VALIS

VALIS II: EVERYTHING MUST GO

 Disc one:
  1/  33                                         (Laswell,Showard)             4.36
        Bill Laswell with DXT
  2/  The Angry Lone Nut                         (Babu)                        3.31
        Babu
  3/  In There                                   (Harris)                      4.54
        Scorn
  4/  Cab 111                                    (Showard)                     4.20
        DXT
  5/  Black Loop                                 (Bernocchi)                   6.44
        SIMM
  6/  World of Destruction                       (Spectre,Israel)              6.42
      (Seals of Meggido Mix)
        Spectre meets Dr. Israel
  7/  Trawl, Disappearance                       (Rimbaud)                     4.22
      (Wireless Rupture Mix)  
        Scanner
  8/  I Wanna Be Like Ike                        (Fullcone)                    5.31
        Fullcone
  9/  Dustbuster                                 (McGraw)                      2.25
        The Shining Path
  10/ L'Insifne Des Pires                        (APC)                         4.56
        APC
  11/ Sepolta                                    (Fullcone,Buckethead)         4.56
        Fullcone with Buckethead
  12/ Hip Hop Pooray 19-Poo-96                   (Ohtake,Eye)                  8.56
        Shinro Ohrtake/Eye

 Disc two:
  1/  Explicit Sound                             (We)                          6.09
        We (Olive, L Loop, Once II)
  2/  Beaver Clause                              (Disk)                        5.14
        Disk
  3/  Metal Beat II                              (Showard)                     5.23
        DXT
  4/  Atoms To Suns (For Russell Mills)          (Laswell,Mills)               7.48 
        Bill Laswell
  5/  Twirling                                   (Scharin)                     7.32
        HIM
  6/  The Perfect Shadow                         (Bernocchi)                   5.52
        SIMM
  7/  Advice From God On Getting a Face          (Martine)                     2.25
        Corporal Blossom
  8/  Rockin' It                                 (Torture)                     4.45
        Torture
  9/  Metatron Dub (Live)                        (Praxis)                      6.19
        Praxis with DJ Disk and Mix Master Mike
  10/ Peanut                                     (Fullcone)                    2.43
        Fullcone
  11/ Phonoprophic                               (Electric Soul)               5.01
        Electric Soul
  12/ The Letter Be...                           (Buckethead)                  4.07
        Buckethead
  13/ Ananvoice                                  (Junexxon S.)                 2.34
        Junexxon S.
	
          Compiled at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York
          Each track produced and played on by it's respective writer, except as noted
          Disc one, track 1 produced by Bill Laswell
          Disc one, track 7, additional production and mix translation by Bill Laswell
          Disc two, track 8 reduced and jinxed by Torture and The ILL St.
          Disc two, track 12 produced by Steve 'Voltron' Freeman
          Conceived and constructed by Bill Laswell and Robert Soares
          Executive Producer: Norman Isaacs
Disc two :
(12) Buckethead: guitar; Voltron: Deat turntable; (13) JUNEXXON S.: guitar, electric bass,bongo, conga, airconditioner tube.

          1997 - Ion (USA), IN 2002-2 (2CD)

REVIEWS :

This disc fancies itself as an abstract hip hop compilation, and insomuch as all of the artists on it seem certainly to be influenced by hip hop, I suppose that's fair to say. However, this is more like the bastard retarded cousin of hip hop than a direct descendant. Scorn's "In There" is yet another example of straight ahead bass and beats that grooves much better than some of the tracks by more "groove-oriented" artists. The two tracks (one one each disc) from Simm offer a signature dark-beat sound coupled with muffled sound effects, and Bill Laswell teams up with DXT for an excursion into hip hop funk. The moments that work best here are the ones that focus on mood rather than groove. In a consumer culture where hip hop Dj beat records are a dime a dozen, it takes some careful manipulation to create something interesting. I get the feeling this could have worked better as a single disc like the first Valis comp.

mjeanes

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Yet another Bill Laswell influenced disc, (he appears on a couple tracks, too), this one calls to mind a more diversified version of the Altered Beats comp that came out a year or two ago. One reason, many of the artists on there appear on here, such as Laswell, DXT, and others, too. One difference is a more dub foundation on the tracks, rather than the scratching present on Altered Beats. A total of 25 tracks, all consistently good. The Laswell/DXT collaboration, "33" is a really great hip-hop beat/piano sample/ambient sound type thing. Scorn's contribution "In There" fits right in with the Leave it Out 12" (both in prepositional title and odd samples-turned-into-rhythm thing). SIMM's contributions ("Black Loop" and "The Perfect Shadow") are both dark, bass heavy, minimal dub tracks (the stuff off of Welcome is better, though). Another of track of note is Fullcone's "I Wanna be like Ike", just cause the title pissed me off....it's talking about the president, not Ike Turner, the ass-out king of the ass-beaters. [...] Back to the review...I wonder about the hyper abstract "Hip-Hop Pooray 19-Poo-96"...it's credited to Shinro Ohtake/EYE...Eye...is that in Boredoms' vocalist Yamatanka Eye? The cover to the disc does look a hell of a lot like his Dirty Rotten Graphucks company's stuff. Laswell's solo contribution "Atoms to Suns" takes the beat straight off of his "White Lies" track, and his Silent Recoil disc. Torture's "Rockin' It" is notable for it actually being a straight forward rap track. Overall, a good comp. with many quality tracks, just let it flow (why wasn't Prince Paul on here, though?, and how come the RZA is never on these things?).

Overall - 5/5

Creaig Dunton (courtesy of the False Prophet Campaign website)

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If you're interested in the whole merged Dub/Hip-Hop/Illbient scene, this compilation should hit all the right spots. As usual, Mr. Laswell overdoes himself with his low-bass production value, and the accompanying cast of thousands provide excellent diversion from it. A little D&B, a little noise, something to satisfy most any beat-junkie's palette. The buyer will be mighty thankful for the contributions of Torture and that Spectre/Israel duo. The packaging is bright and (deceptively) cheerful, but it's rather lacking in text... ie. the words "Valis II". Thus, I have no idea if your local store will know what/where it is even if they have it.

Dan Foley (courtesy of the Ambience For the Masses website)