Label Love: Stones Throw Records
The dumbed-down version of the Stones Throw story is that it's the West coast home of underground hip-hop. While that's undeniably true, it's only a part of the whole picture, and it omits too many elements that help to define the label's true identity. Stones Throw got started back in 1996, when a young DJ from San Jose named Chris Manak — who became much better known by the sticky moniker Peanut Butter Wolf — decided to do his own thing with his music. Previously, he had been under contract to an imprint of Hollywood Records (a Disney division, in case you didn't know), but before long, PBW had other things in mind, like putting out records on his own terms, both his and those of other artists with whom he felt some kind of a kinship.
From this vision was born Stones Throw, which made its debut with the appropriately titled single "My World Premiere" by Peanut Butter Wolf and the ill-fated MC Charizma, Wolf's former partner, who had been killed three years earlier. It didn't take long for Stones Throw to become a haven for hip-hop artists who had as much of an unconventional, independent streak as the label's founder, and eventually the likes of Lootpack, Quasimoto, and Madlib began releasing records on what was quickly becoming a grass-roots phenomenon.
While Stones Throw has certainly continued to uphold the indie hip-hop tradition throughout it's first decade and a half, the eclectic Peanut Butter Wolf was quick to branch out into other areas, releasing whatever tickled his fancy, regardless of whether it fit into a neat little stylistic box or not. In recent years, this has translated into his involvement with artists like James Pants and Aloe Blacc, who have a foothold in hip-hop but are treading in plenty of other territory, from electronica to soul and beyond. But throughout its rich and varied history, the label has been responsible for plenty of records that have nothing to do with hip-hop.
The modern-day prog-rock excursions of The Mars Volta leader Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, the oddball avant-rock of Gary Wilson, the forward-looking R&B of Georgia Anne Muldrow, the jazz-funk of Stark Reality, the European electro-pop sounds of the Minimal Wave Tapes compilations, and Madlib's eccentric fusion project,The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble -- all these have seen the light of day through Stones Throw. And when you start looking into the likes of subsidiaries Now-Again and Soul Cal, through which a raft of classic R&B albums have been reissued, the image expands even further.
Ultimately, the common thread through all of these disparate sounds might best be glimpsed by focusing in on the man who made it all possible in the first place. In his widely celebrated work as a DJ, and on the mixes he releases through his label, Peanut Butter Wolf has proven himself to be a sort of musical omnivore, who can incorporate into his sonic flow anything that catches his ear, regardless of the genre. It's this crate-digger sensibility that seems to truly define what Stones Throw is really all about, both for those responsible for the music and those who eagerly soak it all up.
