Sound Ancestors by Madlib: A Review

The masterful and critically acclaimed hip hop producer Madlib, known primarily for his work with the late rapper MF DOOM in 2004’s Madvillainy, as well as his work with rapper Freddie Gibbs, and countless other projects with other musicians, has released the instrumental album Sound Ancestors with some help from the British electronic musician and producer Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet. This 16 song, approximately forty minutes long album comes after 2019’s Bandana, his most recent major release and collaboration with the aforementioned rapper Freddie Gibbs, as well as multiple smaller instrumental albums since then. This album-which I honestly very sincerely enjoy deviates somewhat from the producer’s late ’90s and early 2000’s underground roots (with collaboration from Hebden, who is known mostly for indie rock and experimental electronic music, likely playing a big part in that.) 

The album starts with a rather short prelude track, “There is No Time”, which certainly sets the tone for the rest of the album’s unique sonic character, has an interesting ambiance that pulls you into the album in a really cool way. The next song, “The Call”, which is mostly sample-based, is more in line with Madlib’s previous work, featuring an immediately noticeable baseline as well as catchy vocal samples. The fourth track of the album, “The Road of The Lonely Ones”, is one of the most notable songs from the album, and honestly one of the best. The samples on this song immediately pull you in, with both being from the Philadelphia soul group The Ethics. These samples form the basis of the song with a breathtaking, soulful vocal performance, and incredibly light guitars. The song displays an interesting dynamic between the samples used and the added drums and bass that’ll likely make you come back to this track a few times. The next track, wildly different from the previous one, is delightfully bizarre but actually pretty catchy. It contains a sample from the British avant-garde duo Renaldo and the Loaf with vocals, what seems to be a heavily distorted guitar or bass, unique percussion, and something that sounds almost like a kazoo, all of which works surprisingly well in this track. “Riddim Chant”, the eighth track of the album, is probably the song closest to Madlib’s previous work, with light string samples, distorted vocals, and very noticeable drums. The next song, the title track of the album, begins with a powerful and rhythmic percussions sample, one that I would assume has an African or Afro-Cuban origin, which lasts for about a minute and is followed by a sample that sounds like an outtake from a jazz recording session, with light drums, woodwind, upright bass, and bongos that persist until the end of the song. The second to last song, “Chino”, features vocal samples from the widely sampled funk musician Lyn Collins, a drum sample from the late producer J Dilla (who Madlib worked with frequently), and presumably original instrumentation which all fit together nicely. The last track, which interestingly enough, samples an African-American folk record called Street and Gangland Rhythms from the Smithsonian Folkways label apparently performed by a group of young boys in the fifties, has an incredibly energetic yet light feel to it, which is a fitting close for an album with such varying musical flavor. 

My criticisms of the album are few and far between, with this album easily being one of Madlib’s best instrumental releases. The album, as is similar to most instrumental or underground hip hop, is less for casual or public listening (as in, you’ll likely be embarrassed if you play this with a Bluetooth speaker around your friends) and more for solitary and contemplative listening, which also makes it an excellent album for those who do not usually listen to hip hop or think they don’t like it. Some brief moments during samples can feel a little awkward like they don’t fit into the song, but as I said, they are quite brief and don’t distract much from the captivating sounds of this album. I think it could use more samples from rap and hip hop, something Madlib actually does a lot more in other works, and I generally think Four Tet’s electronic capabilities should’ve been utilized more, but otherwise, there isn’t much criticism I have of this album that isn’t incredibly mundane or minor. I am just wondering now how this album might impact Madlib’s future work and if it’ll encourage him to collaborate with a wider range of artists, as well as work with Hebden more, which would certainly be something to look forward to.