Sortilege [LP]

Sortilège is the new album from esteemed producer and DJ Preservation and ascendanttalent Gabe 'Nandez. The two artists first linked on Aethiopes, Preservation's 2022collaboration with billy woods, where Nandez was featured alongside Boldy James onone of the album's standout tracks. "Sauvage" became the catalyst for Sortilège, as theNew Orleans-based producer and New York-based rapper gradually began exchangingideas-first long distance, then in February 2024, when Nandez flew to New Orleans fortwo weeks, ready to work."It was smooth, very synergetic," 'Nandez explains. "We listened to mad music-BootCamp Clik, Scaramanga, Cuban Linx-and I was asking questions about all types of shit,trying to soak up game and history, which I did."The two also bonded over their shared francophone ancestry: Preservation is half Frenchand 'Nandez is half Malian. These connections made their way into the music as well,via both aesthetics and sample sources, and that sort of exchange courses throughSortilège, bridging the generational, geographical, and cultural gaps between the twoartists with a record that feels a world unto itself. Esoteric, yet blunt and uncomplicatedas a fistfight, Sortilège erases the line between urbane and urban. It's a movie in a luciddream, A Clockwork Négritude projected against the wall of a construction site. Mixed-useresidential.Tracing this arc, fellow travelers Armand Hammer, Koncept Jack$on, Ze Nkoma Mpaga NiNgoko, and billy woods all make appearances. Oh, and there are drums everywhere: drumsthat will rattle a hooptie and drums that whisper threats. Somehow, over the course of 14tracks, Preservation seems to find his way to every instrument imaginable-yet each beathas room to breathe. Amidst this breakbeat symphony, 'Nandez's unmistakable baritoneglides purposefully, ever forward, a bristling warship in troubled waters. Every time thebass thumps, 'Nandez counterpunches. This is a record for heavyweight speakers andclunky headphones.