The Don Of Diamond Dreams

Ishmael Butler starts the first proper song on the fifth Shabazz Palaces album with wanderlust whispers reminiscent of Model 500s Night Drive. The MC also echoes the early techno classics theme of travel facilitated by nature as much as technological advancements, eagerly hurtling through space with moonlight as his conductor. The live-sounding retro-futuristic fusion accompanying him -- humming low end, simmering snares, and fleshy handclaps, seemingly guided by early-70s Miles Davis sessions -- is a greater indication of what follows. Compared to SPs conceptual third and fourth LPs, which arrived together in 2017, The Don of Diamond Dreams is unified by its funkier and humanized sonics more than its lyrics. Slithering from track to track with verses chock-full of elevated non sequiturs, Butler still tends to come across as a sage, somewhat alien wordsmith, but he projects more warmth than before. Most conspicuously, affection is abundant. Its all through the burbling bass and whipping synthesizers of Bad Bitch Walking, where the male gaze is twisted with sly remarks like She was looking like...a genius and an appearance from the smooth-as-ever Stas THEE Boss. On a more personal level for Butler, theres the touching Thanking the Girls, in which he honors his wife and daughter with a slight lilt in his voice, likely grinning as he proclaims Im just so happy when both the girls close to me. Antagonism is limited, with Butler still at his wryest and most biting when handheld devices are in the frame (Youre a scroller, Im an explorer). A couple of the lengthier tracks communicate more with their titles than their music. Theyre at least counteracted with some of the wittiest, weirdest, and somehow most direct songs in the Shabazz Palaces catalog. Most dizzying is the John Carpenter/Junie Morrison horror-funk fantasy Chocolate Souffle, in which Butler enumerates his self-acquired advantages, references Morris Day and Maurice Chevalier, and ices his rival with You a data rat, Im a black slang acrobat. ~ Andy Kellman

サブ・ポップでリリースを続け、近年はフライング・ロータスやバトルスへの客演でも知られるシアトルのデュオからの3年ぶり新作。水中からトラップを鳴らすような"Wet"や、Pファンクのコズミック感とニューエイジなスピリチュアルが混ざり合う"First Learner"など、一筋縄ではいかないアーティーな楽曲が地中と宇宙の両方から迫りくる。そんな実験的な作風でありつつ、どこかに必ずヒップホップの体裁を感じさせるのが彼らの美学か。
bounce (C)池谷瑛子