Madlib and Thundercat Recorded a Collaborative Album We’ll Probably Never Hear
The catalog of unreleased Madlib collaborations is getting bigger every year.
It appears Madlib has stashed yet another high-profile joint album in his vault.
According to a recent New York Times profile on the producer’s upcoming album, Sound Ancestors, we can officially add a finished collaborative project with Thundercat to the list of albums we’ll likely never hear. The album is mentioned offhand at the tail end of the piece and described as an “indie rock” outing from the producer and virtuoso Brainfeeder bassist.
Previously, Thundercat was featured on a snippet of another unreleased Madlib collaboration with the late Mac Miller, which the producer played at a DJ set in San Diego way back in 2018. According to Rappcats, the project with Miller was initially pitched as an EP and was still developing at the time of the rapper’s death. Currently, there are no plans to release it. Elsewhere in the profile, Madlib states his intention of releasing a new album every month this year, noting batches of work he’s assembled with Brazilian musicians and others centered on industrial and calypso crates.
The producer’s new album, Sound Ancestors, is out this Friday on his Madlib Invazion imprint. It’s edited, arranged, and mastered by friend and fellow experimentalist, Four Tet, who previously remixed four tracks from Madvillainy in 2005, releasing an EP of his edits via Stones Throw. Sound Ancestors was announced earlier this month with the release of the new single, “Road of The Lonely Ones.” In the weeks since, two more tracks from the album have arrived. You can hear them all below.
Pre-order your copy of Madlib’s Sound Ancestors on vinyl via The Shop ahead of tomorrow’s drop and read the full profile on the album via The New York Times. Hold tight for updates on the producer’s remaining slate of 2021 releases.