Feel the Funk: Catching Up With Stimulator Jones

by Shannon Jay

Fresh off his first Stones Throw release, Samuel Jones Lunsford (his middle the root of all his personas) is flying high. He’s on tour promoting the record full of funky slow jams, and told Popscure all about his road to his new sound.  He’ll be playing at Charlie’s on Saturday alongside Hampton Road’s best R&B and rock & roll, the perfect median for Lunsford’s sound.

 

How’d you first become interested in playing music?

I was raised in a musical family with an older brother, parents, uncles, and grandparents who all played and sang.  There were instruments all around my house growing up and music was constantly being played or listened to on the family stereo.  It has always been a huge part of my life since I was born.

Since you started out as a DJ, what were some of your favorite songs that made it into most of your sets?

I first started DJ’ing at friend’s birthday parties around 1996 when I was in 6th grade using a primitive setup consisting of a boombox and/or CD Walkman plugged into a guitar amp.  I had the DJ Kool “Let Me Clear My Throat” CD Maxi-Single and definitely played that every single time.

How did funky beats break out of the bluegrass-heavy music scene of your hometown of Roanoke? Is there a solid soul scene or something that needs to be brought to the forefront, you think?

I was always in my own world quite separate from my surroundings – when I was growing up I paid much more attention to what was on TV or radio than what was happening around me locally – I also devoted a lot of time to discovering and devouring tons of different albums.  So I was way more influenced by things outside of my hometown.  There are certainly a lot of talented musicians and singers of all sorts of genres in the Roanoke area though.  

Stimulator Jones by Joneski

Stimulator Jones is much softer than the raps of Joneski, what different sides of yourself are you trying to work out through each persona? 

I had spent so much of my life focusing on creating within the framework of straight-forward traditional hip hop, the Stimulator Jones project was intended to be a vehicle to challenge myself to branch off and expand upon the sounds I was crafting as Joneski and stretch out beyond the basic format of sampled beats, 16 bar rhymes, and scratches and to incorporate more melodic elements, singing, live instrumentation and radio-ready song structure into the material – yet still having it all be filtered through my knowledge of and experience with loop-based programming, DJ’ing, crate-digging, and hip hop culture.

Said you studied a lot of producers and artists in lieu of your debut, “Exotic Worlds and Masterful Treasures.” Which eras and artists were the most influential?

As far as this album goes – I was influenced by a lot of heavy hitters from various eras like Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, DeVante Swing, Prince, Jesse Johnson, Ernie Isley, Chris Jasper, Barry White, Kool & The Gang, Dam Funk, Daz Dillinger, DJ Quik, Roger Troutman, Keith Sweat, Mary J. Blige, Yvette Michele, Teddy Riley, Aaron Hall, Jamiroquai, Michael Jackson, D’angelo, Beatminerz, Ohbliv, DJ Harrison, Tuamie, and many others…

What’s the ideal setting or scenario you imagine the record being the soundtrack to?

Dreaming, wishing, longing, fantasizing, dancing, loving, cruising, vacationing, chilling, smoking, sipping, tripping, exploring, adventuring, celebrating, barbecuing, hooping, crying, laughing, moving, grooving, balling, bouncing, rocking, skating, rolling…

Exotic Worlds and Masterful Treasures by Stimulator Jones

How’d you get picked up for Stones Throw and first link up with Peanut Butter Wolf?

In late 2015, Sofie Fatouretchi, a wonderful DJ/producer/musician and former employee of both Stones Throw and Boiler Room found my music online and contacted me out of nowhere to ask if I’d be interested in contributing some material to a compilation album she was curating for Stones Throw (‘Sofie’s SOS Tape’).  I sent her a folder full of tracks including “Soon Never Comes” which she ended up selecting for inclusion. Apparently Peanut Butter Wolf really liked the song and she put me in touch with him.  We had a phone conversation and I ended up coming to LA to meet him and the Stones Throw fam.  We hit it off and by the time I flew home we had agreed to work together on releasing some more of my music.

From picking up “My Vinyl Weighs A Ton” back in 8th grade to having PBW help you record, how does it feel and is it how you might’ve expected?

