Producer/mixman Bill Laswell has been known to irk purists and entice others: He's reworked Miles Davis' '70s archives and reconfigured Irish and Cuban music. On Tala Matrix, he focuses on Indian percussion, freely blending intricate Hindustani-inspired tabla playing, Indo-electro goods from Talvin Singh, and old-fashioned drum-kit playing into savory, energetic ambient music. But the real hero is tabla wizard Zakir Hussain, who makes the whole thing fly and renders stylistic quibbles moot. B+
Add your comment
The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. An asterisk * indicates a required field.