''Easy Listening 4 Armageddon'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop musician

Mike Ladd Mike Ladd is an American alternative hip-hop artist. Based in Paris, France, ''The Guardian'' once described him as "the king of the hip-hop concept." Early life Mike Ladd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. As a child, he lived in India and Zimb ...

. It was released on

Scratchie Records Scratchie Records was an independent record label founded in 1995 by James Iha and D'arcy Wretzky of The Smashing Pumpkins, Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne, Ivy), Kerry Brown (Catherine) and Jeremy Freeman. Initially, Scratchie was based in ...

in 1997.

Critical reception

Dan LeRoy of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

commented that "through a series of lo-fi beats and loops that make stunning use of a few choice samples, Ladd creates an eerie soundscape that perfectly matches his muttered musings." Tony Green of ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' was an American print magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade ...

'' wrote, "Ignoring the all too common impulse to pile texture on top of texture, Ladd constructs 12 tracks that cajole as effectively as his richly imagistic poetry."

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

of ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' called it "one of the most accomplished hip-hop debuts in recent years."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. *

– vocals, production, arrangement, programming, synthesizer (8), mixing (9), art direction, front photography * Bruce Grant – tape loop * Vassos – recording (1-7, 9-12), engineering (1-7, 9-12), mixing (10) * Dawn Norfleet – flute (2) * Dennis Kelley – synthesizer (3, 8, 10), co-production (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11), mixing (1-8, 11, 12) * Jeff Cordero – guitar (3), recording (1-7, 9-12), engineering (1-7, 9-12), mixing (1-8, 11, 12) * Bill Green – bass guitar (8, 10) * John Hancock – recording (8) * Mio – piano (10) * Mums the Schemer – vocals (12) * Shariff Simmons – vocals (12) * GRFX – vocals (12) * Natasha Latasha Diggs – vocals (12) * High Priest – vocals (12) * Beans – vocals (12) * Jessica Care Moore – vocals (12) * Chris Athens – mastering * J. Stewart – art direction, design * Dems – bomb logo * Bill Harris – front photography * Maceo Bishop – back photography

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1997 debut albums Mike Ladd albums