Album Review - THEESatisfaction: awE naturalE

THEESatisfaction
awE naturalE
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Female duo THEESatisfaction, partners Stasia "Stas" Irons and Catherine "Cat" Harris-White, have been creating buzz recently with 2 EP released on-line, a noted collaboration with Shabazz Palaces, and now the release of their debut album awE naturalE. The album is a smooth, spacey, jazzy, and hip exploration of retro-modern R&B and hip-hop, recalling Erykah Badu and Digable Planets equally. As former Digable Planets member Butterfly is in Shabazz Palaces, it makes more sense, and his influence permeates the record. While there are correlations with the Digable Planets' sound, awE naturalE is not merely Stas and Cat singing/rapping over Digable Planets-style tracks; it is more of a feeling or a mood. Lyrically, the album is difficult to pin down, as there is nothing very overt here, mainly stream-of-conscious/impressionistic lyrics and raps that evoke more than they implicitly spell things out. The topics span everything from feminism, racism, class warfare, and religion. Cat, the singer, has a lovely voice, throaty and muscular, while Stas, the rapper, provides a militantly rigid style that seems to suit the music well; each complimenting as well creating an interesting tension between each other.

While the women are each individually talented in their own rights, the songs where the two carefully mesh their styles together are the highlights of awE naturalE. "Needs," a slinky, slick track has Cat singing the lyrics while Stas flows in and out of the verses, switching halfway to where Cat punctuates the rapped verses with snippets of vocals. This dual approach takes over the trip-hop leaning "Deeper" which motors along on a head bobbing throb of bass, skittering drums, and organ drones. The clipped delivery of Stas on the rapped verses becomes almost claustrophobic, until the earthy tones of Cat's vocals take over, providing relief. Best track "Enchantruss" loops the women's vocals into an element of the music, creating a hallucinatory effect accentuated by the military-like drumming. The push and pull of the rapping and singing adding to the mix, with some contrast from a guest rap turn from Shabazz Palaces' Ishmael Butler.



Several tracks go for a looser, jazzier feel. The charming "Existinct" marries loops with sparkling piano fills and a subtle vocal turn from Cat. "God," featuring another rap cameo from Ishmael Butler, floats along a whimsical piano motif, Cat's voice fluttering along the surface while Stas pops in and out of the mix. Cat and Stas seem restlessly creative on the album, never sticking to any one style or genre for long, choosing to stretch their vision in different ways. The smooth horn-driven funk of "Sweat" is a good detour from the sometimes overly dense, harder tracks. While the laid-back flow and roll of "QueenS" creates a perfect summery groove, the women imploring everyone to "turn off the swag/check your bag/whatever you do/don't funk with my groove."



At 30 minutes, awE naturalE feels and is short. Marring the flow of the record, there are too many short instrumental passages that don't truly add anything to the experience, and some tracks, like "Bitch" have a nice swagger and attitude to them, but at 1:24 never really goes anywhere. Without these superfluous tracks, THEESatisfaction would have had one killer EP on their hands, but, unfortunately, with them we are left with merely a promising full length album.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.

Videos of the Week

We got through another week, thankfully. Here are the videos this week that shook my money maker:



Dan, one of my Coachella posse, and I never quite see eye to eye on music. We have some similar tastes, but from there we veer off wildly. On rare occasions, I can get him interested in something, or find he is interested in something that I would never in million years think he would like. Case in point, tUnEyArDs. Was very surprised he liked them. I love this song and video.



Another bat-shit crazy video from Miike Snow.



Fan made video for the Nicolas Jaar track "Materials." The song sort of echoes early Aphex Twin, while the video has some Chris Cunningham-like touches.



New track and video from Orbital. Love the time-lapse video, but the song seems sort of like a retread.



While I sort of like the track, the girl in Die Antwoord just gives me the creeps.



Hallucenagenic video from the dream pop outfit The Trailer Trash Tracys.



Hypnotic new video from Shabazz Palaces.

Videos of the Week

Two more weeks until Christmas; time goes by so fast now. Here are the videos this week that got me in the holiday spirit:



More slick, electro from IAMX, a.k.a. Chris Corner, formerly of Sneaker Pimps.



Although the song has been out for well over a year, Azari & III have released the "official video" for their amazing track "Reckless (For Your Love)."



Awesome new song from Major Lazer gets a very awkward video.

Holy Ghost!, Nancy Whang, Juan Maclean
Get More:
Holy Ghost!, MTV Hive

Holy Ghost!'s awesome cover of Ministry's 80s classic "I Wanted To Her."



Visually stunning video from Shabazz Palaces.



Gorgeous B&W video from Balearic pop wunderkinds Korallreven.

Shabazz Palaces: Black Up

Shabazz Palaces
Black Up
Rating: Grrrr

For the past year, Shabazz Palaces has been a mystery alterna-rap group releases a set of EPs that left many listeners breathless with anticipation for what they could possibly release next. This seems to be a trend this year with acts like WU LYF and The Weeknd releasing material without any press or publicity, letting the music talk for them. Of course, this being the Internet age, it doesn't take long for the word to get around, and with Shabazz Palaces, it was discovered that the mastermind behind all the trippy beats and molasses slow flow was none other than former Digable Planets member Ishmael Butler (formerly Butterfly), who now raps under the name Palaceer Lazaro. Aside from his dreamy flow, there is little link between Shabazz Palaces and his work with Digable Planets. Where the latter was all trippy dippy, jazz influenced flower power rap, Shabazz is decidedly darker and more barren, drawing from the drug haze of trip hop and more dense, troubling rap from Dalek or the Anticon label. There is a palpable sense of dread and anxiety that covers Black Up in a dark cloud, that is difficult to shake once you are inside its walls.

From the sandpaper rough via gunshot beats of "Yeah You" which takes on people who blindly follow trends,



"Youology" and its dense multitracked layers thick as mud,



to "Endeavors For Never (The Last Time We Spoke You Said You Were Not Here. I Saw You Though)" with its jittery black hole jazz and spacey effects,



Shabazz Palaces always keeps you on edge, fearful of what is around the corner. And you never quite know where the album is going, even within each song, with the flow sometimes morphing several times. Opener "Free Press And Curl" wanders at first in an opium haze of stuttering beats and gauzy synths before dropping out into an analog synth-heavy murk.



Which bleeds into the haunted house ghost moans of "An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum" whose middle section drops out with soft electronic percussion:



Not everything is overdone with menace, "Are You...Can You...Were You? (Felt)" soothes with soft strings and pianos over a hushed, drawling rap,



and "A Treatease Dedicated To The Avian Airess From North East Nubis (1000 Questions, 1 Answer)" is pure beat poetry, a disguised in the club come on,



A slight nod to the trippiness of Digable Planets comes from the jazzy guitars and drugged out beats of "Recollections Of The Wraith" with a gorgeous vocal sample cooing in the background.



Black Up is a pure headphones album; there is so much going on within each song, you need some good equipment to pick up all the subtle nuances. It is not a difficult album to listen to, despite the heaviness of the beats and music, there is always something new flying around the corner to shock and surprise. For those of you, like me, who are tired of mainstream rap and hip-hop, and lean more towards the more avant garde practitioners of the genre, Shabazz Palaces is a true find.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.