J Rocc - A Wonderful Letter (LP)

J Rocc’s A Wonderful Letter lands like a postcard from a friend who knows every backstreet and barbecue spot in Los Angeles. It’s his second solo LP after 2011’s Some Cold Rock Stuf, and it arrives with the easy authority you’d expect from a Beat Junkies founder and long‑time Stones Throw mainstay. Released on 17 June 2022 via Stones Throw, it wears its premise plainly. J Rocc framed it as a love letter to his city, and you can hear that pride in the way each idea is stitched together, not as a museum piece, but as a living mix that keeps moving.

J Rocc has always been a DJ first. You hear that in the pacing, the transitions, the way he lets drums breathe before dropping a hook that feels like it’s spun from the booth at 1.30am. The record moves through LA’s musical neighbourhoods with a crate digger’s curiosity. One minute you’re in electro and boogie territory, all 808 pop and sly synth graffiti. The next, dusty soul chops and funk basslines roll out like warm tarmac, with crisp snares that sit right in the pocket. He’s not trying to dazzle with acrobatics, though the scratches are sharp and tasteful. The real flex is curation. He knows when to loop, when to flip, when to leave space for the groove to sell itself.

Cameos are smart and rooted in history rather than hype. The Egyptian Lover turns up and brings that unmistakable West Coast electro flair, a perfect nod to a lineage that runs from Uncle Jamm’s Army to today’s beat scene. The Koreatown Oddity’s presence adds another LA voice with character and a storyteller’s grin, cutting through the instrumentals with the kind of cadence that makes you lean in. The features never feel bolted on. They help sketch the map J Rocc’s drawing, reminding you this is a city of many lanes, and he’s driving them all with the windows down.

What keeps me coming back is how relaxed it all feels. Plenty of producers chase the feeling of a classic Stones Throw cut. J Rocc already lived it, whether on stage as Madlib’s DJ during the Jaylib era or in endless radio mixes and club sets that fed a generation of heads. Here, he folds that experience into something warm and generous. There are moments that echo the grit of SP‑era drums without getting hung up on nostalgia, and there are sections where he lets a melody shimmer just long enough to be romantic before the next idea steers in. It plays like a night out that hits three different parties but never loses the thread.

On wax, the album makes even more sense. Low end has weight without mud, and the highs carry that faint dusty sparkle that sample‑based records trade in. If you’re chasing J Rocc vinyl, A Wonderful Letter is the one to pull now, the sort of LP that sounds great on a Sunday arvo with coffee or loud on a weeknight when you need a quick shot of LA energy. Plenty of shops stocking vinyl records Australia wide have been carrying the title, and if you prefer to buy J Rocc records online, keep an eye on the Stones Throw store and local independents. J Rocc albums on vinyl tend to stick around, but the good ones also disappear when you blink, so don’t sleep on the A Wonderful Letter vinyl pressing if you see it in the wild. It’s the kind of staff‑pick you’d expect to find thumb‑tacked above the counter of a Melbourne record store, scribbled with a note that just says “trust me.”

A Wonderful Letter doesn’t shout for attention. It cruises. It feels lived in, like a drive along Sunset where the lights hit just right and the radio keeps tossing up songs you didn’t know you needed. That’s the magic here. J Rocc isn’t just paying homage to LA’s past. He’s showing how those sounds still move through the present, folded into new shapes with the touch of someone who’s spent decades listening closely. If you’ve ever loved the way this city gets under a beat and into your bloodstream, this record will feel like home.