Bands
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop collective formed in 1985 and originally composed of MC and main producer Q-Tip, MC Phife Dawg, DJ and co-producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and MC Jarobi White, who left the group amicably in 1991. Later that year, the group released its jazz-influenced second album, The Low End Theory, regarded for helping shape alternative hip hop in the 1990s. Along with De La Soul, the group was a central part of the Native Tongues, enjoying the most commercial success out of all the groups to emerge from that collective. In 1998, the band broke up shortly before releasing its fifth album, The Love Movement, but in 2006, the group's original members reunited and toured the United States. In 2016, the group released its sixth and final album, We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service, which was still incomplete when Phife Dawg died suddenly in March 2016, and was completed by the other members after his death. The group is regarded as a pioneer of alternative hip hop music. John Bush of AllMusic called them "the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s." The Source gave the group's debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, a perfect rating of five 'mics,' the first time the magazine gave out this rating. In 2005, A Tribe Called Quest received a Special Achievement Award at the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta. In 2007, the group was formally honored at the 4th VH1 Hip Hop Honors.
ADHD
ADHD is an Icelandic band formed in 2007 known for their instrumental music, influenced by jazz and rock. The band was formed to perform at the Höfn í Hornafirði blues-festival in 2007 and as the collaboration was successful the band decided to keep on performing. Their first album, ADHD was recorded and published in 2009 and won the title Icelandic Jazz Album of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards. The albums ADHD2, ADHD3 and ADHD4 all have received nominations for the Nordic music prize. ADHD's albums are recorded live, to reflect the live performances of the band.
Africa Express
Africa Express was founded in 2006 to promote the concept of musical collaboration that breaks down boundaries and borders, whether between geographical regions, genres or generations. It has hosted a series of remarkable adventures that have won praise from artists, audiences and critics alike. These include five trips bringing together artists in Africa, four acclaimed albums and a series of inventive and highly-original shows in Britain, Europe and Africa. Past projects include a train tour around the United Kingdom as part of the 2012 Olympic festivites, playing the New Shrine in Lagos, performing to 50,000 people on a beach in Spain, staging the first show in front of Paris’s Hotel de Ville, reforming a 50-strong Syrian orchestra and recording the only African version of Terry Riley’s contemporary classic In C.
Afro Omega
Afro Omega began receiving messages from the mothership in 2003. For the last decade they have traveled across the globe fighting racism, classism, poverty, and depression with pure fire mixed with pounding riddims, proper fitness and relentless drive. Bronté Omega's conscious lyrics, blazing stage presence and high energy performance has lead the Omega band to higher frequencies. They have been instructed by the mothership to use their instruments to convey the message of love and unity into positive heartfelt musical vibrations. Please join us to fight global and intergalactic injustice with electric music, dance and freedom of expression. We have played with many amazing, legendary artists, too many to list, and we will play with many, many more. If you haven't experienced AFRO OMEGA live, the mothership is waiting. MOVE LIKE LIGHT!
Afro-Cuban All Stars
Afro-Cuban All Stars is a Cuban band led by Juan de Marcos González (formerly tres player for Sierra Maestra). Their music is a mix of all the styles of Cuban music, including bolero, chachachá, salsa, son montuno, timba, guajira, danzón, rumba and abakua. They are known internationally for their 1997 album A Toda Cuba le Gusta, which was recorded at the Buena Vista Social Club sessions. Members have included Rubén González, Orlando "Cachaíto" López, Ibrahim Ferrer, Raúl Planas, Pío Leyva, Manuel "Puntillita" Licea, Félix Baloy, Yanko Pisaco and more recently Caridad Hierrezuelo and Pedro Calvo. In early 1996 Nick Gold, head of World Circuit Records, invited Ry Cooder to participate in an experiment combining Cuban and African musicians. A group of Cuban musicians had already been assembled, including Rubén González as the selected pianist. However, since the African musicians had experienced difficulties in obtaining visas, the focus changed to recording Cuban music instead. So, in March 1996, Gold and Juan de Marcos González (previously the tres player of Sierra Maestra) produced A Toda Cuba le Gusta, the first album by the Afro-Cuban All Stars, recorded at the EGREM Studios in Havana and featuring Rubén González (piano), Orlando "Cachaíto" López (bass), along with a big band of veteran Cuban musicians and singers, most of whom had careers that went back to the 1950s Havana scene: Ibrahim Ferrer, Pío Leyva, Manuel 'Puntillita' Licea, Raúl Planas, Félix Baloy, and José Antonio "Maceo" Rodríguez. Cooder also played slide guitar on one track, "Alto Songo". In the sleeve notes, de Marcos González, who directed the project and played tres, wrote: "This album is dedicated to Rubén González, genius of Cuban piano". During follow-on sessions also held at EGREM Studios in March 1996, Cooder then produced the Grammy winning Buena Vista Social Club, featuring Rubén González (piano), Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo and Eliades Ochoa, supported by much of the same band that had recorded the Afro-Cuban All Stars album, and with Juan de Marcos González now acting as A & R Consultant. Cooder played guitars on all but one track. Finally, in April 1996 and using left over studio time after the sessions that had produced the previous two albums, the solo album Introducing...Rubén González was recorded in just two days, live with no overdubs. On the album's outer cover, Cooder is quoted as saying: "The greatest piano soloist I have ever heard in my entire life. A Cuban cross between Thelonious Monk and Felix the Cat". All three albums were released on Nick Gold's World Circuit Records in 1997. In early 1998, Wim Wenders filmed a documentary entitled Buena Vista Social Club, and the entire group of Cuban artists became famous worldwide.
