Material - Hallucination Engine (1994)
Artist: Material
Title: Hallucination Engine
Year Of Release: 1994
Label: Axiom [314-518 351-2]
Genre: Acid Jazz, World Fusion, Dub
Quality: FLAC (image + .cue,log,scans) | MP3/320 kbps
Total Time: 67:18
Total Size: 362 MB(+3%) | 159 MB(+3%)
WebSite: Album Preview
TracklistTitle: Hallucination Engine
Year Of Release: 1994
Label: Axiom [314-518 351-2]
Genre: Acid Jazz, World Fusion, Dub
Quality: FLAC (image + .cue,log,scans) | MP3/320 kbps
Total Time: 67:18
Total Size: 362 MB(+3%) | 159 MB(+3%)
WebSite: Album Preview
1. Black Light
2. Mantra
3. Ruins (Submutation Dub)
4. Eternal Drift
5. Words of Advice
6. Cucumber Slumber (Fluxus Mix)
7. The Hidden Garden / Naima
8. Shadows of Paradise
personnel :
Bill Laswell : basses, beats, loops, samples, etc.
Wayne Shorter : soprano and tenor saxophones
William S. Burroughs : voice
Liu Sola : voice
Simon Shaheen : violin, oud
Nicky Skopelitis : acoustic and electric six and twelve string guitars, coral sitar, baglama, Fairlight
Bernie Worrell : electric piano, Hammond B-3 organ
Bootsy Collins : space bass
Shankar : electric violin
Sly Dunbar : drum kit
Jeff Bova : synthesizers
Jihad Racy : ney
Jonas Hellborg : acoustic bass, fretless electric bass
Zakir Hussain : tabla
Trilok Gurtu : tabla
Vikku Vinayakram : ghatam
Fahim Dandan : voice
George Basil : qanoun
Michael Baklouk : daff, tambourine
Aiyb Dieng : chatan, congas, percussion
By the mid-'90s, Material was simply another word for Bill Laswell, so as Laswell's fascination with ambient mysticism grew, so did Material's tendencies in that direction. After 1991's dark and reggae-inflected The Third Power, Hallucination Engine's long, spacy jams aren't exactly a dramatic departure, but the combination of Wayne Shorter and various North African elements is certainly interesting. In fact, the array of guest musicians is more diverse than ever: Trilok Gurtu, Jonas Hellborg, Zakir Hussain, Bootsy Collins -- the list goes on and on and even includes William Burroughs (who intones a hilarious list of "Words of Advice" over a churning mid-tempo funk groove). In his ambient mode, Laswell has been accused of turning too little music into too much track length, and there's some justice to those criticisms; here, "Black Light" and the unbelievably well-named "Eternal Drift" both plod along for far too long with far too little development. But that William Burroughs track kicks in just as you're about to fall asleep, and it's followed immediately by a very funky and very jazzy remix of "Cucumber Slumber." "The Hidden Garden/Naima" proposes an interesting juxtaposition of Arabic pop song and modal jazz, with dramatic and beautiful results, while "Shadows of Paradise" brings the album to a close with a gentle whimper, not a bang.~Rick Anderson
