Hey, short notice, but Ben's song Just Say Yes (from Ripe) will be featured on TONIGHT's So You Think You Can Dance.
The show airs at 8pm on FOX-TV in the US.
You can buy Just Say Yes from iTunes here.
Blog posts
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Jun 28, 08:43 PMNaked In Plain Viewhi all
life hurtles along at a rollicking pace this year
moving towards the inevitable life-changer due end of september
its a fun terrifying creative and reflective period
built a home studio
making loads of music
producing jessica chapnik's solo album
her songs will make you cry
i promise
you can see a video for one of the songs off the last album we did here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDTXzcZ8NPk
but these new ones are mainly all her writing and a whole other level of mystery
the noise addict album details are very close to being revealed
but i can tell you this much
the album will be given away as a free download to all of you sometime in august
still sorting out the details
you also might remember amiel courtin-wilson is making a doco about me
(8 years in the making - he's almost done editing!)
anyway, he made a great film called 'bastardy' that is out now
see it if you can
trailer and info here
www.bastardydocumentary.com
life seems full of possibility at the moment
more so than in a long while
each day im not quite sure what is going to happen
a long way from boring
surrender right
seems to be the ever present lesson
i hope you are all well
wherever you are
xoxo
b -
May 04, 11:46 PMHere Comes A Whole New Worldseptember
here comes a real life-changer
baby on board
really
really
really
excited
xoxo
ben
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Apr 21, 05:35 PMUS Tour And Kombucha Teahi friends.
getting ready to head out on the first US tour playing songs from 'the rebirth of venus'. should be really fun as im doing it as a co-headline tour with low vs diamond who will both play before me, and have also been kind enough to be my backing band during my set. we havent started rehearsing just yet so i cant tell you much about how it will sound, but i do know that ive come to savor experiments like this. it keeps me really excited about the process of performing. the last couple of years ive been assembling makeshift bands whenever i need one and i each has a totally different feel and energy. getting musically involved with a new group of people is always super intimate and demands a lot of surrender. heres to noble experiments...hope you can come and check out the results...see the tour dates here.
last night nic and i mixed the noise addict album. the whole album was recorded in my bedroom with only one microphone and lots of arbitrary rules like no micstands, no guitar tuners and no second takes. it has a great feel to it. its one of the records im most proud of. no one at my labels has heard anything but i plan to get it to them next week and make a plan for getting it out asap to you guys. i definitely want to release it on vinyl. thats all i know right now. some songs that im most excited about are "do i know you?" a track i started writing at 14 and finished last month, "chris martin's frown", and "i heart your band".
my friend josh radnor, who acts on the tv show "how i met your mother" has a great radio show you should all check out here. you can listen through a few of his recent shows by clicking "podcasts" on the left. he has great taste in tunes and is a good man. so enjoy.
see you guys soon
xoxo
ben -
Apr 15, 05:51 PMFINCAHi friends.
As you may know, some proceeds from sales of my new album "The Rebirth of Venus" are going to FINCA - a non-profit-microfinance organization, sometimes referred to as "The World Bank for the Poor".
Half the world's citizens - three billion people - struggle to live on less than $2 a day. This affects their nutrition, health, and their ability to send their children to school. It also affects the social and political stability of our planet.
Working together we can change the future by sponsoring a Village Bank through FINCA.
If we can raise $5,000 we can change the life of a community by helping to open a bank where hard working local entreprenuers can have a chance to build a business that will provide for their family and build their community.
Donate any amount, small or large, to be part of a great pro-active way of helping people in need.
Please click this link to visit the "Ben Lee & Friends" team site.
Thank you
Ben -
Mar 27, 12:08 PMSorry GlasgowLying in bed in my Glasgow hotel unable to get up without intense feelings of nausea and dizziness. My apologies for cancelling the show tonight. I always have a great time in Glasgow and will be back for sure to make up for it.
All the best
Ben -
Mar 08, 10:24 PMHard TruthsLately I've been quietly revelling in that bittersweet pang that comes with accepting a hard truth about yourself. Here are my top 5 recent realizations in no particular order:
1. Actually, I have no idea who I really am
2. I hold grudges...for a long time
3. I am much more comfortable playing the role of dignified failure, rather than a dignified success
4. I don't really love Radiohead
5. I am considerably more terrified of my own mortality than I ever let on
Ahhh...that feels good.
Your turn.
Xoxo
Ben
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Feb 01, 09:15 PMLetter From Holly ThrosbyDear Ben,
I'm sitting at home, it's Wednesday, and I'm listening to your new album, "The Rebirth of Venus". When I read the title and saw the cover, with you and your guitar in the Botticellian shell, I wondered what it was all about. I've listened to it a few times now though and it's become clear. You've made a living and breathing pop album, but it's not like Ripe. This one is fervid and rebellious and eclectic. And brimming with unfettered ideas. What reverent songs! About pleasure and surrender, power and renewal, breath and skin. With all its joy and energy it is a true celebration, that's for sure, but not an ordinary one. This is a celebration that arises from the rubble.