It still feels kind of like a dream, it’s wild to think of the trajectory from listening to that album on my boombox up in my bedroom to now being a part of the Stones Throw roster and a friend of people that I’ve admired and wished I could collaborate with for years.  I’m incredibly proud of this accomplishment, but I still have a lot of work to do and I’ve got to keep growing and pushing myself forward.

What’s next for the newly signed Stimulator Jones?

A US tour in October, an EP of some tracks from the ‘Exotic Worlds’ sessions that couldn’t fit on the record, a new album from my rock & roll band The Young Sinclairs, and a self-published book of some utterly insane and hilarious stories and twisted humor I wrote when I was a kid.

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Popscure Presents: Ellen O

POPSCURE PRESENTS TAKES LOCAL & TOURING ARTISTS, RECORDS INTIMATE SESSIONS WITH A FEW SONGS AND CHATS ABOUT THEIR PROCESS, INSPIRATIONS, AND NON SEQUITURS IN BETWEEN

Our second installment of POPSCURE PRESENTS features Ellen O from Brooklyn. Her training as a classical pianist and love for trap meld together in synthy songs sure to put you in a daze. We chatted about how she got into music, her Korean heritage’s influence on her songwriting, and collaborators in the city (such as IMGRNT who supported her on tour, and Khallee featured in the session)

Thanks to honorary Popscure team members Karla Espino for video and Andrew Briggs for audio, and all their tireless editing. Special thanks to TBA Productions for linking us up with the space and band to get this done!

Uneven – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZQaF0FUVyA
Featuring Khallee – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VG8bRtRmCY
The Marriage Plot – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8avkkx8LW8

Maker Extraordinaire Kelsie McNair’s Next Excursion

What once hung off the nails

by Shannon Jay

When I met Kelsie McNair up at her studio on Fawn Street, it looked like a gentle tornado had blown through. Walls were scattered with vacant nail holes, beautiful stained glass instead stacked on the ground. Old photos flung array, including a wallet-sized portrait of her mother sporting a jeweled choker and sassy red boa. Her table was afflux of boxes and those signature floral phone cases.

After closing her successful vintage shop, With Lavender and Lace, the cases became Kelsie’s main focus. Now, she’s finished up the last of her final batch. “I have to be out of here by Friday,” she said while carefully layering the gel over dried flowers in intricate rows. It was the first of a major to-do list that includes packing, photoshoots, and a show at Toast tomorrow with her project, Pyrrhic Whim. “Social time is over, that’s it,” she said “I’m done with that,” thus the show will serve as her farewell party before she moves to New York. There was no wine opener, so we relocated to her kitsch apartment filled with mismatch rugs and modern furniture that had a very high tech one.

“I’m doing so much sniffing” Kelsie said while putting away a mountain of laundry, deciphering what was clean or dirty. Seemingly no matching socks to her name, she exclaimed “my life is a nightmare.”

Where Kelsie’s head is at

We try to figure out which meme Kelsie is at the present moment; I suggest she’s the woman with math swirling around her heard, just trying to figure it out. Kelsie suggests it’s the comic of a dog uttering “this is fine” while sitting in a burning house. “That’s where I’m at,” she said “it’s a good fire I guess, just a lot of change really quickly, but I’m really excited.”

She’d planned to go to the Big Apple months ago, but with a new gig at Renegade Craft, her vision has shifted. “It is very much in a different direction than all the plans I was planning on.” Previously with no full-time job ahead, her big move framed around teaching at Urban Glass. “I have 3 weekend workshops,” she said, “One of my favorite parts about my life is working with this school, and that they respect me and want me to teach there.”

First though, she must squeeze in a pitstop to San Francisco for work. “There’s a lot of moving parts that are visual and a lot of editorial stuff,” she said of her position as the traveling market’s Social Media Content Manager. McNair’s snippy copywriting and aesthetic posts cultivate “little experiences that people are experiencing,” a skilled gained by garnering her own following and proving she could curate a brand by building herself up over years. 

“It was easier back then,” she said of starting up over 5 years ago, when the internet was less saturated and more blog-centric. Still, getting over 15,000 followers and plenty of sales means working “really hard at all this stuff I made up here,” she said, “I taught myself how to do a very specific position.” It’s the first time she’s been employed by someone other than herself in about 10 years, previously working at an ice cream shop, then a thrift store. “That’s my life — ice cream an old clothes,” she said, “nothing has changed, they’re still both weekly things.”

