Crate Digging: Joshua Mooney, Music Supervisor

“…The music itself is more of a vehicle for his wry sometimes humorous delivery of insights into often the most mundane things - dancing with your friends at a bar, renting a flat in LA, missing summer when its winter...”

The Auditorium, Vol. 1 by Common & Pete Rock

I consider Pete Rock to be one of the all time greatest Hip Hop producers. Up there with Dilla, 9th Wonder, RZA, Madlib etc... I'll never forget those hazy days in my late teenage years listening to 'Petestrumentals' in the loft at my first shared house back in Birmingham with a bunch of mates just jamming out. He's one of those rare artists who have an unmistakably unique sound. When you hear a Pete Rock track you know it's him which is such a difficult thing to do in this day and age. With Common, he transcends just rap and represents the essence of the culture itself. So consistent for almost four decades now so the way they've come together on this project makes it super special and necessary for these times. The Grammy nomination was very much deserved.

Its very much what you've come to expect from Pete Rock sonically, beautifully weaved introspectively layered samples from all over the musical spectrum combined with that signature groove. Commons silky delivery over the top pushes it forward with some great features from Bilal & Jennifer Hudson.

The Track 'Fortunate' is my standout even though I know it was a Single etc... The way Pete flipped a tiny three seconds of 'Guarde Nos Olhos' By Ivan Lins and turned it into a full instrumental is nothing short of genius. Go and listen to the original song, the sample is about 20 seconds in, It's incredible to me to have the wherewithal to pick out that moment and re-contextualise it. That's why he's one of the GOATs though hey.

I, Jonathan by Jonathan Richman

I'm a bit of a Punk & New Wave nerd so I knew Jonathan Richman from his work with The Modern Lovers, I'd heard a few of the tunes off this record before but I'd never listened to it in full. I love the simplicity of the recording and arrangement and the cover art and album name represents that well. No bells and whistles, just fun tunes that pull at your raw emotions. It's what Punk is all about ey!

The most endearing thing about this album is in its simplicity. The music itself is more of a vehicle for his wry sometimes humorous delivery of insights into often the most mundane things - dancing with your friends at a bar, renting a flat in LA, missing summer when its winter. The less is more approach makes it really interesting, I don't think it would be the same album if it was produced any more than it is. You can see the inspiration it's given later generations of lo-fi musicians too. I feel like your Jeffrey Lewises and your Ariel Pinks wouldn't exist in the same way if it wasn't for Jonathan Richman.

Difficult to pick a standout track off this as it runs so well as a full album experience. The track 'Velvet Underground' is great, It's about his long adoration for the band and I believe he moved to NYC just to be around them before he formed Modern Lovers and slept on their managers couch for a while. The line "A spooky tone on a Fender bass Played less notes and left more space" is a good indication as to what he was trying to do with this album and there's a bit of a nod to 'Sister Ray' by Velvet Underground in there too. Lots of layers for such a sparse sounding record which is cool.