Aloe Blacc, Good Things
Stones Throw

On his first album in four years, L.A.’s Aloe Blacc travels further from his hip-hop roots. Years ago, he was a rapper in the indie group Emanon and a sometime-vocalist; on Good Things, he’s working over arrangements from retro-soul combo Truth & Soul with heartfelt emotion. Unlike most rappers-turned-singers, Aloe Blacc has a great voice, which he uses to striking effect on “Take Me Back” and “Mama Hold My Hand.” The excellent Good Things teems with highlights, particularly the viral hit “I Need a Dollar,” where he impersonates a homeless drunk to offer commentary on the great recession.

Guilty Simpson, OJ Simpson
Stones Throw

It’s not easy rapping over a Madlib Invazion. The Los Angeles producer is infamous for layering his beats with all sorts of nonsense that can turn an MC’s performance into a mere sideshow. However, Guilty Simpson manages to hold his own on OJ Simpson. (The title not only references the fallen gridiron hero but also Otis Jackson, Madlib’s real name.) The Detroit thug carries plenty of verbal “hammers,” drops gully thug rhymes, and promises a “Hood Sentence” over “Coroner’s Music.” Madlib fanatics shouldn’t worry, either, as he crams this collaboration with plenty of comedy skits and wacky interludes. But when it’s time to handle business, he turns up Guilty’s voice in the mix and lets the thug rock.

Strong Arm Steady, In Search of Stoney Jackson
Stones Throw

Madlib has promised to release at least twelve albums in 2010, along with several Yesterdays New Quintet adventures and collaborations such as this production gig for Los Angeles hard knock trio Strong Arm Steady. How In Search of Stoney Jackson will measure against the eventual deluge is anyone’s guess, but it sounds as if the eccentric beat master is off to a, uh, strong start. All of Madlib’s tricks are in evidence here, including wacky, laugh-out-loud samples, tasty head-nod loops and a dusty, scratchy-record tone. Admirably, Strong Arm Steady manage to keep up with him, offering inspired rhymes on dietary methods (“Chitlins & Pepsi”), the current recession (“Best of Times”) and, of course, thuggin’ out (“Bark Like a Dog”).

This essay on Madlib’s first installment in his Medicine Music Show series was published in the January 27 issue of the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Welcome to violence

Madlib, now in his hardcore phase, hands out sonic pamphlets like a prophet of doom

Late last year, Stones Throw Records announced that it would release a full-length album of tunes by its veritable resident producer, Madlib, in 2010 … every month. Dubbed Madlib Medicine Show, the 12-part series sounds like a rap nerd fantasy.

Ever since his critically lionized Quasimoto adventure, 2000’s The Unseen, when he adopted a helium voice and crafted adult cartoons straight out of Fritz the Cat and Le Planete Sauvage, the L.A. musician has defined an idiom of crackling sampled loops, slightly buggered raps, and thick clouds of weed smoke. Over 15 years deep into a career that kicked off with a cameo on the Alkaholiks 1993 debut 21 and Over, his enigmatic vision perseveres, even as the idealistic underground scene he once occupied – remember back in the 90s when his old group the Lootpack chastised wanna-be gangsta rappers on “The Antidote”? – has turned cynical, becoming obsessed with the same guns-drugs-porn-money quadrangle it once criticized the “mainstream” for.

Meanwhile, onetime critics who complained that Madlib produces too many records have been hushed by a rapacious Internet age, where weekly emissions of tracks and mixtapes are de rigueur. For example, L.A. indie rapper Blu, a promising inheritor of the West Coast hip hop tradition, has been on “hiatus” for well over a year as he crafts his major-label debut, yet still manages to upload several albums worth of free online “demos.” Madlib’s dozens of aliases (Yesterday’s New Quintet, DJ Rels, take your pick) and chaotic forays into post-bop, free jazz, soul-jazz broken beat, Brazilian Tropicalia and deep funk seem quaint by comparison.

Smartly, Madlib doesn’t give his music away for free. The Madlib Medicine Show may resemble those Internet “loosies” and “street albums” you downloaded last night, but he makes you pay for the privilege of hearing his work. (Or at least he tries to; no one is immune to the web’s torrential bootlegging.)

The first installment, No. 1: Before the Verdict, is particularly pointed in its message of commerce as a soul-destroying, mind-blowing shit-stem. The cover depicts a charred one-dollar bill (with a weed leaf embedded in a corner), an industrial plant spewing toxic waste, and the World Trade Center being bombed by an airplane. The interior features photos of strangely voodoo-fied Africans — one has a hand protruding from her mouth — and the cryptic message: “There were only three witnesses. Two are dead. The other isn’t talking.”

Before the Verdict’s 17 tracks consist of remixes of Guilty Simpson’s 2007 album Ode to the Ghetto, and a few previews of a forthcoming collaboration tentatively titled OJ Simpson. (Again, just like those damned Internet “street albums.”) Guilty is a decent if ornery thug rapper, but he’s clearly no match for Madlib’s symphony of 70s soul “rapps,” funky howls, vinyl hiss, DJ cuts, burps and farts, pungent jokes culled from 60s comedy albums (Redd Foxx and Millie Jackson!) and police scanner snippets. The Detroit rapper’s litanies about “Gettin’ Bitches” and “Robbery” are vocal anchors drowned by the Madlib Invazion’s furiously funky creativity.

Remember when that Quasimoto album intoned at the very beginning, “Welcome to violence”? These days, Madlib doesn’t just promise it. In rave terms, he has entered his hardcore phase. No longer positive and consciousness-expanding, the blessed weed smoke is fuel for a crank personality. The transformation is compelling, hilarious and frightening. As the rap world’s version of “reality” narrows into a handful of masculine fantasies, Madlib has become the era’s pamphleteer, printing out screaming headlines like a crazed prophet of doom.

Not all of his current work sounds like a ghetto dystopia. On his 2008 homage to his late friend James “J Dilla” Yancey, Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6: A Tribute To…, Madlib employed the same collagist techniques with melancholy, loving care.

And then there’s the other album Madlib produced this month, Strong Arm Steady’s In Search of Stoney Jackson. The L.A. group fares somewhat better than Guilty Simpson. Madlib lets their hard-rock rhymes breathe a little, before snuffing them with musical ether.

On December 8, Stones Throw Records will release the second album by Northwest eccentric James Pants, Seven Seals. Judging by the cover artwork on the label site, Mr. Pants has turned his gaze from the electro and New Wave stylings of his 2008 debut, Welcome, in favor of psych-soul (which, coincidentally, Stones Throw has been reissuing lately). A first single, “Thin Moon,” came out last month.

Need an explanation? I sure do. “The album was made while reading mystical books and the book of Revelations, and inspired by being in the mood to start a cult. This is the cult’s soundtrack,” reads a blurb on the Stones Throw site. Thanks, that helps.

Here’s the track listing:

• 1. “The Eyes Of The Lord”
• 2. “A Chip In The Hand”
• 3. “Beyond Time”
• 4. “I Live Inside An Egg”
• 5. “Wormhole”
• 6. “Sky Warning”
• 7. “Seven Seals Theme”
• 8. “Thin Moon”
• 9. “Not Me”
• 10. “I Saw You”
• 11. “Now, Let Me Brush You”
• 12. “I Promise I Lied”
• 13. “Wash To Sea”
• 14. “Aqua Sun”
• 15. “Oceans”

I’m sure everyone’s aware that Mayer Hawthorne’s highly anticipated A Strange Arrangement drops on September 8. (It’s already on sale via the Stones Throw website.) The original release date, October 6, was changed ostensibly due to demand (and to the album leaking months in advance). Nevertheless, everyone will soon be able to enjoy the dulcet tones of this former DJ turned loverman.

