Bio / Photos / Lyrics
Press Reviews / Contact
Gnotes is a rapper, underground hip-hop producer, and flamenco guitarist from Seattle, Washington.
Buy Gnotes’ new album Rhymes and Beats @ iTunes CDBaby or Amazon
.
Gnotes has been making music since he was selling home-recorded cassettes out of his backpack in the 5th grade. Born and raised in Seattle, Gnotes’ released his album Rhymes and Beats on Gnawledge Records, which reached #25 on the CMJ Hip-Hop Radio Charts.
In the 2 years since Rhymes and Beats, Gnotes has been on tour — performing across America, Spain, France, Germany and the UK — and produced 3 new albums from Granada Doaba, Afro DZ ak, and Elemental Zazen.
His new album Conflicts and Interest will be released on April 14th 2010, featuring collaborations with Devin the Dude, Blockhead, Blue Sky Black Death and Jake One.
“Bounce when my band his your town with the funk /
Technics in the backseat guitars in the trunk”
Gnotes Biography
Sean Dwyer [aka Gnotes] was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up listening to Nirvana, Mudhoney, 2pac and Wu-Tang. He’s been playing guitar since elementary school, eventually evolving into an MC and hip-hop producer. After he was recruited to play D-1 college football in Boston, Gnotes moved east and refined his flow performing on-stage at live shows with Devin the Dude, Louis Logic, Glue, and CunninLynguists.
Following the 2004 release of his debut MC album Broken Spoke, Gnotes embarked on a creative detour from traditional hip-hop, recording a pair of concept albums in order to develop his art in preparation for Rhymes and Beats.
The first album, 2005′s Flow From Above, was dedicated to rhymes, featuring Gnotes in a cipher of spoken-word poets, exploring issues related to global justice and social responsibility.
In contrast, Gnotes’ next album was dedicated exclusively to beats. Composed as wordless dialogue between rappers, Inthrumental features Gnotes on slide guitar and Afro DZ ak on the trumpet.
After dissecting hip-hop and studying its constitutive parts, Gnotes now brings it all together for the new album – as he puts it: “Disc number four / rhymes and beats grown mature.
In concert, Gnotes shines on the mic with a passionate delivery that flows naturally over his own organically produced beats. In addition to regular shows throughout New England, Gnotes has also performed at the Havana Hip-Hop festival in Cuba in 2004, a 38-city national US tour with Seattle’s NocOnWood Records in 2005, a Pacific NorthWest tour with Devin the Dude in 2007 and a 5-country European tour in 2008.
PRESS REVIEWS
The Weekly Dig published a glowing review of Gnotes’ new record, which Chris Faraone describes as “a local should-have for all imaginative hip-hop fans who repel cornball rap with the same zeal that they loathe the bling boys.” Read the full review.
“His flow is controlled but with a certain, appealing looseness, his lyrics are informed, bordering on the didactic, and his beats are well constructed and melodic, easy to follow without being boring, proving that he’s able to keep up with any of the bigger indie names out there.”
– Marisa Brown @ All Music Guide
“Musically it is innovative and pleasing, [with] care and effort put into virtually every bar in every verse, in each and every song – you can tell that Gnotes burns with a passion to be the best that he can be“
– Jesal ‘Jay Soul’ Padania @ RapReviews
“Gnotes mixes different styles, delivers masterpiece with Rhymes and Beats… Gnotes blends lush production and thoughtful lyrics to form some of the best hip-hop in the world.”
– Ben Conant @ The Equinox
“Similar to Immortal Technique and Sage Francis [...] something to spice up the indie scene.”
– Shastud @ Ear It Now
“It’s got a classic sound — on-point rhymes, punchy flows, and hints of vinyl dust and well-worn samples amidst tasteful live licks.”
– Wayne Marshall @ Wayne and Wax
*full disclosure: wayne = gnawledge bredren
“gNotes’ combination of lyrics and real instrumentation places him amongst the bohemian MCs like Mos Def, Madvillan, or RJD2.”
– AJ Meyer @ HipHoosier