Welcome to the Afterfuture

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Wed Aug 18 2021

3

Robert a encore fait son pitre en selectionnant un album que je mets au defi quiconque de connaître, passons, l'heure est à un sujet bien plus important. Cela fait maintenant plusieurs mois que mon camarade robpecunière et moi cravachons pour vous divertir, grâce à des reviews d'albums toutes plus pertinentes les unes que les autres. Nous nous demandions aujourd'hui si un français avait déjà lu ne serait-ce qu'une seule de nos reviews. Si tel est le cas, nous vous donnon srendez-vous: à l'heure ou l'album Qui sème le vent recolte le tempo de MC Solaar tombera sur votre générateur, inscrivez la phrase suivante dans votre review de l'album: "Mike Ladd est le fils de Robert Dimery". Grâce à ce savant codage, nous saurons que nos reviews ont peut-être un jour touché une âme. J'emmenerai personellement des madeleines et une bouteille de jus d'orange à cette occasion.

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Wed Aug 18 2021

2

Que dire de Mike Ladd... Et bien pas grand chose puisque personne ne le connaît. Je vais donc profiter de cette critique pour vous faire part de quelque chose. Vous savez bien que mon compère eltrapeze et moi sommes très dévoués à l'exercice qu'impose ce générateur, à savoir l'écriture de "reviews" toutes plus inspirées les unes que les autres. Nous sommes, de ce fait, absolument persuadés qu'il existe parmi vous des admirateurs inconditionnels de nos écrits. C'est pourquoi nous vous offrons la possibilité de nous contacter. Pour ce faire, rien de plus simple : écrivez sous l'album Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo de ce cher MC Solaar la phrase "Mike Ladd est le fils de Robert Dimery." Vous serez ensuite informés de la suite des événements par un faisceau d'indices et différents messages codés à déchiffrer dans nos critiques ultérieures. Bien à vous.

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Mon Nov 08 2021

5

A Surprise! Excellent album which I had never heard of from an artist I had similarly never heard of before. This is the kind of album that makes this whole list and this website a lot of fun. This guy has a *very* Madvillain/MF Doom vibe. If you like them, you'll like Mike. I was going to go with four stars, but I really think I've talked myself up to 5. This was truly excellent.

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Mon Jun 28 2021

1

Mike Ladd, more like Mike Badd

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Mon Jun 28 2021

1

They need a 0 option.

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Thu May 05 2022

5

Based on almost nothing other than the name, I wasn't expecting to like this but I liked it a lot. It's somehow at once lofi and sophisticated, laid back and sharp edged.

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Thu Aug 12 2021

4

this was surprisingly good. i especially liked the last track (Feb 4 '99), which was an interesting and powerful departure from the rest of the album, but still totally fit.

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Wed Feb 02 2022

4

Unexpectedly good. This was a great find - very electronicish, Deltron3030-esque, perfect future-forward sound. if I could give 4.5 stars I would.

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Wed Mar 30 2022

4

Incredible beats and vibes, just slightly underwhelming flows.

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Thu Jan 27 2022

2

Interesting. I like where it’s going but don’t know if it got where it wants to be.

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Thu Sep 16 2021

1

I probably could die without having had listened to this. I can appreciate the experimental hip hop sound, but it's kind of all over the place

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Thu Feb 10 2022

5

Wow! Heavy jazz influenced hip hop album. Unexpected for sure, but a welcome surprise.

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Fri Jan 13 2023

5

WHOA what the heck was that?

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Thu Nov 04 2021

4

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. Pretty good.

