Sound Directions

An extra treat for you today: Madlib keeping the funk alive with a full crew of session musicians. Members of The Dap Kings, Antibalas, and Breakestra, all pitch in and bring breakbeats to old-school jazz greats Oliver Sain, and J.J. Johnson. Snag the tracks while you can, Stones Throw links are usually good for a limited time. Heads up via: Enemy of the Crate

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Koushik

Remember trip-hop? Anyone still out there doing it well? Massive Attack, Portishead and their Bristol neighbors usually got stuck with the moniker, but artists such as Caribou, Four Tet, and their buddy Koushik are tripping out hip-hop with their own set of sound biases (psychedelic melodies paired with slowed-down funk rhythms — imagine Greyboy remixing The Byrds, or early [good] Bee Gees).

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Quasimoto

Songs about potheads always get me listening for the same reason songs about gangstas do: because I ain’t one. And coming from somewhere near Oxnard, California (word to anyone who’s never been there: the name don’t sound street because the city ain’t), I’m betting Quas, the heliumized alter-ego of Madlib, isn’t a gangsta either. But the man can freak a funky beat like the shit was in a blender set to Negativland. Don’t worry if you don’t smoke the doob — Quasimoto’s doing enough for all of us.

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