| Execution Ground | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 15, 1994 | |||
| Recorded | June 1994 at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York; November 1994 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 83:56 | |||
| Label | Toy's Factory, Subharmonic | |||
| Producer | John Zorn | |||
| Painkiller chronology | ||||
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| John Zorn chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 5/10 [2] |
Execution Ground is a double CD by Painkiller,a band featuring John Zorn,Bill Laswell,and Mick Harris. [3] [4]
The AllMusic review by Maurice Rickard awarded the album 4½stars,stating:"The first disc of this inventive and unsettling two-disc set features three long improvisations that show off the band's dub influence. The second disc,subtitled "Ambient Dub," is a rethinking/remix of the third and first improvs on the first disc. Overall less thrashy than some Painkiller excursions,the improvisations here are striking for their greater sonic space without sacrificing any of the heaviness. At times,the band rests,making way for ominous breathing and distant sustained screams,which recur throughout. The transitions from silence to groove to noise and back are relentless and dramatic. Harris proves to be an astonishingly inventive drummer,consistently varying the foundation in surprising ways. Laswell's tone varies from the brightness of flanged round-wound strings scraping the frets to a clean,menacing low-frequency pulse,and sticks mostly to elemental,non-flashy lines that keep the mood deep and dark. Zorn's playing is excellent here,varying between extremely overblown piercing tones (perhaps the best way of being heard over such a rhythm section) and nearly conventional jazzy lines that confidently ride atop the din." [1]
The Quietus wrote that Painkiller "sought out the technics of the mixing desk to explore where they could really travel with their music. And the results are as exhilarating as they are daunting." [5]
John Zorn is an American composer,conductor,saxophonist,arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jazz,rock,hardcore,classical,contemporary,surf,metal,soundtrack,ambient,and world music. In 2013,Down Beat described Zorn as "one of our most important composers" and in 2020 Rolling Stone noted "Though Zorn has operated almost entirely outside the mainstream,he's gradually asserted himself as one of the most influential musicians of our time".
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.
Praxis was the name of an experimental rock project,led by producer/bassist Bill Laswell and featuring guitarist Buckethead and drummer Brain in nearly every incarnation of the band.
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.
Michael John Harris is an English musician from Birmingham. He was the drummer for Napalm Death between 1985 and 1991,and is credited for coining the term "grindcore". After Napalm Death,Harris joined Painkiller with John Zorn and Bill Laswell. Since the mid-1990s,Harris has worked primarily in electronic and ambient music,his main projects being Scorn and Lull. He has also collaborated with musicians including James Plotkin and Extreme Noise Terror. According to AllMusic,Harris's "genre-spanning activities have done much to jar the minds,expectations,and record collections of audiences previously kept aggressively opposed."
Painkiller is a band that formed in 1991,combining avant-garde jazz and grindcore. Later albums incorporated elements of ambient and dub.
Nicholas Bullen is an English composer,artist and writer.
Pomme Fritz is a mini-album by English electronic music group The Orb,released on 13 June 1994 by Island Records. Produced to sustain the group during a period of mismanagement,it was their first album with German producer Thomas Fehlmann,as well as their last with input from Kris Weston,who appears in a much diminished role as engineer. The chaotic Pomme Fritz moved the group away from their melodic,ambient sound towards a more abstract,experimental style,incorporating instances of noise,sampling,fragmented rhythms,industrial textures,indecipherable voices,and sound collage techniques. Island Records "hated" the album and "didn't understand it at all",according to group leader Alex Paterson.
Radio is the fourth studio album by the band Naked City,and their first to be composed entirely by bandleader John Zorn. The album was also released as part of Naked City:The Complete Studio Recordings on Tzadik Records in 2005.
Painkiller:The Collected Works is a four disc box set that contains the two EPs Guts of a Virgin and Buried Secrets,the album Execution Ground and a live album previously released on the Japanese edition of Execution Ground.
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.
Eraldo Bernocchi is an Italian guitarist,producer,and sound designer.
Sacrifist is the second album of the Bill Laswell led project Praxis,released in 1993 on Laswell's label Subharmonic.
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.
Buried Secrets is the second EP by American band Painkiller originally released by Toy's Factory in Japan and Earache in the UK,featuring guest appearances from Justin Broadrick and G. C. Green from Godflesh. Broadrick described the release as the result of various jams and improvisational sessions.
Guts of a Virgin is the first album by American band Painkiller,a band featuring John Zorn,Bill Laswell and Mick Harris. It contains twelve tracks and was released in 1991 on Toy's Factory in Japan and Earache Records in England. The cover art was censored in the UK after customs seized and destroyed the first shipment for violating the Obscene Publications Act.
Talisman:Live in Nagoya is a live album by Painkiller,a band featuring John Zorn,Bill Laswell,and Mick Harris,performing live in Nagoya,Japan.
Rituals:Live in Japan is a live CD by Painkiller,a band featuring John Zorn,Bill Laswell,and Mick Harris,performing live in Tokyo in 1991 with guest guitar and vocals from Haino Keiji. The album was released on the Japanese label Toy's Factory in 1993.
Absinthe is the final recording from the band Naked City. Unlike the band's other genre-mixing releases,the music on Absinthe is consistently in an ambient and noise style.
Guitar,Drums 'n' Bass is an album by free improvisation guitarist Derek Bailey,released by Avant Records in 1996. After spending several years improvising his guitar to the sound of jungle and drum and bass music on pirate radio,Bailey proposed to collaborator John Zorn that he make an album of his musical fusion. Zorn then contacted Birmingham-based drum and bass producer D.J. Ninj to provide the musical backing,who recorded his contributions in spring 1995. After a failed session with engineer Mick Harris,Bailey recorded his overlaid guitar improvisations in Bill Laswell's New York City studio in October 1995,slightly altering Ninj's contributions to remove electric piano passages.
