Hits The Hits

"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 ofOutkast'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 Soundimprint 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 andJaguar, in multiple TV shows, and in addition to theOceans 13 movie, he has had music in The Break Up andSave 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.