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Mon Jun 20 2022

4

I hadn't heard of Mike Ladd before receiving this album, and I guess I was slightly daunted by reviewing another hip-hop album after my severely negative reaction to Fear of a Black Planet earlier this week. Of course, hip-hop is a diverse genre, and it's immoral to judge someone for the iniquities of another. So, I postponed reviewing this for a few days in order to try and approach it open-mindedly. And I liked it, but I didn't love it. Mind, I get a few hints that this is a album not really seeking to be loved. From what I have gathered, Mike Ladd is a whale of an MC in the underground hip-hop brigade who happens to have been a lecturer on poetry at NYU. And I can't deny that this album is a dense, intricately constructed work. The album explicitly draws influence from Afrofuturism and, more broadly, science fiction. 1984, Blade Runner and the works of William Gibson all get allusions, and the bonkers Saturnian jazz leader Sun Ra casts an immense shadow over this album. As such, one can admire the grand scope and craft of Welcome to the Afterfuture, but one can also recognise that such a enterprise will leave some cold: some people just despise sci-fi as tedious piffle. Me, I can enjoy the occasional knee-trembler with, say, a Kubrick film or a JG Ballard novel, but I have no yearning to tackle any form of Dune. This album will appeal to some as much as it will appal others, and others like me will just consider it alright. I should point out as well that the album is rather low-key in its tone. This album isn't hook driven, nor especially virtuousic lyrically. The craft can't really be faulted, but it doesn't elate. I believe this is purposeful; the themes invite contemplation, not joy. This is an album best enjoyed alone, gone midnight. It's an album to admire, not adore. But the by, on the song The Animist, he talks about what his name would be if he were Jewish (Jared), Muslim (Ibrahim) and Catholic (Chris). The name Mike, which I assume is short for Michael, comes from the Old Testament, meaning it's a Jewish and latterly Christian name (and Michael is an archangel in Islam, though I don't know if Michael is a common name in Islamic cultures). Did he forget his own name?

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Wed Jun 29 2022

4

I liked this album a lot more than I thought I would. Conscious and/or abstract hip-hop is always welcome. The groovy double bass throughout the album was very nice and the keyboard sounds were sometimes even reminiscent of Radiohead. The flow of Mike Ladd is varied and perfect. The only flaw of the album is that it was too long.

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Mon Jun 28 2021

3

i think i liked it?

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Fri Dec 03 2021

2

Meh. Maybe influential on music outside of my taste. At least it was somewhat listenable

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Wed Mar 02 2022

5

Mike Ladd's WELCOME TO THE AFTERFUTURE is a pretty wild trip that I really enjoyed taking. He won me over on the opening track, "I’m 5000 miles west of my future, Where’s my floating car, my utopia? My Mars colonies, like it’s supposed to be? Space 1999." I can relate. I'm not predisposed to relate to rap albums, but I fell in love with the science fiction vibe and all the ethereal music and atmosphere. There are a lot of compelling lyrics. This is one of the more unique and one of the best rap albums I've ever listened to. Some of my favorites: "5,000 Miles West of the Future", "Planet 10," "To The Moon's Contractor," "The Animist," "Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon"

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Thu Apr 28 2022

5

love it. its like a slam poet made a Deltron 3030 prequel and went back in time and released it the month before Deltron came out. Also El-P on track 5.

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Thu Feb 09 2023

5

baita som, não dava nada mas instrumentalzao show

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Sat Feb 18 2023

5

jj

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Fri Mar 10 2023

5

beautiful

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Sat Jun 03 2023

5

Evokes images of a gang of future-cyber-punks huddled around a flaming trash can blasting this out of a boombox during the post-apocalypse. A really interesting hip hop album comprising a decaying industrial soundscape. The reflective final track 'Feb. 4 '99' is completely different, but somehow fits perfectly. Form matches function perfectly in this very cool and deliberately artistic endevour. Rating: 4.5/5 Playlist track: Feb. 4 '99 Date listened: 02/06/23

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Wed Aug 23 2023

5

This album is DOPE!

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Thu Aug 26 2021

4

pretty good hip hop/electronic trend - but a bit crass.

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Thu Sep 09 2021

4

really cool. kinda like MF Doom type spoken word rap but with modern beats

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Wed Nov 17 2021

4

A present from the past

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Mon Dec 06 2021

4

It certainly held my interest throughout, though not all of it seemed exactly to be music. I don't think I grasped that much of the lyrics really, with their rapid fire flow and dense cultural references.

