MF Doom and Madlib are: Madvillian, Madvilliany
 

Madvillian, Madvilliany

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record...advillainy.gif

Out of the 50+ albums I've heard this year, this is one of the four to get an A+. That's not to say that the album is necessarily flawless (eg, "Shades of Tomorrow" is awkward despite, and possibly because of, its Sun Ra connection), but so many highs have to yield at least one or two lows, right?

Madlib is a crate-digger for sure, and he may have absolved the term of its highbrow implications just because no sound is excessive (I'm looking at you, Grey Album). Was "Curls" pulled from Hawaii Five-O? Where the hell did he find, and work with!, the records to make "Supervillian Theme?" Anyone troubling themselves with the source, though, isn't paying attention to how good the samples sound.

MF DOOM ("All Caps") never struck me, and still doesn't, as any better than fellow backpackers Jemini or Sage Francis, but his low-end rumble is the logical extension of Madlib's smoothed-out production. "The best, any who protest will be remanded / Yes, sir. Request permission to be candid. Granted / I don't think we can handle a style so rancid. / He flipped it like Madlib did a old jazz standard." Doom is as self-aware as any McSweeney's writer. His rhymes are packed with enough puns, internal rhymes, and extended metaphors to send an English major spinning.

The album also has a Charlie-Kaufman-gone-comic-book video for "All Caps." If you are still unsure of dropping $13.99, please trust Sasha Frere-Jones.

Picked it up today, can't wait to give it a spin. So what are your other 3 A+ albums of the year?

Animal Collective, Sung Tongs; Kno, White Albulum (Jay-z remix); and Devendra Banhart, Rejoicing in the Hands.

And I don't want anyone to think that I'm doing some sort of "feature." Feedback and other reactions are encouraged.

Have you listened to it yet, JNielsen?

Re: MF Doom and Madlib are: Madvillian, Madvilliany
 

MF Doom is as good a lyricist as there is currently in Hip hop. Cant wait to pick this one up.