Crate Digging with Sook-Yin Lee and Dylan Gamble

PRP caught up with Sook-Yin Lee and Dylan Gamble at Sonic Boom Toronto to chat about their newest release 72RHR.

At this point, Sook-Yin Lee deserves a key to Toronto. MuchMusic VJ, musician, actor, filmmaker and perpetual creative shapeshifter, she’s spent decades bouncing between underground music, cult cinema and experimental art, building the kind of career that’s almost impossible to summarize neatly.

Dylan Gamble is a Toronto musician, composer and filmmaker best known as the keyboardist of psych-rock band Hot Garbage. Classically trained in double bass and piano, he is also a frequent collaborator of Sook-Yin Lee, working with her across film, experimental music and performance as Lee & Gamble Unlimited.

This year, the duo released 72RHR through Hand Drawn Dracula Records. 72RHR is a 10-track vinyl masterpiece. It's a woozy mix of downtempo electronics, experimental pop and ambient textures held together by a steady, heartbeat-like pulse.

For the minds behind such a brilliant record, you know the taste runs deep. Here’s what they pulled from the bins at Sonic Boom.

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

SookYin: Neko single-handedly pursued her career without any compromise. I grew up with Neko in Vancouver. Neko played drums in Maow and hammered those drums. She's really an incredible player. Little did we know that her vocals were even more extraordinary than her drumming. Soon after Mao, I think she was invited to sing at a friend's wedding, and that's when people were like, oh my God, the voice. She's a real belter, a real crooner, a real glorious country music superstar.

I'm so indebted to Nico because very early after I put out my second solo album, she loved one of the songs called Knock Loud, and she ended up covering it and performing it at every encore for six years. She was on Austin City Limits and played that song as well. Because she played that song, I got a super big royalty check, the likes of which I never received, and that really floated my boat for a long time.

I love everything about her, but mostly I love the cover of this album. Neko is also a visual artist, so it's not just great music in here, but the entire package is amazing.

De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising

Sook-Yin: This came out in 1989, and it was bonkers good. I remember hanging out with my best friend Marina, who introduced it to me and said I had to check out this record. There's something about the kind of happy, uplifting, kick-up-your-heels, yet real feel. There's a lot of play amongst the friends and incredible tunes.

I'm a visual artist, and I love the full package. When this came out, it felt like nobody was making this kind of art. To me, it really embraces street art culture in New York City at the time. I love that they took black-and-white photographs of each member and then juxtaposed hand-drawn art on top. It's sunny and bold. I remember when Marina showed it to me; she's also a visual artist, and we were just like, wow. And I just went home and made tons of art in a similar way. I drew very colourful designs and then put black-and-white photos behind them.

Sonny Rollins Trio - Sonny Rollins Brass

Dylan: He passed away this year, but still, he's a huge figure in jazz, and I'm a big fan. I got into it a little bit later in life. I was really into Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, and Dexter Gordon, saxophone legends. Sonny Rollins was always interesting to me because I didn't really get it for a long time. It wasn't until my nerdy jazz friend Adam showed me East Broadway Rundown.

For lack of a better word, he's more major-y than most Jazz artists. He does a lot of major runs and stuff. He said that when he plays, he wants to blot out his mind, which I thought was really interesting. It wasn't until I heard him go into the weird territory that I picked up on his work. I wanted to like Saxophone Colossus. That was the one I started with, but for some reason, I couldn't get into it when I was younger. After a long time of not getting it, I like it now.

Kate Bush - The Dreaming

Dylan: I feel like a lot of people are picking this one these days; it's getting rediscovered. I think it's her third album, and the first one she produced herself. It's super, super weird.

This one is really out there because of all the Fairlight keyboard stuff, first-gen sampling. She's also doing a lot of crazy stuff with her voice and reverse tape. The first time I heard it, it really blew my mind because I thought it was so cool that the first record you produce yourself is your weirdest record.

To check out 72RHR, please visit sook-yinlee.bandcamp.com/album/72rhr.

To see what's in-store at Sonic Boom, head to sonicboommusic.com.