Watch: Shabazz Palaces “#CAKE” A resplendent new visual from Lese Majesty http://youtu.be/DDRPf8KHawYPremiere via Pitchfork AFROPUNK Festival August 23rd KEXP session video CMJ: #1 Hip Hop & #8 Top 200 Albums charts Feast your eyes on the official video for Shabazz Palaces’ “#CAKE,” a standout from the acclaimed Lese Majesty, featuring guest vocals from Catherine Harris-White of THEESatisfaction. The new visual was directed by Hiro Murai (Earl Sweatshirt, St. Vincent, The Shins). Pitchfork says of the video: "combines post-apocalyptic horror with surreal psychedelia, rendering the members of the Seattle rap crew as the various faces of a polygonal being which resides over a ruined building (see news story August 22nd)."
At radio this week, Lese Majesty is seeing a great response from CMJ reporters, spending two weeks at #1 on the hip hop chart and #8 on the top 200 albums chart. In related news, you can now watch Shabazz Palaces KEXP performances featuring Lese Majesty highlights “They Come In Gold,” “Forerunner Foray,” “Ishmael” and “Motion Sickness” (see August 21st session).
Shabazz Palaces’ North American & European in support of Lese Majesty is currently underway, including two shows this weekend: Friday, August 22nd in Philadelphia, PA at Union Transfer and Saturday, August 23rd at AFROPUNK. Please find a complete list of tour dates below.
Lese Majesty is available for purchase on CD / 2xLP / CD from Sub Pop Megamart, iTunes, and Amazonnow. The double vinyl version is housed in a "shark skin" embossed jacket and includes a fold-out poster, and an etching on side D.
What people are saying about Lese Majesty: “These aren’t condescending “Real Hip-Hop” platitudes: this is a call to arms for hip-hop’s creative fringe to snatch the reins from a power structure more interested in self-preservation than the advancement of the culture. The soul of Shabazz Palaces is pairing next-gen sounds with classic brass-tacks show-and-prove emceeing, and Lese Majesty tugs those extremes as far as they've ever been pulled; that it never shows signs of wear speaks to the strength of the bond.” [Review, 8.2/ 10] -Pitchfork
“The music is alternately languid and jarring, with melodies mutating or disappearing and Mr. Butler’s cryptic sci-fi raps often receding into the fabric.” [Sunday Arts Feature] - NY Times
“Shabazz Palaces let a little fresh air and whimsy slip into their dense melange of whispered rhymes and slack-jawed space beats.” [Review, B+] - Entertainment Weekly
"Lese Majesty feels more now, than then. In mirroring and transcending the schizoid, rootless form of digital society, it's an attempt to help people cope with the culture. Like floating from level to placid level in Monument, listening to this record prompts your imagination and encourages discourse and reflection. Not the academic kind, but the kind of communal discovery people have been doing for ages." [Review, 9/10] - SPIN“His dazzling feel for 21st-century psychedelia pushes this well past nostalgia tripping--and while the verbal abstraction gets thick, there's serious pleasure in plumbing it.” [Review, 3.5 / 5] - Rolling Stone
“Raw, graceful tunes… As melodic as much of Lese Majesty is, the words might be the album's most important element. Close listeners will find brilliant inventions and plenty of quotable passages.” [First Listen] - NPR Music
“Shabazz Palaces have made the best album of the year...not so much a mysterious transmission from some unknown point in deep space, but more like echoes from the future ghost of our planet. Earth used to be here, where the music is, but now it's gone. Planets can become extinct, but raps can live on, disembodied and numinous.” [Review] - The Stranger
“After countless hours spent driving around bumping the new record, we’d agree with those that heard it for the first time dodging lasers that Lese Majesty is the future of hip-hop, if we thought that anyone else was capable of doing something this revelatory." - Gorilla Vs. Bear
“The group's 2011 breakthrough, Black Up, thrilled and flummoxed critics with elements of Phillip Glass minimalism, Brian Eno ambience, and George Clinton cosmic weirdness. On the new follow-up, Lese Majesty, the sonic bushwhacking appears destined to continue.” - All Things Considered
Tour Dates: Aug. 22 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer** Aug. 23 - Brooklyn, NY - AFROPUNK @ Commodore Barry Park** Aug. 26 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle Aug. 27 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre Aug. 28 - Atlanta, GA - Basement (Red Bull Sound Select Show) Sep. 13 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall Sep. 14 - Bloomington, IN - Bishop Bar Sep. 15 - Little Rock, AR - The Rev Room Sep. 16 - Austin, TX - Red 7 (Patio) Sep. 17 - Mc Allen, TX - Cine El Rey Sep. 19 - St. Louis, MO - The Firebird Sep. 20 - Kansas City, MO - The Riot Room Sep. 21 - Lincoln, NE - Vega Sep. 22 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre Sep. 25 - Boise, ID - The Crux Sep. 28 - Portland, OR - Zidell Shipyards Oct. 20 - Amsterdam, NL - MC Theatre Oct. 21 - Brussels, BE - AB Oct. 22 - Rouen, FR - Club 106 Oct. 23 - Paris, FR - Batofar Oct. 24 - Lyon, FR - Le Marche Gare Oct. 25 - Helsinki, FI - Supermassive Festival Oct. 27 - Gothenburg, SE - Pusterviksbaren Oct. 28 - Copenhagen, DE - Vega Oct. 29 - Stockholm, SE - Kagelbanan Oct. 30 - Vevey, CH - Rocking Chair Oct. 31 - Luzern, CH - B-Sides Indoor Festival (@Sudpol) Nov. 01 - Lisbon, PT - Musicbox Nov. 03 - Brighton, UK - The Haunt Nov. 04 - London, UK, Illuminations Festival at The Laundry Nov. 05 - Manchester, UK - Gorilla Nov. 06 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Nov. 07 - Glasgow, UK - Nice ‘N’ Sleezy Nov. 08 - Bristol, UK - Start The Bus Nov. 10 - Birmingham, UK - Hare and Hounds Nov. 12 - Brno, CZ - Kabinet Muz Nov. 13 - Prague, CZ - MeetFactory Nov. 14 - Berlin, DE - Kantine Berghain Nov. 15 - Cologne, DE - Club Bahnhof Nov. 16 - Munich, DE - Feierwerk ** w/ clipping. |
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