Ivan Ave & MNDSGN

1. Ivan Ave (Jakarta) & Mndsgn (Stones Throw)

Ivan signed with Berlin based Jakarta Records in 2014 to release Low Jams, a five track phenomenon produced by Stones Throw artist Mndsgn. The EP was described by Okayplayer.com as “an enveloping head nodder that peppers irresistible grooves with vivid double-entendres and exists in the same elusive strata of true school perfection occupied by Nas’ debut Illmatic LP.” In the fall of 2015 Ivan and long time collaborator Fredfades will be releasing another duo project on Jakarta, entitled Fruitful LP. Early in 2016 we can expect Ivan’s debut solo LP, produced exclusively by Mndsgn.

Ringgo Ancheta is an anomaly among hip-hop producers – not raised in the suburbs on a steady diet of video games and hip-hop, but in the forest like a beast. His parents were members of the Philippine arm of the Aum Supreme Truth Cult, whose venture into terrorist activity caused them to flee the group in the late 1980s. They were granted political asylum in the U.S. and settled in rural New Jersey, where Ancheta was raised on the outskirts of a commune without electricity while his father worked as a researcher at Princeton Neuroscience Institute.

As his trips into the city became more frequent, he began using the name Mndsgn (pronounced “mind design”), inspired by the Nas lyric, “my mind is seeing through your design like blind fury,” and a not-so-subtle nod to his father’s work in neuroscience.

His transformation complete, Mndsgn headed west. He now resides in Los Angeles, works with Stones Throw Records, who will release his debut album Yawn Zen in 2014.