Écoutez Quasimoto-The Unseen

Happy New Year, I hope your Holidays went off without a hitch. During my time away from my laptop, I was in the record store and found a jewel that I want you to check out.

Quasimoto also known as Lord Quas is the alter ego or the side project of hip-hop producer Madlib, from Oxnard, California. Quas is known for the raised pitch of his voice, which sounds if he was inhaling helium. Another notable characteristic is Quas inter-changing with Madlib's voice, which give the feeling of the late 90’s video game “Parapper the Rapper”. One day in the studio, Madlib decided to rap over his own beats. He didn't like the sound of his voice, his friends in Oxnard called him 'Barry White' in reference to his deep voice. So Quas decided to slow his recorder down, rap slow, then speed the recording back up to produce Quasimoto's distinctive high-pitched voice. This at first easily goes unnoticed because the resulting effect is seamlessly integrated throughout the entire album. Lyrically most hip-hop heads can easily digest the album but the real catch is the genius integration of some well known an a few obscure samples. Madlib’s beats are spot on, with a very heavy drum mix and distorted samples and auxiliary percussion. From the first real track Quasimodo shows himself as a “Bad Character” obsessed with sex, a drug dealer, criminal and a murderer. This of course seems weird coming from a man with a voice almost identical to Mickey Mouse. The Quasimoto character drawn by Jeff Jank is depicted in the album artwork acting out the lyrics from “Bad Character”.
Through out the album Quas talks a lot about something he calls “Astro Travelin" or driving a car while high on a very potent psilocybin, or Shrooms, if you will. Throughout the album the music, more specifically the changing of tracks, gives a feeling of riding in a car from place to place and talking to some interesting characters. Throughout the trip Quas describes his life, how his father was a cop-killer, his ability to destroy others with his 1-2s and why people should use their powers for good. Good Morning Sunshine gives off the feeling of a very lazy morning wake-up call complete with the sounds of children playing and crackling beats with jug blowing under tones. A strange man repeats the phrase “good morning sunshine” while Quasimodo lays down a few sublime lines about the night before.
He recalls many a great producer, while making his own brand of beautifully under produced madness original. Perhaps this is attributed to the fact that the conceptual based LP was produced and written during a weeklong binge on shrooms and the ever-present spliff. Even the most Mafioso characters should have a strange magnetism; Madlib realizes this accusation with his whiny voiced friend. The Lord Quas has a strange magnetism to him; the album makes him seem like a good friend by the time its over. This is what makes the lyrics genius and utterly laughable at times. The importance of Quasimoto’s vocal innocence is what gives Quas his likeability, even in a torture jam like “Put a Curse on You” or a money worshipping tracks like “Green Power”. Its remarkable how the topics discussed in “Green Power” are still relevant in world ten years removed from the albums release. Madlib put out Quasimoto's debut album “The Unseen” in 2000. This album received much praise from underground hip-hop heads and from mainstream media, making it onto Spin Magazine's top albums of the year list.
A disk of instrumentals accompanies the deluxe versions of this album, which is just as valuable as the actual CD. It features samples from a remarkable forty-one different artists. The final word is to go have a listen  and get high off this out there album without the ingestion of illegal substances.