Fanu & Bill Laswell, Lodge (Karlrecords)

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Multi-tasker extraordinare Bill Laswell was one of the first champions of drum´n´bass from beyond the inner circle of proponents and true believers. Subsequently, this interest and investment has evolved into unexpected encounters first spurred by working with artists like DJ Ninj, DJ Disk and in latter years so-called "darkhop" enthusiasts, until finally exploding with a series of important and effervescent cross-genre works with solo beathandler Submerged.

While these meetings have been wild, speedy and, to snatch a word from one title, doggone brutal, the present session with Finnish wunderkind Fanu is crisp, fresh and reminiscent more of work Laswell did a decade ago with the artists of the now-defunct Brooklyn crew he helped finance, WordSound. About his take on drum´n´bass, Fanu (real name Janne Hatula) has stated that his long love of the genre has him "creating today´s drum and bass with the aesthetics that come from [that] past."

Thus what we have here are two veterans of the genre meeting for the first time and hopefully pushing at the proverbial envelope. But Lodge is also a record of another tradition, a kind of jazz-funk record. In tow to the sessions Laswell has three experts - Parliament/Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell and trumpeters Nils Petter Molvær and Graham Haynes. NPM himself is known for his own groundbreaking cross-genre jazz/d´n´b albums, while Haynes boasts not only an impressive solo career but has also accompanied Laswell on many of his more adventurous expeditions.

Which is not to say that compared with this starting line-up, Fanu has little to bring to the table - he goes ape already on the second track, "Bloodline" and later on "Transfer Code". At calmer times, one or two tracks sound as though they were recorded during Laswell´s "Dub Chamber" sessions, but that doesn´t make it any less welcome. Bill´s bass takes centrestage on the closer,"Shroud", a virtuoso narrative surrounded by swirling keys and hammered at by Fanu´s insistent snare.

Taken as a whole, Lodge is not a spectacular breakthrough but rather a deftly arranged and coherent piece of work by two very compatible artists. Hope to hear more of Fanu in Laswell´s future work - or Laswell in Fanu´s.

http://www.karlrecords.net