On November 3rd, Sub Pop will release the 30th anniversary vinyl edition of the pioneering ambient-metal album Earth 2 Special Low Frequency Version by Earth. The re-release revives the double album’s original packaging - an extra-wide jacket with two color inner sleeves - for the first time since the long out-of-print 1993 pressing and adds a double-sided insert with never-before-seen photos of the band from the Earth 2 era. This new edition will be on glacial blue vinyl (US) and Blue Curacao vinyl (UK & EU).
Also out on November 3rd is a companion piece entitled Earth 2.23 Special Lower Frequency Mix. Earth 2.23 highlights the enduring influence of Earth 2 with brand new, exclusive reinterpretations of Earth 2 material by The Bug feat. Flowdan, Robert Hampson (Loop, Main), Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu), and Brett Netson (Built to Spill, Caustic Resin). The four-track vinyl version will be limited to 2,500 copies worldwide and will be on glacial blue vinyl to match the anniversary edition of Earth 2. The digital version will add a bonus remix by Kevin Richard Martin (aka The Bug). The cover of Earth 2.23 features original artwork by underground art legend Savage Pencil.
The Bug says of their contribution “Angels (The Bug Remix feat. Flowdan)”: “When I first heard Earth 2 I didn’t even make it to the end of the album, as I later embarrassingly confessed to Dylan Carlson. But ironically it ended up being one of ‘those’ records that sounds so alien on first listen, but ends up being a constant companion, absolutely embedded under my skin and in constant rotation. So much so that I later approached Dylan to collaborate on our 2017 album Concrete Desert for Ninja Tune. So it was incredibly flattering to be approached by him to reinterpret one of Earth 2’s choice cuts. As I knew Dylan was a fan of my work with Flowdan, it was a no brainer to invite my regular partner in musical crime to spit on the mic for my rework. We aimed to fuse drone, hip hop, low end dirt and grime into a monolithic slab of sonic f-ck you. The result made us smile in the best possible way.”
You can now listen to “Angels (The Bug Remix feat. Flowdan)” from Earth 2.23 Special Lower Frequency Mix HERE.
Earth 2 Special Low Frequency Version 30th Anniversary Edition North American Vinyl Mock Up
Earth 2.23 Lower Frequency Mix North American Mock Up
More on Earth 2 Special Low Frequency Version and Earth 2.23 Special Lower Frequency Mix by Grayson Currin: Did you know there are horses on the cover of Earth 2 Special Low Frequency Version? There are at least three of them there in the right hand corner, pale brown and blonde beauties gathered inexplicably near a white canvas tent, a human possibly perched among its folds. A black cow (is that a cow?) grazes at the left, an enigmatic peppery blemish on an overwhelming landscape of white heaven, blue sky, and green earth. In 1993, that triptych of strata offered a fittingly bold canvas for the pronouncement of a landmark: Earth 2, the glacially paced but radically charged record that is one of heavy metal’s very few sui generis statements of the last 30 years. But as widescreen and vast as the cover may seem, those little details—the horses, the possible human, the faint wisp of white clouds—give it depth and wonder, something for which the imagination can return.
Did you know that the music on Earth 2—repressed now for its 30th anniversary, back in its original artwork, and accompanied by a riveting set of remixes that demonstrate the reach of what Dylan Carlson long ago called “ambient metal”—works much the same way? The surface is massive and obvious, the meatpaw riffs of Carlson and bassist Dave Harwell pounding and swiping and pawing at the speakers, a true bludgeon in three-dimensional sound. Their combined might speak directly to the end-times-minded. “Seven Angels,”for instance, is staggering, the theme throbbing like techno near the piece’s middle.
They ride the slow changes of “Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine” like celestial surfers who have descended from their Mount Olympus perch, patient and powerful and purposeful. The half-hour finale “Like Gold and Faceted” pours out like a tidal wave of mud, its titanic strength seeming to rend free Joe Burns’ incidental percussion like debris on some ravaged roadway. If you’ve always heard Earth 2 as an engrossing exposition of sustained muscle and exquisite volume, fair enough. It is absolutely that.
Listen, though, for the details in the corners, for the finesse beneath the force, and Earth 2 suddenly reveals new levels of depth and wonder. Hear the way the shells of the amplifiers seem to rattle back during a rest seven minutes into “Seven Angels,” like an unintended rhythm section. Or the way the overtones accrete throughout those 15 minutes, like a subterranean choir singing harmony is steadily rising beneath the din. There’s the vertiginous motion of “Teeth,” where layers of distorted drone wash over one another in all directions until you believe that maybe the very idea of forward motion is a mirage. You could spend a lifetime teasing out where one sound begins, another ends.
And then, with “Like Gold and Faceted,” Earth does something of the opposite, leaking one sound into another as if pouring a guitar’s viscous tone through the world’s longest funnel. Close your eyes just beyond the three-minute mark, and you can hear such a rendezvous, with guitars, bass, and amps crackling into a seamless groan. It is a careful and beautiful moment, like noticing all the brushstrokes a painter used to master some ever-complicated gradient of color.
The widespread impact of Earth 2 suggests that others have indeed been leaning in, listening to these minutiae and making something new of them. A masterpiece without many genre precedents, Earth 2 surely helped send doom metal down its more modern drone, ambient, and avant-garde avenues. Those descendants are obvious. Perhaps more surprising and gratifying are the ways it has influenced electronic music, modern composition, and even hip-hop by realigning our senses of tempo, time, and texture. Earth 2 engendered a rearrangement of expectations, regardless of preferred form.
The new five-remix set, Earth 2.23 Special Lower Frequency Mix, makes this clearer than ever. The Bug has taken a bit of “Seven Angels” and laced it with feedback and big bass, allowing grime luminary Flowdan to climb atop it with his dark, staccato visions. Responsible for many transformational records himself, Justin K. Broadrick of Jesu and Godflesh crawls inside “Teeth” to lash at it with punishing drum machines and sordid layers of new distortion, building it into some brokedown palace of industrial mayhem. Loop’s Robert Hampson makes good on the premise of ambient metal with his 30-minute hypnotic beauty, while longtime Earth cohort and longtime Built to Spill multi-instrumentalist Brett Netson seems to float the sound through a benighted graveyard on his clever “Teeth” revamp. When The Bug’s Kevin Richard Martin comes back around for “Like Gold and Faceted,” he puts it on a dub platter, spinning it through a demented psychedelic fantasyland. These are not obvious directions for Earth’s impact. Again, Earth 2 was never an obvious record.
Earth does not sound like Earth 2 anymore. Along with steadfast drummer Adrienne Davies, Carlson has landed after an extended pause somewhere between Earth 7 and Earth Infinity, using the nominal structure of blues-based instrumental rock to follow flickering riffs through the deep dark. They are refined, subtle, and deceptively quiet now, as if always about to crest some undetected barrier.
The force that made Earth 2 so jarring and affirming is still there, though, hidden in plain sound, as if the image of 1993 has been suddenly reversed. Rather than see mostly the striking mountain and try to tease out the details, as Carlson and Harwell did so rapturously on Earth 2, you now first see the mountain’s minute details—its cracks, faces, grains—and intuit that the imposing shape is still there, even if you cannot comprehend its true enormity. But 30 years on, have we yet to grasp the enormity of Earth 2, anyway, an album that has continued its slow cycle of influence, uninterrupted? Probably not. Hell, most of us don’t even know there are horses on the cover.
Earth 2 Special Low Frequency Version 30th Anniversary Edition
Tracklisting: 1. Seven Angels 2. Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine 3. Like Gold and Faceted
Earth 2.23 Special Lower Frequency Mix
Tracklisting: 1. Angels (The Bug Remix feat. Flowdan) 2. May Your Vanquished Be Saved from the Bondage of their Sins (Robert Hampson Remix) 3. Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine (Justin K Broadrick Remix) 4. Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine (Brett Netson Version) 5. Like Gold and Faceted (Kevin Richard Martin Remix)* *digital-only
Available today, September 7th, Naima Bock has shared a cover of Leonard Cohen’s archetypal masterpiece, “So Long, Marianne,” available now on all DSPs from Sub Pop/Memorials of Distinction. This stand-alone track was engineered & produced by Ali Chant at The Playpen Studio in Bristol, UK.
