te'

Japan... you got the grandaddies of the scene (and Thursday/Jesu split 7" partners, Explosions in the Sky tourmates and Pinback labelmates) Envy, pop-screamo (and sometimes english-singing) Nature Living, and inspiringly proficient instrumentalists Toe. And you got this band... Te', that seems to be the most difficult of the four to find info on.

Te' is the Pelican to Toe's Explosion in the Sky. Mathy in a more aggressive manner, like Maserati or From Monuments to Masses. I don't know if my google skills are escaping me but I couldn't even find translations for these songs' names but here's three songs shared for you: you. must. learn.



 Te' music video here:


Te' live video here:


te on Myspace here.

BONUS: Another from Nature living here:


and another from Toe here:

Craig Taborn "Light Made Lighter"

Another record I haven't listened to in forever but used to love: Craig Taborn's Light Made Lighter (Thirsty Ear, 2001). Shocking that this is the first Thirsty Ear record I've posted on here considering my love for the label and Blue Series mastermind Matthew Shipp. Promise to correct that in the coming weeks.

Light finds Taborn teamed with drummer Gerald Cleaver and bassist Chris Lightcap. "Crocodile" and "Whiskey Warm" are shared here. On the former, Lightcap keeps a halftime groove behind Cleaver and Taborn's hurried rhythms, the drummer and pianist locked in a duel and pushing to higher levels of intensity with each passing meter. "Whiskey Warm" finds Taborn hammering away at the piano, playing chunky, fat chords, his densely layered note structures creating a Coltrane-esque "wall of sound."



1. bodies we came out of (part 1)
2. st. ride
3. I cover the waterfront
4. crocodile
5. light made lighter
6. whisky warm
7. morning creatures
8. st. rangelhold
9. american landscape;
10. light made lighter (piano)
11. bodies we came out of (part 2)

Here's a cool New York Times show review from a 2009 performance.
Video of Taborn performing with Dave King @ the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis.
Review of Light Made Lighter from All About Jazz by Nils Jacobson.

The Guiseppi Logan Quartet

Been a minute. For the 5 people that follow this blog, sorry?



May as well just jump right in with something noise. Guiseppi Logan was probably insane, definitely did a lot of drugs, and spent most of three decades living in absolute obscurity before resurfacing in 2009 after being "discovered" by multi-media artist and journalist Suzannah Troy in Tompkins Square Park, NYC.

The Guiseppi Logan Quartet (not to be confused with The Guiseppi Logan Quintet album released last year... 45 years after this one!) is nothing short of brilliant and has long fascinated me. In so many ways it is the "best" of what late 60s free jazz was. "Dance of Satan," shared here, is nothing short of brilliant, a perfect example of what this era was all about. Logan performs alongside drummer Milford Graves, an obscure legend in his own right. Don Pullen shines on the piano. Eddie Gomez rounds out the 4-piece on bass.



The Guiseppi Logan Quartet - "The Guiseppi Logan Quartet"
1. Tabla Suite
2. Dance of Satan
3. Dialogue
4. Taneous
5. Bleecker Partita

Apparently only one interview with Guiseppi Logan exists, prior to his "rediscovery."

1966


2009


Sad... Logan isn't the only artist from this era who ended up in the state that he did. The first two statements above (regarding insanity and drug use) could probably be said about a (large) handful of white rock or metal artists. The last part (living in obscurity)... not so much. The fact that Ozzy Osbourne ended up with a reality TV show Guiseppi Logan ended up sleeping on park benches is just absurd to me.

This guy's story of meeting Logan is pretty amazing.

Req "Sketchbook"

I decided to write about a great downtempo record this week inspired by the work some local artists (El Nou Mon, Chili, Hobo D, DJ Tats) as well as the rise in popularity of "LA Beat" music (Flying Lotus, Baths, Shlohmo and the hip-again Anticon label).

Req is a graffiti artist-turned downtempo producer, a kindred spirit of DJ Cam and DJ Krush. Allmusic.com rightly describes Req's music as "stripping hip-hop of its extraneous elements and focusing on the bass, the beats, and the atmosphere around them." Pitchfork echoes this sentiment, writing that "even the most minimal hip-hop production feels thick and cluttered next to Req's naked approach."

Sketchbook is the producers third LP, released on the inimitable Warp label in 2002. Sharing three tracks here, "Something," "Ampeg 18 KHz," and "Dolby C," the last being by far my favorite on the record. The simplicity of these beats is really their beauty. See, it's not that Req chose not to add more to each compositions, it's that there really is nothing more to add. Req: the Mark Rothko of beat music... maybe? See for yourself.



