![]() I decided to take all that experience and throw it into creating my own label, just go ahead and do it myself." But after Charizma passed, I stopped for a while and gathered up what I had learned from being signed and working with various labels. "And then I got some mismatched turntables and that was it. "I started collecting records when I was a little kid, a lot of soul and funk," he says. By his early 20s, he was well on his way to a major label release with his collaborator, the late hip-hop artist Charizma. Reared in Northern California, Manak began his musical career at 13 as a DJ and turntablist. "Even if we're hands-off when it comes to the creative process, they're always pretty willing to hear our suggestions." "I think there's mutual respect there," Manak says of the relationship between label and artists. Take a look at the credits of any Stones Throw release and frequently you'll see a member of the executive board listed as producer or collaborator. Over the last eight years, Stones Throw and its subsidiary Now Again (which specializes in astutely selected soul/funk reissues) have released albums featuring the kind of hip-hop you rarely hear on commercial radio – jazz inflected experimental beats as opposed to bling-bling bravado.Īrtists such as Madlib, Quasimoto and Medaphoar call Stones Throw home, in large part because of an innate trust in Manak and partners Eothen "Egon" Alapatt and Jeff Jank, all of whom come from musical backgrounds. His tastes coincide with those of a substantial number of discerning audiophiles, the type of music consumers who would rather have new vinyl spinning on their turntables than another MP3 in the computer files. ![]() "I just release what I like," says Manak, sitting in the label's sunny Highland Park offices, "and hope other people will like it too." ![]() ![]() In an era when many music labels are foundering, stymied by the Internet free-for-all, and struggling to keep up with changing nuances of popular tastes, L.A.'s Stones Throw Records is unexpectedly thriving.įounded in 1996 by Chris Manak (better known in the hip-hop underground as his alter-ego, DJ Peanut Butter Worn the label has slowly and steadily evolved, defying the climate of the time with not much more than good taste and common sense. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |