The production work that creative team Ishmael Butler and
Erik Blood did with experimental hip-hop group
Shabazz Palaces could never be called tame. Feeding off each other's production styles, the duo pushed the group's sound to some very weird places, but it seems almost mild when compared to the depths of weirdness they get into on
1 Time Mirage, the debut album from their
Knife Knights project. Assembled in the studio over the course of several sessions,
1 Time Mirage tends more toward atmospheric R&B and splintered, downtempo dream sequence hip-hop than
Shabazz Palaces, but still makes space for Butler's rhymes to float in and out of the mix. More relaxed without feeling in any way subdued, the album's convergence of laid-back vocals, otherworldly synths, and rhythmic experiments all congeal in a soupy blend that melodies, rhymes, and tones peak out from and fade back into. The approach is at its clearest on tracks like the ominous R&B-flavored single "Give You Game," a still-plenty-experimental track that finds bouncing synth basslines giving way to vocal hooks from guest singers Stas Thee Boss and Marquetta Miller. The song's wobbly rhythms and staggered analog drum machine sounds are as close as
Knife Knights gets to standard pop territory. Much of the album comes closer to dub levels of fragmented production. "My Dreams Never Sleep" washes through layers of various voices doused in echo and distortion; speaking, singing, and rapping over each other as the song drifts along like incense smoke in the air before breaking down into beautiful harmonies. These stony and optimistic-feeling moments recall Butler's early days as part of '90s hip-hop troupe
Digable Planets, but the album alternates between lighthearted daydreams and more aggressive fare. "Seven Wheel Motion" lopes in on a heavy, off-rhythm beat and a buzzing bassline, rhymes all processed through various filters and shifting effects. Similarly, album-closer "Mr. President" rides a spare, sinister beat as Butler delivers a nervous, pitch-shifted flow about narcissistic fantasies. At its best,
Knife Knights' boundless experimentation reads like a dizzying mix of
J Dilla drum patterns,
Animal Collective guitar lines, and
Flying Lotus-level production freakouts underscoring R&B songs from another planet. Sometimes the sounds feel a little too alien to decode, but when production spirals out of control for a moment, part of the appeal of
1 Time Mirage is listening to the production team reign their wild creations back in. ~ Fred Thomas