Madlib's never been one for long songs (at least not under his own name), but the latest release from the Prolific One reads like three dozen pages torn right out of his sketchbook. Forgoing a more traditional album approach and going the Donuts route, the Beat Konducta CD collects all 16 tracks from 2005's vinyl-only Volume 1, and adds all 19 joints from the just-released Volume 2. There's a tendency for some people to shy away from new Madlib releases, since the dude's catalog is just so overpopulated, but this is a genuinely interesting release, one that junkies and newcomers alike will find something do like about. It's interesting to see some of these "rough drafts" that have evolved (or maybe devolved?) to/from other projects: check the way he drops beats and vocals from the Madvillain project into "The Payback(1)" and "Sir Bang(2)". Dude is definitely still digging for obscure/quirky samples, too, as evidenced by "Filthy(3)" and "Black Mozart(4)". The majority of the 35 tracks are under 2-minutes long, lending to the feeling that you're just channel-surfing through Madlib's brain, or sitting around in his studio while he fucks around, like "Check out what I did last night".

reviewed by the mgmnt