That first Beat Konductor double 7" was one of my favorite Stones Throw releases, with minimal black labels and tracks that ended just when you started vibing to 'em (controlled pleasure). Cool to see a whole LP of Madlib's beat sketches in the mode of Special Herbs (ed. note: the first of many). To his credit, Lib takes the beats further than the straight loopiness of Doom's series, and similar to Doom, there's enough mysterious samples to peak the most jaded beathead (plus enough strange synth sounds to baffle studio dudes). Highlights include Madlib revisiting Kraftwerk and JB favorites on "Open" and "The Payback" the jump-up sounds of "Sir Bang" and "Painted Pictures" and the spacey leftfield direction of "Eternal Broadcaster" and "Offbeat." 16 beats in all. Recommended

• music label: Stones Throw 2005

reviewed by the mgmnt 05/2009