BILL LASWELL

INVISIBLE DESIGN II

  1/  Xtrak                                      (Laswell)                     2.59
  2/  Quartz                                     (Laswell)                     5.12
  3/  Aphasia                                    (Laswell)                     7.16
  4/  Sub Sonnet                                 (Laswell)                     7.12
  5/  Solar Clip                                 (Laswell)                     3.26
  6/  Iron Monger                                (Laswell)                     1.56
  7/  Fractal                                    (Laswell)                     5.09
  8/  Pillar                                     (Laswell)                     3.09
  9/  Gulf of Stars                              (Laswell)                     7.08
  10/ Darkness After                             (Laswell)                     6.13

          Recorded and mixed at Orange Music Studios, West Orange, New Jersey
          Engineered by Robert Musso
          Assistant: James Dellatacoma
          Summoned by John Zorn
          Produced by John Zorn
          Associate Producer: Kazunori Sugiyama
          Mastered by Scott Hull
Bill Laswell: fretless bass, 8-string bass, efx.

          2009 - Tzadik (USA), TZ 8062 (CD)

REVIEWS :

People often discuss types of music that they find unbearable. Usually, it’s some sort of pop band or country music that grates on their nerves. While I’m guilty of hating many kinds of music, I have always proven an adventurous sort. I doubt most people who despise Dave Matthews Band, Kenny Chesney, Lil Wayne, or other patriarchs of pop music have ever had the frame of reference that an album like Invisible Design II can provide. If the American masses think they want to change the station during 3 minute pop songs, I’d love to see them try this meandering improvisational beast on for size. Laswell, an undisputed master of the bass guitar, spelunks by himself in effects-strewn caverns of low-end, finding an exponentially bizarre range of sounds, tones, and textures along the way. The kind of ambient, experimental soundscapes that he offers aren’t that far removed from the dub and psychedelic work he’s known for. As solo bass albums go, this one is unlike any other, but it takes a wide-open musical mind and plenty of tolerance to make it through the whole thing.

7.4/10

courtesy of the Wounded Messenger blog