Friday, August 3, 2012

The Armpit Collection XLII: Medecinal





Originally announced in 2010: “Madlib is launching Madlib Medicine Show, a 12-part music series (12 CD's, 6 LP's) on his own imprint, Madlib Invazion. Odd numbers, beginning with #1 in Jan. 2010, will be original hip-hop, remix, beat tape and jazz productions; even numbers will be mixtapes of funk, soul, Brazilian, psych, jazz and other undefined forms of music from the Beat Konducta's 4-ton* stack of vinyl.

I originally came to this series through another Madlib release, Shade of Blue. I was really intrigued by the idea of a hip hop producer cutting up jazz recordings, and the album didn't disappoint. I started looking for other Madlib releases and found High Jazz, one of the installments in the Medicine Show. It was convenient that my search led me to this release, being Madlib's foray into jazz via his "Yesterday's Universe" band. Once I became aware of the series itself, I started snagging them up.

As I began to acquire the various Medicine Show releases and take them in, I was more and more blown away at how prolific of an artist Madlib is, and at how ideal and awesome of an undertaking a series like this is.

I listen to these a lot. I've had a lot of different reactions from various friends, visitors who've taken them in with me. It's not for everyone, but it's a deeply intriguing vantage point into the world of hip hop record creation, producing, and the world of music re-creation.