Stones Throw Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield 23 Items

This is the second volume of The Minimal Wave Tapes series, a collection of rare electronic music compiled from bands around the world, Most of the songs were recorded in the 1980s and originally released on limited edition cassettes or vinyl by the artists themselves, and only a handful of people knew about them. Now they've been remastered from their analog source tapes, brought to you by Veronica Vasicka and Peanut Butter Wolf.

When There’s Love Around is an album of two halves. The first is “about feeling small and insignificant and stressed,” Kiefer says. “It’s about things that cause me to worry, but at the end of the day, are probably unimportant from a larger cosmic perspective.”

The nostalgia of looking through old childhood pictures in one of the lead tracks, “I remember this picture,” is reflected on the album cover, a Polaroid of Kiefer and his sister, painted by Mikey Yates.

The album’s second half is more reflective and spiritual, its cathartic mood occasioned by the loss of Kiefer’s beloved grandmother. While grief and loss are main themes, the tone is still largely positive – Kiefer describes himself as an optimist.

Kiefer assembled a band of his favorite musicians, including DJ Harrison, Andy McCauley, Josh Johnson, Will Logan, Sam Wilkes and other jazz luminaries. They laid the album down in three sets of sessions over 2020, including one stint at Jazzy Jeff’s studio after the DJ invited Kiefer to record there. Several songs were recorded in one or two takes, with any mistakes left in, true to Kiefer’s preference for music that feels spontaneous and from the heart. Kiefer has long performed with a live band, and found the setup suited the communal spirit he was striving for on this album: “I find something about the Herculean type of jazz performer really alienating. I want to celebrate human connection,” he explains.

Tokorats is Jonti’s third album for Stones Throw, following back-to-back releases Twirligig (2012) and Sine & Moon (2013). Recording for the album began in 2013, and after four years and hundreds of versions for each song, it will be released.
Jonti grew up in South Africa, lived in Los Angeles and New York, and settled near Sydney, Australia, where Tokorats was recorded. Collaborators on the record include Gotye, Kirin J Callinan, Moses Macrae, Jo Ling, Vanessa Tammetta, Tess Nicolaou, Hodgy, and rising Australian hip-hop star Sampa The Great.
Jonti writes, “A Tokorat is that supernatural creature in the mirror. A multicolored weirdo mutant composed of all the elements of your story and all the complexities of your character. In every song I was having a conversation with all the good and unflattering reflections of myself ... While this album does document a five year spiritual journey, it was ultimately a fun and luscious experience. I’m lucky I got to know my Tokorats”

Still shrink wrapped.
Cover corners slightly dented.

Mister Mellow moves further away from the synthesizer-heavy sounds of the recent Washed Out releases and more band-driven sound of his work on iconic labels Sub Pop in America, and Domino in Europe. On Mister Mellow, Greene draws from the experimental collage techniques of musique concrète and plunderphonics artists such as The Residents. Combining styles as diverse as free jazz, house, hip-hop and psych together with interlude-esque voiceover samples, often pulled from anonymous YouTube vlogs, he creates a busy, chaotic, and caricaturish mix that mirrors the claustrophobic, hyper-stimulated psyche so familiar to young adults.

As he continues to carve out his innovative sonic identity, influenced by the world around him but unafraid to buck trends, it’s fitting that Greene has partnered with legendary hip hop label Stones Throw Records, long a home for beat-loving musical rebels. His approach to releasing music is every bit as individual, too: in an environment where compiling singles into an album format or working with a single video director are the norm, Greene has chosen to commission eleven different artists to bring the visual aspect of his fully-realised album project to life.

On Mister Mellow, Washed Out steers clear of emotion to empathise with the minutiae of the world around him. “I’ve been much less interested in sentimentality and emotion for the past couple of years,” says Greene, “In some ways, I think its a reaction against getting older and having more responsibilities. Maybe I’m just nostalgic for a time in my life where I could just relax and block out the world for a moment.” Though Mister Mellow is an intensely personal album, its ideas and observations speak to the lived experience of so many young adults, an experience that we come to see as both funny and sad.

