This album is the final installment in a three-part project led by Mike Ladd, recording here under the name Infesticons. The Infesticons sound is studiously messy and rockish, though elements of Bollywood, hip-hop, grime, and blues fight their way to the surface at times. Ladd's vocal style is shouty but not entirely lacking in tunefulness. But this kind of experiment treads a very, very thin line: on one side is the kind of fertile creative tension that comes when you're keeping the forces of chaos barely in check; on the other side is chaotic self-indulgence, music that sounds like it was much more fun to make than it is to listen to. Too much of the time, Bedford Park lands solidly on the wrong side of that line. "Blockin' Door Anthem" generates tons of energy, but ultimately sounds like a half-baked mélange of muddy, played-out new wavisms. "Dirty Ol' Men Anthem" resets standard hip-hop sexual braggadocio in a rockish context, without bringing anything new or interesting to it. "Plane Anthem," on the other hand, takes grime, rock, and hip-hop to a genuinely new place, as does the excellent "Bombs Anthem." But "Sky's Anthem" is whiny, "Get Along Anthem" is mediocre by the numbers punk rock, and "Word Sin Anthem" sounds like rehearsal tape that was thrown in as filler. There are some fine moments here, but not enough of them to justify purchase.
© Rick Anderson /TiVo