To promote A Strange Arrangement, Mayer Hawthorne will embark on a national tour the Lonely Hearts Club Tour with his live band, the County, and fellow members from his Detroit-based A-Side Worldwide crew, Buff 1 and 14KT. Track listing and concert itinerary is below.

• 1. “Prelude”
• 2. “A Strange Arrangement”
• 3. “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out”
• 4. “Maybe So, Maybe No”
• 5. “Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin’”
• 6. “I Wish It Would Rain”
• 7. “Make Her Mine”
• 8. “One Track Mind”
• 9. “The Ills”
• 10. “Shiny & New”
• 11. “Let Me Know”
• 12. “Green Eyed Love”

And here are the tour dates:

• 9/05: Bumbershoot, Seattle, WA
• 9/10: The Roxy, West Hollywood, CA (1)
• 9/13: Downtown Brew, San Luis Obispo, CA (1)
• 9/14: Starline, Fresno, CA (1)
• 9/15: Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA (1)
• 9/16: Catalyst-Atrium, Santa Cruz, CA (1)
• 9/18: Musicfest NW, Portland, OR (1)
• 9/19: WOW Hall, Eugene, OR (1)
• 9/21: Kilby Court, Salt Lake City, UT (1)
• 9/23: Larimer Lounge, Denver, CO (1)
• 9/24: The Waiting Room, Omaha, NE (1)
• 9/25: Darkroom, Chicago, IL (1)
• 9/26: Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI (1)
• 9/27: Drake Hotel, Toronto, ON (1)
• 9/29: Great Scott, Boston, MA (1)
• 9/30: Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA (1)
• 10/01: Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY (1)
• 10/02: Mercury Lounge, New York, NY (1)
• 10/04: DC9, Washington, DC (1)
• 10/05: Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC (1)
• 10/06: Criminal Records, Atlanta, GA (afternoon in-store)
• 10/06: Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, GA (1)
• 10/07: The Social, Orlando, FL (1)
• 10/09: House of Blues, New Orleans, LA (1)
• 10/10: Red 7, Austin, TX (1)
• 10/13: The Rock, Tucson, AZ (1) (2)
• 10/14: The Clubhouse, Tempe, AZ (1) (2)
• 10/15: Canes, San Diego, CA (1) (2)
• 10/24: Showbox, Seattle, WA (2) (Ghostface pre-tour routing changed before it began)

(1) w/Buff 1, 14KT
(2) w/Ghostface Killah

Scott Herren has unveiled the final installment in his spring trilogy of albums. Ironically, however, it has gone on sale before the two previously-announced projects by Prefuse 73 and Diamond Watch Wrists.

Savath y Savalas’ fourth album, La Llama is already on sale in digital form at Stones Throw’s website. The CD and vinyl versions hit retailers on May 19. La Llama features the return of former girlfriend Eva Puyuelo Muns, the vocalist who inspired the group’s second and most popular album Aprop’at. Electronic beatmaker Roberto Carlos Lange (Rom, Epstein), the third and newest member of what now appears to be a trio, co-wrote most of the songs with Herren.

Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Herren that Stones Throw posted:

Stones Throw: You talk of ‘the early 70s independent music scene that had briefly flourished in Recife, Brazil and neglected-visionaries like Marconi Notaro, Flaviola, the revolutionaries Lula Cortes and Ze Ramalho as having an influence on La Llama. For the uninformed and in your own words can you talk about that time, the people and what they mean to you?

GSH: These influences from the Recife music scene can be seen as direct and indirect influence. The feel of that time and scene, from a musical and independent aspect were far less produced and open ended opposed to other Brazilian releases at that time. Those albums feel as if they are in an environment of their own, the kind in which the surroundings and atmosphere play an equal role in the music written. Although, there are many many factors that come into play as far as influence regarding Savath & Savalas.

Eva Puyuelo Muns and I started by simply figuring out ways to make new songs in Catalan and Spanish by studying an array of older folk records as well, like: “Juan Mañuel Serrat” to “Paco Ibañez” without turning our own creations into horrible desecrations that can be interpreted as what I call “hotel lobby music” i.e. the type of pre-marketed “world music” project by placing a watered down preset beats and sounds while adding lyrics in other languages, more suitable for commercial licenses and synchs. In our situation, we wanted to explore previous atmospheres while creating new music with a strong grip on it’s timeless elements. We express our music through our language we speak based on our direct cultures, opposed to some “conquistador esque” product that some rich dude in an overpriced cardigan asked us to do for a big budget with a co-op promotion with starbucks.

As far as my own foundation as a producer, I see a producer such as J Dilla or Madlib in the same light as I would Arthur Verocai, Axlerod or any other significant arranger from any time in history. Therefore, it all goes into the mix at some point. The most important part for me is that this project would never be sen as a Prefuse 73 “side project” or carry the stigma of Prefuse 73 due to the exchange between Eva and myself.

Here’s the track listing:

• 1. “Intro”
• 2. “La Llama”
• 3. “Las 7 Sendas”
• 4. “Carajillo”
• 5. “Una Cura”
• 6. “Pavo Real”
• 7. “El Colleccionista”
• 8. “Sounds Of Bowery”
• 9. “La Loba”
• 10. “Pajaros En Cadaques”
• 11. “Me Voy”
• 12. “Untitled”
• 13. “Barceloneta”
• 14. “Postlude”
• 15. “No Despierta”
• 16. “Adeu”

Savath y Savalas, “La Llama”

Promo video for La Llama:

On February 10, Stones Throw will release the latest chapter(s) in Madlib’s Beat Konducta saga. Unlike the prior two editions, Vols. 1 & 2 (Movie Scenes) and Vols. 3 &4 (In India), Vols. 5 & 6 doesn’t have a cinematic theme. Instead, Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6: A Tribute To… pays homage to his late musical comrade in Jaylib, James “J Dilla” Yancey.

Here’s a bit from the press release:

When Madlib followed J Dilla’s now-classic Donuts with an instrumental concept-album of his own, a series was born. “Beat Konducta,” the alias he often scribbled on the beat CDs he handed to friends and potential collaborators, left the realm of the unknown and entered the record-buying public’s conscious as Madlib’s latest nom de plume. His unedited CDs often wove quirky narratives, served as obsessive listening material to those lucky enough to hear them, and became raw working material for Madvillain, Jaylib, Ghostface, De La Soul, Talib Kweli and Erykah Badu.

The concept of the Beat Konducta series was simple: put Madlib’s raw beat tapes into album form – one by one on vinyl, with two volumes at a time appearing on sporadically released CDs. …

Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6: A Tribute to… is a 42-track piece dedicated to the late J Dilla. Madlib and J. Rocc – arguably Dilla’s closest musical compatriots during his time spent in Los Angeles – lovingly remember their friend and reflect on his boundless influence. As was the case with Donuts and in keeping with the Beat Konducta’s all-embracing musical bent, this album does not settle into one groove for too long. The result is a transfixing, sometimes jarring, and always soulful homage to the man Madlib crowned “King Of The Beats.”

Vols. 5 & 6 were issued on vinyl separately last year. This upcoming album combines both, and adds a new track, “Dil Cosby Interlude.”

• 1. “For My Mans (Prelude)”
• 2. “The Mystery (Dilla’s Still Here)”
• 3. “Beat Provider (Through the Years)”
• 4. “J’s Day Theme #3 (Support)”
• 5. “In Jah Hands (Dilla’s Lament)”
• 6. “Get Dollaz (24-7)”
• 7. “The String (Heavy Jones)”
• 8. “Two For Pay Jay (No Dough, No Show)”
• 9. “No More Time? (The Change)”
• 10. “Do You Know? (Transition)”
• 11. “Dirty Hop (The Shuffle)”
• 12. “Floating Soul (Peace)”
• 13. “Infinity Sound (Never Ending)”
• 14. “Sacrifice (Beat-A-Holic Thoughts)”
• 15. “Rebirth Cycle (Super Soul)”
• 16. “Rolled Peach Optimos (Call Day)”
• 17. “The Main Inspiration (Coltrane of Beats) “
• 18. “The Get Over (Move)”
• 19. “Shades of Pete (Super)”
• 20. “King Chop (Top Line)”
• 21. “Anthenagin’ (?)”
• 22. “Dil Cosby Interlude”
• 23. “Dill Withers Theme”
• 24 “First Class (The Best Catalogue)”
• 25. “Lifetime (Lifeline)”
• 26. “The Electric Zone (Plugged In)”
• 27. “So Much (Music)”
• 28. “Smoked Out (Green Blaze Subliminal Sounds)”
• 29. “Another Bag of Bomb (No Seeds)”
• 30. “All Love (The Movement)”
• 31. “Detroit Playaz (Gator Walk)”
• 32. “Blast (Computer Rock)”
• 33. “J.B. and J.D. (Interlude)”
• 34. “Never Front (Ears Up)”
• 35. “Dillalade Ride (Contact High)”
• 36. “Suffer (Concentration)”
• 37. “Show Me The Good Life (Chip Stack)”
• 38. “Slapped Up (Snap N’ Clap)”
• 39. “Another Batch (Play It Again)”
• 40. “Full Figure Pockets (Pay Jay)”
• 41. “Smoke Interlude (Hawaiian Punch)”
• 42. “The Sky (Beyond Sight)”

Next year, Stones Throw promises to offer its most exciting slate of artists since 2006. Like that groundbreaking season, which brought classic recordings from Oh No, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Aloe Blacc and the late J Dilla, 2009 will find the L.A. label mixing forward-thinking hip-hop with ecletic, genre-bending sounds. So far, Stones Throw’s upcoming projects include albums from Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Savath y Savalas, Mayer Hawthorne & The County and Dam-Funk.

First up will be Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s Old Money. A few years ago, the lead guitarist for the Mars Volta might have issued this album on his now-defunct label, Gold Standard Laboratories (GSL). Instead, Old Money is coming out on Stones Throw. The label issued a digital version on November 10; the CD and vinyl version will reach stores on January 27.

Here’s a description from the press release:

The album fits comfortably between the guitarist’s monumental work with The Mars Volta, and his prior rock-based solo releases such as 2007′s The Apocalypse Inside Of An Orange. Loosely based on the concept of exploitative industrialists and, well, their old money, the album presents a 10-track collection of concise rock compositions, which range from progressive to psychedelic to downright funky. Many of these sounds could easily be at home on a Volta record proper had they meshed with Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s vocals; Rodriguez Lopez has hinted that this record was a potential follow up to the 2006 Volta release Amputechture until he changed his musical direction.

If Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s appearance on Stones Throw came as a surprise, Scott Herren’s upcoming project for the label makes perfect sense. Since turning Savath y Savalas from a moniker for self-produced wintry folktronica into a full-fledged band of musicians that mixes Spanish Catalan songs with electronics, Herren has struggled to find the right home for the project. He criticized Warp Records for inserting English lyrics into the CD booklet for Apropa’t, the group’s 2004 debut. A follow-up for Anti- Records, Golden Pollen, came out in 2007.

Herren made the announcement on his Prefuse 73 MySpace page. “Now ‘SAVATH y SAVALAS’ have a new home at: STONE’S THROW records,” he writes. “There will be more ‘official’ announcements via www.stonesthrow.com but I thought that I’d just state the fact that it’s the first time this particular project has ended up in the right hands, with the right intentions – I don’t think we could be more happy, positive and relieved!!!!!!”

Detroit-to-LA producer DJ Haircut has signed with Stones Throw for a new project under the guise Mayer Hawthorne & The County. Before then, Haircut was best known as a member of Athletic Mic League. He broke the news on his MySpace page in October.

For those that don’t already know, I’ve recently inked a deal with Stones Throw Records for a solo Doo-Wop / Soul project called Mayer Hawthorne and The County. What started out as sort of a joke for close friends and family, has suddenly and unexpectedly become something very real. I’m honored to be working with such a well respected label with such an amazing history of releases from heroes like J Dilla, Madlib, MF Doom, Guilty Simpson, Aloe Blacc and others. It is both exciting and daunting.

I’m roughly half-way through recording the first album and I hope to have it finished by the end of the year. I’m playing a lot of the instruments and singing all the vocals myself so it takes a while!

In November, Stones Throw issued a limited-edition (1000 copies) 7-inch single, “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” b/w “When I Said Goodbye.” The A-side quickly drew praise from U.S. and overseas tastemakers, including Mark Ronson and Gilles Peterson.

Last but not least, Los Angeles DJ/producer Dam-Funk should finally release his debut album, Toeachizown, sometime next year. Dam-Funk’s productions replicate the black music lexicon of the early to mid-80s; they’re synth-heavy and atmospheric, and owe a debt to producers such as Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (circa S.O.S. Band), Slave, Cybotron and James Mtume.

Fans have expected Toeachizown since Dam-Funk’s “Sidewayz” appeared on the first Chrome Children compilation in 2006. He has since produced a few 12-inches for the label; a contribution to Stones Throw’s ongoing Rhythm Trax series is due later this month. Here’s how he explains it:

The concept is based on the early 80′s Jive/Zomba label ‘Rhythm Trax’ releases, which were recorded with DJ’s, break dancers, poppers, synthesizer, & drum machine affectionatos in mind. The ‘originals’ are highly collectable nowadays in the wax digging community. These LP’s consisted of nothing but BPM groves. No titles. This time around, we’re flippin’ it and going with minimal titles. The D-F edition is based on colors, resulting in each song being named simply after…U got it…a color.

As one of the later additions to the late James “J Dilla” Yancey’s cast of collaborators, Detroit rapper Guilty Simpson has been a near-constant presence on Stones Throw’s hip-hop projects, from its myriad compilations to the reissue of J Dilla’s Ruff Draft EP. Now he’s finally getting his solo shot.

Ode to the Ghetto drops March 25. Producers on the project include the ever-present Madlib, Denaun Porter from D-12, Oh No, Black Milk, Babu from Dilated Peoples and, of course, J Dilla. Though MED, Sean Price, and Black Milk contribute guest vocals, Guilty Simpson handles most of the 15 tracks himself.

Stones Throw has had a mixed history with hardcore rap albums. From MED and Roc C’s uneven efforts to Percee P’s solid-if-underwhelming Perseverance, these albums have often sounded creatively restrained, and lacking the weird, loopy humor and offbeat innovations that the label best known for. But if the press bio for Guilty Simpson is any indication, that won’t be the case with Ode to the Ghetto. The track listing is below.

“Ode to the Ghetto marks an evolution, incorporating a more topical and thought-provoking persona in addition to the extra-savage braggadocio Simpson is known for,” reads a press bio on the Stones Throw website. “Guilty’s testosterone-charged, inner city themes possess of a sense of humor at times so side-splitting, it only proves how serious he really is. This rapper was raised on the field of battle and he has more to say than just how fresh he is and how fresh ‘they’ are not. As a matter of fact, he’s found that he’s here to remind the hip-hop world – currently captivated with that manufactured freshness – that life in the ghetto is real.”

• 1. “American Dream”
• 2. “Robbery”
• 3. “She Won’t Stay at Home”
• 4. “Footwork”
• 5. “Ode to the Ghetto”
• 6. “Getting Bitches”
• 7. “I Must Love You”
• 8. “The Future” (feat. MED)
• 9. “Pigs”
• 10. “My Moment”
• 11. “Run” (feat. Sean Price & Black Milk)
• 12. “Kinda Live”
• 13. “Yikes”
• 14. “The Real Me”
• 15. “Kill Em”
• 16. “Almighty Dreadnaughtz” (feat. Super MC, Krizsteel & Konnie Ross)

www.myspace.com/guiltysimpson

Photo by Doug Coombe.