The Squid's Ear Magazine


Painkiller (Harris / Laswell / Zorn): Samsara (Tzadik)

Originally gormed in 1991, the legendary PainKiller trio, known for merging jazz, metal, grindcore, ambient, and dub, returns after more than 25 years to explore an intense new direction, as electronic artist Mick Harris crafts a rich tapestry of beats and sounds, drawing inspired performances from bassist Bill Laswell and alto saxophonist John Zorn.
 

Price: $18.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units


EU & UK Customers:
Discogs.com can handle your VAT payments
So please order through Discogs

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Mick Harris-beats, electronics

Bill Laswell-bass

John Zorn-alto saxophone


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 702397931621

Label: Tzadik
Catalog ID: CD-TZA-9316
Squidco Product Code: 35353

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Drums recorded at The Lad's Old Room, in Birmingham, England, in February 2024, by Mick Harris.

Sax and bass recorded at Orange Studio, in East Orange, New Jersey, by James Dellatacoma.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Painkiller's 2024 release, Samsara, marks a pivotal return for the Downtown NY/Birmingham, UK trio after a 30-year hiatus since their 1994 studio album, Execution Ground. The original lineup-John Zorn (saxophone), Bill Laswell (bass), and Mick Harris (electronics)-reunites to explore new sonic territories, shifting from their earlier fusion of jazz, metal, and grindcore to a more electronic and ambient soundscape.

The album's eight tracks, titled "Samsara I" through "Samsara VIII," are anchored by Harris's electronic loops, creating a textured foundation for Zorn's piercing, improvisational saxophone and Laswell's resonant bass lines, which ground the compositions with depth and nuance. This represents a clear departure from Painkiller's raw, aggressive aesthetic, leaning instead into polished production and layered, intricate rhythms.

As a bold exploration of new musical directions, Samsara underscores Painkiller's ability to evolve and adapt, offering an engaging and inventive listening experience while retaining their signature intensity and innovation.


Artist Biographies

"Michael John Harris (born 4 October 1967) is an English musician from Birmingham. He was the drummer for Napalm Death between 1985 and 1991, and is credited for coining the term "grindcore". After Napalm Death, Harris joined Painkiller with John Zorn and Bill Laswell. Since the mid-1990s, Harris has worked primarily in electronic and ambient music, his main projects being Scorn and Lull. He has also collaborated with musicians including James Plotkin and Extreme Noise Terror. According to AllMusic, Harris's "genre-spanning activities have done much to jar the minds, expectations, and record collections of audiences previously kept aggressively opposed." "

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Harris)
1/16/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Over the course of some three decades, visionary bassist-producer Bill Laswell has been one of the most prolific and restlessly creative forces in contemporary music. A sound conceptualist who has always been a step ahead of the curve, he has put his inimitable stamp on nearly 3,000 recording projects by such artists as Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, Bootsy Collins, Nine Inch Nails, Motorhead, Peter Gabriel, Blur, The Ramones, George Clinton, Pharaoh Sanders, The Dalai Lama, Matisyahu, Angelique Kidjo, DJ Krush, RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ, Sting, The Last Poets, Afrika Bambaataa, Julian Schnabel, Whitney Houston, Manu Dibango, Fela Kuti and most notably Herbie Hancock, who collaborated with Laswell for the pivotal 1983 smash-hit single "Rock-It" which introduced scratching to the mainstream, inspired a generation of turntablists and gave the great jazz pianist instant street credibility among the burgeoning hip-hop cognoscenti.

Laswell's sense of creative daring as a producer was further demonstrated on several recordings that have kept him on the cutting edge, including Afrika Bambaataa's collaboration with John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten of Sex Pistols fame) on World Destruction and PiL's Album (which brought together an unlikely pairing of drumming greats Ginger Baker and Tony Williams, synth-pop pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame and rising guitar star Steve Vai). His spoken word collaborations with William S. Burroughs and expatriate writer-composer Paul Bowles have gone against the grain of music industry trends while his radical remixes (or re-constructions) of landmark recordings by Miles Davis (Panthalassa), Carlos Santana (Divine Light), Bob Marley (Dreams of Freedom) and a vast scan of dub-related and atmospheric ambient projects have gone on to further defined Laswell's presence as a revolutionary ikonoklast.

Bill Laswell has helped in generating several innovative recording labels such as Celluloid, Subharmonic, Black Arc, and Innerhythmic. Along with Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records (Bob Marley and U2), he established the AXIOM label in 1989. M.O.D. Technologies, his most recent imprint is releasing projects by Method Of Defiance, Lee "Scratch" Perry, PRAXIS, Garrison Hawk with Sly & Robbie, Bernie Worrell, The Process (with Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer Chad Smith and pianist Jon Baptiste) and progressive/futuristic music from Ethiopia (CDs/DVDs).

