Livehuman is Carlos Aguilar (DJ Quest), Andrew Kushin and Albert Mathias. Their critically acclaimed "pocket orchestra" of turntables, double bass, trap drums and samplers was born in 1996 in San Francisco.
The music of Livehuman occupies a unique niche in the genres of both free-improvised sound/music and instrumental hip-hop. All three musicians bring to the ensemble a strong sense of tradition from their own experiences playing and performing in diverse musical situations. Live shows consist not of sets of written "songs," but make use of "live sampling" in which they freely draw from original compositions to recreate and perpetually re-contextualize their own music. This is structured improvisation without the utilization of overt jazz idioms. Live Human, in their name, reflect the honesty of their musical intentions: to subvert the old, impersonal sample and reinstate the human element -- the voice in the machine.
In 1997, Livehuman produced their debut LP, Live Human featuring DJ Quest, on Cosmic Records. The recording was compiled from a single studio session and released as a vinyl-only, limited edition of 1000 copies. Later that year, London-based Fat Cat Records licensed four of the tracks and released them in the UK and Europe as Live Human: Improvisessions. The 12" received widespread critical recognition which contributed to the realization of the trio’s second LP, Monostereosis: The New Victrola Method, released in Europe on Fat Cat in May 1999 and subsequently in the US on Hip Hop Slam in March 2000.
Following the commercial & critical success of Monostereosis, the band was approached by Matador Records – which led to the release of Elefish Jellyphant in 2001. Two European tours, including performances at Roskilde, Transmusicale, and the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival culminated in their 4th album: Livehuman Live (Recorded at the Great American Music Hall).
Prior to a their Japanese tour in 2003, Livehuman produced their own ‘tools’ vinyl - which consisted of deconstructed instrumental recordings of the band that could be used by Quest during live performances. The wax was released later that year as Breakseven on their own Cosmic label. Devotees of viral marketing, the band issued a set of records to 24 of their favorite DJs and producers – and asked them to create a track exclusively from sounds on the record. The resultant tracks – Breakseven Remixes - were compiled by the band and released on Cosmic in 2006.
Their music has been used widely in both TV and film and is currently featured as the theme music for NPR’s It’s Your Call.
Their upcoming effort was recorded live in Osaka, Japan and is due for release in spring 2007.
More information, music, video, and touring info can be found at:
www.livehuman.net