Bock shares about the cover: “I first found out about Leonard Cohen’s ‘So Long Marianne’ when I was walking in Fordham Park in New Cross, London as a young teenager. I saw ‘To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again’ inscribed on a bench plate in memory of a woman called Marianne (this bench has now sadly gone). The lyrics touched me in a profound way, and I remember crying a little when I saw them. These words in the context of someone’s passing were so profound and (for me) encompassed all of life and its constant tides. Of course, I later went home and listened to the hell out of Mr. Cohen, which I would continue to do for many years after, always finding safety in his voice and words.”
We (myself and the band) had been playing this song as a cover during our tours in 2022, and when we went in with Ali Chant, we decided to record a live version of it. I always felt nervous about recording a cover of Leonard Cohen. it obviously never stands up to the original, but I wanted to do it justice and, if nothing else, try not to diminish it in any way. My feelings around this recording were somewhat complicated, and although I could recognize how good the band (Meitar Wegman on Saxophone, Cassidy Hansen on drums, Clem Appleby on bass/ electric guitar, and Oliver Hamilton on violin, everyone on backing vocals) sounded, I didn’t like my vocal delivery. That is until I heard the backing vocals come in on a later chorus, and something inside me clicked, and I fell in love with what we had done.
I have always felt hugely supported by the musicians I play with, and when I heard their voices in this recording, it reminded me to be accepting and LOVING of imperfections, imperfections in my voice, which I have always (like many singers) been painfully aware of, imperfections in art, in myself. I thought if I didn’t want to present something imperfect to the world, then where do I stand morally in regards to what people consume, perfection only? This is the reality for many people, not just in artistic expression but in appearance, career trajectory etc. perfection only pleases. This is not only unrealistic but also detrimental to our minds and souls, we never will be perfect and if all we consume feels like it is, then we must be less. This is not a game that I will support, so here it is, my lovingly given imperfect version of ‘So long, Marianne’. I also altered the lyrics from ‘Violet park’ to ‘Fordham park’ to honour the Marianne who introduced me (from the other side) to Leonard Cohen. “
Bock will embark on a 9-date EU tour, beginning in Leipzig, Germany, on September 15th, opening for Squid, with headline and festival performances in the UK & Vienna in November. See below for a full list of dates.
Fri. Sep. 15 - Leipzig, DE - UT Connewitz # Sat. Sep. 16 - Zurich, CH - Mascotte # Tue. Sep. 19 - Milan, It - Santeria Social Club # Thu. Sep. 21 - Barcelona, ES - Sala Apolo # Fri. Sep. 22 - Valencia, ES - Teatro La Rambleta # Sat. Sep. 23 - Madrid, ES - Sala Copernico # Sun. Sep. 24 - Bordeaux, FR - Rock School Barbey # Mon. Sep. 25 - Paris, FR - Elysee Montmartre # Wed. Sep. 27 - Rouen, FR - Le 106 # Mon. Oct. 25 - Totnes, UK - The Albatross Tue. Oct. 26 - Falmouth, UK - The Cornish Bank Fri. Nov. 03 - Hebden Bridge, UK - The Trades Club Sun. Nov. 05 - Manchester, UK - Deaf Institute Thu. Nov. 9 - Bristol, UK - Dareshack Fri. Nov. 10 - London, UK - EartH (AKA Hackney Arts Centre) Thur. Nov. 23 - Vienna, AT - Blue Bird Festival (Porgy & Bess)
# w/ Squid
What People Are Saying About Naima Bock: “There’s a bit of ’70s Brian Eno in her vocal delivery and an echo of John Cale in her arrangements, but the fusion of her disparate cultural influences makes for an enchanting sound entirely Bock’s own.” [“Giant Palm”] - New York Times
“Exquisite solo debut” - ★★★★ MOJO
“Quiet, melancholy and occasionally divinely uplifting (8/10)” - Uncut
“Hugely ambitious - the individual pieces are delicately arranged, the end product solid as steel” [ “Music of the Month”] - The Quietus
“A real gem…[it’s] cinematic and spectral; it makes one contemplate things like energy flows and meditation and the long arc of history.” [“Album of the Week”] - Stereogum
“Giant Palm, is quietly dazzling, drawing from a wide range of influences including ’70s British folk, jazz, and Tropicalia.” [“Album of the Week, Indie Basement”] - Brooklyn Vegan
“This album has an unforced charm, making it an ideal accompaniment to long summer nights” ★★★★- The Times of London
“Naima Bock’s ‘Giant Palm’ is - frankly - exquisite. A truly special listen” - CLASH
“Steady and calming, intimate and revelatory, sporadically startling - it’s a record as unique as Bock’s history (8/10)” - Loud and Quiet
“As a debut, Giant Palm situates itself in a specific tradition without being constrained by convention - finding a voice in ten tracks that occupy their own lifeforce, almost set in motion by the elements.” ★★★★ - DIY
“Giant Palm is a stellar debut and one of 2022’s more distinct releases (8/10)” - The Line of Best Fit
“Though she took a roundabout path to make and release Giant Palm, the way Bock shares her profound moments and little insights with a generous spirit makes for an often brilliant debut.” ★★★★ - All Music
Shabazz Palaces is masterminded by vocalist and producer Ishmael Butler and remarkably, this gliding and expansive new offering features his son, the incomparable Lil Tracy. Ishmael flexes his lyrical prowess in a cascading meditation with a snaking bass groove, whilst Tracy delivers his vivid and cinematic diamond flow brilliance.
