Dark Time Sunshine kicks off their West Coast / Southwest / Midwest tour tonight at the Vera Project in Seattle. Submit yourselves to the duo’s heady brand of Sennheiser rap; it will make for a disorienting Friday work day, the way all Friday work days should be. Their 2012 record, ANX, remains one of the most engaging listens of the last five years. Oh, and they dropped this loosie a few days ago called “No Worries.”
Seattle indie rock favorite Fences dropped this new track with Macklemore yesterday. Produced by Ryan Lewis, it’s from the band’s forthcoming Lesser Oceans. You might remember this trio collaborated previously on a remix to Mack and RL’s hit “The Otherside” from their VS EP. That seems so long and many lifetimes ago. Sigh.
“Herein bumps and soars Lese Majesty, the new sonic action of Shabazz Palaces.” So states the write-up concerning SP’s newest album offering (officially out today) on their record label’s website (that would be Sub Pop). If you are attuned to the dispatches of the cerebral music internet, you’ve probably already read or heard the accolades. It’s all deserved. Lese Majesty is as much a follow-up to Black Up as outer space is to the stratosphere. While Black Up hovered somewhere in the ethereality between the corporeal and the heavens, Lese Majesty takes it a step further, echoing cosmic noise from the spacetime.
Brian Greene taught us that time might just be an illusion, wholly dependent on where we’re positioned in the universe and at what speed we happen to be traveling. Our extraterrestrial counterparts, zooming through the galaxy at just the right trajectory and speed, could theoretically view the entirety of human history through a powerful enough looking glass. At times, Lese Majesty sounds like the aural document from such an excursion.
Tracks like “Forerunner Foray” and “Motion Sickness” move with greater authority than most of Black Up, which makes Lese Majesty a more exciting record, at least empirically. That’s not to say there isn’t a lot to get lost in, however. “Ishmael” is one of my favorite Shabazz tracks to date: a floating, sweeping merger of soul, rock and hip-hop that reflects the intricacies of its eponymous creator.
I’m just beginning a third spin through Lese Majesty, and so far it promises more complexity and returns than anything I’ve heard in recent months. And I haven’t even begun to dig through the lyrics. “Bumps and soars,” indeed.
Cream Team member Bari Bux with a new drop: “What Love Will Do,” produced by Kuddie Fresh and featuring Chev.
Quick shot to the dome from the 96 Pickup collective, vintage rap revivalists that includes, among others, producer Def Dee and rapper Alca who flash “Ultra Violet” in advance of Def’s upcoming LP which is due in September.
Slow roll psychedelics from Seward Park —> Queens, NY rapper Aaron Cohen (with some help from Cali agent Alexander Spit). “You Wouldn’t Know” is the title track to Aaron’s upcoming EP dropping September 22.
Newly minted in aggregate is this collection of joints that rapper Thaddeus David has featured on between the years 2007 and 2014. A nice piece to round out your collection of 206 rarities and deep cuts.
Your official 2014 Seattle Summer Anthem is “Action Figures” by Sam Lachow, from his forthcoming Huckleberry.
Wizdom teamed up with local producer Exoticey — winner of a Kickstarter promotion for Wiz’s recent The Last Step — for “Make It Last,” a 206 rap spin on Keith Sweat’s OG love ballad, “Make It Last Forever.”
“Promise Me” is the first single from The Good Sin’s Life Before which dropped earlier in the week. This is a smart, nuanced look at the changes we all go through and how our romantic relationships are affected.
A SEATTLE HIP-HOP BLOG 