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Album of the year: "Black Up" by Seattle's Shabazz Palaces

Pardon the hype, but the second album by Seattle hip-hop group Shabazz Palaces is the album of the year. Local, national, international — "Black Up" is it.

Wrapped in velvet with gold flecks (CD) and black material that feels like skin (LP), "Black Up" comes out on Seattle's Sub Pop Records Tuesday. The same day, the group — which performs as a duo, Ishmael Butler rapping and hitting buttons on a sampler, Tendai Maraire with his Shona percussion array — plays a free in-store concert at the Queen Anne Easy Street Records . Two concerts follow at Neumos Thursday and Friday.

The word "mysterious" gets tossed around a lot in descriptions of Shabazz Palaces. That's probably because Butler used to be mainstream famous — he won a Grammy and made classic songs with jazz-rap group Digable Planets in the '90s — but now chooses to work more anonymously, as Shabazz's lead creative force. He calls himself Palaceer Lazaro and doesn't like to talk about the past or his technique.

"Sub Pop let a brother walk to the outskirts of my imagination," says Butler, referring to himself, sitting in the Seward Park branch of Caffé Vita. "People think it's about mystery. It's really not. We just believe in something different. We're not intentionally trying to be on the outside of things, or anything like that. We don't even take that much time to think about stuff. It's all instinct, we put it down, this is it, and we just believe in that. That's all."

He's the star of "Black Up." The co-stars are Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White, from local sing/rap duo THEESatisfaction . More people worked on the album, but the credits are so few and confusingly written, there might as well be none.

"It's a Shabazz Palaces move," says Lazaro, by way of explanation.

There is a haunted vibe to the music on "Black Up." It's an album of extremes. There are ballads, like "Are you... Can you... Were you? (Felt)" that have glowing warmth — and songs with deep anger, like "Yeah You," where Lazaro faces down a stampeding herd of people he considers "corny." The surging, overdriven bass line makes you worry for the safety of your stereo, and when the beat drops, the sound of heavy chains brings to mind slave shackles.

Download FREE Drum Tracks, Played by Mike Veny, Part 1

Studio Drummer Gone Mad

Although being a drummer is my job, I made the decision to create a library of the standard beats, fills, and song structures that I play on drum tracks. I decided to give them away for FREE to singers, songwriters, rappers, and producers from around the world.

Winning means different things to different people. Whatever it means to you, I want you to win. Maybe you’re trying to record a demo. Maybe you’re writing a song for a loved one. Maybe you’re trying to rehearse with a drummer. Maybe you want some new ideas. Either way, I have created these for your success.

When you download these drum tracks, they are YOURS . You can claim them as your own, make million-dollar hit songs, and Also, the library will updated regularly, and will always be FREE .

These drum tracks are common grooves, and feels, with simple fills, and incredible dynamics, played by me.

Here’s what you get:

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