World's Fair

Summer’s almost here, and there’s no better way to celebrate — at least for those near the BK — than with a couple of outdoor shows with Def Jux. Herald in this Memorial Day Weekend (May 24th to be exact) with avant hip-hop producer Mike Ladd at the Brooklyn Shuffle, or with the always fantastic Chin Chin and hardcore band Activator at the Scumstravaganza 2008 Summer Release Party on the 14th of June. Both shows are at The Yard, and judging by the way these artists all perform, both are not-to-miss.

This is the second annual Brooklyn Shuffle, and this year’s show is dedicated to artists who are pushing genre boundaries, especially those associated with mainstream “black music.” With Mike Ladd — playing with his new band — on the bill, alongside guitarist Grey Reverend, electro-afropunk outfit No Surrender, and DJ Myles and DJ Lindsey (of The Hump), it’s sure to be a very good time.

Brooklyn Shuffle
@ THE YARD (400 Carroll Street, Brooklyn)
Saturday, May 24, 4pm - 9pm
Tickets $10 adv/ $12 door, all ages
Advanced tickets available @ www.TheYard.ws

Here’s a track from Mike’s latest, the excellent Nostalgialator, which came to the States courtesy of Def Jux this past January.
Mike Ladd - “Trouble Shot” [DOWNLOAD]

Or find out more about Mike Ladd here: myspace.com/mikeladd

Chin Chin and Activator are playing at Scumlife’s 2008 Summer Release Party, Scumstravaganza, Saturday, June 14, another event with a killer line-up, with performances also by Tone Tank, Peelander-Z, and the Nuclear Family, among others.

Scumstravaganza 2008 Summer Release Party
@ THE YARD (400 Carroll Street, Brooklyn)
Saturday, June 14, Doors @ 2pm
Tickets $10 adv, 18+

CHIN CHIN - “APPETITE” [DOWNLOAD]

Artist: Chin Chin
Album:Chin Chin
Label: Definitive Jux
Street Date: April 29th, 2008
Formats: CD, mp3

CONNECT: Website | Definitive Jux | World’s Fair

“Twenty years from now, when all is said and done, Mike Ladd’s career is going to be one of the most fascinating canons to get the analytical treatment, as his discs are filled with countless genre detours and surprisingly-justified indulgences. He truly lives and works by his own rules, and though he may never write anything as innocuous as Pitbull’s “Go Girl”, it always feels like he could snag fleeting mainstream success like that if he wanted. Fortunately for us, however, he doesn’t, instead leaving behind fantastic albums like Nostalgialator instead. Thanks for making the right choice, Mike Ladd..” - PopMatters [READ MORE]

“Eclectic and off-the-wall like a whiz kid with A.D.D., “Nostalgialator” suggests Mike Ladd was raised on hearty doses of channel surfing and Ritalin…” - Filter Mag, 81%

“At times, coming off like a hip-hop version of Royal Trux, or themulatto cousin of El-P, Ladd mixes beats and rhymes with guitars courtesy of TV on the Radio’s Jaleel Bunson, drums from Apollo Heights’ Damali Young and piano from Burnt Sugar’s Vijay Iyer, along with deconstructed Bollywood samples and lots of dirty synths among his many other sound creations…” - Other Music

“It defies belief that it took this long for an album this compelling, this fascinating, to finally surface on these shores, but in a sense it’s just in time: “Nostalgialator” may spring from the past, but it’s the sound of the looming future…” - Hartford Courant [READ MORE]

Plus, in case you missed,
Mike Ladd Interview @ Fair Game [LISTEN]

Artist: Mike Ladd
Album: Nostalgialator
Label: Definitive Jux / World’s Fair
Street Date: Jan 15th, 2008
Formats: CD, mp3

Mike Ladd - “Trouble Shot” [DOWNLOAD]

Mike Ladd - “Housewives At Play” [STREAM]

CONNECT: Definitive Jux | World’s Fair | Like Madd

“”… Although everyone from Ben Franklin to Bill O’Reilly surfaces in the rambling rhymes on his tenth album, the chameleonic MC relies on pure sound as much as brainy content…” - Spin

“… For the open-minded, Ladd demonstrates unpredictable musicianship and Bomb Squad-esque noise… Ladd’s ventures from punk and hip hop to whatever are at least veteran artistry at work…” - Remix Mag

“… Twenty years from now, when all is said and done, Mike Ladd’s career is going to be one of the most fascinating canons to get the analytical treatment, as his discs are filled with countless genre detours and surprisingly-justified indulgences. He truly lives and works by his own rules, and though he may never write anything as innocuous as Pitbull’s “Go Girl”, it always feels like he could snag fleeting mainstream success like that if he wanted. Fortunately for us, however, he doesn’t, instead leaving behind fantastic albums like Nostalgialator instead. Thanks for making the right choice, Mike Ladd…” - PopMatters [READ MORE]

