Material Intonarumori Axiom/Palm Pictures Detroit-born New Yorker Bill Laswell has been helping to shape the course of electronic music since the late 1970s. Long is his list of credits as a producer, arranger, writer, and bassist. Not content to sit around and wait for projects to come to him, Laswell has been extremely prolific. So much so, that while there are many who swear by Laswell-- attempting to purchase all releases with which he is involved in even the slightest way--there are an equal number who feel his large quantity of output leads to a lack of quality control. By 1982, Laswell had worked with a plethora of stars including Brian Eno, David Byrne, Fred Frith, Tony Thompson, Nile Rodgers, Bernard Fowler, and John Zorn; he was the first to record a young female vocalist who would go on to much commercial success-Whitney Houston. It was in 1983, ears opened to the sound heard blasting from boomboxes on the Bronx streets, that Laswell began his explorations into hip hop. The first to benefit from Laswell's excitement was Herbie Hancock. The result? The groundbreaking "Rockit". Laswell then paired Afrika Bambaataa (fresh off the success of "Planet Rock" and "Looking For The Perfect Beat") with former Sex Pistols throat Johnny Lydon to meld rap with metal on "World Destruction" later that year. Further work ensued in a variety of musical situations and genres, but Laswell stayed current with the growing hip hop scene as the years progressed--Gil Scott-Heron, Jungle Brothers, and The Last Poets all felt the Laswell touch in some way. But judging Laswell by past glories doesn't seem to satisfy the naysayers, and, in many ways makes sense. If you're only as good as your last production, how does Laswell fare today? Well, judging by the results on Material's Intonarumari, Laswell is doing quite well thank you very much. Laswell's Material, an ever-evolving collective of artists, has dabbled in hip hop before, but here he's gone beyond dancing around the subject-on Intonarumari, hip hop is the focus. The album takes its name from the noise-making machines invented by Luigi Russolo, the author of the classic 1913 essay "The Art Of Noises". Guests range from the high profile to the lesser-known: including guest MCs word wrangler Rammellzee, Kool Keith, Public Enemy's Flavor Flav, Wu Tang Clan's Killah Priest, and Company Flow's Mr. Len, vocalists Lori Carson and Alicia Blue, plus producers Kut Masta Kurt, Scotty Hard (ex of New Kingdom), Extrakd, and Eddie Def, and turntablists PhonosycographDISK and DXT (formerly DST, the man who provided the scratching on "Rockit" and went on to inspire Mixmaster Mike and many others waxworkers). Coming together under the tutelage of Laswell, they produce, for some, what is undoubtably their career highlights. From doom laden rap and heavy beats to bright vocal stylings and busy instrumental interludes, this is--track for track--a shining example of the beauty that can be wrought when collaborators bring forth their best under the correct conditions. To echo Nature Boy Jim Kelly's refrain on "My Style Is I Ain't Got No Style", yes, though there's been plenty of bandwagon-jumping when it comes to the sound, rap is still an art. And Laswell still has that mysterious it, that certain something that makes Material's Intonarumori another gem in his personally-produced musical treasure chest. Andrew Duke Back to album/book reviews index