Mike Ladd | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Mike Ladd is an iconoclast hip-hop figure, a producer with studio smarts and an intelligent MC as well, but a man with a wide-ranging set of aims that occasionally interfere with his music. The Bronx-based Ladd, whose roots lie in poetry and performance, has close ties to largely spoken-word artists like Saul Williams or Carl Hancock Rux as well as underground rap maestros like El-P or New Flesh. Born in Cambridge, MA, Ladd played bass or drums in varying types of garage bands while in high school and gathered a diverse set of influences, ranging from Funkadelic to King Tubby to Minor Threat to the work of Chess staff arranger Charles Stepney. He stayed close to home for college and spent time as a graduate student in English Lit at Boston University. He gained favor in spoken poetry circles, winning the Nuyorican Poets Café Slam and also having his writing published in the 1996 protest tome In Defense of Mumia. Hed also begun producing and rapping, and released his first album, Easy Listening 4 Armageddon, in 1997 on Scratchie. Critical praise led to a deal between his Likemadd label and Ozone Music for 2000s Welcome to the Afterfuture and the following years Vernacular Homicide EP. Ladd had already recorded a 1998 single for top British underground label Big Dada, and he returned there for his third full-length, 2000s Gun Hill Road. The first in a series of underground full-lengths staging a battle between the forces of good and evil (in hip-hop), it appeared as the Infesticons and earned the highest profile of any of his releases. The second, Beauty Party (recorded as the Majesticons), followed in 2003, and that same year Ladd collaborated with keyboardist Vijay Iyer on the post-9/11 inquiry In What Language? (the duo also completed Still Life with Commentary in 2007, and Iyer added his skills to a number of Ladds solo records). In 2004 the Berlin-based label !K7 released the musicians genre-bounding Nostalgialator -- reissued in North America on Def Jux in early 2008 -- and the following year both Negrophilia: The Album and Father Divine came out. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 9 Title: Live From Paris: The Iran-Contra Scandal Memorial Album Released: Tracks: 11 Duration: 43:35 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Myster Bruces Realbient Intro (03:25) 2 Bush League Junkie (04:20) 3 Tragic Mulatto Is Neither (04:25) 4 Padded Walls (04:03) 5 I Seen What You Said (05:03) 6 Praise Your Soul (02:42) 7 Lets Discuss Disgusting (06:07) 8 Anti-Conquest Reprise (05:02) 9 Blah Blah (03:36) 10 Kissing Kecia (03:09) 11 Tic Toc (Uncle Ho) (01:43) |
 | Album: 2 of 9 Title: Easy Listening 4 Armaggedon Released: 1997 Tracks: 12 Duration: 51:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Libations (00:28) 2 The Tragic Mulatto Is Neither (04:18) 3 Kissin Kecia (After Jayne Cortez) (04:11) 4 Bush League Junkie (03:24) 5 Padded Walls (04:58) 6 Back Stroke (03:06) 7 Blade Runner (07:17) 8 Maniac (02:47) 9 Im Building a Bodacious Bodega for the Race War (05:08) 10 Off the Coast of Okrakoke (05:32) 11 Easy Listening for Armageddon (04:50) 12 The Post Apocalypse Arkestra (05:11) |
 | Album: 3 of 9 Title: Welcome to the Afterfuture Released: 2000-03-07 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:02:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 5000 Miles West of the Future (03:48) 2 Airwave Hysteria (04:09) 3 Planet 10 (04:25) 4 Takes More Than 41 (03:01) 5 Bladerunners (06:17) 6 No. 1 St. (03:52) 7 To the Moons Contractor (10:37) 8 I Feel Like $100 (03:44) 9 The Animist (05:52) 10 Red Eye to Jupiter (Starship Nigga) (03:50) 11 Welcome to the Afterfuture (03:34) 12 Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon (04:14) 13 Feb. 4 99 (For All Those Killed by Cops) (05:15) |
