Kneebody

Shane Endsley’s “Then the Other” recognized in the LA TIMES

kaveh — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:25:01 +0000

Click this link and see that Shane Endsley’s fantastic album “Then the Other” was mentioned in the LA TIMES as one of the best Jazz albums of 2011. Congrats Shane! Here’s a link where you can listen to it and buy it!

Busdriver/Daedelus show recap.

kaveh — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:18:30 +0000

Working with these two artists is always a thrill and it’s always easy to get to music quickly. That’s what we needed to do when we played with Busdriver and Daedelus at the Little Temple in Silverlake earlier this month. We had the day to get the music together. So we set a time and met at the club and rehearsed the music for the night. The set with Daedelus was really fun to put together. He had a bunch of pre written songs that he played us. These are songs that he can deconstruct in the moment – loop bits – and isolate sounds making them easy to play over. We picked about 6 or 7 and then we worked out general shapes and then had a good idea of what to play. This Spring we’re going to record an album with Daedelus, so this was a good night to start to get ready for that. With Busidriver, there are around ten or eleven songs that we have arranged with him over the years. He posted on his facebook something to the effect of ” come hear me perform some of these classics for the last time…”. Anyhow, he’s really fun to play with and super easy and reactive. I really hope that someday we get a chance to work together in the studio. Here’s a clip of the last song we played that night called “Imaginary Places” (the clip was masterfully shot and edited by Alex Chaloff):

Kneebody/Busdriver/Special Guest DEC 4 in LA

ben — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:09:16 +0000

Psyched for our show on December 4th in LA with Busdriver and our special guest . Here’s the link for the info. Kneebody with Busdriver sounds like this:

DOWNBEAT READERS POLL

kaveh — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:55:00 +0000

We were honored to have been recognized in the 2011 Downbeat Readers Poll for Jazz Group, Adam Benjamin for Electric Keyboard and Kaveh Rastegar for Electric Bass.

Blue Whale Video Clips Now ONLINE!!!

ben — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 02:22:59 +0000

We recently played a sold out 3 night run of shows at the Blue Whale in LA. These shows were so much fun. Night 3 of the residency was documented by Alex Chaloff. We sifted through the amazing footage that he shot that night and all of the clips are now viewable on youtube. Here’s a link to all of them. Also here’s a clip of us playing Shane’s tune Teddy Ruxpin:

EUROPE TRIP

kaveh — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 21:06:59 +0000

We recently had a quick whirlwind trip in Europe. We got to places we’ve never been. The tour started in Prague. We played at a place called The Jazz Dock. We heard a great group there called DoMa Ensemble. They were a duo of a couple named Dorota and Marcel. Thanks Dorota for lending me your power adaptor for the show. Anyhow, the show was full. Awesome thing. I went for a jog the next morning. Didn’t see much except for a taste of what seemed like an amazing city. The Charles Bridge, Kafka museum (statue of two guys pissing…). Saw a lot actually. Then we drove through the Czech Republic through the country to Dresden! We played that night downstairs at a great venue called Jazz Tonne. It was a really fun show. Thanks so much to Stefan for having us there. I didn’t get to speak with him much but he seemed like a really great guy. Adam wasn’t feeling his best so we soundchecked without him. He ended up making it and we played a great show. I talked with a young couple afterward. They were inspired by the Occupy protests happening in the States. The next morning,we woke up, bought some fruit… (shane bought a lot) and we drove through the country, south to Munich. It was a beautiful drive. The sun was out. We got to Munich. It’s the first time we’ve been there since we were there with Theo Bleckmann and So Percussion for our concerts there. We made it to the hotel. I parked the car. We had a sweet Fiat BTW. We had a couple hours before going to the venue which was The Unterfahrt. We soundchecked there. I had a coffee. We ordered the same food. Pumpkin soup… something else that was good! We got to see our friends Stefan Winter, Mariko and Regine from Winter and Winter. Our show was a lot of fun. Shane played a great solo during the encore of Nerd Mountain where he quoted “Ill Remember April” and “Well You Needn’t”. What more can you ask for. I was dead tired. All of these shows were day after day. The next morning, we woke up in Munich. I had only slept a few hours and we drove to Geneva. The drive was another long one. At one point, I think in Austria, we stopped at a supermarket. We all bought sandwiches. I also bought a Mars Bar. I never buy them in the states but I know that in Italy… probably Europe in general the Mars Bars pack a punch. I also bought some deoderant and a coffee for 20 cents at the doorway of the supermarket. It was horrible. But the sandwich was great! Anyhow, we drove to Geneva. We stayed in hotel that has the claim to fame of having the world’s largest pendulum. We played that night at an amazing place called AMR. It’s a community music school in Geneva. We met Brooks and Stefan who helped us get set up. Amazing gear they have there. I played through an AMPEG B 18 which I didn’t even know existed. Very awesome show. Had a great time meeting evey body there. The next morning woke up and drove through the country two hours to MURI. On the way we stopped at an autogrille for some food. WE were destroyed by the exchange rate and payed around $150 for 2 sandwiches, 3 slices of pizza 3 drinks and 2 coffees… Muri was a beautiful little town. Stephen Diethelm had us out there. He’s a great guy who puts on a great concert series. We had a great night. I took a nap before the show. Stephen brought my some pasta from his house to fuel up on. We had an amazing show. Really intimate. Great crowd. It was all recorded and clips are now floating around on the web… And that was it!!! Whirlwind. I slept a few hours and then at 4am Shane and I drove through the fog to Zurich where I flew to Amsterdam and then back to LA on Halloween!!! Happy Belated Halloween. Thanks to everyone who had us out there and we hope to come back soon!!!!

FUCKING TEST!!!!!!

kaveh — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:21:22 +0000

AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

Live at Bleeker St

ben — Sun, 22 May 2011 19:06:17 +0000

LIVING ROOM IN LOS ANGELES:

ben — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:13:57 +0000

LIVING ROOM IN LOS ANGELES:

ben — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:13:45 +0000