“… “We rockin Shanghai tonight”… Nuremberg, Bangkok, Shanghai, Saigon, Hong Kong…Mike Ladd mentions these and many more, all in the space of a few minutes. As a socially aware and active artist during this tumultuous time, one shouldn’t be at all surprised that he has his sights set globally, and I for one am very thankful for that. The state of our union is not the only thing in need of our change, as it seems to me that this record couldn’t come at a better time for the state of our music….” - Amplifier [READ MORE]

“Not purely hip-hop, Nostalgialator veers all over the musical map as the opening track, “Dire Straits Plays Nuremberg” (gotta love the title), pairs a wobbly guitar riff with a diatribe about George W. Bush and his fascist tendencies. It’s certainly out there, and the rest of the album isn’t a letdown, either. “Wild Out Day” rushes with the energy of early Fishbone, and “How Electricity Really Works” is a heady spoken-word piece that mixes left-wing politics with ambient, Aphex Twin-like beats. The way Ladd namechecks nearly every major Asian city on the outlandish “Black Orientalist” is worth the price of the album itself….” - Cleveland Free Times [READ MORE]

Plus, in case you missed, check out the
enlightening interview Like Madd @ Fair Game [LISTEN]

Artist: Mike Ladd
Album: Nostalgialator
Label: Definitive Jux / World’s Fair
Street Date: Jan 15th, 2008
Formats: CD, mp3

Mike Ladd - “Trouble Shot” [DOWNLOAD]

Mike Ladd - “Housewives At Play” [STREAM]

Mike Ladd - “Wild Out Day” [STREAM]

CONNECT: Definitive Jux | World’s Fair | Like Madd

Mike Ladd - Interview @ Fair Game [LISTEN]

Artist: Mike Ladd
Album: Nostalgialator
Label: Definitive Jux / World’s Fair
Street Date: Jan 15th, 2008
Formats: CD, mp3

Mike Ladd - “Trouble Shot” [DOWNLOAD]

Mike Ladd - “Housewives At Play” [STREAM]

Mike Ladd - “Wild Out Day” [STREAM]

CONNECT: Definitive Jux | World’s Fair | Like Madd

“After ten albums, it can be hard to keep your sound fresh. Not so for Mike Ladd, who has created his own genre—a mix of electro-rock, hip-hop, Afro-punk and psychedelic soul—and redefined rhythms and the concept of “flow.” … And while sonically, it’s not hard to find a little bit of whatever you like in each of Ladd’s songs, what sets him apart from other eclectic talents is his ability to use that to his advantage…” - CMJ [READ MORE]

Stream the entire “Nostaligalator” album @ AOL Spinner - this week only!

Album streets in US/Canada next week!

Artist: Mike Ladd
Album: Nostalgialator
Label: Definitive Jux / World’s Fair
Street Date: Jan 15th, 2007
Formats: CD, mp3

Mike Ladd - “Trouble Shot” [DOWNLOAD]

Mike Ladd - “Housewives At Play” [STREAM]

Mike Ladd - “Wild Out Day” [STREAM]

CONNECT: Definitive Jux | World’s Fair | Like Madd

Artist: Mike Ladd
Album: Nostalgialator
Label: Definitive Jux / World’s Fair
Street Date: Jan 15th, 2007
Formats: CD, mp3

Mike Ladd - “Trouble Shot” [DOWNLOAD]

Official PR follows….

MIKE LADD RELEASES “NOSTALGIALATOR”, HIS TENTH CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED RECORD, FIRST FOR DEFINITIVE JUX. [READ ALL ABOUT IT @ CMJ.COM]

Through the years, Parisian-based Mike Ladd has fused a combination of genres, from hip hop to spoken word to rock to electronic music, to form his own incredible incarnation of afro punk. Whether spitting searing freestyle polemics, rocking punked out jams or writing dissertations at Harvard, this is an artist who knows very few bounds. And we’d have it no other way. Ladd’s music is equally fearless yet sensitive, raw yet sophisticated, just like the man himself. With Nostalgialator (Definitive Jux), co-produced and engineered by Brooklyn’s own Scotty Hard (Wu-Tang Clan, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Vernon Reid, Stereo MCs, Einstürzende Neubauten, Lisa Stansfield, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and more), Ladd’s genre-smashing, thought provoking and irreverant musical stylings are on full display.