Speaking on the genesis of “Woke Up In A Dream,” Ishmael explains: “My son hella influences me, and not just musically. He was home visiting, and we were just lounging around, talking shit and smoking weed, etc. Over the course of the night, he would go in and lay stuff down. Between breaks for eating and watching the game, he’d go back in, layering and sculpting and then floating the background ghost vocals. I was trying to play it cool, but I was geeked - when I heard what he did, I was like, “DAMN, this dude is really HIM.”
The single is from Robed in Rareness, a new seven-song mini album, worldwide on October 27th, 2023. Watch the animated visualizer directed by Jacob Kasar.
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 with Seattle’s Royce The Choice and Porter Ray, Colorado Springs’ O Finess, Butler’s twin Lavarr the Starr, Bronx’s Geechi Suede (of Camp Lo), and Butler’s son, the aforementioned 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.
Robed in Rareness’ lead-off single “Binoculars (feat. Royce The Choice)” was released last month, which Pitchfork says “sounds like it’s coming from a gravity-free bunker.” Get lost in the animated visualizer for “Binoculars (feat. Royce The Choice),” also directed by Kasar.
Shabazz Palaces’ first round of touring in support of Robed in Rareness begins with a short run of east coast dates on Wednesday, September 27th, in Kingston, NY at Tubby’s, and now runs through Sunday, October 2nd in Philadelphia, PA at Milkboy. The group 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 Wed. Sep. 27 - Kingston, NY - Tubby’s Thu. Sep. 28 - Toronto, ON - Great Hall Fri. Sep. 29 - Montreal, QC - Entrepot 77 (Late) Fri. Sep. 29 - Montreal, QC - POP Montreal Festival (Early) Sun. Oct. 01 - Washington, DC - DC9 Mon. Oct. 02 - Philadelphia, PA - Milkboy
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
Lael Neale portrays a frustrated school teacher with talent show aspirations in the droll and self-directed official video for “I’ll Be Your Star,” a new single available now on all DSPs. The new song was recorded during the sessions for Star Eaters Delight, her acclaimed 2023 album released earlier this spring.
“I’ll Be Your Star” was written by Neale and produced and arranged by Guy Blakeslee. It also follows the release of the raw gem “White T-Shirt,” released in June.
Neale says, “Getting to make this video at my beloved elementary school felt like coming full circle. I had my first and only film class there in which I learned the spontaneous and primitive approach to making things that I’m still committed to.”
Lael Neale’s international tour schedule for 2023 in support of Star Eaters Delight, which resumes Wednesday, September 6th in Rotterdam, Netherlands, at Roodkapje and currently runs through Friday, September 29th in Seattle, WA, at The Paramount Theatre. The tour includes headlining European tour dates (through September 16th) and U.S. Pacific Northwest dates with label mate Weyes Blood (September 27th-29th). A list of dates is below, and tickets for these shows are on sale now.
