The visual stars Shabazz Palaces’ Ishmael Butler and Seattle’s Royce The Choice and is directed by Stephan Gray (“Motion Sickness,” “Dawn in Luxor”).
Robed in Rareness is the first full collection of new material since The Don of Diamond Dreams, their critically acclaimed LP released in 2020. The new album features collaborations from the aforementioned Royce The Choice, plus Colorado Springs’ O Finess, The Bronx’s Geechi Suede (of Camp Lo fame), Butler’s twin Lavarr the Starr and his son, the incomparable Lil Tracy.
Robed in Rareness was produced by Shabazz Palaces, mixed by Erik Blood, and engineered by Ishmael Butler and Blood at Studio4 West in Venice, California, with mastering by Warren Defever at Third Man Mastering.
The Wire says of Robed in Rareness, “Butler offers seven tracks whose energy swings between chaotic and cool.”
Shabazz Palaces’ live shows in support of Robed in Rareness continue with a performance Sunday, November 12th in Los Angeles at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel for the LA3C Music & Food Festival. Shabazz Palaces will also appear at My Morning Jacket’s One Big Holiday event in Quintana Roo, MX, on April 4th, 2023—additional live dates to be announced soon.
2023 Sun. Nov. 12 - Los Angeles, CA - LA3C @ Theater at Ace Hotel
2024 Thu. Apr. 04 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Fri. Aug. 05 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Sat. Aug. 06 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Sun. Aug. 07 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya
Shabazz Palaces Robed in Rareness
Tracklisting: 1. Binoculars (feat. Royce The Choice) 2. Woke Up In A Dream (feat. Lil Tracy) 3. P Kicking G (feat. Porter Ray) 4. Cinnamon Bun (feat. Lavarr the Starr) 5. Scarface Mace (feat. O Finess) 6. Gel Bait (feat. Geechi Suede) 7. Hustle Crossers
As the final dates of their monumental 20th anniversary tour approach, The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie commemorate their 2003 landmark albums once more: This time in the form of a double A-side single, Brand New Colony / We Looked Like Giants 7”, featuring The Beths and Car Seat Headrest paying tribute to two beloved songs from Give Up (Sub Pop) and Transatlanticism (Barsuk).
On one A-side is New Zealand indie rockers, The Beths’ delightfully bright cover of “Brand New Colony.” The sonically brilliant reinterpretation features fellow New Zealander, producer and multi-instrumentalist Pickle Darling’s signature finger pluckings and dulcet keys.
The other A-side features alt-rock mainstay Car Seat Headrest’s propulsive guitar-driven take on Death Cab for Cutie fan favorite “We Looked Like Giants.”
The Give Up/Transatlanticism 20th Anniversary Tour will come to a close with three nights at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on October 13, 15 and 17.
Praise for The Postal Service & Death Cab for Cutie Give Up/Transatlanticism 20th Anniversary Tour
“Dream double bill” – VARIETY
“Peak millennial nostalgia, in the best way” – PITCHFORK
“…bright and cathartic…” – BOSTON GLOBE
THE POSTAL SERVICE // DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Give Up/Transatlanticism 20th Anniversary Tour 13 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl & – SOLD OUT 14 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl ^ – SOLD OUT 15 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl % – SOLD OUT 17 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl @
& w/ Special Guest The Beths % w/ Special Guest Built to Spill @ w/ Special Guest Iron & Wine ^ w/ Special Guest Pedro the Lion
Sub Pop is elated to announce the signing of French psychedelic rock outfit SLIFT. The label will release the power-trio’s third full-length, ILION, on CD, 2xLP, and digital/streaming formats on January 19, 2024. The title track from the album is out now on all DSPs.
SLIFT is brothers Jean and Remí Fossat, and Canek Flores. Formed in 2016, SLIFT quickly made an impression on rockers worldwide with their 2017 debut EP, Space Is the Key, and the following year’s full-length La Planeté Inexploreé. In 2019, their KEXP session recorded at the Trans Musicales festival became a viral sensation, racking up more than 1.5 million YouTube views and setting the stage for their acclaimed 2020 space-rock opus, UMMON, and a subsequent limited-edition 7” for the Sub Pop Singles Club.
