Madlib stays busy. In late 2009, it was announced that the DJ/producer would be releasing 12 albums, one for every month of the coming year. The first volume, Madlib Medicine Show #1: Before the Verdict, was released on schedule in early January, but by that time I guess Madlib had already become bored.
So now he has another project ready for release. Keeping with his tradition of drawing upon various pseudonyms, the new album Miles Away — the title an obvious nod to Miles Davis — will be released under the alias The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble; announced two years prior, Miles Away is being described by Stones Throw as a “jazz fusion” album. This isn’t the first time Madlib has used the “Electro-Acoustic” alias, nor is it the first time he’s tackled a jazz project.
The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble, a faceless and nameless collective in Madlib’s self-created world of jazz groups, was debuted on the album Yesterdays Universe in 2007. That compilation marked the end of Madlib’s first series of jazz records, the Yesterdays New Quintet cycle (2000-2007), and the beginning of a new era, an evolved sound, and many new names: The Last Electro, Jackson Conti, Young Jazz Rebels, Jahari Masamba Unit, Kamala Walker and the Soul Tribe… it goes on.
The current release date for Miles Away is set for February 23 via Stones Throw.