Wed. Sep. 06 - Rotterdam, NL - Roodkapje Thu. Sep. 07 - Utrecht, NL - Ekko Fri. Sep. 08 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Upstairs Sat. Sep. 09 - Asten-Heusden, NL - Misty Fields Festival Mon. Sep. 11 - Bristol, UK - Crofters Rights Tue. Sep. 12 - Brighton, UK - The Prince Albert Wed. Sep. 13 - London, UK - Moth Club Thu. Sep. 14 - Dublin, IE - The Workman’s Club Sat. Sep. 16 - Leffinge, BE - Leffingeleuren Festival Wed. Sep. 27 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater ^ Thu. Sep. 28 - Eugene, OR - McDonald Theatre ^ Fri. Sep. 29 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater ^
The beguiling Star Eaters Delight reveals an expansion of Neale’s sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee and arrives on the heels of her Sub Pop debut Acquainted With Night, which won international acclaim for its crystalline vocals, clever songwriting, and excellent use of Omnichord to build a world of beautiful reveries.
In April of 2020, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family’s farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation, Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She explains: “The unbroken silences on the farm compelled me to break them with sound. This album is louder and more external, calling out to the world.”
Star Eaters Delight was written by Neale, with arrangements and production by Guy Blakeslee. The recordings were made on cassette in Virginia and mastered by Chris Coady in Los Angeles.
Star Eaters Delight is available now from Sub Pop. LP orders from megamart.subpop.com in North America and Mega Mart 2 in UK and Europe, along with select independent retailers in North America, and the UK and Europe, will receive the Loser edition on gold vinyl.
What people are saying about Lael Neale: “A unique, boldly weird proposition, and one that proudly carries the faint hint of tractor grease. Half of it comes on like cult 70s folk artist Karen Dalton hanging out with the Velvet Underground and Suicide, while the rest offers somewhat more modern balladry, placing her more in the world of Angel Olsen and Cat Power.” - THE GUARDIAN
“Spellbinding” ★★★★★ - SHINDIG!
“There’s something a little haunting about her voice, it helps too that she writes primarily on the Omnichord, which has a little bit of spookiness built into it. But this is kind of an album for Luddites about how to exist in a world that demands too much of your attention and how you can be intentional about the way you move through it. It was recorded on cassette, which I love because it brings a real warmth to it, and a real presence of being in the room, which I think really delivers that message home.” - NPR MUSIC
“…An excellent new album” - STEREOGUM
“Neale has placed her trust in life’s meanders—and in its source—and the result is her best work yet: a golden mean between experimentation and pop, lo-fi and hi-fi, vitality and rest.” - PASTE
“Neale is imaginative, but she’s steeped in songwriting craft and she knows her way round a whopping chorus.” ★★★★ - MOJO
“Star Eater’s Delight…was recorded on cassette, and tape hiss acts like a third band member here. She sings of flowers, rivers, seas, and trees; holy water, perfect deaths; bells of time, patience, and the speed of medicine. Carried by words and rhythm, she’s barreling towards something just beyond the horizon.” - AQUARIUM DRUNKARD
“Neale has put together a tight package of an album with no stray notes but one also brimming with a sly multitude of ideas. Kudos to Neale for not playing it safe and simultaneously doing something wholly different than anyone else out there.” 9/10 - UNDER THE RADAR
“This collection of versatile songs acts as a tour of different neighborhoods in the beautifully smeary nocturnal dream world Neale began building on her last album.” ★★★★ - ALL MUSIC
“A collection of songs with the weight and conviction of hymns. Some have a more spare, lo-fi feel, with Neale’s voice accompanied by vintage instruments, including her signature mellotron, but the real centerpiece is the eight-minute “In Verona,” which brings a real sense of urgency to its invocations of Shakespeare.” - BROOKLYN VEGAN
“An elegantly spare showcase of her radiant voice, a tremulous yodel tinged with gospel and country inflections. Bathed in antique analog acoustics, spine-tingling ballads of romantic yearning....” - UNCUT
Sub Pop will release Shabazz Palaces’ Robed In Rareness, a new seven-song effort, worldwide on October 27th, 2023. It is the first full collection of new material since The Don of Diamond Dreams, their critically acclaimed LP released in 2020.
Shabazz Palaces is masterminded by vocalist and producer Ishmael Butler, whose unstinting drive to reimagine hip-hop - even as he enters his fifth decade on Earth - remains undimmed. With Robed In Rareness, there’s a respectful eye on the past, an embrace of an ever-evolving present, and its feet are firmly planted in the future. It features collaborations with the likes of Seattle’s Royce The Choice and Porter Ray, Colorado Springs’ O Finess, Bronx’s Geechi Suede (of Camp Lo), and Butler’s 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.
