Quasimoto

Hip-hop’s most talked about producer comes at us with some more table scraps and makes a musical masterpiece, right? Not quite. A few too many snippets and vocal samples and not enough emphasis on actual song structure makes this stew a little runny — which is understandable after Madlib has been on a hot streak — but this is the return of Quasimoto! The Unseen is arguably Madlib’s finest recording and was the first release from Lord Quas — a fuzzy little fellow the Beat Conductor hides behind to deliver nasally pitched-up rhymes. The one essence you can feel with Quas is that this is Madlib’s true outlet, where he has full control of the output and the message being delivered. Though this album is a challenging collage of 20-second dialogues and break-beats, there are some incredible highlights to be found amongst the madness. MF Doom connects on a Madvillain reunion with "Closer” that employs a sexy spy sample chorus to roll along Doom’s grizzly delivery, but it’s an ode to ’80s hip-hop that will have people flipping their wig. "Rappcatts” is one of the hottest Madlib productions to date and it’s nothing more than a two-minute funk explosion as he rhymes off hip-hop’s hall of fame, including a shout out to Maestro Fresh Wes! The Further Adventures of Lord Quas is not an easy listen at times. It’s well known that rapping is one of Madlib’s least favourite activities, and his musical spectrum has ballooned since the straight up hip-hop days of the Lootpack, but it’s really great to see someone in this game is making something to fuck with your dome.