"With this sprawling concept album, Mike Ladd has hit a new career high. 4.5 of 5." —URB The Father Divine project started two years ago as an attempt to capture the original, analog-laden ROIR cassette sound (of Bad Brains & Suicide, of punk & dub) as filtered through Mike Ladd’s artistic vision: I’m not one to be over-enthusiastic about any label I’m working with but for me ROIR is pretty special considering they put out one of my all-time favorite albums: Bad Brains. I’ve always loved the grimy, haphazardly compressed sound of tapes. I still use them in my music and wanted to capture that on Father Divine. It then morphed into a religious cult-figure concept-album (google “Father Divine” to learn more). However, during the recording process life stepped in and whisked Mike away to Paris (for love, of course) and rewarded him w/ a wife & child. Extreme change makes one reflect on one’s life and often opens new creative avenues. For example, Mike explains, “Now that I’m safely married, I find it easier to write about girls.” Father Divine has two classic girl tracks (“Barney’s Girl” and “Murder Girl”). They, along with a few others, are great examples of Mike making peace with a former life. “Apt C2” is at once a requiem for his Bronx apt and a tentative hello to his new life in Paris. Father Divine is pregnant with personal imagery of Mike’s past, as well as his trademark political fury toward the present and inimitable visions of the afterfuture. Father Divine is also