Miles of Styles

iTunes Review

Multi-instrumentalist and studio wizard Shawn Lee has more than twenty full-length recordings to his name (not all using the Ping Pong Orchestra moniker, by the way), and he’s known for dipping into a wide range of musical wells for inspiration. Lee outdoes himself on Miles of Styles, borrowing and filtering music from all corners of the world.  Not content to merely fuse a recognizable sound (say, a Bossa Nova rhythm) to a downbeat loop or a dance floor pulse, Lee’s strength lies in blending and cross-pollinating musical cultures. It’s not unusual for steel drums to flicker alongside a stream of sitar notes, or for a harpsichord to glint off a slinky bass line, for example. His talents as a musician always impress, but here Lee tackles a remarkable array of instruments: Indian harmonium and tablas, European hurdy-gurdy, Chinese zither, and a Bolivian churango (a sort of lute), for example. Miles of Styles is an exhaustive excursion to far flung places, and those with a voracious appetite for the exotic will be richly rewarded.