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Wed Dec 15 2021

4

Love the music on this album. I've said it more than once this year: there's something about hip hop that appeals to me. This one feels a bit more experimental WRT the orchestration than most, and I liked it more as a result. Solid 4 stars.

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Mon Dec 20 2021

4

1. Is this a rock album or hip hop album :\ 2.Ok this is hard potential playlist add 3.Where are we going? 4.This album sceams experimental in your ear bruh 5.Finally another good song potetntial playlist 6.Defintitely an add 7.ight 8.ight 9.ight 10. yes idk why this album is all instrumentals this guy has a really good cadence and if i was catholic my name would be chris! 11.Space mothafucka 12. pop yo perc(add) 13.yes 14.good album 4/5

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Thu Dec 23 2021

4

Dit album ga ik nog eens op mijn gemak beluisteren. Lekker album

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Mon Jan 03 2022

4

I'm surprised I've never heard of Mike Ladd before, but this album is right up my alley. Very Swayze!

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Fri Jan 07 2022

4

Shocked to see an album with so few listens show up in this list (per Spotify at least) but it was actually quite good. A strong flow with some strong highs, few real lows.

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Thu Jan 13 2022

4

I really liked the one about the moons contractor, very complex and lots of levels and that

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Thu Jan 13 2022

4

This is cool! I've never heard of Mike Ladd but really enjoyed listening to this album. It's like a hip hop spin on Zero 7 which can only be good news for me. It's got top qual rap and lyrics with some really cool sounds over the top and it put me in a good mood. A good new discovery! Lots of really interesting global influences throughout the album so it held my interest well throughout. Only thing bringing it down to a 4 star job is some songs had stressful noises like Red Eye to Jupiter.

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Wed Jan 19 2022

4

I'm surprised with this album. I was expecting just some generic electronic samples and basic hip-hop, but I found a very deep album with some really good songs. It's impressive how these songs are recognizable in modern rap/hip-hop songs.

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Fri Feb 04 2022

4

A decent listen, though I'm not really sure why this made it onto the list... 7/10

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Wed Mar 02 2022

4

This album and artist are new to me. I ran kinda warm and cool (not really hot and cold) with it. A chill laid back beat would start and I’d be grooving to the moment that I would realize that I had zoned out and then think, “oh geez, is this track still going?!?” The giddy moment when he put ‘cornucopia’ in a rhyme (I just love that) to the furrowed brow when I think “did he just say ‘pee pee on’ something?” Just back and forth... The last track landed me on the warm side, and so here we are.

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Wed Mar 02 2022

4

It definitely caught my attention when the first track made a "Space: 1999" reference. That was just the first of a lot of intriguing references. Did he just refer to "Mummenshanz"? The mix of painful contemporary realities and speculative fiction was fascinating to me, even if a lot of it is not something I want to go back to listening to for pleasure. "Red Eye to Jupiter," for example makes a "Trouble with Tribbles" reference, but I don't think I'll choose to play that one again. "To the Moon's Contractor" was...long? But there were also songs I really enjoyed, like "5,000 Miles West of the Future" and "Airwave Hysteria." Why couldn't I find more information about Mike Ladd? "Feb. 4 '99" definitely gave me a glimpse into a story I wanted to know better.

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Wed Apr 20 2022

4

I really enjoyed this. Mike Ladd was a new artist to me. Like the Afterfuture concept throughout, and lots of interesting and inventive ideas here. Reminded me of stuff like Anti Pop Consortium in places (who I love). Only downside was I felt the album is a little long and I lost focus a bit for the last few tracks.

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Wed Apr 27 2022

4

Very enlightening! Entertaining!

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Fri May 27 2022

4

Starship N*gger, outer Space Motherfucker. one of the few times i've really enjoyed the use of the N word in music. maybe one day when i'm in the middle of the woods with no one around i might sing along. though even writing that makes me feel nervous i'll get cancelled. album started really slowly, picked up and then was actually decent. piss poor name.