Classic cuts like “Troubleshot” experiment with live instrumentation and muffed vocals that are reminiscent of Check Your Head era Beastie Boys. “Housewives at Play” employs the groovy space funk sound honed by Parliament Funkadelic, while the bombastic “Wild Out Day” defies comparison, with Ladd rhyming at hyper speed over a drumbeat that could have been pulled from a Bad Brains song.

Mike Ladd, who now lives in France actually hails from Boston. The virtuoso has practically done it all, being published in literary magazine such as Long Shot Review and Bostonia and has written several anthologies. A collaboration with pianist Vijay Iyer led to a work commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, not to mention his many degrees and fellowships. Through all this Ladd has even found the time to write and produce ten critically acclaimed albums. Nostalgialator, originally released internationally on legendary European label K7, is now available for the first time in North America, on Definitive Jux.

CONNECT: Definitive Jux | World’s Fair

VIJAY IYER AND MIKE LADD
STILL LIFE WITH COMMENTATOR
CD RELEASE @ Joe’s Pub

Saturday April 21
11:30 PM
$15.00 Buy Tickets

“elegiac and sardonic… a swirl of ominous textures and hypnotic rhythms… like the subject of its critique, it draws you in.” - Nate Chinen, The New York Times

“4 STARS… At times beautiful or bewildering, but entirely bewitching.” - Downbeat

“These Iyer-Ladd creations are unfailingly imaginative and significant… Still Life is awash in ‘post-human’ beatmaking but often pulses with lyricism.” - JazzTimes

More on Still Life…

Watch from the recent performances at BAM…

CONNECT: Like Madd | Vijay Ayer

Mike Ladd with Vijay Iyer - “Still Life with Commentator,” CD out now on Savoy Jazz. The album also features Pamela Z, Guillermo Brown, Liberty Ellman, Okkyung Lee, Palina Jonsdottir, Masayasu Nakanishi, and co-producer Scotty Hard. Available on Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, itunes and elsewhere.

“As grandiose in scope as ‘In What Language?’… At times beautiful or bewildering, but entirely bewitching, it offers nuanced insights with each listen.” - Downbeat Magazine

“elegiac and sardonic… a swirl of ominous textures and hypnotic rhythms… it draws you in.” — Nate Chinen, The New York Times

“…these Iyer-Ladd creations are unfailingly imaginative and significant… Still Life is awash in ‘post-human’ beatmaking but often pulses with lyricism… By refusing categorization in an overly rigid jazz field, these musicians further jazz’s purpose by ingraining its sensibility among different publics — one important way for the music to operate in the 21st century.” — David Adler, JazzTimes

From Mike & Vijay:
The songs of Still Life with Commentator consider our addiction to the opiate of personal testimony: live newscasts, blogs, reality TV. Addressing our participatory role as eager spectators, Ladd’s lyrics decode our post-9/11 culture of surveillance and spin, forming an ironic counterpoint to Iyer’s cycling rhythms and poignant harmonies. Ladd says of his lyrics, “My intention was not to condemn the media or vilify it, but to try and better understand something so massive and all-encompassing by treating it as an environmental phenomenon, much like the weather — i.e. sunny in one place and absolutely tempestuous and devastating in another. I hope that Still Life functions as a type of respiratory device for this new atmosphere.”

CONNECT: Myspace | BAM

Don’t miss the New York premiere of “Still Life with Commentator” as part of Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, December 6-10, 2006 at the BAM Harvey Theatre. The critically acclaimed piece is a collaboration between poet/performer Mike Ladd, composer-pianist Vijay Iyer and conceptual artist Ibrahim Quraishi.

Watch and listen to promotional clips on the BAM website or Vijay Iyer’s website.

CONNECT: Myspace | BAM

Oct 31 Pela @ B61 Halloween party, Brooklyn
Oct 31 Read Yellow @ Club Europa, Greenpoint
Oct 31 Gray Kid @ TBC
Nov 1 Roger O’Donnell @ “Hit Factory” panel, Barnes & Noble, 66th Street
Nov 1 Beans, Mike Ladd, Vic Thrill, Gray Kid @ Canal Room
Nov 1 Read Yellow @ Midway
Nov 2 Andy Chase of Brookville @ “Road Warriors” panel, Avery Fisher Hall
Nov 2 Roger O’Donnell, Brookville, The Postmarks & Christopher Willitz @ Mo ‘Pitkins
Nov 2 Gray Kid @ TBC
Nov 2 Pela @ White Rabbit Lounge c/o Gothamist
Nov 3 Pela @ Sin-e c/o KEXP & Friction

* Please note that Roger O’Donnell’s CMJ panel has been moved from Tower Records on 66th street to the Barnes & Noble just across the street from there *

See you there!