Name Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte of 3OH!3.
Best known for
Being one of two dudes who can’t really dance, sings just OK, used to be slightly handsome, but can still rock a fuckin’ party. — Nat
Current city
Los Angeles. — Sean
Boulder, CO. — Nat
Really want to be in
Margeritaville. — Sean
Anglet, France with my family and my kid—hanging on the beach and eating some sort of baguette sandwich. — Nat
My current music collection has a lot of
The Wiggles. — Sean
Kid’s music. — Nat
And a little bit of
3OH!3 (rehearsing for tour). — Sean
Calypso. — Nat
Preferred format
I love vinyl if it wouldn’t get utterly frisbeed by my kids. — Sean
Streaming. It’s convenient and easy to load up. These days I’ll put on a “playlist” generated from a song I like and it’ll load up a bunch of shit that’s good. — Nat
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:
Sean Foreman
1
Alopecia, WHY?
WHY? Caught my attention as early as middle school when I bought the Anticon collective album. He is so innovative and clever. Love how he is able to seamlessly connect hip-hop and indie sounding instrumentation in a super-smart and sometimes also irreverent manner. Big inspiration to me.
2
American Beauty, Grateful Dead
My Dad is a Deadhead. It’s just in my blood. I don’t necessarily love any one album per se, but this one has a lot of my favorite songs.
3
Music from Big Pink, The Band
I mean, every person in this band is so utterly specialized and unique. Rick Danko’s voice sort of does something to my heart and tears come out of my eyes.
4
3rd Eye Vision, Hieroglyphics
This album transports me directly to a place. I looooove all the emcees in this group. Del is one of the most underrated rappers to do it.
5
Clean, Soccer Mommy
This album got me through a very dark time of my life. Would fall asleep to it every night. Such good lyric writing and instrumentation. A front to back listen every time.
Nathaniel Motte
1
Hotel Vast Horizon, Chris Whitley
I can remember being 14 or 15 and listening to this record on my Discman in Bayonne, France, where my mom’s family is from. I’d be jet-lagged and waking up at 4:00 a.m. and going for a walk at sunrise through the medieval old city. It was magic. It’s one of the only albums I can put on my headphones on an airplane ride and fall asleep. I can
tell how long I’ve been asleep by where I am on the record when I wake up. It’s in my blood at this point.
2
Man Overboard, Buck 65
This record helped me understand the link between listening to music and potentially being able to make my own music. Knowing that Buck 65 produced his own shit, rapped on it, scratched on it, and did everything in between eventually empowered me to start messing around with my own “proto-beats” and start recording myself. Buck’s rapping was so different and interesting.
3
It’s Not Me It’s You, Lily Allen
I think this record is a pretty perfect coalescence of great storytelling, stellar musicianship, and excellent production. Greg Kurstin performed his role as producer / songwriter / musician perfectly on this album, and he and Lily formed something really special together.
4
Liquid Swords, GZA
This album is just bars, man. GZA’s delivery is so good and I think there’s a feeling that really ties these songs together as an album, not just a collection of songs. RZA curated a tone for the whole project that’s so good.
5
Living with the Law, Chris Whitley
At the ripe old age of 41 I think I’ve finally cemented my dreaded “favorite artist” label (I never really wanted to pin it down so finitely) as Chris Whitley. His music is such an amazing amalgam of styles, and I think he was such an honest and true artist. His music (and music in general) also represents family to me. I grew up surrounded by music and inheriting my dad’s musical tastes. This early Chris Whitley record feels like a warm embrace to me. My wife’s heard it enough to love it now, and my daughter digs it too. What could be better?!