Ahmoudou Madassane
Ahmoudou Madassane is an actor and writer, known for Zerzura (2017) and Akounak tedalat taha tazoughai (2015).
Alabama Shakes
“We took our time to write this record, and I’m really glad we did,” says Brittany Howard, lead singer and guitarist of Alabama Shakes, about the band’s new album Sound & Color. “We were able to sit down and think about what’s exciting to us, explore all the things we wanted to on our first album. This record is full of genre-bending songs—it’s even harder now when people ask, ‘What kind of band are you?’ I have no clue.” Sound & Color is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the Shakes’ 2012 debut Boys & Girls, which earned the group three Grammy nominations, including a nod for Best New Artist. The gold-certified album’s breakthrough paved the way for the Shakes—Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, drummer Steve Johnson, and touring keyboard players Ben Tanner and Paul Horton—to become one of the most celebrated live acts in the world, as they delivered unforgettable performances everywhere from Saturday Night Live to the main stages of such festivals as Bonnaroo and Glastonbury. “There was definitely a slight wave of pressure after that success,” says Fogg, “but everyone was really on the same page about letting that pass and making the record that we wanted to make, trying to be creative and free and not limit ourselves.” The album’s twelve songs reveal a band honed by years on the road, and drawing from a wide range of influences. The bluesy groove of “Shoegaze” or the garage-rock freak-out on “The Greatest” give way to the psychedelic space jam “Gemini.” The gently swaying, chiming title song opens the album with what Howard calls “more of a visual thing, I think of this whole scene going on,” then explodes into the urgent, tightly-coiled funk of “Don’t Wanna Fight.” Long instrumental intros and passages create hazy atmosphere, and then the intensity of Howard’s vocals snaps everything back into riveting focus. She explains that there were a few specific recordings that were touchstones for Sound & Color. “The Superfly soundtrack, Gil Scott-Heron’s music and how minimal it could be, David Axelrod—not so much wanting to sound like them, but all of their attention to small details. With ‘Gemini,’ I thought about how the Temptations used to write pop songs, but then got really far out on ‘Cloud Nine’ or ‘Psychedelic Shack.’ I imagined myself in the situation of the African-American groups in the ‘70s, when synthesizers had just come out and they were making all of this moody stuff.” Source AlabamaShakes.com
Albert King
Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American blues guitarist and singer whose playing influenced many other blues guitarists. He is perhaps best known for the popular and influential album Born Under a Bad Sign (1967) and its title track. He, B.B. King, and Freddie King, all unrelated, were known as the "Kings of the Blues." The left-handed King was known for his "deep, dramatic sound that was widely imitated by both blues and rock guitarists." He was once nicknamed "The Velvet Bulldozer" because of his smooth singing and large size–he stood taller than average, with sources reporting 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) or 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), and weighed 250 lb (110 kg)–and also because he drove a bulldozer in one of his day jobs early in his career. King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1983. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2011, he was ranked number 13 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Early life Albert King was born on a cotton plantation in Indianola, Mississippi. During childhood he sang at a church with a family gospel group, in which his father played the guitar. One of 13 children, he grew up picking cotton on plantations near Forrest City, Arkansas, where the family moved when he was eight years old. King's identity was a longtime source of confusion. He stated in interviews that he was born in Indianola on April 25, 1923 (or 1924), and was a half-brother of B.B. King (an Indianola native) but, documentation suggests otherwise. King stated that whenever he performed at Club Ebony in Indianola, the event was celebrated as a homecoming, and he cited the fact that B.B.'s father was named Albert King. However, when he applied for a Social Security card in 1942, he gave his birthplace as "Aboden" (most likely Aberdeen, Mississippi) and signed his name as Albert Nelson, listing his father as Will Nelson. Musicians also knew him as Albert Nelson in the 1940s and early 1950s. He started using the name Albert King in 1953 as an attempt to be associated with B.B King; he was billed as "B.B. King's brother". He also used the same nickname as B.B King, "Blues Boy", and he named his guitar Lucy (B.B. King's guitar was named Lucille). B.B. King later said: "He called his guitar 'Lucy,' and for a while he went around saying he was my brother. That bothered me until I got to know him and realized he was right; he wasn't my brother in blood, but he sure was my brother in the blues." According to King, his father left the family when Albert was five, and when he was eight he moved with his mother, Mary Blevins, and two sisters to an area near Forrest City, Arkansas. He said his family had also lived in Arcola, Mississippi, for a time. He made his first guitar out of a cigar box, a piece of a bush, and a strand of broom wire. He later bought a real guitar for $1.25. As a left-hander learning guitar on his own, he turned his guitar upside down. He picked cotton, drove a bulldozer, worked in construction, and held other jobs until he was able to support himself as a musician.
