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A TAV Curator's Pick.

“Entirely produced by Madlib, this is considered something of a compilation album - an introduction to the newest players in the "universe" of Madlib's jazz records. 

The Jahari Massamba Unit is a collaboration with Karriem Riggins. Jackson Conti is Madlib with Mamão of Azymuth.” - Stones Throw Records

“You don't hear music this daring and edgy in the jazz idiom, nor do you often encounter music this evolved and creative from its hip-hop peers. The 12-minute "Vibe from the Tribe Suite" is an instance that happens rarely in music, when it seems that new terrain has been discovered and you aren't just listening to a quirky hip-hop producer dibble and dabble at his whim, but that a full-fledged, unique musical idea has developed. The bassline is sinister, the drum rhythm is as head-nodding as it gets, the distorted flute staccatos with an MC's cadence, the piano chords are from the school of Mwandishi-era Herbie Hancock, and the soprano sax is off-kilter. The result is a musical and creative statement that caps an album full of new statements.

This album is an early 21st century landmark flushed with the optimism and possibilities of a new frontier. Madlib and Yesterdays New Quintet are the bold first settlers waiting for other musicians (if they can) to follow the leaders.” - AllMusic

“Throughout Universe, though, the palette of sounds Madlib draws from is bewitching in ways entirely different than 2006’s characteristically sample-driven Beat Konducta Vol. 1-2: Movie Scenes. Even YNQ’s first proper album, Angles Without Edges, seemed too confined by its progenitor’s fascination with the electric piano. Universe refreshingly displays Madlib’s ear for jazz melodies and the myriad ways hip-hop can deconstruct them. And if this latest incarnation of Yesterday’s New Quintet is any indication, he’s unlikely to run out of either anytime soon.” - Tiny Mix Tapes

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