“Hey Buckethead! What’s In the Bucket Man?” – Bootsy Collins

Praxis is proof that Bill Laswell is a genius. A revolving door project featuring the finest musicians this side of the solar system, it branches into numerous genres and worlds of music. Metal, Funk, Hip-Hop, Drum n’ Bass, Grindcore, Dub, anything is game. The idea behind it is this: bring the musicians together and see what happens. Improv projects can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, but with players like Buckethead, Bootsy Collins and Brian “Brain” Mantia involved, the cocktail of chaos becomes a thing of power and creative wonder. Having heard three albums, I’m convinced that this stuff is brilliant. But how do I convince you?

Album: Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)
Year: 1992
Genre: Metal, Funk, Hip-Hop, Dub, anything on down the list
Label: Axiom

The first album is a piece of awesome with perhaps the best line-up Laswell has ever conceived of: Buckethead (Guitar,) Brain (Drums,) Bernie Worrel (Keyboards and Synthesizers,) AF Next Man Flip (Lord of the Paradox) (Turn-Tables and Mixing) and, of course, Bootsy Collins (Space Bass, Baby!). With this powerhouse quintet, anything was possible and everything happened. Jumping from Space Bass powered funk to Buckethead guitar virtuosity one second, bringing in the Woo of Bernie’s keyboards the next, devolving a track into an Avant-Garde Hip-Hop wonder and then building it back up, like I said, they did it all.

The first few tracks are two short pieces brought together into one. The opener, “Blast/War Machine Dub,” starts out with Buckethead’s heavy metal sensibilities shining through. But then abruptly, it’s a Dub sound system party, with Bootsy’s bass weighing things down considerably. Others, like “Animal Behavior” show off the P-Funk at its best, while “Dead Man Walking” falls somewhere between heavy metal and avant-hip-hop. It was with this album that Praxis began, Bill Laswell having assembled the players, organized and produced the music. It was here that his genius is truly revealed to the world, and he doesn’t even play on it. This album is so good, that the only thing I can say now is “Go get it and listen. Now.” It doesn’t sound like anything else, not even the next album. On Sacrifist, things got a little more than heavy.

Album: Sacrifist
Year: 1994
Genre: Grindcore, Dub, Hip-Hop, Death/Thrash Metal
Label: Subharmonic

For the second Praxis album, Laswell decided to shake things up. The line-up completely changed, giving the album a less cohesive “band” feel and a more revolving door music project motif. The line-up this time was extensive and powerful; Buckethead (Guitar,) Bill Laswell (Bass,) Mick Harris (Drums,) the band Blind Idiot God, Yamataka Eye (Vocals) and John Zorn (Saxophone.) Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrel even stop in to say hello and contribute one track each. Bootsy lets his Space Bass wash over everything on the lengthy “Deathstar” and Bernie’s distortion organ spreads out to the furthest corners of known space on “Crossing.” But aside from those two P-funk moments, the album’s sound is steeped in the heaviest thrash metal and grindcore. Which makes perfect sense considering that four of the album’s players (those being Zorn, Laswell, Harris and Eye) are also the members of John Zorn’s grindcore band, Painkiller.

What makes this not just another Painkiller album is the presence of Buckethead and Blind Idiot God –who stop in for the track, Iron Dub (I think) - among the ranks. Most of the tracks are based around the most powerful riffs Buckethead has ever churned out, and rather than being at the forefront of the music like they are with Painkiller, Zorn and Eye aren’t constantly playing, each one coming in to deliver a saxophone screech or a strangled scream once in awhile.

However, the track “Nine Secrets” is almost entirely given over to Zorn and Eye, and they make the screeching best of it. The album is a hard pill to swallow and certainly isn’t the place to start if you’re new to Praxis. But if you enjoy Painkiller, Grindcore, Death or Thrash Metal, this album is certainly for you. Standout tracks include “Stronghold” the opener, which gives you a very, Very, VERY clear idea of what you’re in store for and “Rivet,” which is probably the heaviest track on the album and features Mick Harris pounding a hard iron drum beat into your head like a hammer pounding a nail. Over this continuous and repetitive beat comes Buckethead's guitars and Eye’s “help me I’m caught on fire” style screams.

Bill Laswell proved here that he’s capable of anything, that no musical venture is too insane for him to accomplish, and he actually plays (quite well) on this album. Overall, if you’re prepared in advance for it, a very enjoyable album, but not for everyone.