Lee Kaplan Playlist | Huck
Huck
Magazine

Lee Kaplan Playlist

Arcana Books — Lee Kaplan's treasure trove of carefully curated art books is preserving printed matter in strip-mall LA. Before setting up Arcana Books, he worked for Rhino Records and was instrumental in bringing dub and reggae from Jamaica and jazz from Japan to the masses. Here Lee provides an immaculate selection of his favourite music.

My background before starting the bookstore was actually in music, and the vast majority of the selections are rooted in those “formative years”. I didn’t want to be purposefully obscure, so these are ten primarily populist, perennial favourites that are for me always energising and mood-elevating. I have listed them in chronological order, and am amused to realise the most recent one is still over twenty-five years old! So old, that only one has a music video online to go with it…

Charles Mingus – Haitian Fight Song (1957)

Pink Floyd – Lucifer Sam (1967)

Jimi Hendrix – Driving South (BBC Sessions – 1967)

Cream – Swlabr (1967)

The Kinks – Days (1968)

Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Big Eyed Beans from Venus (1972)

Miles Davis – Black Satin (1972)

Wire – Map Ref. 41°N 93°W (1979)

The Replacements – Alex Chilton (1987)

Sonic Youth – Teen Age Riot (1988)


Read a full profile of Lee Kaplan and and Arcana books in Huck 45 – The Ed Templeton Curated Issue.
 Get it now on our web shop or subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue this year. 


You might like

Inside the Los Angeles scene kid revival

The Rawring ’20s — For the cover of Huck 84, photographer Alexis Gross and writer Anna Zanes meet the latest faces of scene, who are finding freedom to express themselves through its technicolour, unafraid aesthetic.

  • Huck 84: It Starts With Us
  • Anna Zanes
© Alexis Gross

Introducing our new issue of Huck Magazine: It Starts With Us

Huck 84 — For our second 20th anniversary issue, we spotlight 20 people and groups providing the world with a hopeful future.

  • Huck 84: It Starts With Us
  • Huck
© Ludovic Helme

The sharp rise of video game photography

Point, shoot — As the entertainment medium’s fidelity levels increase and developers build more powerful tools, a growing community of gamers are pushing the boundaries of image making in virtual worlds. Vicky Jessop meets people at the forefront of the emerging artform.

  • Culture
  • Vicky Jessop
© Darren Vargas

The lasting community legacy of a legendary Californian boxing gym

Moretón — Since opening in the ’80s, the Coachella Valley Boxing Club has trained multiple world champions, while providing a vital hub for local youth. In his new photobook, Darren Vargas documents its tight-knit, Chicano-led community, while also weaving a deeply personal story.

  • Sport
  • Jack Dennison-Thompson

Kristina Rozhkova’s scatty, confronting portrait of captivity

Gut Feeling — The Russian artist’s 2024 arrest and subsequent detention opened her eye towards the omnipresent dynamics of power and control. Her new photobook is a stark exploration of being trapped.

  • Culture
  • Isaac Muk
© Photography by Benedict Priddy | Khroma Collective (www.instagram.com/khromacollective)
© Benedict Priddy | Khroma Collective

Washing strangers’ feet at Houghton Festival

Pedilavium — As part of artist Henry Krokatsis’s performance piece at the weekender, we sat down with over 30 others to clean the dusty digits of passersby, while reflecting on the power of collective ritual and human connection.

  • Culture
  • Isaac Muk
You've read articles this month Thanks for reading

Join Club Huck — it's free!

Valued Huck reader, thank you for engaging with our journalism and taking an interest in our dispatches from the sharp edge of culture, sport, music and rebellion.

We want to offer you the chance to join Club Huck [it's free!] where you will receive exclusive newsletters, including personal takes on the state of pop culture and media from columnist Emma Garland, culture recommendations, interviews and dispatches straight to your inbox.

You'll also get priority access to Huck events, merch discounts, and more fun surprises.

Already part of the club? Enter your email above and we'll get you logged in.