Tim Love Lee - Confessions Of The 36th Best Trip Hop Producer Of All Time (2022)

“You want me to spank myself? No, I want you to spank ME.” - These were the words that captured the twisted imaginations of a certain type of DJ back in 1994 when Tim Love Lee released the debut single on his fledgling record label, Peace Feast. For the next ten years Lee released a steady stream of sample based urban exotica. Doped up, blissed-out or living on the margins of the acceptable, it all found a loving home in his aural universe.

This retrospective compilation of B-sides and bonus tracks from back in the day serves to mark and celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tim Love Lee's seminal debut album Confessions Of A Selector. FACT Magazine called it the 36th best Trip Hop album of all time stating, “As boss of the Tummy Touch label, Tim Love Lee had an important part to play in the development of downbeat and trip-hop…Confessions of a Selector might be his finest achievement, not quite reaching fully into the trip-hop cookie jar, instead relying on Lee’s estimable crate digging expertise. The hallmarks of the genre are there, but prettied up with luscious tropical vistas and an eccentric (but smart) cut-and-paste quality.”

Other press accolades also heralded the album and Lee stating “Monstously Funky” (Mixmag), “A liberating album, awash in Latin percussion, thumping breakbeats & BBQ jazz organs” (XLR8R), and “If you’re listing the dance-music world’s oddballs, you’ll want to place Tim Love Lee right at the top” (Time Out).

With the rise of lofi and chillout music, popularized by playlists, YouTube videos, and exacerbated by the global pandemic, few may note how trip hop laid the foundation for this sound. A big brick in that foundation is Tim Love Lee’s debut album Confessions Of A Selector! It’s no wonder that Paper Magazine called it “Wistful, string-soaked bits of Moog-enhanced genius,” and that URB Magazine stated, “Tim Love Lee is the epitome of cool.”