Label: New West
Released 11/22/19
In January 2019 I found myself stuck in a Chicago hotel room during the Polar Vortex. I was performing there with my duo RADNOR & LEE over a few nights when temperatures dropped, leaving me unable to do much outside my hotel room for 4 days. I started re-listening to some of my favorite songs from that period in that hotel room, by the BEAT HAPPENING, PAVEMENT, FUGAZI, The BREEDERS, GUIDED BY VOICES. It struck me as crazy that these songs and the feelings that accompanied them were now over 25 years old. It started seeming odd to me that for some reason, indie rock hasn't been canonized the same way 60s and 70s rock has. After all, DINOSAUR JR. were my LED ZEPPELIN, SONIC YOUTH were my GRATEFUL DEAD and BUILT TO SPILL were my STEVE MILLER BAND. spent my 4 days of the 2019 Polar Vortex creating the blueprint for what would become Century Classix. When I got home to LA, I invited my friends JULIANNA BARWICK, WILLIAM TYLER and MARY LATTIMORE to my home studio to add their magic to my recordings as I knew they grew up in reverence of the same records I did. Later, MARIA TAYLOR, MIKE WATT, PETRA HADEN and JOEY WARONKER all showed up to play too. To some people these songs are just footnotes in pop culture history. But to me, they are the essence my own personal history. I wanted to make this record a tribute to these bands, to these songs, and to the irreversible way music can touch and transform the life of young person. I hope you enjoy Quarter Century Classix. - BEN LEE
Track Listing:
- Web In Front 2:21
- Blueprint 3:48
- Divine Hammer 4:26
- Car 2:39
- Sugar Kane 4:48
- Get Me 4:45
- In The Mouth A Desert 3:27
- Goldheart Mountain Top Queen Directory 1:51
- Speeding Motorcycle 2:49
- Brand New Love 3:18
- Ingrown 3:59
- My Noise 3:42
- Godsend 7:57