Music
Crate Digging: A History
One of the touchstones of hip-hop, how can one revive this practice in the age of digital music?
Crate Digging. Literally. The practice of rummaging through crates of records at car boot sales, flea markets and
second-hand record shops originated as far back as the early 1970s as hip-hop DJs, hungry for samples to pepper their beats with, turned to vinyl records as a way to integrate sounds from genres like disco, jazz, and funk into their music. These pioneers of the genre would cut, mix, and recontextualise familiar hooks and obscure cuts alike to generate new and fresh aural textures out of their musical archives. This practice of sampling can be seen in a wide variety of musical releases today, from pop and hip-hop, to electronic and R&B, while access to physical crates is becoming more and more of a luxury. With record shops facing alarming rates of closure due to changes in listening habits and the difficulties faced by small businesses during the pandemic, it has become more important than ever to preserve and continue the custom which has birthed some of the past few decades’ most beloved and important music. Once only accessible to those with a record player, labels such as Habibi Funk, Numero Group and Dust to Digital have begun the process of reissuing vinyl recordings with previously limited releases for the modern digital listener. What follows is a short list of some of these records, reissued onto Bandcamp and other streaming services for your listening and foraging pleasure. I hope you are able to find something new to add to your digital music collection within this short selection and that it perhaps inspires you to do some of your own hunting once shops begin to open up again. Happy digging!
1. Disco Jazz – Rupa (disco)
Perhaps one of my favourite EPs of all time. This masterclass in disco grooves and catchy hooks could have perhaps remained unheard by future generations, were it not for it having been spontaneously discovered and uploaded to YouTube. Created as a result of a happy circumstance on a family holiday to Canada in 1982, the album is a fabulous mix of disco and funk rhythms on a backdrop of Indian instrumentation. Selling only very few copies, it wasn’t until Rupa’s son googled the album 20 years after its release that she even knew of how beloved Disco Jazz would come to be. It has since been reissued by Numero Group Records, allowing for it to achieve cult-like status among disco fans, transfixed by its effortlessly funky energy and rhythms. Stand out tracks are the absolutely glorious ‘Aaj Shanibar’ and the glitteringly funky ‘Moja Bhari Moja’. Give it a spin next time you’re sat somewhere sunny; you won’t regret it.
2. Love is a Hurtin’ Thing – Gloria Ann Taylor (soul) Another cult classic, this soul record times in at 35 minutes yet is absolutely full to the brim with haunting piano chords, powerful vocals and killer guitar riffs. Strikingly off the wall and completely innovative in its fusion of genres, this album remained a hotly sought-after item for collectors for years until its reissue in 2015 by Ubiquity Records. Every new listen uncovers a new common thread between tracks or an energising musical phrase which you just didn’t catch before.If there were ever an album to take to a desert island it would be this one. 28
