Longitude

Charlie Hunter (Artist), Bobby Previte (Artist), DJ Logic (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 12, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Thirsty Ear
• ASIN: B0009VI4H6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #376,990 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Wow. I haven't felt this energized by hearing new music in a long time. Groundtruther are a duo of drummer Bobby Previte and guitarist Charlie Hunter. For each release they invite a guest third performer and this time round it's turntablist DJ Logic. All three performers have appreciable reps, with Logic and Previte regular contributors to the downtown NYC scene. Longitude is the second part of a trilogy, following on from Latitude and with Altitude to follow.

Longitude's first track, "Transit Of Venus", is fascinating for its strangeness. Beginning with DJ Olive's wavering synthetic tones, shouts, drums and scratching follow to form a sonic melee with an appreciable sense of forward motion. Charlie Hunter announces his arrival with a power chord followed unexpectedly by a string of starkly abrasive notes. His overdriven sound drops in and out suddenly, while behind him Previte's drums break up choppily as though heard via an unreliable connection.

"March 1741, Cape Horn" again races forward pell mell, propelled by scratched voices, the haunted cries of night creatures and Previte's high energy breakbeats. The instrumentation imparts the skeletal feel of a stripped-down racing machine, some kind of darkened dragster glimpsed roaring through the trees at midnight.

On the brief "Course Made Good", Hunter begins by rocking out in pleasingly neanderthal style, but his guitar gradually recedes into a blurred fog, it's sharpened dynamics blunted and eventually silenced. It's a conceit I last heard on "Foil", the first track on Autechre's second album. Applied to live instrumentation the treatment acquires even greater power. Radical post-production of this sort is relatively rare for live performers, but very welcome ­ the sort of thing Teo Macero might have done to a chorus of outraged jazzers and eventually expunged (c.f. Miles Davis's "Go Ahead John").

The louder tracks are interspersed with gentler exercises: "Medicean Stars" is a gorgeous, becalmed piece, an interplay between Hunter¹s harmonics, signal noise from DJ Olive and semi-random percussion. It could loop for much longer than its two minute duration. "Epherimedes" is, likewise, another piece seemingly cut from the same cloth.

DJ Olive's contributions really bring Longitude to life as he sketches and weaves significant amounts of atmosphere, leftfield intrusions and textures between Hunter and Previte. Previte is a really exciting drummer, going hell for leather as though the devil were chasing his tail and Hunter's noise-ridden stylings are a pleasurable surprise. The connection between the music and the astral titling isn't immediately obvious, but they make increasing intuitive sense and might be imagined as a distant accompaniment to Miles Davis's tectonic references on Agharta/Pangaea. Longitude is convincing hybrid music with lashings of energy, originality and resonance. --BBC music

Product Description

Longitude is the second installment in the collaboration of Charlie Hunter (master of
the 8-string guitar ) and Bobby Previte (electronic and acoustic drum virtuoso). This
time around the rotating third member slot is filled by turntable wizard DJ Logic.
Together they have turned up the heat, further progressing their sound into a more
aggressive mix of funk, jazz and jamband-style rock.

This team-up brings a real, earthy and
energetic performance that will appeal to
jazz, funk and electronic enthusiasts alike.
Their trademark sound of electronic
riffing reverberates a dynamic tension
throughout the album. Charlie Hunter s
playing is far reaching on both sides,
hitting soaring highs and rumbling lows with
ease, leaving the listener to ask How d he do
that? . Bobby Previte's drumming is just as
impressive. His percussion work is like a
tropical storm, thunderous and electric . DJ
Logic provides the essential background to
Hunter and Previte's mind-bending creation.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 2 down, one to go ..., August 6, 2005

By 

Troy Collins (Lancaster, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Longitude (Audio CD)

Thirsty Ear's Blue Series imprint has long been known for its adventurous crossover projects, from the unlikely merger of underground Hip-Hop and Free Jazz on "Antipop Consortium vs. Matthew Shipp" to the radical summit meeting of DJ Spooky, Dave Lombardo (Slayer/Fantomas) and Meat Beat Manifesto on "Drums of Death." Bridging the ostensibly divergent worlds of improvisational Jazz and rigorously structured Electronica and Hip-Hop, no other label has had as solid a run as Thirsty Ear has.

