Madlib – Time Out Presents The Other Side: Los Angeles [CD/DVD]
Deaf Dumb + Blind Recordings (4/10/07)
Hip-hop / Jazz / Soul / Electronic
What if Rick Steves were a DJ? Hard to imagine, yes (though somehow I’d peg him as a Blondie fan), but Time Out magazine recently came up with a phenomenal idea—to combine the introspective mix CD (think Back to Mine, DJ Kicks or Another Late Night) with an accompanying DVD showing all of the best underground haunts and attractions in the city from which the featured DJ hails. Not only that, but there’s a booklet that comes in each CD/DVD digipak, listing all of the best underground bars, clubs, restaurants and stores, with maps to boot. After checking out The Other Side: Los Angeles, you’ll have enough info under your belt that you’ll be able to have a kickass time, and have a kickass soundtrack with you on your travels.
In The Other Side: Los Angeles, Madlib keeps with genres which are generally the meat and potatoes of his hip-hop beats, as he shows that there is often a very thin line betwixt R&B and jazz (as with Harris & Orr’s “Spread Love” and “Deep Gully” by the Outlaw Blues Band, which would later be sampled by Cypress Hill in “When the Shit Goes Down”), while representing the dub world with Prince Jazzbo and Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace.
Of course, the usual suspects also surface, as any Madlib mix and/or compilation would be remiss not to include tracks by Quasimoto, Jay Dee and Madlib himself. He even uses tracks by Cybertron (think breakdance) and Sun Ra Arkestra (think really, really abstract), which work very successfully to create one hell of a chill-out set. The jazzy “Park Bench People” by Freestyle Fellowship rounds out a solid mix.
The supplementary DVD stars Peanut Butter Wolf and various Stones Throw confidantes as they guide the viewer around the city to some of the local favorites. Peanut Butter hits up Aardvarks for his vintage leather and Levi’s 501 needs, while Barracuda has a decent selection of shoes. It was during his stop at Barracuda that it suddenly hit me that Peanut Butter Wolf looks a bit like Noel Gallagher when he stands at a profile. It has nothing to do with anything, but I found that it deserved mentioning. The crew shows us where to get the best Indian vegetarian food in the city at Parus, while PBW recommends the potato tacos at Señor Fish. For those of you who like fusion food, you might try the apple-something sushi at Zip. I might not.
We follow the crew throughout the city to a few of their favorite nightspots, starting off at Cinespace, where PBW spins some old-0school hip-hop and a couple of hipsters make out on the dance floor. Crane’s Hollywood Tavern flexes its muscles with a massive party on the patio with Young MC, while Firecracker is a place I’d check out just because it seems to have a lot of hot chicks, and I happen to know how to salsa dance.
They also give us a heads up on various other sightseeing opportunities, hotels and other things like open air markets and art galleries. Peanut Butter caps it all off with an interview as he pimps Stones Throw Records and their artists. And believe me, Stones Throw Records deserves all the pimping it gets.
Anyone suffering from the in-flight jitters would be good to put the mix CD in and throw back a five-dollar travel-size bottle of Dewar’s. Once you get to Los Angeles, take out the booklet and hit the town.
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