Customer Reviews

Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album by Bill Laswell & friends is very, very good. The beats are driven by the bass lines, and the overall production of each track is great. There are very interesting and excellent drum rythms, which can best be described as tribal or worldly (mostly African). There is also a Jamaican dub stlye influence which mixes perfectly with the nature of the album. The overdubbing of electronic ambient sounds adds to the rich production landscape. I really love the combination of tribal and traditional type rythms with modern electronic effects and sounds. The crossing of these two forms is terrific and produces a unique sound. By taking the best elements from various forms of music this album doesn't let down. 5 Stars.

Another Bill Laswell album that crosses the genres of electronica and tribal sounds perfectly is Tabla Beat Science: Tala Matrix. Check it out, especially if you like Radioaxiom: A Dub Tranmission.

Firstly let it be known that this is one of my all time favourite albums (in my Top 3), Purely because nobody creates mood, sound, emotion & transcendence as effortlessly capable as Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell. Both phenomenally talented artists & musicians, that have been involved in a great many bands/ projects / and musical movements for quite some time. To dismiss that album as stoner-Dub music would be incredibly foolish....each track builds from the most simplistic of instruments (such as heavy bass guitars, and sitars & drums), and every rotational chorus to comes around, is layered with another set of instruments (usually quiet trombone & Trumpet playing), and once the track has evolved into an east European / Asian balancing of World music & subtle Jazz Grooves....wonderfully pianos & Asian / African renowned singers (Sly Dunbar, Nils Petter Molvær, Amina Claudine Myers), create a mood & ambience that can't be reasonably be matched by similar artists......the music is a great many, many things (Grooved-out, intelligently psychedelic, progressive Jazz/world music grooves, sophisticated Dub, heavily textured ambient melodies, beautiful mind music......and yet even all those accolades doesn't do the music justice (as it's so much more than that). When you sometimes hear people refer to music as being `Life-altering', `influential', `Deeply moving' & most of all `Spiritual'.....its music like this that they are referring to, and undoubtedly one of the reasons why music affects & touch's us emotionally in so many ways.....a transcendial album.

Laswell is probably one of the most interesting producers out there and this release shows it. Some people think that a lot of his stuff is boring which I could understand. I wouldn't recommend buying everything he ever put out because usually half the CD has merit. But there's a lot of experimentation here and (as usual) a perfect blend of mixing cross cultural music with modern landscapes. There isn't another prodigy like Laswell and if you don't know who he is I'd suggest this release or EMERALD AETHER. Bill Laswell, the true surgical sound master of music.

I was trying to find some decent (ambient?) stuff to add to my collection which is dominated by industrial and psytrance (not for the feint of heart). The most chill stuff I have is "effector" by download and "the ghost of each room" by cevin key, which can still be a grating listen. I tried "music has the right to children" by boards of canada and "music for cats" by cevin key and returned them for this.
It is a far cry from anything else I have but it holds its own. It has enough moments that give you goose bumps. I love the echo/ reverb on the trumpet - an instrument I loathe to hear in any music. In fact, many of the (pretty traditional) instruments, seem treated with some sort of effect or other giving it a very spacey feel. (Foreign) vocals (also treated?) accompany two of the tracks, and are not of this world - incredible!
If you are in search of music to accompany your forays into altered states of consciousness, especially of the psychedelically inclined, give this a try. It even has two luminous (magic?) mushrooms on the cd cover.
When I put this on I can imagine being at a lapa, surrounded by bush and the sounds of african wildlife, drinking cocktails to the sound of running water as a cool evening approaches.... Very relaxed, mysterious, emotional and refreshing!
hmmmm yummy!
I recommend Ott (Blumenkraft) for those of you that enjoy this.

this stuff really pounds on a system,it's got bill's "atmosphere" throughout the whole album,and it's quite cheap in price.buy it if you enjoy trippy,chilled bumps!

Laswell is probably one of the most interesting producers out there and this release shows it. Some people think that a lot of his stuff is boring which I could understand. I wouldn't recommend buying everything he ever put out because usually half the CD has merit. But there's a lot of experimentation here and (as usual) a perfect blend of mixing cross cultural music with modern landscapes. There isn't another prodigy like Laswell and if you don't know who he is I'd suggest this release or EMERALD AETHER. Bill Laswell, the true surgical sound master of music.

In this house a "Bill Laswell" is a 50/50 mix of lemon cordial and iced tea. An acquired taste perhaps, but an excellent drop in this reviewer's opinion. I first ran into Mr Laswell with "Memory Serves" by Material and know of his producing "CD" by PIL. This is fabulous stuff. Spacy spacious gear that floats along like silk undies. Just the ticket for my next hot bath for the arthritis in my spine. Can't say how much I enjoyed it, have to give it an irrational magic number score. This is the real deal, ladies and gents, and this is the Man from planet Jazz saying bye for now, see you next time. A special vote of thanks to Billy Boy's parents for bringing him into the world and whatever moved him to take up his mighty claymore and lay about himself therefore with.

Jah Wobble and Bill Laswell...a combination that cannot miss. This is again true here. This came out some time ago and I also did not buy it recently, but it has not aged at all. While I somewhat disagree with those who say this is not stoner dub...it is...but really...who cares when it has this level of sophistication? In some parts it again reflects Bill Laswell's obsession with the 70's Miles Davis excursions into ambient free jazz.

The digital dub has grooves that are infectious, as Bill Laswell and Wobble drive the beat with brilliant bass lines and have vast room for free improvisation on the seven tracks.

The mix is what makes the album special, as weaving through the bass lines are a wealth of artists, including Nils Peter Molvaer and Graham Haynes (horns), Amina Claudine Myers (keyboards), Nicky Skopelitis (guitar) and Sly Dunbar (percussion).

Call it NuJazz or phusion or future jazz.....but - in reality - the future is now.

As far as spacy, dubby Laswell releases go, this is a great one. Just don't come to this CD expecting a Scratch Perry rootdown, cuz it's not that. It's futuristic, spacy, spacious grooves with tight, tight drumming, PHAT basslines and heady, spaced-out keys, guitars and cornets. Highly recommended for Laswellheads and newbies.