An Unwelcome Guest

Next Show: 8/13 w/ B.Dolan

2011-07-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

Click the poster for the Facebook event page.

In other news, Big Cats! just played the First Ave. MAINROOM with the Tribe, and killed it. Guante has been hard at work with a string of big shows and new music.

We're also working on the NEXT Guante & Big Cats! album. It's still early, but it's better than anything ever. Quote me.

new music

2011-03-31T12:21:00.000-07:00

Guante just put out a mixtape, Conscious Is Not Enough 2011. Download for free by clicking the cover:

Audio Recording of Guante & Big Cats! at the Fineline

2011-02-13T18:16:00.001-08:00

Check it out-- Empty got a great audio-recording of our set at the Fineline the other night. You can download and listen to it for free. You just won't be able to see all the pyrotechnics, backup dancers and costumes we had.

Our next local show

2011-01-26T07:25:00.000-08:00

It'll be Saturday, February 12 at the Fineline, along with Culture Cry Wolf, Kristoff Krane, Soulcrate Music and more.

We'll also be traveling along with the Tribe to the Root Note in La Crosse on February 5 and UW-Madison on February 11. More out-of-town dates coming soon.

Don't forget to pick up the Tribe & Big Cats! new album!

Some Guante & Big Cats! Live Footage

2010-12-20T10:01:00.001-08:00

Some footage from a Guante & Big Cats! show at the 7th St. Entry. Audio by Empty, video by Pure Optics, edited together by Rangel Arts. The band is Mike Ries (drums), Mike Coyne (guitar & bass), Chris Tures (guitar), Eric Blomquist (keys & saxophone), Big Cats! (MPC & bass) and Guante (vocals).

We are a very big, loud, angry band; I'm not sure how well that translates here (particularly in the instrumental parts of "Bleeds" and "Midnight" where it just goes nuts), but you get the idea. Most of these songs are from our debut LP, "An Unwelcome Guest."

If It Bleeds, It Leads:

1 10 20 200:

Dragons:

Red States:

The Damp, Foggy Midnight:

New Music Video for "A Hug From a Stranger"

2010-11-27T06:58:00.001-08:00

Guante + Big Cats! - A Hug From a Stranger from Tru Ruts on Vimeo.

Big thanks to Tony Perkins and everyone at the E-Squared Cafe. This turned out pretty cool. It's one of the more understated songs on the album, but it's also one of my favorites. Hope you like it.

Radio K performance, Free Mixtape

2010-11-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

Hey-- been very busy. Big Cats! just wrapped up the debut album from the Tribe and Big Cats!, called "FORWARD THINKERS MOVERS SHAKERS." Guante's always doing a billion things, whether music or poetry or activism.

For now, check out this live performance we did on Radio K.

Also, go get our free mixtape, "DON'T BE NICE," if you haven't already.

Buy our full-length album HERE.

Finally, share this with your friends.

Thanks! New music-- and a very cool music video-- is coming.

big show September 30 at Hell's Kitchen in MPLS

2010-09-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Get our new mixtape for FREE!

2010-09-07T07:38:00.001-07:00

So today is the day. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE DOWNLOAD PAGE. Once there, just click "Free Download" and all 13 tracks are yours. It might take a minute or two to prep, depending on your connection, but the DL itself should be pretty quick (it's less than 90 MB and also includes some photos and press materials).

One note-- in Itunes, it'll list the artist as "Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records" so you may have to change it to "Guante & Big Cats!"

And if you like the free mixtape, please check out our full length album, AN UNWELCOME GUEST, here.

Thanks! Let us know what you think at www.facebook.com/guanteandbigcats.

New mixtape coming soon!

2010-08-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

Early September. More info soon.

Big News

2010-08-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

1. Guante and his team (Saint Paul) just repeated as National Poetry Slam champions, beating out 75 teams from around North America.

2. Big Cats! is finishing up the Tribe and Big Cats! album, FORWARD THINKERS MOVERS SHAKERS, which features some huge guest appearances and some of the best production ever to come out of the Twin Cities.

3. Guante & Big Cats! are releasing a free mixtape, DON'T BE NICE, very soon. Our new music video is done too, and we'll be releasing it shortly. Stay tuned...

VIDEO: Guante & Big Cats: "DRAGONS" live

2010-05-18T11:18:00.001-07:00

Guante & Big Cats - 7th St. Entry (Live) from Pure Optics on Vimeo.

Big ups to Pure Optics for the footage and Empty for the audio. This was shot at Kristoff Krane's CD release party at the 7th St. Entry on May 15, 2010.

The band is:

Big Cats!: Bass (on this song)
Eric Blomquist: Keys and Saxophone
Mike Ries: Drums
Mike Coyne: Guitar
Chris Tures: Guitar
Guante: Vocals

Mike, Mike and Chris are also in Dragons Power Up!.

The song is from "AN UNWELCOME GUEST," which can be purchased HERE.

City Pages Feature: "Guante: A Warrior With Words"

2010-04-27T21:23:00.001-07:00

Here's the link.

For those who don't know, City Pages is the big Twin Cities alt-weekly. Village Voice kind of thing. One excerpt:

"Guante and Big Cats! create intelligent, political hip hop that mercifully doesn't come off as preachy or self-righteous. It's sobering, demanding your attention like a car crash, yet emotional and alarmingly intimate at times."

MAY IS A GOOD TIME TO BE US

2010-04-27T09:47:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update with some of our upcoming shows. Going to be a lot of fun this month:

May 1 at the Fineline: TRU RUTS REVIVAL w/ I Self Devine and many more. (Guante & Big Cats duo set). 9pm. 18+.

