Ghost Rock is the new album from the Michigan-based collective NOMO. The album, produced by Warn Defever, sheds light on the way forward for a band that has been forging its own vital sound. This is not the Afrobeat of Fela, nor the revivalist funk of a forgotten decade. This record owes as much to Can, Eno, and MIA as it does Kuti, Francis Bebey, and Funkadelic.  On Ghost Rock, NOMO arrives in a new place. There’s no loss of steam as they incorporate new influences, instead NOMO breaks through with a matured and developed sound that is fully its own.

“World music, jazz, electronica, Afrobeat…I hope that we don't get marginalized by any of these terms. We are an American band, and in our hearts I think we're more of a rock band than anything else, but we do love so many different types of music,” says band leader Elliot Bergman. “We have a set of musicians, and we are trying to organize our sounds in a way that represents ourselves. We're not trying to make a record that sounds like it was recorded in the 70's and we're not trying to make anybody think that this was recorded in Nigeria. We're not trying to fool anybody, and especially not ourselves! This is our music. It is full of life, full of emotion. It’s funky, danceable, weird, heavy, exuberant, angry, joyous and raucous,” he adds.

The band’s perpetual grooves are deeper than ever. The horns are set ablaze and analog synths beam an electrified energy into the music. The homemade percussion arsenal is ramped up a notch, and the electric sawblade gamelan brings gong-like overtones into the tangled vine of synthetic and organic strands. The band taps into its full orchestral potential—the arrangements are filled with timbral variety, as the bubbling textures of the percussion meld with the soaring sounds of the horn section. Bergman describes how NOMO evolved to incorporate the wild looped sounds that can be heard throughout the album (nowhere more noticeably than on the screaming electric tone at the top of the introductory track “Brainwave”), “We toured non-stop for a while, and on down time, I would spend every night in my basement recording hours of loops and synth textures. I was fascinated with early Morton Subotnick records, the percussive parts, and when I ran out of records to buy, I just started making my own Subotnick-like loops. I didn't want the end product to sound like early synth music, but I loved the textures and gong-like tones of Silver Apples, Wild Bull, 4 Butterflies, etc,” he says. “Most of the loops were created with the instruments that I've been making, and have amazing variety, perhaps due to my inconsistency as an instrument manufacturer. Some sound amazingly bassy and others have a chime-like ethereal tone. Eno talks about generative music, and creating a system that produces music with little interference. I like that idea, and every night I would try to create as many loops as possible on these instruments without editing. Then I would go back a few weeks later and listen to these bubbling textures that can be heard in so many different ways. Trying to get the band to learn them always sparked heated arguments about where "the one” is!”

With the loops on Ghost Rock serving as the framework for the compositions the band were freed up to experiment with different ideas and a bigger, more orchestral, sound was born. Helping NOMO achieve this new direction were some heavy rhythmic contributors. Hamid Drake and Adam Rudolph lend their percussive mastery to several tracks with Drake’s fiery drumming propelling “All the Stars” to new heights. Josh Abrams fills out the low end on “Rings.”  What once was a rotating collective is now a tightly knit eight piece band.  This is no longer a loose assembly of great players, but a band that relies heavily upon each other, each member playing a distinct role, with a vibrant personality. Dan Bennett's fiery baritone saxophone anchors the horn section. Justin Walter and Ingrid Racine hold down the brass section with contrasting approaches to the trumpet--Walter's lyricism provides a cool counterpart to Racine's raw and brassy punch--dig her wah trumpet solo on "all the stars." This record finds the percussion section deeper than ever, with percussionist rotating chairs-Dan Piccolo and Erik Hall play the kit, and Jason Murdy and Quin Kirchner fill in on the Congas. Erik's main role is on guitar, and he and Jamie Register seem to have a deep kinship. Her elegant, but muscular basslines tie in with the guitar work seamlessly.

The album seems to move in many directions at once. It is more electronic, and more natural, it is more exuberant, but darker. More spiritual and hymn like, but also more visceral. The songs are sweet, but they are dirty and distorted.  It is as primitive as it is futuristic. While these seemingly divergent themes might sound like some post-modern musical meltdown, it’s clear that this is the sound of a band growing into its own collective voice. NOMO pulls from the past, but also points towards a hopeful future. Fans of the band will know that they like to start and end their live shows in the audience, and the opening and closing tracks on Ghost Rock echo this aspect of their performances. “I think that it's really important to participate--as an audience, as a band member, etc. and joining the audience for a song at the beginning or end of a show invites participation,” explains Bergman. “On a good night, it feels like everybody is working together. Having a few great dancers in the audience can really drive the band to new levels, and we love to sing together at the end of show. It ends up solidifying the bond between the player and the listener--and it starts to dissolve those typical divisions between active and passive. It helps to make people feel that music is an event; social, spiritual and communal rather than a commodity to be consumed.”

The band has toured incessantly since the 2006 release New Tones. That album garnered much critical acclaim and ended up on top 10 lists from NPR, Gilles Peterson, and Global Rhythm. The band has performed over 150 live concerts since the album, touring North America, and Europe including stops at Bumbershoot, Pitchfork Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, SXSW, and WOMEX. Able to fit anywhere (literally and figuratively)—their sizable lineup hasn’t kept them from sharing a stage with everyone from Earth Wind and Fire, to Konono No.1, to Sharon Jones, to Dan Deacon.

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Blank Blue are still a very young group, but the songs they’ve completed so far possess a beatific, rococo lushness—as well as an understated funkiness.
- OC Weekly

Sounds like Os Mutantes with an 808 kick sample.
- LA Record

Delicately straddles the fence between 60s psychedelia and the Bristol sound of the 90s.
- Friction NYC

Elvin Estela, aka Nobody, met Niki Randa at Fingerprints, an indie record store in Long Beach, California, where they have worked together since 2001.  Estela was mulling over ideas for a sequel to Pacific Drift, his 2003 release on Ubiquity, and realized that the album he wanted to make needed only one vocalist.  He had often heard that "Niki can sing!" and eventually would give Randa a CD-R of beats and tracks that he was considering for his new album to see if she was interested in being the one.  In December 2006 the first of their collaborations was finished and given the working title "Sonic What?!"  Excited with the results, Estela immediately told Randa about the concept for an album which had come to him in a series of nightmares.  Shortly after the two ventured to a book store during their lunch break, grabbed a book blindly, opened randomly, and put Randa's finger to a page which read “Blank Blue.”  The god’s had christened their project (it’s both the album's namesake and the name given to the collaboration between Estela and Randa) and for the next twelve months, Estela and Randa would eat, sleep, drink and smoke Blank Blue.

Blank Blue is the surreal story of an Armageddon born out of a massive earthquake off the west coast of the United States and set sometime in the future.  The quake triggers a separation of the west from the rest of the country, creating a whirlpool of devastation in its wake.  Millions die.  Thousands survive.  Those that survive eventually sink and drown from the buckling lands, only to have scores of poison mushrooms waiting for them underneath the earth's masses, loosened from centuries old trees.  The poisoned water gives them their first gasp, and miraculously they are able to and breathe and live underwater.  The album tells the story from various points of views, from an all-knowing narrator, to a psychic fish that warns people via their dreams, to random characters who watch their loved ones drown or ask the others underwater how to find the ability to breathe.  The confusion and sadness is balanced by the fascination of having to start everything all over again; learning how to breathe and swim etc.

“I started to think about making an album that I would want to listen to, that reflected the music that I love to put on and space out to.  I loved albums where one vocalist takes you through a journey through different sounds and styles.  Niki was the first person I trusted with my idea of Blank Blue and her voice matched the music perfectly.  It also helped that we have worked together at a record store for 7 years so we were official record store geeks,” says Estela  ...  more

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"If I were an emcee, I would want Clutchy on my squad. Much like MF Doom he has the unique ability to make the inanimate articulate, as if his instruments could speak. Not only is Clutchy 'next up', but he's also on some next shit."
- Thick Magaine

"Is Hopkins a creation of this label's in-house roster of acts or a mysterious master of the groove arts? In the end, who cares? The 12 tracks here are slick, slow funkin' instrumentals (mostly) that will bring smiles to baristas faces everywhere that it gets spun."
- The Province (Canada)

"Slow-burning arrangements smolder with exotic instrumentation and ear-bendingly effective playing..."
- OC Weekly

"Forged of modern soul, downtempo, hip-hop, blues and electronica, this is one pimp-ass record of atmospheric beat music that throbs with mood, mystery and humor. Add in a clever, hilariously crafted persona that makes truth and fiction impossible to separate as a mascot and you’ve got a winner."
- Orlando Weekly

"Dope beats evoke the work of the RZA, or Madlib's 'Yesterday's New Quintet', and the raw drums crackle with immediacy. The moody album evokes dark, smokey rooms humming with vintage grooves inspired by old records from swap meet dollar bins. Initially underwhelming, Hopkins' style infects the brain."
- SF Weekly

"Simple but not simplistic, Walking Backwards is a fascinating peek under a rock—whether or not the rock exists."
- Dallas Observer

"There's a spare, spacious approach here that almost reminds us of the energy that we first felt in DJ Shadow's groundbreaking work of a decade before -- a similar love of gritty, organic source material -- and an ear for putting it together with lots of dark twists and turns that balance nicely between classic funk and current hip hop production sensibilities. The flavor of each tune changes nicely -- making the album way more than just a clichéd collection of beats..."
- Dustygroove

"Walking Backwards' dense, drifting instrumentals were built on dry snare thwacks, woodwinds and gloomy, dim-lounge organs...Hopkins is a creepy one. Whoever he is."
- Remix

"The tempos are suitably slow and the rhythms nicely woozy...It makes for pleasantly laid-back head-nodding fodder."
- Now Magazine (Canada)

"The disc is chock full of slick jazz/funk fusion hip-hop beats that plays out like a soundtrack to the life of the Clutchster himself...Walking Backwards is nice change of pace from the norm as far as instrumental discs goes, with many using more samples and synthesizers than actual live instrumentation, with Hopkins apparently manning nearly all of the instrumentation. As a result, Clutchy proves that he's hipper than your average bum off the street, and he can play a mean flute...and drums, and organ, and harp..."
- URB

"Instead of sleuthing for the man's true identity, we're better off simply enjoying his music - which is moodier than your ex-girlfriend and more deliciously layered than the cake she eats."
- Snowboard Canada

"The beats are so sticky-icky the record should come complete with rolling papers. 'Love Of A Woman' wins 'Best Song To Make Babies To' in 2008."
- Slug Magazine

"Walking Backwards succeeds in its ability to act as a musical vacation. It takes you on an international near-50-minute journey without the cost of air fare and having to deal with pesky airport security."
- Okayplayer


Dear Press Friend,

Don’t ask me who Clutchy Hopkins is; I don’t know. There’s a line of people waiting to learn his whereabouts.  If you find out, perhaps you will be kind enough to hand over the contact info for the mysterious trickster, folklore guru, and marvelous musician. Because of his anonymity, this won’t be your average press release. I don’t have any of the usual stuff: no insight into his background, no list of influences or interesting anecdotes about his musical upbringing. Instead, what follows is the abbreviated version of how this album came to be by way of thrift store finds, red herrings, a pizza parlor, and a list of characters long enough to cast a b-movie ... more


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"New Territories reduces the more energetic, dancefloor-oriented aspects of London broken beat, retains the deceptive abstractions of left-field hip-hop and R&B, and places equal emphasis on mood and songwriting...Tawiah, Sarina Leah, Rahel, Meshach Brown, Tosin, and Annabel are all lively yet not showy vocalists and, as with Lau, a healthy balance between love for the ’70s/’80s and ’90s/’00s is evident, their voices hinting at Donnie Hathaway and Deniece Williams as often as Aaliyah and Amel Larrieux."
- All Music Guide

"...it’s not US super producers Sa-Ra at the controls. Nor is Detroit bumpmaster Waajeed (of Platinum Pied Pipers fame) anywhere to be found. The man behind the superlative swing here is none other than Eric Lau – one of London’s best kept secrets."
- One Week To Live

"...probably what it would sound like if the late, great J Dilla decided to make an album of love songs...Gorgeous soul chords, gentle keys and an abundance of flutes fill out just about every track, along with a roster of singers that put a sweet cherry on top of these already beautiful productions..."
- BPM

"Future funk, nu-soul, beathead jazz -- none of these really captures Lau’s confident, cool essence...Sure, artists like Jay Dee, Waajeed and SA-RA are Lau’s creative cousins, but the 26-year-old beatmaker blazes his own trails via rich, song-based vocal numbers and sweet, spacious instrumentals...Lau has produced beats for Lupe Fiasco, Georgia Anne Mudlrow and Wildchild, but refreshingly it’s UK locals, Tawiah, Rahel and Sariah whose vocals light up the crisp, no-nonsense soul beats."
- XLR8R

"Unlike most cats who just shop around beat CDs, Lau is one of the fading breed of producers who stays true to the art of production...14 tracks of pure soul that is a Mona Lisa of tweaked piano keys and old school drum patterns...the production values and smooth vocals make the release seem like a big budget blockbuster...Under the radar, but undeniable skill, Lau is a force to be reckoned with."
- Vapors

"Better than goosed down feathers to keep a brotha warm...demanded my attention and will comfort my dancefloor, seat and ears."
- Bobbito Garcia

"New Territories represents the arrival of a talented artist and perceptive one-man production house."
- Straight No Chaser

"Real dope!"
- James Poyser (Soulquarians)

Eric Lau is a London-based producer who has been busy making musical waves for others. He may well be a producer you’ve heard, but not heard of, by way of his productions for the likes of Lupe Fiasco, Dudley Perkins, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Guilty Simpson, Wildchild, Tanya Morgan, Hil St Soul, and a family of up n’coming artists who are featured on New Territories, his debut solo album.

His slick and edgy productions have turned the ears of Gilles Peterson (Lau appeared on his Brownswood Bubblers release of October 2006) and Fat City Records who released Eric Lau presents Dudley & Friends in January 2007. Tastemakers and peers like Benji B (BBC Radio 1Xtra) called Lau’s soulful street sounds “Heavy!”, Phonte (of Little Brother) added that Lau is “One of the illest beatmakers”, Dudley Perkins (Stones Throw) said “His music did something to me,” and Dego (of 4Hero) asked “Who the f$%k is Eric Lau!?”

New Territories has a double meaning. It’s the area in Hong Kong that the Lau family are from and regularly visit. “People have a vision of Hong Kong being sky scrappers and high rises everywhere,” says Lau. “However, the area known as New Territories is full of mountain ranges, sea, villages and farm land. It’s very peaceful and pure there, and these are qualities I try to incorporate into my production.” Also, the title refers to the album and the global musical connections it made. “There are many young artists on the record and our roots are from around the world,” explains Lau. “Even though we are from different backgrounds we approached the album with the same mindset and all want to help each other get to where we want to be. This record is a new territory for us as a group of artists, and I hope that it is, in turn, a refreshing listen.”
...  more

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Eugene Blacknell
We Can't Take Life For Granted
Luv N' Haight (LH055)
Release Date:  September 11, 2007
Barcodes:  LHCD055:  780661005520  x   LHLP055:  780661005513  
One-Sheet:  PDF
Liner Notes / CD Booklet:  PDF x Word Doc.
 

Indestructible Spirit sees Johnny Blas make a return to performing on saxophone alongside his trademark percussion playing.  It’s not the only change for Blas, Indestructible Spirit also features a new band including: Jeff Hawley (bass, cuatro), Mike Bennet (drums), Ryan Prior (piano), Steve Johnson (trombone) and Leonard Luna (trombone).  The album is also graced by several special guests: Terry Delgado (coro), Isaac Guerrero (percussion), Paul Clark (tenor sax), and Raymond Sepeda (soprano sax).

“Indestructible Spirit signifies that no matter what struggles I go through in life, or what people think or say about me or my music, I cannot be broken,” says Blas.  “This album differs in style, it has more of a funky jazz beat with a twist of Latin.  Kind of a throw back to the 70's sound.”

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01. Oaklands Mambo
02. Puerto Rico Rico
03. Lubi
04. Barry Rogers
05. Afro Rican
06. Indestructible Spirit
07. Boogaloo Blas
08. A Song for Rose
09. Cha Cha Para Ti

This Is My Home is the stunning solo debut from New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based producer Lanu (aka Lance Ferguson).  Brimming with future soul and broken beat flavors, forward-thinking production and intuitive jazz sensibility, this album marks a distinct departure from the raw, deep funk sound of Ferguson’s other project, The Bamboos.

“The Lanu project embraces a wider spectrum of styles that have influenced me including Jazz, Soul, Fusion, Latin, Hip Hop, Broken Beat.  It’s all soulful music, soul is the thread running through all these genres,” says Ferguson.

With his Antipodean deep funk outfit The Bamboos, Ferguson has recorded for such respected independent labels as Freestyle, Soul Force, Kay Dee and released an album on Tru Thoughts/Ubiquity.  And his passion for DJing has taken him all over Europe and Asia.  Ferguson drew on these global experiences for the new album, assimilating and incorporating sights, sounds, themes and friends into an hour-long Australasian future soul opus.  “Dis-Information” is built around a punchy Moog bassline, angular Rhodes chords and an insistent break.  “Mother Earth” teams up UK-based Quantic and California-based Stones Throw vocalist Aloe Blacc for a broken-meets-Afro-beat workout that calls out to people to respect the planet or face the consequences.