As a player, Laswell's bass lines resound with rare authority on groundbreaking projects by Tabla Beat Science (with Zakir Hussain and Ustad Sultan Khan), his avant-funk band Material, the apocalyptic assault of Last Exit (with Sonny Sharrock), his progressive dub effected Method of Defiance and the throbbingly intense power trios, Massacre (with Fred Frith and Charles Hayward), Painkiller (with John Zorn and Mick Harris), Praxis (with Buckethead and Brain), Blixt (with Raoul Bjorkenheim and Morgan Agren) and the latest (2014) Bladerunner (with John Zorna and Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo).

Laswell's artistic reach has consistently extended to the continent of Africa, creating ground-breaking, evolutionary snd controversial recording projects in Morocco, Senegal, Mali, Gambia and most recently, Ethiopia where he has established a base for developing new as well as legendary artists, just as he did in the South Bronx some 30 years ago.

A veteran of 300 plus journeys to Japan, where he has worked with everyone from The Gagaku Orchestra (Japan's ancient music, only played for emperors for 1500 years), to avant-jazz, rock, hip-hop and DJ culture. An eternal musical renegade, Bill Laswell has always played by his own rules."

-Bill Laswell Website (http://www.billlaswell.net/biography.html)
1/16/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, arranger, producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist with hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, and producer across a variety of genres including jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, klezmer, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. He incorporates diverse styles in his compositions which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental. Zorn was described by Down Beat as "one of our most important composers".

Zorn established himself within the New York City downtown music movement in the mid-1970s performing with musicians across the sonic spectrum and developing experimental methods of composing new music. After releasing albums on several independent US and European labels, Zorn signed with Elektra Nonesuch and received wide acclaim with the release of The Big Gundown, an album reworking the compositions of Ennio Morricone. He attracted further attention worldwide with the release of Spillane in 1987, and Naked City in 1989. After spending almost a decade travelling between Japan and the US he made New York his permanent base and established his own record label, Tzadik, in the mid-1990s.

Tzadik enabled Zorn to maintain independence from the mainstream music industry and ensured the continued availability of his growing catalog of recordings, allowing him to prolifically record and release new material, issuing several new albums each year, as well as promoting the work of many other musicians. Zorn has led the hardcore bands Naked City and Painkiller, the klezmer/free jazz-influenced quartet Masada, composed over 600 pieces as part of the Masada Songbooks that have been performed by an array of groups, composed concert music for classical ensembles and orchestras, and produced music for opera, sound installations, film and documentary. Zorn has undertaken many tours of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, often performing at festivals with many other musicians and ensembles that perform his diverse output.

Zorn's compositions cross many genres and he has stated "All the various styles are organically connected to one another. I'm an additive person-the entire storehouse of my knowledge informs everything I do. People are so obsessed with the surface that they can't see the connections, but they are there." For Zorn "Composing is more than just imagining music-it's knowing how to communicate it to musicians. And you don't give an improviser music that's completely written out, or ask a classical musician to improvise. I'm interested in speaking to musicians in their own languages, on their own terms, and in bringing out the best in what they do. To challenge them and excite them." "

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zorn)
1/16/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Samsara I 6:08

2. Samsara II 6:29

3. Samsara III 5:24

4. Samsara IV 5:15

5. Samsara V 5:14

6. Samsara VI 4:57

7. Samsara VII 4:58

8. Samsara VIII 2:28

Related Categories of Interest:


Tzadik
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Trio Recordings
Zorn. John
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
Tzadik.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Zorn, John
The Hermetic Organ Volume 13 - Biennale Musica Venezia
(Tzadik)
Performing at the 17th century Palazzo Pisano during the 2023 Venice Biennale, John Zorn improvises on two small antique organ at Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello, taking full advantage of the rich reeds, flutes, and horns of these two outstanding instruments as he moved between the two organs, bringing out unusual tonalities and intersections between both instruments.
Zorn, John (Marsella / Roeder / Smith)
Ballades
(Tzadik)
Ten numbered Ballads from the pen of John Zorn, writing for the trio of Brian Marsella on piano, Jorge Roeder on bass and Ches Smith on drums, his third album with this same Downtown New York piano trio and by far the most lyrical and lovely collection to date, as the trio settles into Zorn's inventive structures with improvisational passion and adroit interaction.
Zorn, John (Stephen Gosling / Barbara Hannigan)
Hannigan Sings Zorn Volume One
(Tzadik)
Two virtuosic contemporary performers--pianist Stephen Gosling and vocalist Barbara Hannigan--heard in live performances of three challenging works by John Zorn: Jumalattaret, a song cycle in praise of line Finnish Goddesses out of Sami Shamanism, and Split the Lark, Zorn's tribute to the magical American poet Emily Dickinson, plus Zorn's early work Nazdar, Poupon, Nazdar.
Zorn, John (Riley / Lage)
Her Melodious Lay
(Tzadik)
Featuring some of composer John Zorn's most lyrical work, the duo of guitarists Gyan Riley and Julian Lage continue their collaboration in the series that started in 2015 with The Bagatelles and continues through Midsummer Moons (2017), Book Beri'ah (2019), and Quatrain (2023), as they render Zorn's beautiful merging of eclectic forms inspired by William Shakespeare.
Zorn, John / Jesse Harris (Marsella / Roeder / Smith / Haden)
Love Songs Live
(Tzadik)
Taking the collaboration between composer John Zorn and composer/vocalist Jesse Harris on the stage for a live performance at National Sawdust, in Brooklyn in 2023, supported by a dream band of Brian Marsella on piano, Jorge Roeder on bass and Ches Smith on drums; sixteen upbeat, beautiful and sophisticated songs that bring Downtown NY sensibilities to lyrical vocal jazz.
Zorn, John
The Hermetic Organ Volume 11 - For Terry Riley
(Tzadik)
Performing on the 7,466 pipe Æolian-Skinner organ at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, one of the first American classic-style organs and among the largest church organs in the West, John Zorn continues his solo organ series with this tribute to Terry Riley in two extended improvisations, part of his 70th birthday celebration as part of Fred Barnes's concert series.
Zorn, John (Medeski / Marsella / Hollenberg / Grohowski)
Parrhesiastes
(Tzadik)
The fifth album from John Zorn's Chaos Magic Ensemble of Brian Marsella on Fender Rhodes Piano, John Medeski on organ, Kenny Grochowski on drums and Matt Hollenberg on guitar, in three free flowing works that display Zorn's perceptive merging and the band's enormous skill, contrasting lyrical electric jazz with turbulent rock forms and disciplined contemporary structure.
Zorn, John (Frisell / Riley / Lage)
Nothing Is As Real As Nothing
(Tzadik)
The completion of John Zorn's second trilogy of albums performed by the extraordinarily masterful acoustic guitar trio of Bill Frisell, Gyan Riley and Julian Lage, here performing six intricate and lyrically graceful compositions dedicated to literary visionary Samuel Beckett; uniquely packaged in a clear imprinted sleeve.
Zorn, John (Julian Lage / Gyan Riley)
Quatrain
(Tzadik)
Based on the influential 1929 novel by Welsh writer Richard Hughes, A High Wind in Jamaica, about the disturbing ordeal of four children captured by pirates on the sea, realized through John Zorn's compositions for two guitarist--Julian Lage and Gyan Riley--and expressed through a spectrum of tranquil and portentous passages of virtuosic playing.
Banabila, Michel
Singles (2020 - 2022) [CD + DOWNLOAD]
(Tapu Records)
The ever-prolific Dutch sound artist Michel Banabila collects 11 singles, working solo and in collaborations featuring Alex Haas, Bill Laswell, Cengiz Arslanpay, Jeff Greinke, Ümlaut, Salar Asid, Robert jarvis, Maarten Vos, and Gareth Davis, demonstrating Banabila's diverse and sophisticated approaches to sound work, and his versatility in a variety of settings.
Zorn, John
The Hermetic Organ Vol. 9 - Liber VII
(Tzadik)
John Zorn's extended solo organ improvisation at the 2022 Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN performing on the Goulding & Wood seventy-rank organ at St. John's Cathedral, Zorn's performance inspired by Aleister Crowley's Liber Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli and performed in a kind of trance state, as he traversed moods and mystery in a 44 minute journey of massive sound.
McKenzie II, Donald Sturge Anthony (feat. Elliott Sharp, Bill Laswell and Vernon Reid)
Silenced II - Views from the Auction Block
(577 Records)
Drummer Donald Sturge Anthony McKenzie II trades off duos with a set of masterful musicians in the second volume of his "Silenced" project, here with guitarist Elliott Sharp for a complex and inspired dialog; with bassist Bill Laswell for a rich and moody soundscape; and with guitarist Vernon Reid in a piece for McKenzie's daughter; plus one solo drum piece.
Nauseef, Mark
All In All In all
(Relative Pitch)
Influenced by rock, jazz, Javanese and Balinese gamelan, NY drummer Mark Nauseef's career has embraced an inclusive blending of styles, heard in this fantastic new album embracing compositional and ea styles, recorded with previous collaborators including Tony Oxley, Bill Laswell, Walter Quintus, along with Sylvie Courvoisier, Pat Thomas, Miroslav Tadic, & Arthur Jarvinen.
Zorn, John
The Hermetic Organ Vol. 5 _Philharmonie De Paris
(Tzadik)
During a week in April 2017 John Zorn travelled to Paris, where he performed several concerts including "The Interpretation of Dreams", presented an evening with guests, and performed solo on the organ at the Grande salle Pierre Boulez, the full concert of which is presented on this CD, along with 30 minutes of recordings made before the evening's concert.
Various Artists (Zorn / Johansson / Johnson / de Vroe / Schleirmacher)
Enfants Terribles
(Hat [now] ART)



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC