Madlib The Mad March

Last evening, San Francisco experienced a rare visit from The Beat Konducta.

 

Billed as a sort of vague unveiling of his Rock Konducta project, Madlib brought Egon and the Zamrock outfit WITCH to 1015 Folsom to help set the vibe. I missed Egon, but WITCH brought the ruckus with their heavy rock-infused African funk. Some songs spanned nearly 10 minutes as the group would jam out, punctuated by the lead singer's endless energy. After about an hour's performance, the instrument stands were quickly cleared to make space for the turntable set up of the night's headliner. Madlib sauntered out, rocking an ill hat and dashiki combination.

Without much ado, he slid behind the pair of CDJs and started a 20-minute set of what could be considered Madlib basics: classic Madvillain, J Dilla and rap beats. After a bit, he took the crowd closer to Zambia, spinning the finest and grimiest Zamrock loops and tracks for the majority of his hour and a half set.

He also fucked with people, which was pretty awesome. It was very interesting to see folks get filtered out of the main room by Madlib's onstage habits, sometimes getting deep into a loop, filtering it to hell and even going further, giving you just a horn or guitar stab and kick once or twice a bar. "What the fuck is this?! I could do this at home!" whined a drunk, irate, brunette twenty-something. That was my favorite overheard comment of the night.

For those that stuck it out, the rewards were plentiful. Not only was it an exploration into a deep kind of music through his Rock Konducta beats, he also played some new Madvillainery. The most interesting cut was a joint with DOOM rapping the story of a chimpanzee that spazzed on its owner after being given anxiety medication and got lit up by the cops.

Madlib's hype is his ridicule of it. A true creator, our model of defining and packaging artists doesn't serve him well, he's too quick. When you're exploring one world, he's opened he's looking to another solar system.