Maceo Webcast #29 - Artist Spotlight

Maceo Musicology Webcast #29

Maceo Musicology Webcast #29 (Lewis Taylor) by Mace2theo on Mixcloud

is a British multi-instrumentalist musician, born in north London, UK, in the late 1960s. He started in the music business touring with a progrock band. In 1986 he began performing as Sh*riff J*ck, releasing two albums of psychedelia music. As LT, he released his self-titled album in 1996. This album showcases a departure from psychedelia towards Neo soul.

In June 2006, LT retired from music. However, as Andrew T, he remains active in the music industry. LT has since been musical director and bass player for Gnarls Barkley, and guitarist/backing vocalist for [several UK bands].

That is essentially all that is on wiki.

It leaves out much of his recording career as LT has did "one the most amazing disappearing act known to man", took down his old website, closed the fansite, removed all videos from youtube and most of his music from the internet.    

What happened?

"On the release of his 1996 debut album, LT was lauded as, among other things, the lastest inheritor of the blue-eyed soul savoir mantle. Most singers would have been flattered, but LT kicked hard against it.  His label (Island) did not seem to know how to handle or properly promote the music of their "precociously talented" new artist, and an album that was "an unprecedented amalgamation of soul, groove-based psychedelica and rock".  LT retreated to his bedroom to craft his meticulously overdubbed solo masterworks, releasing three albums on his own label. The results "blended prog rock and soft soul in dense, wedding-cake arrangements iced with layer upon layer of falsetto harmonies."  After the US release of one of his cds and an aborted tour, he publicly announced his 'retirement' in 2006 via his now shut-down website, and has not released anything since."

(wiki/cinemablend/independent/chrispickering)

However, he reappeared on a Deborah Bond single in 2011, and that sent me back to his cds.  

To describe his music, I refer to a review by Rolling Stone and New York Times music critic Jon Pareles from a 2006 show:

"LT is a throwback to the one-man studio bands of the analog 1970's: songwriters like Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder, Prince and Paul McCartney. He skews half a dozen once-disparate 1970's styles to his own whims. Among them are smooth soul, psychedelia, progressive rock and blues-rock, any of which might show up in the course of songs that can change drastically between beginning and end.

As a pop craftsman, LT has reverse-engineered the music he loves: not just to emulate it, but also to graft unlikely combinations. A pounding, zigzagging prog-rock riff gave way to an aching ballad and a spiraling wah-wah guitar solo; a pop love song detoured into chromatic chords or started hopping upward, repeatedly changing key."

I hope this webcast interest you enough to find out more and go buy his cds, which you can find on itunes and amazon 

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