Mayer Hawthorne.

I first heard about Mayer Hawthorne back in November of 2008. I was taking my weekly cruise through DJ A-Trak’s blog when I found an interesting piece Trizzy wrote about a heart-shaped vinyl record (http://djatrak.com/2008/11/25/trizzy-likes-stones-throws-heart-shaped-vinyl/). Always looking to add interesting pieces to my vinyl collection, I scoured the netweb for the song on the heart-shaped record to see if the vinyl was worthy of a purchase. After landing at YouTube and watching the unofficial video for Mayer Hawthorne’s “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out,” I was mesmerized (okaaaaay, obsessed). “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” instantly became my favorite (current) song. Four minutes and ten seconds later, it was bumped to #2 after I watched the video for the B-side track “When I Said Goodbye”…and nearly shat myself. Next, I pulled up the video for “I Wish It Would Rain” and went officially crazy in my apartment. Seven minutes and fifty-one seconds after “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” became my favorite (current) song, it dropped to 3^rd place behind two other Mayer Hawthorne tracks that, to this day, remain tied for my #1 spot.

It is not often that one goes to check out a new artist and finds that the first three songs he stumbles upon are unbelievably dope. Well, it happened.

From there, I jumped on his MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, iTunes and YouTubed everything that came up under any and all spelling variations of his name.

It’s not “stalking” if I’m not sexually attracted to him, right?

Who was this guy? And, why was he making Motown/Soul/Doo-Wop records in 2008? All of those questions could be answered later, but at that point, I headed straight to Stone’s Throw’s website (http://www.stonesthrow.com/) and dropped one of those heart-shaped 7”s onto my America Express card as if it were hot.

The answers to the aforementioned are: He is a 29-year old white guy from Ann Arbor Michigan that writes, sings, produces and plays multiple instruments. Oh, and he was a DJ before any of this happened. He makes Soul music because he grew up outside of Detroit (like, “Hitsville” Detroit…as in “Motown”). The wild part is, he had been Djing primarily Hip-Hop for years before recording his first Doo-Wop tracks as a side project. After hearing only two demo tracks, Peanut Butter Wolf (head of Stones Throw Records) asked Mayer to record an entire album under the Stones Throw imprint. The best way I can describe the sound is: “Smokey Robinson meets…that kid you know from down the street that plays an instrument.”

It has become fashionable of late to say things like “People don’t sing about anything anymore” and “They don’t make music like they used to.” If you are one of these people, please check out Mayer Hawthorne and then stop talking (Oh, and pick up Raphael Saadiq’s “The Way I See It” album that came out last year).

While Mayer Hawthorne is taking it back to the old Soul sound, he is also incorporating contemporary elements into his material in an effort to take the movement even further. For example, at the beginning of “I Wish It Would Rain” he plays an arpeggiated synth line that reminds me of what Jazze Pha laid down on Tela’s club classic “Sho Nuff” (yeah, that was back in ’96 but you see where I’m going with this).

Unfortunately for my generation, we primarily associate going to a club with raging out to Hip-Hop or Electro. Don’t get it twisted up, I love and own more Hip-Hop and Electro records than anyone you know, but at the same time, I have been aching for a Soul singer to come out so I could put on a suit, go to the show and slow dance with my date like they did back in ’68.

I’m tired of raging.

I want to go concerts where artists are performing music that evokes the type of emotion that makes me want to look my girl in the eyes, kiss her passionately, and tell her that we should really consider “taking things to the next level”… as soon as she graduates high school. A Mayer Hawthorne show seems like the type of setting where that could happen.

Man crush? Maybe. Either way, I the full-length dropped this Tuesday and I am copping it today.

If you are from L.A., you have probably known about MH for a while since DJ Felli Fel has been playing “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” in his “New @ 2:00” mixes on Power 106 for months now. I did not write this piece for you Angel City residents already in the know. I wrote this for the people that have not had the privilege of hearing Mayer Hawthorne’s music yet. I am less concerned with who heard it first and more concerned that people simply get it. I mean, I just bought a Donny Hathaway album last week. It doesn’t matter when I got it; it just matters that I have it.

I am always calling my friends to tell them about new artists. Often times, I will email these friends mp3s for their iPods to help drive the message home. One of the interesting things about Mayer Hawthorne’s music is that, for the first time, I want to call my grandpa and tell him that I have some new hot sh*t for is tape deck.

Consequently, if they release Hawthorne’s album on cassette, I may already have grandpa’s X-mas present in the bag.

All of this because Stone’s Throw pressed up MH’s first single on turbo-dope, heart-shaped vinyl and A-Trak thought it was cool enough to post a picture of said record on his blog. It’s crazy how word gets around these days.

If you don’t know about Mayer Hawthorne, get familiar.

Once you’re familiar, get the album.

You’re welcome,

-Todd

http://www.myspace.com/mayerhawthorne