Basement’s Best: ​THEESatisfaction seeks transcendence on “EarthEE”

Hip-hop has been, since its origin, an art form written in the present tense, the spray-painted writing on the wall still waiting to dry. Even before the genre was coined, primogenitors like Nina Simone and Gil Scott-Heron called ‘em as they saw ‘em, laying bare the ugly truths of a still-divided nation, leaving any sugarcoating for the nightly news. The genre’s “hear ye, hear ye” spirit is as strong as ever, as taut racial tensions fuel the hot spit of Run the Jewels and coax D’Angelo out of the woodwork.

Since the first hollers of plantation gospel, however, there has been an undercurrent of impending deliverance, a united transcendence, within black American music. In this way, black musicians have built and shared a vision of a future built on their race’s unity and hoped-for harmony.

In a year in which newspapers print stories side by side of Ferguson’s fallout and NASA’s discovery of possibly habitable planets outside our galaxy, Seattle’s THEESatisfaction is conscious of the fractured state of our world, albeit from a light-year’s distance. Enter “EarthEE,” the afro-futurists’ second full-length effort, a cosmic collection of left-field hip-hop that staggers with the same monolithic magnetism that loomed over “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Built on bubbling synths and twinkling layers of percussive beats and baubles, the album is mellow without risking weightlessness. The orbiting interplay of Stasia “Stas” Irons’ understated rapping and Catherine “Cat” Harris-White’s reined singing makes for a push-pull that’s never too far in either direction.

Their smooth ebb-and-flow suggests a mic shared rather than traded off, as on the swaying “Blandland” or the slippery title track. Stas and Cat’s assumed effortlessness is their greatest asset; as a female duo operating within a genre long ruled by men and wrought with unbridled misogyny, the pressure to assume a masculine dominance surely must be high. Rather than seek acceptance by way of flashy machine-gun delivery or a self-aggrandizement that has made cartoons out of contemporaries like Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea, THEESatisfaction opts for conversation over confrontation.

While the production is often coated in a deep-space cool, the duo’s collected demeanor actually endears them more than most hip-hop artists would dare allow. “EarthEE” is refreshingly devoid of the genre’s common tropes; there’s nary a putdown to be heard, the melodies shine as bright as the beats drive and the list of featured guest rappers can be counted on one hand.

As if they were looking back on our little blue dot from a distant planet, Stas and Cat’s astral projections seem to herald the coming of that long-awaited transcendence.

KNDS Suggests

“Sheathed Wings” – Dan Deacon

Blissed, glissed and glitched out, “Sheathed Wings” is a strong case for Deacon’s singular voice within an electronic music world currently flooded with by-the-numbers bass-droppers.

“Home” – Heems ft. Dev Hynes

The breakup song has long been relegated to the realm of pop music (and, more specifically, a sizable chunk of T-Swift’s discography), but the ex-Das Racist MC and friend Hynes drum up an able R&B response, pondering the ownership of ex’s sweaters and intriguingly referencing “Ignition: Remix.”

“Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” – Kevin Morby

Recorded on his cell phone first thing one morning, Morby’s ramble through Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline” gem is charmingly homey, capped with the unintended banshee wail of a tea kettle spouting off during the final chorus.

“Trials, Troubles, Tribulations” – Sounds of the South 
https://soundcloud.com/brassland/soundsofthesouth-trialstroublestribulations

Cut from the same Americana tapestry that made the “O Brother Where Art Thou?” soundtrack so mesmerizing, this plaintive and earthy whoop is molasses-thick. The woefully momentary supergroup, comprised of Justin Vernon, Sharon Van Etten, Megafaun, Matthew E. White and Fight the Big Bull, delivers Lomax-era gospel with appropriate reverence.

“Waster” – Win Win

Replete with schoolyard claps atop an already shimmying beat and nervous-wreck guitar slices that recall Jack White at his most reckless, this dementedly poppy B-side is fueled with Pixy Stix energy.