Bill Laswell Nomination

The two teams you belong to have mentioned Laswell's name quite a bit (Avant especially with three pages of results)-- partially due to projects he's been involved with.

Been under Avant evaluation since 2006 and I see posts indicating Prog Related from back then (from using the topic search).  I don't know if it was ever formally put to Prog Related (didn't find him mentioned in The Prog-Related thread).  Looking at the progfreak charts (this goes back three years, there were two votes for Prog Related from Avant members and no yes votes).... SO it looks like the RIO/Avant concencus going back 3 and 4 years has been Prog Related but I don't see an formal decision from that team, so still in progress? (and I didn't read all of the posts that mention him -- maybe some later support/ ideas in the thread).

http://progfreak.com/Bill-Laswell,_dbe,artists,_auto_1021831.xhtml?path=pa/recent

The problem I see with Laswell is his huge discography under his name, his many different projects, and his delving into various different styles (diversity). I was reading through this thread, and I was getting confused.  Seems quite convoluted. I guess if Avant is not interested, then Eclectic could consider him (even if various ZART members thought it better for Prog Related), but it looks like a proper evaluation would be difficult (unless representative samples from his various works or phases are provided). I've heard some music of his, but how to streamline the process to make it easily manageable for teams (especially if members don't own any albums). It's intimidating.

Rateyourmusic http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/bill_laswell gives his genres as Dub, Ambient, Electronic, World Music, Drum and Bass

And then of course if it is thought better for Prog Related, well that's a lot of work to prepare a case to that team.  I know I want to propose Morricone to Prog Related, but the process is difficult.  Laswell would be an easier case, I think, if it does go that route than Morricone -- I'm quite sure.  Hopefully Avant will be able to make a decision (Related, move, yes or no), but I'm not surprised that this is proving difficult / taking a long time (think Laswell was first proposed five years ago), but maybe if I knew his work better, I wouldn't think it that difficult a case.  Reading through the thread and looking at his discography makes it seem difficult/ intimidating to me.  Eclectic was suggested as a possibility in this thread, but I wouldn't know where to start -- at least in making evaluation relatively easy (how much and which material would be required (is suggested) to come to a  conclusion).


Edited by Logan - October 06 2010 at 15:51

He's really not...there's little if any of his catalog that I would consider anywhere near Prog. And yes...take away production for hire work and leans towards ambient/dub/nu jazz/improv for much of his career with a healthy dose of what you could probably call 'no wave' in the early 80s.

Slartibartfast wrote: Logan wrote: The problem I see with Laswell is his huge discography under his name, his many different projects, and his delving into various different styles (diversity). Sounds like eclectic to me... Dammit with these artists that won't stick to one of our sub-genres.

It does sound eclectic, but of course the Eclectic Prog category is not just about being musically eclectic, it's about being Eclectic Prog in that it blends/ references several Prog categories of music while not leaning much towards any particular one of them.

I would argue he's up there as one of the more ecletic artists out there. His discography is vast and extremely far-flung. Some projects are not always successful, but with such a wide ranging catalog I wouldn't expect it to be. As someone who's an unabashed fan (and probably has one of the biggest Laswell collections out there http://www.silent-watcher.net/billlaswell/discography/discindex.html) who is lucky enough to work for Bill in a small capacity, I feel pretty confident in saying that Eclectic Prog is one of the few labels I wouldn't apply to him. It's one of the few genres he hasn't really touched on.

Arcana would be evaluated independently -- for JRF. I know I've heard some of that before (think I have the second album), being an old Tony Williams fan.

Usually Eclectic evaluations are based on the album level that are deemed overall in the Art Rock camp that cross several key Prog subgenres, but it can refer to the career arc if different Prog styles are represented over the career (say one that is in the Symph Prog vein, another that is more JRF, and another that is more Zeuhl). I haven't heard enough to have an opinion (various tracks), he has a huge discography, and I don't own any of his albums, but if, to quote slntwtcher, his "solo" (released under his name) work "leans towards ambient/dub/nu jazz/improv for much of his career with a healthy dose of what you could probably call 'no wave' in the early 80s" or to quote John,, "Laswell solo is more about dub and dub related type stuff" then that does not indicate Eclectic Prog.

EDIT: So slow in writing this that I han't noticed your posts that came in between Slartibartfast's and mine, Slntwtcher until after I posted. Just to let you know I was referring to Slartibartfast's response to mine.


Edited by Logan - October 07 2010 at 13:15