Is a bitching name for an album. It’s the latest offering from master hip-hop instrumentalist Oh No, brother of master hip-hop instrumentalist Madlib. Talented family. Oh No currently seems to be on a mission to put every other crate-digging hip-hop producer to shame by pumping out a sequence of tremendously niche but still wildly accessible concept albums on the mighty Stones Throw imprint. First up was Exodus Into Unknown Rhythms, an album composed entirely out of samples from Galt McDermot’s back catalogue. He was the guy who wrote HAIR. The Musical. Natch. This was followed up by Dr No’s Oxperiment, a tour through Mediterranean and Turkish psych rock. Of course. And now we have Dr No’s Ethiopium, a series of riffs on Ethiopian funk from the 60s and 70s. The man is nothing if not diverse.

I’ll be frank, there’s just something about the whole idea that strikes me as really goddamn cool. Even without having heard the music, I still kinda wanted these albums in my collection. Fortunately though, it turns out they sound amazing in both theory and practice. I think the fact that the records function as well as they do is true testament to the quality of music being produced in these otherwise neglected times and places, as much as it is Oh No’s production skills and breadth of imagination. The albums roll along like a series of vignettes on the theme – short one to two minute riffs and exercises in aged vinyl sample mashing. Warped record clicks double as percussion, faded voices sing and wail, horns and guitars jut in from decades away and underneath it all Oh No’s beats pound and roll as if they’d been there all along. There’s tremendous attention to detail, but I reckon the albums work best not as headphone odysseys, nor necessarily as background music, but rather as soundtracks to anything that involves beer, sun and mates. Complex enough to comment on, but not complex enough to distract people. And cool enough to make everyone think that your music taste is better than theirs. And that’s what it’s all about… isn’t it?

Oh No – Adventure [from Dr No's Ethiopium]

Oh No – Action [from Dr No's Oxperiment]

Dr No’s Ethiopium is available in MP3 format from the Stone’s Throw site, and will be available in an expanded CD form in November. Start soundtracking the summer of tomorrow, today!

/Luke