While the Bamboos blast raw, hard dancefloor Funk, Lanu blends Jazz, Soul, Fusion, Latin, Hip Hop, broken beat and house into something that is inspired by the past, but is also looking fast forward.  Don Blackman, Roy Ayers, George Duke and the Mizells are big influences for Lanu but the album is even more informed and inspired by the digital rhythms of West London and Detroit and Ferguson’s infectious contemporary hybrid sounds are buoyed by expertly programmed beats.  This effortless eclecticism is partly due to an interesting and varied musical heritage and career.  Grandson of New Zealand’s first ever recording artist (Bill Wolfgramm played lap steel guitar and helped to popularise Hawaiian music in New Zealand’s dance halls in the 1950s), he has also toured as a session guitarist for Latin legend Joe Bataan, future funksters Mark de Clive-Lowe and Bembe Segue, and the UKs tightest funk outfit the Quantic Soul Orchestra.  Lanu was Ferguson’s nickname as a child, and is also the Tongan word for ‘color’  ...  more

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Collaborations, remixes, exclusive tracks, album previews - it's all here on this new EP featuring producer extraordinaire Shawn Lee and crooner Nino Moschella.

"Kiss The Sky" is from the forthcoming Shawn Lee album, Voices and Choices, due out in early 2007 and features Nino Moschella's vocals riding a vintage Lee moody down tempo track.  As an exclusive bonus to this EP Warp Records producer Mark Pritchard (aka Harmonic 33, Troubleman etc) turns in a suitably soundtrack-inspired remix.  "Song For David" is also from Voices and Choices and sees Shawn Lee in David top Axelrod-like form with a stunning instrumental track complete with big dramatic strings and fat drums.

Shawn Lee remixes Nino Moschella's "Holding On" taken from the Moschella debut album The Fix, and also included is the breezy acoustic soul vibe of "You Never Came", yet another exclusive to this EP that's completely unavailable anywhere else.

Nino Moschella's debut has been called an "absolute classic" (Gilles Peterson), "essential" (CMJ), and "the record Stevie Wonder should have made after Songs In The Key Of Life" (See Magazine).  Since it's release he has played alongside James Brown and Dr John and opened for the Greyboy Allstars.  Shawn Lee has recently  completed his forth Ping Pong Orchestra album for Ubiquity which is set for release in January 2006.  Called Voices and Choices Lee steps out with guest vocals in addition to the customary instrumental tracks.  Lee's music has recently been featured in TV campaigns for BMW and Jaguar plus many TV shows and films.  Mutual admirers of each others work the Lee/Moschella collaborations came about organically and these tracks will not be the last we hear of the two working together. 

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300 DPI | 72 DPI

300 DPI | 72 DPI

300 DPI | 72 DPI

"Eccentric soundtrack space melodies which are catchy and stay in your ear for a long time."
- Streetwear Today

In Shawn Lee’s world Ennio Morricone dances with Esquivel and Serge Gainsbourg as spaghetti western guitars and harmonicas ride fat drum breaks accompanied by vibes, lush strings, and piano.  On Voices and Choices Lee's signature style moody instrumentals are accompanied by vocals for the first time in the four albums he has recorded for Ubiquity.  In addition to a handful of full songs, instrumental tracks are decorated with vocal textures in a nod to classic producers David Axelrod and Charles Stepney who used choir-like walls of vocal to create their big productions.

Ubiquity label mate Nino Moschella joins Lee on the rock n’soul epic “Kiss The Sky”, while Ohmega Watts waxes positive lyrical on “The Glass Hour Effect.”  Instrumentals “JW” and “Song For David” are just begging for an accompanying movie to match the cinematic sounds, while “Tense Bossa” and “Glass Act” feature subtle vocal parts to heighten the spy-theme tension.

Releases by Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra started off as an experiment.  Multi-instrumentalist and record collector Lee was obsessed by vintage library records and wanted to see if he could recreate their soundtrack-worthy sounds in his curio-shop-like London studio.  Library records were originally produced to provide instrumental musical backing for TV, film, radio and advertising.  Specific library records have become highly collectable, and are favored by DJs and producers for the occasional drum break, sample, or funk track.

