do this: iterate times infinity
Madlib Medicine Show #5
The History of the Loop Digga 1990-2000
Listening to Madlib is always an experience for me. The prolificacy of his process and artistry has been well documented throughout the years, and nevertheless I am always stunned by the sheer volume of work produced. The concept of “good enough” and the battle against perfectionism are things I continually explore and Madlib is the perfect example to act as my North Star.
In my notes below you can see my perfectionism showing with me criticizing some of the beats, but the takeaway here is that endless volumes of creations and iterations of your craft produce remarkable results, even if you don’t make a masterpiece every single time you sit down. Consistent creation produces greatness, however rare or frequent.
album saved in March’21. listened to in September’22
A couple of cool ideas inspired by this listen:
as already stated: make 10 trillion beats
make 1 song out of many ideas (beats). this allows “unfinished” loops to find a home in a finished work. Moving from one idea to the next provides a cool creative challenge, and can be tackled by simple fades or more complex transitions with samples and music
Declaime makes a few cameos as tags or classic MC style hype man moments. His voice is very unique, and I think producers can benefit from having a distinct voice on their work.
Also check out this moment (beat) from one of the tracks. The addition of the new samples around 0:28 recontextualizing the vibraphone sample is such a cool moment. The vibes sample eventually drops out letting the new groove to continue which to me resembles a delayed melodic resolution in western classical composition!
One thing I haven’t discussed at all in this post is the rapping on the record. I love this style, and I think you should check it out yourself. Buy your copy from Madlib bandcamp by clicking the album cover.
Happy listening!
