Flash forward

Listening to the radio as a kid in his dad's mechanic's shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Mayer Hawthorne got a taste for soul. Until recently, he was a hip-hop DJ, producer and member of pop-rappers Now On, but changing direction has made him more popular "with the ladies", he laughs self-deprecatingly. Plus, the 30-year-old's label (Stones Throw) will now allow him to indulge his vinyl fetish - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out, the first single from his imminent debut LP, appears on a retro heart-shaped disc. The album - lush and modern - was made in his LA bedroom. "I'm a perfectionist," he says. "I'll record a bass line 100 times to get it how I hear it in my head."