Monthly Archives: September 2013

AM & Shawn Lee have sent us three mixtapes that we’re delighted to debut over the coming days which encompass tracks from the duo’s personal record collections.

They’ve split the tracks up into three mixes: Tuesday’s “Secret Process Mixtape” (a mix of American Moog funk, Eastern Euro Sound Library, and synth bliss), Wednesday’s “Golden Image Mixtape” (a mix of American Cosmic funk, Italian Soundtrack, and British Sound Library), and lastly today’s “Blasto Mixtape” (a mix of Italo funk, American Soul, and Psych Boogie.) 

THE BLASTO MIXTAPE | “A mix of Italo funk, American Soul, and Psych Boogie. This mix was a zen concoction of both similar feel and tempos. Starting off with “The Rain” from my upcoming collab album with Adrian Quesada called The Electric Peanut Butter Company.

It also features Italian Supremo Lucio Batisti (who we both love), an old favourite from CAN, the man Sixto Rodriguez, recent fav The Unknown Mortal Orchestra with “So Good At Being In Trouble.” The mix finishes with an obscure, dusty old soul cut by one Frank Hutson courtesy of Cool Chris from the Groove Merchant. The sound of where yesterday meets today!
—Shawn Lee

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Today, many will remember Velocity Girl mainly for the trio of albums they released in the mid-‘90s via the Sub Pop record label. The band’s beginnings stretch back to 1989 however, where they served as one of the foundational acts on the long serving imprint Slumberland. Their debut 45, 1990’s “I Don’t Care if You Go” b/w “Always,” was one of the first signs of life from the soon to be widespread US-based indie pop resurgence, and it continues to come off like a little gem. It also documents Velocity Girl’s brief intersection with the vocal charms of future Unrest/Air Miami member Bridget Cross, an association that only increases the single’s sweetness.

Like most fans of live music, I find it preferable to catch shows in the company of friends. Obviously, the spirit of camaraderie can add much value in the moment and by extension deepen the good memories of said event, making them more vivid than would be the case if simply shared with a roomful of strangers. And more pragmatically, it’s always nice to have someone to talk to in the back of the building when the band on stage is somehow defeating your expectations for the night in question.

But the situation isn’t completely cut-and-dried. For example, I once had a friend whose attitude towards gig-attendance was to skip the preliminaries and arrive at the club as close to main event as possible. Only on a rare occasion would an opening act inspire his interest, and when it didn’t he could be downright crafty at stretching out the duration of pre-show rituals such as record shopping, dining, and imbibing.

Yes, one round of drinks would inevitably become three, and subtle hints to move our asses across town to the floor in front of the stage would naturally get deflected. Since using a more direct motivational approach risked injuring the guy’s rather fragile self-esteem, a result that was far worse than missing nearly any opener, more than a couple of opportunities to witness opening bands, some of which went on to much bigger things, were missed by myself and others of our mutual acquaintance.

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AM & Shawn Lee have sent us three mixtapes that we’re delighted to debut over the coming days which encompass tracks from the duo’s personal record collections.

They’ve split the tracks up into three mixes: yesterday’s “Secret Process Mixtape” (a mix of American Moog funk, Eastern Euro Sound Library, and synth bliss), today’s “Golden Image Mixtape” (a mix of American Cosmic funk, Italian Soundtrack, and British Sound Library), and tomorrow’s “Blasto Mixtape” (a mix of Italo funk, American Soul, and Psych Boogie.) Now, Mix 2!

THE GOLDEN IMAGE MIXTAPE | “A mix of American Cosmic funk, Italian Soundtrack, and British Sound Library. Again we had to give it up for Carol Kaye intro-ing this one. Heard there is a documentary coming out on her soon? She’s definitely an AM & Shawn Lee favorite and if her work on David Axelrod’s Capitol recordings doesn’t make you a fan, there is something wrong with you. Again we take it deep into library territory after that, but make a brief pit stop into one of the best ’70s electronic albums: Mort Garson’s Plantasia.

I scored this bad boy for $3.75 (don’t be a fool and pay $100 for this LP as some people are trying to sell it for.) As the title suggests this LP was meant to play for your plants! It was also given away with Simmons mattress purchases when it came out in 1976. Just one more reason why the ’70s had it right!

And finally the mix just wouldn’t be complete without a tip of the hat to the Italians with Franco Micalizzi’s impossible to find score for I Due Volti Della Paura! —AM

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Since her former band ceased operations in 2011, Kim Gordon’s musical activity has largely flown under the radar. But with Body/Head, her experimental partnership with guitarist Bill Nace, she strides boldly into the post-Sonic Youth era.

In comparison to the recent high-profile recordings by her Sonic Youth cohorts, Coming Apart is easily the most challenging, and it’s also a cinch to divide the group’s fans into two camps. Folks who suffered the band’s excursions into abrasion and abstraction in want of their mastery of melodiousness and rock will probably find this sprawling effort to be a confounding and/or repellant mess. Conversely, those with a kinder disposition toward SY’s “out” side, and Gordon’s wildcard contribution in particular, will just as likely welcome it with open ears. But in doing so, they will still likely be struck by the severity of its design.

Sonic Youth’s work stoppage certainly had an impact on all of its members, but three-fourths of the group jumped into the musical fray with a fair amount of quickness. For instance, Steve Shelley began drumming in numerous settings, most notably as a member of the Chicago band Disappears and as a guest on SY guitarist Lee Ranaldo’s enjoyable if somewhat reserved 2012 LP Between the Times and Tides.

Unsurprisingly, the band’s most prominent (and prolific) guitar wielder has kept busy with a variety of underground collaborations. But the debut LP from Chelsea Light Moving, Thurston Moore’s biggest project thus far in terms of media attention and sales figures, is also the one post-hiatus (though perhaps the more appropriate term now is post-dissolution) record by a SY figure to really embody the outfit’s later, “mature” rock sensibility.

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AM & Shawn Lee have sent us three mixtapes that we’re delighted to debut over the coming days which encompass tracks from the duo’s personal record collections.

They’ve split the tracks up into three mixes: the “Secret Process Mixtape” (a mix of American Moog funk, Eastern Euro Sound Library, and synth bliss), the “Golden Image Mixtape” (a mix of American Cosmic funk, Italian Soundtrack, and British Sound Library), and the “Blasto Mixtape” (a mix of Italo funk, American Soul, and Psych Boogie.) Now, onto Mix 1!

THE SECRET PROCESS MIXTAPE | “A mix of American Moog funk, Eastern Euro Sound Library and synth bliss. I got a lesson book and CD from Carol Kaye at one of her bass seminars in LA and when I popped this thing in it was whack! All these excerpts (from cassette?) of her teaching and talking…needles to say I had to intro with it and follow with a much slept on LP from Hugo Montenegro. It’s a Stevie Wonder Moog cover album. Montenegro did a few of these and they are all brilliant. I picked it up for $2.00!

The mix continues with music both Shawn Lee and I have a mutual obsession with…library music. We picked from a bunch of different stuff from British to German and even American library. The final track, “Secret Process,” is from an Omnimusic record which was an American library company. Super hard to find LPs as most of the stuff on this mix is.”
—AM

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