May 3 at the Artists' Quarter: Saint Paul Poetry Slam FINALS SHOWDOWN (Guante only). 8pm. 18+.

May 7 at the 501 Club: National Poetry Slam Preview/Fundraiser (Guante only). 9pm. 21+.

May 15 at the 7th St. Entry: Kristoff Krane CD release party (Guante & Big Cats full band set). 5pm all ages show; 9pm 21+ show.

May 28 at the Cedar Cultural Center: Kristoff Krane's OTHER CD release party (Guante only; slam poetry between sets). 8pm. All ages.

May 30 at Canterbury Park: SOUNDSET 2010 (Big Cats only; producer showcase). 11am. All ages.

And I'm going to post this again, just for the hell of it:

Big Cats! at Soundset!

2010-04-14T12:15:00.001-07:00

Big Cats! will be representing at Soundset 2010 as part of a special producer's showcase that sounds pretty phenomenal. Yeah, there's also Atmosphere, Meth & Red, Freeway, Brother Ali, P.O.S., Hieroglyphics and more, but DON'T MISS BIG CATS! May 30 at Canterbury Park.

If you were there last year, you may have seen both Guante and Big Cats performing on the Fifth Element Stage.

Get more info on tickets and stuff here.

Guante interview in the Onion, big shows coming up

2010-04-06T13:09:00.001-07:00

Here's an interview in the Onion AV Club Madison.

Also, we have some really big shows coming up in April and May. May 1 at the Fineline, May 15 at the Entry, even more. Check the column on the right. Thanks!

Guante in the Progressive, Big Cats' new mixtape!

2010-03-08T20:17:00.001-08:00

Big news for both of us today:

Big Cats! and The Tribe just put out a FREE mixtape! Download it here. You even get to hear Big Cats rap, and it's amazing.

ALSO:

The Progressive, a great... well, progressive magazine, is doing a feature series on spoken-word. They chose my piece, "The Family Business," (filmed by Justin Schell) to feature. A big honor for me.

Here's a link.

Big ups to Josh Healey for the hookup. Old friends from way back; he's doing big things now, and is a phenomenal poet. Check him out.

Radio K in-studio plus other shows

2010-03-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

We'll be playing live on Radio K, the University of Minnesota's great student radio station, on Friday, March 5 at 3:30pm.

We'll also be in DeKalb at the House Cafe on March 12, plus playing Kristoff Krane's CD release party on May 15 at the 7th St. Entry in Minneapolis. Both should be a lot of fun, and we'll have other shows here and there between too. Working on some really cool stuff, both in and out of town. To keep up, check Guante's MySpace calendar.

We're up to #26 on the CMJ Hip Hop Charts

2010-03-02T15:22:00.001-08:00

So that's cool. "An Unwelcome Guest" debuted at #31 I think, so we're moving up. Big ups to all the DJs!

Red States video

2010-02-28T18:29:00.000-08:00

Justin Schell made a video for our song "Red States," using some live footage and some rehearsal footage. Check it out:

'Red States' (Music Video) - Guante + Big Cats! from Tru Ruts on Vimeo.

Thanks Justin!

more positive press!

2010-02-21T09:20:00.000-08:00

The reviews keep rolling in. A few new ones:

Here's one from Dane101, the premier online media source in Madison, WI.

"... has worked hard to create a style and flow uniquely his own. He has also made a habit of exploring issues at greater length and depth than most rappers ever do. On his newest record, An Unwelcome Guest, Guante somehow manages to push the envelope even further... The production work shows influences from many different traditional and modern musical genres. Everything from water warped blues, opera, folk, hip hop, R&B, rock, and the various flavors of what’s come to be called “world” music find a place in the seamless soundscape."

And here's one from Reviler, an upstart Twin Cities music site with some great stuff.

"...one of the best rappers in the Twin Cities today, not to mention its best spoken word poet."

Also, here's Guante's interview in the MN Daily, the University of Minnesota's student paper.

"Over bandmate Big Cats!’s layered, dark beats, rapper Guante is an avalanche of words... dense beats brood powerfully, interconnect meticulously and sample diligently. Lazerbeak and Ant are the Twin Cities’ go-to dudes for beats, but Big Cats! makes a convincing case for his inclusion in local production prominence."

if you missed us on the Current, you can stream it here (four live songs!)

2010-02-08T20:47:00.001-08:00

This is pretty cool. Click here to listen.

We played four songs-- three of them (Red States, Dragons and Welcome to the Border w/ Chastity Brown) are on the radio show, and one of them (The Damp, Foggy Midnight) is in video form. You can listen to all of them through the above link.

Video of Guante & Big Cats performing live on the Current

2010-02-05T19:16:00.001-08:00

Here's footage of our live in-studio on the Current. We're playing "The Damp, Foggy Midnight," backed by the band. Cool.

Everything You Need To Know

2010-02-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

Hey-- wanted to post an all-purpose update for people who wander over here after hearing us on the Current or after googling tigers. Some basic information.

We're a hip hop duo. Big Cats (producer/multi-instrumentalist) makes the beats. Guante (rapper/activist/national champion slam poet) raps. We also play live with a great band made up of 3/4 of Dragons Power Up plus others. Our new album, AN UNWELCOME GUEST, is a concept album about zombies and radical politics and superheros and love; it features Haley Bonar, Big Quarters, Prolyphic, Chastity Brown and Eric Blair of No Bird Sing. The album is out on Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records, and is also featured at Strange Famous Records. Here's us:

1. Here's how you can get your grubby little hands on our album. Pick it up at shows, Fifth Element, Electric Fetus, Bandcamp, Itunes, more. Details in the link.

2. If you want to know about upcoming shows, your best bet is to check Guante's MySpace page. He updates religiously, even though people don't use MySpace any more.

