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
I put projects together. I put people together.
I think if you look at exactly where you are, you can't really focus without looking back and forward at the same time.
The atmosphere defines the environment of sound.
People who play conventional music are threatened by electronica and don't consider it to be as valuable as what they do.
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 don't think technology is viable unless the person applying it has something to say.
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.
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.
Sound comes out of a life experience.
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.
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.
I've never used ethnic music as decoration for profit.
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.
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.
Records are just moments of achievement. They're like receipts for work done. Time goes on and people keep playing music.
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.
Computers and electronic music are not the opposite of the warm human music. It's exactly the same.
