Blue sky above, black death below, instrumental music between

April 22, 2014 8:55 PM

Blue Sky Black Death are a duo of hip-hop/electronic producers from Seattle who took their group name from an old skydiving term for the yin/yang balance of a beautiful blue sky above and the possibility of death below. They have worked with a number of rappers (Cam'ron and P.A.P.I. (Nore), Hell Razah, Jean Grae, and Nacho Picasso [NSFW lyrics]), but they show that their music can stand on its own, "wringing strangely affecting emotional grandeur from the rudiments of sound ... [relying] less on glitch or drone and more on starry-eyed orchestral vastness," as heard in (the extended version of) Noir, and so much more of their discography that is on Bandcamp and their YouTube account.
posted by filthy light thief (3 comments total)

If you're wondering for any crazy reason, here's the original version of Noir on Fake Four Inc's Bandcamp page. Fake Four was the label that original released the album, but they release a more broad array of hip-hop and not just celestial hip-hop like BSBD.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:09 PM on April 22, 2014

Well, this may upset my friends in the band Blue Sky Blackout.

Then again, David Bowie's actual name is David Jones, and Albert Brooks' actual name is Albert Einstein, so sometimes these things happen.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 9:15 PM on April 22, 2014

ISAIAH TOOTHTAKER + GUNPLAY — FROWNIN (SLYT) is a really nice piece of production by them.

The Cam'ron track above is also pretty great.

Another quality music post FLT, thanks.
posted by yeahwhatever at 10:06 PM on April 22, 2014