The son of two Presbyterian ministers from an American backwater called Spokane, James Pants went from being the teenage DJ for a black nationalist rap group to a multi-instrumentalist who can count on fans as diverse as Flying Lotus, Zane Lowe, Erol Alkan and XL's new teen hip-hop internet sensation Tyler The Creator, who calls James "one of the most creative fucking people to walk this earth".

James met Stones Throw Records head honcho Peanut Butter Wolf after his high school prom and dropped a debut album in 2008, Welcome, which told the tale of a lone music obsessive who synthesized a staggeringly broad record collection into a coherent LP in a style he dubbed "fresh beat", taking in '80s boogie, synth experiments, garage rock and much more.

Since then James has toured the globe, released Seven Seals (a tribute to his beloved '70s cult and New Age records), a self-titled third album, and uprooted from Colorado to Cologne, where he works as a studio engineer.




THE YEAR IS 2001 AND THE PLACE IS TEXAS. Stones Throw head honcho Peanut Butter Wolf is DJing while a sharply dressed young man approaches the DJ Booth with his Prom date in tow to formally introduce himself. Thus begins the story of James Pants. What began as a dream Prom night to see his hero DJ went to an internship at the label to eventually landing the ultimate fantasy by being signed to the roster and championed as the 'next big thing' by none other than Peanut Butter Wolf himself - on top of critics like Busy P, Urb, XLR8R, & Dazed & Confused Magazines. Mr. Pants is a purveyor par excellence of that unmistakable "fresh beat": 80's Soul, Electro Boogie, Early Rap, New Wave, & Post-Punk Disco, all of which can be found on Welcome where James plays drums, keys, guitar and sings. From a radio perspective, what format does this fall under - this new style that Pants has invented? Do you play it on the groove alongside the likes of Skyy, Cameo, or even Pharrell (listen to 'KA$H')? Or do you play it in the underground alongside the up-to-the-minute electro pulse of Egyptian Lover, Cybotron and even Too $hort? The answer, of course, is both! There's enough Pants to fit any style.

Mayer Hawthorne grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and vividly remembers, as a child, driving with his father and tuning the car radio in to the rich soul and jazz history the region provided. "Most of the best music ever made came out of Detroit," claims the singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, who counts Isaac Hayes, Leroy Hutson, Mike Terry, and Barry White among his influences, but draws the most inspiration from the music of Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield and the legendary songwriting and production trio of Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland Jr. The "retro" tag is added to almost any contemporary work that sounds like it was originally recorded between 1966 and 1974, and Hawthorne, among the newest contributors to the genre, is aware of how trends come and go. After being introduced to Stones Throw label head Peanut Butter Wolf by mutual friend Noelle Scaggs of The Rebirth, even his current boss was skeptical. "He showed me two songs and I didn't understand what I was listening to," Wolf recalls. "I asked him if they were old songs that he did re-edits of - I couldn't believe they were new songs and that he played all the instruments." And after meeting in person, it was even harder for Wolf to believe that Hawthorne was also the lead vocalist. Few expect such heartfelt sentiment to come from a 29-year-old white kid from Ann Arbor, but he has caught the ear of his family at Stones Throw, as well as BBC Radio 1 host Gilles Peterson and producer/DJ Mark Ronson.