Guante + Big Cats: ‘An Unwelcome Guest’ CD Release Party

Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records presents:
Guante & Big Cats: “An Unwelcome Guest” CD release party

Mark your calendars.  December 12, 2009 will be the Twin Cities release party for Guante + Big Cats’ debut LP, “AN UNWELCOME GUEST,” at the Bedlam Theater in Minneapolis.  Supporting acts will include No Bird Sing, Kristoff Krane and The Tribe.  The show will be 18+ and start at 10pm.  Tickets are $5 in advance, and $7 at the door. Advance tickets can be purchased at Fifth Element. Bedlam Theatre, 1501 – 6th Street South, Minneapolis, MN 55454.

AN UNWELCOME GUEST is a hip hop concept album from Twin Cities producer BIG CATS and rapper GUANTE.  Over fifteen tracks, the album tells the story of one man moving from east to west in the wake of a man-made disaster and his own personal tragedy.  Also, there are zombies.

The album features guest appearances from HALEY BONAR, PROLYPHIC (of Strange Famous Records), BIG QUARTERS, CHASTITY BROWN and ERIC BLAIR (of Hyder Ali and No Bird Sing).  Through the album’s unique narrative frame, these artists join Guante in exploring issues of displacement, authority and the difference between the violence of the oppressor and the violence of the oppressed.  Also: zombies.

Stay tuned.  Much more (including the first single, some exclusive video stuff and more announcements) coming soon.

An Unwelcome Guest Welcomes Guests

New album from Guante & Big Cats! boasts some killer guest-spots

“An Unwelcome Guest,” the zombie-superhero-love story hip hop concept album from Twin Cities duo Guante & Big Cats!, wrapped recently after a couple of grueling sessions at Ben Durrant’s Crazy Beast Studio.  While the album itself won’t be released until late 2009, label Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records is leaking the guest roster now.

The most recognizable name is probably Haley Bonar, the popular singer/songwriter who just made the move to Portland after a long and successful stay in the Twin Cities.  Bonar lends her distinctive voice to “The National Anthem,” a dark and propulsive track that mixes an eerie piano sample, lyrical throwbacks to Pete Rock & CL Smooth, and the first appearance of the album’s signature catchphrase: “we are waking up in our caskets.”

Another singer, Twin Cities-by-way-of-Knoxville folk/soul artist Chastity Brown makes an appearance on the track “Welcome to the Border.”  Successfully blending threatening with beautiful, her sections of the song are warnings: “crawling, walking, running, pressing up against your lovely lines/ we are underwater breathing, we are walking through your fire/ pressure building, burning, pressing up against your lovely home/ we are so close…”

The Twin Cities vibrant hip hop scene is well represented by guest spots from Big Quarters (on “The Stockholm Syndrome”) and Eric Blair of the bands Hyder Ali and No Bird Sing (on “Yes God is a DJ; No, Not a Good One”).  All three emcees get to flex their creativity and develop characters that fit into Guante’s overarching narrative, the story of one man traveling from east to west in the wake of a man-made disaster.

Finally, Strange Famous (home of Sage Francis, B.Dolan and Doomtree’s Cecil Otter) recording artist Prolyphic delivers a fiery storytelling verse alongside Guante and Big Quarters on “The Stockholm Syndrome,” a track about survival at all costs.

“I love putting people on the same song whom you wouldn’t ever expect to be on the same song,” Guante says.  The track with Prolyphic and Big Quarters is a monster, and the one with me and Haley Bonar might be my favorite on the album; who would ever think that she’d sound so natural and at-home on a hip hop album about displacement, zombies and the political/social nature of violence?”

Add to this the beat-making talents of Big Cats! and the critically acclaimed lyrics and vocals of rapper, slam poetry champion and activist Guante, and you’ve got a potent mix. “An Unwelcome Guest” will be out late in 2009 on Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records.

For further updates, check out http://deadrunning.blogspot.com and http://www.truruts.com.

Guante + Big Cats! Start A Fire

Twin Cities hip hop duo Guante & Big Cats! to release EP on May 9
Seven-track album foreshadows a late-2009 full-length

Above the Fold called El Guante & Big Cats! the Twin Cities’ best up-and-coming MC and producer, respectively. Their first release as a duo, a seven-track EP released through respected indie label Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records entitled “Start a Fire,” will attempt to live up to the hype.

Featuring the remix to Guante’s 2008 surprise hit “One of These Mornings” (as heard on 89.3 The Current), as well as the tattoo-lover’s anthem “Old English Letters,” superhero allegory “The Hero” and bittersweet love song “Dragons,” the EP showcases the depth of thought, gallows humor and political insight that made Guante one of City Pages’ “Artists of the Year,” URB Magazine’s “Next 1000,” an Independent Music Awards nominee and a CMJ Spotlight Artist for 2009.

Producer Big Cats!, fresh off of producing Sage Francis’ “Black Out on White Night,” as well as his own critically-acclaimed instrumental hip hop album “Sleep Tapes,” is in top form as well. His production is melancholy, multi-layered and cinematic; a definite stylistic departure from the standard TC hip hop sound.

“Start a Fire” is the prelude to “An Unwelcome Guest,” the duo’s full-length concept album due out in late 2009.

“People always talk about how over-saturated the Twin Cities hip hop scene is,” Guante says. “And if you’re just looking at numbers, sure; everybody’s cousin raps. But beyond that, there’s such a wide range of styles, and people really pushing at the boundaries of what hip hop is; it’s a very exciting time and place. I look at acts like Hyder Ali, Kristoff Krane, our band and a handful of other acts, and I see a community of artists who have a fundamentally different approach to making hip hop music: respect the foundation, but don’t be a slave to it. Push people, both musically and in terms of lyrical content.”

The release party for the EP will be Saturday, May 9 at the Nomad. Rapper Guante and producer Big Cats! will be joined for their set by a live band including members of local rock outfit Dragons Power Up; Big Cats! himself plays live MPC and bass guitar. Chastity Brown, The Tribe, Chantz and See More Perspective also open. See http://deadrunning.blogspot.com for additional information on the collaboration. To request interviews or additional images, please contact info@truruts.com or 612-288-9491.

Guante & Big Cats! “Start a Fire” EP Release Party
Saturday, May 9 at the Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis
Featuring Chastity Brown, the Tribe, Chantz and See More Perspective.
9pm | 21+ | $5.