Download: Madlib “African Voodoo Queen (Drama)”

(from Medicine Show No. 3: Beat Konducta In Africa out now on Stones Throw)

There’s a saying that goes “If you don’t like the new Madlib album, just wait five minutes.” Medicine Show No. 3 pulls double duty as both one of a dozen planned Medicine Show albums (the first two focused around OJ Simpson and Brazilian funk, respectively) and the fourth release under the ‘Lib alias Beat Konducta. This time ’round, the Konducta sets his sights on Africa, slicing up traditional African rhythms and sounds with a spattering of vocal samples throughout. The album follows the quick and splashy Beat Konducta pattern more than the traditional mixtape format of the previous Medicine Show records. Only 4 tracks out of the total 43 are longer than 2 minutes and 15 seconds, a fact which makes the sound bite on track 21, “Blackfire,” seem funny in context: “The musical masturbation of the Western world has not impinged on their creativity. Those guys play, and 18 minutes is not long enough!” The strength of Medicine Show No. 3 is the reckless abandon with which it dives deeply into style after style, sometimes in ways that don’t exactly work but nonetheless manage to attach themselves together. For some, this will be an eye-opening redefinition of African music. But it’s not for first-time Madlib listeners. Whereas a comprehensive spectrum of African sounds might become tedious in other hands, Madlib keeps it surprising. It’s an exciting glide across the radio dial somewhere in Angola.

—Matt Dupree