Little Foxes is a Sacramento-area electronic project, described as a side project of local producer Dusty Brown, made in collaboration with folk singer-songwriter Jacob Golden.[1][2][3] Its sound has been characterized as downtempo, psychedelic, and trip-hop oriented.[3]
At a glance
- Side project / collaboration anchored by Dusty Brown, a Sacramento electronic producer.[1][2]
- Pairs Brown with singer-songwriter Jacob Golden under the Little Foxes moniker.[1][3]
- Began as a set of EPs intended as a precursor to a full-length album.[1]
- The earliest known release is a 2006 EP, predating the project's ~2010 public profile.[4]
- Local: rooted in the Sacramento scene; a recurring fixture at local nights and festivals.[2][5][6]
Origin and personnel
Little Foxes grew out of producer Dusty Brown's prolific home-studio output. By mid-2010, Brown reported that during a roughly three-year period out of the public eye he had prepared several EPs with Jacob Golden under the group moniker Little Foxes, describing that EP work as "just a precursor to a full-length album."[1] Jacob Golden's own account frames the project the same way: he teamed up with local electronic producer Dusty Brown for a project named Little Foxes, a collaboration that transformed his sound palette toward downtempo, psychedelic, and trip-hop territory and revealed new versatility in his work.[3] Golden credited playing with Brown as helping him reconnect with the simple joy of making music after years of soured label experiences and a period away from music entirely.[3]
The project is consistently identified in coverage as a Dusty Brown side project.[2][5] In one festival writeup it is referred to as "Dusty Brown's Little Foxes project."[5]
Wikipedia's discography for Jacob Golden lists a "Little Foxes EP (2006)" as a collaborative release,[4] suggesting the partnership began earlier than the ~2010 window reflected in Submerge's coverage. Jacob Golden is categorized on Wikipedia as a "Musician from Sacramento, California," though the article body describes him as "from Portland, Oregon"[4] — a discrepancy internal to Wikipedia. The spine's characterization of Golden as a local songwriter with roots in the Sierra Nevada foothills[3] is separately sourced through Submerge and is not in conflict with either Wikipedia reading; the Sacramento category and the local Submerge coverage converge on his Sacramento-area ties.
Heist Magazine's 2012 SEMF preview explicitly identifies the festival lineup entry as "Little Foxes (Jacob Golden)," directly linking the project name to Golden, while listing Dusty Brown as a separate act on the same bill.[7]
Local status
Little Foxes is local to the Greater Sacramento region. Its principal, Dusty Brown, is repeatedly described as a Sacramento artist — "a Sacramento guy, who nobody literally knows who we are outside of Sacramento"[1] — and his Little Foxes work originated in his Sacramento home studio.[1] Collaborator Jacob Golden is described as a local songwriter whose hometown is in the Sierra Nevada foothills.[3] When DJ Whores billed his HUMP anniversary party as "locals only," the bill included "Dusty Brown's Little Foxes project," explicitly classing it as a local act.[5]
Evidence quote: "Dusty produced a hefty chunk of the upcoming Who Cares record and prepared several EPs with Jacob Golden under the group moniker Little Foxes."[1] — combined with Brown being "a Sacramento guy" and Golden a "local songwriter."[1][3]
Live activity and scene relationships
Little Foxes appeared regularly at Sacramento-area shows and electronic events in the early 2010s:
- The project performed as a supporting act at The New Humans' first EP release show for Avalanche on Aug. 21, 2010 at The Townhouse, billed alongside FAVORS' live debut.[2]
- It was part of DJ Whores' "locals only" HUMP anniversary party in November 2011, an event noted as quite possibly HUMP's final night.[5]
- Little Foxes was among the local acts announced for the 2012 Sacramento Electronic Music Festival (SEMF), the three-day festival held May 3–5, 2012 at Harlow's and Momo Lounge, which mixed national and local talent.[8]
At SEMF 2012, according to the Sacramento News & Review's preview, Little Foxes performed on Friday alongside Jantsen and Mux Mool, among others.[9] Heist Magazine's preview of the same festival listed the act as "Little Foxes (Jacob Golden)" on a bill that also featured Dusty Brown as a separate performer.[7] Brooklyn Vegan covered the festival in the context of Death Grips failing to appear, with the headline naming Little Foxes alongside Dusty Brown and Shlohmo as acts who did perform.[10]
These appearances place Little Foxes within the same Sacramento electronic and underground-club circuit as Dusty Brown's other work, The New Humans, FAVORS, and the DJ-night ecosystem around the Townhouse and Press Club.[2][8][5][6]
Discography and recorded output
The Submerge sources do not name specific Little Foxes releases beyond describing the project's recorded output as several EPs prepared by Brown with Golden, framed as a precursor to an intended full-length album.[1] No confirmation of the full-length's release appears in the corpus.
Wikipedia's discography for Jacob Golden lists a "Little Foxes EP (2006)" as a collaborative release,[4] which is the earliest named recording attributed to the project.
The single "We Are Fascinated Initially" offers a documented window into the project's working method. The track was inspired by a guitar loop Dusty Brown recorded at age 17; the collaboration was described as creating "a vision of a drum and bass show performed by a '60s-era folk band."[11] The recording featured a broken organ, a hand-me-down SIEL DK-600 synthesizer, and tambourine.[12] Initially set aside as just a sketch, Brown and Golden returned to finish the track after Scott Hansen (Tycho) heard the rough demo and insisted they release it.[13]