Bad Brains

By melding punk with reggae, Bad Brains became one of the definitive American hardcore punk groups of the early '80s. Although the group released only a handful of records during its peak, including the legendary cassette-only debut, Bad Brains, they developed a dedicated following, many of whom would later form their own hardcore and alternative bands. As for Bad Brains themselves, they continued to record and tour in varying lineups led by guitarist Dr. Know into the late '90s yet never managed to break out of their cult status. Dr. Know (born Gary Miller), a former jazz fusion guitarist, formed Bad Brains in 1979, inspired by both the amateurish rage of the Sex Pistols and the political reggae of Bob Marley. Realizing that the lines between punk and reggae were already blurred in the U.K., he set out to replicate that situation in the U.S., and he recruited several similarly minded musicians — vocalist H.R. (born Paul D. Hudson), bassist Darryl Aaron Jenifer, and drummer Earl Hudson — to prove his point. Bad Brains quickly became one of the most popular punk bands on the East Coast, particularly in their hometown of Washington, D.C. Their live performances were legendary, but their recordings were difficult to find. Their debut single, "Pay to Cum," was pressed in limited numbers, and their 1982 debut album was only issued in cassette form by ROIR. In addition to the Bad Brains tape, the group released a handful of other EPs in 1982, finally moving to PVC for 1983's full-length debut, Rock for Light, which was produced by Ric Ocasek. The handful of indie recordings Bad Brains left behind, as well as their live shows, made the band legendary in American hardcore, yet few potential fans could actually hear the band due to poor distribution and erratic touring. The band took three years to deliver the follow-up to Rock for Light, finally releasing I Against I on SST in 1986. In those three years, the group developed more heavy metal leanings, and the resulting record received mixed reviews. More importantly, it divided the band, with Dr. Know and Jenifer wishing to continue to pursue heavy rock, and H.R. and Hudson wanting to devote themselves to reggae. Over the next three years, the latter pair frequently left the band to make reggae albums before finally departing in 1989. They were replaced by Israel Joseph-I (born Dexter Pinto) and Mackie Jayson, respectively. In the wake of the alternative rock boom of the early '90s, Bad Brains were finally offered a major-label contract in 1993, releasing Rise on Epic later that year. The album bombed and the group was dropped. Maverick Records offered the group a contract in 1995, provided that the original lineup reunited. They did so and released God of Love that summer, to mixed reviews and poor sales. H.R. and Hudson left the band shortly after the album's release, and the band was dropped by Maverick. In 1998 the band again reunited and began touring under the name Soul Brains. In 2002, Reggae Lounge compiled remixes of Bad Brains' '80s hits and released a full-length dub album titled & I Survived. The following year Caroline released Banned in DC: Bad Brains' Greatest Riffs, a solid anthology compiling songs from their first album up to Quickness. For the next few years, the group members concentrated on solo endeavors, with a few scattered guest appearances on other bands' albums or live shows. In 2006, Bad Brains reunited for a few shows at CBGB's, which quickly sold out. With a resurging interest in the band, in early 2007, Megaforce announced that they had signed them to their roster. Under Beastie Boy Adam Yauch's studio supervision, the original band went back to the studio for the first time in over a decade and recorded Build a Nation, an inspired attempt at returning to the band's hardcore roots.

1980 - Pay To Cum

1986 - I Against I

Laswell, Bill

A longtime linchpin of the New York City underground music scene, Bill Laswell was among the most prolific artists in contemporary music; as a performer, producer, and label chief, his imprint is on literally hundreds of albums, the majority of them characterized by a signature sound fusing the energy of punk with the bone-rattling rhythms of funk. Born on February 12, 1955, in Salem, IL, he initially played guitar, but soon switched to bass; raised primarily in the Detroit area, he honed his skills in local funk outfits before relocating to New York in 1978. There Laswell formed Material, an outlet for his experimental approach toward sounds ranging from jazz to hip-hop to worldbeat; originally the backup unit for Daevid Allen, the group soon began working on its own, issuing its debut EP Temporary Music in 1979.

In addition to fronting Material, Laswell also mounted a solo career, issuing Baselines in 1982 on Celluloid, a label he partly owned and operated. Appearances on key recordings by the likes of David Byrne, John Zorn, Fred Frith, and the Golden Palominos established Laswell as a virtual nexus of the downtown N.Y.C. community, and in 1983 he broke into the mainstream with his production work on Herbie Hancock's smash "Rockit," which he also co-wrote; the follow-up LP, Sound-System, won him a Grammy. Throughout the mid-'80s Laswell was everywhere, playing bass on LPs from artists including Mick Jagger, Peter Gabriel, Yoko Ono, and Laurie Anderson; he also joined the avant group Curlew, and produced a number of African acts.

In 1986, Laswell joined guitarist Sonny Sharrock, drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, and saxophonist Peter Brötzmann in the group Last Exit; a second solo LP, Hear No Evil, appeared two years later, and after a long hiatus he also resurrected Material in 1989 with Seven Souls. Another project, the hip-hop-flavored Praxis, was resumed after close to a decade of inactivity with 1992's Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis). In 1990, Laswell formed another label, Axiom, to explore his interest in the new sounds of ambient and techno; where in the past his work rarely appeared solely under his own name, by the middle of the decade he was issuing several solo records annually in a wide range of styles from dub to jazz. He also remained among the most prolific producers in the business, collaborating with the likes of Dub Syndicate, Pete Namlook, Buckethead, and DJ Spooky.

In 2004, Laswell signed a multi-album label deal with the Sanctuary Records group. The deal spawned his new label, Nagual. Through Sanctuary's earlier acquisition of the seminal reggae label Trojan, Laswell now had access to the Jamaican label's sizeable back catalog. Picking some of his favorite cuts and remixing them, Laswell issued the Trojan-sourced Dub Massive: Chapter One and Chapter Two in May 2005. The Only Way to Go Is Down followed on Sublight Records in 2006.

2000 - Emerald Aether: Shape Shifting/Reconstructions Of Irish Music

Laswell, Bill - 2000 - Emerald Aether: Shape Shifting/Reconstructions Of Irish Music

This project had such potential. Celtic music lends itself very nicely to being mixed with modern dance beats, and no one makes such cultural fusions work better than Bill Laswell -- witness in particular his very fine Imaginary Cuba album and countless other bubbly multicultural musical stews. On Emerald Aether, the idea was to take tracks from Shanachie's enviably deep Celtic catalog (including performances by singer Karan Casey, flutist Matt Molloy, piper Jerry O'Sullivan, and the band Solas) and place them like green jewels in Laswell's trademark space-funk settings. And in several cases, it works really well -- "The Stride Set," a set of reels by Solas, is nicely energized by Laswell's breakbeats, and the echoey ambience he applies to O'Sullivan's "Wind Chimes and Nursery Rhymes" works very well, too. But too many of these tracks are ruined by Laswell's ignorance (or, it seems more likely, simple disregard) of modal harmony in general and the key centers of the individual songs in particular. His settings of Karan Casey's performances add chord washes that bear no apparent harmonic relationship to the keys Casey is singing in, which means that her singing clashes unpleasantly with the music that is supposed to be supporting her. The same thing happens rhythmically with the dubwise drum'n'bass setting that Laswell builds for Matt Molloy's rendition of "The Hare in the Heather" -- there's no reason why the beats couldn't have meshed with Molloy's played rhythms, and the final product would have much more compelling if they had. Despite some inspired moments, this album is a real disappointment overall.

		1		The Wayfaring Stranger		2:49
Composed by: Performed by: Jerry OSullivan
		2		The Stride Set	Reels	6:45
Composed by: Reels Performed by: Solas
		3		The Lavouring Man's Daughter		5:07
Composed by: Performed by: Karan Casey
		4		We Dreamed Our Dreams	Farrelly	:48
Composed by: Farrelly Performed by: Cathie Ryan
		5		Wendel's Wedding	Cuffe	3:15
Composed by: Cuffe Performed by: Jerry OSullivan
		6		The Gray Selchie		2:12
Composed by: Performed by: Solas
		7		Dark Green		3:59
		8		Wind Chimes and Nursery Rhymes	Ellis	2:49
Composed by: Ellis Performed by: Jerry OSullivan
		9		One, I Love	Ritchie	4:44
Composed by: Ritchie Performed by: Karan Casey
		10		La Bruxa	Shivanez	4:34
Composed by: Shivanez Performed by: Solas
		11		The Hare in the Heather		2:32
Composed by: Performed by: Matt Molloy
		12		Coaineadh Na Dtri Muire (Lament of the Three Marys)	Traditional	3:37
Composed by: Traditional Performed by: Cathie Ryan
		13		Slieve Russell, Jimmy Wards J.G.		2:00
Composed by: Performed by: Matt Molloy
		14		The Beauty Spot	Reels	4:19

¡Aquí!