Stimulator Jones

Stone Throw Records signee, Stimulator Jones, is delivering a sense of timelessness through his unique sound. His style doesn’t particularly fit into one genre; Jones manages to integrate 60s funk with early 80s/90s R&B and showcases that throughout his debut album Exotic Worlds and Masterful Treasures. The opener, “Water Slide” is an ode to 70s funk with sultry riffs and the crooning production that you can feel throughout the track. The album creates this upbeat, heartbroken atmosphere filled with bittersweet bangers. Every track effortlessly flows into the other which emulates this funk-R&B breakup playlist. Standout track “Tell Me Girl,” which samples two different tracks, blends together influences from 90s R&B classics like Aaliyah or The Isley Brothers. There are elements of modern alternative R&B that can be compared to an upbeat House of Balloons era from The Weeknd, to create a romantic and intimate ballad—easily making it my favorite track on the album.

Before stepping into the role of being the master of funk, Jones experimented by growing his fanbase from being a rapper with a previous persona of Joneski. Having the range to play instruments from the banjo to even a sitar while being able to sing, write, and produce his own tracks, Jones proves to be a master of all crafts.

We’ve had the privilege of delving deeper into what helps him achieve his signature sound along with upcoming plans to release new music in 2020.

Hey! Would you mind introducing yourself?

Peace! I am Samuel Jones Lunsford. I was born in 1985 in Roanoke, Virginia. I’ve been playing and recording music nearly all of my life. I come from a very musical family and over the years I have learned to play a wide variety of different instruments and styles - mostly self-taught. I became obsessed with hip hop and rap music around 1996 and subsequently began collecting records, DJ’ing, rhyming, and using samplers. I’ve been gigging professionally since high school, lending my skills to numerous different bands and projects. For the most part I produce, engineer and mix my own recordings, and I have taken great pleasure in experimenting with the recording arts since my earliest homegrown cassette endeavors of the mid 90’s.

Let’s talk about your debut project Exotic Worlds and Masterful Treasures. What gravitated you towards creating a nostalgic funk sounding album?

‘Exotic Worlds & Masterful Treasures’ is mostly a collection of material that was recorded throughout 2014-2016, although some of the tracks have even earlier origins. I was coming off of a period where I had been working on a lot of more straight-forward rap music, and I decided that I wanted to challenge myself to do something a bit different. I wanted to try my hand at singing R&B, and inject some more song structure and melodic sensibility into the beats and productions I was crafting. My dad turned me on to funk, soul, and blues music when I was a child - it’s always been a passion of mine. By the time I recorded these songs I felt like I had lived, loved, and learned enough to be able to do this kind of material justice and pull it off well enough.

I also want to bring up your Choosey Lover cover! Choosey Lover is personally one of my favorite songs of all time and your rendition is probably my favorite. What made you want to cover this song and delve into R&B?

I covered it just for fun because I’m a huge Isley Brothers fan. Ernie Isley and Chris Jasper were a hell of a musical team - their catalog is kind of ridiculous. Ron, Rudolph, and O’Kelly Isley - the original founders of the group - automatically got songwriting credits on all the records for political reasons, but the fact of the matter is that Ernie and Chris wrote nearly all of those classic 70’s-80’s Isleys records themselves. I’d say Ernie is easily one of my favorite guitar players, and I love his drumming on all those tracks too.

After researching, I found out you used to make music under another alias as Joneski. Is Stimulator Jones your alter ego? What compelled you to start over?

Joneski was the precursor to the Stimulator Jones project. I was doing straight up rap music - rhyming, scratching, and doing all the beats myself. As Joneski I released a few different things, including an album called ‘Stimulator Jones’. I decided to just take that album title and adopt it as the moniker for this new project I wanted to do, so then Joneski kind of died and morphed into Stimulator Jones. I had built up the Joneski persona under a pretty restricted musical scope, and I wanted to expand the range of the sounds I was creating. I felt like a name change was necessary as I branched out.

Can we expect any new music soon?

Yes. I’m finishing my follow-up Stones Throw album this year to hopefully be released in 2020. I’ve got a vinyl reissue of one of my older Bandcamp albums being released by the amazing Oslo label Mutual Intentions later this summer. A rock and roll project of mine called The Young Sinclairs has a new album coming this June via the French record label Requiem Pour Un Twister.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

Bobby Hutcherson. Larry Heard. ZZ Top. Nina Simone. Primal Scream. Originoo Gunn Clappaz. Jerry Lee Lewis. Lonnie Liston Smith. Beatnuts. Liz Torres with Master C&J. Edan. Diamond D. Ohbliv. Tuamie. Dam Funk. Children of Zeus. Butcher Brown. DJ Harrison. Mutant Academy. Koncept Jackson. Devin Morrison. Kiefer. Linqua Franqa.