Her NYC digs are a reflection of her social media savvy — she’s shacking up in a beautiful house in the Bronx with a couple she met on Instagram years ago. When they were opening up Mottley Kitchen in 2016, Kelsie offered to help in the kitchen, and they’ve been friends since.

Where to say farewell to Kelsie

“I literally look like a giant penis,” Kelsie said after putting on a beanie found in the pile, “this hat is over”

Busy with her social media content manager job, she wants to focus less on writing music, and shift her genre focus. Lyrics are her “love language,” music her mode of communication for complicated feelings, but crafting songs can be emotionally draining. “I love writing music, I just don’t have the energy to always be writing music like that,” she said, “and I don’t really write any other kind.” Pyrrhic Whim is dreamy and dramatic, with beats and drones that are dazing. After listening to a lot of alternative R&B, she wants to strip the bells and whistles of her performance and have fun as a jazz singer.

“Playing someone else’s soulful stuff would be a wonderful space to be in; it’s so sensual and old, I want to be apart of it,” she said, “Just a dark, shadowy room where music fills the whole space, and it’s my job to be another instrument instead of all these trends and sounds.”

Her hopes for the city are new experiences, lacking here but plentiful in her new home. “When i have a good day in New York, it’s never like ‘oh, that was fun’ it’s like ‘shit, I’m gonna remember that experience for the rest of my life.” In the opposite direction, this extreme is equally strong. “New York bites you sometimes, it gets rough,” she said, “Men on the street are rude and aggressive and awful, everything is super expensive, there’s so many things, overstimulating in every way, no one cares about you — it’s the loneliest place there is.”

Lying within this premise is her greatest fear — unhappiness “The worst part about leaving [Norfolk] is there are so many awesome people here, they are the best people, and it takes a long time to find friends when you get older, it’s just harder,” she said, “these are the ones i’m gonna have forever. There’s a couple more spaces in me for that, but it’s starting to close up.”

Nonsense will not be brought to New York for the sake of friends. “I have to be my most genuine self so I don’t have to act like someone else when they do let me in,” she said, “if you’re letting me in, you know who I am so I don’t have to work any harder”

“I think back on myself even a year ago, and I keep getting better but I’m still so dumb, I can’t wait to look back and see all the things i’m making bad decision about right now – I’ll be so wise, but I still won’t be there; none of us ripen all the way.”

Maybe, I offer, we are all avocados that are too hard to eat once opened, stuck in the fridge only to be browned a few days later, but never soft. Kelsie might not be totally happy in New York, but she certainly isn’t here and none of us ever are all the way. “If you’re 100%,” Kelsie responded, “you’re more than likely in a manic episode.”

“I’m overprotective of myself,” Kelsie said, only to ensure she’ll be taken as she is or not at all. “That comes with growing up, that’s the best.”

Why Kelsie’s voice rose two times that day

When snorting like children, our laughs high pitched after sucking helium from leftover birthday balloons floating about, I didn’t feel so grown up. Sprawled on a newfound friend’s bed, feet kicked up, flipping through magazines and chatting about hopes & dreams, I felt like a teenager. With a hole closing up inside her, reserving space for a new place, I felt fortunate to catch a genuine glimpse of Kelsie.

She took a puff of the ballon and contemplated. “It’s not because we’re not good,” she squeaked, “it’s just because there’s so many people, I have to do so much to matter so little.” Her voice and mindset were heightened, possibly just a trait of the always overthinking Pisces. 

Like a high school girl, I read Kelsie her horoscope. We’d classed and sassed up from Seventeen, with problematic glossy pages replaces with empowering matte media. Alongside thick art publications and makers magazines, featuring inspirational artists like Sarah Perez, was Broccoli. Reflective of her latest endeavor, Smirk Supply, the cannabis-friendly magazine is smart but fun, mature but creative.

“Say a prayer to the weed fairy that you’ll be supported in your wildest dreams, and take a puff.” I read aloud dramatically, “You set the tone this season through the faith you show in yourself. If you are clouded by vibrations of doubt, question them. You are a sensitive soul, so use cannabis to tune into your own energy, not the emotions of the people around you.”

“Yeah,” possibly after not totally staying still for several days, she paused and pondered, eventually smirking. “Wow.”

