MADLIB AND GIBBS :: COMING SOON

KARRIEM RIGGINS :: OCTOBER 23RD

Karriem Riggins is best known as a jazz drummer and hip-hop producer for artists like Common, Slum Village, Talib Kweli and The Roots, but he doesn’t categorize himself as anything but an artist. He advises younger musicians to do the same.

“You don’t have to put yourself in a box…there’s so many different ways to go,” Riggins says. A student of late jazz bassist Ray Brown, he tours with another Brown protégé, Grammy Award winner Diana Krall. In 2011, he collaborated with former Beatle Paul McCartney in concert and on Kisses on the Bottom, McCartney’s first studio release in five years. Names of some of the jazz artists he’s backed reads like the genre’s hall of fame - Hank Jones, Oscar Peterson, Milt Jackson, Donald Byrd and Ron Carter.

But on his solo debut Alone Together, set for an October 23 release on Stones Throw Records, Riggins plants himself firmly as a hip-hop producer with a 34-track instrumental odyssey through nearly every influence on his career thus far. The project was inspired by much of the music he was creating while living in Los Angeles, and also by the love of his son and family.





Now residing in his native Detroit, Riggins is back where it all began. “I feel like I can really breath and stay inspired here, and I have room to set up my lab and be creative,” he says. This is the rationale behind the title Alone Together, taken from a jazz standard written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz that begin with the words, “Alone together, above the crowd.”

“Coming back to the machines, I feel like I can really express myself,” Riggins says. “This is the way that I express my rhythms.”

Machines, however, are just one way he expresses his rhythms. Midway through the album, the track “Water” is interrupted by a vocal snippet where the speaker places Riggins “right at the intersection of hip-hop and jazz.” Alone Together is that intersection; it’s the jazz music he’s played professionally since the age of 19, and it’s crafting beats like “Africa” on an MPC5000 while touring throughout Eastern Europe and Russia.

“I need the balance,” Riggins says, of working with the likes of Krall and McCartney, and also being able to go back to the studio and create hip-hop. “Without that, I couldn’t be who I am.”

Songs on Alone Together range from 14 seconds to a little over three minutes, and are the essence of man vs. machine. When Riggins channels Elvin Jones on the album’s climax and tribute to his longtime friend, “J Dilla the Greatest,” his tools are a Gretsch drum kit, the Fender Rhodes and an MPC3000. As versed as he is in jazz and pop, the machines will always be at the root – until the next thing.

DAM FUNK :: SUSHI

Thank you Damon....

COMING SOON!

TONY COOK FEATURING DAM FUNK :: OFFICIAL VIDEO

Tony Cook feat. Dam Funk: "What's On Your Mind?" from Dr. Alex Saylor, The Reanimator on Vimeo.

THE STEP KIDS :: LEGEND IN HIS OWN MIND

The Step Kids LP is finally available where good music is sold. Below is their new video for the song title " A legend in his own mind" Great video.





WHO ARE THE STEP KIDS????

The Stepkids are three singer/songwriters. “A lot of what excites us about this band is this band itself,” says bassist and keyboardist Dan Edinberg. “It’s not either of us; it’s about creating an entity where the entity itself is what’s important.” As a result, every song on the Stepkids self-titled debut album is written with equal input from each member.

“All three of us write and all three of us sing,” says Jeff Gitelman, who resigned from touring as Alicia Keys' guitarist to concentrate full-time on recording the Stepkids self-titled debut album. Drummer Tim Walsh continues, “There's an equal split in the creative process. Any lyric, any melody, any idea could have been done by any of us.”

This approach comes from more than a decade of musical experimentation and experience. Raised on the East Coast jazz and R&B circuit, individual band members went on to share stages with 50 Cent and Lauryn Hill, tour internationally with indie punk band Zox, score movies and commercials and produce solo albums.

The Stepkids groove is a fusion of punk and jazz, West African and 1960s folk, neo and classic soul, classic funk and 20th century classical. The band produce, engineer and record themselves on a reel-to-reel.

There’s no singular icon, no singular sound, and no singular way of making it happen for the Stepkids. It’s psychedelia for the 21st century, where the focus is on the whole.

NEW DAM FUNK :: INNAFOCUSEDDAZE EP

All music & vocals recorded Mon. August 22, 2011, around 3 a.m. in Ladera Heights (Westside L.A.) CA by DāM-FunK. Coming up in just a couple weeks he'll release a new EP: InnaFocusedDaze.

See you tonight in Oakland Damon! Master Blazter in da house!!!!