"Longitude" is the second entry in Thirsty Ear's documentation of Groundtruther's proposed trilogy. Guitarist Charlie Hunter and Percussionist Bobby Previte's collective trio with a rotating third member has only one previous release under their belt, 2004's "Latitude." Joined by saxophonist Greg Osby, the trio elicited a program that was adventurously elliptical and a harbinger of things to come.

Beginning with 2003's "Come in Red Dog, This is Tango Leader," Hunter and Previte's collaboration has grown beyond its humble beginnings. What was once a groove oriented duo project with a tendency towards atmospheric production and the occasional experimental foray, Groundtruther has morphed into an altogether more unpredictable entity.

Recording live in the studio with added guest DJ Logic on turntables, Groundtruther has ventured even further from the jazz mainstream to find itself straddling the fence separating the worlds of improvised rock and electric jazz. Jazztronica is still an untested term, but one would be hard pressed to find a better euphemism for the tasty playing found in the grooves on this record. The traditional concept of jazz swing is decidedly absent, but the rhythmic pulse and improvisational spirit of jazz definitely informs these proceedings.

The rhythms are as diverse in their origin as Dub, Funk, Hip-Hop, Jungle and Drum-N-Bass. But there is also a heavy, Bluesy Classic Rock feel to these sessions as Hunter's guitar belts out one acid phrase after another while Previte pummels the skins mercilessly. "Dead Reckoning", "Prime Meridian" and "Jupiter Mask" suggest what Black Sabbath might have sounded like had they been influenced by mid-1970's electric Miles Davis. Previte lays down thunderously aggressive beats, DJ Logic samples bleating horn sections and squalling saxophones while Hunter just burns over the churning rhythm with chunky fragmented chords and screaming long guitar tones.

DJ Logic's choice of vinyl source material for scratching and looping is so well suited to the trio's concept that it almost sounds as though he isn't even present, so deep-rooted and intertwined is his contribution. His manic scratching is heavily featured in a frenzied duet with Previte's live and sampled drums while Hunter grinds out a distorted ostinato on the Drum-N-Bass inspired "March 1741, Cape Horn".

The most surprising sonic derivation is not DJ Logic's turntablism or Bobby Previte's inventive flourishes from his electric drum kit, but Hunter's increasingly nasty guitar tone. Channeling Hendrix at points, Hunter plows through the rhythms with twisted and bent tones dosed with an acidic sheen that sound light years before his time. Listen to the stinging guitar lead of "Jupiter Mask" for ample proof. It is a bold new direction for him and a refreshing departure from his low-key signature sound.

The entire affair isn't all full-on burn however, there are a few moments of introspective reflection. "Epherimedes" and "South Heading" materialize in the final stages of the record, for an almost chill effect. Melody is ever present, no matter the energy level of the piece. The opening "Transit of Venus" with its repeated descending melody line and layers of sampled voices, flirts with pop song tunefulness, locked down with a groove so tight one could imagine it appealing to jam band fans as easily as indie rock kids.

More aggressive, funky and propulsive than "Latitude" or anything else in Hunter and Previte's catalog (including his electric bar band - Latin For Travellers), "Longitude" is a must hear for those interested in the possibilities of combining the tonal colors and driving rhythms of rock with jazz's improvisational sensibility.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Demoniac!, August 2, 2005

By 

Xurio "Jazzrider" (Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Longitude (Audio CD)

Second out for Groundtruther project. Guest DJ Logic's messing around with turntablism allows Previte & Hunter to ride free in continuous sound hints and sparkling solos. Previte is powerfull and heavy-beating on acoustic drum; Hunter turns distorsion on and plays lots of dramatically-bare riffs for high moments of interplay.
Less 'jazz-like' than Latitude, maybe difficult to listen to for predictability-bound ears, but fresh and stimulating if you approach music by the what's-going-to-happen side.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars longitude, October 6, 2008

By 

Anthony Hanley "revrckstr" (seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Longitude (Audio CD)

Excellent jazz, experimental, jams. Pulling so many raw talents together. Pretty hard stuff for jazz, nevertheless an excellent expression that is out of the box.
---Anthony Hanley