PRAXIS — Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) (review)

PRAXIS — Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) album cover

Album · 1992 · Eclectic Fusion

4/5 · 2014-03-17
siLLy puPPy

PRAXIS was an experimental rock project that incorporated aspects of metal, rock, funk, prog, avant-garde, noise, turntables and whatever else could be fit in. It all began in the brain of producer and bassist Bill Laswell who was obsessed with collaborating artists together to construct what he called “collision music.” The project included an ever changing cast of musicians over the project's two decade plus span, but on this release we get Buckethead on guitar and additional toys, Bootsy Collins of Parliament fame on bass and vocals, Bernie Worrell also of Parliament on keyboards, Brian “Brain” Mantia on drums whose played with countless acts ranging from G'n'R to Tom Waits and DJ AF Next Man Flip on turntables and mixer.

This album starts off nicely on a rock meets dub note with “Blast / War Machine Dub” and throws in a lot of DJ type funk with avant-garde proggy keyboard solos in this track and the several that follow. Buckethead adds a face-melting guitar solo here and there and the music is mostly instrumental save the Bootsy Collins suave vocal contributions on the funkfest “Animal Behavior.” The album continues down the rock and funk track with ambient guitar stretches but always with a melodic construction in mind. Buckethead puts out all the sounds he became famous for later but this was where he unleashed all of that for the first time and PRAXIS was really the impetus for his successful solo career.

I would imagine that even for those that are on board with this kind of avant-garde music probably will not be loving the extremely bizarre and strange 16 minute plus closer “After Shock (Chaos Never Died)” which is so experimental that it reminds me more of the strangest sound collages ever constructed by the likes of Faust, Dedalus or other Krautrock and space rock artists of the 70s. It starts off rather accessible with funky bass, guitar solos and gospel-inspired organs, but somewhere down the way it just gets WEIRD! If listened to closely though you will hear a subdued pulse that actually strings it all together during the strange and bizarre sound effects that wax and wane throughout the piece's entirety. The turntables and vocal samples mixed with the church organ parts can take you from a comfort zone to the twilight zone and back again and then somewhere else completely.

I personally think they pull this crazy sonic wackiness off exceedingly well. Be forewarned this is not for everybody. You truly must have an eclectic musical palette and really relish the syncretism of all the styles and genres of music that you love mixed and mangled to the point where there's no such thing as a musical genre any more. More of the funky parts here especially with Bootsy on bass and vocals really remind me of Buckethead's “Monsters & Robots” album where Bootsy guest starred. Even the guitar work here from Buckethead reminds me of that period of his career. What can I say? My kind of bizarre mind-bending sonic sludge!