Madlib - "Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: In India"

Madlib - Indian Hump (Stones Throw 2007)

Madlib – Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: In India / Stones Throw

I pretty much splurged all of my love and appreciation for Otis Jackson, Jr. during my Yesterday’s Universe review, so retreading that territory seems somewhat unnecessary. If you did not read it yourself (or don’t care to), then a brief summation of the article can be wrapped up in pretty much four words: I fucking love Madlib. Thanks to being exposed to his exceptionally wide array of influences and source material, my own tastes have been significantly widened. And really, for the entire crate-digging appreciation society, he has basically become that friend who comes over to hang out for a chill listening session and spends the entire time controlling the tunes. “Yea, that’s pretty cool, but have you heard this!” … “Oh not bad, not bad, but wait wait, check this out, this shit will blow your mind.” You want to hold your own, but that shit did blow your mind, and you are left to just accept that fact that there is no way you are going to one-up a man who has spent his life digging for music. Thankfully though, this dude is cool, and he is not snobby with his knowledge, but would rather share it by any means necessary. There is no established absolute good or bad when it comes to the quality of music, it’s all personal opinions that can only be classed in a hierarchy by ranking the amount of exposure one has had to the exceptionally large amount of music out there. Basically, the more you have listened to should translate to surer, more knowledgeable opinions on the subject. Madlib has proven time and again over the last decade that he has been exposed to an unreasonable amount of sounds, so when he has got something to share, you have no other choice but to listen and be amazed.

Jackson returns… well not really returns, Yesterday’s Universe was released not even two months ago… Jackson continues his string of 2007 releases by revisiting the Beat Konducta series. First established with 2005’s vinyl only release, Volume 1: Movie Scenes, the Beat Konducta moniker was an outlet for Jackson to return to… well beat conducting… by utilizing one particular range of source material and concocting brief instrumental loops out of them. Volumes 1 and 2, compiled together for a CD release, intricately explored 70s soul samples, pieced creatively together in two minute outbursts of funky breaks and seemingly stewed into a soundtrack all its own. Volume 3 of the series just dropped a few weeks back on wax, and features Jackson on a trip to India, scrounging old Bollywood films for the colorful music of the late 70s and early 80s in the South Asian country. Very much akin to the recently started Bombay Connection series, which explores the same source material but presents it its unedited glory, Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: In India spins the energetic action soundtracks into thirty-four compact Madlib ditties, each exceptionally intriguing for both their origins and the manner that they were flipped.

Sometimes words just don’t do the same justice as actual visuals, so I want to present you with the trailer (how amazingly appropriate) compiled and edited by James Reitano for the album:



If you need any more motivation than that, then my friend, you are on your own, because there is not a damn thing I can say to top it. As you can hear from the music, Madlib extracts the finest of samples and masterfully flips them, both giving minute attention to the percussive and melodic side of the track. Though I am not sure exactly how much, if any, accentuating drum machine was used to give that extra thump to each song, but tracks like “OnThatNewThing” and “The Rumble” definitely bounce on original drum samples, which chug with near tribal inflection and jubilant celebration. On the opposite side, examples like “Indian Hump” or “Smoke Circle” definitely sound MPC-driven, though it is impossible to tell whether the percussive sounds are sampled and sequenced from the same source material or from elsewhere. Either way, the samples making up the melody are enough justification for flipping and easily carry each track, the former riding a decisive piano loop and a climactic, fuzzed-out string sample and the latter utilizing dramatically stuttering action-sequence string flourishes and rattlesnake hand percussion. Though the majority of the material is minutely chopped and reassembled, you can still almost tell the cinematic settings they are stemming from. For example, “Raw Tranquility Pt. 3” definitely accompanies a more somber sequence on screen, while “The Rumble” has to be soundtracking some eerie stranglehold for the film’s protagonist. This is why Madlib is so potent in this setting; yes, each track may average at only a minute-and-a-half and the album strings along for an hour, but if the sheer creativity of the sample flipping is not enough for you, the music carries enough of a narrative to keep your undivided attention throughout.

Like Vol. 1-2, Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: In India is a hell of a cinematic journey, pimped and primed especially for hazy, late night car rides or as wonderful thematic party-accompanying music. It can comfortably sit in the background adding constant intrigue to a setting’s ambiance, or can act as the center of your ear’s attention, aiding inquisitive thoughts on the origins of the source material or the fascination of how it was reassembled. It is not easy crafting lengthy instrumental beat-oriented music as the focal point of an album, just ask all of the contenders to Dilla’s sequencing throne, but if there was ever a name to blindly depend on, it is most definitely Otis Jackson, Jr. Madlib once again delivers the goods, and we get to bask in its searing, wonderfully exotic Indian sun.