Kaint Let 'Em Change Me (No!) - DāM-FunK [unreleased] by DâM-FunK

SWEATER FUNK 3 YEAR :: STEVE ARRINGTON

SWEATER FUNK SONG :: DAM FUNK DROP:: STEVE ARRINGTON

Its not every day that Dam Funk makes a quick song about your event to share with the world! In this case our brother from Los Angeles went above and beyond and created a special track for Sweater Funk to help promote our 3 year anniversary with Steve Arrington.

I almost SHIT my pants once I heard this Modern Soul track. If this song doesn't make you go to the our event in 2 weeks, than you must be crazy! You can download the track via SoundCloud!

Thanks Damon!

DROP ~ Sweater Funk presents: Steve Arrington 'LIVE' July 29th @ SOM (San Francisco) - DāM-FunK by DâM-FunK

SWEATER FUNK PRESENTS :: STEVE ARRINGTON

Friday July 29, 2011

SWEATER FUNK'S THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

with very special guest
...
STEVE ARRINGTON of SLAVE
(live p.a. performance)

Som Bar
2925 16th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

9 PM til 3 AM

--- $12 presale / $15 door ---

Buy tickets: http://stevearringtonsf.ev​entbrite.com/

***Limited presales available, grab em while they last!***

~~~~~

Sweater Funk is extremely excited to bring STEVE ARRINGTON of SLAVE & Stones Throw Records to meet the San Francisco boogie heads at our 3 year anniversary party!

Steve will be performing classic SLAVE songs, solo material and new material from his upcoming DAM-FUNK produced album on Stones Throw records. This will be a Live P.A. Performance with support from San Francisco's Sweater Funk DJ Crew, SF's most dedicated boogie crew!

Limited # of presales are available now, grab em while they last!

~~~~~

About Steve Arrington:

Known for his innovative vocals on such classics as "Watching You" and "Just A Touch of Love," with Slave, as well as his solo work like "Weak at the Knees", “Way Out” and "Nobody Can Be You", Steve Arrington is one of those “what ever happened to” stories from the soul/funk movement of the 1980s. His songs have been sampled by the likes of Jay-Z, Jermaine Dupri, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Snoop, LL Cool J, Mariah Carey, and N.W.A. His music also helped create the blueprint of 90’s west coast g-funk music along with Zapp and George Clinton.

Beginning his musical career in Dayton, Ohio in 1977, Steve moved to the Bay Area to play with the Escovedo family (Coke, Pete, and Sheila) which led to a tour w/ Carlos Santana. He returned to Dayton in 1978 to join Slave as drummer and eventual lead singer for four albums. Steve witnessed the birth of hip hop first hand, as artists like The Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash opened for him in the early 80’s.

In 1982, Steve left Slave, releasing five more albums for Atlantic Records with a new lineup, peaking with the top 10 R&B hit “Dancin’ In The Key Of Life”. He was nominated for the 1986 NAACP Image Award. By 1991, Steve stepped away from the recording industry altogether, to devote his life to his serving God. During this time, Steve continued to study different genres of music, from gospel to jazz, classical to blues, electronic to world music, and Latin to hip hop. This fusion of spirituality and musical study resulted in the 2009 self released “Pure Thang”, Steve’s first album in over 20 years.

Stones Throw Record's Dam-Funk heard “Pure Thang” and reached out to Steve to propose collaborating on an album. With Dam on the tracks and Steve on the vocals and lyrics, something inter-generational has been born. While finishing touches on his LP with Dam-Funk, Steve is jumping into this full steam ahead, practicing hard with an all new band and starting to do spot dates around the US with artists like DJ Quik and Q Tip who are more than up for the idea of sharing the stage with someone who influenced and inspired their careers. A new chapter is upon us.

http://www.stevearringtonm​inistries.com/
http://www.stonesthrow.com​/arrington

~~~~~

About Sweater Funk:
San Francisco's Sweater Funk DJ crew have been the city's most dedicated purveyors of BOOGIE, MODERN SOUL & STEPPERS for 3 years now. Their vision to bring this sound, strictly on vinyl, to the masses has earned them a diehard following who pack the basement of San Francisco's Li Po Lounge every Sunday. They've won SF Weekly's Best new club 2009, hosted Djs such as Dam-Funk, Daz-I-Kue, Peanut Butter Wolf, Kon & Amir, Onra, Monk One, Cool Chris, E Da Boss, Mayer Hawthorne, and have become a sister club to Dam-Funk's own Funkmosphere night in Los Angeles.

http://soundcloud.com/swea​terfunk

~~~~~

Respect to D-F and the Funkmosphere family!

