SRS TRAX: "free press and curl" - Shabazz Palaces

Jesse probably picked this particular Shabazz track because all the other ones on the album have titles that are like 800 words long.



"free press and curl" - Shabazz Palaces (mp3)
(8.25)

ANDY: Spooky noises of faraway specters are quickly replaced by an edgeless wobble, and some flatly delivered verses (I say flatly, but I don't mean that negatively, the verse is energetic but unwavering). The background vocals on the hook are great, and the second half switches the beat up into something a little more open and quirky, rather than relentless and bludgeoning. The near monotony of the verse makes for lyrical inaccessibility on the first couple listens. For my money, I much prefer the album closer "Swerve..." (7)

RAJ: The fire verses here are a sort of black power autobiography - naive child confronting police at a wake (which they caused?) grows into old-soul rap star raging against a corrupt sociopolitical system. And if the playful technique (note to rappers: call and response is pretty fun when it's not just "heeey! hooo!") and the twisty dexterity of the rhymes distract from that point, the beat expresses it eloquently enough on its own. Mournful wails rise up against the mechanized clatter of surging bass (remember when the dubstep wobble was an expressive tool and not just a cliche?) and electric-spark snares, as chintzy exercise-video synths mock our protagonist at the bookends. All told, this is a high point on an album that certainly sounds like a more interesting future for rap than the Odd one. A 9 from me (and, for the record, album track #2 "an echo from the hosts that profess infinitum" is a 10). (9)

PAT: Damn! If there ever was a track that successfully navigated the territory of "YES, AND" without abusing mashed-up derivatives this would be it. Sure "Free Press and Curl" lacks the drive of a forceful bass-heavy beat, but only to make room for buzzy vocal rhythms and subtly edited transitions between complex and diverse movements. It's like this guy takes composition seriously! As a first encounter with Shabazz Palaces, I'm hoping this is the overture to a finely crafted album worthy of more classical music vocabulary. (8)

JESSE: Very rarely do you get a hip-hop track that truly successfully breaks out of the 16 bar + hook formula. The opener off Black Up (which is easily my favorite album of the year so far) sets a new standard for strange rap, in my book. The heavy beat for the first few minutes, switch off between MCs, synths and delayed electronic percussion going around, this is just sonically out there for the genre. The “I’m free” hook (if you can really call it that) and the ooh-oohs in the background, it all just works. Then the last minute just breaks out of nowhere into pretty much a new song. Sometimes parts get close to overstaying their welcome, but then they take a new turn. A few listens lets you wrap your head around the lyrics, and what you have is a well-versed critique of “dystopian gangsta philosophy,” as put in another article on the group. Legit. (9)