I'm still pretty new to his work, but I'm already sure that Madlib is a genius. He's also a workhorse, having already released half-a-dozen projects in 2010 including Strong Arm Steady's terrific "In Search of Stoney Jackson" and a couple psychedelic-jazz recordings.
Along with the Strong Arm Steady album (fully produced by Madlib), this is my favorite release of the year so far. It's a rich, lengthy excursion into dusty old African jazz, rock, soul records and a whole universe of other sounds, all chopped and mixed together to form a beautifully-crafted hip hop instrumental "experience." Last year's Beat Konducta album, the Tribute to J Dilla one, was my favorite of the series and this is right up there with it.
This is not quite what I expected, having listened to other comprehensive volumes of the Medicine Show, dealing with genres like Brazilian music and jazz.
Do my expectations not being met detract? No!: Leave it to a music snob, not a music man, to set expectations of a great artist and then have a baby redface hissy when the artist does something else. I was actually expecting a 1970's Afro-Funk groove, like "Shango" by Peter King and "Telephone Girl" by Agasi, but found this album works more on modern hip hop and digital grooves.
All of which is very good but WAY outside my frame of reference--which only means I am working here with pure sound. Good for Madib, and good for me. This stuff has huge beats with huge instrumental slaps-completely rhythm driven. But Madlib has an amazing talent for setting a pulse, sticking to it for an hour, and weaving universes of sound in and out of that meter.
Which is what you get here. Fantastic, and about all i know now. What a place to be: expectations shattered, dragged laughing into the unknown aural abyss. Some days are just born for such joy.