Monthly Mix: Milky$hake

EVERY MONTH, WE’LL BE FEATURING A MIX OF SONGS FROM DJS, WHIPPED UP ESPECIALLY FOR POPSCURE

“When you mentioned 2000s R&B love songs, I knew almost immediately the route I wanted to go,” said NYC DJ Khloe Gatmaitan, aka MILKY$HAKE. Originally from VB, she moved to NYC to pursue a career in fashion merchandising. There she started spinning more seriously, and has played feminine, flirty tracks at clubs a-plenty & beauty conferences for Ipsy, NYX, and others.

She went and above and beyond for this romantic mix of nostalgic and soulful songs, just in time for Valentine’s Day. This 35-minute set is oficially titled “Kiss Me Slowly” Peep her wonderful album art for the full tracklist!

Daunting Realness: An Interview with Dazeases

by Jerome Spencer

I last interviewed London Perry – professionally known as Dazeases – in March of this year, directly on the heels of the then-latest release “Local Slut” before a combustible performance at Charlie’s American Café — a performance that left me more in awe of London’s raw talent and translucent emotion than I already had been.

So, I kept an eye on Dazeases’ career and in-touch via social media, so that when this moment came –- this moment when London will be performing again in Norfolk (to christen this very website, as a matter-of-fact) – I’d be ready. But what can I say that I haven’t already? I asked London a few pressing questions (or maybe really random, non-sequitur ones) to fill-in the blanks, but, before we dive into that, let’s have a refresher course on Dazeases:

Richmond’s Dazeases has been making music for about two-and-a-half years now. I hate labelling music, but it’s kind of Witchhouse-y, but sexier and kind of Ambient, but poppier yet definitely too gangsta to be pop. By fitting in nowhere, the music of Dazeases fits in everywhere. I don’t know what else you need to know; we already did the origin story so let’s jump right into the pressing matters.

What’s been going on with you musically since Local Slut?

I released Local Slut last winter and since then I released a very messy but loveable EP called Minneapolis that’s only available through download codes that I hand out at shows (if I remember to bring them). And since then it’s been silence, just simmering on ideas and putting attention to other aspects of my life.

So what’s next and when? And what’s inspiring you to create these days?

Your guess is as good as mine for the next project, but I look forward to its inevitability. I need more than inspiration to create and I need the inspiration to continue existing. I’ve been renewing it through the love of those close to me, who I think have more faith in me than I do myself.

Do you think all of these sexual-harassment related firings will really lead to a change in the balance of power or am I just getting my hopes up? (I told you they were non-sequitur, but you know we’re all thinking about this.)

Yes, I think these cases may create catalysts that will lead to that balance of power. With the proactive, I think it is also important to develop the preventative, but I’m not sure what that effectively looks like. It would be a complete change of culture I could only hope to see on the horizon before our generation dies.

(This is a really great fucking answer and you should read it twice.)

What’s your Myers-Briggs type and do you agree with it?

I’m an E-something, whatever Ron Weasley is on the Buzzfeed article. I agree with anything that classifies me as empathetic.

(I googled this, Ron is ESFP)

Who’s your current favorite rapper?

My fav current rapper is still Bones. He seems to be thriving and it’s cool to see the life he’s been able to build up with Sesh.

(This is interesting to me. Sonically, I see similarities between Dazeases and the emo-rapper Bones and I see the connection between Bones’ TeamSesh and Dazeases own Ice Cream Social Club, but Bones has put out 7 albums this year (over 50 in his six-year career), a stark contrast to Dazeases thoughtful, deliberate and calculated approach to releasing material. To that point, though, I prefer Dazeases to Bones. I also think one’s favorite rapper says more about them than a Myers-Briggs test.)

Do you think I’d look good with a mustache or is that only for serial killers?

Decide for yourself.

While there are some looks that flatter us more than others, I am ultimately of the opinion that if you enjoy it personally then anyone else’s opinion is nice but unnecessary. As someone who worries a lot, I know that I can be lost to speculation.

(I think London’s considerate response to a mustache question really sums up her personality, her sound and the general vibe you can expect from this Saturday’s show at Charlie’s. It’s thoughtful, deliberate, and you can’t help but enjoy it.)