KKNOWLEDGE MAGAZINE UK (September 2005, Vol. 2, Issue 60)
Cover CD Competition: Unsigned Tunes

words by Chris Muniz:

STUNNA "PAIN"

A winner of our Decksterity mixtape competition in March 2001, we should have known that the bubbling jazzy mix from the budding House and Drum + Bass producer known as STUNNA (aka Jay Cappo) was someone to keep an eye on.

Having since come up in a major way, the Chicago-based STUNNA admits he's been holding it down musically ever since he was a youngster concentrating on his piano studies. Attracted and influenced by the likes of jazz, House, and the synthesised early-70s vibe of Herbie Hancock, the day the precocious 12 year-old Jay got a hold of a drum machine and an 8-bit keyboard with a built-in sampler things really started cracking.

After the realisation that heads like Public Enemy were actually making music out of bits and pieces from the jazz and funk he'd been listening to growing up, Jay became obsessed with piecing together his own creations using the sound palette of music's "funky past" as his foundation. Playing the keys for local Chi-town funk bands kept him rooted in the performance side of things but Jay soon found himself in the studio with local House heroes like Roy Davis Jr., collaborating on original bits and remixes for New Order, Esthero, Defected Records and Talkin' Loud.

Drum + Bass stepped things up to a fever pitch for Jay as the self-titled "professional sample-spotter" heard many of his favourite jazz-funk drummers getting cut-up and spat out in technically amazing ways. Jay was instantly hooked and after stocking up on vintage synths and studio gear, he locked himself in the studio and knocked out over 50 tracks in an attempt to refine his sound. "I'd say my sound is an updated melodic-jazz-funk-dub," explains Jay. "All the elements of dub, reggae, jazz, and rare groove present in D+B is really what attracted me to it in the first place. Looking at it this way, the root of my music hasn't changed, just the tempo."

While still producing House, broken-beat, and even performing and touring with a number of live D+B, funk and jazz bands, we're still betting the best is yet to come as none other than Nookie has begun to show interest in STUNNA, prophetically signing "PAIN" to his Phuzion/Strictly-Digital label just days before we go to press.

"Right now I'm just focusing on getting my head around all these new tracks and collaborations I've been working on," says Jay with a smile. "I'd love to DJ more around the country and eventually make it over to Europe to meet all my producer and label friends I've met on AIM but for now I'm just going to stay in the studio and keep pushing forward."