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Laswell's artistic and commercial breakthrough came via jazz icon Herbie Hancock's Future Shock album (1983); Laswell produced the album, played bass on all the songs, and co-wrote most of the material. Its track "Rockit" has frequently been regarded as a pivotal moment in the influence of hip hop and turntablism (via Grand Mixer D.ST). The track was the first hit song to feature turntable scratching. The remainder of the 80’s saw Laswell produce albums for people like Sly & Robbie (who Laswell continues to work with) Mick Jagger, PiL, The Ramones, Iggy Pop and Yoko Ono. Many of these projects afforded Laswell the opportunity to bring in some of his normal working crew to record on more mainstream records.
The later part of the ‘80s also saw Laswell completely sever ties with the Celluloid label, which has since been sold several times. 1990 marked a watershed year in Laswell’s control and ability to produce high-quality recordings controlled by himself. In addition to purchasing his own studio (the famed Greenpoint Studio in Brooklyn), Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records and longtime Laswell booster, gave Laswell the opportunity to begin a new label with the backing of Island Records. Thus, Axiom Records was born. Axiom played the ‘Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted’ credo to its fullest. With a sizable budget and minimal interference from Island executives, Laswell had the means to make arguably some of the most important music of his career. In addition to albums by Material that featured players ranging from Sly & Robbie, William S. Burroughs, Wayne Shorter, Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell, he produced and released albums by drummer and Ornette Coleman acolyte Ronald Shannon Jackson, Sonny Sharrock (featuring Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones), Laswell main-stay Nicky Skopelitis, Last Poet Umar Bin Hassan and Ginger Baker.
The most successful project and one of the few still in print on Axiom – where the first release was produced, was Praxis. Originally the moniker that an experimental Celluloid 12” by Laswell was released under in 1984, Praxis now became a full-fledged band, The release, ‘Transmutations (Mutadis Mutandis)’ featured the enigmatic guitarist Buckethead, drummer Brain, Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins. The project has spawned other releases, never with the same line-up twice, generally consisting of the core trio of Buckethead, Brain and Laswell supplimented by others. 1994/1995 saw a bit of a slow-down in Axiom’s output, but a number of genre-shattering 2CD compilation sets were released. Axiom Funk’s ‘Funkronomicon’ saw previously released tracks by Praxis and Nicky Skopelitis paired with a host of tracks mainly featuring various members of the Parliament/Funkadelic crew. Axiom Dub was another compilation, Laswell also remixed the whole of the Axiom catalog into a 2 disc ambient mix called Axiom Ambient
The ‘90s also saw a number of other labels associated with Laswell, most prolific of these was Subharmonic. Though not owned by Laswell, the label was essentially a release house for his projects, most of which fell into the ambient or ambient-dub catagories, notably Psychonavigation (with Pete Namlook) and Cymatic Scan (with Tetsu Inoue). The label also released albums from Praxis and Laswell’s new project, Divination, an ambient dub project (umbrella moniker for releases of ambient compilations).
Laswell released two albums of remixes from dead artists – Bob Marley’s Dreams of Freedom on Axiom and Miles Davis’ Panthalassa. The first contained airy, ambient dub translations of some of Marley’s Island catalog, largely sans Marley’s voice. Chris Blackwell requested the album as part of a planned series of remix albums by various producers who were rooted in the reggae/dub tradition. Blackwell’s departure from Island killed any further albums. For Panthalassa, Laswell took the tapes from Miles’ ‘electric period’ and re-imagined (cut-up and remix) them. The impetus for the project being that the original releases were just mixes made by Teo Macero from long in studio sessions. Needless to say, critic and fan responses varied wildly.
The late ‘90s saw two other major changes, Chris Blackwell left Island Records. Although he took the Axiom imprint with him to his new Palm Pictures label, the back catalog stayed with Island. Many of the albums are now out of print, efforts to obtain master recordings and new distribution has been unsuccessful. The other change came in the form of studio space. Laswell, seeing that Greenpoint had turned into a sort of hangout, moved his studio to West Orange, New Jersey, now calling it Orange Music or alternately, Orange Music Sound Studios......to be continued
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Laswell & Namlook - Psychonavigation ( 94 ^ 137mb)
Sonic hallucinogens that permeate the psyche, sequences and atmospheres full of experimental sounds, strange samples, and overt space music riffs, nothing earthly about it. The atmospheres are metallic and robotic evocations. The flow, however, is smooth and fluid. This is one of the best Namlook/Laswell collaborations, essential space music. It bore four more Psychonavigations.
1 - Psychic And UFO Revelations In The Last Days (38:46)
2 - Angel Tech (10:17)
3 - Black Dawn (21:22)
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Jah Wobble • Bill Laswell - Radioaxiom – A Dub Transmission ( 01 ^ 99mb)
Featuring a cast of characters that includes Nils Petter Molvær, Hamid Drake, Sly Dunbar, Aiyb Deng, Nicky Skopelitis, and vocalist Gigi Shibabbaw (later mrs.Laswell), this collaboration between bassists Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble is many things, but a far cry from the stripped-down, spooky reggae. This is a mind journey of an album that extends the time-space continuum, or at least gives the illusion it does. This may not be the heavy-duty dub blowout expected by some fans of this pair, but it is an elegant, and very tasteful record, assembling a plethora of melodies, textures, instruments, and rhythms with taste and attention to detail, in short beautiful mind music.
1 - Subcode (7:36)
2 - Alsema Dub (5:48)
3 - Virus B (8:06)
4 - Orion (7:51)
5 - 6th Chamber (7:09)
6 - Alam Dub (6:49)
7 - Second Sight (8:35)
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The Golden Palominos - Drunk With Passion (91 ^ 99mb)
Golden Palominos first featured Fier, singer-guitarist Arto Lindsay, saxophonist John Zorn, bass guitarist Bill Laswell and violinist/guitarist Fred Frith. Their self-titled debut album was released on New York's Celluloid Records in 1983, the album is notable for having some of the first recorded turntable scratching outside of rap music, courtesy of Laswell and M.E. Miller. The Palominos' next album, 1985's Visions of Excess, would sound vastly different, leaning towards songs more in a folk vein, with a sound in some respects pre-dating the emergence of the alt-country genre by a few years. This record was also noteworthy as the debut of singer Syd Straw, whose songwriting and vocals would be featured prominently on this record and the next, Blast Of Silence. Cream's Jack Bruce, guitarists Richard Thompson and Jody Harris, and R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe also appeared on the record. Of the band members that were on the first record, only Fier and Arto Lindsay had remained. Blast Of Silence was released the following year, carrying on in much of the same vein as Visions Of Excess and with appearances by many of the same personnel.
A Dead Horse (1989) carried on in the sound of its predocessors slightly, but some of the songs also crossed into a darker, more ambient and ethereal sound, a sound which would dominate the Palomino records of the 1990s. Syd Straw had moved on and was no longer in the band, with most of the vocals now handled by Amanda Kramer. It saw the return of Bill laswell who brought Bernie Worrell and Aiyb Dieng along. Drunk With Passion marked the first record not on Celluloid Records, with its sound taking from some of the darker cues heard on A Dead Horse and also using more processed and electronic sounds, giving many of its songs an ethereal feel. This album could be argued was more influenced by its guest appearances than any of the others, who included Hüsker Dü's Bob Mould, Richard Thompson, and Michael Stipe.
This Is How It Feels, released in 1993, continued on in much of the ambient sound of Drunk With Passion, but it also incorporated many elements of club and trance music. It also marked the introduction of new lead vocalist Lori Carson, who co-wrote nine of the CD's tracks with Anton Fier. Bill Laswell's production work on this and on the following record, Pure, would heavily influence his own remix work of the late 90's, as seen on the CDs Emerald Ather and City Of Light. Pure, released a year later, is seen by many as the band's most focused work, due much to the strong contributions once again of Carson, Laswell, and Skopelitis. Tracks such as "No Skin" and "Pure" continue in the dance/ambient style of the previous album. The CD would also stir a minor controversy over the bare female breast on its cover. The song "Little Suicides", from Pure showed much of same sparse sound, production, and strong yet quiet vocals (albeit less electronic) that would influence Carson's solo work. Anton Fier would produce Carson's 1995 solo record, Where It Goes.
Dead Inside (1996) was another stylistic turnaround for the Palominos, and their last proper album. This time, the record had a deathly, industrial sound, with the line-up consisting only of Fier, multi-instrumentalist Knox Chandler (who before joining the Palominos, was also in a band with Lori Carson), Nicky Skopelitis, and poet Nicole Blackman. Much of the Golden Palominos work has become increasingly hard to find, and compilations do not provide a complete overview of their work.
1 - Alive And Living Now (Voc.Michael Stipe) (5:38)
2 - The Haunting (5:30)
3 - When The Kingdom Calls (Voc. Amanda Kramer) (6:26)
4 - A Sigh (Voc. Amanda Kramer) (8:36)
5 - Thunder Cries (Voc. Amanda Kramer) (4:22)
6 - Hands Of Heaven (Voc. Amanda Kramer) (5:22)
7 - Dying From The Inside Out (Voc.Bob Mould) (8:18)
8 - Begin To Return (Voc.Bob Kidney) (6:12)
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