NEW LASWELL RELEASES NEW LASWELL RELEASES  
NEW LASWELL RELEASES NEW LASWELL RELEASES:  
 

• 1.ARCANA-Arc of the Testimony (Axiom 524 431) Incredible! The very last sessions of the late, great Tony Williams & 2nd collaboration with Bill Laswell on powerful el. bass. Outstanding performances by BUCKETHEAD, PHAROAH SANDERS, GRAHAM HAYNES, BYARD LANCASTER & NICKY SKOPELITIS!! Intense energy music! $14.
• 2.BILL LASWELL-Sacred System Chapter Two (ROIR 8233) Long, thick, heavy, bass drone coolness w/ Indian percussion. Mutant bass n' drum grooves & sly electric Miles Davis like vibe. Collaborators: Graham Haynes, Nicky Skopelitis, Style Scott & my pal-Bill Buchen on exotic percussion. $14.
• 3.PRAXIS-Transmutation Live (Douglas?????) Finally released in the US. Mind-frying power unit live in Europe, Buckethead totally shreds, Bill & Brain are massive & DJ Disk (from the Invisible Skratch Pickles) can actually match wits on turntable w/ the super human speed of Buckethead!! Similar to that incredible gig at the Anchorage early last summer. $14.
• 4.REANIMATOR-Black Market Science (Ion 2005) Very strong international dub compilation, compiled by Bill & Robert Soares. 60 plus minutes, featuring Sacred System, Mad Professor, DXT, Transonic (Bob Musso), plus fine dub from Italy, Germany, Bombay, California & Brooklyn. Like "Axiom Dub" part two. Scary screaming female skull cover, as well. $13.
• 5.BILL LASWELL MEETS STYLE SCOTT-Dub Meltdown (WordSound 021) Style Scott is a longtime drummer for the legendary Dub Syndicate & many other On U Sound (the ultimate dub UK label) sessions. Here, he & Bill get down with Crooklyn Dub all-stars, for thick, cosmic, spliff inspired, dub righteousness. Mostly cool grooves & echoed weirdness floating through. $14.
• 6.BOB MARLEY-Dreams of Freedom (Island/Axiom 524 419) Ambient dub translations of Bob Marley tunes remixed by Bill Laswell. 11 of Marley's better known tunes, nicely redone by Bill, with help from Ayib Dieng, Tetsu Inoue & Karl Berger. $14. 

• 7.DAVE DOUGLAS-Stargazer (Arabesque 132) 'Music by & for Wayne Shorter'. Superb! One of the best jazz cd's of '97, along with MASADA " 8" & Mario Pavone's "Dancers Tale". Second amazing release by Dave's great sextet! Three Wayne Shorter compositions, plus six by Dave in the fine Wayne (60's era) vein. Cast includes Joey Baron & Chris Speed. $14.
• 8.JOEY BARON-Down Home (Intuition 3503) Everyone's favorite drummer, totally magical in MASADA, puts together an all new unit featuring an unlikely group with Bill Frisell, Arthur Blythe & Ron Carter!?! All new Joey tunes, very straight ahead & mellow, w/ a few subtle funk tunes as well. First gigs at the Knit as I type this up. $14.
• 9.SHELLEY HIRSCH-States (Tellus C003) Excellent compilation from the queen of downtown vocal insanity. She covers a wide range of styles, genres, sounds, improv, pop, jazz & anything in between. Often hilarious, we all love Shelley! We carry copies of her hard to find cd-"Haiku Lingo" as well. Both cd's go for $14.
• 10.TIM BERNE/BLOODCOUNT-Discretion (Screwgun 70003) The continuing saga of downtown's most challenging quartet. Five tunes in 74 min., live in NY & Germany, distinctive cardboard cover & a Hank Roberts recipe too. $14.
• 11.TIM BERNE/PARAPHRASE-Visitation Rites (Screwgun 70002) Solid but gnarly sax trio w/ Drew Gress on a.bass & Tom Rainey on drums. Three long improvs, live in Berlin, another cool cover & recipe for the Aztec Log. $14.
• 12.J.D.PARRAN & SPIRIT STAGE-s/t (Y'all 02) Beautiful, amazingly diverse & spiritually uplifting offering from one of our fave multi reed players. Perfect balance of lovely singing, fine poetry, in & out music both. Contributors are: Stephen Haynes, Warren Smith, Tony Cedras, Bill Ware & Shirley LeFlore. Great cover of "Gypsy Woman". $14.
• 13.KAZUTOKI UMEZU-First Deserter (KFW 214) Wacky, wild oddball alto sax hero/clown from Japan & Third Person member. Multi genres-surf & spy music, loungey silliness, great Euro soundtrack sounds & all purpose weirdness. Downtown allstar backup: Marc Ribot, Wayne Horvitz, Tom Cora & Samm Bennett. Umezu klezmer orch on DIW also great. $13.
• 14.MATT DARRIAU/PARADOX TRIO-Flying at a Slant (KFW 206) Excellent long awaited 2nd cd by this middle eastern sounding quartet (not trio). Matt is a master of exotic multi reeds & member of the Klezmatics. The group consists of 5 string cello, dumbek & new guitar hero-Brad Shepik. Hypnotic, psychedelic, belly dancing grooviness!! $13.
• 15.BRAD SHEPIK & THE COMMUTERS-The Loan (Songlines 1518) Great new geetar players just keep popping up in NYC. Brad continues to blow me away at every opportunity, whether wailing in the Paradox Trio or Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio or burnin' on the brand new Pachora cd on KFW. This is his 1st cd as leader & it is another great rockin' mid east groovathon. W/ Peter Epstein, Tony Scherr & my man-Kenny Wollesen! Give it up for Brad. $14.

