Bill Laswell Quotes & Sayings

In all the music that deals with experimental repetition, drum and bass, dub, various kinds of house music, there's always been a quality of atmosphere and ambience. — Bill Laswell

People are afraid of things they don't understand. They don't know how to relate. It threatens their security, their existence, their career, image. — Bill Laswell

Engineering producers who don't play and have technology as a background may be the reason why there's a lot of cold non-musical music, for lack of a better description. — Bill Laswell

Computers and electronic music are not the opposite of the warm human music. It's exactly the same. — Bill Laswell

If you listen to really deep ambient records that don't move too much, very still records, long after those records are finished, you might find yourself listening for hours to the sound of the room. — Bill Laswell

People who play conventional music are threatened by electronica and don't consider it to be as valuable as what they do. — Bill Laswell

The atmosphere defines the environment of sound. — Bill Laswell

I think if you look at exactly where you are, you can't really focus without looking back and forward at the same time. — Bill Laswell

Obviously, it's had a huge effect on repetitive music or dance music or house music. Ambient in the last ten years has infiltrated into all those repetitive musics. I don't know what part it plays in pop necessarily but I'm sure there's some connection. But in all the music that deals with experimental repetition, drum and bass, dub, various kinds of house music, there's always been a quality of atmosphere and ambience. I think it's infiltrated that pretty heavily. — Bill Laswell

I've never used ethnic music as decoration for profit. — Bill Laswell

Nothing was a style first. Everything started as an idea. A guy did something with an idea. Someone copied him. Some copied all of them and it became trendy and then it became a style. — Bill Laswell

Miles Davis fully embraced possibilities and delved into it. He was criticized heavily from the jazz side. He was supposed to be part of a tradition, but he didn't consider himself part of a tradition. — Bill Laswell

Sound comes out of a life experience. — Bill Laswell

I put projects together. I put people together. — Bill Laswell

Records are just moments of achievement. They're like receipts for work done. Time goes on and people keep playing music. — Bill Laswell

I think everything's experimental whether you like it or not. I think that people who do generic pop are experimenting with cliches. It's no less than I am experimenting with noise or unknown music - until you say, 'This is my song, or this is my composition' - it's all experimental, whether you like it or not. — Bill Laswell

Ambient means the natural center or atmosphere of a space. All music has that in it- a space or center. I think it just means the atmosphere or what defines the environment of sound and maybe removing the more destructive, harsh elements and harder rhythmic elements and you get down to the stillness that's inherent. There's an ambient quality in every sound. You may have to enhance that to hear it or bring it out in a different way but there is that in every environmental sound. — Bill Laswell

I got into dub a long time ago. I was into dub before I even had any interest in reggae or Jamaican songs, Bob Marley, or any of those established artists. I just thought it was such an unusual sound. — Bill Laswell

What I'm dealing with is sound. I don't pretend to be dealing with music. I'm just dealing with sound elements, textures and sounds. — Bill Laswell

I don't think technology is viable unless the person applying it has something to say. — Bill Laswell