Album Info Hide Show Artist: Shabazz Palaces Album: Black Up Released: USA, 2024 Tracklist: A1 Free Press And Curl A2 An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum A3 Are You Can You Were You? (Felt) A4 A Treatease Dedicated To The Avian Airess From North East Nubis (1000 Questions, 1 Answer) A5 Youlogy B1 Endeavors For Never (The Last Time We Spoke You Said You Were Not Here. I Saw You Though.) B2 Recollections Of The Wraith B3 The Kings New Clothes Were Made By His Own Hands B4 Yeah You B5 Swerve…The Reeping Of All That Is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding) Info About Buying Vinyl From Our Record Store We are a small independent record store located at 211 High St, Preston in Melbourne, Australia (North of Northcote, between Thornbury & Reservoir) We buy and sell new and used vinyl records – if you have a collection you’d like to sell please click here . We ship Australia wide for a flat rate of $10 for standard shipping or $15 for express post. Free Shipping for orders $150 and over. You can also pick up your order in store, just select Local Pickup at the checkout. We also ship internationally – prices vary depending on weight and location. We ship vinyls in thick, rigid carboard mailers with a crushable zone on either side, and for extra safety we bubble wrap the records. In stock vinyl is usally shipped next business day, please check the availability field at the top of the product page to see whether the record is currently in stock or if it is available from the supplier as well as estimated shipping times. If you order an in stock item together with a pre order or back order (listed as available from supplier rather than in stock) then the order will be shipped together when all items arrive. If you would like the in stock items shipped first please place two separate orders or contact us to arrange shipping items separately. We are strongly committed to customer satisfaction. If you experience any problems with your order contact us so we can rectify the situation. If the record arrives damaged or doesn’t arrive we will cover the cost of replacing or returning the record. If you change your mind you have 30 days to return your record but you must cover the cost of returning it to the store. You can contact our Melbourne record shop at (03) 9939 3807 or at [email protected] Happy Listening! Description Hide Show Black Up hit in June 2011 like a coded transmission from another timeline, and it still feels ahead of the pack. Shabazz Palaces had mystery on their side, but this wasnt smoke and mirrors. It was craft and vision. Ishmael Butler, long since crowned from his Digable Planets days and now going by Palaceer Lazaro, teamed with multi-instrumentalist Tendai Maraire, whose mbira and hand percussion root these tracks in something ancestral while the electronics and low end push hard toward the future. Sub Pop signed them and, in a neat bit of label history, made Shabazz Palaces their first rap act. The record arrived from Seattle but refused to sit inside any scene. The opener, Free Press and Curl, sets the tone. Minimal drum programming twitches, bass rumbles, and Butler slides in with a voice thats both conspiratorial and soothing. It never feels like a single, but it makes the room smell like ozone. Then An Echo from the Hosts That Profess Infinitum starts to coil and you realize how much negative space the duo trusts. Beats dont just knock; they stalk. Samples flicker in and out. Theres no compulsion to explain, only to reveal. People talk about Black Up as an experimental rap album, and sure, but experimental doesnt capture how playable it is. Are You Can You Were You? (Felt) bounces with a springy synth line that has its own hook, while Youlogy slides grime and ritual into the same vessel. The songwriting hides in the architecture. Sections drift, then snap into focus, and the choruses arrive sideways. It rewards full listens. When Recollections of the Wraith glides in, with a chant thats practically communal, the album turns generous. Seattle duo THEESatisfaction appear elsewhere and their presence fits like a shared language, a subtle confirmation that this world is bigger than two voices. Erik Bloods mixing deserves its flowers. The sound is clear but shadowed, heavy yet breathable. You can hear Maraires shakers and bells nestle up against 808 thumps, and the whole thing sits at a patient simmer. The drum tones are tactile. The edges have grain. Its the kind of record where volume changes the songs, so the Black Up vinyl pays off. On a good system, the sub-bass on Swerve the reeping of all that is worthwhile vibrates in your ribs, and the little percussive details pop like stars. If youre crate-digging for Shabazz Palaces vinyl, this is the centerpiece. Its the one you pull out to convert a friend. Context matters. In 2011, blog-rap and maximalist pop-rap were sparring on the charts, and along comes this spare, time-bending thing that felt both ancient and alien. Critics clocked it fast. Pitchfork slapped a Best New Music tag on it and it kept landing on year-end lists. But the praise wasnt just for novelty. Butlers writing is sly and layered, full of philosophy and street talk braided together, and he leaves room for you to project your own meaning. Lines stick. Clear some space out so we can space out becomes both instruction and worldview. Ive also always loved how the record resists easy origin stories. Yes, Butler is the voice behind Blowout Comb. Yes, Maraire brings lineage and mbira. But Black Up didnt sound like a reunion or a museum piece. It sounded like two artists building their own lab and inviting us to eavesdrop. The studio credit reads like a mission statement: Protect and Exalt Labs, A Black Space. Thats not just branding. You hear the protection, and you hear the exaltation. If you collect, seek out [Album] vinyl while its still fairly attainable, because pressings come and go and this one thrives on wax. Same goes for broader crate strategy: [Artist] albums on vinyl tend to hold up sonically and historically, and Black Up is the one that lit the path for the run that followed. If you need to buy Shabazz Palaces records online, many independent shops stock it, and youll often see it pop up at a Melbourne record store or among curated vinyl records Australia listings, which feels right for a record that grew a global cult one head at a time. More than a decade in, Black Up still feels like the map and the treasure. Put it on at night. Let the room dim. Those kicks and bells will draw new constellations, and Butler will whisper riddles you swear youve always known. Product Reviews Hide Show Write a Review