Billy Woods, Kenny Segal – Hiding Places

Billy Woods & Kenny Segal's 2019 Studio Album Hiding Places on LP.

It is the five year anniversary of the release of billy woods and Kenny Segal’s classic album Hiding Places. As time passes, and more of the duo’s work enters the canon, it is easy to forget what an unlikely pairing these two were in 2019. Both woods and Segal were already more than a decade into their careers, but neither had collaborated this deeply with artists outside of their coastal scenes. Kenny’s most recent projects were a couple jazzy instrumental albums and production for Self-Jupiter, Open Mike Eagle, and Milo. For his part; woods was two years removed from his previous solo album with Blockhead. Then Hiding Places happened and changed the trajectories of both artists, and Backwoodz Studioz, with it.

The original 2019 vinyl pressing was limited to 500 copies with the house on the cover, alonside a numbered run of 100 special-editions with alternative artwork by M. Musgrove. 2020 saw a new pressing that included the album instrumentals; this version had all new artwork and was limited to just 1000 copies. This five-year anniversary reissue is the first one to feature the iconic house cover, and it also has a gatefold with new original artwork from M. Musgrove. Fans have been clamoring for this for years, and we just wanted to do it right. We think we have done that here.

As for the music, we like to think that while the original album description is a little quaint in retrospect, it remains accurate: Hiding Places finds both artists deep in the labyrinth. Segal’s lush soundscapes have a new edge, woods’ writing is, paradoxically, at its most direct. Hiding Places is a child’s game: funny and cruel, as brutal as a fairy tale. The album features contributions from both artists’ well of collaborators with ELUCID, Self-Jupiter, and MOTHERMARY making appearances.