Mild High Club founder Alexander Brettin grew up playing flute in the school band and majoring in jazz studies in Chicago. In 2012, a visit to Los Angeles allowed him to connect with the Stones Throw crew. Within a year, after passing the early demos of what would become Timeline onto Peanut Butter Wolf, Brettin made the move out west.

“The difference between Timeline and Skiptracing is detail,” Brettin said. “I was stubborn with the process for Timeline, it took almost three years to let go of it.” On Timeline, Brettin resorted to vague lyrics so as to highlight the music itself. But for Skiptracing there’s both a heightened thematic aspect as well as more complex musical arrangements encasing it. In Brettin’s estimation, the album’s story arc is that of a “private investigator attempting to trace the steps of the sound and the spirit of American music.”

And in investigating the spirit of American music, Mild High Club re-imagine AM radio hits as blasting in from a parallel universe, the sound of early 70s LA in a smog of sativa. If Todd Rundgren was the primary touchstone for Timeline, Brettin and band now look to the wry, trenchant wit of Steely Dan, gazing deep into the dark underbelly of sun-bright L.A. and coming away with catchy songs underpinned by slippery jazz phrasings.

Dig deeper into the lyrics and imagery and that detective story slowly emerges. But it’s no simple whodunit? Instead, think The Long Goodbye, The Late Show, Chinatown, Night Moves or any early 70s inversion of the detective noir genre, where the gumshoe protagonist ultimately winds up investigating himself, navel-gazing so as to solve the ultimate mystery. Skiptracing is Philip Marlowe driving around LA listening to Caetano Veloso or that deleted scene in John Cassavetes’s The Killing of a Chinese Bookie where Cosmo Vitelli reads Cosmic Trigger.

In crafting Skiptracing, Mild High Club have made an album that strikes a balance between the known and unknown aspects of art and creation. While Brettin sought to have complete control over the creation of the previous album, in opening up and allowing these creative variables in, he learned a valuable lesson that lies at the heart of Skiptracing itself: “When you wish upon the unknown, you might be surprised by the rewards.”

Rare Pleasure is Mndsgn's third album to be released on Stones Throw Records. Following 2016's Body Wash, this album truly shows the artist's evolution from his roots as a heralded beatmaker to vocalist, songwriter and arranger. Though he began writing for the album in 2018, the final recordings took just a week in studio with the help of trusted collaborators: Swarvy on bass, guitar and as Musical Director for the sessions, Stones Throw label mate Kiefer Shackelford on keys, drum work by Will Logan, the blessed percussion of Carlos Niño, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on strings, and accompanying vocals from Fousheé and Anna Wise.

Jardín' is Gabriel Garzón-Montano’s debut album, out January 2017 on Stones Throw Records. Gabriel Garzón-Montano’s formidable skills have come to fruition on his Stones Throw debut. “This album came out of wanting to make music that reminds people how beautiful life is and how delicate their heart is,” he said. “I've always wanted to make music that is healing, comforting, and funky. I named the album 'Jardín' hoping for it to create a space for healing when people put it on.
“A garden is full of life, growth and beauty,” Gabriel said of choosing that unifying image as the title for his new album. “It makes me think of green and white and all the colors as they appear in different flowers.” That vivid spectrum bursts forth on 'Jardín' itself and the album contains references to fruit of all sorts, sour mango, juicy tangerines and sweet peaches.
From the heartache and aching vocals that float over the dusty drums of “Crawl” to the stutter-step thump of “Bombo Fabrika” to the high falsetto he nails on “Octave,” GarzónMontano proves himself to already be one of 2017’s biggest breakout talents.

Limited edition of 500 for the world! Nice remix action by Jonti, Peanut Butter Wolf, James Pants, Vex Ruffin, Prince Language, Jonwayne, The Stepkids & Samiyam!