3. Be our fan on Facebook! Search for "Guante & Big Cats." I've tried to direct-link, but it doesn't always work. We send out updates, but only about the big stuff, so it's not spammy.

4. Get at us on Twitter. Both Guante and Big Cats are active there.

A few choice quotes about the new album:

“Earnestness can go wrong in hip hop. On this album, it goes very right.” --Sage Francis

"Part Cormac McCarthy, part Woody Guthrie, and part Public Enemy, An Unwelcome Guest is an intricately woven poetic and sonic excursion through landscapes mental, emotional, and physical, cementing Guante and Big Cats!'s status as two of the best emerging artists within Twin Cities hip-hop." - TC Daily Planet Album Review

"Fortunately, Guante has a deft sense of humor and style in his arsenal, along with a battle-hewn tongue that rattles off sharply-spit rhymes and high-concept narratives. His upcoming album An Unwelcome Guest tells the story of a traveler's fight against a zombie horde (stop me if you've heard that one before), but Guante's lyrics go deeper than the familiar comic-book premise into an authority-questioning meditation on violence that'd do John Romero's most allegorical moments proud. And Big Cats, his production partner on the new album, has the kind of chops that can only add to the atmospheric resonance." --City Pages

FINALLY, this:

89.3 The Current Local Show! Plus more.

2010-01-27T20:34:00.001-08:00

That's right. Taping on Monday; should be on the air Sunday the 7th, 89.3 FM. Big Fun.

Here's a video of our friends No Bird Sing on the Local Show:

We also got two shows this week (both are just us as a duo, no band):

Thursday at the Bedlam for a big MPLS TV show w/ Zoo Animal, the Paragraphs and many more; 8pm. Should be pretty cool. Here's a link to more info.

Saturday night at the Beat w/ the Gavels and a bunch of other bands. Starts at 6pm; ALL AGES.

We're the token hip hop act at both shows, which is always a lot of fun. Should be a great week.

HOW TO BUY THE NEW ALBUM

2010-01-20T10:21:00.001-08:00

Now that the pre-sale deal at Strange Famous is over (though there may be a few copies left, so check it out), there are more ways to buy the album. Here are a few:

1. Come to a show and get it. This is always the best way. Check out Guante's MySpace for a calendar with more details.

2. Bandcamp. The album is available now at the Tru Ruts bandcamp page, and also our bandcamp page. If you've never used Bandcamp before, it's very user-friendly. And we get all of the money you pay!

3. ITunes. The album is up on ITunes now. Here's a link, though if you just open ITunes and search for it, it may not come up because of a typo (Guante and Big CAT); that'll be fixed soon though.

4. At stores. If you're in the Twin Cities, head over to Fifth Element, Electric Fetus or the Uptown Cheapo to pick up a copy. If they sell out, throw a fit.

Finally, we just found out that Tru Ruts, Guante's label, just secured national distribution. I'm not sure what kind of timeline we're looking at, but eventually you should be able to pick up a copy no matter where you live in the U.S. So that's good.

Guante & Big Cats on 3-Minute Egg

2010-01-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a new video of us done by Matt Peiken, who runs 3-minute egg, a very cool local video series documenting the arts scene in the Twin Cities. Check it out; the video includes some exclusive footage of us rehearsing and Guante wearing sunglasses because he's cooler than you.

New video promo with some great footage from our release show!

2009-12-30T16:07:00.001-08:00

Check it out:

Download our new single for FREE!

2009-12-28T20:46:00.001-08:00

Strange Famous is offering a special pre-order package of our new album, and part of the deal is a free download of the first single, "The National Anthem," a song we did with the amazing Haley Bonar.

CLICK HERE to listen and/or download.

If you like the song, buy the whole album here.

This is one of our favorite tracks on the album. We hope you like it.

two videos from our release show

2009-12-14T18:10:00.000-08:00

Here's footage of "The Stockholm Syndrome" and "Yes, God is a DJ; No, Not a Good One" at our release party.

The first one features TruthBeTold of the Tribe (filling in-- with an all-new verse-- for Prolyphic, who is on the album version) and Big Quarters. The second one features Eric Blair of No Bird Sing.

release party slide-show

2009-12-13T17:43:00.000-08:00

B-Fresh took a bunch of photos for City Pages: here's the link. My favorite, rapper Hooks:

thanks to everyone who came to our release party!

2009-12-13T09:33:00.001-08:00

It was huge and amazing and beautiful and loud. Big thanks to Kristoff Krane, No Bird Sing, the Tribe, Chastity Brown, Big Quarters and everyone who performed or sponsored or just showed up. It really means a lot.

Rodrigo snapped this photo. More photos and video coming soon.

So for now, you can ONLY get the new album through the Strange Famous web store. Our official release date is January 12, so after that it'll be in stores and Itunes and all that, but for now, head over to Sage's house and pick up the special package (signed CD, sticker, instrumentals and PDF booklet) for just $9.99.

Order the new album NOW through STRANGE FAMOUS RECORDS!

2009-12-10T17:23:00.000-08:00

With the Twin Cities release party just two days away, we're announcing now that out-of-towners, people who can't make it to the show, or even people who ARE coming to the show can get an exclusive package through Strange Famous that includes:

1. A signed CD

2. Limited Edition Sticker

3. Download Card with a code that unlocks the album instrumentals and a booklet with lyrics, commentary and more.

ALL FOR JUST $9.99. Even if you're coming to the release show, this is the best deal you're going to get.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE STRANGE FAMOUS STORE. Shop around too; lots of good stuff on there. Strange Famous is Sage Francis' record label, and they also have stuff from B.Dolan, Sleep, 2mex, Cecil Otter of Doomtree and many other acts.

