Cameron Stallones, better known as Sun Araw, is an American musician. Previously a member of the band Magic Lantern, he has released several albums of

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

, including a collaboration with Jamaican reggae group

The Congos The Congos are a reggae vocal group from Jamaica which formed as the duo "Ashanti" Roy Johnson (tenor) (b. Roydel Johnson, 1947, Hanover, Jamaica) and Cedric Myton (falsetto) (b. 1947, Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica), later becoming a trio ...

. He has also worked as part of the Not Not Fun label 'supergroup' Vibes.

Biography

Originally from

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, Stallones now resides in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

.Steeply, M. Hugh 2009 "http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/sun-araw Sun Araw: Interview", tinymixtapes.com, August 2009, retrieved 2012-05-20 Stallones was associated with the Not Not Fun label, and released his debut album, ''The Phynx'', in 2008.True, Chris "http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sun-araw-p1179756/biography Sun Araw Biography",

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, retrieved 2012-05-20 This was followed later that year with ''Beach Head''.Raggett, Ned "http://www.allmusic.com/album/beach-head-r1716226/review ''Beach Head'' Review",

, retrieved 2012-05-20 He has been prolific since then with three albums released in 2010 and two in 2011. Stallones also collaborated with

Pocahaunted Pocahaunted (often shortened by the band to P-haunt) was a hypnagogic pop project based in Los Angeles, California founded in 2005 by Amanda Brown and Bethany Cosentino. History Amanda Brown co-founded Not Not Fun Records in 2006; she and fr ...

on the ''Passage'' album. Stallones set up his Sun Ark studio in his Long Beach home, where he records most of his music. His 2012 collaboration with M. Geddes Gengras and The Congos ''Icon Give Thank'' reached number seven on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Top World Albums chart. Sun Araw and The Congos also performed live together.

Name

''Araw'' is a Tagalog word meaning

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

or day, depending on

context Context may refer to: * Context (language use), the relevant constraints of the communicative situation that influence language use, language variation, and discourse summary Computing * Context (computing), the virtual environment required to su ...

, so Stallones'

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

literally translates to ''sun sun''. However, as Stallones recounted to

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

, he considers his name to mean "''sun day''", which is a pun referring to

Sunday Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week. For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday ...

, and more specifically the Christian Sabbath day. Therefore, Stallones considers his stage name to mean "''sacred rest''", despite "rest" not being one of the meanings of ''araw''. One justification for this he provided was that he participates for a time in many bandsbut his

one man show A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieties, including auto ...

Sun Araw is something he can always rely on when he takes a break from other music projects.

Musical style

His 2010 album ''Off Duty'' was described by

writer Gregory Heaney as "pulsing, Krautrock-influenced

retro-futuristic Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipatin ...

lo-fi."

Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born October 25, 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', described Sun Araw's music as "a happy jungle of electronic repetition and live playing. Loops and echoes reconfigured reggae, funk and Afrobeat in dizzying ways; the music cackled and hopped, ready to trip up dancers or just get trippy in decidedly 21st-century groove." His style has been characterized as experimental, containing "sampled loops, echoed vocals, bursting bass, and random moments." His music has also been described as " neo-dub" and "

psych-rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

Discography

Albums

*''The Phynx'' (2008), Not Not Fun *''Beach Head'' (2008), Not Not Fun *''Heavy Deeds'' (2009), Not Not Fun *''On Patrol'' (2010), Not Not Fun *''Night Gallery'' (2011),

Thrill Jockey Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago. History Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...

- with

Eternal Tapestry Eternal(s) or The Eternal may refer to: * Eternity, an infinite amount of time, or a timeless state * Immortality or eternal life * God, the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith in monotheism Comics, film and television * ...

*''

Ancient Romans In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

'' (2011), Sun Ark/ Drag City *''Icon Give Thank'' (2012), RVNG Intl - with M. Geddes Gingras and The Congos, released with the ''Icon Eye'' film in the FRKWYS series *''The Inner Treaty'' (2012), Sun Ark/Drag City *''Belomancie'' (2014), Sun Ark/Drag City *''Gazebo Effect'' (2015), Sun Ark/Drag City *''Music from Harvester'' (movie soundtrack) (2015), Sun Ark - with Nicholas Malkin *''The Saddle of the Increate'' (2017), Sun Ark/Drag City *''Guarda in alto'' (movie soundtrack) (2018), Goodfellas *''Rock Sutra'' (2020), Sun Ark/Drag City

EPs

*''Boat Trip'' (2008), Woodsist *''Leaves Like These'' (2009), Sun Ark *''In Orbit'' (2009), Stunned Records - with

Matthew Lessner Matthew Lessner is an artist and independent filmmaker. Biography Born in Walnut Creek, California, Lessner was raised in Roseburg, Oregon, where he attended Roseburg High School. He graduated in 2005 from Chapman University, where he studi ...

*''Off Duty'' (2010), Woodsist *''Major Grotto'' (2010), Sun Ark

Singles

*''Sun Ark'' (2010), Not Not Fun *''Houston Abstros'' (2011),

Monofonus Press Monofonus Press is a multi-media organization that was founded in 2007 by Meef Bestest Frenz in Austin, Texas. The initial mission of the company was to combine the artistic expressions of multiple artists into a cohesive package that recognized th ...

In popular culture

* The tracks "Harken Sawshine", "Horse Steppin", as well as an original cover of

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

's "Thrasher" were featured in the 2011 independent feature film '' The Woods'' written and directed by

. * The tracks "Horse Steppin" and "Deep Cover" were featured in the 2012 video game ''

Hotline Miami ''Hotline Miami'' is a top-down shooter video game by Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin, collectively known as Dennaton Games. The game was published by Devolver Digital and released on 23 October 2012 for Microsoft Windows. Set in 1989 Mia ...

''. * Sun Araw stars in the 2013 short film '' Chapel Perilous,'' written and directed by

, which won the Audience Award at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Araw Living people American experimental musicians American reggae guitarists American male guitarists American rock guitarists Neo-psychedelia Musicians from Austin, Texas Hypnagogic pop musicians Guitarists from Texas Year of birth missing (living people)