Биография

Vex Ruffin is one of the least predictable artists tightly affiliated with the Stones Throw label. The producer has mixed and switched between a variety of styles ranging from clattering post-punk to hallucinatory soul, and his musical outlook has been shaped by his Filipino upbringing to such an extent that he sees his recordings as an extension of OPM, short for Original Pilipino Music -- or Original Pinoy Music, itself covering a wide swath of genres. Ruffin's vast assortment of highly personal recordings have appeared in various shapes and sizes and include the albums Vex Ruffin (2013), Conveyor (2017), and LiteAce Frequency (2020). Raised in Los Angeles and Manila, Vex Ruffin (born Ryan Africa) became a voracious listener as a youngster. It wasn't until his early twenties, when he bought an SP-303 sampler, that he started making music. In his spare time, he soon became a serious home-recording boffin, pulling sounds from everything within his reach. Ruffin sent demos to numerous labels and heard back from only Stones Throw, which in 2011 became his primary outlet with the release of "I'm Losing Control" (a postcard flexi) and the Crash Course EP. By the end of that year, he had also issued a pair of garage-punk EPs -- credited to Vex Ruffin and the Lo-Fi Jerkheads -- through Slovenly Recordings subsidiary Black Gladiator. Following the freely available digital download Eulogy EP and the cassette offering Same Thing Tomorrow in 2012, Ruffin made his proper full-length debut in 2013 with Vex Ruffin, on which he was helped only by Folerio (aka Stones Throw head Peanut Butter Wolf) and Cole M.G.N., both of whom were credited with "additional knob twiddling." Just before the self-titled LP was issued, Ruffin partnered with James Pants under the alias Krista for a one-off single, and collaborative work continued during the years that preceded his second full-length. He produced the majority of the tracks on the Koreatown Oddity's Finna Be Past Tense, which in 2017 arrived ahead of his own Conveyor. That comparatively bristly and funky affair featured an appearance from legendary artist and hip-hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy on "The Balance," also issued as a single. Ruffin reappeared in 2020 with dazed, openhearted material offered on the six-track Emilio and full-length LiteAce Frequency. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi