Jack Davey on Digable Planets' "Reachin'"

Mar 22, 2018

Miss Jack Davey's contribution to LA's alternative soul scene began over a decade ago with her work as one half of the group J*Davey. Their debut project, "The Beauty In Distortion" a mix of punk, funk, synth and soul, was a must have for tastemakers and made a splash both in Los Angeles and around the world. When she's not writing songs and producing, she can be found at a myriad of cool spots around the city, spreading the good news of good music as a DJ and selector.

Davey wanted to get into Digable Planets' debut album, now celebrating its 25th anniversary: Reachin' (a new refutation of time and space). Coming out at the height of hip-hop's love affair with jazz, Reachin' has been lauded as "an album about freedom—from convention, from oppression, from the limits imposed by the space-time continuum."

We had a chance to talk with Davey about Digable Planets' "Rebirth of Slick" and its cool factor, Brooklyn and its relationship to the album, Ladybug Mecca's butter voice, and what's it's like to be cool and not know it.
More on Reachin'

• Sheldon Pearce's 25th anniversary revisit/review for Pitchfork.
• Oliver and Joseph Schloss' "After Further Review" revisit of the album from 2013.
• Chris Read's 25th anniversary mixtape.

More on Jack Davey and J*Davey

• Hope Tea's interview with Jack Davey.
• Jacqueline Whatley's profile of the group for LA Weekly.
• J*Davey Wiki | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Reachin' unless indicated otherwise):

• “Rebirth of Slick”
• Georgia Anne Muldrow: Olesi: Fragments of an Earth “Wrong Way”
• Sy Smith: The Syberspace Social “Aquarius Rising”
• Sa-Ra: The Hollywood Recordings “Glorious”
• Flying Lotus: Los Angeles “Roberta Flack (Feat Dolly)”
• Dam-Funk: Toeachizown “Searching 4 Funk’s Future”
• J*Davey: The Beauty in Distortion / The Land of the Lost “No More”
• “La Femme Fetal”
• Guru: Jazzmatazz “Loungin’”
• Young Deciples: Road To Freedom “As We Come (To Be)”
• “Jimmi Diggin Cats”
• Digable Planets: Blowout Comb “Graffiti”
• “Where I’m From”
• Fugees: The Score “Fu-Gee-La”
• UTD: Manifest Destiny “Manifest Destiny”
• “What Cool Breezes Do”
• “Last of the Spiddyocks”
• “Swoon Units”
• “Escapism (Getting Free)”
• “Nickel Bags”
• E-40: My Ghetto Report Card “Yay Area”

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!