| Ambient Compendium | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | August 27, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 1993–1996 | |||
| Studio | Greenpoint, Brooklyn | |||
| Genre | Ambient | |||
| Length | 131:56 | |||
| Label | M.I.L. Multimedia | |||
| Producer | Bill Laswell | |||
| Bill Laswell chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Ambient Compendium is a compilation album by American composer Bill Laswell, released on August 27, 1996, by M.I.L. Multimedia.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist (date) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Descent" (from Akasha ) | Laswell | Divination (1995) | 6:04 |
| 2. | "Maps of Impossible Worlds" (from Dreamatorium ) | Buckethead, Laswell | Death Cube K (1994) | 5:50 |
| 3. | "Angel Tech" (from Psychonavigation ) | Laswell, Namlook | Bill Laswell & Pete Namlook (1994) | 7:00 |
| 4. | "Aion" (from Visitation ) | Laswell, Sharp | Jonah Sharp/Bill Laswell (1994) | 6:46 |
| 5. | "Monochrome Existence (Part 6)" (from Cymatic Scan ) | Inoue, Laswell | Bill Laswell/Tetsu Inoue (1994) | 11:02 |
| 6. | "Open Url" (from Web ) | Laswell, Thaemlitz | Bill Laswell & Terre Thaemlitz (1995) | 10:19 |
| 7. | "Distal Sonority" (from Somnific Flux ) | Harris, Laswell | M.J. Harris & Bill Laswell (1995) | 11:18 |
| 8. | "Broken Dream" (previously unreleased) | Laswell | Bill Laswell (1996) | 7:29 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original artist (date) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tangier Space Draft" (from Akasha ) | Laswell | Divination (1995) | 7:04 |
| 2. | "Black Dawn" (from Psychonavigation ) | Laswell, Namlook | Bill Laswell & Pete Namlook (1994) | 7:20 |
| 3. | "Evil Eye" (from Ambient Dub Vol. II ) | Laswell | Divination (1993) | 7:49 |
| 4. | "Port of Entry (The Future Is With Control)" (from Jihad ) | Laswell | Automaton (1994) | 11:40 |
| 5. | "Ancient Evenings" (from Light in Extension ) | Laswell | Divination (1994) | 7:44 |
| 6. | "Zurvan Akarana" (from Visitation ) | Laswell, Sharp | Jonah Sharp/Bill Laswell (1994) | 8:56 |
| 7. | "Asiyah Dub (Blinding the Starry Eyes of God)" (from Dub Terror Exhaust ) | Katz, Laswell | Automaton (1994) | 9:10 |
| 8. | "White Lies" (previously unreleased) | Laswell | Bill Laswell (1996) | 6:25 |
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1996 | M.I.L. Multimedia | CD | ESP 8508 |
William Otis Laswell is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, world music, jazz, dub and ambient styles.
The Golden Palominos are an American musical group headed by drummer and composer Anton Fier, first formed in 1981. Aside from Fier, the Palominos membership has been wildly elastic, with only bassist Bill Laswell and guitarist Nicky Skopelitis appearing on every album through 1996. Their latest work, 2012's A Good Country Mile features vocalist Kevn Kinney.
Tetsu Inoue (テツ・イノウエ) is a former producer of minimalist electronic music from Japan. His style could be described as Digital minimalism or Lowercase: ambient with a heavy minimalist influence. He has lived in Japan, San Francisco, and New York, and has collaborated with musicians such as Pete Namlook, Bill Laswell, Andrew Deutsch, Terre Thaemlitz, Jonah Sharp, Taylor Deupree, and Uwe Schmidt. After the release of his last album Inland in 2007, Tetsu completely disappeared from the public eye.
Painkiller is a band that formed in 1991, combining avant-garde jazz and grindcore. Later albums incorporated elements of ambient and dub.
Ejigayehu Shibabaw, known by her stage name Gigi, is an Ethiopian singer. She has performed the music of Ethiopia in combination with a wide variety of other genres, often in collaboration with her husband Bill Laswell, a bassist and producer.
