natural.
Instead of seeming like, “Ooooh look at us, we’re being different. We’re doing weird stuff,” it seems more like they just got together in a room and this is what came out. But it is different.
Check out a few videos of Shabazz Palaces live in the KEXP studio, and find more about SP here…
