Review: A nostalgic, dust-flecked time capsule from Virginia's Stimulator Jones, this new release compiles beats made between 1999 and 2005, from basement loops to teenage sample wizardry. Long before the Stones Throw co-sign, Sam Jones was already mimicking RZA's rhythmic sleight of hand on 'Ill Feeling' and chopping bossa drums into delay-blurred scratch collages on 'Chill Scratch'. 'Ghost Gospel' flips a 3/4 gospel sample into 4/4 bounce, while 'Pharoah Jones' channels Yesterday's New Quintet in lo-fi, multi-tracked form. 'Do Not Adjust' pulls from French library records, while 'Cool Green Trees' is a smoked-out DJ Shadow homage with Spiderman scratches and deep-filtered drums. There's a sense of raw isolation here-looping alone in Roanoke, pre-YouTube, letting second-hand funk records be the guide. It's not revisionist boom bap; it's archival, full of youthful intensity and grainy charm. From 'Welcome Aboard The Starship' to 'Keep On Runnin', every track is a piece of an obsessive teenage puzzle. An intimate, unguarded document of early beat-making curiosity-handled with care, finally let loose.
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