Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star

Both installments of Quazarz attest to Shabazz Palaces’ inventiveness and imagination, and reveal new layers upon each listen. After all, creative thinkers like Butler and Maraire often do feel like aliens stuck on earth.

Born On A Gangster Star zeroes in on Butler’s abstract state-of-hip-hop lyrics, epitomized by the booming, beautiful “Shine A Light.” Still, these delineations aren’t exact. Both albums seem to circle each other like binary stars, feeding off of and justifying the other.

They [Born On A Gangster Star and Quazarz Vs The Jealous Machines] can be appreciated either together or apart from each other. [Aug 2017, p.58]

Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star is a curious new entry for the group. It expands the space-age palate of Lese Majesty, but slips in the unique tunefulness of Black Up. And yet it doesn’t quite sound like either, and--maybe unsurprisingly, at this point--it doesn’t sound like any other record you’ll hear this year.

As you work your way through the new material, it becomes apparent rather quickly that Shabazz Palaces have elevated their jazz-damaged phrasing into a unique musical language. Butler, of course, responds to the music with idiosyncratic lyrics to match. ... Gangster Star leans towards a funkier, more upbeat mood.

While the concept of a double album can be off–putting for some, these records shift and weave so seamlessly that one barely notices the combined one hr 30 runtime. That said, it is a record that rewards repeat listens, as its length and depth are well worth letting wash over you.

The power of Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star and Quazarz vs the Jealous Machines comes from the way they spike their dense, abstract sound with moments of accessibility: a band broadening what they do without blunting their edge or losing their uniqueness.

The group’s most ambitious work yet. ... As if heard through alien ears, the arrangements have a weird, woozy character, with the abstract beats and trickly, liquid synth parts punctuated by unusual instruments like the bass clarinet on the opening “Since CAYA.”

These are sprawling works with clear focus.

Butler's spacey sing-song tones skip across the muddy off-kilter beats, forging a sound that is both immediate and moreish. [Aug 2017, p.110]

Gangster Star is a light, trippy confection, reinventing R&B with rippling electronics and slippery, Prince-like funk. [Aug 2017, p.31]

Born on a Gangster Star is the more accessible volume. ... The result is a thrilling excursion, possessing an otherworldly ambience and substance you'll spend months decoding, every spin yielding something new. [Aug 2017, p.88]

The music itself provides the surface glitz, unspooling in sumptuous tapestries in which no element ever takes center stage for long, swapping out repetitive beats for a style that makes an ethereal asset of its mutability.

The free-jazz vibe still makes for a visceral experience, regardless of whether not you can actually follow Quazarz’ path. They continue to eschew standard song structures in favor of free-flowing compositions whose direction is guided by instinct.

Less of an experiment in product-curation, Quazarz scans more as an effort in process-orientation, one that, whether consciously or not, divulges some of Shabazz Palaces’s obscure mysteries.

Gangster Star features a much stronger single (the idyllic "Shine A Light"), while Jealous Machines waders a bit further into the narrative forest. [No. 144, p.59]

Shabazz Palaces' music isn't for everyone. Even after many listens, one gets the sense that there's always going to be a hidden meaning or detail yet to be examined. For the casual listener who just wants to get the gist, Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star will suffice. But to get the full, mystifying, compelling effect, it's worth diving into any and all material Shabazz Palaces blesses us with.

Overall, the beats here are funkier and a little more jagged than they are on the preceding volume, highlighted by the whomping bassline on "Moon Whip Quäz," Thundercat's bob-and-prickle low end on "Since C.A.Y.A.," and what resembles a contorted hybrid of Prince's "Delirious" and Urban Tribe's "At Peace with Concrete" on "That's How City Life Goes."

Even with the paradigm shift, Shabazz Palaces remain magnificently eccentric, enlisting Thundercat on Since CAYA, quoting Kraftwerk at length on the nagging Moon Whip Quäz. Tracks such as Dèesse Du Sang, meanwhile, provide a haunted analogue magic that is hard to shake off.

The idea behind Quazarz is indeed fascinating, and could have been a unique way of talking about the modern social and political climate. Unfortunately, sometimes it feels like the quest for a particular vibe has sometimes been prioritised over the underlying message.

While the concept may be suitably unhinged and the music boundary pushing, little of it ultimately sticks in the mind.

he two albums fail to cohere both sonically and conceptually. Throughout, Butler’s approach begins to wear a bit thin.