Murs "Everyday" (Gnotes Remix)

Gnotes contributed a beat to the Murs remix contest. Always a dutiful rule-abider, Gnotes' instrumental contains no samples (as per stipulated); Gnotes plays live bass, guitar, accordion, bongos and MPC.

Murs - "Everything (Gnotes Remix)" Download MP3

James Blunt? really?

Gnotes - "Guitars in the Trunk"

The first track form Gnotes' 2006 album INTHRUMENTAL, "Guitars in the Trunk" is about the Gnawledge Records trip to Cuba for the 10th annual Havana Hip-Hop Festival. We brought a mobile studio down to do some recording with Anonimo Consejo, a pair of Cuban MCs.

When we arrived at the José Martí International Airport, the security agents were unbothered by our guitars and drum machines, but they were not happy about us importing microphones into Cuba.

Video by Canyon Cody.

Lyrics:
"The human voice is a beautiful thing,
but the human voice is a powerful thing.
They confiscated our bags when we got off the plane.
Suitcase with instruments and all types
of machines that make beats,
but they only took the mics.
Charged with illegal vocal amplification,
Locked my mic behind the cell
but released us form the station.
Homeless, lazy, lifeless, sunk.
Technics in the backseat,
Guitars in the trunk."




Purchase Gnotes' Inthrumental @ iTunes, Amazon or CDBaby, but whatever you do, don't bootleggus.

MySpace: Gnotes + Anonimo Consejo

Gnotes "Angels Are Trouble"

From Gnotes' 2006 album Inthrumental from Gnawledge Records, "Angels Are Trouble" explores the dangers of tings so good. Featuring bad lypsync from Canyon Cody, reefer madness and brazilian devils.

Purchase Inthrumental @ iTunes, Amazon or CDBaby, but whatever you do, don't bootleggus.

Gnotes "Windmills"

Recently back from Granada (Spain), Gnotes breaks the seal on 2009 with "Windmills". Gnotes made the beat, big ups to Russ Meyer for the footage

Gnotes is back in Seattle with a new album coming in the Spring.

More musik --> Gnotes @ MySpace

Powderhouse Birthday Jam

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Here´s a peak into the Gnawledge kitchen: a mini-jam at Afro DZ ak's recent 27th birthday party in Somerville, MA. Backed by Gnotes on the MPC and Frank on the guitar, Afro DZ freestyles with his trumpet inside a cypher of multi-instrumentalist MC´s.

Enjoy the hors d'œuvres, a little something we whipped up to whet your appetite for Afro DZ ak´s upcoming solo debut Elevation. Now get out the kitchen, because we got a trumpet feast to cook.



Peace to Afro´s brother Mooks behind the camara, Benny Blanco, Jimi P, and the other partygoers who stopped by Powderhouse Studios to hear some Gnawledge music.

Elemental Zazen concert videos

With a punk´s energy and a poet´s focus, Elemental Zazen rocked a packed house last night at the Middle East downstairs.



Recorded from the vantage point of a side stage monitor, the videos feature Zazen´s rambunciotnus live band, with Gnotes on the guitar closest to the camara and Todd Thurheimer playing bass on the other side of Zazen. Onstage, but outside the frame, are KEH Drums bangin out beats and DJ Slipwax on the wheels of steel.



With rowdy crowd in the house, Zazen offered a live preview of his upcoming album The Glass Should Be Full, to be released by Gnawledge Records in May 2008.



The show also boasted live painting by Writous, a Boston graf artist who was recently featured in The Herald in an article written by Chris Faraone.



The post-game recap from concert promoter Leedz: ¨I usually dont post bulletins AFTER a show but this time i feel its necessary. Last Nights show, Meleodesiac CD release party, was insane. We didnt have one national act and did close to 400 people in the venue. Big up to all the acts, 3sp, Left Over Wine, Slipwax, Zazen and his band, Melodesiac, Ricky Mortis, Writous, and Elephant House. Each act played their role perfectly and last night was a perfect example of what can happen when every act hussles. But more importantly each set was tight and the fans were great. I was completely in shock on how well it went. For a night with all local acts, we proved again that we have our own scene here in Mass and dont always need big national acts to pack up a venue. I cant wait to work with all of these artists again and next time i guarrantee it will be even bigger.¨



For more melancholy mayhem, catch Elemental Zazen performing live at the Paradise Lounge on February 19, 2008 at Gnotes´ final show in Boston before heading to Spain to collaborate on El Canyonazo´s arab/flamenco hip-hop record.

Gnotes - "Throw Your Nickels Up" from Rhymes and Beats.

Buy the album at Amazon, CDBaby or iTunes

Check Gnotes on MySpace for additional info.

Video of gNotes and Afro DZ ak freestyling at Tufts University, moving from the mic to the trumpet, from live drums and to organic rhymes




Check out more at Gnawledge.com

New videos from gNotes performing at the Radix record release show.


gnotes - "Punchlines" (John Mayer Remix)


gnotes - "No Man's An Island"


gnotes - "Pete the Banker"

Mixtape Friday: Dorm Room Griots' Flow From Above
By Canyon Cody
Published in The Heights

For my little brother's 10th birthday, I sent him The Giver by Lois Lowry. The story follows Jonas through his apprenticeship under the Giver, an old man who serves as his community's Receiver of Memories.

