Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
Group Members: Simon Shaheen & Qantara, Henry Threadgill Zooid, Bill Laswell, Bill Laswell and Terre Thaemlitz, Bill Laswell and Pete Namlook, Bill Laswell & Style Scott, Bill Laswell and Tetsu Inoue, Atom Heart, Tetsu Inoue And Bill Laswell, Toshinori Kondo And Bill Laswell, Jah Wobble And Bill Laswell, Method Of Defiance, Bill Laswell / Pete Namlook, Fanu/ Bill Laswell feat. Nils Petter Molvaer, Asana 4, Lee Scratch Perry & Bill Laswell, Lee Scratch Perry / Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock / Nicky Skopelitis, Sonny & Linda Sharrock, Olu Dara, Aiyb Dieng, Fred Frith And Jean-Pierre Drouet, Fred Frith, Fred Frith and John Zorn, Fred Frith with Karoline Höfler, Bernd Settelmeyer & Wolfgang Stryi, Fred Frith Maybe Monday, Fred Frith & René Lussier, Fred Frith and Arte Quartett, Cosa Brava, Fred Frith, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Louis Sclavis, Nicky Skopelitis, Three of a Sort, Henry Threadgill's Zooid, Henry Threadgill & Make A Move, Henry Threadgill, Simon Shaheen
All Music Guide:
One of the most high-profile projects of the endlessly prolific bassist and producer Bill Laswell, Material pioneered a groundbreaking fusion of jazz, funk, and punk that also incorporated elements of hip-hop and world music well before either's entrance into the mass cultural consciousness. Formed in 1979, the first Material lineup consisted of Laswell, multi-instrumentalist Michael Beinhorn, and drummer Fred Maher, all three staples of the downtown New York City underground music scene. The group, plus Kramer and a few others backed Gong's Daevid Allen during his New York visit, resulting in the album About Time by New York Gong. After Material's debut LP under their own name, Temporary Music, the group's ranks swelled to include figures ranging from Sonny Sharrock to Henry Threadgill to Fred Frith, additions which yielded 1981's superb Memory Serves. A guest list running the gamut from Nile Rodgers to a then-unknown Whitney Houston distinguished the avant funk of 1982's One Down, the final Material LP before a nearly decade-long hiatus; Laswell finally reassembled the troops in 1989 to record the atmospheric Seven Souls, which spotlighted the spoken word performances of the legendary William S. Burroughs. 1991's The Third Power brought the group back to its soulful roots, with guests including Herbie Hancock, Sly & Robbie, Maceo Parker, and the Jungle Brothers; after 1994's Hallucination Engine, another four-year hiatus preceded the release of the remix collection The Road to the Western Lands. Intonarumori followed in 1999.
Wikipedia:
Material is anything made of matter, constituted of one or more substances. Wood, cement, hydrogen, air and water are all examples of materials. Sometimes the term "material" is used more narrowly to refer to substances or components with certain physical properties that are used as inputs to production or manufacturing. In this sense, materials are the parts required to make something else, from buildings and art to stars and computers.
Raw materials and processing
A material can be anything: a finished product in its own right or an unprocessed raw material. Raw materials are first harvested from the earth and divided into a form that can be easily transported and stored, then processed to produce semi-finished materials. These can be input into a new cycle of production and finishing processes to create finished materials, ready for distribution, construction, and consumption.
Some examples of raw materials
CottonAn example of a raw material is cotton, which is harvested from plants. Cotton can be processed into rope(also considered a raw material), which can then be woven into cloth, a semi-finished material. Cutting and sewing the fabric turns it into a garment, which is a finished product.
SteelSteelmaking is another example – raw materials in the form of ore are mined, refined and processed into steel, a semi-finished material. Steel is then used as an input in many other industries to make finished products.
