Label Love: Tummy Touch Records
Since the mid '90s, British producer/DJ Tim "Love" Lee has been bringing a broad range of irresistible sounds to the world's attention via his Tummy Touch label. Lee, a onetime member of Katrina & The Waves (of "Walking On Sunshine" fame) made his name behind the decks as a leading light of the acid house scene in England. But eventually, his love of anything left of center moved him to start his own label, in order to more fully realize his wide-ranging musical vision.
Tummy Touch started out as a British operation, but now it boasts offices in both London and New York City, and has taken full advantage of the opportunity its intercontinental presence provides to work with exciting artists on both sides of the Atlantic. Even early on, Tummy Touch was on the leading edge of music, getting in on the ground floor with big-beat techno pioneers Groove Armada. Over the years, the label's eclecticism and adventurousness has served it in good stead, as it has released records by everyone from London avant-pop phenomenon Tom Vek and the endearingly odd electro-folk duo Patrick & Eugene to the cosmic disco/funk/pop amalgam of New York collective the Phenomenal Handclap Band.
Along the way, Lee has continued to keep a hand in the DJ world in addition to his duties as a music-biz entrepreneur. He's been a beatmeister extraordinaire at high-profile venues all over the world, as well as dipping into the radio realm everywhere from the BBC to New York City's coolest online station, EastVillageRadio.com. Looking back at the legacy Lee and his label have established in their first decade and a half, it's difficult to ascertain a consistent stylistic thread running through the broad spectrum of artists on the Tummy Touch roster. But the one quality they all share with each other, which is sure to be true of future TT artists as well, is an ability to stand apart from the pack.
P.S. On top of everything else, guess which forward-looking British-American record label currently handles the publishing rights for the aforementioned Katrina & The Waves hit? We'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count.
