(Yes, this is my avatar right now)

I've never been able to keep up with Madlib's Medicine Show series. He'd seriously drop like 4 of these in a year, and this year, 11 came before 9. If you've heard every one of these things, I applaud you. I barely hear about them. So this was just a random venture into one of Madlib's many releases this year (he also released Nittyville, Nittyville Extras, and I'm pretty sure another Medicine show album is about to come out). I've heard one of the Medicine Show releases before, can't remember the name right now but I remember it had a dope cover with a guy on a bike shooting at a bunch of cops. Anyway, if you heard the OJ Simpson album from last year and liked what he did with the beats and samples on that, you'll like this. Some tracks feature rappers such as Guilty Simpson for example, but most of this is split between beats and sample collages. It sounds strange but it works really well when listening to the album. I'd say it has a laid-back vibe, but he's constantly throwing new sounds at you. It's very unpredictable and I like that about it, it sort of kept me on my toes. Sometimes the album sounds like a complete mess though, especially during the times when it is a series of short minute-long random sample selections in succession. Still, I thought this was a pretty cool release. There aren't a lot of tracks that really pop out to me but I was impressed by the sound of it as a whole. Also, I imagine it would sound even better when in an altered state of mind. 4 stars.

This is my second favorite Medicine Show behind #5 The Loop Digga...which is the one you described as the cover of a guy on a bike shooting cops. I also really liked #2 Flight from Brazil. That one is a dope mix a Brazillian music that is real laid back. If you're gonna venture into all of them I would stay away from #6 Brainwreck Show and #7 High Jazz. Both of those are just way too fucking weird for me...

I haven't heard them all. Haven't heard #8 Advanced Jazz and the 2 newest ones...which is #9 and #12, but I plan to very soon. But yeah I'm kinda a Madlib stan and I can dig all of them except the 2 I mentioned. #10 Black Soul is pretty awesome to. A nice mix of rare disco and funky grooves...

You guys are making these Med Shows sound like something I need.

Check them out! There is one for any mood you find yourself in haha. Hip hop, jazz, reggae, disco/soul, psychedelic, brazillian.....

The Brazilian and the Soul ones will probably get got first.

I really enjoy both of those. You should really check out #5 Loop Digga too. It's all beats Madlib made from 1990-2000 that were never released. A lot of them sound like beats that would have been on the first Quasimoto album.

Half of the Medicine Shows are on Spotify, including #9... I'll be listening to that one next.

I got Med Show #2 (Brazil) a couple days ago. It's quite excellent, but not at all what I expected. I mean, I'm not familiar with the source material... but it doesn't sound like he monkeyed with it much at all. It just sounds like he's sharing some cool shit he found.

Like I say, it is a great listen so i'm not complaining. Except for one point. No liner notes. There is a lot of music here I would like to pursue but can't.

Good shit. I have some Sergio Mendes vinyl, but never would've figured any of the others.