PLUS A FEW EARLY REVIEWS:

“Earnestness can go wrong in hip hop. On this album, it goes very right.” --Sage Francis

"Part Cormac McCarthy, part Woody Guthrie, and part Public Enemy, An Unwelcome Guest is an intricately woven poetic and sonic excursion through landscapes mental, emotional, and physical, cementing Guante and Big Cats!'s status as two of the best emerging artists within Twin Cities hip-hop." -- Justin Schell, Twin Cities Daily Planet

"Fortunately, Guante has a deft sense of humor and style in his arsenal, along with a battle-hewn tongue that rattles off sharply-spit rhymes and high-concept narratives. His upcoming album An Unwelcome Guest tells the story of a traveler's fight against a zombie horde (stop me if you've heard that one before), but Guante's lyrics go deeper than the familiar comic-book premise into an authority-questioning meditation on violence that'd do John Romero's most allegorical moments proud. And Big Cats, his production partner on the new album, has the kind of chops that can only add to the atmospheric resonance." --Nate Patrin, City Pages

"It really is one of the best local releases of the year and is a must listen for any fans of hip hop." --Josh Keller, Whiskey for the Holy Ghost

first reviews of the new album!

2009-12-07T21:40:00.001-08:00

Justin Schell at the Twin Cities Daily Planet:

"Part Cormac McCarthy, part Woody Guthrie, and part Public Enemy, An Unwelcome Guest is an intricately woven poetic and sonic excursion through landscapes mental, emotional, and physical, cementing Guante and Big Cats!'s status as two of the best emerging artists within Twin Cities hip-hop."

And here's a write-up of our CD release party (12/12 at the Bedlam) in City Pages:

"Fortunately, Guante has a deft sense of humor and style in his arsenal, along with a battle-hewn tongue that rattles off sharply-spit rhymes and high-concept narratives. His upcoming album An Unwelcome Guest tells the story of a traveler's fight against a zombie horde (stop me if you've heard that one before), but Guante's lyrics go deeper than the familiar comic-book premise into an authority-questioning meditation on violence that'd do John Romero's most allegorical moments proud. And Big Cats, his production partner on the new album, has the kind of chops that can only add to the atmospheric resonance."

OH NO!

2009-12-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

Guante raps. Big Cats plays MPC (video)

2009-12-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

Since the new album doesn't have any rapping-about-rapping punchline stuff, we thought we'd give you a little something in video form to make up for it:

full album tracklist

2009-11-24T09:52:00.000-08:00

Just another appetizer:Say what you want about the songs themselves, but I write better song titles than anyone.

more release party news!

2009-11-15T15:29:00.001-08:00

Here's the new flyer, with supporting acts and sponsors. We're all really excited about this lineup. We'll be playing with our band, plus a few more special guests.

Also, here's the Facebook event page, if you do that sort of thing.

CD RELEASE PARTY: 12/12 AT THE BEDLAM THEATER!

2009-11-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

I can tell you with no ego: this is my finest album. If on your journey, you should encounter God, God will nod his fucking head.

Saturday, December 12 at the Bedlam Theater. 10pm. 18+

Opening acts and sponsoring organizations will be announced soon. For now, just mark your calendars. It's going to be a great show. For real.

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!

Preview the new album! (Noam the Drummer megamix)

2009-10-14T13:51:00.001-07:00

CLICK HERE (and scroll down for the MP3 download)

Noam the Drummer put together this megamix of our new album, An Unwelcome Guest, essentially condensing an hour-long zombie-superhero-love-story concept album into 15 crazy minutes. In it, you’ll hear some flashes of the story, a few of our guests (Haley Bonar, Chastity Brown, Eric Blair of No Bird Sing; the album also features Big Quarters and Prolyphic, though they’re not in this mix) and an idea of how the album as a whole sounds. We’ll be releasing the LP in December on Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records. Think of this as the trailer.

Haley Bonar, Big Quarters, Prolyphic, more feature on our album

2009-08-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

From the official press release:

“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 turned out better than I'd ever dreamed it would; 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? And finally, the song with Chastity might be my favorite song I've ever written.”

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.

we're playing No Bird Sing's all ages release show

2009-08-17T11:23:00.001-07:00

Guante has shows coming up. Big Cats! has shows coming up. But this is the next official Guante & Big Cats! show. Eclipse Records on Friday, 9/11. ALL AGES.

All Guante & Big Cats! songs

2009-08-16T11:55:00.001-07:00

Since the album won't be available until it's cold outside, here's a list of other Guante & Big Cats! material you can get your grubby little hands on:

"Greed (Big Cats! mix)" can be downloaded for FREE by grabbing the Midwest Broadcast mixtape "Flyover Land." Here's the link.

"Harry Potter (Big Cats! remix w/ Chantz)" can be downloaded for FREE right here.

Both of those links should still be active. If they're not, hit me up (guantemail@yahoo.com).

We just set up a bandcamp page too. Listen to the "Start a Fire" songs for free, download them for cheap.

The Start a Fire EP is still for sale at our live shows. It includes the songs we've been playing live with our band: "Bring Out Your Dead (Big Cats! remix)," "Old English Letters," "The Hero," "Dragons (premix)," "1 10 20 200," and "One of These Mornings (Big Cats! remix)," plus two more tracks. It should be on ITunes at some point as well. I'm really proud of the EP; for the first project we've ever worked on together, it's got some killer stuff on it. And it's only five bucks.

AN UNWELCOME GUEST, our debut full-length, is in post-production right now. We're looking at late November for a release, with a single out sometime earlier this Fall. Lots more info coming.

I'm listening to the SECOND round of mixes

2009-08-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

ooh.

