Shabazz Palaces is a duo that makes experimental HipHop music that takes a lot of influences from Jazz, African music and general feel-good grooves and textures. I was a big fan of their music since their album 'Black Up' dropped in 2011. This album was filled with odd beats and surreal effects and some songs on this LP are definitely slow-burners (they require a bit of effort from the listener to completely grasp and enjoy) but that doesn't make Shabazz Palaces' music (or this album) any less genius. I think that this album, as well as their live performances of course, can be greatly enjoyed by both diehard HipHop-heads as well as people who don't usually listen to HipHop. As Shabazz Palaces' music is so left field and experimental. The rapper (Ishmael Butler, who was part of the 90's HipHop outfit Digable Planets) spits some of the most fresh, intelligent and mind-boggling lyrics I have ever heard. Especially on the tracks 'Are You... Can You... Were You? (Felt)'and 'Youlogy'. The duo's newest release 'Lese Majesty' is a bit more experimental as 'Black Up' and dives more into electronic music but it has as much hype behind it as 'Black Up' did when it first came out. As far as the actual live show went: it was amazing. The duo played a small set with a crowd of about 150 people which didn't keep them from completely going off on stage. It was loud and abrasive and Butler went absolutely ham on the mic using his usual laid-back/cool kid flow. The duo also did a lot of free-styling on stage, making small changes to songs and making parts of songs longer; letting the other improvise with the weird instruments they had on stage. You could clearly see Shabazz constructing the beats with various pedals, loops, synthesizers etc. So it didn't feel like they just hit 'play' on their computer and rapped over the instrumental. They felt like a live band, the performance had a very human feel to it. As far the instruments go, Tendai (the other member of SP) was using some weird ones. He had a set of African drums, a high-hat and a lot of different types of freaking mbiras which he used very creatively when improvising. The duo also interacted a lot which each other on stage, not only when they were freestyling, but also when they did some cool choreographed dance moves to go with some songs (as silly as it sounds it was fun to watch and it gave the crowd something entertaining to look at from time to time) but of course; they didn't overdo it.
Apr 16, 2019 Buena Vista Social Club is a Cuban music ensemble from Havana, Cuba comprising of a loose collection of musicians across generations reviving and paying homage to a substantial music establishment which helped to shape the sub-genre of son.
Overall it was a superb performance which assembled a flood of feel-good emotions in me and, by the look of it, also the rest of the audience. Definitely in my top 10 best concerts I have ever been to, I highly recommend seeing Shabazz Palaces live to everyone who is a big fan of good music in general, because Shabazz Palaces is definitely making it.
Buena Vista Social Club Cd
Recommended tracks if you have never heard of Shabazz Palaces: 'Youlogy', 'Are You... Can You... Were You? (Felt)', 'free press and curl' and 'Forerunner Foray'.