Image via Stephan Gray
Staley Sharples says that writing is telling yourself you’re worthless and a God at the same time.
In the wake of the breakup of Digable Planets in the late ‘90s, Ishmael Butler found himself at a crossroads. It was a time when labels controlled the landscape and the phrase “home studio” was nearly unheard of.
“At the time, it wasn’t so much that I was done with music, I thought commercial music was done with me,” Butler says. “My prospects were zero. That was a reality I had to face.”
Undeterred, Butler kept experimenting sonically until his creativity guided him towards what eventually became the Shabazz Palaces project. It’s been 15 years since those semi-anonymous first singles became a Seattle phenomenon, then a standardbearer for the next generation of the avant-garde. In this span, they have earned their place in the canon as one of the great experimental rap groups of all-time.
But at first, Shabazz Palaces’ success surprised Butler—as did the new set of challenges that came with being a DIY artist. In the early 2010s wild west of indie blogs and illegal downloading, Butler adapted to this radically independent new approach to the music industry.
“I went back to the basics,” Butler says. “I had to get the records pressed up, I had to put them together. Do the packing myself, go to the local record stores and convince the guys to put them on the shelves.”
From these grassroots efforts sprang seven studio albums and a long-standing relationship with Sub Pop. The latest release, Exotic Birds of Prey, finds Butler continuing to explore the astral future of sound.
This is a sonic world straight from a science fiction story.
“The influence of science fiction blankets my life,” Butler explains, citing Andre Norton, Richard Morgan, and Robert Heinlein as personal favorites. With an accompanying techno-horror short story written by KEXP DJ Larry Mizell, Exotic Birds of Prey offers a mystical trip into the chrome-plated beating heart of the Shabazz Palaces odyssey.
The seven-track album features regular Shabazz Palaces collaborators such as Lavarr The Starr and Purple Tape Nate, as well as other artists who may or may not be alter egos of Butler’s. Butler is fascinated with the idea of many realities being experienced through his music.
“Being an artist, me and my cohorts are able to embody all of our selves, if you will, through expression in music,” Butler says. “I like the notion of people living a life but having so many alternative approaches, personalities, and perspectives.”
This sense of heightened perception is evident in Butler’s presence. Each soft-spoken word carries an intentionality that stems from years of hard-fought wisdom and purposeful detachment from the “digital nature” of the music industry today.
“That shit is kind of whack for humanity,” he says.
Instead, Butler looks outside his window to seek inspiration from the “secret world of [his] local eagles,” who unwittingly became the catalyst for the new album’s title.
“The concept of them evokes fierceness and beauty—something natural and wild,” he says. “They are right around us, always communicating and working. They were endangered for a while, and I thought to myself, damn, only America would kill all of their symbols of themselves.”
While remaining a subversive and instinctively DIY musician, Butler is ready to face new creative challenges. The multi-hyphenate has recently branched out into different mediums, beyond his previous forays into comic books and art gallery installations. He’s very interested in filmmaking, and teased possible upcoming collaborations with Shabazz Palaces music video director and friend Stephen Gray. Recently, Butler made his big-screen debut as the star of Gray’s sci-fi short film LAST DAWN OF THE 6TH, which premiered at the 50th Seattle International Film Festival this past spring.
Despite this desire for innovation and artistic restlessness, Butler is always seeking a balance and trying to enjoy the present moment. He excitedly reflects on a recent performance with Digable Planets at Tennessee’s Big Ears Festival where the group shared the same stage as Herbie Hancock.
“We played the gig and [were] all in the dressing room, which was right by a hallway. Herbie comes in looking all smooth, looking good,” Butler says. “Then I find out he’s 82. This dude is doing dates back to back at 82. That’s roughly 30 years from now for me, and the thought that you can still be shaking and baking like that is very inspirational.”
With a European tour just wrapped, film projects in development, and more albums on the way, there’s no sign of Butler slowing down as he continues to forge his own visionary path through the vast expanse of our perpetually weird frontier.