BILL LASWELL & TETSU INOUE

Steve Boyer (review courtesy of the 2350.org website)

Deep rich minimal dark ambience. The basslines roll and rumble along like ocean waves - very nice. I like this deep and dark formula. This is also available on Subharmonic if you can't find the FAX release.

Will-E (review courtesy of the 2350.org website)

This journey begins to take shape as the first tonal rumbles seep from the stereo. At once, a thin magic cloud of sound manifests itself and will not dissipate for the duration of the work. This wall of rumbling tone, an Inoue-inspired ambiguity of bass and subtle multi-notes will serve as the backdrop for this entire record. Slowly, as new elements begin to present themselves, images start to appear. Almost at once i am held (and not let go) by the image and mood of an underground complex, one whose name and location are completely unknown, forgotten, or changed. Perhaps once used as an extensive fallout shelter to protect humans from a radioactive war, this complex is now empty, crawling with abandoned ghosts. As we progress through this complex, we also pass through the walls. In this ghost-like state, we begin to experience the voice of the structure itself. The still-running generators, ventilation systems, and electric current all speak to us in a monotone. This complex also has lots of odd rooms, some which resemble caverns, feeble light casting up from within their depths, shifting brown-black layers of emotion show themselves to the ghosts. As the voice of the structure continues its tale, the spectral inhabitants make their voice heard. Subtle touches of Laswell bass and keyboard improv drift throughout the packed veils, interjecting the drama and ever-changing elements of a story. In addition to this ghostly tour, we are also able to envision the earth's surface above this complex, its minimal night-landscape is also apparent as the story unfolds. Lonely synths mutter and call to themselves, creating a lonely, windswept feel (underlaid with the constant sound-wall) which is a constant point of tension. Blinking towers and antennae reach into the night sky, long grasses wave with the night breeze, but not a sole being exists here. At one point midway through the work, it sounds as though the underground dwelling is doing its best to speak with its inhabitants in crippled language, relating loneliness, sadness, boredom; this is a static area where living energy has been forgotten. At some points during the tour, we reach points that contain a high concentration of energy. Here, the work gain its highest points of structure. The underwork swells and starts to illuminate, while diamond curtains of energy wash back and forth in a dramatic, magical effect; the darkness begins to become light, but is again quelled into the ever-still pool of this stagnant vibration. "Monochrome existence" is a fitting title for this work, the 'music' itself feels like the uncomfortable inability to sleep with a fever, time dragging out and magnifying terribly, but with this painful drifting comes astonishingly clear images, reason solidifying out of the flat murk. From Laswell and Inoue comes a mysterious, introspective, and patient work which must not be missed!

Auraphage (review courtesy of the 2350.org website)

This album is too hard to describe in great detail - I don't have the words! But the music will paint it's own images...words like deep, dark, intricate, underground, cavernous, sweeping atmospherics... these may give some impressions in the right direction. I'd just like to echo Auraphages comments that this is an excellent listening experience for fans of Laswell's darker and more mysterious pieces, and does seem to be primarily directed by Laswell rather then Inoue. Stark and lonely, and at times quite beautiful....this is to underground complexes what 'Psychonavigation' is to deepest space.

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