THE STEPKIDS :: MODERN PSYCH FUNK

The Stepkids are three singer/songwriters. “A lot of what excites us about this band is this band itself,” says bassist and keyboardist Dan Edinberg. “It’s not either of us; it’s about creating an entity where the entity itself is what’s important.” As a result, every song on the Stepkids self-titled debut album is written with equal input from each member.

“All three of us write and all three of us sing,” says Jeff Gitelman, who resigned from touring as Alicia Keys' guitarist to concentrate full-time on recording the Stepkids self-titled debut album. Drummer Tim Walsh continues, “There's an equal split in the creative process. Any lyric, any melody, any idea could have been done by any of us.”

This approach comes from more than a decade of musical experimentation and experience. Raised on the East Coast jazz and R&B circuit, individual band members went on to share stages with 50 Cent and Lauryn Hill, tour internationally with indie punk band Zox, score movies and commercials and produce solo albums.

The Stepkids groove is a fusion of punk and jazz, West African and 1960s folk, neo and classic soul, classic funk and 20th century classical. The band produce, engineer and record themselves on a reel-to-reel.

There’s no singular icon, no singular sound, and no singular way of making it happen for the Stepkids. It’s psychedelia for the 21st century, where the focus is on the whole.

OTIS LEAVILL COVERED BY MAYOR HAWTHORNE

A beautiful track by Otis Leavill covered by Mayor Hawyhorne. The new track produced by Nottz is on Fire!!!

Apparently, Hawthorne met producer Nottz at a Dilla Tribute event and the two kept in touch with the hopes to create some music together. "I Need You" is the first end result of their collaboration. And it's filled with dusty drums and shivering strings that boast similar chord progressions to the Leavill original. As such, Hawthorne decided to just go with it.

Although I'm not a huge fan of hawthorne (its his voice) this one stood out! Nice work on the collab. Pick up the 12"


Mayer Hawthorne - I Need You by stonesthrow



THIS IS THE SHIT RIGHT HERE = THE ORIGINAL

22 ATTITUDE

I Prefer the Dam-Funk of old Personally.... The new tunes from Dam are great, but this is what I'm talking about. Straight basement style, Nasty, Raw, soulful funk. Even the changes on these old recordings are superior. Just my opinion. Cant wait for "Adolescent Funk" to drop October 26 2010

22 Attitude - DâM-FunK (1991) by DâM-FunK

HOOD PASS INTACT

This video is straight G-FUNK... Low-Budget flava. KEEP YOUR HOOD PASS INTCT.

STEVE ARRINGTON = G-FUNK

Stones Throw has announced an upcoming album from former Slave frontman and funk music OG Steve Arrington to be entirely produced by Dam-Funk. "I Be Trippin" is the first taste of their collaboration—although Arrington did also guest on "4 My Homies" on Dam-Funk's "Hood Pass Intact" 12"—and it finds Dam cooking up a classic-sounding, laid-back, feel-good West Coast beat complete with bubbling synth pads, some classy electric piano, and a fat bassline. Layers of Arrington's vocal float over the beat going through some of the many scenarios where he be "trippin" and throwing out commands to "drop that funk." This track is a must for any slow-motion pool party/bbq you've been planning. No word on when the album is due, but we'll let you know as soon as we do.

ADOLESCENT FUNK

“New” album recorded 1988-1992, coming October 26 on Stones Throw

Dam-Funk, to many, is a new name from the past year or two, but what we see and hear from him is a great deal more interesting than a new and emerging artist with a sound influenced from the golden era of electro-funk. Dam-Funk is the real deal. He has been recording for himself for two decades, developing his work to his own taste, and using equipment like the Korg M1, Linn Drum, and Casio SK-1 since the days when many other musicians considered them novelty electronics rather than instruments.

At the request of Peanut Butter Wolf, Dam went through many of these recordings, all made on cassette, going back to his teenage years. As Wolf tells it, “Dam told me, ‘this is your project Wolf. Do whatever you want with it. I leave it in your hands. I don't even wanna see it til it's done. Have fun.’”

The result is Dam-Fun's Adolescent Funk, a 14-track album recorded between 1988 and 1992. This will be released October 26 on LP, CD and digital. Two tracks, It's My Life/I Like Your Big Azz (Girl) were released on 7-inch earlier this year.