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Mon Jun 13 2022

4

Experimental hip hop and i loved it. More of this please

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Thu Jun 16 2022

4

If I was Jewish my name would be Jared If I was Muslim my name would be Ibrahim If I was Catholic, my name would be... CHRIS! Loved this, never heard of it before.

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Wed Aug 17 2022

4

At first, I viewed this with trepidation (I generally don’t like rap), but it proved really good. The blend between rap and ambient worked surprisingly well.

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Fri Aug 19 2022

4

Reminds me of Dan the Automator. I can't believe I had never heard this before!?

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Thu Sep 01 2022

4

I like the album and it's sound alot. Only downside is it isn't available on Apple Music or Spotify. You can find it on YouTube, and I did, but only made it through half.

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Fri Sep 09 2022

4

Neat and different.

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Wed Sep 14 2022

4

avant hard

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Fri Oct 07 2022

4

Hiphopin valkea puoli... Hiphopin luvattu perse.. paljas... loistaa ilta-auringossa.... Aurinko vielä matalalla... Ei hohda oranssina.. saatika punaisena.. Valkoiset posket.. Hohde.. Soolona kaveri tuottanu... Aika hyvin osannu experimentaaliset biisit tuotattaa levylle... Ja hyvin hittaa tää levy... Spotifysta otettu pois tämä albumi... Miksi? Kuunteliko spotify itekkää.. ihan hyvää se on.. erilaista hipsukka hoppia.. Music Music Avantgarde, rikotaan vähän länsimaisia tottumuksia..Ei silti kuullosta oudolta tai pakotelta rikkomiseslta. Kaveri taitaa tämän lajin... ..... niin... ....Joskus on näissä saatanallissa genreissä ongelmana se että ne ovat lyriikoiltaan vastenmielisiä.. irstaita... ja rivoja.. ehkä tämäkin oli... ei kuitenkaan hyppinyt silmille.. Referenssejä blade runneriin ja star warssiin.. se hyväksyttävää, vaikka länsimaista hapatusta.. olen yrittänyt vähentää... Taikina pallo kasvaa.. hapatteen takia.. Maha meikäläiselle ei sovi.. Amerikkalaismalli, E-Luokan kerma E-1....

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Mon Oct 24 2022

4

(Had to go to YouTube for this one. Not currently on streaming services in the US) An experimental, dystopian future hip-hop concept album in the vein of Dr. Octagon and Deltron 3030. While not quite as enjoyable or essential as those records, “Welcome to the Afterfuture” melds IDM-ish electronica and hip hop well and doesn’t sounded dated in the least. …but I’m gonna do the thing I find myself doing a lot while navigating this list: recommend an album that should’ve been included instead of this one. The aforementioned Deltron 3030, also released in 2000, works better as a concept record, with more interesting production, unique lyrical flow and more stylistic variation. No disrespect to Mike Ladd, Welcome to the Afterfuture is a very good record, and, thus far, is the most enjoyable of the records I don’t feel belong on the list: I’m especially enjoying the stereolab-ish “To the Moon’s Contractor”, there is an Air-like downtempo feel to a lot of the songs and, just now, a reference to listening to bootlegs of The Fall, which was unexpected for a sci-fi hip-hop record. I’m just a little puzzled by its inclusion over Deltron 3030’s, given how influential and highly regarded that record is. Solid 4/5.

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Thu Nov 03 2022

4

Amazing

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Wed Nov 09 2022

4

It's an interesting album, even if it's hip hop, the mos interesting part is the music by itself.

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Sun Nov 13 2022

4

I like this Mike lad. Reminds me of some chill outer space vibe nyc rapper shit. Get in with it weirdo. Noice.

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Thu Dec 29 2022

4

Listen to this when you have more time and the wife doesn’t have to hear it.