Shabazz Palaces’ first round of touring in support of Robed In Rareness begins with a short run of east coast dates on Wednesday, September 27th, in Kingston, NY at Tubby’s, and runs through Sunday, October 1st, at DC9. The group 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 Wed. Sep. 27 - Kingston, NY - Tubby’s Thu. Sep. 28 - Toronto, ON - Great Hall Fri. Sep. 29 - Montreal, QC - Entrepot 77 (Late) Fri. Sep. 29 - Montreal, QC - POP Montreal Festival (Early) Sun. Oct. 01 - Washington, DC - DC9
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
The Query: Shabazz Palaces discusses Robed In Rareness with Larry Mizell, Jr.:
“Every time I bless a script it’s a precedent Of the jiggy OGs I’m the President.”
Query: Who, or what, is Robed in Rareness? The new Shabazz Palaces EP, first in a series, something like a SpaceX-Age Hustlers Convention for the time.
It’s been a throuple lifetimes, like 14 scoops, since Earth first perceived the light beams of Shabazz Palaces. A solar fortnight since we witnessed one of the culture’s coldest reinventions to date. The forms may flicker depending on your dimensional positioning: Palaceer Lazaro, Butterfly, “the laser lord light rider Ish Boogie at your service.”
Ishmael Butler. Affirmative.
For the record, Mr. Butler, better than anybody of his generation standing, exemplifies an authentically integrated aesthetic link between the golden era and the now. Actual, lived in, but fresh and unerringly curious. The things rappers clamor for today are things he found at the start of his career, some three decades past, leaving him since free to freak his shit off with zero fear or desire of fitting in…after all, it behooves the hotly pursued to stay cool and lose followers.
And now? Now in 2023, on their eighth go, Shabazz is icier than ever, pushing the limits of style and wit for the hottest days on record. Hydroplaning over molten asphalt on a cloud of arctic vapor, distilling a sparkling vintage too complex for amateur palates, it’s the Palaces. Built by hands divinely guided by practice-honed instinct—for the wonder and inspiration of generations coming behind.
Where’s he at? He’s in his smooth phase; peep the vet maneuvering, as if to answer his younger self’s asking “slow down for what?” Precision and detail, a myth-map meant to elevate those for whom it’s meant. This is auteur rap for an artless era, from a director that’s epitomized slickness over four decades, forever original and unadulterated. That’s what type of time he’s on.
Robed in Rareness pushes the Black Constellation gang line while deepening the ranks and harkening back to the spare, icy menace of those first Shabazz EPs back in 2009. (Note: RIP SILK DOUGIE.)
Clarify: Black Constellation. A collective of active makers and reality shapers pulled into orbit by the gravity of Shabazz’s formation. Check KEXP’s award-winning podcast Fresh off the Spaceship for more family values.
“All I wanna do is see the girls get a chance. All I wanna do is see the bros getting bands”
Community stays a key motif of Ish’s creative endeavors. Over the mini album’s 25 minutes, he holds court alongside a cohort of chosen comrades, whether it’s Town favorites like Royce the Choice or his Stellie Porter Ray, his twin Lavarr the Starr, ice-cold Rockies rep O Finess, or longtime Geechi Suede. He even swings lanes with the one he calls his idol: his only son, the rising superstar Lil Tracy.
“Any n**** fuck w me, he always earn You don’t know by now I’m the Don? You’ll never learn Did you make money for your folks? Or did you burn em’? Gotta MFA in this game, n**** Stay learning.”
Peep the pedigree of a forever-student OG, a 23rd Century Lightnin’ Rod hailing from 23rd Ave E, spitting gold-breaded game with pimpish disdain. Robed in Rareness, the newest brick in the Palace wall.
Let’s get it on.
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
Sub Pop, feeling even more self-congratulatory than usual, is pleased to announce the opening of itsMega Mart 2, the brand new, first-ever, almost entirely functional and fully computerised sibling site to the world famous Sub Pop Mega Mart, catering specially to fans and customers who live outside of North America. Warehoused in the UK and stocking an array of Sub Pop goods (vinyl, CDs, and T-shirts), fans on this side of the pond who have long been suffering from outrageous (though totally real) shipping charges can finally rejoice!
