WEDNESDAY OCT 24, 2018
529 & 529 & Speakeasy Promotions Present:
STONES THROW SHOWCASE
STONES THROW SHOWCASE
Prophet | Stimulator Jones
Jerry Paper
Kiefer
He began playing piano as a child and producing beats at around age twelve, moving from San Diego to L.A. to study under renowned jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell at UCLA’s Jazz Studies program. There, he started thinking about the connection between the jazz piano he studied and the beats he created outside of school. While his peers were performing over live instrumentation, Kiefer produced electronic beats free from sampled melodies or drum breaks.
He began playing piano as a child and producing beats at around age twelve, moving from San Diego to L.A. to study under renowned jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell at UCLA’s Jazz Studies program. There, he started thinking about the connection between the jazz piano he studied and the beats he created outside of school. While his peers were performing over live instrumentation, Kiefer produced electronic beats free from sampled melodies or drum breaks.
Prophet
He is the first to point out that his journey has been longer than most artists. After Right On Time, he says, “Nobody really gave me a shot. Imagine if someone came up to you and said: ‘It’s not going to break for you for another 30 years.’ I had to stay focused and stay on the path.”
But there were some fans who kept the flame of that first album alive. Stones Throw founder Peanut Butter Wolf came across Right On Timeat San Francisco’s Groove Merchant shop in the early 2000s and was instantly intrigued. “It was just the kind of music I grew up on, with Prince and The Time vibes, but a rare, lo-fi bedroom version,” he remembers. “Having said that, it doesn’t necessarily sound like anything else from the time period.”
Wolf played the record in DJ sets for years, knowing nothing about the enigma who created it, until Prophet introduced himself at a record fair. Wolf invited Prophet to make his return to live performance, opening forSnoop Dogg & Dam-Funk in 2013, and introduced him to Mndsgn. Together, Prophet and Mndsgn began cooking up the music that would become Wanna Be Your Man.
Mndsgn was a big fan of Prophet’s early work. “It’s classic 80s, untapped funk,” says Mndsgn. “What he does is very much in line with the lineage of Stones Throw which is always from the left field.”
He cuts an impressive figure, with his own style. Most of his outfits include a flash of yellow, he has a habit of eating raw lemons, and he creates his own artwork – the Wanna Be Your Man album cover, and a series of yellow memes that read like meditations from the funk world.
“Coming from that era, that’s just me!” he says. “The wild flair. The in-your-face kinda thang. That’s always been me, man.” Now after over three decades of silence, with Wanna Be Your Man Prophet can finally take up his rightful place in musical history.
He is the first to point out that his journey has been longer than most artists. After Right On Time, he says, “Nobody really gave me a shot. Imagine if someone came up to you and said: ‘It’s not going to break for you for another 30 years.’ I had to stay focused and stay on the path.”
But there were some fans who kept the flame of that first album alive. Stones Throw founder Peanut Butter Wolf came across Right On Timeat San Francisco’s Groove Merchant shop in the early 2000s and was instantly intrigued. “It was just the kind of music I grew up on, with Prince and The Time vibes, but a rare, lo-fi bedroom version,” he remembers. “Having said that, it doesn’t necessarily sound like anything else from the time period.”
Wolf played the record in DJ sets for years, knowing nothing about the enigma who created it, until Prophet introduced himself at a record fair. Wolf invited Prophet to make his return to live performance, opening forSnoop Dogg & Dam-Funk in 2013, and introduced him to Mndsgn. Together, Prophet and Mndsgn began cooking up the music that would become Wanna Be Your Man.
Mndsgn was a big fan of Prophet’s early work. “It’s classic 80s, untapped funk,” says Mndsgn. “What he does is very much in line with the lineage of Stones Throw which is always from the left field.”
He cuts an impressive figure, with his own style. Most of his outfits include a flash of yellow, he has a habit of eating raw lemons, and he creates his own artwork – the Wanna Be Your Man album cover, and a series of yellow memes that read like meditations from the funk world.
“Coming from that era, that’s just me!” he says. “The wild flair. The in-your-face kinda thang. That’s always been me, man.” Now after over three decades of silence, with Wanna Be Your Man Prophet can finally take up his rightful place in musical history.
Stimulator Jones
Stimulator Jones is the latest signing to Stones Throw. His music never draws on just one place or time, instead dipping into a range of styles and periods from the 1970s and '80s to the present day. "American music is the result of a variety of humans from diverse cultural backgrounds combining and sharing their expressions and being free of restrictions," he says, "Any categorical borders or boundaries are illusions. I was raised in a household where soul, rock, folk, country, jazz, blues, funk, reggae, rap, opera and classical music were all played side by side. To me, the appreciation of such a wide mix of sounds is perfectly natural."
After his start in the music world as a hip-hop DJ, Stimulator Jones began writing songs, and his ballad “Soon Never Comes” was featured on the Stones Throw compilation Sofie’s SOS Tape. Peanut Butter Wolf took note and immediately signed Jones to his label. A singer and multi-instrumentalist who can play anything you set in front of him -- from banjo and fiddle to harmonica and sitar -- Stimulator insists on playing all the instruments on his songs himself, for complete and total control over the results.
The Appalachian city of Roanoke, VA is better known for old-time bluegrass than R&B and might seem an unlikely hometown for Stimulator Jones, but he believes "all music comes from the same place and shares the same roots. It all stems from the original vibration." As for where the name Stimulator Jones came from? All will be revealed on a debut album, out next year on Stones Throw.
Stimulator Jones is the latest signing to Stones Throw. His music never draws on just one place or time, instead dipping into a range of styles and periods from the 1970s and '80s to the present day. "American music is the result of a variety of humans from diverse cultural backgrounds combining and sharing their expressions and being free of restrictions," he says, "Any categorical borders or boundaries are illusions. I was raised in a household where soul, rock, folk, country, jazz, blues, funk, reggae, rap, opera and classical music were all played side by side. To me, the appreciation of such a wide mix of sounds is perfectly natural."
After his start in the music world as a hip-hop DJ, Stimulator Jones began writing songs, and his ballad “Soon Never Comes” was featured on the Stones Throw compilation Sofie’s SOS Tape. Peanut Butter Wolf took note and immediately signed Jones to his label. A singer and multi-instrumentalist who can play anything you set in front of him -- from banjo and fiddle to harmonica and sitar -- Stimulator insists on playing all the instruments on his songs himself, for complete and total control over the results.
The Appalachian city of Roanoke, VA is better known for old-time bluegrass than R&B and might seem an unlikely hometown for Stimulator Jones, but he believes "all music comes from the same place and shares the same roots. It all stems from the original vibration." As for where the name Stimulator Jones came from? All will be revealed on a debut album, out next year on Stones Throw.