Bill Laswell
Articles about Bill Laswell:
Herbie Hancock’s Rockit
This is the music video for Herbie Hancock’s monster electronic dance classic, Rockit. It was released as a single from his 1983 album Future Shock.
The song was written by Hancock, bass guitarist Bill Laswell and synthesizer/drum machine programmer Michael Beinhorn.
via limahl81:
Constructed and composed during the recording process at various studios, including Martin Bisi’s in Brooklyn NY, “Rockit” was perhaps the first popular single to feature scratching and other turntablist techniques, performed by GrandMixer D.ST – an influential DJ in the early years of turntablism – using turntables as a musical instrument. Later turntablists, such as DJ Qbert and Mix Master Mike, cited Rockit as revelatory in the documentary film Scratch, inspiring their interest in the instrument.
The record GrandMixer D.ST. used for scratching in Rockit was Change The Beat by B-Side, released in 1982 on Celluloid Records.
Avant jazz guru Bill Laswell has created Method of Defiance, a new super group that marries drum and bass electronic beats with the improvisation of jazz musicians.
Inamorata is possibly one of his most ambitious projects in a prolific career that has included producing Grammy winning albums and singles for Herbie Hancock – who makes an appearance here on electric piano, flowing over Paradox breaks. All in all, 12 beatsmiths were commissioned from the top tiers of drum n bass – including Black Sun Empire, Evol Intent, Submerged, new wunderkinds Amit, and Fanu, and also Metalheadz stalwarts Outrage and DStar.
Musicians were selected from the Miles Davis era of electronic fusion (Pete Cosey, Dave Liebman) to modern virtuosos such as Buckethead and Nils Petr Molvaer. The world of free jazz and avant composition weighs in throughout, with John Zorn and the Masada Strings, Toshinori Kondo, and legendary tenor player Pharoah Sanders.
According to the group, the concept of combining electronic beatmasters and virtuostic players has yielded a dark vortex of electronics and musicians blending into an infinitely listenable journey.
You can hear a preview of Inamorata below.
