Stones Throw US レコード& CD

Review: This new album from Benny Sings comes in various different formats - a blue vinyl included, while this version is a straight back wax copy. It features Amsterdam-based artist Benny Sings - who recently had his ART album reissued on Sings - returning with an all new and new eighth solo studio album. For the first time, it is one that finds him working with a single producer throughout - and that producer is the well known beatmaker Mr Kenny Beats. It was a partnership that came together after a chat over social media and the pair immediately felt comfortable with each other. Benny instructed Kenny that he wanted to make the biggest record he has to date and that's what they have done.

Review: Amsterdam-based artist Benny Sings recently had his cult classic ART album reissued on Sings and now he is back with an all new eighth album. It sees him for the first time ever working with a single producer throughout - and that is beatmaker-to-the-stars Mr Kenny Beats. It was a partnership that came together after a chat over social media and the pair immediately felt comfortable with each other. Benny instructed Kenny that he wanted to make the biggest record he has to date, Kenny obliged and that what we have here from the acclaimed singer songwriter.

Review: Singer, songwriter and producer Eddie Chacon has enjoyed a blooming solo career in recent years ever since the release of his album 'Pleasure, Joy And Happiness'. As it turned out, Chacon was a deft maker of lo-fi, funk and lounge bits, over which his whispery voice would effortlessly glide. The trend continues with 'Sundown', his second solo album and debut for Stones Throw. Made in Ibiza, using, among other things, what is alleged to be the only Fender Rhodes keyboard on the island, this album is yet another experimental lounge music extravaganza, not to mention a personal reflection on the self, tempered by long listening sessions to spiritual jazz in the sun.

Review: Beatitudes is an album of ten instrumental hip-hop tracks inspired by 20th century gospel recordings. Produced by one J Rocc (known as the acclaimed DJ and turntablist for Madlib's many shows), the album is a departure from the artist's smudgier, beatsmith affairs. Each track is as smooth as a baby's forehead, and/or as pleasing as a wild fig dropped into one's mouth by an attentive servant on a hot Verona day. Gospel samples whirl around like ghosts, haunting each beat, which in turn sound wonkier than an array of unoiled see-saws. The album's cover is an homage to the mysterious cult artist known only as Harvey, known for designing many surrealist-religious gospel album covers from the 1960s onwards.