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//_Record reviews
Madlib has formed another playground for his amazing productivity. For Sound Directions, the energetic hip hop-artist has worked with los angeles’ most in-demand session musicians – including own compostions as well as interpretations of classic tunes from artists like Marvin Gaye, J.J. Johnson or Billy Brooks. Old school drumms and breathtaking breaks fuse with acoustic instruments like flutes, guitars, horns and keys. The live sessions are combined with a pleasurable reserved postproduction by madlib himself. The result ist a wonderfull, groovy album – it’s just like the subtitle says: “The Funky Side Of Life.”
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__A taste of punk in a nursery
CocoRosie – Noah’s Ark (2005, Album, Touch & Go) 
It’s a special assortment of acoustic instruments, samples and the beautifull voices of the Casady-Sisters. The Beats – exept the titletrack – are more a background hint. Noticable noizy recordings and overloaded microphones mix up with dreamy melodies – unperfect, raw and yet magical are some adjectives to describe what Bianca and Sierra have created with their second longplayer. Maybe the trashy D.I.Y. aesthetic and the prehistoric recording techniques makes the music of CocoRosie so touching and their voices so damm insistent. Feels like punk lost in a nursery. 
LAL creates miraculous connections, but they only come to conscious after listening a second time to this record. On this album, samples, synthesizer and glitchy sounds are combinded with acoustic instruments (like bass, harmonium oder giutar) in a pretty organic way. Profounding and even political lyrics mix up with rythms, which move between dub, downbeat and nowhere. Therby, Rosina Kazi’s charismatic voice lays down on emotional, atmospheric sounds. Although the tracks share a intense touch of melancholia they are also a strong invitation to dance. LAL have created a very rare mixture, that seems to overcomes opposites. A wonderfull piece of music between electronica and live instrumentation. 
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