I'm listening to the first round of mixes

2009-08-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

It sounds lovely.

Very weird.

But very listenable at the same time.

The biggest question at this point is how much to "spell out" for people. If you just listen to the songs, you should be able to figure out what's going on... but you actually have to LISTEN. Every word adds to the story.

Either way, the MUSIC is ridiculous. Can't wait to unleash this.

More soon.

album update

2009-07-22T08:25:00.001-07:00

We finished the recording last night at Crazy Beast Studio.

Hopefully we can announce the guest roster, tracklisting and some more tidbits soon.

It's wild to actually HEAR the album, even unmixed and unmastered. It's been in my head for so long that it's just kind of surreal to be listening to it now. The music is creepier that I thought it would be. I think these long spoken-word practices for NPS are changing my voice-- in a good way.

FREE song download: "Harry Potter" REMIX

2009-07-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

Guante & Big Cats! featuring Chantz: "Harry Potter" Remix

http://tinyurl.com/freeharrypottertrack

Just a fun song. Check it out; download it for free. That link goes to the Tru Ruts (my label) blog, where there's a direct download link AND a listen/download link. Blurb:

Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records presents a FREE download of the remixed/re-worked “Harry Potter,” a song that finds emcees Guante and Chantz using the book/film series as a metaphor for smashing down the walls of the literary/musical/artistic canon. Over a brooding, propulsive Big Cats! beat, the two rappers touch on hip hop, culture and much more, all the while dropping punchlines that play off of the book’s many characters and ideas. Fresh off their appearance at Soundset ’09, Guante & Big Cats! are dropping this song for free as an appetizer to their upcoming zombie-superhero-love-story, the concept album “An Unwelcome Guest.”

In other news, we were in the studio for four hours last night recording "AN UNWELCOME GUEST," and it's going to be a wild, wild year.

in the studio this week!

2009-07-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

We're at Crazy Beast in MPLS this week, recording vocals for the album. Already got two monstrously beautiful guest appearances done; now we get to tackle the rest of the vocals.

And look for a free download of a new track coming very soon. Thanks!

some cool photos by Hoainam Tran

2009-07-02T19:47:00.001-07:00

Guante & Big Cats! and the whole band played Hip Hop Against Homophobia (part 4) at the Depot in Hopkins, MN this past weekend. A few cool shots, courtesy of Hoainam Tran:
Big Cats! jumps off the MPC and on to the bass guitar for the latter half of our set.

The whole band.

Big stuff planned. We're in the studio this coming week recording AN UNWELCOME GUEST. Look for a ridiculous promotional deluge coming soon.

Guante & Big Cats! shirts

2009-06-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Come see us and get one. Our next show with the whole band is on 6/27 at the Depot in Hopkins, along with Ill Chemistry, Barton Stink and Phonetic One. Open mic at 7pm, show at 8pm. It's the latest installment of the Hip Hop Against Homophobia series.

Oh and the text at the bottom of the shirt says "we are waking up in our caskets."

Guante and Big Cats! on the Flyover Land mixtape, FREE download

2009-05-21T18:37:00.001-07:00

Here's the new mixtape from homegrown hip hop blog Midwest Broadcast, featuring songs from Hieruspecs, Muja Messiah, M.anifest, Big Quarters, No Bird Sing and many more, including an exclusive track from Guante and Big Cats! It's definitely worth a look.

Here's the link to the page with the download link.

Guante & Big Cats! on the MWBroadcast Mixtape

2009-05-15T12:21:00.001-07:00

The mixtape is called "Flyover Land vol. 1," and features songs from Hieruspecs, M.anifest, Big Quarters, Muja Messiah and many more from the Twin Cities, Chicago, Madison and elsewhere in the Midwest. Our song is a studio version of my old storytelling song "Greed," which before now was only available as a jacked-beat mixtape joint or live recording. This version has a very cool beat from Big Cats! and I think people will like it. Check the blog; they might leak it before the mixtape is officially released.

Midwest Broadcast, a really good homegrown hip hop blog, put it all together.

big thanks

2009-05-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to everyone who came out to the "Start a Fire" release party. We'll post some photos and video soon. Great night.

Now we start the long journey toward "An Unwelcome Guest." Keep checking back.

new show promo with Jeremy Messersmith

2009-05-08T13:56:00.001-07:00

free song download!

2009-05-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a link from Midwest Broadcast for our new song, "The Hero."

Check out the previous posts here for my thoughts and Big Cats!'s thoughts on that specific song.

In other news, I won the St. Paul Poetry Grand Slam last night! 2009 champion. So there's that.

Remember, release party on Saturday, May 9 at the Nomad!

Big Cats! with some thoughts on our new EP

2009-05-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

So, a couple days ago, Guante posted a track-by-track breakdown of our new ep. What follows are my thoughts, from a mostly musical perspective, on each track from our new EP.

The Calm (An Open Letter To The Living):
This beat is kind of a weird one. I’ve been trying to arrange my beats in a more linear way lately. Like, just having a bunch of cool parts/sections/riffs that all fit together, one after the other. So, instead of a more typical A/B/A/B/C/B type of structure, it would be A/B/C/D/E/F, naw mean? I think it would be fun, and kinda piss people off. Like, “hey, that’s a really cool part! oh, it’s gone. oh, it never came back. I only got to hear that really cool part for 10 seconds.” This one isn’t quite that crazy, but there are lots of subtle changes, and not much repetition.

Originally, this track had no drums on it, but Guante had this idea to keep the drums out for most of the song, and then have some sort of massive drum mania right at the end. My initial plan was to have Mike, the drummer we play with live, track some live drums on it. For whatever reason, that never worked out, so I decided to program them myself. I programmed them one hit at a time in the sequencer in acid. Just a bunch of one hits on a grid. It was probably the least efficient way possible to do it, but I think it sounds pretty dope. Like Guante said, this is probably the best hint, both musically and content wise, of what the full-length record will be like. Sorry all you happy people, maybe the next record will be for you!

Old English Letters:
This is an old jam. When I first started talking to Guante about working together, I had just finished up my last solo record, Sleep Tapes. At the time, I was thinking of that record as more of a beat cd that looked presentable enough to maybe sell a couple copies of. So, I gave it to kyle and gave him free reign to pick some beats. He grabbed this one right away. It’s been through quite a few changes since the first, instrumental version, but it’s still the same beast. I don’t really get the whole tattoo thing, never had one myself. I do kind of want a giant, back sized tattoo of a green, leaf eating dinosaur though. If anyone knows someone who can hook that up on the cheap, get at me.

The Hero:
Another one that was on my last record. For the 19 of you that actually bought my last record, and feel like you’re getting hosed by rehearing these beats, do not fear. The full-length is all new shit. And, these songs are quite a bit different live, so if you come to the release party, you’ll hear some very cool, new stuff. The outro was recorded live from our set at Hyder Ali’s release party at the Turf Club on March 20th. I worked my engineering genius to line it up with the original outro of the studio version.

Dragons:
This beat is pretty cool. One of the more simple beats I’ve made in a while. I put it together last summer, when i had all my gear at my parents house, because I was in the process of moving. I had just been out to Providence and Boston, and spent some time hanging out and digging with the homie, Prolyphic. In addition to all the records I bought, he gave me a stack that he wasn’t using. So, I spent a week or two with a big stack of records, a piano, my upright bass, a guitar that wouldn’t stay in tune, and a two piece drum set. I wasn’t working at the time, so i just spent my time making a couple beats per day. The reverb on the track is from the mic picking up the monitors in the room. I didn’t have my headphones, so to hear the track i was playing along to, I just had to turn the monitors up.

1 10 20 200:
I wanted to make a straight banger. Guante rapped his ass off to it. This one is definitely one of the more fun tracks to play live. I don’t remember a whole lot about making this beat, haha. It was one of those that I didn’t think much of at the time, but going back to it later, I realized it was pretty dope. I do recall that there’s some pretty stellar upright bass playing going on in there though.

One of These Mornings Remix:
Fun fact #1: the crazy sub bass noise, and the keys/synth are from the same sample. I think it was something kinda corny, maybe 5th dimension or something. I was listening to a stack of stuff at Cheapo, and there wasn’t anything else good about this record, but there was an intro that had this HUGE bass sound, and this weird bell/chime thing going on over it. So, I bought the record, sampled it, filtered it a couple different ways, and loaded it up on the the keyboard. The flute sample really pulled it all together. That vocal sample is actually from a really dope, fairly popular record from 99 by Zap Mama. It’s from the single of that record actualy, called “Rafiki” (ft. Black Thought from the roots). I loved that song circa 7th grade, and when I came across the acapella on vinyl many years later, I had to pick it up. Please don’t tell Universal and get me sued.

Catasterpiece:
I keep wanting to make a new instrumental record, and keep coming up with tracks that would be great for it, but my mc friends keep jacking all my beats, ha.

The organ sample is from Rare Bird’s first album. Really cool organ/bass/drums rock stuff. Don’t know if they made any other records, but this one’s dope. Played live bass on it. Another track with a lot of one hit programmed drums. Acid is the homie.

Fun fact #2: the vocal/synthy stuff is actually me singing into a 58. I’m looking for a roland space echo re-201 so i can make even more out there, mangled sounds. If anyone sees one on craigslist or something, put me on to it.

Alright, that’s that. Come to our release party at the Nomad on May 9th. Good times guaranteed.

FREE song download!

2009-04-29T08:01:00.001-07:00

CultureBully posted a track from our upcoming EP that you can download for free. It's the "One of These Mornings" remix.

We also posted a different new song, "Old English Letters" on our MySpace pages:

Guante MySpace

Big Cats! MySpace

See the previous post for notes on both songs. Hope you like them.

"Start a Fire" notes

2009-04-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

So this EP that we’re releasing on May 9 at the Nomad is a collection of studio-recorded versions of the songs we’ve been playing live over the past three months or so. The recordings don’t feature the whole band; rather, the band brings to life the songs that Big Cats! has produced when we play live. It’s a good introduction to our style and what we’re going to be doing on our full-length, “An Unwelcome Guest,” which should be coming out in late 2009. A few thoughts from me, Guante (maybe Big Cats! will do a version too):

1. The Calm (An Open Letter to the Living)
This is the song that really foreshadows the stuff we’ll be doing on the full-length, especially in terms of tone and subject matter. I actually thought about putting this on “An Unwelcome Guest,” but it’s a natural intro track and the LP already has an absolutely monstrous intro. When I used to run a newspaper, one of my columnists had a regular feature called “J’Accuse,” a reference to the old French film about WWI vets returning from the grave to demand justice for being killed for nothing. That image always stuck with me, and this track really comes from that.

2. Old English Letters
There was a version of this song called “Ink” on my mixtape, but this is a re-recorded, re-mastered version with a completely new hook. The idea here is that tattoos hurt a lot, but out of that pain you create something beautiful. I think that’s a perfect metaphor for art, life, pretty much everything. An all-instrumental version of this beat was on Big Cats!’s “Sleep Tapes,” and it fit really well on this song. As tattoo-crazy as this city is, I hope people feel the song.

