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Thread: Bill Laswell: Reccomendations(?)

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  1. #1
    Member Mythos's Avatar
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    Bill Laswell: Reccomendations(?)

    I have his 2001 release titled: Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission which I really like.

    I bought his 2004 release titled: Version 2 Version: A Dub Transmission which is just Ok..

    He has a ton of releases, any of them any good?

    http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bill-...l-mn0000075979

  2. #2
    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    I'm totally enjoying Laswell's recent cd release Means Of Deliverance,for solo acoustic bass guitar.That's all there is on this cd,just the acoustic bass guitar, a few tracks have overdubbed bass guitar and one track has vocals.

    An entire cd of solo acoustic bass guitar may not be most people's cup of tea, even Laswell fans,but this cd is a winner,imo.

    This is the only Laswell cd i own.

    Here's a track from Means Of Deliverance.
    Last edited by walt; 02-17-2013 at 07:36 AM.
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  3. #3
    All Things Must Pass spellbound's Avatar
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    Bill Laswell - Filmtracks 2000
    Material - Hallucination Engine
    Praxis - Transmutation
    Praxis - Metatron
    Praxis - Sacrifist
    Radioaxiom - A Dub Transmission
    Nicky Skopelitis - Ekstasis
    Ekstasis - Wake Up And Dream
    Sacred System - Chapter One Book Of Entrance
    We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
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    And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973

  4. #4
    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    Bill Laswell Baselines 1983
    Material Memory serves
    Material Seven souls
    Material Hallucination Engine
    Massacre (Frith, Laswell, Maher) Killing time
    Ryuichi Sakamoto - Neo Geo
    Arcana - Arc of the testimony (with Tony Williams & Buckethead)

  5. #5
    Agree w/ much of the above, (some of his bass playing on Metatron is mindblowingly mindblowing) also really like all the later Massacre releases and the Nicky Skopelitis Revelator disc.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Mythos View Post
    He has a ton of releases, any of them any good?
    My favorite under his own name is Hear No Evil, which should appeal in sort of the same way as Radioaxiom (fwiw it's less dark overall and the dub basslines aren't quite so central). The Sacred Systems series is also pretty solid, if more geared toward background listening than foreground.

    I'd also highly recommend Tabla Beat Science, which is (was?) a kind of Indian-techno-jungle-dub-funk-fusion outfit. Zakir Hussain alone makes anything worth a few good listens to me, but the rest of the band really shines too.

  7. #7
    I've got a couple of the albums he did with Last Exit, the amazing free-jazz band he had with Sonny Sharrock, Ronald Shannon Jackson, and Peter Brötzmann. I'm not sure which I have, I think I have Cassette Recordings and The Noise Of Trouble. Those are both pretty good, but might be a bit on the skronky side for some listeners.

    And speaking of Sharrock, Laswell also played on and I think produced Sonny's Seize The Rainbow album, which is to me one of the most amazing records of the 80's (or any other era, for that matter). There's some skronky guitar work on it, but there's also some gorgeous melodic guitar playing from Sonny. And he didn't play on it, but Laswell also produced Sonny's Ask The Ages album, but that ones a bit more skronky than Seize The Rainbow.

    And wasn't Laswell also on a couple of the Dark Side Of The Moog albums that Klaus Schulze and Pete Namlook made together?

  8. #8
    Subterranean Tapir Hobo Chang Ba's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    I've got a couple of the albums he did with Last Exit, the amazing free-jazz band he had with Sonny Sharrock, Ronald Shannon Jackson, and Peter Brötzmann. I'm not sure which I have, I think I have Cassette Recordings and The Noise Of Trouble. Those are both pretty good, but might be a bit on the skronky side for some listeners.

    And speaking of Sharrock, Laswell also played on and I think produced Sonny's Seize The Rainbow album, which is to me one of the most amazing records of the 80's (or any other era, for that matter). There's some skronky guitar work on it, but there's also some gorgeous melodic guitar playing from Sonny. And he didn't play on it, but Laswell also produced Sonny's Ask The Ages album, but that ones a bit more skronky than Seize The Rainbow.

    And wasn't Laswell also on a couple of the Dark Side Of The Moog albums that Klaus Schulze and Pete Namlook made together?
    Last Exit is probably my favorite thing with him. But you sure must enjoy out musics.
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  9. #9
    He is such prolific writer, musician, producer... you name it... that you'd probably would want to specify your musical preferences first... Laswell's output ranges from jazz to dub to beatless ambient to ethnic experiments...
    "The world will soon be right again,
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  10. #10
    Lino
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    I'm a HUGE fan of all things Laswell...one of my all time fav artists. My favourite listening right now is an album he did with Maghrebika called Neftakhir. What a brilliant album!


  11. #11
    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
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    Lino, the last sample you listed could have come out of Gabriel's Real World Studios. Very nice.
    What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)

  12. #12
    yeah...his catalog is DEEP. It sounds like you're looking for dub, so I'll second the recommendation for the series of releases on ROIR (aside from Version2Version that you already mentioned)...the 4 Dub Chamber albums vary in sound. I would venture to say that if you like Radioaxiom them start with Chapter 2 and Chapter 4. Or buy the cheap sampler ROIR put out with one track from each. If you can find the Inna Dub Style release from WordSound, it's essentially Laswell and Style Scott with the raw tracks taken and mixed by Laswell, The Eye and Prof Shehab. If it helps a bit too you can try my site http://www.silent-watcher.net/billlaswell ... I'd say the most complete discography out there and many releases have reviews. It is obviously exhaustive to go through though. We also have a nice release on Bill's new label called "Incunabula" from Method of Defiance that falls on the dubby side with a bit of jazz amongst other things. Laswell, DJ Krush, Bernie Worrell, Toshinori Kondo, Guy Licata and featuring Herbie Hancock on one track. The same line-up (with some other guests) is releasing a new album in April that (I think) is great also called "Nahariama". Anyway, that's all just my 2 cents...also to Guitar Geek - yes....Bill plays on one track on Seize the Rainbow (though my absolute favorite is not that one, but "My Song" - amazingly beautiful)...If you're a jazz fan though, "Ask the Ages" is AMAZING. An amazing quartet with Charnette Moffat, Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones. Dark Side of the Moog featured Bill on a few tracks each on 4, 5, 6 and 7 but Bill essentially just supplied bass or other sounds and Namlook worked his magic on them. No other real input from Bill.

  13. #13
    Member wideopenears's Avatar
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    I've been listening to Deadline Dissident, with Hellborg and Laswell.......pulled it off the racks and have been spinning it a lot lately.
    Bill is all over the place, really--from "out" music like Last Exit to his dubby stuff, to post-punk art rock, the Arcana and Praxis fusion wackiness....

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