MED - MEDICAL CARD

Not a big fan of people sampling boogie into a hip hop tunes personally, but MED did a nice job sampling The Whispers - So fine, into so HIGH... Clever = Produced by Madlib

DUDLEY PERKINS

Most people are sleeping on Dudley Perkins. Lost in the STONES THROW camp while fellow artist Dam-Funk and Mayor Hawthorne are getting some heavy shine, Dudley has been coming correct for decades with that classic west coast sound. You know me I like to bring you the sleepers.

DUDLEY PERKINS FEAT GEORGIA MULDROW - MOTHERSHIP 2009

MAYER HAWTHORNE

MAYOR HAWTHORNE - LIVE IN BERLIN - STONES THROW PODCAST 60

TONY COOK INTERVIEW

Interview with inthedeepend.com.au published June 2010. Tony Cook's "Video Rock" 12-inch single is coming this summer on Stones Throw, to be followed by the album Back to Reality.

Since In The Deep End was made Live last week we’ve been spending a lot of time trying to organise the future for us. We got extremely lucky and scored some amazing interviews with some really interesting musicians, keep your eyes peeled as they will start getting posted soon. One of the first I would like to share with you is an email interview I shared with legendary Tony Cook. A name that many a youngster would be unfamiliar with, however never fear as the next segment of this post is about to change all that.

Tony Cook has been producing/writing funk records for many years now, since he was 12 years old. He has played drums for James Brown, released what is still noted to this day as “The first house record” and is now coming back with hot releases about to drop on Stones Throw Records. Once again, if you’re not familiar with this label, now is the time to get involved. They are releasing a broad variety of music right now, with one thing in common. It’s all good.

Recently signing an album to Stones Throw Records, we’ve already seen quite an interesting collaboration with Dam Funk. Are there going to be more collabs on the record?
The CD/LP to be released is title Back To Reality. Dam-Funk is the only Stones Throw artist appearing on this compilation. There will be collaborations on other projects.

Do you have any fond (or not so fond) memories of your time performing with the great James Brown, it’s known that he could be a controlling band leader, what was his reaction when you decided to start your own band, Tony Cook & The Party People?

I first started working for Brown in 1976. He didn’t like you playing with other groups or doing outside projects. In 1980 I moved to Europe and formed Tony Cook and the Party People, but Brown made a deal with me to join him whenever he came to tour in Europe.

In the end of 1983/1984 when I was back in the U.S., he was having problems with the band, but there were some of us he could call who would be there to help him out if we could. As years past many things got to be okay with him.

“On The Floor” is still quoted as the first ever house track, did you intend to create a legendary track there and then? As it still has quite a “jam” vibe about it.
I recorded “On the Floor” in Atlanta at the end of 1983 and it was released in 1984. Timmy Regisford & Boyd Jarvis did the mix. We knew it was different – it started out as a rap song, then we took the rap out, it wasn’t just a dance song, it wasn’t just techno it was something different.

Are you looking to release some new music through Stones Throw after this album or was this project intended to get a lot of your old material off of the tapes and onto wax?

Peanut Butter Wolf and the Stones Throw guys are good to work with, I’m looking forward to release some other stuff.

As somebody that’s had a chance to sit back and watch music progress, what do you think of the music that is getting made these days, and do you have any younger artists that you are into?

I come from a time when recordings mostly was bands in the 70s. We would record all of the musicians at the same time, with some fixes later. In the 80s I got used to recording individual tracks – the sound was better that way but the feel was different. In the 90s I was involved in more rapper projects. I had a deal with a German Label Yomama Records - I did two albums with them - then they had the idea to put together a compilation rap LP with different rappers using the same track so they pick one of my songs off the Tony Cook’s Trunk-o-Funk EP. The title was “Simply Wicked.” Sampling was already around but that was the first time one of my songs was use that way. One of the artists is was a hip-hop group in Germany called Absolute Beginner.

I think music will always go back to the 70’s & 80’s because you had a little bit of the old and the new.

Do you have any synths or hardware that you absolutely couldn’t live without?

There was some equipment I wish I hadn’t sold, but I’m from the Old School, you learn to assimilate.

If you could pick any artist, new or old, to collaborate on a record with. Who would it be?

I’m always open to work with other artist on other projects. Stones Throw has some interesting artist I’m already doing some collaborating with - Dam-Funk of course, and also J. Rocc, James Pants, Mayer Hawthorne and Peanut Butter Wolf. After we release Back to Reality we’ll see were we go.

When starting out as a musician, what/who/where did you draw most inspiration from?

I’m from Augusta GA. When I was about 12 or 13, I put a band together with a friend and his father was our music teacher. Augusta was a music town back then. I learn how to play professionally backing artists like Z.Z. Hill and Geater Davis.