• 16.JIM O'ROURKE-Bad Timing (Drag City 120) Exquisite, charming & lovely! Jim's pure acoustic guitar at center, w/ layers of angelic strings, pedal steel, and quiet keyboards.. Jim's most precious offering! $13. 
• 17.ANTHONY BRAXTON-Four Compositions Quartet 1995 (Braxton House 005) The very first (studio) recordings of Braxton's "Ghost Trance" music. Although this is music of the future, some folks just don't get it. This quartet is Ted Reichman, Joe Fonda & Kevin Norton. Essential for those who love to challenged! $15. 
• 18.ANTHONY BRAXTON-Octet New York 1995/Comp. #188 (BH 006) Live at the Knit, Thanksgiving '95. Ad Jason Hwang-violin, Roland Dahinden-trombone, Andre Vida and Brandon Evans-reeds to the above quartet. More challenging! $15. 
• 19.ANTHONY BRAXTON-Ensemble New York 1995/Comp. #187 (BH 007) Later that same night, the "ghost trance" unit swells in size to 11 pieces! 6 reed players, 2 violins, cello, Fonda & Norton, but no Reichman. Incredible bass sax & sopranino by J.D. Parran! Extraordinairy! $15. 
• 20.JOSEPH JARMAN-LEROY JENKINS-Out of the Mist (Ocean 106) Quiet, pure, the AACM like natural flow of small instruments blend nicely. Appearances by Myra Melford on piano, Jeffrey Schanzer on guitar & Lindsey Horner on bass. $14. 
• 21.PAULINE OLIVEROS-Alien Bog/Beautiful Soop (Pogus 21012) Historic recordings from '66 & '67 at Mills College on a Buchla synth. Cosmic, ancient, electronic landscapes, with ghost frogs croaking in the distance. Well sculpted sounds...for only $10. 
• 22.HARVEY MANDEL-Planetary Warrior (Viceroy 54215) He's back & on a local label! One of best blues/rock guitar greats of all time. A Chicago legend from the Barry Goldberg Blues Band to Canned Heat to numerous amazing solo records to a long disappearance. His playing w/ a reunited Canned Heat at Wetlands a few years ago was fucking amazing, solo after solo!! A totally distinctive tone, well honed to blues blastin' perfection. He's coming back to NYC, do not miss this chance... $14. 
• 23.THE AMAZING BAND-Roar (FMR CD40) Featuring Robert Wyatt!! Legendary British free jazz crazies & friends of Soft Machine. Long lost tapes from Spring of 1970, compiled by my good pal Mike King, author of the superb/crucial Robert Wyatt book-"Wrong Movements". $16. 
• 24.PHLEGM-Poppin' & Milkin' (Jerker 2) Hasidic punks from Australia who are buddies' of Zorn & played at an early Radical Jewish Culture Fest. This is their 3rd & newest cd, they've gone beyond post punk noise. The cover of this woman squeezing her breasts may offend some, but the music is a great collage of well selected sounds, chants, samples, minimalist noise, bizarre vocals by Nick. All 3 cd's for $13. 

