Sleeping in Vilna - Why Waste Time

Philip Clark, The Wire

Hiphop artist Mike Ladd (formerly of The Infesticons and others) provides and intones the words; improvisors Carol Robinson (clarinet), Dave Randall (guitar) and Dirk Rothbrust (drums, percussion) create a sonic backdrop on the fly. Ladd’s lyrics rail against Western consumerism and war, although his sensuous love song “Marvelling” adds another dimension. In “Past Chaser”, Ladd’s lyrics get strangled by the musicians’ dense and relentless onslaughts. Nevertheless, this is poetry and jazz like I’d always hoped it could be.