Madlib – Bandana

Clean, crisp, beautiful sounding pressing. Absolutely no complaints here.

Pressing: Solid 9.8/10

Haven't listened yet but two straight purchases have come back warped af.

Gonna try putting it through the record pi

Kinda wish he kept the cussing pastor sample for Situations, but otherwise a perfect companion to Bandana.

My runouts did not include the numbers listed (#52 or #62).
A-side runout: 19075-93492-1A A20 STU
B-side runout: 19075-93492-1B B21
This was the closest variant I could find with the info I have.

This is a perfect pressing in my opinion also has a loud and full sound that this record deserves

Yup, for sure this is a great sounding mix, done scientifically by engineer maverick Grundman so its no lucky punt. You won't hear the standard version of 'Bandana' sounding so good anywhere else.

The test pressing status however is half truth half marketing scam; while this version saw no retail release & is directly done at Optimal , and so you could call it a test; what exactly is it testing? Usually a small handful of test presses are made, assessed by different ears in the processing chain, & then its either 'thumbs up' & on to the retail presses, or, back to the mastering stage & have another go.

This was clearly a one of pressing for audiophiles, guaranteed to deliver the mustard & of absolute optimal sonic quality; but, never intended for a retail release, and... pressed in far, far greater numbers.

Think of it as a promo, rather than a test press. BTW it's not a white label either; that would normally be the retail ready version, without printed commercials for pre- release club heat.

If only they had chosen Madlibs directors cut though for this Rolls Royce treatment... It pains me, it pains me, it pains me!

To put it with better detail; Lo Fi = yes, but, everything is dynamically low / pretty flat. It may be a good pressing as far as the vinyl transfer goes (no pressing noise, no bubble 'clicks', pretty clean), but, sorry the punch & general delivery of music is lacking. Turn it up LOUD, & you don't get that head nodding 'wow' other than the fact it is good music. There is much lost in the mix.

Madlib can do lo-fi all day long, but lo-fi can still move butts. I guess the best way to sum it up is, it's dynamically too 'polite & gentle' for the style of music on offer. Go back & listen to Loot- Pack or Quasimoto on wax, best way to validate my comments!

And no; I am not listening on an inferior set up. And if I was, by comparison to all the other music I listen to on the same kit I could still gage the difference, so those comments are completely flawed. This is however a matter of opinion, so we all hear differently.

Anyone else wishing this was a 2LP release like Piñata? I'd gladly take it over the single LP to let the mastering and pressing have more breathing room for the lower frequencies.

Other than November9th, does anyone have more info on whether the sound quality on this differs from the Director's Cut?

Bought this for $100 off the rappcats website thinking it was a new release then realized it was pretty old and thought I screwed up paying so much for it. However, if you are a fan of this album then this is the best quality way to listen to it. Im currently a little over halfway through listening and this is hands down the best sounding record I own out of my 300+ records. It honestly feels like im on mushrooms with how much stuff I can hear in this pressing that I couldn't hear on streaming.