• 25.ROBERT WYATT-Shleep (Hannibal UK) My fave vocalist/performer of all time, along with many of the fine folks who shop at DMG. This is Robert's first release in 6 years, produced by ENO & Manzanera & is supposedly his finest since "Rockbottom", a masterpiece! It will not be released in the US until Jan. 20th of '98!?! This is an import costing around $23.-$25. I can't wait to hear this! 
• 26.SERGE GAINSBOURG: Great Jewish Music (Tzadik 7116) 21 track compilation & tribute to notorius French pop star. 
• 27.BOBBY PREVITE'S LATIN FOR TRAVELERS-My Man in Sydney (enja 9348) w/ Marc Ducret, Jerome Harris & Jamie Saft. 
• 28.FRANK LONDON-The Debt (Tzadik 7507) w/ John Medeski, Dave Krakauer, Mark Feldman & Dresser, Anthony Coleman. Recent Knit gigs were outstanding! 
• 29.RONNY SOMECK & ELLIOTT SHARP-Revenge of the Stuttering Child (Tzadik 7117) Spoken word & music combined, w/ Anthony Coleman, Zeena & Margaret Parkins. 
• 30.VIRGIL MOOREFIELD-The Temperature in Hell...(Tzadik 7026) His previous cd for Cuneiform was a prog/jazz/rock gem. This one is a contemporary classical work dealing with microtonality, minimalism & improvisation. 

• 1.KATO HIDEKI-bass giant from Death Ambient/JOHN HENEGAN-guitarist from Oatmeal Banana/MICHAEL EVANS-drums @ 7pm on Sun Oct 19th @ Downtown Music Gallery, 13 Monroe St., NYC. Our free in-store music series continues... 
• 2.JOHN ZORN/MARC RIBOT/JOHN MEDESKI @ 9:30 & 11pm on Wed Oct 22nd at the Knitting Factory 
• 3.ASSIF TSAHAR/MAT MANERI QT. @ 9pm & KALAPARUSHA/WILLIAM PARKER @ 10pm on Thur Oct 23rd @ Context Studios, 28 Ave. A (bet. 2nd & 3rd Sts.) 
• 4.CHARLES GAYLE GROUP @ 9pm & AUGUSI FERNANDEZ WILLIAM PARKER SUSIE IBARRA trio @ 10pm on Fri Oct 24th @ Context Studios 
• 5.MATTHEW SHIPP/DANIEL CARTER duo @ 9pm & DENNIS CHARLES/SUSIE IBARRA perc duo @ 10pm on Sat Oct 25th @ Context Studios 
• 6.ELLIOTT SHARP solo guitar & computer & JOHN CALE GROUP @ PS1 Contemporary Arts Center in Long Island City on Sun Oct 26th @ about 3pm, call 718-784-2084 for more info.. 
• 7.LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS solo blues feedback guitar @ 7pm on Sun Oct 26th @ DMG- 13 Monroe St. for free 
• 8.DEREK BAILEY solo @ 9pm, BAILEY KRAMER ZORN @ 10pm, BAILEY ZORN MORI @ 11 pm on Mon Oct 27th @ the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard St., NYC 
• 9.JOHN ZORN-DEREK BAILEY-KATO HIDEKI-ANDY HAAS-MIN XIAO FEN- Company styles improv w/ more guests tba @ the Knit on Tues Oct 28th 
• 10.DEREK BAILEY & THE RUINS!!!/ZUBI ZUVA avant accapella trio & Ruins offshoot, also @ the Knit on Tues Oct 29th 
• 11.THIRD RAIL!!! w/ Blood Ulmer, Bill Laswell, Jerome Brailey, Bernie Worrell & Amina Claudine Myers finally rescheduled on Fri/Sat Dec 5th & 6th @ the Knit!! 

Peace & love from Bruce Lee Gallanter.  

I really don't feel like writing. There, I've said it. No apologies for it, I just don't feel like producing this time around. Personally, I've been depressed and pretty inconsistent as of late, just thought I'd share those things by way of excuse.  

This adventure into MIKESSPACE is dedicated to John Denver who recently left us on a jet plane, Raybeez, the very ex-vocalist of Warzone, a dear friend of the store whose mother recently departed (no jokes here) and an anonymous downtown artist who is very ill, please keep the living in your prayers, chants, meditations, ritual blood orgies or whatever homages you pay to your higher powers.  

Anyway I'll begin with my personal Desert Island ___________. This edition's DI__________ will be "I'd rather be doing these 10 things than writing right now".  
 

