Come July 29th, after a three year hiatus from the massively confident and genre-redefining debut Black Up, Shabazz Palaces are back with what is arguably (or if you work at Sub Pop, inarguably) the most anticipated record of the year, Lese Majesty. The record’s 18 tracks are grouped into seven suites, creating an experience for listeners that is alarmingly interesting while maintaining artistic cohesion. IT’S VERY GOOD IS WHAT WE’RE SAYING. But don’t take our word for it, listen to the lead off track “They Come In Gold”, of which, Gorilla vs. Bear had this to say:
Here’s the long-awaited first track to be unveiled from Shabazz Palaces‘ lush, dizzyingly brilliant new full-length, Lese Majesty. Not necessarily the most representative track on the new record, “They Come in Gold” kicks off with the kind of diamond-hard beat and ominous flow that made Black Up the best album of 2011, but the comparison with the last record ends there. When taken out of the context of the new album, only the song’s brighter, prismatic second half begins to hint at the impossibly deep, singular astral landscape the group has created on Lese Majesty.

Sisyphus is the new name for the collaboration between Serengeti, Son Lux, and Sufjan Stevens (formally s/s/s), whose new project under this moniker is a self-titled album partly inspired by the art of Jim Hodges, and commissioned by the Walker Art Center and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music series in Minneapolis/Saint Paul.
Asthmatic Kitty Records and Joyful Noise Recordings will release the record more widely on CD/LP/Digital on March 18th, 2014.

Stranger things have happened, but rarely do they make such beautiful music. The three esses that comprise the enigmatically titled s / s / s are as follows: Sufjan Stevens, he of the Fifty States Project and various baroque folk-pop opuses; Serengeti, the wry-witted rapper known for in-depth on-record character studies; and Son Lux, silken-voiced singer, studio wizard and singular beatsmith. The project's roots reach back to 2009's Dark Was the Night compilation, where Stevens and Geti met over a Buck 65 remix of a song written by psych-folkie Castanets. Continuing in the spirit of (unlikely) collaboration, the pair passed beats and raps back and forth, eventually enlisting Son Lux to dream Beak & Claw into fruition. While this momentous EP comprises a mere four songs, each covers an immense stretch of sonic territory and emotional range. At six minutes, "Museum Day" may be the most adventurous and also the most satisfying, opening with a swath of AutoTuned heartache courtesy of Stevens, cresting with the darkly detailed raps of Geti, and closing in a hail of crashing cymbals, orchestral glitch and haunted coos from Son Lux. "Beyond Any Doubt" exchanges that taut splendor for deeper grooves whose farthest-out moments bring to mind Shabazz Palaces' cracked futurisms, albeit spiked with a falsetto'd pop hook. Fuzzy bass and industrial clang crash into lines about unrealized escapism and unpaid bills. Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond lends "If This Is Real" its Andrews Sister-like chorus, an immaculate contrast to the aural chaos that eventually overtakes the song. Meanwhile, Doseone (Subtle, Themselves) lends a similar buoyancy to "Octomom," an electro-spackled, mostly spoken piece that plays like a Laurie Anderson track for the reality television generation (also featuring jaw harp and harmonica by Ohio folk vet Hal Walker). Because of its subject matter, this final song goes a long way to illustrating Beak & Claw's strange magic and, ultimately, why s / s / s works at all. Geti's humor and humanity are matched by playfulness and poignancy every step of the way. In the end, sublime confluence prevails.

Death Grips是來自美國加州薩克拉門托的實驗嘻哈樂隊，成立於2010年。該樂隊由歌手MC Ride，鼓手、製作人Zach Hill和鍵盤手、製作人、錄音工程師Andy Morin組成。儘管不是樂隊的負責人，希爾仍被認為是該項目背後的推動創意力量。