Spreading It Thick

Peanut Butter Wolf, aka Chris Manak, is one of the many artists who are preparing to hike to the top of Sugar Mountain this coming Saturday. Starting out as a hip hop producer in the late-'80s, Peanut Butter Wolf has since established himself as formidable DJ who steps beyond hip hop to spin his eclectic tastes in the kind of music that just makes people want to dance. Perhaps more importantly, Peanut Butter Wolf is the chief instigator of and brains behind Los Angeles' illustrious Stones Throw label, which has delivered to our ears many classic releases from underground heroes like Madlib, J Dilla, DOOM and Georgia Anne Muldrow.

Currently spinning his way around the country, Peanut Butter Wolf caught up with us from his hotel in Adelaide. As it turns out he tends to DJ with videos not vinyl these days. “When I VJ, I tend to play older music largely because I kind of like the retro feel that you get when you watch the videos. People generally know the song but they might not have seen the video so they engage with the visual element of what I am doing. A lot of times I get booked because people want to hear me play hip hop so of course the hip hop angle is always there. My sets start out with hip hop but after a while I tend towards the music that gave birth to hip hop. I like a lot of music and I especially like to slip in reggae and old new wave. My sets are a combination of things, just as long as it is danceable,” he says.

Peanut Butter Wolf reassures me that VJing is perhaps not as restrictive as you might initially imagine. “I have 8,000 music videos on my computer so I don't feel restricted at all and I often feel like I have too much material from which to choose. I guess it is restrictive in the sense that when I am doing an audio-only show I have 20,000 sound files on my computer with which to work. At my house I have something like 100,000 records. If I do vinyl sets and I'm only playing 45s I might rock up to the gig with 200 records and only play 30. The problem for me is trying to narrow it all down and distill it into something that's coherent and enjoyable.

“I kind of enjoy DJing more when I can just freestyle it and play whatever suits the moment but there are always certain songs to which I always find myself returning. I played at Coachella a few years ago from a setlist but it was less of an enjoyable experience for me. I would rather be less perfect about the mix and play whatever feels right in the moment.”

As the profile of Stones Throw continues to grow in Australia it's interesting that local act Jonti was recently signed to the label. “Actually, Jonti was a big Stones Throw fan. He came to LA to have his album mastered by the same guy who also does a lot of mastering for the label. This guy tipped me off about Jonti's album. It is funny because often people play me stuff that they think is perfect for us to release but most times I don't really dig it. I was right into Jonti's tunes from the first time I heard them. I also really hit it off with Jonti and it almost felt like we were like long lost brothers or something. But his attorney and my attorney were at it for months going backwards and forwards on the deal. It took so long that I started to think that we would never release this album and then one day it kind of all just fell into place.”

When quizzed about the secret of Stone's Throw Records' success Peanut Butter Wolf quickly attributes it to Rhonda Byrne and her ideas about the power of positive thinking. “I never really got bogged down into thinking that the label would never work. There is this book called The Secret which I recently read. Although I didn't really know about it until recently, I think I was kind of just born [with] what these people talk about, kind of like subliminally.” It seems more likely that the secret of Peanut Butter Wolf's success with the label is that he loves nurturing talent and isn't in the game to make a quick buck. “It really just boils down to carefully choosing the artists on the label and knowing or understanding their talent. A lot of people came to me because of other people on the label so it quickly turned into something I never imagined it would become. I like to work fairly instinctively. I would just put a record out because I like it. A lot of people in my position would perhaps release an album because they thought it would sell well. I have never really worried about how many copies of an album I could sell. Some releases sell and others don't. Generally I just want to be proud of releasing every record that bears the Stone's Throw logo on the back.”

It's impossible not to ask the man in charge of one of our favourite labels what we can expect from Stone's Throw in 2013. ”Well, I just signed Boardwalk. They basically gave me a finished album to release. We have also finished an album by Myron & E. It is, well I hate to say it because it sounds so cheesy but there is no getting away from the fact that they produce retro soul. They are a couple of super talented singers from the Bay Area and their band The Soul Investigators are from Finland. We have also just signed our first reggae band, The Lions, and their album is ready for release. I also really like Chrome Canyons, whose album is on more of an electronic instrumental tip. I am currently working with Egyptian Lover on an anthology of his work. It's hard to believe I once missed out on seeing him in the '80s when I was a teenager because the gig was sold out and now we are about to release some of his music. As always we have a lot of hip hop coming out too. I have just signed a rapper Julian Malone out of Chicago, who is also producing some really interesting stuff. Our new releases schedule kind of just goes on and on.

“I've been criticised for putting out a lot of 'non hip hop' and a lot of the fans are really upset about it. I got defensive about it at first. There is not a lot of good hip hop out there at the moment and they saw Stone's Throw as being a saviour to their taste. To be honest, my heart was not into what I have been hearing so there was no way that I would release any of the hip hop I've heard. Still, I've got Homeboy Sandman working on his second album and it sounds super fresh. I've also signed John Wayne, who is a rapper and a beat maker, so I have not given up on hip hop completely.”

Peanut Butter Wolf may not be a hip hop purist but recently Stone's Throw has been receiving props from Kanye himself. “Well these guys from France and LA are currently doing a documentary on Stone's Throw. They asked Kanye to talk about the label. He gets asked to do interviews all the time and turns them all down. I don't think I have ever seem him do a video interview. He was given the paperwork for his lawyer to look over but he just signed without showing it to anyone. It is the biggest compliment that an artist like that could give Stone's Throw. He invited the film crew to his home and spoke to them for almost an hour. To have an artist like that in this documentary will really help what we are trying to do with Stone's Throw.”

It's impossible to ignore, however, that Wolf has collaborated with and produced J Dilla, Madlib and DOOM, all of whom are of course visionary producers responsible for some absolutely classic underground hip hop albums.

VIC:
Saturday 19 January, Sugar Mountain

NSW:
Sunday 27 January, The Famous Spiegeltent