As if opening Mega Mart 2 wasn’t enough incredible news, Sub Pop is also announcing a 20th Anniversary remastered reissue of The Shins’ classic 2003album Chutes Too Narrow, featuring new, custom die cut artwork. Chutes Too Narrow, the band’s heavily anticipated follow-up to their debut, Oh, Inverted World, was recorded in James Mercer’s basement home studio, with later mixing assistance from Phil Ek (Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, David Cross, Les Savy Fav, etc.). And, with 10 songs, clocking in at just over 30 minutes, the record is a brief yet entirely scintillating glimpse at chiming, reflective and perfectly skewed pop innovation. This new, anniversary reissue will be available on limited edition coloured LP (Transparent Sun Yellow), Black LP, CD and DSPs on Oct 20th and is available for pre-order now: https://europe.subpop.com/
Chutes Too Narrow was released to widespread acclaim in 2003, garnering Pitchfork’s Best New Music, four stars from Rolling Stone, and raves from The New York Times, MOJO, The Village Voice, SPIN, and tons more. It subsequently made best-of-the-decade lists from The AV Club, NME, Paste, Pitchfork and Uncut.
Mercer says of Chutes Too Narrow, “I was very aware at the time that I had struck gold with the first record, and it was unlikely to happen again. ‘Sophomore slump’ and all that. The pressure to prove myself as a viable writer had never been so pronounced. Midway through the mixing process, I realized one of the songs would not work, so I stayed up after everyone went to bed and wrote ‘Young Pilgrims.’ And with Ek’s help, it worked! Such a stressful but beautiful experience!”
In other reissue news, on October 6th Sub Pop will be releasing Mudhoney’s seminal Superfuzz Bigmuff vinyl EP AND their ’Touch Me I’m Sick’ 7” on limited edition new colour variants (Mustard Yellow for Superfuzz Bigmuff and Neon Orange for ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’) . Both are available to pre-order now from, yes you guessed it, Mega Mart 2: https://europe.subpop.com/
Head over to Mega Mart 2 now to find not only these but all manner of Sub Pop releases old and new, including the “first ever time on vinyl in its original form” reissue of The Vaselines’The Way Of The Vaselines (due Sept 8th), CHAI’s dazzling s/t fourth album (Sept 22nd), a first-time vinyl pressing of The Postal Service’s Everything Will Change live album (Sept 8th) and Deeper’s Sub Pop bow, and third album proper, Careful! (Sept 8th).
More about Sub Pop, by Sub Pop:
Founded in 1988, Sub Pop Records is a medium-sized independent record label based in Seattle, WA. With early releases by Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and TAD, the label is often associated with something called “the grunge movement.” Exploitation of this association has frequently proven financially fruitful. Later years saw album releases from such moderately-to-somewhat-well-known artists as: Sunny Day Real Estate, The Murder City Devils, The Shins, Iron and Wine, The Postal Service, Band of Horses, Flight of the Conchords, Fleet Foxes, Sleater-Kinney, Beach House, Washed Out, Shabazz Palaces, The Head and the Heart, Weyes Blood, Clipping, Suki Waterhouse and Father John Misty, among many other very talented and deserving artists whose managers will be contacting us shortly about inclusion in the preceding list.
At Sub Pop Records, it is our intent to market and sell the recorded music (and related merchandise) of artists whose music some shifting definition of “we” really and truly love. We mean to represent these artists as faithfully and diligently as possible and hold out hope that this is enough for us to remain solvent in the face of the well-documented collapse of the music industry at large. We also enjoy laughter, good times and the company of friends.
Mega Mart 2 Possibly Asked Questions:
Q: What is the Sub Pop Mega Mart 2? A: It’s Sub Pop’s new online store, shipping from a warehouse based in the UK.
Q: Will this be less expensive for me? A: Maybe! Depends on where you live. But, why not check?
Q: Will there be different products available at MM2 vs MM? A: Sometimes, yes!
Q: Where should I shop, MM or MM2? A: Whichever you prefer!
Q: Wait… What is “MM” and “MM2”? A: “MM” is an abbreviation for “Mega Mart,” and “MM2” is an abbreviation for “Mega Mart 2,” both of which are web stores operated by Sub Pop Records.
Q: Don’t you have an actual MM2 FAQ? A: We do! Mega Mart 2 FAQ
Q: What if I have read these dumb “Possibly Asked Questions,” and also the actual MM2 FAQ and I still have questions? A: Try here: https://support.ochre.store/hc/en-us