Lee’s idea was to make full-length library albums that were good from start to finish and equally listenable at home as they might also be DJ friendly.  Lee’s studio is insanely overpopulated, instruments at hand include a 1940's early proto-synth called a Clavioline, a 100 year old Marxophone zither, a 1950's Virginal Harpsichord, a 1950's Xylophone, a rare 1967 Vox guitar that has Fuzz, Tremelo and wah-wah built in, a 1930's Double Bass and an early 1900's keyboard called a Dulcetone.  So finding the right instruments and noises to create a specific sound was not going to be a problem  ...  more

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"Uk-producer and multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee's latest effort hits the mark ... applying a sophisticatedly vintage vibe to a slew of current pop hits. Perpetually fueled by a sunny, feel-good groove, the tunes on Hits the Hits are commendable for Mr. Lee's arrangements and embellishments that often improve upon the original sources."
- Okayplayer

"He even manages to make a Britney Spears record listenable..."
- Prefix Magazine

"This cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” is a must-hear collaboration with renowned pianist Mick Talbot (Style Council, Dexy’s Midnight Runners) that “sounds like vintage Ramsey Lewis,” according to the label.  It’s an accurate description, but what Ubiquity fails to mention is the harmonica that colors the track in place of the chorus vocals, which makes this an off- but still on-beat rendition and a rave-up of the highest order. Somewhere, Magic Dick is smiling."
- Audiversity.com

Shawn Lee is back with his Ping Pong Orchestra in tow, and goes completely pop!

On Hits The Hits he does tunes by Gwen Stefani, Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears, Blur, Badly Drawn Boy, Justin Timberlake, Outkast and many more in his own unique style.  The album opens with a collaborative joint featuring piano-master Mick Talbot (Style Council, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, etc.) on a version of Outkast's “Hey Ya!” that sounds like vintage Ramsey Lewis.

Putting his over-stuffed studio to the test Lee pulls out all the stops on an album that includes a surf guitar-driven cover of Missy Elliot's “Get Ur Freak On” (already selected by taste-maker producer/DJ Tom Middleton for one his compilations), a full-on psychedelic sitar flavored take on Britney’s “Toxic”, and stripped-down super funky versions of the Kelis hit “Trick Me” and Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body.”

Following on the success of Voices and Choices (from which “Kiss The Sky” was picked as an iTunes “Song Of The Day”) and his previous albums (three tunes from which were recently used in each of the three trailers for the Oceans 13 movie) is the second album from Lee this year, but not his last.  A Ping Pong Orchestra take on a Christmas album will follow in November.

Lee’s sound, which started as a take on old-school library albums and has grown into a sound of his own, it's made possible by his inability to stop making music in an insanely overpopulated studio.  A 1940's early proto-synth called a Clavioline, a 100 year old Marxophone zither, a 1950's Virginal Harpsichord, a 1950's Xylophone, a rare 1967 Vox guitar that has Fuzz, Tremelo and wah-wah built in, a 1930's Double Bass and an early 1900's keyboard called a Dulcetone all reside within the walls of Lee’s facilities.

As a multi-instrumentalist and singer Shawn Lee has played and recorded with a diverse range of artists including Psapp, Coldcut, Leeann Rhimes, Martina Mcbride, UNKLE, Tony Joe White, Chateau Flight, The Dust Brothers, St. Etienne, Jeff Buckley, Bomb The Bass, The Spice Girls, and Natasha Atlas - not to mention solo records for Talkin' Loud, Wall of Sound imprint We Love You and BBE.  He is also known to breaks n'beats collectors as the man behind "The Ape Breaks" and "Planet of the Breaks" series which were sampled by everyone from Guru to The Gorillaz.  Music by Lee has been used in commercials for BMW and Jaguar, in multiple TV shows, and in addition to the Oceans 13 movie, he has had music in The Break Up and Save Angel Hope.  He was also asked to score the entire soundtrack to the highly controversial Rock Star video game Bully for which he was nominated Best Original Video Game Score by Spike TV.

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Late one cold winter night, our Little Drummer Boy found himself alone in his chilly recording studio.  Busting out the Jingle Bells he decided to break the unseasonably eerie Silent Night and play himself a song or two.  “Some of My Favorite Things,” he muttered to himself as he stared at his vast collection of musical instruments strewn throughout the room.  “O Come All Ye Faithful” he sung to his horn section as he mustered the musical muscle to Deck The Halls.  Old Saint Mick joined him on the black and whites and the two of them knew that as long as they had tunes, they would not be alone this Holiday season.

