Phases & Stages

Quasimoto

The Further Adventures of Lord Quas (Stones Throw)

Give or take a Funkee Homosapien, hallucinogens and hip-hop have never fully met fry to eye as they do on a Quasimoto release. 2000's The Unseen witnessed Madlib, the foremost intrepid traveler of experimental rap, pitch-shifting his voice into a loony bin of Melvin Van Peebles-derived theatrics. Five years later, the prescription remains just as intoxicating as The Further Adventures of Lord Quas pushes mushroom-stuffed envelopes through portals of past influence. The "Raw Addict" of digging in crates of vinyl, Madlib fidgets with classic Showbiz and AG on "Fatbacks," then maniacally consumes himself with a historical roll call on "Rappcats Pt. 3." Eliciting Ultramagnetic instinct in favor of reason, the crazed beat conductor finds a way to transform the vaudevillian commentary of Prince Paul into an experience akin to heavy Sun Ra exposure. Madvillain rides ultraviolet waves as a filtered sample of Swedish singer Doris reminds him "you never come closer" in a tone that informs Quasimoto's own stabs at mysterioso à la "we're all players in the game." Between "Greenery" and "Shroom Music," rattling drum breaks meet "Strange Piano" in a divergent yet seamless union of yin and yang. Heavy, like delirious laughter looped ad infinitum, Lord Quas quivers with psychedelic rhythm.