| Welcome to the Afterfuture : Allmusic album Review : After a decade of underground recognition, New York-based producer/lyricist Mike Ladd has emerged since 1998 as the hip-hop scenes prime genius. Easy Listening 4 Armageddon put him on the map, the all-star Infesticons album put him over, and Welcome to the Afterfuture is the articulation of a musical vision. Whether it will pan out in the real future is another matter, but at least it stands a chance. Welcome to the Afterfuture is a blender of sounds and styles and epitomizes the search that is leading cutting-edge hip-hop further into avant-garde and non-Western musical traditions. "Airwave Hysteria" has a sweet Bollywood sample with a tight chorus broken up by some hypnotic scratching. The ring mod and time-stretched vocals on "Planet 10" are reminiscent of a Kid 606 album. Theres a number of good tracks, but a few stand out, particularly "5000 Miles," where Ladd gets to display his lyrical skills ("Im 5000 miles west/Of my future/Wheres my floating car/My utopia") against fuzzed bass and organ figures. He gets props for entering the sci-fi realm without sounding like another Kool Keith carbon, although you might argue that its simply more futurist than sci-fi per se. The most out track is "I Feel Like 100 Dollars"; it would be difficult to create more chaos at a slower tempo, for sure. Theres some nice Air-esque jamming on "To the Moons Contractor," and the title track features a crunked funk dissection of contemporary ills via Nova Express. Not so successful is the cut "No. 1 St.," which falls into all the pitfalls of trying too hard, with self-important rhyming. Its not often that album reviews name check Ezra Pound, Mogwai, and Run-D.M.C., so buy this album. If hip-hop should have a tradition, then this is it -- experimentation. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 9 Title: Vernacular Homocide Released: 2001 Tracks: 7 Duration: 24:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Foxwoods (03:09) 2 The Last Word (05:51) 3 Poseidons Reigns (03:39) 4 Northampton (02:21) 5 Cookie Jar (03:24) 6 Music for Tanks (04:39) 7 The Art of Timing (Freestyle Poem for Moms) (01:01) |
 | Album: 5 of 9 Title: In What Language? Released: 2003-10-21 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:09:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Color of My Circumference I (04:10) 2 The Density of the 19th Century (05:15) 3 Terminal City (01:55) 4 Rentals (02:44) 5 Security (03:38) 6 De Gaulle (06:37) 7 TLC (02:39) 8 Three Lotto Stories (04:49) 9 The Color of My Circumference II (02:09) 10 Iraqi Businessman (02:43) 11 Taking Back the Airplane (04:54) 12 The Color of My Circumference III (02:29) 13 Innana After Bagdad (02:32) 14 In What Language (04:05) 15 Asylum (06:21) 16 The Color of My Circumference IV (05:51) 17 Plastic Bag (06:07) |
 | Album: 6 of 9 Title: Negrophilia: The Album Released: 2005 Tracks: 11 Duration: 47:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Field Work (The Ethnographers Daughter) (05:31) 2 The French Dig Latinos, Too (05:17) 3 In Perspective (07:00) 4 Shake It (03:19) 5 Worldwide Shrinkwrap (Contact Zones) (03:40) 6 Back at Ya (04:04) 7 Appropriated Metro (01:29) 8 Blonde Negress (03:22) 9 Sam and Milli Dine Out (04:44) 10 Nancy and Carl Go Christmas Shopping (04:01) 11 Sleep Patterns of Black Expatriots Circa 1960 (05:10) |
| Negrophilia: The Album : Allmusic album Review : This characteristically conceptual and adventurous album from Mike Ladd isnt exactly Negrophilia -- Petrine Archer-Straws book that deals with Parisiens fascination with black culture during the 1920s -- brought off the page and placed onto wax. The book is more of a jump-off point than anything else. Its ideas are referenced, examined, messed with, expanded upon, and dusted off to make natural modern-day parallels. Ladds lyrics are only sprinkled throughout, often conjuring striking images that tie the themes of Archer-Straws writings to the present: "Brancusi sculpting Beyoncé in gold lamé/Blonde negress"; "Boxing in Montmartre/Disco with a Hottentot"; "Every day the land we lay looks more and more like L.A./From Dakar to Harare/Bangkok to Taipei." Ladd takes greater liberties with the instrumentation, provided by key collaborator Vijay Iyer (keys), Guillermo E. Brown (drums, electronics), Bruce Grant (tape loops), Andrew Lamb (winds), and his niece Marguerite (winds). The playing is considerably transformed by his chop-ups. Sizeable seams in the interwoven fragments are audible, but not to the point where it all seems disjointed just to be unnervingly difficult. On "Blonde Negress," clipped brass notes are spit out like poison