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Thu Dec 29 2022

4

Not on spotify

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Thu Jan 05 2023

4

have any very good groves, but, i think that the woman singer is out of tone in many songs

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Sun Jan 08 2023

4

I liked Phil Lynott, he was taken too soon. I actually prefer the studio versions of most of these songs but there's no denying the live versions bring a lot of energy not to mention some amazing guitar snd drum virtuosity

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Thu Jan 19 2023

4

very interesting artsy rap album, wasn't available on spotify for some reason but the whole album was on youtube anyway. I should definitely give this a few more listens but its certainly extraordinary.

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Thu Jan 19 2023

4

Proper experimental stuff, really enjoyed a lot of these tracks, shame theyre not on spotify

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Thu Feb 02 2023

4

Interesting.

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Thu Feb 09 2023

4

Cool Keith vibes. Fun existential lyrics playful instrumentations

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Thu Feb 16 2023

4

Kind of won me over by the end! A high 4/5

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Fri Feb 24 2023

4

first song and to the moon's contractor is really interesting

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Fri Mar 10 2023

4

Wasn't a fan of his flow but I liked the subjects and the beats were amazing. Lots of different genres which made it a joy to listen to.

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Wed Mar 15 2023

4

Nice surprise to see this hear. I bought this back in the day from a second hand CD shop as I was a big Company Flow fan, but it didn't do a great deal for me at the time. 20 years or so later it's much more resonant with me and still stands up remarkably well - a golden era for underground hiphop

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Wed Apr 12 2023

4

This album really grew on me. Creative record with mf doom / mad villain vibes. Great for a mold

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Mon May 01 2023

4

Lot of great jams.

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Fri May 05 2023

4

For me it's a plus when I hear something new and I can't tell where or when it came from. Admittedly as I heard the first few minutes of this I buckled in for an hour of cold hard angry hip hop berating universal injustice. There was a rapid paradigm shift when I realized there was extensive riffing on Blade Runner and Buckaroo Banzai. Like wow, am I finally in a sector of a niche target demographic for something? I will need to circle back to listen closely for more nerd deep dives. "To the Moon's Contractor" is an extended cosmic trip that calls me back to the title screen theme for "Phantasy Star Online" on the Dreamcast. Avant-garde, liberated from all conventions, and ready to go to Planet 10.

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Wed May 10 2023

4

I liked it. Some cool moods and some thought provoking rhymes. 4 stars

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Mon May 22 2023

4

Chill beats, thoughtful lyricsism. Just how I like it.

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Sun May 28 2023

4

Grew on me. Flow is not to my taste, a bit awkward, but overall sound is nice.

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Wed May 31 2023

4

Love all the blips and the esoteric subject matter. Gets a little annoying in places with repetition and strange affectations, but mostly a really interesting listen. Ladd's Gun Hill Road really improves on the formula, but this album is still worth spending time with.

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Wed Jun 07 2023

4

A couple of really good songs. I love the late 90s early 2000s experimental music. Rating: 4.0

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Thu Jun 08 2023

4

One of the takeaways from this exercise is that no matter how good some of the tracks are, anything with a run time over 50mins has to work veeeeeery hard to make it worthwhile. In saying that, Bladrunners is big track and the atmospheric breaks in The Moons Contractor etc were excellent

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Sat Jun 10 2023

4

4.0

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Wed Jun 21 2023

4

While I love a lot of old, old school rap (Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, etc), I don't like modern hip-hop as much. But this is really good. So much so that, along with the previous album recommended to me, I've paused my recommendations so that I can give these two albums more time. - How did the 1001 project find this? At least on Spotify is has very few listens, and it's Wikipedia article is very sparse (implying it didn't make much of a splash). I'm glad they found it though. Very good. - Interesting looking at the reviews and ratings on here. Those who write anything seem to mostly a 4 or 5. But it's overall, it's only rated as 3 stars -- it appears to be the "fly by" voters throwing out 1s and pulling it down.

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Fri Jun 23 2023

4

Delightful and compelling

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Wed Jul 12 2023

4

Not expected to be a good album as there are only a few songs that are good on their own, but it just works. Very Gorillaz-esque, but more powerful.

