From dis2 Sent Mon, Feb 1st 1999, 12:30
From dis2 Sent Mon, Feb 1st 1999, 12:30
> What actual purpose does Mr Lavell serve? ie can he dj? can he write > tunes w/out the assistance of el Shadow? > Bored of the name Lavell, Jon As far as I can tell, the man has no talent at all past having an ear for a good tune, a good roster on his label, and an unnerving ability for exploiting them and taking credit for stuff they do. UNKLE are touring around England at the moment, which is kind of odd because no-one who was actually involved in the making of the music is on stage. If Lavelle was actually representing his involvement in the record he would be standing on stage with a mobile phone; Hello, is that Richard from the Verve? It's James Lavelle here, head honcho of Mowax records. Do you want to be on my latest record? Well, there's no need for that sort of language. Before you hang up I should point out that DJ Shadow's doing the music. Okay, see you tommorrow at 6 then. As it is, apparently he stands between two DJ's, the Scratch Perverts I think, and 'supervises' their DJing. I mean, for fucks sake, is the guy so useless he can't even mix two records? This isn't the first time he's done this though. A while back a mix on a cream compilation was credited to him. Closer inspection reveals it was actually done by the Psychonauts. Not to say he wasn't responsible for some of the UNKLE record. Aside from the huge contribution of that bit of heavy breathing between 2 tracks (and half a sleeve of thank-you's), it seems to me he's responsible for all the overblown pomposity and self-aggrandisement in the tone of that record (and dragging in that bloody woman who sings on chaos), while shadow got in the occasional good bits like celestial annhilation and unreal. Oh, Shadow was also the guy who got in Kool G Rap, apparently in defiance of Lavelle, who thought that the hip-hop quotient was fully served by the bloke out of the beastie boys. However, in answer to your original question, no, I don't think he's ever written a song in his life, and you should be dubious about any mixes attributed to him as well. Okay, rant over, but I'm getting bored of Lavelle too. However, don't think you've heard the last of him - If he continues on his current trajectory, I fully expect him to soon try and take credit for the painting of the Sistine Chapel, the discovery of penicillin and the invention of the wheel. Dan Shoebridge np: Hana-bi soundtrack. Now this is lovely.