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.
Category: Audio
NEW MUSIC: Lese Majesty – Shabazz Palaces
“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.
NEW MUSIC: “What Love Will Do” – Bari Bux (feat. Chev; prod. by Kuddie Fresh)
Cream Team member Bari Bux with a new drop: “What Love Will Do,” produced by Kuddie Fresh and featuring Chev.
NEW MUSIC: “You Wouldn’t Know” – Aaron Cohen (feat. Alexander Spit; prod. by Eff.Dope)
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.
NEW MUSIC: Lost And Found Features 2007-2014 – Thaddeus David
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.
NEW MUSIC: “Make It Last” – Wizdom (prod. by Exoticey)
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.”
NEW MUSIC: Life Before – The Good Sin
The Good Sin recently relocated to Harlem, NYC and put in hard work on his new album, Life Before, which dropped yesterday. Click the album cover above to purchase on iTunes and stream it below.
NEW MUSIC: “Forerunner Foray” – Shabazz Palaces
“Forerunner Foray” is the latest from Shabazz Palaces’ Lese Majesty (due July 29 on Sub Pop). It’s a spectral hip-hop jam from the future featuring frequent collaborator Catherine Harris-White of THEESatisfaction. It’s also a description of the antics my bro and I used to get into in the earlier part of this century in my ’94 forest green Toyota. We don’t need four-wheel drive where we’re going, bruh.
(h/t Gorilla vs. Bear)
NEW MUSIC: Thraxxhouse Mixtape – Mackned & Key Nyata
My internet buddy Andrew Martin (former editor of Potholes In My Blog), recently shined some light on this latest go ’round by Seattle underground fire-starters Mackned and Key Nyata. And by “fire” I mean “slow burn” and by “go ’round” I mean “haunted crawl through the SEA’s darkest rap corners.” Get it below.
NEW MUSIC: Smoke Filled Rooms – Graves 33
Accomplished underground MC and producer Graves 33 dropped this collection of instrumentals yesterday. Smoke Filled Rooms is available to purchase for $10 on the artist’s Bandcamp page, and it comes with a unique offer: upon purchase, Graves is allowing all creative types non-exclusive rights to use the beats in basically any fashion they wish, so long as explicit credit is given to Graves. More information on Smoke Filled Rooms, here.
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