Knife Knights perform in Seattle on Wednesday, October 16th at Earshot Jazz Festival (at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute).

Today, Knife Knights (The Palaceer aka Ishmael Butler, Erik Blood, OCnotes and Marquetta Miller) share a dizzying new visual for “Drag Race Legend,” a psychedelic tale of wasted youth, directed by Joshua M. Johnson. The young man has a penchant for street racing, skipping school and getting high. He proclaims himself a legend, drinks spodie and parties with dorks like Billy Parker.”  

1 Time Mirage is out now on CD/LP/DL/CS worldwide from Sub Pop. The long-player features the aforementioned “Drag Race Legend,” with additional highlights “My Dreams Never Sleep”  “Give You Game,” “Seven Wheel Motion,” “Light Up Ahead (Time Mirage)” and “Low Key,” and was as produced by Ishmael Butler and Erik Blood at Protect and Exalt: A Black Space in Seattle.  1 Time Mirage includes guest appearances from labelmates Shabazz Palaces and Porter Ray, along with Stas THEE Boss, Thaddillac, El Mizell, Gerald Turner, and Darrius Willrich.

1 Time Mirage orders through megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers and Knife Knights shows will receive the limited Loser edition on blue vinyl (while supplies last). The album cover also features gorgeous artwork from Robert Beatty.

What “The People” have said about Knife Knights 1 Time Mirage:
“[A] spellbinding fusion of rap, blessed funk, and tough soul” - London in Stereo
 
“The result is an album of eminently listenable sonic frontierism, and Butler’s most accessible work in years.” [4/5] - MOJO
 
 “[A] suite of sci-fi cosmic hip-hop that takes myriad turns and twists, none of them predictable, all of them compelling.”  - The Wire
 
“Like Butler’s frequent collaborator Flying Lotus, Knife Knights create a rich, fibrous world around each of the tracks on 1 Time Mirage. This is an album whose air you can breathe, whose fragrant musk seeps from each detail. Its production has an insomniac energy, oddly tranquil and unsettled at the same time, each dab of reverb and tickling delay sending ripples through the fug of warped beats and sardonic rhymes.”  [8/10] - Loud & Quiet
 
“1 Time Mirage leapfrogs across several different genres and subgenres, pulling hip-hop, psychedelic soul, and shoegaze into an 11-track set of chaotic noise. Between the woozy bounce of “Seven Wheel Motion,” the house-inflected stomp of “Can’t Draw The Line,” and the hazy pop of “Come On Let’s Go,” the album is easily as esoteric as anything created by Shabazz Palaces; but the music here feels lusher and more sophisticated.” - Bandcamp Daily