Shabazz Palaces pair up, Absolutely Free tell time and Foxwarren are the be-all end-all in today’s Roundup. Your hands need never touch the meat!
1+2 | Two is clearly the magic number for Shabazz Palaces. The Seattle hi-hop outfit stars two members: Ishmael Butler a.k.a. Palaceer Lazaro and multi-instrumentalist Tendai (Baba) Maraire. Their latest offering consisted of two simultaneously released albums: Quazarz Born on a Gangster Star and Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines. And, naturally, they’ve just released two videos for the songs Moon Whip Quäz (feat. Darrius) and Julian’s Dream (ode to a bad). And both are at least twice as weird as most clips. SEZ THE PRESS RELEASE: “In the Moon Whip Quiz video, slumber party magic summons forth the otherworldly figure known as Quäz; and in the “ode to badass females” visual Julian’s Dream (ode to a bad), the mythical Quäz joins forces with lead protagonist Dr. Julian in her quest to liberate the controversial bodyswap tech she invented.” The first is above, the second is below:
3 | What is time? Nobody really knows. Not even the guys from Toronto psyche trio Absolutely Free. But they know a few things: The future is a distored landcape. And in the future there will be no occupations. If you want to learn more of their secrets, you’ll have to watch the video for their single Still Life, their first new work in four long years (or an instant, depending on how you measure these things). SEZ THE PRESS RELEASE: “Still Life starts in a familiar universe and bubbles up into another. The shift illustrates an appetite for personal, political and stylistic change, boiling over. The song examines feelings of being worn down and halted by progress, stagnating both in society and individually. It is about breaking free from patterns of still life defined by cyclical, repeated forms of inaction, and predictable modes of conformity.” Free your mind:
4 | Second time’s the charm for Foxwarren. The prairie rockers fronted by singer-songwriter Andy Shauf won me over last week with their spy-movie video for the song Everything Apart, from their upcoming self-titled debut album. Now they’re back to sweep us off our feet with the endearingly sweet number To Be. And they have. SEZ THE PRESS RELEASE: “To Be was one of the first songs written for the project. We tinkered with it for ages and ended up drastically reworking it the weekend it was recorded, but we knew early on that it was going to be the opening song on the record.” Let it … you know:
