Released September 8, 1992 Artist Praxis Producer Bill Laswell | Length 56:45 Release date 8 September 1992 Label Axiom | |
 | ||
Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)
(1992) A Taste of Mutation
(1992) Genres Rock music, Heavy metal, Funk metal, Experimental music, Avant-garde, Experimental rock Similar Praxis albums, Experimental music albums | ||
Praxis giant robot machines in the modern city godzilla transmutation mutatis mutandis
Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) is the first album by Bill Laswell's ever-changing "supergroup" Praxis. The album was released in 1992 and features Buckethead on guitar, Bootsy Collins on bass and vocals, Brain on drums, Bernie Worrell on keyboards and DJ AF Next Man Flip on turntables and mixer.
Contents
- Praxis giant robot machines in the modern city godzilla transmutation mutatis mutandis
- Track listing
- Personnel
- Animal Behavior single
- Video
- Songs
- References
Transmutation features a wide range of musical styles, all mixed together to make a very diverse and unique album. Styles such as heavy metal, funk, hip hop, ambient, jazz and blues are blended together to form a strange style of avant-garde, with extended guitar and keyboard solos, and highly improvised passages.
Track listing
Note: Track 8 starts out with the Giant Robot theme, that is also featured on Buckethead's Bucketheadland album. The track also contains a version of one of the many themes Akira Ifukube wrote for Toho production's Godzilla films.
Personnel
Animal Behavior single
Animal Behavior is the first and only single by supergroup Praxis. The song was a natural choice to promote the band's debut album as well as Bill Laswell's new label Axiom since it was the only song of the album to contain lyrics. The vocals were done by former P-Funk member Bootsy Collins who also plays "space bass" while his P-Funk colleague Bernie Worrell can be heard on keyboards. Furthermore, the core members, San Francisco Bay Area musicians Bryan "Brain" Mantia (drums) and Buckethead (guitars) plus mastermind Bill Laswell (samples) were reinforced by turntablist Af Next Man Flip (aka Afrika Baby Bam of the Jungle Brothers).
The single includes three different versions of the title track written by Collins, Laswell and Buckethead, an edited album version from Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis), a short radio edit and a third version that was used for the music video. The original seven-minute album version (including the 3-minute atmospheric, darkly contemplative, instrumental coda which features a hard rock ballad theme by Buckethead) was also released on the EP A Taste of Mutation in the same year and later included to the Axiom compilation Funkcronomicon in 1995 while the video edit was re-released in 1993 on Manifestation: Axiom Collection II. The song also was included as the last part of the suite "Cosmic Trigger" on the album Axiom Ambient - Lost in the Translation in 1994.
Video
A video was released for promoting the album and single. It features frequent scenes shot in night vision, footage of guitarist Buckethead moving around and a monster made out of trash. When singer Bootsy Collins starts singing the first verse, another monster made out of soda cans appears. The video later shows how Buckethead fights the first robot with his severed hand but the monster manages to decapitate him. After that the band is shown playing the song in night vision. A scarecrow with a square head appears when the mellow part of the song starts. The members of the band are shown against a sunset background. The video ends with still shots of all the band members and the music fading out. The video clip was played on MTV's Amp and was included in Buckethead's 2006 DVD Secret Recipe.
Personnel
Songs
1Blast / War Machine Dub3:52
2Interface / Stimulation Loop2:16
3Crash Victim / Black Science Navigator3:38