Capa do ano? Strong Arm Steady

Há muitas razões para que a minha colecção da Stones Throw não páre de crescer e as mais importantes são, obviamente, musicais. Mas a atenção da label de PB Wolf aos detalhes é insuperável: cada projecto é tratado como uma dignidade extrema e o amor pela edição, pela música, pela possibilidade de dar dimensão física a toda aquela arte é espantoso. Prova mais recente, a capa de "In Search of Stoney Jackson", dos Strong Arm Steady.

In Search of Stoney Jackson is produced entirely by Madlib, longtime friend of Phil Da Agony and extended Strong Arm Steady family. The album’s conception owes a great deal to World Famous Beat Junkie, J.Rocc, who provided the trio with close to 200 of the Madlib the Beat Konducta’s tracks to choose from. Strong Arm Steady had previously rapped over Madlib productions on the Madlib and Talib Kweli Liberation album, but this full-length marks a long-desired collaboration between the four. It’s a hip-hop jam session, with the group acting as the rhythm section for an all-star cast of guest vocalists such as Planet Asia, Guilty Simpson, Evidence, Chase Infinite, and Phonte of Little Brother.

The Minimal Wave Tapes

Apetece recuperar aquele famoso anúncio do Pingo Doce e dizer que esta boa notícia vem do "sítio do costume".

The Minimal Wave Tapes
CD/2LP/Digital
Release Date: Jan 26, 2010

Minimal Wave: both a genre of underground DIY electronic music from North America and Europe in the late 1970s and 80s, and the name of the label devoted to unearthing these recordings. The Minimal Wave Tapes is the first official anthology (on CD, LP and digital) of Minimal Wave music from this label. Most of the songs were originally released on limited edition cassettes or vinyl by the artists themselves, and only a handful of people knew about them. They’ve been remastered from their analog source tapes and compiled here by Minimal Wave's Veronica Vasicka and Stones Throw's Peanut Butter Wolf.

The Minimal Wave musical genre was hallmarked by the use of the analog synths and drum machines manufactured in the 70s and 80s, and characterized by simple music structures made by musicians working in the early D.I.Y. asthetic: recording on tape in their home studios, creating their own album artwork, and often collaborating via postage mail. The fanzine CLEM (Contact List Of Electronic Musicians) was very influential in creating a worldwide community for this sort of music, before digital technology and the internet came into play.

Minimal Wave the label was founded in New York City in 2005 by Veronika Vasicka, who focused the label solely on obscure Minimal Wave recordings, remastering and releasing them on limited vinyl and digital.

The Minimal Waves Tapes fits neatly into Stones Throw Records' own tradition of compiling or reissuing the independent music of the past which influences the independent music we make today - 60s funk (The Funky 16 Corners), early 80s hip-hop (The Third Unheard) and West Coast Electro/Rap (Arabian Prince's Innovative Life) to name a few.

Tracklisting

1. “Way Out Of Living” Linear Movement
2. “Flying Turns” Crash Course In Science
3. “Radiance” Oppenheimer Analysis
4. “Who's Really Listening” Mark Lane
5. “Tempusfugit” Tara Cross
6. “Blurred” Turquoise Days
7. “Mickey, Please...” Bene Gesserit
8. “Moscú Está Helado” Esplendor Geometrico
9. “Reassurance Ritual” Das Ding
10. “Just Because” Martin Dupont
11. “Game & Performance” Deux
12. “Things I Was Due To Forget” Somnambulist
13. “My Time” Ohama
14. “The Cabinet” Das Kabinette

PB Wolf sobre a Minimal Wave

Minimal Wave Podcast

Podcast de J Rocc na Stones Throw

Novo podcast de J Rocc na Stones Throw a propósito da iniciativa Secondhand Sureshots.

When the guys at Dublab & Hit+Run hit up every dollar record bin in the Los Angeles area looking for album covers to salvage and repaint for their Secondhand Sureshots Deluxe Superset, they were left with one problem: what to do with the hundreds of discarded, sleeveless records that no one wanted?

Solution: Give them to J.Rocc.

This is an extension of the Secondhand Sureshots project, a J.Rocc mixtape made up of as many of the reject vinyl as he could manage. Given the working material, the results are impressive. Everyone who has ever flipped through a dollar bin might think twice the next time they pass up those multiple copies of Loggins & Messina, Hotel California, Linda Ronstadt in roller skates, and all those anonymous classical records after hearing what can be done with them.

J.Rocc - Secondhand Sureshots, The Podcast

Oh No na Etiópia

And it don't stop! Oh No já investigou o psych turco, agora atira-se à colecção de ethio jazz de Egon. O resultado é este. Depois da World Music o world sampling? Conceito a desenvolver por aqui em breve, agora que os diggers parecem explorar outras avenidas (o psych turco ou tailandês e os grooves africanos são apenas o começo!).

