About this Artist
Born Matthew Fowler on Feb. 17, 1975, producer MUMBLES has lived a life rich with musical diversity and spiritual inspiration. Raised in a family of professional jazz musicians along with older brother Marvin Fowler (Dj Marvski) of the U.N.I.T.Y. Committee, Mumbles developed an ear for jazz and hip-hop music from an early age. His father, Steve Fowler, a professional flute and sax player, along with uncles Bruce, Tom, Walt, and Ed formed a musical legacy spanning from the early 70's with the band, the Fowler Brothers' Airpocket. Collectively, the brothers played with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Bobby McFerrin, Linda Rondstadt, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, James Taylor and Brian Setzer, to name just a few. Being raised in such a diverse and musically stimulating environment, Mumbles tuned his ear early on to the complexity of rhythm, melody and harmony.
After being inspired by the production and record collections of older brother Marvksi and Cut Chemist, who had together formed the influential rap group Unity Committee (of Jurassic 5), Mumbles decided to embark on his own mission of record digging, sampling, and beat re-construction. In 1994, Mumbles met Aceyalone through an A&R of Grand Royal Records, and recorded three tracks, two of which appeared on Acey's first solo release "All Balls Don't Bounce" on Capitol Records. In 1997, two of Mumbles' tracks appeared on Ubiquity's release "Audio Alchemy". In 1998, Aceyalone and Mumbles collaborated on the full length album, "A Book of Human Language", which has since been widely acclaimed as an underground hip-hop classic. In 2005, a musical collaboration with Gone Beyond entitled "S.E.V.A" (Spirit Evolves Via Awareness) was released on Mush records, fusing the sacred sounds of the East with the Hip-Hop culture of the West.
Mumbles' debut solo album on Sound In Color Records, entitled "Illumination/Transformation" is set to be released in the fall of 2007, and features guests Aceyalone, Kamau Daaood, Flora Purim, Tracy McMillan and more. Mumbles is currently in collaboration with Cut Chemist and Gone Beyond on a joint project entitled "Notes From the Underground", a hip-hop re-interpretation of the classical music of 20th century Russia.
Born Dahvin Bugas on September 26, 1977 into an eccentric family heavily involved in Eastern culture and philosophy, producer GONE BEYOND grew up in and around centers devoted to art and spiritual practice in New York and California, eventually landing him in the eclectic multi-cultural city of Santa Fe. The moniker, Gone Beyond was derived from the Tibetan mantra "Om Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha." In translation the mantra or prayer means "Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond, Gone Beyond the Beyond, In Complete Enlightenment." At age 15, Dahvin and his brother Daniel formed a hip-hop production team and launched the Santa Fe rap group, the Unknown.
With four full length independent productions dating back to 1993, Gone Beyond is no rookie to the music world. Having headlined shows with DJ Q-Bert and the Living Legends, to engineering sound for the Neville Brothers, the Monkeys and Ziggy Marley, to recording Gene Hackman and Randy Travis at Stepbridge Studios, his experience in the professional world of music is broad and extensive.
After the sucessful release of "S.E.V.A." on Mush Records (2005), a collaborative full-length effort with Mumbles, Gone Beyond has devoted much of his attention to the completion and release of his solo debut album. He has also begun a joint production project with Mumbles and Cut Chemist entitled "Notes From The Underground", a re-interpretation of the musical themes and ideals of the great 20th century Russian composers, reframed accourding to the styles and standards of modern hip-hop and electronica production. Gone Beyond has developed a sound which is truly based on a depth of feeling and expression, continuing in the linage of great sampling artistry.
Gone Beyond currently resides in his home town Santa Fe, NM.
03/07