Madlib: Sound Ancestors (w/ Four Tet) – Alternate Cover Vinyl LP Madlib

“Madlib is always making loads of music in all sorts of styles and I was listening to some of his new beats and studio sessions when I had the idea that it would be great to hear some of these ideas made into a Madlib solo album. Not made into beats for vocalists to use but instead arranged into tracks that could all flow together in an album designed to be listened to start to finish. I put this concept to him when we were hanging out eating some nice food one day and we decided to work on this together with him sending me tracks, loops, ideas and experiments that I would arrange, edit, manipulate and combine. I was sent hundreds of pieces of music over a couple of years stretch and during that time I put together this album with all the parts that fitted with my vision.” – Four Tet

Madlib and Four Tet, together again! I remember finding a promo CD of Four Tet‘s Madvillainy remixes in the stacks at my old college radio station and losing my mind. What do you mean the guy who made Rounds remixed my favorite hip-hop record? It wouldn’t be until a few years later that Stones Throw even got this out on streaming services, so it felt like I had stumbled upon a lost treasure. Fast forward December 2020, and “Road of the Lonely Ones” drops. The Ethics sample is so soulful; the drum-programming is so tight (those snares are sizzling). Oh, and the best part: Kieran Hebden is listed on the credits for arranging, editing, and mastering. They’re back, baby! Sound Ancestors is still noticeably more Madlib than Four Tet, but the latter producer’s influence comes in heavy on tracks like “Hoprock” and “Riddim Chant.” What’s also evident is that this is one of the best “solo” Madlib releases in the last decade. 16 tracks on black vinyl with alternate sleeve art by Jason Jagel, who did the original MF DOOM MM..Food sleeve and the Operation Doomsday alternate cover (also, his dad John Jagel designed Ornette Coleman’s Ornette! and Coltrane’s Olé!).

• full-length Madlib instrumental album edited, arranged + executive produced by Four Tet
• black vinyl pressing
• special edition silkscreened cover designed by Jason Jagel
• limited edition
• music label: Madlib Invazion 2021

reviewed by SHH! 09/2021