Quasimoto

Quasimoto
Origin Oxnard, California, United States
Genres Alternative hip hop, psychedelic hip hop, trip hop, instrumental hip hop
Years active 1999–Present
Labels Stones Throw Records
Associated acts Lootpack, Madvillain
Members Lord Quas
Madlib

Quasimoto is a side project of hip hop producer Madlib, from Oxnard, California. Quasimoto is composed of Madlib and his animated alter ego Lord Quas, known for his high pitched, comedic voice, which sounds as if he has inhaled helium. Lord Quas is an exaggerated caricature of a gangster rapper, with lyrical subjects frequently including references to violence and drug use, and he has been seen as a parody of the content of typical hip-hop music.[1] Another notable characteristic of Quasimoto's sound is the interplay between Quas' voice and Madlib's voice. Quasimoto was conceived one day in the studio, when Madlib decided to rap to his own beats. Madlib did not like the sound of his voice (his friends in Oxnard call him 'Barry White' in reference to his deep voice) so he decided to slow his recorder down, rap slowly, then speed the recording back up to produce Lord Quas' distinctive high pitched sound.

History

Peanut Butter Wolf, DJ and owner of Stones Throw Records, heard Quas' demo tapes and encouraged Madlib to release more tracks under this alias. Quasimoto was featured on Wolf's My Vinyl Weighs a Ton album in 1998, on the song "Styles Crews Flows Beats." Later, Madlib put out Quasimoto's debut album - The Unseen - in 2000. This album received much praise from underground fans and from mainstream media, making it onto Spin Magazine's top albums of the year list.

After the release of The Unseen, Madlib spent the next few years working on different projects such as Yesterdays New Quintet and his album Shades of Blue. Quas re-emerged in 2003, making a few guest appearances, notably on Jaylib's Champion Sound and Madvillain's Madvillainy (Madlib and MF DOOM). Quasimoto officially returned with the vinyl-only Bus Ride EP in 2005, continuing his distinctive style of high pitched rhymes and unorthodox samples.

In 2005, Quasimoto dropped The Further Adventures of Lord Quas which featured M.E.D. and MF DOOM. The album cover features a reference to Frank Zappa's debut album, Freak Out!, a picture of super-producer J Dilla, and a picture of Wild Man Fischer, who is also referenced in one of the songs. The voice of Melvin Van Peebles is sampled on several tracks from both albums.

Quasimoto released their third studio album entitled Yessir Whatever in June 2013, which is a compilation of several previously unreleased works. It collects 12-tracks made by Madlib and Quas over a roughly 12-year period. A few were released on rare and out-of-print vinyl, while a few others are previously unreleased, now mixed and mastered for the first time.[2]

Influences

Early depictions of Lord Quas were inspired by the movie Fantastic Planet, specifically the leashed Oms who wore red masks with protruding snouts resembling skinny hippopotamus during the first "de-om".

In an interview, Madlib said that the atmosphere and sound on the Quasimoto albums owe much to the work of Alain Goraguer on the soundtrack of La Planete Sauvage. An early Quasimoto video features excerpts from the film, and the song "Come On Feet" contains a sample from its soundtrack.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

  1. ↑ https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6613-the-unseen/
  2. ↑ "Quasimoto - Yessir Whatever | Stones Throw Records". Stonesthrow.com. 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
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