ILION launches SLIFT even deeper into the cosmos, merging the furious intensity of metal and the wigged-out guitar heroics of psych-rock with post-rock’s epic sense of scale. The band offers a window into the album’s concept in this description of the lead single “Ilion”:
“It’s the opening track and the first song we composed for this record. Due to its structure in ‘drawers,’ with different movements, it represents the album as a whole. It depicts monuments to ancient gods rising skyward from the dusty desert floor of a dying planet, battered by fierce winds. It’s about the people condemned to live on this desolate land. And about the murderers of this world, who leave it for space and the hope of a new world, in a frantic crusade which will lead them to madness.”
ILION can now be pre-ordered worldwide from Sub Pop. LP orders in North America from the Sub Pop Mega Mart and the UK and Europe fromMega Mart 2 (the new European sibling to the Sub Pop Mega Mart) will receive the limited Loser Edition on Blackened Red Vinyl (while supplies last). Also exclusively available via SLIFT’s website is the limited Space Dust Marble vinyl edition.
ILION Bio:
SLIFT’s ILION is a towering work of rock music, a steamrolling record that starts at the highest peak and never lets up. If that sounds overwhelming, trust that this Toulouse trio have you in good hands. Their third full-length feels massive and oceanic, merging the furious intensity of metal and the wigged-out guitar heroics of psych rock with post-rock’s epic sense of scale. ILION is the kind of music where you listen to it and think to yourself, “This came from only three people?” It sure did, and SLIFT’s utter ferocity is way more than a tempest in a teacup. It reaches outwards for miles and creates new zeniths within unforeseen horizons of rock.
SLIFT is made up of brothers Jean and Remí Fossat and Canek Flores, who first met the brothers Fossat at (of all things) school. After the band formally came together in 2016, they quickly made their 2017 debut EP, Space Is the Key, which merged stoner rock’s heaviness with the sugar-rush qualities of garage rock. From there, things only got weirder: The trio experimented with faster tempos and bongos(!) on the following year’s full-length La Planeté Inexploreé, and in 2019, their KEXP session recorded at the Trans Musicales festival in Rennes became a viral sensation, racking up more than 1.4 million YouTube views.
UMMON from 2020 represented SLIFT’s pivot towards the celestially crushing confines of psych-metal, marked by Remí’s rolling basslines and Flores’s relentless skin-pounding. But nothing in their already-estimable catalog could prepare you for ILION, a huge-sounding and melodically dense record that at once recalls Godspeed! You Black Emperor’s perpetually uplifting surge, the passionate burn of post-hardcore legends …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Led Zep’s psychotic blues-rock mysticism, and the psychedelic swirl of Swedish experimental greats Goat.
But reducing ILION to a list of reference points would be missing the point—specifically, that you really have to sit down and experience this thing and let it take over your ear space. The record marks the band’s second Sub Pop release, following last year’s Singles Club 7” release of “Unseen” b/w “The Real Unseen,” which were outtakes from the UMMON sessions and offered a mere taste of the pure expansiveness on display here. Over eight tracks and 75+ minutes, SLIFT unleash the fury with walls of guitar and multi-part song structures that make you feel as if you’re being taken on a true journey—from the pure oblivion of ILION’s title track and the stretched-out abandon of centerpiece “Weavers’ Weft” to the intense climax of the 12-and-a-half-minute epic “The Story That Has Never Been Told.”
But what is this journey? To hear SLIFT tell it, Joseph Campbell would be proud of the thematic path laid out before the listeners on ILION, which is named after the Ancient Greek word for the city of Troy and, conceptually speaking, picks up where UMMON left off: “This is an album constructed in the manner of a Homeric story,” the band explains. “Where the two records differ is that ILION is about human emotions and feelings, whereas UMMON was telling an epic story with a distant view. ILION represents the fall of humanity and the rebirth of all things in time and space.”
Heavy shit, to be sure—but fear not, because you don’t need a 12-sided die and a copy of The Odyssey to get what SLIFT are dishing out on ILION. All you need are two ears, an open mind, and the willingness to be truly blown away.
SLIFT ILION
1. Ilion 2. Nimh 3. The Words That Have Never Been Heard 4. Confluence 5. Weavers’ Weft 6. Uruk 7. The Story That Has Never Been Told 8. Enter The Loop
Today, October 3rd, Shabazz Palaces shares “Scarface Mace (feat. O Finess),” a new highlight from his forthcoming album Robed in Rareness.
