Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty
Critic Score
Based on 37 reviews
2014 Ratings: #38 / 1042
Year End Rank: #38
User Score
Based on 276 ratings
2014 Rank: #322
Liked by 9 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
AllMusic

It's a shame that such a vanguard effort is weakened by a few clever and jokey interludes that don't warrant a return, but that just leaves Shabazz Palaces room for a proper masterpiece as the brilliant Lese Majesty is so very close.

91
Pretty Much Amazing

The production is closer to a Nicolas Jaar or James Blake than anything hip-hop is toying with at the moment. It’s innovative, it’s slippery, and it’s bound to piss off a lot of purists.

91
A.V. Club

Lese Majesty is Butler’s most extreme refusal of the hip-hop status quo, boasting erratic instrumentals and subtle shit-talk toward haters subverting the canon. 

90
Slant Magazine
Monolithic and magical, the album exists in a fantastical space just outside the genre's usual perimeter, keeping its references odder and more compelling, crafting an inimitably consistent musical experience.
90
The Line of Best Fit

It’s really quite beautiful. Comprised of seven “astral suites”, Lese Majesty feels closer to an electronic symphony movement than a conventional album. It’s also what makes it a “grower”. 

90
SPIN

Lese Majesty feels more now, than then. In mirroring and transcending the schizoid, rootless form of digital society, it's an attempt to help people cope with the culture.

90
musicOMH

The phrase Lese Majesty is exactly what you can expect: an album that is a facetious laugh at, an immersive soundscape of, and a beatific spit-in-the-face toward, traditions.

83
Consequence of Sound

The production and the layering — from the future tribal drums to the misty bass plucks and the pulsing guest vocals of THEESatisfaction’s Catherine Harris-White — is what people are going to connect with right away.

83
Entertainment Weekly

For their encore full-length, Shabazz Palaces let a little fresh air and whimsy slip into their dense mélange of whispered rhymes and slack-jawed space beats.

82
Pitchfork

The soul of Shabazz Palaces is pairing next-gen sounds with classic brass-tacks show-and-prove emceeing, and Lese Majesty tugs those extremes as far as they've ever been pulled; that it never shows signs of wear speaks to the strength of the bond.

80
Drowned in Sound

Lese Majesty has a real 'feel' to it, each song is perfectly placed to the next. It is a record to indulge in, one melting synth note at a time. 

80
Exclaim!

Lese Majesty has no hits to speak of, nothing you could easily extract and stick in a radio slot, which is kind of the essence of this album. It's a piece, an installation of sound and thought. 

80
FACT Magazine

Shabazz Palaces deserve credit where it’s due for building their sound outward; if Black Up established their status as hip-hop outliers, then Lese Majesty solidifies their place in the pantheon of rap’s oddball geniuses. Long may they reign.

80
The 405

I haven't heard anything like Shabazz Palaces before, in hip-hop or in any other genre. They're taking hip-hop in an odd, scary, innovative and exciting direction, and I like it.

80
NME

‘Lese Majesty’ is not a difficult record. It’s just one with the confidence to reject tired old models and build its own future logic, and the result is mysterious, spiritual, and funky as shit.

80
Tiny Mix Tapes
What a lovely sentiment, the Palaceer replies as we pass beside a whirling row of first-class seats, tray tables still secure in upright-and-locked position. What a pretty thought, this relativistic dogma. And as I shutter my eyes against the searing rush of air, I swear I feel just like a space traveler myself.
70
FasterLouder

Shabazz Palaces are certainly strange, and their willingness to strike out for new territory – even when it means abandoning things that worked for them in the past – is admirably ambitious.

70
Rolling Stone

His dazzling feel for 21st-century psychedelia pushes this well past nostalgia tripping – and while the verbal abstraction gets thick, there's serious pleasure in plumbing it.

70
PopMatters

The celestial vocals of Palaceer Lazaro layered over exquisitely non-traditional production from Tendai Maraire make Lese Majesty one of the most unique projects of 2014. 

60
The Skinny

At points, over-ambition causes them to lose focus, but at a sprawling 18 tracks, even the less invigorating moments drift by pleasantly.

60
DIY

This is a record that can pendulum swing from an ether-effect (‘Harem Aria’) to a romantic lull (‘Noetic Noiromantics’). There are no rules. That’s the point.

PelicanManners
64

Shabazz Palaces’ sophomore release, is an album i always wished i would’ve loved. It’s a complete departure of the jazzy yet glitchy sound, that most associated with them. The instrumentals have a electronic sound going for them, that I actually really enjoyed. They’re bold and erratic in all the best ways. But a lot of the time Ishmael’s delivery and tone wouldn’t pair well with them. I also found the subject matter and song concepts, so much harder to ... read more

Melancoholic
65

Decent.

Ackbae
55

I consider Black Up to be one of my favourite albums of all time, but unfortunately Shabazz Palaces haven't made anything that has made me justify them as being consistent and worthwhile artists, and Lese Majesty unfortunately isn't an exception to this case. The weirdness and abstract nature is most certainly here, but great portions of the album are either boring or unlistenable. But I have to give it to them, this is unbelievably weird and I have no clue what they're ever on about with their ... read more

chemjay300
65

It’s cool from a production perspective, actually some of the better experimental hip hop ideas I’ve heard there. The rapping is nonsensical in an annoying way to me, it like stained the listen for me. Maybe this will grow on me in the future but for now it’s like cool beats and uncool rapping

bionic_chords
100

Palaceer Lazaro is our vocal guide to crevices of the universe untouched, in a way mirrors of a world familiar and in others a construct all Shabazz Palaces' own.

Alanzed
60

Quelques bons sons mais globalement ça reste de l'xp sans saveur. On a "Motion Sickness" ou "Solmen Swears" qui viennent remettre l'église musicale au milieu du village de la branlette du rap intello mais c'est vraiment pas assez.

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Track List

Suite 1: The Phasing Shift
1Dawn in Luxor
3:56
90
2Forerunner Foray
3:48
100
3They Come in Gold
3:22
95
Suite 2: Touch & Agree
4Solemn Swears
1:32
80
5Harem Aria
1:58
100
6Noetic Noiromantics
1:35
93
7The Ballad of Lt. Maj. Winnings
1:42
65
Suite 3: Palace War Council Meeting
8Soundview
0:40
63
9Ishmael
4:35
75
10...Down 155th in the MCM Snorkel
2:12
60
Suite 4: Pleasure Milieu
11Divine of Form
0:39
65
12#CAKE
4:02
82
Suite 5: Federal Bureau Boys
13Colluding Oligarchs
2:09
80
14Suspicion of a Shape
1:41
70
Suite 6: High Climb to the Gallows
15MindGlitch Keytar TM Theme
1:22
75
16Motion Sickness
3:49
85
Suite 7: Murkings on the Oxblood Starway
17New Black Wave
3:43
65
18Sonic MythMap for the Trip Back
2:08
80
Total Length: 44 minutes
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Added on: May 6, 2014