• 1. Sleeping
• 2. Getting a Tattoo
• 3. Getting pierced
• 4. On a road trip
• 5. With my girlfriend in Ohio
• 6. Leaf watching in Maine
• 7. Doing something good for some one
• 8. Surfing
• 9. Watching cartoons
• 10. Anything

Diving headfirst into the lames, next up is-  

REVIEWSWHILEIHAVETHEBLUESREVIEWSWHILEIHAVETHEBLUES 
REVIEWSWHILEIHAVETHEBLUESREVIEWSWHILEIHAVETHEBLUES 

Not being in the mood for cleverness this time out I'm just going to sum these releases up in a shortened, Robert Christgau kind of way.  
 

Ancient- Mad, Grandiose Bloodfiends [Metal Blade]  
(RIYL: Modern Norwegian Black Metal, e.g. Emperor, Satyricon, Immortal) 

The scene needed a burst of originality while retaining the true spirit of MNBM and this here is it. Not at all afraid to be different, this band impresses with stirring songwriting and clean vocal parts while retaining bone-shattering black metal intensity. Nice production, too.  

dubstar- Goodbye [Polydor]  
(RIYL: St. Etienne, Opus III) 

Imagine Tears For Fears jamming with the Beatles remixed by New Order. You either like that combo or you don't, I like most of it. As with any album, there are a few weak tracks, but the included re-mixes of "Stars" are worth the price of admission alone. 

Jamie Myerson- The Listen Project [Sony]  
(RIYL: fluff) 

Who can forget Robert Miles' surprise hit from last year "Children"? Along with Everything But The Girl's "Missing" these crossover hits proved that pure forms of dance music can and should exist on the radio (to me anyway). Add this disc to that roster of accessibility. Combining drum-n-bass and dreamhouse to create beautifully liquid textures, this stuff transcends time, if only for a moment. Is this a timeless musical classic? No, but if you're looking to lose yourself to the magic just for now, here's your wand.  

Borknagar- The Olden Domain [Century Black]  
(RIYL: Mid paced MBM- Swordmaster, Samael, Arcturus, In The Woods) 

Ode to the Northern lands and to the beauty and savagery of nature. This black metal supergroup combines the power of modern extreme metal with the mystical enchantment of Nordic folk music. They've create a challenging work that, while not a blow-away-all-comers stroke of bombast, remains brutal and intriguing enough to draw you in for repeated listenings.  

Turmoil- Anchor [Century Media]  
(RIYL: having your ears boxed) 

Brutal, crushing harsh-core served up the Southern way. If you like Machine Head, Coalesce, Acme, Pantera, Earth Crisis, Integrity, Grief, Deadguy, Bloodlet, ZAO, Focal Point, Vision Of Disorder, Overcome, Strongarm... BUY THIS DISC!!! NOW!!!  

ARIA- S/T [Point Music]  
(RIYL: Hildegard von Bingen, the diva scene in the Fifth Element, Eno) 

Classic arias set to modern musical styles like techno, ambient and pop serve up a delicious disc of fluff that, like Chinese food, fills you but leaves you wanting more an hour later. The best thing about this disc is that you can consume it again and again and not be sick of it. Stick it in the player, hit "repeat", go about your business.  

Download- 3 [Nettwerk]  
(RIYL: intelligent dance music a la Autechre, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher) 

Suprisingly danceable sounds from the former audioterror sculptor of Skinny Puppy. Accessible yet challenging, this disc proves that you can have your cake and dance with it, too.  

The Gathering- Nighttime Birds [Century Media]  
(RIYL: 3rd and the Mortal, Within Temptation, Paradigma, Elend) 

A seamless blend of slamming metal riffage, impeccable songwriting and soaring female vocals, this disc stirs my soul.  

Melechesh- As Jerusalem Burns [Pulverizer]  
(RIYL: everything that's wrong with the world) 

This is a surprise! This disc is the best True Norwegian Black Metal disc to ever come from... ISRAEL!?! Calling themselves Assyrian/Mesopotamian descendents, these Jewish guys whip off some of the fastest, well recorded evil rage that these jaded ears have heard in some time. I'm talking about a freshman CD ready for grad studies with Marduk, Emperor, early Immortal, later Satyricon, Nefandus, Dimmu Borgir, you know... the gods. This disc burns. I'm going right now to experiment and see if the laser doesn't actually come from this disc and into the lens of my player. It's GOOD!  

Fredrik Thorendal's Special Defects- Sol Niger Within [UAE]  
(RIYL: Meshuggah, Praxis, Painkiller) 

Ripping, groovy, jazzy, deathlike suffering from the lead axe of Swedish slam monsters Meshuggah. Beyond that, this disc is indescribable but oh so worthy of consideration. If you can find it... 

Thanx for your time. Until we meet again...  

His Most Benevolent and Divine Appointedness- Emperor Mike I (Future Ruler of America)