ESL’s AM & Shawn Lee get disco remixed, announce new U.S. and Canadian tour dates + City Boy on Criminal Minds
“Hypnotic”- Rolling Stone
“makes even the most hardened hipsters bob their heads.”- KEXP
“perfect top-down songs”- Nylon Magazine
“One of the best live shows of the year”- Seattle Weekly
“a dynamic duo” – KCRW
VIDEO: DARK INTO LIGHT MUSIC:
http://youtu.be/nQ-jk7bJvMA
Free mp3 + STREAM – “Dark Into Light” (Virgil Howe Disco Remix) –
STREAM: “Jackie Blue” (Ozark Mountain Daredevils cover) -
STREAM: “City Boy” featured on CBS’s Criminal Minds on Oct. 12, 2011: http://snd.sc/rtptOp
The debut album, Celestial Electric, from the new band project creatively titled “AM & Shawn Lee” was released on Thievery Corporation’s own Eighteenth Street Lounge (ESL) label with new gatefold vinyl to be released on November 1, 2011. The band has been touring with Thievery Corporation as support, headlining their own shows, and co-headlining with Fool’s Gold and today has added more Fall dates including shows in Canada. Check out the new remix of the album’s lead single “Dark Into Light” by Virgil Howe, the drummer of Little Barrie (and son of legendary YES guitarist Steve Howe).
You can now check out the band’s full archived session for KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic here — AM & Shawn Lee also recently compiled an exclusive 20 minute mix for Sirius Satellite Radio’s Chill channel which will be airing throughout the next week and they will be appearing on Carson Daly in mid October. “City Boy” will be featured on a new episode of CBS’s Criminal Minds on the television show Wed. October 12 but you can listen to it here now: http://snd.sc/rtptOp
Celestial Electric finds L.A.-based indie-pop auteur AM and London-based groovemaster/experimentalist Lee pooling their talents to create a unique brand of electro-soul that achieves seamless pop perfection, while mining a startlingly broad array of stylistic influences. The resulting blend of heartfelt, warmly melodic songcraft and vivid, inventive soundscapes underlines the artists’ abiding love for all manner of vintage genres, encompassing pop, soul, funk, jazz, Brazilian tropicalia, Turkish psychedelia, and soundtracks and library music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
Celestial Electric‘s sleek, boundary-pushing approach is reflected on such uplifting tunes as the insightful generational anthem “Dark Into Light,” the bittersweetly soulful “City Boy” and the hauntingly intimate “Can’t Figure It Out,” which merge irresistible melodicism with deeply distinctive grooves. Elsewhere, “The Signal” demonstrates the duo’s penchant for exotic, eclectic arrangements, suggesting an ’80s Bollywood synth-pop dance party, while the swaggeringly funky instrumental “Callahan” (named in honor of Clint Eastwood’s ’70s cop anti-hero Dirty Harry) conjures up a bracingly atmospheric vibe a la Lalo Schifrin, while adding a dollop of futuristic electronic melody. The twosome’s irresistible pop sensibility also drives their effervescent reading of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils’ 1974 hit “Jackie Blue”.
AM & Shawn Lee documented their recording process in Los Angeles and London through photos, emails, and behind the scenes studio videos. The first behind the scenes video is for their debut single “Dark Into Light” see: http://youtu.be/k5C58Ch523U Additional behind the scenes studio footage of the the song “Somebody Like You” see here: http://youtu.be/YCFSxmIf1As The album, Celestial Electric is released today on digipack CD, digital, and limited edition gatefold vinyl. (Andy Votel, U.K. DJ and tastemaker mixologist of Finders Keepers/B-Music fame, provided the album’s cover design and liner notes.) The album is now available for pre-order on Amazon http://amzn.to/amazonpresale and iTunes http://bit.ly/itunespresales .
“knocks it out of the park.”- AOL Music
“ambitious and idiosyncratic album” - CMJ
“funky and melodic… brilliant work” - All Music
“unadulterated soul vibes and funk tempos filtered through ’70s soundtracks” - Under The Radar
“bi-nation love affair” – Magnetic
“l loved it” – Seattle’s The Stranger
ABOUT: AM & Shawn Lee is the name of the new 4 piece band project. Shawn Lee is best known for his Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra project and as the composer of the Bully Video Game soundtrack and Ubiquity Records collaborations with Clutchy Hopkins, Princess Superstar, Money Mark, and Bei Bei and more. Shawn’s music has appeared on TV shows, movies, and commercials including Lost, Ugly Betty, and CSI. AM spent last year touring as support for AIR in North American and France, and also on tour with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Caetano Velosoo, and Josh Rouse. His music has appeared on shows such as Greys Anatomy, Big Love, Brothers & Sisters and Teen Mom.
AM & SHAWN LEE DARK INTO LIGHT TOUR 2011
11/05 Washington DC Montserrat House
11/07 New York, NY Knitting Factory
11/08 Cleveland, OH Beachland Tavern
11/09 Chicago, IL Subterranean
11/10 Minneapolis, MN Turf
11/11 Recording Daytrotter session Rockford, IL
11/13 Toronto The Drake
11/14 Montreal Sala Rosa
AM & SHAWN LEE LINKS:
www.amandshawnlee.tumblr.com
www.facebook.com/am