Across the street and Away In A Manger, a baby stirred and it’s mother and father said “Do You Hear What I Hear?”  Curious as to the origin of the festive musical mayhem the father trudged his slippered feet through the snow and knocked on the studio door.  As it creaked open, the father extended a cold but firm handshake “We’ve never met, have you always been here? Where are you from? What A Wonderful World of music I hear!” he said.  “O, (a) Little Town of Bethlehem,” chuckled the drummer boy and Old Saint Mick.  “Of course, where else!” said the father.  “Sorry am I keeping you up?” apologized the drummer boy.  “No, it’s no bother,” said the father.  As they were speaking the local police officer happened to stroll by and enquired “Everything ok here fella’s?” “Oh no problems here,” they replied.  “Well, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, then,” said the police officer.  After a few more pleasantries the father decided to ditch the mother and child and join the Little Drummer Boy and Old Saint Mick for an all night sherry-fueled funked-up jam session.  They left the tapes rolling and the CD in your hands might be the result of this session.  It might equally just be the latest album from Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra, done psychedelic Santa style.  Either way, Christmas has never been so funky!

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The seventh in the Ping Pong Orchestra album series see’s multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee go global. This is the soundtrack to places Lee has been, and would like to visit, and was made using instruments he’s picked-up along the way. Miles of Styles is inspired by the multi-cultural mix of people in his hometown of London, the awe inspiring metropolis that is New York City, and by the mysterious uber-stylish vibe of Tokyo. Not to mention Jamaica, Finland, Greece, China, France and beyond…

While Lee likes to visit new places he admits that it’s not always possible or even enjoyable, “I like to be in other countries - it's just the getting there that's a drag!” he says. So as with his previous cinematic-style albums Miles of Styles is intended to take the listener on a journey, even if they’re just riding the bus home after work, iPod on. In addition to incorporating a multitude of styles, Lee also made Miles of Styles a family affair. His Indian wife, Kirin, sings on the opening “Punjabi Lullaby,” and is also responsible for Lee owning so many Indian instruments. In addition his daughter hummed the melody for the song that would become “Mela D”, and makes a cameo appearance on “My Daddy’s Funky.”

To put some “world” into his music Lee managed to play the Gu-zheng (a Chinese zither), a Steel Drum (from the Caribbean), a Balafone (from Africa), a Harmonium and Tablas (India), Hurdy Gurdy and Harpsichord (European), a Guitarron (Mexico), a Churango (Bolivia) and a Waterphone (from the USA.) “I've always collected traditional folk instruments from around the world. I love taking them out of their traditional element and putting them into a different context. Mixing and creating interesting doubles such as steel drum with Balafone or Sitar with Banjo,” explains Lee. “I love when sounds become mysterious and are hard to decipher. Sometimes people laugh at me when I buy certain instruments. Steel drum was one that a lot of musicians scoffed at. I ended up using it prominently in a various ways on the album,” he adds.


Following on the success of Voices and Choices (from which “Kiss The Sky” was picked as an iTunes “Song Of The Day”, and was used on the TV show Damages) and his previous albums (three tunes from which were recently used in each of the three trailers for the Oceans 13 movie) Lee also released two other albums in 2007 (the covers album Hits The Hits, and the Christmas Album A Very Ping Pong Christmas.) Lee’s music is used in the upcoming movie The Bank Job and he’s had tunes appear in ads for Jaguar cars.

Lee’s sound, which started as a take on old-school library albums and has grown into a sound of his own, is made possible by his inability to stop making music in an insanely overpopulated studio. A 1940's early proto-synth called a Clavioline, a 100 year old Marxophone zither, a 1950's Virginal Harpsichord, a 1950's Xylophone, a rare 1967 Vox guitar that has Fuzz, Tremelo and wah-wah built in, a 1930's Double Bass and an early 1900's keyboard called a Dulcetone all reside within the walls of Lee’s facilities. As a multi-instrumentalist and singer Shawn Lee has played and recorded with a diverse range of artists including Psapp, Coldcut, Leeann Rhimes, Martina Mcbride, UNKLE, Tony Joe White, Chateau Flight, The Dust Brothers, St. Etienne, Jeff Buckley, Bomb the Bass, The Spice Girls, and Natasha Atlas not to mention solo records for Talkin Loud, Wall of Sound imprint We Love You and BBE.


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