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Thu Jul 13 2023

4

Never heard of this guy before. Hip hop is not my usual genre and usually leaves me cold. However, I loved the overall sound of this record. He hit on something with the soundscape.

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Wed Aug 09 2023

4

Never heard of this guy before… but this was pretty cool. Experimental hip-hop

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Fri Aug 11 2023

4

It’s very original. Feels fresh, even 20 years later. Lyrically fulfilling, rewarding beats, and solid production. I wish there had been some more exciting tracks on here to bring up the energy on the album. Not to say there’s no range, but that it didn’t quite stretch itself in a way it could have. Other than that, no complaints. 4/5

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Mon Aug 14 2023

4

I think I need a second listen to this. Waves of loving it, and then moments of thinking it was a bit of a gimmick. Still liked it more than not.

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Thu Aug 17 2023

4

4.5

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Mon Aug 28 2023

4

I saw that this was an early 2000s hip hop album that I'd never heard of, and I got a bit worried that it would be another shitty British rap album. I was wrong, and I was glad of that fact. This album fucking kicks ass. Some of the lyrical delivery is a bit out dated, but then again so is this album. The synths on it are really cool (often sounds similar to the Moog used on Virgin Suicides by Air), and the samples are great too. Not overwhelming, not overdone, a light touch. A really solid album that I'm surprised I haven't heard more about 4/5

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Wed Aug 30 2023

4

Een combinatie van rap en rustige, maar soms speelse, elektronische muziek (Triphop-achtig). Beide lijken soms wat zelfstandig te functioneren. Toch is dat niet storend. Wat dat betreft doet het me wat denken aan Rudeboy. Maar dan wat rustiger.

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Fri Sep 08 2023

4

I had no idea what to expect when clicking on this one. So far, I'm pleasantly surprised. Not sure what I would call this, it if I'd listen to it again, but it was enjoyable enough.

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Wed Jul 14 2021

3

I never heard of this Ladd before but I didn’t mind it.

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Tue Jun 29 2021

3

Dziwna, ale miała kilka dobrych kawałków

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Wed Jun 30 2021

3

Pretty good. Not pretty pretty good but pretty good. Reminded me of DJ Shadow. Complex interesting sound. I enjoyed the non vocal parts more than the vocals. Could be a four star with more listens

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Thu Jul 29 2021

3

Great early 00's hip-hop. I must confess I had no idea about this one, but loved the production and the overall vibes, like a more electronic sort of hip-hop (as opposed to old-school sampling). So yeah, the "future" part in "Afterfuture" does have sense here.

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Wed Aug 04 2021

3

Interesting chill hip hop. Kind of gives me Radiohead or Dan the Automator vibes. Not really sure what makes this 'essential' though honestly as much as I enjoy it.

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Wed Aug 04 2021

3

I liked it, but seeing as it's 1001 albums you must listen to before you DIE... I would have rather seen something along the lines of CoFlow or FanDam or something by Automator. I think those are more influential and frankly, better examples of this style of hip-hop.

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Thu Aug 12 2021

3

It was okay

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Mon Sep 06 2021

3

I liked the beats, but I couldn't find my way into the lyrics of the song. Partly very difficult music to relax to. (5/10) Favourite Track: Bladerunners

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Fri Sep 17 2021

3

Rap even beluisterd

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Fri Sep 17 2021

3

Niet al te aandachtig beluisterd maar het was wel leuk met momenten.

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Sun Oct 10 2021

3

Really interesting weird hip hop, sounds like Deltron 3030. Can't believe i'd not heard of him

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Thu Oct 28 2021

3

Not bad. I'm a little surprised I haven't heard of this rapper before, I've explored a lot of underground hip-hop from this era. This wouldn't be one of my first choices to represent the genre/era... My one big complaint about this album is that none of the beats really hit hard enough. The whole album has a frustratingly ethereal quality, like aural blue balls.

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