When we announced an advance digital release of Ethiopium last September, little did we know that Oh No would not bring himself to finish work on the album for a few more weeks. What we have now is a newly completed and expanded 36-track version of Ethiopium. The CD is available exclusively at Stones Throw, and will be released worldwide on CD and vinyl in coming weeks.

Oh No created Ethiopium with help from Egon's record collection, inspired-by and sampled-from rare 60s and 70s Ethiopian funk, jazz, folk, soul and psychedelic rock. It is the followup to his 2007 album Dr. No's Oxperiment, the Turkish and Lebanese-inspired instrumental beat album.

Ouvir aqui.

Madlib's Medicine Show

Wowa, pobres bolsos...:

Madlib is launching the Madlib Medicine Show, a once-a-month, twelve-CD, six-LP series. The Madlib Medicine Show will be a combination of Madlib's new hip-hop productions, remixes, beat tapes, and jazz, as well as mixtapes of funk, soul, Brazilian, psych, jazz and other undefined forms of music from the Beat Konducta's 4-ton* stack of vinyl.

Madlib Medicine Show No. 1 is Before The Verdict featuring Guilty Simpson, a 17-track album mixing remixes and new material, something of a prelude to Madlib & Guilty Simpson's forthcoming OJ Simpson album.

STONESTHROW.COM advance release date: December 2009
WORLDWIDE release date: January 2010

We are currently planning for the vinyl edition of Madlib Medicine Show No. 1 to be a hand-screened, limited edition release. Madlib Medicine Show No. 2, Flight to Brazil, is a mixtape of Brazilian jazz, funk, prog-rock, folk and psychedelia. Later releases will include Beat Konducta in Africa.

(*4-tons of vinyl, this is true.)

MP3: Madlib & Guilty Simpson - The Paper from Madlib Medicine Show No. 1

Dam-Funk na Fader

Já tem umas semanas, esta Fader com Dam-Funk, mas só agora li a feature e por isso fica aqui a recomendação. A Fader tem a particularidade de disponibilizar um pdf com a reprodução integral da edição impressa e por isso não há desculpa para perder nem este número nem outros que eventualmente vos possam interessar.

Edição Número 64 com dupla capa de Dam-Funk e Bon Iver para download gratuito

Edição Número 52 dedicada à música de África

Koushik de borla na Stones Throw

Koushik proposed that we release an instrumental version of his Out My Window album, where the vocals - what few tracks actually have vocals - are buried deep in the mix, less like a singer than a friendly ghost in the attic. Such a bizarre idea, how could we say no?

It's on CD with 22 tracks, 5 or 6 of which are not on Out My Window, but who's counting? Packaged in thick cardboard with tip-on cover in the style of old school LPs. Cover photo by Eric Coleman.

Está tudo aqui.

Out My Window (Instrumentals and Bonus Beats) - Download livre por uma semana!

Koushik grátis na Stones Throw

Despachem-se antes que termine a benesse:30 faixas instrumentais de Koushik para download grátis no site da Stones Throw.

(Nos últimos tempos tem sido particularmente duro uma pessoa manter-se a par de todas as edições da ST/Now Again... Não há orçamento familiar que aguente tamanha pressão!)

Oh No na Etiópia

Oh No sampla a Etiópia no seu mais recente projecto para a Stones Throw.

Announced only a few weeks ago, Oh No follows up Dr. No’s Oxperiment by diving again into Egon’s record collection for a region-based intrumental beat album. This time he's headed into the album inspired-by and sampled-from rare 60s and 70s Ethiopian funk, jazz, folk, soul and psychedelic rock.

Even if you’ve never heard an instrument tuned to the qenet scale before[1], even if you’re more into ballads than you are tezetas[2], Oh No’s transformative effect on his source material will blow you away in its otherworldy funkiness.

Sounds cool.

Cut & Egon no Japão

Na homepage da Now Again Records pode ler-se um extenso report da tour que Egon e Cut Chemist fizeram no Japão. As ilustrações são imensas, por isso à informação que se pode recolher no texto (e é sempre bom atentar aos detalhes: Egon menciona licenciamento de material nigeriano para uma compilação que deverá sair dentro em breve... hum... e outra de psicadelismo made in Indonesia... double hum!), pode somar-se o prazer de perceber como vêem estes dois operários do groove esse incrível país que é o Japão. Fala-se de diggin' - claro! - mas não só. Às vezes, o melhor a seguir a ter lá estado é mesmo ler as impressões de quem lá esteve de facto...

Madlib worldwide

Novo podcast com marca Stones Throw e dedo de Madlib.

This is part one of a two-part, hour long jazz mix did for BBC Radio 1's Gilles Peterson Worldwide this week.

Sort of a track list:
Irio De Paula feat. Stephan Gross
Dicci Santucci
The Hamilton Face Band “The Good Guys”
Mystery Track
The Russell Jenkins Outfit “The Drinking Suite” (Stones Throw)
Kenny Cook Octet “Tunes For Pharoah”
Thai Soul Compilation “Thai Boxing”
Prince Jazzbo “Make A Move”
“Psychedelic Joint”
Byron Miller “Panama” (Big One Music)
Rassan Roland Kirk “The Case Of The Mystery Black Notes”
& some other joints

Check out the rest of the show archived for a few more days at:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/gillespeterson

Madlib on worldwide Mix

Madlib na Radio Nova

Madlib parou na Radio Nova antes de uma apresentação ao vivo na capital francesa. Realizou um pequeno set de meia hora que agora está disponível no site da Stones Throw. Obrigatório, claro.

Madlib on radio Nova

Madlib on Hit da Breakz 1

Madlib no Hit da Breakz 2

Mos Def & Stones Throw

A união de um grande MC a uma grande editora é sempre motivo de interesse. Muito mais quando o MC responde pelo nome de Mos Def e a editora é a irrequieta Stones Throw. O novo álbum tem por título «The Ecstatic» e é um exercício curioso: Mos escolheu uma série de instrumentais dispersos por vários lançamentos da Stones e acrescentou-lhes rimas. Ora, este exercício pode indicar uma de duas coisas:

a) Mos Def é fã dos lançamentos da editora de Stones Throw, tão fã que quis que o seu novo álbum se fizesse apenas de beats já anteriormente lançados com essa etiqueta.

b) Mos Def estava com pressa de fazer um disco e nem se deu ao trabalho de estudar as beat tapes dos produtores da Stones...

Seja como for, esta ecológica atitude de reciclagem é original e poderá até trazer alguma surpresa. Saberemos em breve.

A lista:

Supermagic - Mos Def over Oh No's “Heavy” from the album Dr. No's Oxperiment.
Auditorium - Mos Def & Slick Rick over Madlib's “Movie Finale” from the album Beat Konducta in India.
Pistola - Produced by Oh No, a track made from Billy Wooten's “In The Rain” from the album The Funky 16 Corners. Madlib also flipped this track in his epic Billy Wooten remix, “6 Variations of In The Rain”
Revelations - Produced by Madlib. Previously released as an interlude on the album Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix
Roses - Produced by and featuring Georgia Anne Muldrow
History - Produced by J Dilla, from a previously-unreleased beat known as “History”
Wahid & Pretty Dancer - Produced by Madlib

História de sampling com final feliz

O episódio é relatado na mais recente newsletter da Stones Throw e pode ser lida aqui ou, para maior comodidade vossa, reproduzida mais abaixo. Apesar de todos os processos - alguns dos quais movidos contra a própria etiqueta de Peanut Butter Wolf - é ainda possível encontrar quem perceba o real impulso de quem sampla - e neste caso quem samplou foi alguém cuja paixão pela música é indiscutível, Madlib! Num momento em que o hip hop avança para lá da samplagem do passado (ouvindo trabalhos de Ras G ou Jneiro Jarel ou Flying Lotus parece que se está a samplar o futuro!), pensar a forma como a memória foi processada em incontáveis gestos de "pilhagem" via sampler é, mais do que nunca, urgente. Não restam dúvidas de que a imagem que hoje temos do passado - imagem construída entre lançamentos da Strut, Soul Jazz ou Analog Africa e Now Again, entre tantas outras - é a que a lupa do sampling tornou visível. A mudança de interface - do sampler para o sintetizador ou laptop - pode significar que não há mais passados para descobrir? Para perceber que passados há ainda por cartografar teremos mesmo que esperar pelo... futuro.

Egon May 12, 2009

Matthew Larkin Cassell: The Complete Works
Coming on Stones Throw in 2009

It’s not often that a sample clearance claim against a record company turns out to be an altogether pleasant experience. Usually it’s a blustery, puffy-chested affair with lawyers on both sides citing arcane copyright cases and threatening court proceedings as if the year were 1987 and Biz Markie had just released his first album on Cold Chillin.’

We’ve been fortunate to have gained access into the superb Raymond Scott catalog through our association with Basta Audio Visuals and Scott’s musical steward Irwin Chusid and, more recently, we inked a deal with singer, songwriter, pianist and man-in-the-know Matthew Larkin Cassell.

MLC hit us up after he heard his “Heaven,” from his superb (and superbly rare) album Pieces on the song “3.214” from the album Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix. At first Madlib had no idea of the import of his decision to lift MLC’s work until he put two and two together and realized that the Japanese bootleg 12” labled “MLC” stood for, well, you guessed it.

Who wouldn’t want access to the multi-tracks to MLC’s break-beat laded “My Life?” Madlib certainly did. And MLC wanted to see his entire catalog (comprised of the Pieces album, an EP entitled Matt The Cat, a 7” single and a recent vinyl EP) issued on CD and distributed digitally. So, I flew to the Bay Area, hung out with the man and committed his story to tape and got down to negotiations. Five months later, here we are. We’re officially announcing the soon-to-be-released Matthew Larkin Cassell The Complete Works and hinting that we might do something special with those multis. With MLC’s permission of course.