Stones Throw debuts the most exciting hip hop project since Dilla and Madlib joined forces for Jaylib – a 40+ track album from production outfit Quakers, featuring Golden Era crate dug beats and visceral verses from the likes of Dead Prez, Jonwayne, Aloe Blacc and so many more.
Quakers consists of local beatmaster Katalyst, Fuzzface (a.k.a. Portishead‘s Geoff Barrow), and 7-Stu-7, a triage of venerable producers in their own right whose combined efforts prove boom-bap is far from dead. Fuzzface is better known as Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, a long-time Stones Throw supporter in touch with Peanut Butter Wolf since championing the Jaylib album back in 2004. 7-Stu-7 is Portishead’s engineer and in-house producer at Invada Records in the UK. Katalyst is one of the most respected producers in Australia and a partner in Invada Records.
Disillusioned with much of the hip-hop around them, the like-minded producers set out to create the type of rap record they’d want to listen to. That meant gathering one of the most varied arrays of talent ever seen on a hip-hop record. Rather than just sending beats to the hottest names of the moment, the producers sought out genuine collaborators, regardless of whether they were legendary or simply stumbled upon around the world wide web. Invitations were sent out to golden era legends such as Prince Po and The Pharcyde’s Booty Brown, indie rap titans such as Dead Prez and Phat Kat, and of course some of StonesThrow’s finest: Aloe Blacc, Guilty Simpson, MED and newest signings Jonwayne and Dave Dub all make memorable contributions. There are also some lesser known talents present: band-favorite Coin Locker Kid, Lyric Jones, Estee Nack & more hold it down with their more celebrated peers.
Yet for all the vocal talent, it’s often Quakers’ stellar production that takes center stage, tying together the albums 40+ tracks into a cohesive whole. Heavy beats come thick and fast, from the horn-heavy stomp of Fitta Happier to the devastating synthesizer abuse of Belly of the Beast and beyond. Quakers music first appeared in Banksy’s 2011 film Exit Through The Gift Shop and, in case you’re wondering, the name comes from ‘earthquake‘. They’re here to shake the foundations.
This months aahh album art award has to go to the Quakers CD. Featuring a beautiful 2 CD layout and killer design, the cover could have been a nightmare with the 40+ track list, instead we have all the artists layed out on the back with an easy to read tracklist on the inside fold out. If you want to check out more download the Hip-Hop Quake Mix by Katalyst, a 40-minute set featuring some of the work that has inspired the project. You can get that from iTunes here or the Stones Throw RSS feed here. More information on that can be found here.
Purchase || Stones Throw || Quakers
