Blac Rabbit (EP)

Psychedelic rock band Blac Rabbit of Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York City, is fronted by twins Amiri and Rahiem Taylor and backed by drummer Patrick Jones and bassist Josh Lugo. The band often covers songs by the Beatles, which it cites as a major inspiration.{{cite web|url=https://unfspinnaker.com/72413/entertainment/blac-rabbit-channel-the-beatles-on-self-titled-debut-ep/|title=Blac Rabbit channel the Beatles on self-titled debut EP|last=Moore|first=Nicole|date=November 1, 2018|work=Spinnaker|publisher=University of North Florida Spinnaker|accessdate=November 6, 2018}} On October 31, 2016, demo versions of two Blac Rabbit songs were published online: "All Good", itself released as a single earlier in the year, and "Mind Space".{{cite web|url=https://soundcloud.com/blacrabbit/sets/demos|title=Blac Rabbit – Demos|date=October 31, 2018|publisher=SoundCloud|accessdate=July 24, 2018}}

The group's first release with How Far Music, Blac Rabbit, followed the next year, several months before a cellphone recording of the Taylors' cover of a Beatles song went viral online.{{cite web|url=http://razmatazmag.com/2018/blac-rabbits-debut-ep-is-all-good/|title=Bust through the winter blues with Blac Rabbit's debut EP|last=D'Orazio|first=Olivia|date=February 27, 2018|work=Raz Mataz|accessdate=June 20, 2018}} The EP was recorded and mixed at the Taylors' house and at their How Far Music manager's house in Rockaway Beach.{{cite web|url=https://musicmecca.org/blog/mms-presents-rockaway-beachs-blac-rabbit/|title=MMS Presents: An Interview With Rockaway Beach's Blac Rabbit|last=Howard|first=Paul|date=February 28, 2018|work=Music Mecca|accessdate=July 24, 2018}} Rahiem Taylor handled mixing for the Blac Rabbit EP; it was mastered by Lino Martinez. Rahiem later explained that on the EP, the main guitar effects came from Zoom G2 and G3 effects pedals, specifically applying compression to raise the mid-range tone; delay and reverb for a "washe[d] ... ghostly" sound; and vibrato, slightly warping the pitch.{{cite web|url=https://pedals.thedelimagazine.com/blac-rabbits-pedals/|title=Blac Rabbit's Pedals and Creative Process|last=Cromwell|first=Dave|date=December 27, 2018|work=The Deli|accessdate=March 28, 2019}} The cover art shows the band's logo, an outline drawing of a rabbit, superimposed on "vibrant swirls of bright indigo, orange and red".

Well after the EP was released, Blac Rabbit recorded live in studio versions of six songs with the record label Audiotree on June 21, 2018, including three from Blac Rabbit—"Mindspace", "All Good", and "Over the Rainbow"—as well as new songs "Seize the Day", "Rooftops", and "I'm Your Last". Also at Audiotree, Rahiem Taylor said that some of the new songs were to be included on an album titled Interstella yet to be recorded.{{cite web|url=https://audiotree.tv/session/blac-rabbit|title=Blac Rabbit|date=June 21, 2018|publisher=Audiotree|accessdate=July 24, 2018|at=26:30–26:40}}

In October 2018, while recording the follow-up album to the EP, Rahiem said "our tastes have developed" since Blac Rabbit, which "was kind of a test run".{{cite web|url=https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/music/things-to-do-in-west-palm-beach-blac-rabbit-at-respectable-street-november-4-9981667|title=Meet Blac Rabbit, a Brooklyn Psych Band Co-Fronted by "Mirror Twins"|last=Hardee|first=Howard|date=October 23, 2018|work=New Times Broward-Palm Beach|accessdate=November 6, 2018}} He said the experience of "experimenting with some gear at home" gave the band a better idea of "what we wanted going into this [new] project".

The Blac Rabbit EP contains six songs. The opener, "All Good", is described as a "sunsoaked" and "lazy day, day-dreamy track"{{cite web|url=http://afropunk.com/2016/06/feature-psychedelic-rockers-blac-rabbit-spread-positive-vibes-with-dreamy-sun-soaked-single-all-good/|title=Psychedelic-rockers Blac Rabbit spread positive vibes with dreamy, sun-soaked single 'All Good'|last=White|first=Erin|date=June 9, 2016|work=Afropunk|accessdate=June 20, 2018}} with "delightful Beatles-inspired melodies". A lively tune, its "chugging" psychedelic guitar riffs change as the song progresses. The next song, "Over the Rainbow", is based on several hooks. It draws more inspiration from funk than the EP's other compositions, though it is still based in surf music and psychedelia.

"Closer to the Sun", inspired by Tame Impala, contains vocals notably processed with echo and reverberation. The song "speeds up and slows down in all the right places," wrote Olivia D'Orazio, "and treads the fine line between stripped-down-and-raw and all-the-bells-and-whistles." She called it the song that "definitely ... sets Blac Rabbit apart from its competition."

As Nicole Moore put it, in the instrumentation of "The Way the Wind Whips", each part "freely breathes in the mix, with a very cymbal-heavy drum beat occupying the high end of the track, guitars in the mids, and basses in the lows".

The only song not composed by Amiri Taylor for the EP is "Mindspace", written and recorded by Rahiem. The EP's longest song, it alternates between variations on only two chords. The final track, "I Don't Mind if You're Around", layers a psychedelic base with "breezy" hooks. Like with "Mindspace", the song is a part where "the garage band opens up and lets their psychedelic tendencies loose".{{cite web|url=http://afropunk.com/2018/04/rock-out-to-psych-garage-band-blac-rabbits-self-titled-ep-its-the-uplift-you-need-right-now/|title=Rock out to psych rock garage band Blac Rabbit's self-titled EP, it's the uplift you need right now|last=Leigh|first=Nathan|date=April 23, 2018|work=Afropunk|accessdate=June 20, 2018}}

D'Orazio called Blac Rabbit "the exact psychedelic dream that we needed to start 2018 off right", while Nathan Leigh found it "destined to be a soundtrack to summer" and "the uplift we've all been waiting for". Moore wrote that Blac Rabbit had "mastered mixing" since "everything is right where it needs to be", referring to the audio levels in the mix.

Moore said she was "hooked on the aesthetic the band had drawn up" in the cover art even before listening and was "very pleased with this project". Yet she found unresolved "the question of identity", as "Blac Rabbit seems to think of themselves as tied around their influences' little finger". She asked, "Will Blac Rabbit become Blac Rabbit, or will Blac Rabbit live as nothing more than a Beatles/Tame Impala impression?"

Adapted from album liner notes.{{cite AV media notes|date=December 29, 2017|title=Blac Rabbit|others=Blac Rabbit|publisher=How Far Music|url=https://blacrabbitband.bandcamp.com/album/blac-rabbit-ep}} {{Track listing

| all_writing = Amiri Taylor, except where noted

| title1 = All Good

| length1 = 4:18

| title2 = Over the Rainbow

| length2 = 3:26

| title3 = Mindspace

| length3 = 5:20

| note3 = written by Rahiem Taylor

| title4 = Closer to the Sun

| length4 = 2:52

| title5 = The Way the Wind Whips

| length5 = 4:31

| title6 = I Don't Mind if You're Around

| length6 = 4:25

| total_length = 24:52

}}

Adapted from album liner notes.

• Kiyan Hagan – album art
• Patrick Jones – drums {{small|(tracks 2, 4)}}
• Lino Martinez – mastering {{small|(all tracks)}}
• Amiri Taylor – bass {{small|(tracks 1–2, 5–6)}}, guitar {{small|(1–2, 4–6)}}, vocals {{small|(1–2, 4–6)}}
• Rahiem Taylor – bass {{small|(tracks 3–4)}}, drums {{small|(1, 3, 5–6)}}, guitar {{small|(1, 3)}}, mixing {{small|(all)}}, vocals {{small|(3)}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.discogs.com/Blac-Rabbit-Blac-Rabbit-EP/release/11752111 Blac Rabbit] at Discogs
• {{Official website|http://www.blacrabbit.com/}}

Category:2017 debut EPs

Category:Blac Rabbit EPs

Category:Psychedelic rock EPs