bombonyall
holy. crap. Praxis.
Praxis represents a sort of long-overdue meeting of the minds to me. I was a huge Primus kid in high school (being one of about 20 white kids in Bawlmer city who weren't into hip-hop yet and thought metal was dumb)(both tastes have since changed)(obviously), and some of the coolest material I ever saw live was when Les Claypool had battles with DJ Scratch on stage - one Carl Thompson bass vs. a single turntable.
a few years later, in comes Praxis. I think they started as a Bootsy Collins led outfit, but the album Warszawa (out in 2001 or so) really grabbed my attention for tracks like this [buy it]. with good reason - it features Brain on drums, Mixmaster Mike on turntables, and Buckethead on guitar, with Bill Lazwell producing and even (I think) Les Claypool doing guest bass. this is a family reunion of sorts, as Brain is the new drummer for Primus, Les was the founder, Buckethead (a solo electric guitar act with a KFC bucket and kabuki mask) has done collabs with Primus as well, and MMM contributes the scratch sound proven to work well with all the other elements.
plus, it's an utterly INSANE track. the tempo is fast enough to rip your face of, and MMM's rhythm skratching could make even a hummingbirds heart explode. all fancy turntablism aside, being able to cut up a simple "beep-aaaaahhhhhhhhh" like that is the sign of a true master.
happy weekend!
[ed. note: For those of you in the LA area, Buckethead is doing a performance at the Cartelle Gallery on Saturday night at 7p.m., as part of a collection of artists obsessed with surfaces. Go figure.]