S-Tone Inc. has been for over twenty years the primary music project of Stefano Tirone, a musician from Milan (pupil of Sonny Taylor and Antonio Zambrini), whose first music experiences date back to the early 80’s, during the new wave era, with tracks included into “Gathered” and “Body Section”, two compilations released by the magazine Rockerilla).
The influence of the British acid jazz scene of the early 90’s and his deep love for the 70’s soul and jazz music are the foundations of the S-Tone Inc. project, kickstarted in 1992 by the track “Get Freaky Now”, which received great appreciation in the UK and represents one of the earliest examples of “made in Italy” acid jazz music.
His debut album “Love Unlimited” was released in 1996 on Milano 2000 and contained the track “Ainda Sonhar”, a composition that stands as one of the forerunners of the nu bossa genre and got included into tons of compilations all over the world. In 1997 he releases under the name Cosmorama a monothematic drum&bass project entitled “Space Odyssey”.
Mainly through the third album under the name S-Tone Inc., released in 2002 on Schema and entitled “Sobrenatural”, he refined his style, made of Brazilian, soul and jazz influences, without forgetting the experiences that he made with various Italian and British djs in the house music scene. S-Tone Inc had released his works with Italian and British labels, such as Schema, Irma, Acid Jazz, Centrestage.
In 2004 he produced Toco, a Brazilian artist, with the aim to revive the bossa nova tradition of the 60’s with an updated taste.
Both “Sobrenatural” and “Instalação Do Samba” by Toco were released in France on the label Bonsaï Music.
During 2004, he produced “Luz Y Sombra” featuring various musicians from the milanese jazz scene and from Brazil, with the intention to take a more acoustic direction than he had in the past, making a more discreet and minimal use of electronics. The album is to be considered one of his best for the quality and variety of the compositions, most of which have been licensed several times all over the world. “Moon In Libra” came after a period of four years which was dedicated both to the production of “Outro Lugar” by Toco and to the research of a more mature and personal language.
The album follows the same artistic path of the previous with a renewed passion for the Brazilian sonorities from the sixties, and is influenced by the soul jazz atmospheres connected to noir movies. The project featured well-known singers and musicians from the milanese jazz scene: the singers Laura Fedele, Angie Brown and Manuela Ravaglioli on one side, the Brazilians Toco and Adi Souza on the other. Furthermore the record featured the famous singer Rosalia De Souza and Kal dos Santos (from the band Mitoka Samba), who played a special role in the production of the pieces which bear Toco’s signature.
From 2009 to 2012 Stefano Tirone felt the need to experiment new sounds and atmospheres, more close to the rock influence of his early years, and this research resulted in the release of the album “Kino” under the name of Out of Limbo, a partnership with a german singer and Tomaz Di Cunto (Toco), who shows here a hidden and unexpected rock attitude.
After this stimulating experience, 2012 sees S-Tone Inc. going back to the sounds that made him famous. Stefano dig into to his unreleased material written during the last ten years, and after a careful listening session, he found gems that he had completely forgotten. The quality of the material convinced him and Schema to give light to these tracks that have been partially re-recorded and remixed, ranging from obscure remixes made by international artists to totally new tracks, worthy to be ranked in the S-Tone Inc. catalogue. Quite obviously, the title he chose is “Lost & Found”.
* * *
RELATED ALBUMS:
