You may know him as the mastermind producer behind the
experimental sounds of Yesterday’s New Quintet and Sound
Directions. If the mood strikes him, tomorrow he might be DJ
Rels or Quasimoto (just to name a couple of his many
adopted pseudonyms). This time around, the multi-dimensional Madlib
has dusted off another familiar moniker, Beat Konducta, to
release his newest installment of instrumental raw genius titled Vol. 1-2:
Movie Scenes.
Originally released last year exclusively on vinyl, the 35-track album clocks
in at just under an hour, making it a snap-shot of rhythms ranging from one to three
minutes long. Each title is followed by a caption which states to mood/scene
the track is meant to accompany. The tracks have no defined sequence; while
listening, it’s almost as if you are flipping through HBO channels, only catching a glimpse of each “movie scene” before
you flip to a new film even more intriguing than the last. Movie Scenes
is the perfect companion to the late great J Dilla’s Donuts,
as they are seemingly cut from the same cloth of organized confusion and
methodical madness. Not surprising, seeing as how much they influenced one
another.
As with the majority of Madlib’s work, you either love it or
hate it; there’s rarely a happy medium. Yet somehow, Madlib
has found a way to make even the odd droning of “Electric company (Voltage-Watts)”
sound good enough to listen to (even if the whole time you find yourself asking
“what the hell is this?”). The shining stars of the album, “Pyramids (Change)” and “The Rock
(Humps)” provide eargasms for those looking for easier-to-comprehend
tracks.
From the looped From the tribal sounds of “Gold Jungle (Tribe),“ to the
nostalgic re-vamp of Afrika Bambaata’s “Planet Rock on Open (Space),” Madlib
shows us exactly what makes him one of Hip Hop’s most sought after producers:
his intense admiration for a broad range of musical genres coupled with an
innate ability to chop, loop, and synthesize. Madlib manages
to find the perfect marriage of style and structure. The result is the
distinguished signature of a true scientist of sound. Though this soundtrack
has no movie in the works (besides your own imagination) to accompany it, Movie
Scenes is guaranteed to have you begging for a sequel.