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Mike Ladd
Activator Cowboy |
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| USA 12inch |
| Label: Ozone Music |
| Release Year: 2001 |
| Style: Hip-Hop & R'n'B |
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Tracks |
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Activator Cowboy (Street, Instrumental) |
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The Worst Element Of Hip Hop (Street, Instrumental) |
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As soon as I realised that Mike Ladd was one of the creative heads behind 'The Infesticons' I worked myself into a literal frenzy of excitement just fumbling with the tone arm of my turntable.
This is Ladd's latest single 'Activator Cowboy'. A-Cyde gave me a whole bunch of Mike Ladd releases to listen to before I reviewed this. He told me to listen to it alone, whilst high, whilst drunk, and whilst with a lady. I managed three of these, but my lady for the evening made me turn it off in favour of Coldplay. It was a good weekend.
Anyway... one of the things I loved most about the previous Mike Ladd stuff I'd heard was the presence of overweight electro-style beats. These things are straight out of some custom built Amiga or C64, and they're FAT! The electro beats on 'Activator Cowboy' are typical of Ladd's production style, but they're pretty low fat. Straight after I listened to this for the first time I had to listen to Infesticon's 'Hero Theme' again. Here's a comparison- If 'Hero Theme' was rump steak, 'Activator Cowboy' is positively hot-dog water. It seems that the focal point of this track is the somewhat unusual vocals by Daniel Chavis. Whilst these are refreshing the offerings pretty well, I didn't like them that much. They kind of reminded me of 'The Artist formerly known as Prince'. I don't know why, but fucking hell- that's not a good thing.
Track two is 'The West Element of HipHop' and, contrary to what the title suggests, this is a good tune. With amusing vocals and Cuts by Frederick Shakespeare, It's a bit more full-bodied, with a cheeky little electro riff throughout. The feel of this track is closer to the Infesticons stuff, but still nowhere near as good. Am I missing the point here?
Okay, The B-side... First track. 'Foxwoods'. Yes, yes, yes! This single is getting progressively better! The production on this track is fantastic. Pretty dark, nightime bass lines with hard-hitting, yet beautiful electro noise. This is the kinda stuff I'm looking for in a Mike Ladd release. Again, the vocals are pretty different, but unlike on 'Activator Cowboy', I think they worked this time. I like this track (and the instrumental is even better). The final track is 'The Best element of HipHop'. Again, the production is good, but the cuts are pretty obvious, and not on an unusual tip like the rest. It's pretty funny, but I'm sure there's something I'm missing. Anyway, an averagely average single that peaks with one good track. Put it this way, I DJ'd at a house party on Saturday and I didn't play anything off this. Worth a listen, though. |
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 Wish List |
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Price: CHF 5.00 |
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Currently not on stock!
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