1. Req - Loop Bass
2. Req - Something
3. Req - I Seek
4. Req - Sketchies Death Track
5. Req - Colours
6. Req - Ampeg 18 Khz
7. Req - Upstairs
8. Req - Dolby C
9. Req - Symbolic 3
10. Req - Java Bytes
11. Req - Love Ache
12. Req - 3 of 4
13. Req - Wasp Zither
14. Req - Gap Clothing

Buy the record here.

Karate "Some Boots"

At the height of late '90s, early '00s indie rock, the era and scene that birthed monumental bands (well, monumental to me at least) like the Promise Ring, the Get Up Kids, Mineral, Sunny Day Earl Estate, Joan of Arc, and Braid, there was this strange band from Boston called Karate that was kinda jazzy, with guitar solos (LONG guitar solos) and extended improvisations, and a vocalist prone to spoken word passages. I remember being at house party in college with a bunch of hip kids who wore really tight clothes and read really cool books and knew all about art and listened to really great records and we smoked really great pot and listened this strange band called Karate.

That memory is probably more romantic than reality, but listening to Karate for the first time in years the other day I realized (or remembered) that Karate is still amazing and oddly still ahead of their time.


Some Boots is Karate's 5th album, release in 2002 on Southern Records. Sharing two tracks here, "Original Spies" and "South." The latter is all accentual percussion and Jeff Buckley-esque poetry from frontman Geoff Farina. "Original Spies" certainly resembles music from Karate contemporaries like Braid and Cap'n Jazz but is decidedly different (instead of the usual 3 or 4 minutes, "Spies" clocks in at almost 7 minutes... and is that a drum solo at the 4 minute mark????)

You pull out a record like this and inevitably think, "What happened to these guys?!" The last Karate record came out in 2007 on Southern, a live album recorded in 2005 and titled 595. Haven't heard that one. These days, Farina fronts a band called Glorytellers, and is other-wise an amazing person to read about, involving himself in music and art at just about every level.

1. Original Spies
2. First Release
3. Ice or Ground?
4. South
5. In Hundreds
6. Airport
7. Baby Teeth
8. Corduroy
9. Remain Relaxed

Hardproof Afrobeat "Hard Proof"

Most weeks, Yo... Have You Heard is going to feature something rare, something weird, obscure or just out there. This week we focus on an Austin local that's ripping it up around town, Hard Proof.



The members of Hard Proof (or Hardproof Afrobeat, depending on who you ask) carry plenty of pedigree. The hardproof horn section of Jason Frey, Derek Phelps, and Joe Woullard perform alongside the ever-popular Black Joe Lewis. Drum genius Stephen Bidwell shows his versatility performing in various jazz combos around town and in the post-rock outfit The Calm Blue Sea.

Hard Proof is the bands debut full length, a righteous mix of Nigerian funk, Ghanaian psych rock, and a nod or two to stateside contemporaries like Anitbalas and fellow Austinites Brownout.

Sharing two tracks today: "Bailiwick" and "No Consideration." Download and enjoy. Austin residents: celebrate the release of Hard Proof with the band next Friday at The Ghost Room. Kalu James and Businessmen DJs also perform.

Bill Laswell / Toshinori Kondo "Charged [Live]"

toshinori kondo - trumpet

This record is just as wow-worthy for it's all-star cast as it is for the trance-inducing improvised grooves unleashed once you hit play.

Bill Laswell on bass. Dude recorded with Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Hancock, David Byrne, Brian Eno. Responsible for some mind-melting fusions of jazz, improv, funk and dub. Major player in 1990s New York City underground scene. Laswell's credits page on allmusic.com alone is jaw-dropping.

Toshinori Kondo on trumpter. Done some really out there shit with Peter Brotzmann but my favorite Kondo performance is alongside DJ Krush on Ki-Oku (1998).

Hamid Drake on drums. Top 5 favorite drummers of all time. Played with Ken Vandermark, William Parker, Charles Gayle, so many others. Severely under-appreciated. More music of his to be posted here soon I promise.

Aiyb Dieng on percussion. This is the only record I've honestly heard with Dieng in the ensemble but this guy has recorded with a who's who of both popular and improv-based musicians: everyone from Mick Jagger and Yoko Ono to Berniel Worrell and Sly & Dunbar.

DJ Disk. Hip. Hop. Legend. Original member of Rocksteady Crew and Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Wanna see dude just go off? (Not coincidentally in another ensemble featuring Bill Laswell) Watch this.

All are led by Italian composer/guitarist Eraldo Bernocchi, who hand-picked the players on this record.

Charged is completely improvised and recorded live. Funny that I dug this out of a stack after picking up Miles Davis' Live at Fillmore at the Austin Record Convention this weekend. Charged is formulaic post-Bitches Brew fusion for sure, but so what? Grooves are tight, improvisation is great... Enjoy!

1. Shintotech Iridescence
2. Fathoms
3. Death Tools
4. Dueling Sufis
5. Subterrania
6. Overloaded Lila/...

But the record here.