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Transmutation
(Praxis: 1992) 1. Blast / War Machine Dub
[3:52] A spectacular sonic collage, funk to rock to hip-hop and back again, with brilliant instrumental performances from Bootsy, Bernie and guitarist Buckethead. A look at what music might look like if creativity rather than marketability was the industry's driving force.(DBW) AMG REVIEW: Apart from an early experimental 12" which
has little to do with the later records, this was the first release of producer Bill
Laswell's Praxis project, which he conceived & constructed around mystery guitar
virtuoso Buckethead. Beautifully packaged (fascinating artwork by James Koehnline, freaky
photography by Thi-Linh Le and rebellious liner notes by Hakim Bey), this disc presented a
band of top musicians at their most creative: apart from Buckethead, there are P-Funkers
Bootsy Collins (bass) and Bernie Worrell (keyboards), plus drummer Brain (aka Brian
Mantia) and turntable wizard Af Next Man Flip (aka Afrika Baby Bam from the Jungle
Brothers). From the searing heavy metal riffs which open the disc to the spaced-out noise
collage which ends it, the band covers lots of territory: metal, rock, funk, hip-hop,
jazz, noise intermezzos, back and forth, crossbred and interlocked. The first two tracks,
"Blast/War Machine Dub" and "Interface/ Stimulation Loop," change from
heavy metal to funk effortlessly. The third, "Crash Victim/Black Science
Navigator," turns from a breakneck-paced metal riff into a hip-hop scratching orgy
without a second thought. "Animal Behavior" is certainly the most accessible
track on the disc, relentlessly funky and featuring funny vocals by Bootsy. The second
part of the track is a haunting ballad which points to Buckethead's later accomplishments
on his solo release Colma. "Dead Man Walking," "Seven Laws of Woo,"
and "The Interworld and the New Innocence" are showcases for Buckethead's
dangerous guitar shredding, alternating between majestic and breathless. "Giant
Robot/Machines in the Modern City/Godzilla" prepares for the big showdown, with lots
of mean guitar riffs standing against weird sounds and effects. The last track,
"After Shock (Chaos Never Died)," then delivers an unusual outro by letting the
rockish intro quickly dissolve into a strange sonic collage, featuring Worrell's Hammond
organ improvisation augmented by heavily treated noises and sounds, scratches and tape
manipulations. In fact, the last track (which runs well over 15 minutes) may be the only
thing which will put most listeners off, but in fact this track is the icing on the cake
-- like the liner notes read, "Chaos Is Not Entropy...Chaos Is Continual
Creation." -- Chris Genzel, All-Music Guide Bernie Worrell - Synthesizer, Organ (Hammond), Piano
(Electric) ,Bill Laswell - Sound Effects, Noise, Producer , Umar Bin Hassan - Chant ,
Zillatron - Bass, Vocals, Sampling, beats , Deborah Barsha - Vocals (bckgr) , Bootsy
Collins - Bass, Vocals, Producer, Engineer, Sampling, beats ,Buckethead - Guitar
(Acoustic), Guitar (Electric) ,Fuzz Face - Bass, Vocals, Sampling, beats , Oz Fritz -
Engineer ,Brenda Holloway - Vocals (bckgr) , Thi-Linh Le - Photography , Imad Mansour -
Mixing Assistant, Tracy McKnight - Coordination , Robert Musso - Engineer, Mixing ,
Howie Weinberg - Mastering |