darts, only to be deflected off a rubbery drum loop and juiced-up synth interjections. "In Perspective" is relatively laid-back, the closest the album gets to carrying a standard groove, but it remains ill at ease with faint atmospheric gauze and bracing audio-collage samples from what sounds like news broadcasts and documentaries ("... the police came and beat him half to death and gouged his eyes out"). This is one of Ladds most accomplished albums to date, proving once again that hes one of the most forward-thinking artists around. He doesnt always come up with genius-level work, but his output is consistently fascinating, worthy of both deep analysis and a deeply felt physical reaction. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 9 Title: Still Life With Commentator Released: 2007-03-06 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:05:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Infogee Rhapsody (04:17) 2 Edward L. Bernays Flies the Hindenburg (02:34) 3 Been There Done That (07:59) 4 Cleaning Up the Mess (05:13) 5 Lake Aaron [Commentator Landscape #1: Aaron Brown] (03:02) 6 Jon Stewart on Crossfire (03:23) 7 Sheps Book [Commentator Landscape #2: Shepard Smith] (03:06) 8 Riding on the Intro Graphics to Cable News (04:09) 9 Man Channel (04:11) 10 Fox n Friends (00:31) 11 Holocaust Blog (05:33) 12 Cyber-Nut Bucolia (04:00) 13 Mount Rather [Commentator Landscape #3: Dan Rather] (04:29) 14 Latex Thumbs-Up (03:24) 15 Redemption Chant (02:06) 16 Blog Moms Anthem (02:53) 17 The Last Atrocity (04:51) |
| Still Life With Commentator : Allmusic album Review : Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd join forces once again for Still Life with Commentator, something of a follow-up to In What Language? Both these projects are decidedly different than Iyers albums as sole leader, in that Ladds poetry is up front and the music plays a somewhat smaller role in terms of the focus. Still Life with Commentator is a series of poetic ruminations on information inundation in todays society. The music is often dark and claustrophobic, with beats that mimic teletype machines or clattering keyboards -- a musical analogue for the constant streams of information bombarding us on a daily basis. Ladds lyrics are dense and layered, and coupled with the music create a slight (and sometimes not so slight) sense of malaise. Iyers wonderful piano playing only surfaces in short bursts, like the ending of "Cleaning Up the Mess" and "Holocaust Blog." "Mount Rather (Commentator Landscape #3: Dan Rather)" also has a really nice coda featuring some tasty guitar work by Liberty Ellman. Things loosen up a bit toward the middle and end, with both the hilarious "Fox n Friends" and the playful "Cybernut Bucolia" offering a bit of respite from the more serious proceedings. There are also two instrumentals toward the end: a solo piano piece ("Redemption Chant") and the somber full-band number "Blog Moms Anthem." If youre looking to hear Iyers jazz inclinations, look elsewhere. Still Life with Commentator is a dense, thought-provoking piece that takes some effort to internalize. Its of a piece conceptually, if not in execution, with Rob Swifts War Games. Neither of these albums preaches and neither takes sides; they examine and expose ways in which our society is changing that no one can prevent or predict. Ultimately, it is only through scrutiny that understanding is gained. Still Life with Commentator isnt an easy listen, but it wasnt meant to be. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 9 Title: Maison Hantée Released: 2008 Tracks: 13 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Hall (?) 2 Chamber 12 (?) 3 Chamber 3 (?) 4 Chamber 8 (?) 5 Chamber 73 (?) 6 Chamber 22 (?) 7 Antechamber (?) 8 Chamber 20 (?) 9 Chamber 72 (?) 10 Chamber 8 (?) 11 Chamber 2 (?) 12 Chamber 21 (?) 13 Corridor (?) |
 | Album: 9 of 9 Title: Visions of Selam Released: 2018-04-04 Tracks: 13 Duration: 47:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Toulo (03:14) 2 Duo Coula (04:43) 3 Angafile (03:38) 4 Dia Barani (04:41) 5 American Juju (03:06) 6 Soul Flood (05:20) 7 Eshi Ulet (01:05) 8 Chaos Embedded (03:01) 9 Nafoot (05:00) 10 Seeds (04:22) 11 Eshi Ant (01:03) 12 Vizeplio (03:58) 13 Yala (04:05) |