Who?

Bill Moriarty has had a hand in some of our favorite local albums to come out over the last few years from groups like Dr. Dog, Man Man, the Swimmers and Make a Rising. This year, he’s upped the noisemaker ante by having his hand in one of the year’s best local records, Drink Up Buttercup’s Born & Thrown on a Hook, and his skillful production work with Dice Raw of the Legendary Roots Crew, who he mixed “100 (Philadelphia Historical Remix)” for. That song brings together a veritable who’s who of Philly hip-hop—Freeway, Schooly D, EST, Bonic—and features, from Raw, one of the best lines of the year: “You’re like a half off coupon/ Me, I’m like a fresh jar of Grey Poupon.” For a guy working in music, Moriarty’s incredibly approachable—a down-to-earth, affable lug who doesn’t have a cross word about any of the egos you just know he’s had to deal with in the bustling and budding career he’s been at for over a decade now. He counts the legendary Larry Gold as one of his mentors, and just this year Moriarty blazed out on his own to open his own recording space in East Falls after years of working at Kensington’s Meth Beach. “I would say [that] Bill, of all the engineers I’ve ever dealt with, would spend more hours trying stuff out in the studio than anyone,” Philadelphia producer/engineer Edan Cohen told PW back in July. “As soon as a session was over I’d be like, ‘I’m so tired, I’m gonna go home,’ and he’d be putting mics all over this giant staircase or under a piano bench to see what the drums sounded like through them.” Dude’s like a fresh jar of Grey Poupon. (B.Mc.) from Philadelphia Weekly