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Mike Ladd

Nostalgialator | Definitive Jux
By ANDREW GRAHAM  |  January 28, 2008
3.0 3.0 Stars
inside_MIKE-LADD---NOSTALGI
“Fuck it, it’s a mind set,” Mike Ladd notes amid a dense verbal and aural barrage titled “Trouble Shot.” Then he concludes the verse with the caveat “It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.” These are useful guidelines with which to approach Nostalgialator. Fans of the poet/MC/beatsmith’s work under the Infesticons/Majesticons moniker will hear echoes of that project’s production sensibility here, but none of its MC collaborations. If Nostalgialator resembles anything in Ladd’s diverse (and extensive) body of work, it’s his 2000 album Welcome to the Afterfuture (Ozone), whose soundscape of future-shock breakbeats and layered lyrical musings cited (and sampled) scores of left-field sources like Firesign Theatre and the Jetsons. Here the mercurial Ladd uses grunge-era Sub Pop also-rans Tad as a referent. What’s more, Afterfuture did not serve up anything as bombastic or provocative as “Afrostatic,” “Black Orientalist,” or the ebullient “Wild Out Day,” all of which showcase Ladd’s skill at fusing his passions for punk and hip-hop. More Bad Brains than Kid Rock, Nostalgialator offers fresh hope for rock/rap cross-pollinations — and for anyone who thinks Rage Against the Machine ended the discussion.
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