Headpiece – Out of the Loop

May 5, 2024 //
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The Headpiece trio returns after more than two years to bring you their sophomore album “Out of the Loop” on Extra Lovely Records. The Headpiece trio consists of Garfunkle on keys, DJ Image on turntables and Brian “Stainless” Steele on production and arrangement (MPC2000 and Ableton Live).

All three Headpiece members grew up in the same small town in south eastern Pennsylvania. 18 year old Saxophone prodigy Sanji Diaz, who is also a PA local, was recruited to play on more than half the album.

The process for creating this project typically begins with Steele building a structural foundation on the MPC2000 and sending it away to Garfunkle to play whatever he’s feeling over the first layer. Once the keys from Garfunkle come back, Steele will pick it apart and put it back together as needed. The process repeats for scratches from DJ Image and the saxophone from Sanji Diaz.

The album also features Organic Pulse Ensemble (track 9) A multi-instrumentalist who is creating quite a buzz for himself in the indie jazz scene.

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Stainless Steele and DJ Image Live at the Chameleon Club

February 18, 2023 //
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15 years ago DJ Image and Stainless Steele performed at the historic Chameleon Club in Lancaster, PA. The show was filmed from three different cameras by Aidem Media and the audio was recorded directly out from the mixing board. Stainless Steele recently sat down with the raw footage and edited the whole show. Haha so here you go 15 years later we are releasing the music on all digital streaming platforms with limited edition hand-painted cassettes. The full concert is now posted on YouTube. Purchase the limited edition cassette and download the digital audio here: BUY/DOWNLOAD
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Garfunkle – Broad Brushstrokes ///

May 27, 2022 //
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From Garfunkle: In around 2002 or 2003, I was working on Splash and DJ Image was working with Stainless Steele on Mindstate of the Art, a very dope straight-ahead hip-hop record. I remember talking with the two of them about the music we were all working on at the time and the two of them saying they really wanted to get this straight-ahead hip-hop project out and then take it way out there. (They did that – Chromatica, among other things they did, is a must-listen in my opinion, and Image’s Love Weather Dinner Party is a wild turntablist album, but I digress…) At the time I was more focused on instrumental music and wasn’t recording as much of my vocal stuff.

Fast forward twenty years and DJ Image and I were able to connect, first for a few tracks on A Fish That Noticed the Water, then a few tracks on how? i never saw that, and now for the entirety of Broad Brushstrokes. This project is not backward looking to twenty years ago, but is a straight-ahead hip-hop record from right here and now before the next trip to the stratosphere or wherever it might take us. Banging beats and precise cuts from DJ Image coupled with my rhymes. I’m honored to have Steele’s vocals on here destroying things on Buddha Monk and the ill cover from Bloodmoney Perez, and I hope… more
credits
released May 20, 2022

All songs produced by DJ Image
All cuts by DJ Image
All lyrics written by Garfunkle except for Stainless Steele’s verse on Buddha Monk, written by Stainless Steele.
Additional keys by Garfunkle on ‘Ceiling Fans’ and ‘Buddha Monk’
Cover art by Bloodmoney Perez
Mastered by Stainless Steele

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Mystery Meat – Underground Hip Hop Mix ///

May 6, 2022 //
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In 1998 a high school friend of mine gave me a mixtape of rare underground hip hop I had never heard before. She had a friend from NYC that made the tape for her and she passed it along to me. The tape blew my mind and I immediately started to search for who the artists were from the mix. As a result I discovered the classic albums “Book of Human Language” by Aceyalone and “Dr. Octagon” by Kool Keith along with many other legendary underground artists featured on this tape.

Mixcloud Original Tracklist:
01 T-Love – What’s My Name? (3/4)
02 Buck 65 – Untitled 4
03 Aceyalone- The Energy
04 Aceyalone- The Hurt
05 Latryx – The Bumpin Contraption (The Recalibration)
06 Eligh – Coincidence (To Find You)
07 Dr. Octagon (Kool Keith) – Blue Flowers (Photek mix)
08 Chief Xcel, Gift of Gab, Lateef- Fully Charged On Planet X
09 The Grouch feat. Eligh – Neglected
10 Omid, Aceyalone & Self Jupiter – When the Sun Took a Day Off
11 Farm Fresh – I’ll Take You Home
12 Haiku De’tat (Myka 9, Abstract Rude & Aceyalone) – Still Rappin
13 Siah – Repetition
14 Abstract Tribe Unique – Yesterday and Today
15 Sir Menelik – Physical Jewels (DJ Red remix)
16 Freestyle Fellowship – Convolutions
17 ???

Youtube Tracklist Modified Due to Copyrights:
01 T-Love – What’s My Name? (3/4)
02 Siah – Pyrite
03 Aceyalone- The Energy
04 Aceyalone- The Hurt
05 Latryx – The Bumpin Contraption (The Recalibration)
06 Mystik Journeymen – Piano Lesson
07 Dr. Octagon (Kool Keith) – Blue Flowers (Photek mix)
08 Chief Xcel, Gift of Gab, Lateef- Fully Charged On Planet X
09 Omid, Aceyalone & Self Jupiter – When the Sun Took a Day Off
10 Farm Fresh – I’ll Take You Home
11 Haiku De’tat (Myka 9, Abstract Rude & Aceyalone) – Still Rappin
12 Siah – Repetition
13 Abstract Tribe Unique – Yesterday and Today
14 Sir Menelik – Physical Jewels (DJ Red remix)
15 Freestyle Fellowship – Convolutions
16 ???

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Stainless Steele – Live on RWD.FM ///

March 23, 2022 //
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In 2011 Stainless Steele did two live sets on @RWDFM Web radio from @FLOTEbeats crib in Philly. It’s some of his fav material from that time so he pressed 25 copies on tape.

Limited edition of 25, professionally dubbed fluorescent pink cassette with orange and pink case. Buy here

Includes two bonus tracks (cassette only):

  1. Reinvented Time feat. MK Ultra Lord produced by Ghost McGrady
  2. Pictures of the Impossible feat. Maf Maddix produced by Zenios
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Garfunkle – a fish that noticed the water ///

January 31, 2022 //
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Garfunkle – A Fish That Noticed the Water is my first full-length vocal project, despite releasing my first vocal tracks on Splash in 2003 and a handful of tracks and verses between then and now. The album is a result of collaborations and re-connections with Stainless Steele and DJ Image (the other two-thirds of Headpiece, along with myself) and PT Cream along with my own solo basement recording sessions. The inspirations behind the album have been present in the various instrumental projects I’ve released over the past decade and a half or so, but are made more explicit in the lyrics on this album.

The production on the album ranges from the fairly straight-forward beats on ‘Unless and Until’ and ‘Well Then What Man What’ to the more abstract and loose production on ‘No Really It’s Nothing’ and the denser music on ‘Non-Euclidian Geometry.’ The album opens staring at the nothingness behind the eyelids and aiming to see both that nothingness (and what’s underneath it) and closing with a recognition of the organisms swimming there in that apparent blankness.

How’s the water?


credits
released January 7, 2022

All songs produced by Garfunkle except where indicated
All cuts by DJ Image
Additional Keys on Tracks 1 and 11 by Garfunkle
Alternate version of Track 10 on ‘Nothing is Revealed’ from Headpiece (Extra Lovely Records, EL017)
Alternate versions of Tracks 4 and 11 on ‘No Sunsets in Her MakeUp Room’ from DJ Image
Cover Artwork by Tai
Mixing and Mastering by Stainless Steele except tracks 8 and 10 mixed and mastered (to the extent those words apply here) by Garfunkle
license

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EL017 /// Headpiece – Nothing is Revealed

October 29, 2021 //
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The Headpiece trio is Ben Gray (Garfunkle), Vincent Smaldone (DJ Image) and Brian Steele (Stainless Steele).

All three members grew up in the same small town in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Ben Gray and Brian Steele recorded a demo EP together circa 1996 as the Navigators. Steele and DJ Image started making music together a few years later around 2000 and released an album titled Mind State of the Art in 2003.

Ben Gray taught himself to play the keys while in college and began recording solo instrumental albums as Garfunkle.

DJ Image solidified himself as a world-class DJ and toured with Slick Rick and Raekwon. Image is constantly sharpening his skills and producing in his home recording studio. He put out a solo turntablist album under the alias Cropsy called Love Weather Dinner Party in 2016.

Brian ‘Stainless’ Steele released various solo albums from 2008 – 2015 and founded Extra Lovely Records in 2015.

Throughout the years the three members kept in regular contact, working on songs and sending files back and forth to collaborate. This album, “Nothing is Revealed” is the most recent material from the group and the first official album as Headpiece. It was created mostly during the Covid Pandemic while Steele was living in California, Ben Gray in St. Louis and DJ Image in Pennsylvania.

We hope you enjoy! Zone out to the Headpiece trio ///

Purchase the digital album or limited edition cassette here

Ben Gray aka Garfunkle – Keys

Vincent Smaldone aka DJ Image – Turntables

Brian Steele aka Stainless Steele – MPC2000/Production

Track 06 features Kristin Lauer on French Horn
Track 08 features Sanji Diaz on Tenor Saxophone

Artwork by Hue Thi Hoffmaster
https://huethistudio.com/

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Cool Cats vol.1 – 90s Jazzy Hip Hop Mix ///

September 2, 2021 //
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All vinyl mix of 90s jazzy hip hop by Stainless Steele ///

  1. Andrew Hill – Lift Every Voice
  2. E.Bros – Funky Piano
  3. Ghetto Concept – EZ on the Motion
  4. Black Star feat. Black Thought – Respiration (Pete Rock remix)
  5. Lord Finesse – Hip to the Game Instrumental
  6. The Roots – Distortion to Static
  7. Slum Village – Fantastic
  8. De La Soul – Can’t Call It
  9. De La Soul – Itzsoweezee
  10. Slum Village – Untitled/Fantastic
  11. The Roots – Swept Away

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Smartbomb VHS ///

June 4, 2020 //
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SMARTBOMB VIDEO HOME SYSTEM, a new broadcast program that showcases the sounds, colors, shapes, faces, and works of our beloved community here in the bay and beyond for the world to see. We felt an experience beyond just a concert stream was in need to really reach out and virtually hug all our loved ones out there..so we created a show full of music sets, skits, short films, animations, and messages of love and positivity…during a time where our people crave for that most…

In light of these times, with spaces and gatherings for our culture and expression on hold, we had to find a way to pivot our efforts and energy towards building a new way towards bringing the feeling of oneness and connected freedoms that we shared within our events, to all of our fam and folks around the world regardless of location and space…..

We launched our pilot broadcast to celebrate our 7th year anniversary with a star studded lineup, produced entirely DIY style on our website here: smartbomboakland.com

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Extra Lovely Radio – All Vinyl Mix for Smart Bomb ///

February 10, 2020 //
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On 1.18.2020 Stainless Steele played an all vinyl DJ set for Smart Bomb in Oakland. The latest episode of Extra Lovely Radio is Steele’s set from that night. Originally aired on Pinata Radio out of Montpellier, France.

 

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Chef Bac – Hermes Son ///

January 6, 2020 //
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chef bac Bandcamp

Rapper / producer Chef Bac from Springfield Ohio drops his album “Hermes Son” on Extra Lovely Records. All songs written and produced by Chef Bac. Album is available on limited edition cassette and digital download.

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Extra Lovely Radio – Keystone Collector’s Mix ///

December 29, 2019 //
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IMG_0701

Extra Lovely Radio Ep.7 – Keystone Collector’s Mix hosted by Stainless One. A collection of rare jazz, funk, psych and exotica cuts many of which were sampled by Madlib. Courtesy of Piñata Radio.

 

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EL015 /// Yikes the Zero – “An Echo Storm Howling”

July 17, 2019 //
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Yikes the Zero returns with a new album title, An Echo Storm Howling. Written , produced , and illustrated all by Yikes himself. With some special guest appearances by DJ Skipmode , Osevere, Natasha Morrow, T.c. Cole, Stainless Steele and Tajai from the mighty Souls of Mischief. “Approach this with an open soul”. Brought to you by Extra Lovely Records.

Howling Back

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Garfunkle – We Are Waves ///

June 19, 2019 //
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Garfunkle – the bio-engineering scientist by day and producer on the keys by night, returns with his new release “We Are Waves”.

Ursula K. Leguin’s translation of the Tao Te Ching includes some of her commentary along the way. “We are waves. It is the sea,” she wrote, It being capital-I It, the Way. (This commentary is on a verse that includes the line “To know harmony/ is to know what’s eternal.” Hmm.) This album, these songs, do not represent some sort of reduction of Taoist principles, but the process is – always – an attempt to lose the self in it (It?). The wave is clearly less than the sea, and yet the wave is the sea. These songs, the end result of letting what happens happen, are some solid joints, and I hope the joy of the process shines through here.

These were recorded in 2018 and 2019, and the album was finished as I prepared to move with my family, feeling very much tossed by the sea, and making every attempt to embrace the change and consider how the sea’s waves are all essentially interconnected through the ocean, something vastly larger than any individual wave and that we know very little of.

I’ll also say that “we are waves” is a reference not only to Ursula K. Leguin’s commentary, but also to a fundamental physical truth about what we are. Some of that thinking pops up in “electrical output,” one of two tracks featuring vocal samples.

Well, this is all high-minded and I mean it as well as plenty more where words fail. Thirteen jams, held together as an all-but-completely instrumental album that I hope you’ll enjoy.

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Enrique Rodriguez – “Lo Que Es” /// Limited Edition Red Vinyl

May 7, 2019 //
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OUT NOW /// Enrique Rodriguez – “Lo Que Es” 2nd pressing on transparent red vinyl with black jacket and cover art sticker. Edition of 100, purchase vinyl here.

 

“Enrique Rodriguez is an 18 year-old producer, pianist and composer from Santiago, Chile. At such a young age, it is hard not to be amazed at the amount of talent this guy has. Lo que es is Enrique’s first soul-jazz album, released on Pennsylvania label Extra Lovely Records.


The album takes you on a moody, meditative journey through Enrique’s expansive world of soul and jazz music. The keys are beautifully arranged, and the slow-paced grooves give you time to truly appreciate the grace and maturity Enrique has as a multi-instrumentalist and producer, which is impressive considering his young age. With faint bossa-nova grooves on a track such as ‘Lo que somos’ or the ambient closer ‘Chao,’ this album is meant for a romantic night in with your significant other. Love would be the word to describe the atmosphere of this short but sweet project, and it’s definitely worth your time.”
– Martin Boev for In Search of Media

All instruments on the EP were played by Enrique Rodriguez.

Enrique Paredes Bassi is featured on track 4 playing electric guitar and on tracks 5 & 7 playing electric bass.

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