Quasimoto

From Discogs:

The names Quasimoto and Madlib have been linked for years, yet they've never been seen in the same room together. In fact, Quasimoto's never been seen in the same room with anyone - he's The Unseen. But you can hear him - and there's no mistaking what he sounds like.Peanut Butter Wolf first heard him off a dusty old cassette, one of Madlib's infamous beat tapes - the kind he'd make to listen to himself, maybe pass around to crew. Madlib and Quas had been up in Lost Gates, somewhere near Oxnard, CA, making music for years without the slightest intention of releasing it to the masses. Wolf got it out though - after some begging and pleading, and after signing a contract with Quas vowing not to reveal his name.The Unseen came out in 2000 and caught praise by fans and critics alike. SPIN went off on Quasimoto's "recipe for resin-caked jazz and crusty comedy samples as a new flavor for the bland world of mainstream rap" and stuck him smack between Madonna and Outkast in their best of the year list. URB too named the album one of the best of the year. In the tradition of artistic "role playing" in black music, Quas was compared favorably to RZA, Kool Keith, and even Prince (City Pages, St. Paul/Minneapolis). Another dude wrote that rap music "hasn't been this far out since 3 Feet High and Rising" (Sleazenation). And a few commented on the voice. What a voice. Was it a tree-blazin' ghetto chipmunk? A cartoon Martian? Naw, it's neither - but close.Lord Quas personally demands a high level of privacy, so Madlib and the heads at Stones Throw have been dodging questions about Lord Quas for years. Who is he? Why won't he perform live? When's the next album?Mostly that last question.The answers to these and other questions can be found on the album The Further Adventures of Lord Quas ... if you play it backwards. Play it forwards and you'll find Lord Quas digging for records, rolling blunts, and smackin' dudes with bricks. With some wild tales of crime sprees, kidnappings, and a fetish for some booty, we can assume he'll still be known as "the Bad Character."

From Lastfm:

Quasimoto, or producer Madlib's alter ego emcee, hails from Oxnard, California.

One day in the studio, Madlib decided to rap to his own beats. He didn't like the sound of his voice (his friends in Oxnard call him 'Barry White' in reference to his deep voice) so decided pitch the vocals up while recording to produce Quasimoto's distinctive high pitched voice. The debut album was conceived and recorded by Madlib during a week long psilocybin mushroom binge. 'Lord Quas' has released two LPs: "The Unseen", and "The Further Adventures of Lord Quas". And several EP's as Astronaut and Broad Factor.

Career

Peanut Butter Wolf, DJ and owner of Stones Throw Records, heard Quas' demo tapes and encouraged Madlib to release more tracks under this alias. Quasimoto was featured on Wolf's My Vinyl Weighs a Ton album in 1998, on the song "Styles Crews Flows Beats." Finally, Madlib put out Quasimoto's debut album - The Unseen - in 2000. This album received much praise from underground heads and from mainstream media, making it onto Spin Magazine's top albums of the year list.

After the release of The Unseen, Madlib spent the next few years working on radically different projects such as Yesterdays New Quintet and his album Shades of Blue. Quas re-emerged in 2003, making a few guest appearances, notably on Jaylib's Champion Sound and Madvillain's Madvillainy (Madlib and MF DOOM).

Quasimoto officially returned with the vinyl-only Bus Ride EP in late 2004, continuing his recipe for success - keeping content simple (weed, rap, etc) and using crazy samples. Quasimoto dropped The Further Adventures of Lord Quas in 2005. M.E.D. and MF DOOM are featured on the album. The album cover features a reference to Frank Zappa's debut album, Freak Out!, a picture of super-producer J Dilla, and a picture of Wild Man Fischer, who is also referenced in one of the songs. The voice of Melvin Van Peebles is sampled on several tracks from both albums.

Early depictions of Quasimoto were taken from the movie Fantastic Planet, specifically the leashed Oms who wore red masks with protruding snouts during the first "de-om".

In an interview, Madlib said that the atmosphere and sound on the Quasimoto albums owe much to the work of Alain Goraguer on the soundtrack of La Planete Sauvage and early Quasimoto video features excerpts from it. The song 'Come On Feet' sample the soundtrack to that film.

From Wikipedia:

Otis Jackson Jr., known professionally as Madlib, is a Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer born on October 24, 1973 in Oxnard, California, United States. Known under a plethora of pseudonyms, he is one of the most prolific and critically acclaimed hip hop producers of the 2000s and has collaborated with a myriad of hip hop artists, including The Alkaholiks, Mos Def, De La Soul, Ghostface Killah, Talib Kweli, A.G., MF DOOM (as Madvillain), and the late J Dilla (as Jaylib). Madlib has described himself as a "DJ first, producer second, and MC last," and he has done several projects as a DJ, mixer, or remixer. Madlib has been an influence on an upcoming generation of producers and musicians, many of whom prefer Madlib's abstract styles.