Shabazz Palaces is masterminded by vocalist and producer Ishmael Butler, and this steady, cerebral, and swaggy new tale features Colorado Springs-based rapper O Finess. Watch the new animated visualizer illustrated by Kobi Annobil/Player 99 Design Institute and animated by Ben Goldsmith.
The “Scarface Mace” single, which follows the release of “Binoculars (feat. Royce The Choice) and “Woke Up In a Dream” featuring Ish’s son Lil Tracy, is from Robed in Rareness, a new seven-song mini album, released worldwide on October 27th, 2023.
Robed in Rareness is the first full collection of new material since The Don of Diamond Dreams, their critically acclaimed LP released in 2020. The album features collaborations from the aforementioned Royce The Choice, O Finess, and Lil Tracy, along with Butler’s twin Lavarr the Starr, Seattle’s Porter Ray, and Bronx’s Geechi Suede (of Camp Lo).
Robed in Rareness was produced by Shabazz Palaces, mixed by Erik Blood, and engineered by Ishmael Butler and Blood at Studio4 West in Venice, California, with mastering by Warren Defever at Third Man Mastering.
Shabazz Palaces’ live shows in support of Robed in Rareness continue with a performance tonight, Tuesday, October 3rd, at New York City’s Mercury Lounge, and Sunday, November 12th in Los Angeles at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel for the LA3C Music & Food Festival. Shabazz Palaces will also appear at My Morning Jacket’s One Big Holiday event in Quintana Roo, MX, on April 4th, 2023—additional live dates to be announced soon.
2023 Tue. Oct. 03 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge (Late) Sun. Nov. 12 - Los Angeles, CA - LA3C @ Theater at Ace Hotel
2024 Thu. Apr. 04 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Fri. Aug. 05 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Sat. Aug. 06 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Sun. Aug. 07 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya
On November 2, 2023, Girl and Girl will release Fight Night. This 5-song collection features new interpretations of songs from the group’s 2023 EP, Divorce +, and recorded at Fight Night Studios in Melbourne, Australia.
Girl and Girl is sharing a new performance video of “Strangers” from the Fight Night sessions, which you can watch HERE.
Girl and Girl’s frontperson, Kai James, says about the single and video: “For ‘Strangers,’ we tried to bottle the feeling of a night out alone, the thrill that comes from meeting new people. It’s my favorite track to play live; people connect with it. I try my best cowboy dancing, and everyone’s stomping and shouting together. It’s a hoot.”
Fight Night Records is a recording studio perched above Dutch Vinyl record store in Melbourne, established in 2015 by identical twins Harley & Delaney Stewart. Their live studio sessions have captured performances by some of Australia’s most incredible underground talent including Grace Cummings, Folk Bitch Trio, Felix Riebl, Gabriella Cohen, Jazz Party, Bones & Jones and Sweet Talk.
Girl and Girl are working on new music for their full-length Sub Pop debut, and have announced AU and EU shows this fall, including a festival play on November 11th at Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris. See below for a full list of shows.
TOUR DATES Fri. Oct. 13 - Melbourne, AU - The Evelyn Sat. Oct. 14 - Paramatta, AU - Paramatta Lanes Sun. Oct. 15- Wollongong, AU - Yours & Owls Festival Wed. Oct. 18 - Sydney, AU - SXSW Sydney (The Chippo Hotel) Thu. Oct. 19 - Sydney, AU - SXSW Sydney (The Lord Gladstone) Fri. Oct. 27 - Amsterdam, NL - London Calling 2023 Mon. Oct. 30 - Manchester, UK - The Deaf Institute w/ Water From Your Eyes Tue. Oct. 31 - Glasgow, UK - The Hug and Pint w/ Water From Your Eyes Wed. Nov. 01 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club w/ Water From Your Eyes Fri. Nov. 03- London, UK - Sebright Arms (2 shows) Sat. Nov. 04 - Margate, UK- Whereelse? w/ Flamingods Sun. Nov. 05 - Brighton, UK - Mutations Festival 2023 Mon. Nov. 06 - Southampton, UK - Heartbreakers Wed. Nov. 08- Orleans, FR - L’Astrolabe Thu. Nov. 09 - Nantes, FR - Stereolux Fri. Nov. 10 - Weissenhäuser Strand, GER - Rolling Stone Beach Sat. Nov. 11 - Paris, FR - Pitchfork Avant Garde
