Shabazz Palaces – Swerve... (Sub Pop)
5/5
By: Josh Daniel
Shabazz Palaces, the mysterious and becloaked American 'hip-hop' collective finally reach the UK, miles behind their digital imprint, which has already made significant waves across the interweb.
Spokesman Palaceer uses all sorts of bombastic phrases to describe their output but it's worth listening to at least once just to see if you can pigeonhole it yourself. Good luck. Skittish, playful and languid, sometimes honeydrop-smooth, this song moves around like a hyperactive child suddenly at home in the studio, under the guidance of seasoned professionals.
A mini-epic 3 or 4 part drama, the lyrics are strong, delivered with the requisite verve of a lead off rapper who's been at the game for a while, with a welcome female view appearing halfway through, just as confident, but all the more mysterious for her apparent anonymity. As Palaceer said in a recent Pitchfork interview: “Well, everybody that's in it is in it the same. We don't really say names... It's just really, really, really just about the final product, the songs. That's really it.” And that's really that. Enjoy.
Shabazz Palaces - Swerve... by subpop
Artists in this article: Shabazz Palaces
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