You said that you feel like the world is out of balance. And it's true: the earth is depleted and wars are raging and one hundred million people are starving. And songs are like dreams sometimes: you only know what they're about after you wake up. You said that you've been dreaming about nature and machines, and giving birth to alien robots out of your mouth. I don't know about alien robots, but you've certainly given birth to something here. And, in terms of this album, the notion of a man giving birth is kind of fitting. Femininity is so alien to most men. Don't you think? And to some women too. That's why I like the synthesiser song about how you had a Barbie when you were in kindergarten, and your appeal to the wisdom of Yoko Ono, and the devotional "Song For the Divine Mother of the Universe" and the one called "I'm a Woman Too".
There are so many notions of the Feminine in here and the qualities it represents: creativity, spontaneity, nurturing, intuition. These are the qualities that stray from our hearts when isolation and apathy creeps in. These are the things we forget when we jostle for parking spots and throw stones at rich people and take pictures of mountains instead of looking at them with our own eyes. In an unbalanced world, the Feminine is the panacea. Now that you are married to Ione and a stepfather to Kate, and with all your visits to India to practice with the Divine Mother, these ideas must dance around in your mind and your kitchen. No wonder this is an album you can really dance to, huh? The first song kind of reminded me of Talking Heads actually (I like the kitchen pot percussion) and later on I thought of Peter Gabriel. Then I listened to "I Love Pop Music" and I thought: I've never heard you sound so political before; and that, also, it kind of sounds like Big Audio Dynamite. Songs can bring sad truths, but often times if you sing along to them, dance to them and invite them home for dinner, it leaves you no time to be maudlin.
Maybe the core of this apple is revolution. A call to arms! Everyone is searching for a salve or a saviour - a mother, a song, a freedom fighter, a girl in blue denim jeans. If you're right, and these things are already inside us, then we can all celebrate in the rubble. And you can whisper "rise up" or "love" and the'll be loudest words we'll ever hear. I read in the liner notes that a portion of the proceeds from album sales goes to FINCA's Village Banking Program. I didn't know what FINCA was so I looked it up on the internet and it turns out that their mission is to provide financial services to the world's lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build important things like houses and improve their standard of living. Thousands of women, men and children have been helped by this. I commend anyone's efforts towards a financially and environmentally sustainable solution.
Your Friend,
Holly Throsby -
Jan 19, 07:04 PM2009: Here We GoHi everyone - firstly thank you for the warm wishes so many of you have sent through various channels. Ione and I had an amazing wedding in India on December 29. There were about 50 of our family and friends there to see us married under the divine gaze of Shakti Narayani Amma. It was unlike anything I could have imagined. Here are a few photos from the ceremony.
We are still processing everything that happened on that trip. Not just the wedding, but also seeing so many people we love come and be touched by Amma and His message in different ways. Fascinating times. I couldn't be more excited about this new phase of my life. I feel so lucky to have found a partner that understands me and loves me and is willing to begin this journey with me.
In musical news, I have started work on a Noise Addict album! It's a lo-fi collection of home recorded messy pop songs that I'm hoping to finish in the next month. More news on that soon.
Also, Squeak-E-Clean and I are FINALLY finishing the Mixtape album! We are in the mixing stage, and once we get all the legalities squared away with the various artists, we will be ready to release it. As a refresher, this is an album of new songs I've written for different singers like the eels, Zooey Deschanel, Nina Persson, Kylie Minogue and the Sleepy Jackson amongst others. It's been my personal "Apocalypse Now" in that its taken about 7 years to get finished with...but the finish line is within sight!
I'm playing at Largo again on Thursday. Friends like Harper Simon, Ezra Reich and El May will be playing too. Come on down if you're in the area. The last one sold out so get tickets ahead if you can.
I hope 2009 is treating you all well. The inauguration and a new episode of Lost in the same week! Does life get more exciting?
Lots of Love
Ben
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Dec 08 2008, 04:55 PMThe Coolest Thing To Ever Happen To MeThis was posted under the comments for the video I did for "Woman is the Nigger of the World":
Dear Ben,
Right now I am in Tokyo feeling all nervous before my appearance in a very big John Lennon Tribute Concert this evening. But my PA just put your new video on her computer screen for me.
The way you did it made me choke up. You did it so well. Just right. Thank you. I expect it is still a rather daring thing to do for a musician of your stature.
Thanks again.
With respect and love, yoko
There are moments...and then there are MOMENTS.
xoxoBen
