Shine Heaven And Hell CD

Bassist Bill Laswell and the deeply strange guitarist Buckethead (so named for his practice of wearing a mask and an empty Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on his head at all times on-stage) have been making music of rare craziness and beauty together for more than ten years, both in and out of their avant-funk group Praxis. Working with electronic percussionist and "sound collagist" Shin Terai (who has previously recorded with Laswell under the name Chaos Face), they call themselves Shine on this album, and present a seven-part suite of dub-wise experimentation called Heaven and Hell. Each track is a numbered movement, and the whole thing proceeds and develops with a dark, slow intensity that sometimes (as on "Movement 4") judders along in a thudding, post-rockers style, and at others (as on "Movement 6") lapses into a sort of ambient and stunningly lovely guitar noodling. The separations between the tracks feel largely artificial, though -- you get the feeling that this whole album was made in one sitting, and it's most satisfying when experienced that way as well. Laswell's basslines are rubbery and gorgeous, as always, and Terai's rhythmic and atmospheric treatments nicely complement the work of the two instrumentalists. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson

After more than ten years of steady collaboration both on stage and in the studio, bassist Bill Laswell and mutant ninja guitarist Buckethead join forces once again on Heaven And Hell-a full-length dub-style excursion that also features sound collage work from Shin Terai (the original Chaos Face of Subharmonic fame, and whose 1999 debut album Unison was co-produced by Laswell). Reminiscent of some of their more extended psychedelic forays as part of the avant-shred combo Praxis, Laswell and Buckethead have consistently displayed an almost symbiotic rapport when it comes to composing. For this particular trip, they rely primarily on instinct to create a lush, flowing suite of low-end dub fugues laced with radical sound effects-echoes, flanges, envelopes, distortion and signal noise-and unrelenting grooves that will surely have even the most jaded listener trancing out in no time.

When asked how he first met Buckethead, Laswell points to a series of connections among like-minded musicians that have always seemed to play a role in any project he conceives. In this case, those connections stretch back to 1990, when Laswell had been recruited to produce the debut of an SF Bay Area punk-funk outfit called the Limbomaniacs. "I'd originally worked with Brain [the drummer from the group, and eventually the beat anchor with Laswell and Buckethead in Praxis] when we were putting together the album [Stinky Grooves, on the now-defunct In-Effect/Relativity label], and he told me about Buckethead and gave me a video of him playing in his room. I gave that to Bootsy Collins, who I was also working with at the time, and who it turns out Bucket is a big fan of. After that, Bootsy and I sort of got him involved in experimenting more, instead of committing to a full-on career with a corporate situation, which was what he almost got into at the time with Sony."

Buckethead eventually did "go career" a couple of years back when Axl Rose invited him to be the main axe handler for a recalibrated Guns 'n Roses-but that hasn't stopped him from delving into weird sonic territory, as Heaven And Hell so vividly depicts. The seven "movements" recorded here could be likened to a sci-fi movie soundtrack or an alien broadcast from deep space, with subtle changes in sound happening with an intelligent design all their own. "Movement 1" opens with what sounds like radio signals and controlled feedback, until a gong announces the start of a rimshot-based, almost jazzy shuffle, with Echoplex effects and what sounds like bowed bass throbbing through the mix. When Laswell's inimitable dub bassline finally does kick in, the mood for Heaven And Hell is firmly set.

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