BILL LASWELL
Emerald Aether-Shape Shifting (Shanachie)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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There's barely a corner of the musical universe that bassist/composer/producer Bill Laswell hasn't ventured into over the last 20 years. Now there's one less such corner.

Having produced projects featuring the music of Morocco, India, Brazil, Gambia, China and Senegal, along with rock, jazz, funk, hip-hop, reggae, no-wave, new wave and several beyond category, Laswell was turned loose on the Shanachie catalog of traditional and contemporary Irish music. The result is something totally new but somehow still within the tradition.

Drawing on the shape-shifting legends of Celtic mythology for inspiration, he has reformed and reformulated centuries of history into a new kind of myth, a myth of the future. This is music that can alternately soothe or startle, delight or frighten. It's comforting and bold, energetic and solemn. It's Bill Laswell, and that's saying almost everthing and almost nothing, because you can never be sure where he's going, except that he's probably going somewhere you've never been. You'll be glad when you get there, though.

Track List:

The Wayfaring Stranger * The Stride Set (reels) * The Labouring Man's Daughter * We Dreamed Our Dreams * Wendel's Wedding * The Gray Selchie * Dark Green * Wind Chimes And Nursery Rhymes * One, I Love * La Bruxa * The Hare In The Heather * Coaineadh Na Dtri Muire (Lament Of The Three Marys) * Slieve Russell, Jimmy Wards J.G. * The Beauty Spot (reels)

© 2000 - Shaun Dale