Exotic Birds of Prey

Chronique

Mystifying and disorienting in all the best ways, the seven-track release Exotic Birds of Prey serves as a companion piece, continuation, or addendum for Shabazz Palaces' 2023 EP Robed in Rareness. Like its predecessor, Exotic Birds of Prey is a collision of futuristic hip-hop, sci-fi synth tones, freaky computer funk, and waves of shoegaze noise, all congealing in wobbly beats. Officiated as always by Shabazz Palaces mastermind Ishmael Butler, these tracks manage to employ a bevy of different styles as they quickly rush by. The material can be as straightforward as the alien rap track "Myths of the Occult" featuring Japreme Magnetic or the throwback electro flavor of danceable closing track "Take Me to Your Leader" (a song that's part Kraftwerk, part Drexciya, part P-Funk), but it can also be as incoherent as the barely form-keeping bass bumble of "Angela." "Well Known Nobody" turns up the tempo to drum'n'bass levels, with a raging beat and delay-covered vocals that blast at full force but disappear in just over a minute. As with most of Butler's Shabazz Palaces outings, Exotic Birds of Prey sounds like it's broadcasting live from an unknown galaxy, giving us an idea of what music will sound like on other planets in the future while nodding knowingly to some of Earth's most exciting sounds of the past.

© Fred Thomas /TiVo