Wax Tailor

True to his stage name, Wax Tailor digitally stitches vinyl (i.e. wax) samples from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s into bespoke musical finery. Born Jean-Christophe Le Saoût in Normandy, France, in 1975, Tailor started the rap group La Formule as a teenager and launched his Lab’Oratoire label in 1998. His 2005 debut album, Tales of the Forgotten Melodies, placed him among crate diggers like J Dilla and DJ Shadow and premiered a template of primarily downbeat grooves underneath nostalgic arrangements and vocal samples. As his creative ambition grew, Tailor placed strings at the forefront of 2009’s In the Mood for Life, and he upped the ante in 2014 on Phonovisions Symphonic Orchestra, reimagining his own music with a 35-piece ensemble plus choir. The activist oratory of 2016’s By Any Beats Necessary set the stage for 2021’s The Shadow of Their Suns, his conceptual deep dive into two decades of Euro-American politics—an era perhaps best epitomized by the track “Misery.”