3. The Hero
It’s no secret that I love storytelling songs, and I think this is one of the best ones I’ve written. This concept—a hero figuring out that in order to really fight evil, you have to attack its foundations, not just its symptoms—is something I want to expand on, as a graphic novel, as a longer album or series of poems, we’ll see. It was fun doing the voices of the two characters and the narrator; I always loved Biggie’s “Gimme the Loot” where he’s playing two different characters and changes his voice around. This is another song where I stole one of the instrumentals from “Sleep Tapes.” I like both versions. This song also fades into a live recording of our band doing an impromptu jam featuring MPC, drums, bass and saxophone.

4. Dragons (Premix)
It’s called a “premix” because this song is actually going to be on our full-length, though it’ll have a pretty major lyric change that completely shifts its meaning. I wanted to record a version of it that was a more traditional love song, and I think it’ll be fun to see how people respond to both versions played side-by-side. Love songs are so ubiquitous (well, not in hip hop, but in general), so I feel like when you write one it has to be on some other stuff to stay interesting. This song isn’t quite “Love in the Time of Zombies” weird, but if you pay attention to the lyrics it’s pretty strange. Which to me, makes for the best love songs.

5. 1 10 20 200
This is probably the most straightforward track we’ve ever done, a nice little flexy hip hop joint about the power that the music has to put people together in the same room who would otherwise never be in the same room. The live version is bonkers, but this one is pretty good too. I hope people catch that the “Uptown Saturday Night” line is referencing Camp Lo, not my love for Uptown Minneapolis. Also had to shout out Big Zach because he’s where I first heard the term “underground famous,” which is funny on a lot of levels. Finally, I’m actually 26, but I wrote it when I was 25 and “25” keeps the internal rhyme going so I just left it.

6. One of These Mornings (Remix)
The success that the original version of this track had really caught me off guard. The Current picked it up and was playing it every day this past Fall, and everyone was telling me how it was their favorite song on “El Guante’s Haunted Studio Apartment.” I liked it a lot as a recorded track (Eugene, OR producer G-Force put together a beautiful beat), but wanted a more lively, uptempo version to play at shows. Big Cats! delivered. One note about the lyrics: I think a lot of people hear this as a “slice of life” song, a song about me walking around and talking to random people. The song is about DEATH. The sample in the original (and the hook in the remix), “one of these mornings, you’re going to rise up singing,” is referring to the fact that someday you’re going to die. It’s from Porgy and Bess, “Summertime.” Again, I like this song a lot, but the live version with our band is on another level.

7. Catasterpiece
Sometimes I worry that Big Cats! might be better off doing straight-up instrumental stuff and that I’m ruining all his songs by rapping on them. This instrumental track really supports that fear. He’s good.

So yeah. Come to our release party at the Nomad on May 9. It’s going to be fun. Both me and Big Cats! will be posting some of these tracks on our MySpace pages soon, so keep checking back.

May 9 at the Nomad!

2009-04-19T08:29:00.001-07:00

Guante & Big Cats! at SOUNDSET '09

2009-04-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

Guante got the nod to play Soundset this year. He'll be joined onstage by Big Cats! and See More Perspective. May 24 at Canterbury Park in Shakopee. Other performers include Atmosphere, the Pharcyde, Freeway, Brother Ali, MF DOOM, Sage Francis and a bunch of other acts. Go here for details and ticket info.

EP Release Date Announcement

2009-04-02T15:46:00.001-07:00

We'll be releasing an EP, a prelude to our full-length, on May 9 at the Nomad.

new video of us, Guante in the Pioneer Press

2009-03-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

Check out the article. It quotes Big Cats! too.

A little clarity

2009-03-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

So we've had two incredible shows in the past couple of days. People really seem to like the new material, and the band. But we've run into some confusion about who we are and what we're doing. A few points:

~The songs we've been playing are NOT from our upcoming full-length. Those songs, though more or less done, are under wraps since the album is a concept album and playing bits of it at a time might not make sense. We will be releasing our live show songs (studio-recorded) as an EP sometime in May. The only overlap between the EP and LP might be "Dragons," the love song we play live. That song has two versions; no one has heard the "real" version yet, but the one we play live is very cool too.

~The band doesn't have a name. We've talked about that, and it's not out of the question, but we're going to let that happen organically, if it happens. Big Cats! (MPC and bass) produces all the songs, and the band brings them to life. Mike (guitar/bass) and Mike (drums) are in Dragons Power Up, a great local band, and Eric (keys and saxophone) does a lot of stuff with other acts and is also a talented engineer/recording technician.

~When we release our EP and our LP, the music will be entirely produced by Big Cats!. We'll have some live instruments here and there as supplementary elements, but the live band thing, for the most part, is for the live shows only.

~Here's the setlist from our last two shows:

1. Bring Out Your Dead (remix)
2. Ink/Old English Letters
3. Hero (transition into interlude)
4. Dragons
5. 1 10 20 200
6. One of These Mornings (remix)

Big thanks to everyone who came out and showed love at the Hyder Ali release party on Friday, and the Tribe release party on Sunday. Our next show is at the 7th St. Entry on Friday the 27th at 4pm (!) w/ Cecil Otter of Doomtree and Battle Royale.

Late March is going to be great

2009-03-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

Guante, Big Cats! and the band will be playing three big shows in the next two weeks. We're debuting some brand new material.

Friday, 3/20 at the Turf Club:

Sunday, 3/22 at the Triple Rock:

Saturday, 3/27 at the 7th St. Entry (we'll be playing the early, all-ages pre-show at 4pm; Guante will be doing some spoken-word during the main-room show later as well):

Guante & Big Cats VIDEOS

2009-03-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

A Hug From a Stranger, directed by Tony Perkins:

Guante + Big Cats! - A Hug From a Stranger from Tru Ruts on Vimeo.

