Philly’s Eraserhood Sound creates new-school grooves with old-school gear

Founded in 2019, Eraserhood Sound is a Philadelphia-based studio and record label putting a contemporary spin on the sounds of ’60s and ’70s soul, funk, and psychedelia. Founded by musicians/producers Maxwell Perla and Vincent John, EHS operates out of a studio originally built for Questlove. Outfitted with a battery of vintage analog synthesizers, tape machines, and old-school gear, the studio has turned out a wide range of retro-styled music from jazz vibraphonist Angelo Outlaw to Perla and John’s cosmic-funk side project Fantasy 15, as well as a variety of outside productions. With their commitment to vintage recording techniques and vinyl distribution, EHS is revitalizing the styles and practices that defined the golden era of recorded music history.

Whether it was The Mizell Brothers at the famous Sound Factory, Rick Hall at Muscle Shoals, or Gamble & Huff at Sigma Sound here in Philly, producers working out of now-iconic recording studios created some of the greatest popular music. The care, dedication, and attention to detail they poured into these recordings are what make them so enduring and magical. While technological innovations, the musicians’ great talent and care, and producers and engineers involved made the golden age of record-making possible, large influxes of cash from record labels bankrolled the era. Looking back on this time period, it becomes clear that the rise of these legendary studios did not happen in a vacuum. Records of the time were born through a union of art, commerce, and technology. Advancements in home recording and digital audio production technology in the ‘90s and ‘00s meant that the sun was slowly setting on the reign of recording studios. As music production became more affordable and portable—while the product became less profitable—a studio could exist anywhere, a reality that made old-school-style studios of the past less essential.

This is (partially) what makes EHS such an impressive anomaly. Given the music industry’s current state—in which labels churn out microwavable songs for maximum profit—EHS produces records with care and attention to detail. Over the past seven years, Perla and John have released projects brimming with the kind of energy, creativity, and humanness that marked some of the past’s great records. But before John and Perla began recording and releasing their work, they started out as childhood friends who bonded over music.

“We met when we were kids in the concert band at school,” Perla recalled.

“We would play in school, but we quickly started making music outside of school in my parents’ garage,” John said.

With John on bass and Perla on drums, the preteen duo cut their teeth playing along to the now-defunct Y100 (WPLY) on the radio and various jams from John’s older sister’s CD collection. Soon enough, the duo was hip to an album that exposed them to the funkier side of things.

“My uncle gave me P-Funk’s ‘Mothership Connection‘ when I was like 9 years old,” John said. “And that’s advanced. It’s not like you’re getting ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.’ You’re getting mid-70s heavily psychedelic soul.”

From 2009 to 2018, John had been living and playing music in New York. In 2018, he left and moved back to Philly. Naturally, the two old friends reconnected to hang out and play, just as they had done as kids.

“When I came back, I had a home studio, and I would just start calling him,” John said. “I was like, ‘Come over and let’s make stuff.’ We didn’t have a plan; it’s like I had an artist project, he was in a band, and we wanted to just be busy making stuff together again, which evolved into, ‘Let’s find a commercial space, set up a label, set up a place to make noise and make records.'”

Inspired by the Truth & Soul label that Leon Michels of El Michels Affair founded with Jeff “Dynamite” Silverman, John and Perla knew they wanted to create a label and production company that married new music with vintage aesthetics. With Silverman acting as mentor and sounding board, Perla and John gained the necessary knowledge to develop something both indebted to how music was made in the past and distinct and new. Armed with the vision and knowledge to create the label and studio, John and Perla needed a home base. After briefly working out of another studio, the duo got word that Questlove’s former studio was available, so they jumped at the chance to take over the space. Located in the city’s Callowhill section, the EHS space is outfitted with vintage synthesizers and tape machines. It also features a room with high ceilings and custom shelving that once housed Questlove’s massive record collection. EHS uses this room to store its stock of vinyl LPs and 45s that the label produces. The studio is a laboratory for creativity and a testament to the EHS crew’s dedication to the craft of music-making. EHS is quietly building one of the best catalogs in contemporary independent music. From Fantasy 15’s elaborate sci-fi concept album Zoltandia to Market East‘s lush, soulful gem French Street, records bearing the EHS signature are stylistically broad yet remarkably consistent in quality. One particularly impressive release in the EHS catalog is Sound Spectrum: A Collection Of Themes From Carl The Collector. Created for the PBS Kids series Carl The Collector about a raccoon on the autism spectrum, the soundtrack blends deep funk with disco, Fela-style Afrobeat and trippy fuzz guitars to underscore the colorful, heartfelt show. 

“The creator of the show, Zachariah O’Hora, was a fan of our label before we knew him. He let us know that he was making a TV show and he envisioned us doing the underscore for it, which is not something we ever thought we would get into. So we took a meeting with him and his whole prerogative was to make kids’ music sound like sophisticated record head music that kids and everyone can enjoy.”

Looking forward, EHS has many new projects on the horizon. In addition to producing and touring with acts outside the label, they’re gearing up for a new EP from Brooklyn-based singer Yvonne Ambrée, and follow-up releases from Angelo Outlaw and Fantasy 15. It’s clear that whatever Maxwell Perla, Vincent John, and their team touch, it’ll be funky and innovative. Above all, EHS is evidence of the artistic return you get by putting real care and craft into the music.