Mayer Hawthorne Returns to Stones Throw: Tuxedo Full-Length LP (Prod. Jake-One)

It's been widely speculated since their mysterious 3-song Tuxedo Funk EP drop that illusive Disco-Funk duo Tuxedo were in fact composed of New-Wop crooner Mayer Hawthorne and his producer buddy, Jake-One. It's also been a sort of "music biz" insider joke since day one that Tuxedo's name itself was a discrete, yet tasteful, jab at Justin Timberlake's then just-released "Suit & Tie" and apparent assimilation of Hawthorne's whole old-school-meets-new-school Doo-Wop shtick he's adopted in recent years. "The Tuxedo collaboration began with an exchange of mixtapes back in 2006. The fruits of a long-standing kinship were three tracks that mysteriously showed up on Internet doorsteps nearly two years ago. In between personal projects, these three tracks became a full album's-worth of Tuxedo," Stones Throw exuberantly wrote in a December 1st album press release. "[Tuxedo] are descendants of the one-word moniker family of Funk, where you will find groups such as Chic, Shalamar, Plush & Zapp." Their March 3rd album unveiling will additionally mark the triumphant return of golden child, Mayer Hawthorne, after he left Stones Throw for the major leagues upon the release of his flawless 2009 career-shaping debut, A Strange Arrangement. Tuxedo's 12-track self-titled album was mixed by "original Disco don dada," John Morales of 1980's Dance record editing and remixing team, Morales & Munzibai (aka M&M). Hawthorne flew out to Morales' South Plainfield, NJ-based home-studio during the mixing process, wherein he laments, "his wife made me spaghetti and everything!" Tuxedo's Funk-drenched album is currently available for pre-order over at Stones Throw, as well as iTunes, nearly three months ahead of it's March 3rd 2LP/digital world-wide release.