Shabazz Palaces immersive new video for “Dawn In Luxor” - a standout track from the group’s critically acclaimed album Lese Majesty - pairs stunning cinematography and VFX, with footage courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Hubble and Cassini missions.  Director Stephan Gray dubs the new visual a “daydream on a nightwalk,” and the result is as mesmerizing as you’d imagine.

New to or already obsessed with Shabazz Palaces? Treat yourself to this YouTube Playlist.

ICYMI: Shabazz Palaces previously announced summer tour schedule runs June 4th through September 17th 2016.  Highlights include: August 4th and August 8th supporting Radiohead’s Los Angeles shows (!!!) at the Shrine Auditorium;  August 13th at Eaux Claires Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin; August 27th at Brooklyn’s Afropunk Festival; And three U.S. west coast shows: September 15th-16th in Oakland at Fox Theatre and September 17th at the Hollywood Bowl with Flying Lotus, George Clinton + Parliament Funkadelic and Thundercat.

Shabazz Palaces’ Lese Majesty, is currently available for purchase on CD / 2xLP / CD from Sub Pop Megamart, iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp and an independent record store near you.

(Pictured: Two Sub Pop Corporate Associates With Party Hats and Balloons)

Sub Pop Airport Store 2nd Birthday Party Recap

May 1st. A day that is already full of holidays. Maybe you have spent prior firsts of May celebrating spring, erecting a maypole, and dancing in neo-pagan fertility rituals. Or perhaps you’ve been an ardent observer of International Workers’ Day, taking part in street marches and demonstrations (but maybe/hopefully you can agree with me that we should cut out of some these less imaginative pursuits.)

But now you can add another celebration to May 1st: The birthday of the Sub Pop Airport store! We are happy to share a birthday with fellow May Day babies like Jules Breton, Terry Southern, Judy Collins, Wes Anderson, and Jay Reatard, but I believe Sub Pop chose May 1st as our inauguration date because ‘mayday’ is an international signal for distress. And if a record label opening a store in an airport isn’t a cry for help, I don’t know what is!* 

In typical Sub Pop fashion, May 1st flew right by us on a Sunday last week (“Where the hell did May come from? It was April just yesterday”- me). It then took us a week to figure out how to properly commemorate our 2nd birthday. Eventually, plans were made, and we decided to bring a little festive spirit to the airport on this most recent Monday afternoon, May 9th 2016.  

Thank you to all the loyal customers who happened to be flying through Sea-Tac Airport bought plane tickets just to make it to our birthday party. Thank you to the members of the retail staff that took turns DJing their favorite Sub Pop singles. Without further ado, here is photographic evidence that we celebrated our 2nd birthday and delivered on all those promises we made earlier. 

(Photo appropriated from our friends @ Sea-Tac Airport)

(Free cupcakes! These disappeared pretty quickly.)

(Brnt Zza playin’ the hits.)

(Behind the decks with DJ Hookups)

(The store is currently holding auditions to join (this cut-out of) Nirvana. Do you think you have what it takes?)

(Here’s artist/illustrator Stacey Rozich, whose artwork can be found on the latest Father John Misty album, getting her photo taken at the store.)

(Our newest addition to the polaroid wall. Thanks, Stacey!)

(A visual sneak-peek of the Sub Pop Podcast, recording for Season 2 at the airport.)

(A free CD sampler, still available while supplies last. With your help, and patronage at our airport store, we can Make Sub Pop Great Again.)

*just some of that good ol’ patented Sub Pop Sarcasm for you! I love my job and kiss the ground that my overlords walk on. 

[Photo by Beowulf Sheehan]

We’re thrilled to announce that Shabazz Palaces will join Radiohead as support on the group’s forthcoming Los Angeles shows. The performances will take place on Thursday, August 4th and Monday, August 8th at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

The Radiohead support slots are the latest additions to Shabazz Palaces’ summer festival schedule, which includes: June 4th in Spokane for Volume The Inlander’s Music Festival; June 18th at Vancouver’s Levitation Festival; August 13th at Eaux Claires Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin; and Brooklyn’s Afropunk Festival August 27th. 

Additionally, Shabazz Palaces will join Flying Lotus, George Clinton + Parliament Funkadelic and Thundercat for three U.S. west coast shows: September 15th-16th in Oakland at Fox Theatre and September 17th at the Hollywood Bowl. (complete dates below.)

These summer tour dates are in support of Lese Majesty, which is available for purchase on CD / 2xLP / CD from Sub Pop Megamart, iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, and an independent retailer near you.

Treat your eyes and ears to a sampling of Shabazz Palaces mind melting videos and music in this YouTube Playlist.

What people are saying about Lese Majesty:
Lese Majesty is Shabazz Palaces getting interstellar, a set of intricate, enigmatic, yet meaningful suites complete with an (initially) impenetrable multidimensional blueprint/map connecting it all in the liner notes. Beneath the visuals, the album contends with a strain of Afrofuturism that puts its faith in finding unities in contradictions and clarity in riddles (“I’m having my cake and I’m eating cake,” “facts stated to enhance what is pre-born,” “we try to unreproduce six tension intervals”), reconciling structure and formlessness, forethought and spontaneity….meter-defying breaks and tactile, synthesized bass-church/musique concrète production that turns human language into primordial elements of cosmic influence. It’s humbling stuff that urges you to dance but knows full well that, to do so, you’ll need to relearn new and better steps [50 Best Albums Of 2014] - Pitchfork

“Unlike their previous, also brilliant full-length Black Up, Shabazz Palaces’ new “sonic move” Lese Majesty is not necessarily conducive to absorption in small doses. The record is a massive, dense monolith, divided into suites that only start to make sense after countless repeat listens. It’s a bridge from rap’s beginnings in the early ’70s into its future — structurally, thematically, lyrically, sonically, all of it — that sounds so many light years ahead of everything else in the genre that its nods to the past only reveal themselves after one invests real time immersed in what we called “the impossibly deep, singular astral landscape” that the group has created.” [Album of the Year]  - Gorilla Vs. Bear

“With their second album, Seattle hiphop duo Shabazz Palaces unshackled Afrofuturism from cliche in order to present a holistic almost familiar worldview that the future is already here, before demanding an honest response to that revelation. Hua Hsu said:  Abstraction is only useful insofar as it shakes our reliance and this is what makes Lese Majesty’s primal futurism such a bewildering experience. Palaceer raps with secularity and conviction as all that was once solid melts into air - rules and codes vanish, leaving nothing but ghosts while beats dissolve into pretty colors.” [#7 / Albums of the Year] - The Wire

Tour Dates
Jun. 04 - Spokane, WA - Volume: The Inlander’s Music Festival @ Terrain Stage 
Jun. 18 - Vancouver, BC - Levitation Festival @ Imperial Vancouver
Aug. 04 - Los Angeles, CA - Shrine Auditorium *
Aug. 08 - Los Angeles, CA - Shrine Auditorium *
Aug. 13 - Eau Claire, WI - Eaux Claires Music Festival
Aug. 27 - Brooklyn, NY - Afropunk Fest @ Brainfeeder Stage
Sep. 15 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre **
Sep. 16 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre **
Sep. 17 - Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Bowl ** 
* w / Radiohead
** w/ Flying Lotus, George Clinton + Parliament Funkadelic, Thundercat, The Gaslamp Killer

Beach House have added new U.S. headlining club and theatre shows to their 2016 international summer tour schedule in support of their recent albums Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars.
 
The band have scheduled shows in D.C., Boise, Spokane, Missoula, Sioux Falls, Iowa City, Indianapolis, Louisville, Columbia, Kansas City, Denver, and Las Vegas. New dates include:

 
Jul. 11 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
Aug. 08 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory
Aug. 09 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory
Aug. 10 - Missoula, MT - The Wilma
Aug. 12 - Sioux Falls, SD - The District
Aug. 14 - Iowa City, IA - Englert Theatre
Aug. 16 - Indianapolis, IN - Deluxe @ Old National Centre
Aug. 17 - Louisville, KY - Headliners
Aug. 19 - Columbia, MO - The Blue Note
Aug. 20 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
Aug. 22 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
Aug. 24 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
Sep. 09 - Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Festival
 

All of these dates will be on-sale Friday, May 13th with the exception of the July 11th show at the 9:30 Club.  That show will go on-sale Thursday, May 12th at 10am EST. For more information on where to purchase tickets, please visit beachhousebaltimore.com.
 
Additionally, European and U.S. festival highlights for the summer include: Primavera Sound in Barcelona on June 3rd and in Porto, PT on June 10th; Best Kept Secret in Hilvarenbeek, NL on June 17th; a headline performance at Pitchfork Music Festival on July 15th; San Francisco’s Outside Lands on August 5th; Pickathon in Happy Valley, OR on August 7th;  Eaux Claires in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on August 12th-13th; FYF in Los Angeles on August 28th; And the just added Hopscotch Festival performance in Raleigh, NC on September 9th. (complete listing below.)
 

Depression Cherry (released Aug. 28, 2015) is the second consecutive top 10 album for Beach House, coming in at #8 on theBillboard Top 200 chart, and spent 5 weeks at #1 on the CMJ Top 200. [listen here]


Thank Your Lucky Stars  (released October 16th,  2015) entered at #38 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and peaked at #5 on the CMJTop 200 chart.  [listen here] 
 
Beach House’s Thank Your Lucky Stars and Depression Cherrywere recorded during the same two-month span, and produced by the band and Chris Coady at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana. Both albums are available now in North America from Sub Pop, in Europe from Bella Union and in Australia from Mistletone.

Tour Dates
Europe
Jun. 01 - Bordeaux, FR -  Theatre Barbey
Jun. 03 - Barcelona, ES -   Primavera Sound
Jun. 05 - Nimes, FR   This Is Not a Love Song
Jun. 06 - Nantes, FR -  Stereolux
Jun. 07 - Toulouse, FR - Bikini
Jun. 10 - Porto, PT -  Primavera Sound
Jun. 12 - London, UK -   Victoria Park
Jun. 13 - Bexhill, UK  - De La Warr Pavillion
Jun. 14 - Paris, FR - Casino de Paris
Jun. 17 - Hilvarenbeek, NL - Best Kept Secret
Jun. 18 - Aarhus, DK - Northside
 
U.S.
Jul. 11 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
Jul. 15 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival
Aug. 05 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival
Aug. 07 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
Aug. 08 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory
Aug. 09 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory
Aug. 10 - Missoula, MT - The Wilma
Aug. 12 - Sioux Falls, SD - The District
Aug. 12 - Eau Claire, WI - Eaux Claires Music Festival
Aug. 13 - Eau Claire, WI - Eaux Claires Music Festival
Aug. 14 - Iowa City, IA - Englert Theatre
Aug. 16 - Indianapolis, IN - Deluxe @ Old National Centre
Aug. 17 - Louisville, KY - Headliners
Aug. 19 - Columbia, MO - The Blue Note
Aug. 20 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
Aug. 22 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
Aug. 24 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
Aug. 28 - Los Angeles, CA - FYF Festival
Sep. 09 - Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Festival