The Damp, Foggy Midnight (Live on the Current):
We played a few songs live in-studio on the Current. Listen to the rest here.

Dragons (live):

AN UNWELCOME GUEST promo:
Some great footage from our release party.

Guante Raps, Big Cats plays the MPC:
I know some people think of me as "a poet who raps" or just someone who raps as a kind of little side project. It's weird that when you rap about issues or tell stories instead of just rapping about rapping, people want to pigeon-hole you. So this is kind of my response to that. Just a good 80 bars or so of punchlines and fancy rapping.

The Stockholm Syndrome w/ Big Quarters & TruthBeTold (live):
The album version of this features Prolyphic on the first verse. TBT from the Tribe killed his fill-in verse, though. This footage is from the release party at the Bedlam:

Upcoming Shows

2009-02-19T06:05:00.000-08:00

1. We'll be playing a duo set (just Guante and Big Cats) at the Rift Magazine fundraiser on Friday, 2/20 at Stasius. Flyer above.

2. No flyer yet, but we're playing a full band set at the Hyder Ali CD release party on Friday, 3/20 at the Turf Club. Also performing: Kristoff Krane, Mel Gibson and the Pants, Hyder Ali; hosted by See More Perspective.

3. On Sunday, 3/22, we'll be playing another full band set at the Triple Rock for the Tribe's CD release. Flyer below:

some live video

2009-02-19T05:49:00.000-08:00

This is a song that isn't on the album, but will be released on an EP in the next few months to promote the album. It's called "Ink," and this is an early version. It now has a new hook. Big ups to Above the Fold for the video.

Bio and Press Quotes

2009-02-19T05:28:00.000-08:00

"Earnestness can go wrong in hip hop. On this album, it goes very right." --Sage Francis, Strange Famous Records

"Part Cormac McCarthy, part Woody Guthrie, and part Public Enemy." --Justin Schell, TC Daily Planet

"Guante and Big Cats! create intelligent, political hip hop that mercifully doesn't come off as preachy or self-righteous. It's sobering, demanding your attention like a car crash, yet emotional and alarmingly intimate at times." --Michael L. Walsh, City Pages

"It really is one of the best local releases of the year and is a must-listen for any fans of hip hop." --Josh Keller, Whiskey for the Holy Ghost

"Over bandmate Big Cats!'s layered, dark beats, rapper Guante is an avalanche of words." --Jay Boller, MN Daily

"Extremely powerful." --DJ Pwelbs, Pwelbs.com

"...Guante's lyrics go deeper than the familiar comic-book premise into an authority-questioning meditation on violence that'd do John Romero's most allegorical moments proud. And Big Cats!, his production partner on the new album, has the kind of chops that can only add to the atmospheric resonance." --Nate Patrin, City Pages

Guante & Big Cats! are a hip hop duo. Guante raps and Big Cats! produces. Sometimes they perform as a duo, and sometimes they play backed by a full band. Their new album, "An Unwelcome Guest," is a concept album that mixes radical politics, superhero mythology, zombies and a continent-spanning love story. Buy it here.

Guante is a rapper, spoken-word artist, activist, writer and educator. A 2008 City Pages Artist of the Year, URB Magazine "Next 1000" pick, multiple Independent Music Awards nominee and 2009 National Poetry Slam champion, he is signed to Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records.

Big Cats! is a producer and multi-instrumentalist. He's worked with Sage Francis, Jolie Holland, B.Dolan and others, and his solo debut, "Sleep Tapes," received rave reviews from City Pages, Above the Fold, RapReviews.com and others.

A few more quotes:

"Giving you something to think about while nodding your head to his nimble, casual flow, Guante could very well follow Atmosphere and P.O.S. in the long line of outstanding rappers to break out from the Midwest." --CMJ Artist Spotlight

"The talent and insight to create a beat is one thing, but the skill to create an environment in one's mind is something all unto itself-- and Big Cats! is such a talent." --Culture Bully

"Guante quietly rolled into the Twin Cities' hip hop and spoken-word scenes with a hand grenade and pulled the pin. If you look anywhere in those scenes now, you'll see his shrapnel buried deep in every wall." --City Pages

"His second LP, "Sleep Tapes," is an instrumental hip hop masterpiece of ethereal dreamscapes, fragile rhythms and euphonic melodies." --Perfect Porridge

what?

2009-02-19T05:10:00.001-08:00

"An Unwelcome Guest" is a concept album put together by producer/bassist Big Cats! and vocalist Guante. We also play live with a band composed of Mike Ries (Drums) and Mike Coyne (Guitar) from Dragons Power Up and Eric Blomquist (Keys and Saxophone).

It's coming out in late 2009.

This blog will have updates, exclusive song leaks, making-of commentary and much more.

I don't want to put all the info out there at once, but for now, I'll tell you that the album is a true concept album, telling one story from the first track to the last, and that it doesn't sound anything like anything you've heard already. We've got all the songs written and all the beats made, and are currently waiting for some killer guest-spots to get cleared and will be recording this spring for a winter release. It has to come out in winter.

Another quick teaser: think Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" meets "28 Days Later" meets "V for Vendetta," but hip hop. The whole post-apocalypse has been done to death, but I like to think that this album puts a fresh spin on the concept by grounding the literal narrative in a lot of very real-world issues: displacement, resistance, much, much more. It's an explicitly political album, but its "message" is going to be very difficult to pin down.

On top of all that stuff though (I'm the emcee, so I tend to dwell on lyrics and content) it SOUNDS absolutely monstrous. Big Cats! is one of the best producers around, and these beats are just otherworldly good.

Here are some nice things the media have said about us.

But I've said too much already. Keep checking back for updates.

--guante