Tabla Beat Science was a musical group founded in 1999 by Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell. Its style consists of a mixture of Hindustani music, Asian Underground, ambient music, drum and bass and electronica. In 2001 Karsh Kale was approached by super producer Bill Laswell to contribute to a project he was calling “Tabla Beat Science”. The album would feature the leading tabla artists who were taking the instrument into modern and exciting new contexts. Kale joined Laswell, Zakir Hussain, Trilok Gurtu and Talvin Singh to create “Tala Matrix” which is considered to be one of the greatest modern explorations of tabla fusion in recent years. All members would contribute music to the project. The project eventually evolved into a live band featuring Kale on drums and electric tabla, Zakir Hussain on acoustic tabla, Bill Laswell on bass, Ustad Sultan Khan on Sarangi and DJ Disk – turntables. Tabla Beat Science went on to tour the world from their debut at the 16,000 strong Stern Grove concert, which eventually became a 2 disc live release on Palm Pictures. Other stops included Dubai, Beirut, LA, Tokyo, London’s Barbican Center, and finally at the 2nd annual Barsi concert in Mumbai honoring the death anniversary of Hussain’s famous father Ustad Allah Rakha. Tabla Beat Science also had many guest artists joining their electric live concerts including Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Ganesh Iyer, Salim Merchant and the Midival Punditz.
Disembodied is Buckethead's second album under the name Death Cube K. It was released on July 22, 1997 by ION Records, and was produced by Bill Laswell.
Lost in the Translation is an album by American composer Bill Laswell, issued under the moniker Axiom Ambient. It was released on November 8, 1994 by Axiom.
Transmutation is the first album by Bill Laswell's ever-changing "supergroup" Praxis. The album was released in 1992 and features Buckethead on guitar, Bootsy Collins on bass and vocals, Brain on drums, Bernie Worrell on keyboards and DJ AF Next Man Flip on turntables and mixer.
Shin Terai is a Japanese musician and producer most known for his work with Bill Laswell and Buckethead. On his albums he combines ambient and electronic music with dub and avant-garde jazz.
Lord of the Harvest is a 1993 album by Bootsy Collins under the alias Zillatron and was produced by Collins and Bill Laswell.
Execution Ground is a double CD by Painkiller, a band featuring John Zorn, Bill Laswell, and Mick Harris. The second disc contains ambient dub versions of two tracks. The album was also released with alternative cover art and, in Japan, as a 3-CD set containing a live concert called Live in Osaka.
Hallucination Engine is a 1994 album by the New York based music group Material. The album mixes jazz, dub, funk and Indian music.
Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969–1974 is a remix album by Miles Davis, released on February 16, 1998, by Sony Records. It contains compositions from prior albums, including In a Silent Way (1969), On the Corner (1972), and Get Up With It (1974), remixed by Bill Laswell; it is subtitled "Reconstruction and Mix Translation by Bill Laswell". The album was composed as a dark, continuous tone poem divided by four sections of Davis' jazz fusion recordings. Panthalassa received generally positive reviews from music critics and sold well, charting at number four on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums.
Ambient Dub Volume I is the first album by American composer Bill Laswell to be issued under the moniker Divination. It was released on October 8, 1993, by Subharmonic.
Ambient Dub Volume II: Dead Slow is the second album by American composer Bill Laswell to be issued under the moniker Divination. It was released in 1993 by Subharmonic. The album is 61:38 minutes in length.
Light in Extension is a compilation album by American composer Bill Laswell, issued under the moniker Divination. Released in January 1994 by 4th & B'way Records, it comprises Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of the Ambient Dub series in addition to two previously unreleased pieces.
Jihad is an album by American composer Bill Laswell, issued under the moniker Automaton. It was released on October 11, 1994 by Strata. Lisa Carr of the music journal Option favored Jihad over Automaton's previous release, saying it "deftly balances the cool, ambient sheen of Tetsu Inoue's electronics with the warm textures of Nicky Skopelitis' guitar and the unexpected pleasures of violinist Lili Haydn."
Russian Chants «Parastas» is an album by Russian composer Boris Feoktistov and American composer Bill Laswell. It was released in 1995 by Meldac. The album comprises ambient soundscapes created by Laswell structured around Russian orthodox liturgical chants authored by Boris Feoktistov.
This article presents the complete oeuvre of American bassist, composer and music producer Bill Laswell, including his work as a band member and collaborating artist. Laswell has an expansive and eclectic discography and has been involved in hundreds of recordings with many artists from across the world. Laswell's music is influenced by a plethora of musical genres, such as funk, world music, jazz, drum and bass, dub and ambient music. Starting in 1978, Laswell has built a reputation as an accomplished bass player and composer. He has also had a prolific career as a music producer and sound engineer, overseeing the recording process of diverse musical acts such as Sly and Robbie, Afrika Bambaataa, Bernie Worrell, Blind Idiot God, Henry Threadgill and Buckethead.