Like the Giver, West African griots have served for centuries as keepers of memories. Griots are oral storytellers who use poetry and music to teach their village about its history. In America, griots became rappers, but somewhere between Senegal and the South Bronx, these rappers forgot the history they were entrusted to protect.

Today, the village of hip-hop suffers from a serious ignorance of its own past, which extends past New York in the 1970s. Modern-day spoken word poets like Saul Williams are hip-hop's true storytellers, but griots are not supposed to be celebrities; they're supposed to be functioning members of every village.

A-Side

Myran Hunter "We Have Forgotten"

At Boston College, a group of poets called the Dorm Room Griots have recorded Flow From Above, an album of spoken word poetry. They will be performing with musicians and DJs at the record release party on Friday at 9 p.m. at The Perch in McElroy.

On "We Have Forgotten," Myran Hunter, BC '07, speaks about the African musical and social history that hip-hop has sold out. "You can purchase an alternate ego, a lavish lifestyle, worldwide recognition, or even a whole new identity. All of this can be yours for three easy payments of your past, your present, and your future," Hunter says.

Noah "The Conflict"

"We are the BC '06, on this track from his upcoming rap album. Noah brings variety to the poetry album, rapping about the inherent conflicts involved in struggling to succeed in a country that was built on slavery.

B-Side

Martine Russell "Moonbeams"
Griots are both men and women, but hip-hop refuses to pass the mic to females. On "Moonbeams," Martine Russell, BC '06, sings her ode to the urban village, the "birth-mother to b-boys and b-girls." Her poem celebrates the persistence of a battered, but not beaten, metropolis, "survivor of Nixon and drug wars / all the while she continues to smile."

Sean Dwyer "Woodrow Wilson"
Time for some American history. "It's no wonder to which demographic democracy reaches / it's been since Woodrow Wilson when a president wrote his own speeches," raps Sean Dwyer BC '04.

More than guns or drugs, hip-hop promotes consumerism. Rappers are like commercials, encouraging listeners to buy, buy, buy. On his track, Dwyer explores how blind consumerism leads to global injustice: "I need to purchase more dead weight, my clothes have more pockets / Am I purchasing death? Wait, how'd they pay for those rockets?"

Dwyer to release post-grad hip-hop album
By Canyon Cody
Published in The Heights

Beggars can't be choosers, which is why most young artists are forced to accept the undesirable terms and conditions of a music contract with a major label when offered the chance.

Sean Dwyer, on the other hand, demanded more than any record company would offer: "I want complete creative freedom and I want to own all of my own music."

In an industry where Michael Jackson, and not Paul McCartney, owns the rights to the Beatles' entire catalog, Dwyer quickly realized that he was going to have to record, release, and distribute the album himself in order to avoid sacrificing his artistic rights.

Trying to do all of this while still fulfilling his school responsibilities as a full-time student at Boston College Lynch School of Education proved nearly an impossible task and, as a result, his album remains unfinished as of gradation.

"I really wanted to have it all done by graduation so my friends could hear it, but trying to do it all by myself while I was still in school was just too much," he said.

Sadly, this means that only a handful of people have heard even the unmastered demo copy of his solo debut, tentatively titled Broken Spoke. The hip-hop album boasts production from Alec Tervenski, BC '04, who is known as Adept and also produced beats for fellow Boston College emcee Noah Dixon, BC '06. Noah's full length debut album will be released in September.

As a senior, Dwyer won't be back at college in September, so this summer he plans on finishing the album and finally releasing it. Most of the album is already complete and was recorded in BC's recording studio in Campion.

Dwyer said, "I had all of my classes in Campion and never even looked in that room. I certainly didn't expect there to be a recording studio behind those doors."

Dwyer's rhymes are careful poetic constructs delivered with a self-assured confidence that avoids the typical rapper's arrogance. Unlike many rappers, Dwyer's lyrical content doesn't hide behind the beat. Even if you took the beat away from his verses, they easily become poetry that can stand on their own merit.

As a result, you are just as likely to see Dwyer reading his work at an open-mic poetry show as you would be to see him freestyling at an emcee battle.

Or you might even see him without his rhymes all together, singing and playing acoustic guitar at a local bar with alum Ryan Read, BC '02. Before playing music together, they played football at BC before Read graduated and Dwyer quit the team.

During his junior year, Dwyer went abroad to Florence, Italy. He said, "In Italy, I was really removed from hip-hop culture, so I really focused on my writing and guitar playing. When I came back I was excited to get back into rapping again, because it definitely made me a better writer and better musician in general."

It was also in Italy where Dwyer first started playing music professionally: "I had been doing the open-mic thing for years, but in Italy I had a job playing guitar in local club. The idea that someone would pay me to do what I love, to play music, was crazy to me."

When Dwyer returned to BC, he began playing again with Read, performing at O'Briens, Becket's, and other bars around Boston. Dwyer also has an acoustic guitar album recorded with Read and there are plans for another in the making.

Now that he will be graduating, Dwyer says he can finally focus on his music. "Even though looking back on it, I know I had lots of time and I probably could have done it, trying to do all the business parts of it while still getting homework done and trying to write new music was just too much," he said. "Hopefully this summer everything will be done."

Careful with his words and yet strong in his delivery, Dwyer has a lot to offer as an emcee, but what distinguishes him from the rest are his impressive musical skills and ability to write a cohesive narrative. Especially today, hip-hop needs more musicians and poets like Dwyer.