Bill Laswell and Milford Graves-Space Time Redemption (2015)

Bill Laswell and Milford Graves-Space Time Redemption (2015)

“In all the music that deals with experimental repetition, drum and bass, dub, various kinds of house music, there's always been a quality of atmosphere and ambience.”

Bill Laswell

By: Ghost Writer

Judging by the first notes in Space Time Redemption, the now defunct Lou Reed should have been a perfect companion to this out of space duo, in the last stages of his career, Reed was heavily into the world of improvisation, as well, he was always into jazz, the type of wild and free jazz Milford Graves was always into, since he played with all the great free jazz elite, like John Tchicai, Pharoah Sanders and Albert Ayler, just to name a few.

On the other side, Bill Laswell was always close to the experimental New York scene Lou was catalyst and a part of his whole life, Laswell was a great participant in the New York scene along innovators like John Zorn, together with Peter Brotzmann and other amazing musicians he formed Last Exit, I guess that Lou might have been very happy to appear here along Laswell and Graves, Eternal Signs is an amazing opener, Graves quickly turns on the heat and is followed closely by Laswell and his sacred bass which reaches cosmic heights here. 

We spoke recently about the great late Sonny Sharrock, a master of sound, one of my favorite guitarists, and giving the next song the name of Sonny is a powerful and moving homage from Laswell, a onetime musical partner of Sharrock in the already mentioned Last Exit, the song starts with the typical cosmic sound chaos Sharrock cherished so much, then it falls in the hands of Graves, who simply takes it into the stratosphere with Laswell going really wild on his bass.

Another Space takes us precisely into the ambient territories Bill Laswell likes so much, his bass here displaying a great deal of muscle here, Graves simply giving some color to the actions while Laswell throws his renowned powerful lines of ultra-deep bass into the void, and into a great and sublime finale, leaving us ready for the last part of this space trip into infinity with a theme called Autopossession, featuring a burning hot Graves melting his drums with full confidence and knowledge, with Laswell enjoying the moment and using his experience as dub producer in order to make every sound count and resonate, using to the max every space, every silence to fill it with unbelievable vibrations. 

Another Time is the final onslaught on his impressive recording, featuring both performers at the top of their game, Milford a seasoned veteran, searching wisely for new tones and sounds out of his drums and cymbals, while Laswell fills every space available with mind boggling bass sounds, as the duo play with our senses of space, time and sound with a great deal of talent, creating out of nothing an immortal soundscape that becomes a powerful ending to a great record every music lover should be tripping to.