Dance Ancestral is the latest addition to producer and keyboardist John Carroll Kirby’s fast-growing and distinctive body of work. Dance Ancestral sees the acclaimed solo artist teaming up with Canadian producer Yu Su for an album whose central theme is the “intuitive dance” we perform throughout our lives. More electronically focused than Kirby’s previous albums, the result is a vividly imagined yet eminently listenable instrumental record.

When Vex Ruffin’s family moved from Northridge, California to the City of Parañaque in the Philippines, their first car was a Toyota LiteAce. Swooping around the thick Metro Manila traffic between colorful jeepneys and tricycles in the compact van left a strong impression on young Vex. The Toyota LiteAce was immensely popular in early 90s Manila — beloved for its durability and reliability — and enjoys an intense, affectionate following to this day. Vex’s family’s LiteAce would hold his parents upfront, and him and his three younger siblings behind as they cruised in comfort.

Fast forward three decades and Vex is raising two young boys with his wife in the Inland Empire while working two jobs. In between those responsibilities, he cooked up his third Stones Throw LP LiteAce Frequency at his kitchen table, a collection of songs influenced by 70s Manila Sound and Pinoy soul. Other ingredients like Japanese funk, Brazilian sounds, and hip-hop made their way into the recipe. “At my age, you start to reflect,” Vex says, “I’m going back to my roots, channelling that time, mixing nostalgia with how I am right now. ”

What is LiteAce Frequency? “It’s the vehicle that gets you going in the right direction. Hop in and tap into the LiteAce Frequency — it will guide you to the right path.”

“If you don't believe in yourself, that's a fear,” Vex says. “I think everyone is good at something. Everyone has a dream. Sometimes there’s a voice inside you that’s guiding you, and you don't follow it because of fear. This album is about going with your heart. Follow your heart. Self-love. Positive things. Believe in yourself. Going for it.”

Vex Ruffin also finds inspiration in one of his biggest passions — boxing. “Boxing is life. You get hit, you fall down, you get back up, you hit back, but all that matters is that you finish it. Keep coming, don’t stop no matter what.” He feels a close affinity with Bernard Hopkins: “As he got older, he got better. That's me. I'm not getting any younger, but I am getting better. Hopkins has many styles. He can adapt.”

LiteAce Frequency documents Vex’s growth from his first show, more than 10 years ago, in his friend’s backyard. “I’m more mature, more experienced. A lot more mellow. A lot more at peace,” he says.

He compares his music to a kale salad: “It's definitely organic. It’s healthy. There’s not much music like that — healthy music. I’m not perfect — not 100% positive all the time. But my goal is to be that positive influence. When I make the music, it's for myself first and foremost, but it's going to reach people. And it might help them. In the end, I hope that's what it does.”

Still sealed with hype sticker. Stuffed corner. Limited edition Grape coloured vinyl.

Koushik specializes in making that hazy, hip-hop-based downbeat sh*t that you could easily compare to contemporaries such as Four Tet (who released Koushik's first single on his Text label), RJD2, and DJ Shadow. What sets Koushik apart from the others is a beautiful '60s psych-pop element that tends to pervade throughout. It shows itself in the spacious panned strings, acoustic guitars, and harpsichords that fall in and out of each other, and the beats have a harder regimented classic true school hip-hop sound, that Fourtet and Prefuse tend to stray away from.

Here’s what this record is all about. James says it’s “inspired by Martin Denny flourishes, royalty free breakbeats, Gary Wilson and Hamburg’s infamous Golden Pudel club.”

The record was composed solely via MIDI and a Yamaha Portasound PSS-480 and is an oblique homage to the Residents’ Commercial Album – a 14-track record made up of sonic vignettes that sounds as good on a stereo set-up in the Amazonian jungle as it does coming through laptop speakers.

Ten new tracks from Chino, CA’s favorite son Vex Ruffin, only on cassette!