Transmutation Live is a live album compiled from a live Praxis

Praxis (band)

Praxis was the name of an ever-changing musical project, led by prolific producer Bill Laswell. Praxis combine elements of different musical genres such as funk, jazz, hip-hop and heavy metal into highly improvised music...

 performance in Zurich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, in the summer of 1996. Transmutation Live features an incarnation of Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

's free jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

/rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

/hip-hop collective. Frequent compatriots Buckethead

Buckethead

Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...

 and Bryan "Brain" Mantia assist on guitar and drums, respectively.

In this album, Buckethead

Buckethead

Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...

 leaves an impression throughout the 60 minutes of this disc because of his abilities when he plays the guitar. DXT

Grand Mixer DXT

Grand Mixer DXT is an American turntablist. He was formely known as Grand Mixer D.ST. "D.ST" is a reference to Manhattan, New York City's Delancey Street on the Lower East Side...

 adds synthesizer and turntables, where he is aided by the Invisibl Skratch Piklz

Invisibl Skratch Piklz

The Invisibl Skratch Piklz were a group of Americans of Filipino Ancestry turntablists.The members of the group were originally hip-hop DJs, who were among the pioneers of the turntablism movement in the 1990s; turntablists create musical pieces by mixing samples from records, by using multiple...

, the Bay-Area collective of Q-Bert, Mixmaster Mike, Shortkut, and Disk.

The four tracks on Transmutation Live are labeled simply as four movements. The albums contains almost-ambient sound sculptures, giving way to metal-stomp grooves.

Track listing

Personnel

• Praxis:
  • Buckethead
    Buckethead
    Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
    
     - Guitar
  • Invisible Scratch Pickles
    Invisibl Skratch Piklz
    The Invisibl Skratch Piklz were a group of Americans of Filipino Ancestry turntablists.The members of the group were originally hip-hop DJs, who were among the pioneers of the turntablism movement in the 1990s; turntablists create musical pieces by mixing samples from records, by using multiple...
    
     - Turntables
  • Brain
    Bryan Mantia
    Bryan "Brain" Mantia is a contemporary rock drummer. He has played with bands like Primus, Guns N' Roses, Praxis and Godflesh, and with other popular performers such as Tom Waits, Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins and Buckethead...
    
     - drums
  • Bill Laswell
    Bill Laswell
    Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
    
    - bass

• Bacon - Design
• Cimarron - Design
• Oz Fritz - Engineer
• James Koehnline - Cover Art
• Bill Murphy - Liner Notes
• Robert Musso - Mastering and Compilation Producer
• O'Brien - Design