Your humble scribe loves the art of the mix tape. Mixes can sometimes be puzzled over ad-infinitum, questing for the perfect segue of sound and technique, others can be a pleasant confluence of happenstance and good-fortune. In the mix-tape big league, transmissions by Coldcut Journeys by DJ, Kode 9′s Dubstep Allstars Vol 3 and letsallmakemistakes by Matthew Herbert have been joined by the latest instalment in Madlib’s Beat Konducta series to make it to CD.
Myself and Otis Jackson Jr. were born in the same year. Madlib’s West Coast upbringing, I would hazard a guess, was somewhat different from mine here on the West Coast of Australia. Despite this, there is a shared musical inheritance, from classic hip-hop, through psychedelic rock, leading back to Bill Wither’s Ain’t No Sunshine. Now, I’m no soundboy crate-digging fiend, but so many of the snippets that have been assembled into Beat Konducta Vol 5 & 6 (a tribute to the late J Dilla), jog my hazy memory. There is more funk, swing and pure muscle-flexing musicality contained in this mix, than in anything else I’ve heard since, gosh, like Ike met Tina, you dig? After a couple of listens, I was like an excited kid, waiting for the next exhilarating change in vibe and direction. I’ve previously not been a particularly close listener to Madlib’s multiple aliases (WHAT!!! I hear the cries of angry Lord Quas fan’s swelling), but I’ll make sure to check out further instalments from the Beat Konducta, as I heartily recommend to you, dear listener.
Oliver Laing
*
