Today we’re listening to Madlib, an American producer from California. Last week, Madlib’s house burned down in the Los Angeles fires.1 There is a relief campaign for his family to rebuild here (and ways to help others here). As we mentioned when we previously recommended his music, Madlib has created some of the best beats of all time and influenced a generation of hip-hop producers and musicians across genres. We’re listening to two of his LPs from the early 2000s. First we’re playing Shades of Blue from 2003, for which he was granted access to the archives of Blue Note Records for sampling purposes. Second we’re playing his 2001 record Angles Without Edges, released as Yesterday’s New Quintet, a fictitious jazz group representing his technique of recording live instruments and then sampling himself.
Shades of Blue - Madlib (57m, interstitial vocals and a couple raps)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal
Angles Without Edges - Madlib (67m, seldom spoken vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal
Have an all right Thursday.
Yesssss! These beats have accompanied me through so much ❤️
One of my other personal favorites from that era of Madlib -- his DJ Rels project, Theme For A Broken Soul, which took an invigorating swerve into the world of broken beat house / dance music that a lot of people missed at the time. "Broken Soul / Dawn" is still such an epic track <3.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n7ANHyt37x8Dn8IFKZ4lYjSJZgEKzG_Os