Aldous Harding
An artist of rare calibre and intensity, Aldous Harding does more than sing. Her body and face a weapon of theatre, Harding dances with steeled fervor in and through an omnium gatherum of emotions. As a Bunraku puppet transfigures from graceful maiden into gnashing, black-eyed demon, so Harding spins through sinister torch songs, gentle laments and eerie odes. Her debut release with 4AD Party (produced with the award-winning John Parish; PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse) introduces a new pulse to the stark and unpopulated dramatic realm where the likes of Kate Bush and Scott Walker reside. Igniting interest with her eponymous debut album released just two years ago, Aldous Harding quickly become a name murmured on many lips, known for her charismatic combination of talent, tenacity and shrewd wit. The album drew attention and accolades from some of the most illustrious corners of the music industry, receiving 4 stars in MOJO and Uncut, while UK blog The 405 hailed her a “toweringly talented song writer”. Comprising a formidable clutch of songs, 2017’s Party sees Harding shape-shift through a raft of roles: chanteuse, folk singer and balladeer - all executed with her twisted touch of humour, hubris and quiet horror. In other words, she’s having a good time. Stretching her limbs with playful cunning and steely fervor; every note, word and arrangement posed with intellect and inventiveness. First single “Horizon” is a lover’s call to arms, shockingly powerful for its brutal simplicity and rawness of feeling, love and loathing colliding to devastating effect. “Aldous Harding repeats the line as a mantra, as a truth, as a reality. It's as if the gift of life is right here, with all its beauty and its limitations”, said NPR. Renowned for the captivating state of possession she occupies in live performance, Aldous Harding has won crowds the world over playing alongside Deerhunter, Frankie Cosmos and Perfume Genius, as well as to hoards of eager crowds at Great Escape, Golden Plains, SXSW and more. Aldous’ 2017 touring schedule spans Europe, the US and the United Kingdom for much of the year. Source AldousHarding.com
Algiers
Algiers is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia formed in 2012. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Franklin James Fisher, Ryan Mahan, Lee Tesche, and Matt Tong. Algiers pulls from a divergent number of musical (and nonmusical) influences; the most notable of which being post-punk, gospel, Southern Gothic literature, Hip hop, and the concept of the Other. Their sound has been described as dystopian soul due to its somber mood, afrofolk inspired vocal approach, and heavy emphasis on atonal textures. History Fisher, Mahan, and Tesche met and grew up playing music together in Atlanta, Georgia but officially formed in London in 2012 with the release of their first single. They chose the name Algiers in reference to a key historical site of anti-colonial struggle, symbolizing a contested space where violence, racism, resistance, and religion commingle. The group released their first single “Blood” in January 2012 via Atlanta based label Double Phantom. Byron Coley for The Wire wrote “Although the fusion may have been touched upon in recordings related to both The Birthday Party and The Gun Club, Algiers are dedicated to grafting gospel music onto post-punk guitar-cuzz...this record is mesmerising and really sucks you in with its weird power.” The band's self-titled debut album was released through Matador on June 2, 2015. Ahead of their eponymous release, the band opened for Interpol, during their North American Tour. Matt Tong, formerly of Bloc Party, began playing drums for Algiers at this time. In the spring of the following year, the band premiered and toured the Eastern US screening the sixth installment of Brendan Canty of Fugazi and Christoph Green’s Burn to Shine film series. Burn to Shine Atlanta was curated by Lee Tesche of Algiers and filmed in the summer of 2007. This was followed by a live installation with renowned Japanese flower artist Makoto Azuma that saw the band performing in the Californian desert underneath a palm tree suspended in mid air. On June 23, 2017, Algiers released their second studio album, The Underside of Power. The album was produced by Adrian Utley of Portishead and Ali Chant and mixed by Randall Dunn. This coincided with a European stadium tour that found the band opening up for Depeche Mode and remixing the lead single from their Spirit album. At the same time, it was revealed that Algiers had also been working in the studio with Massive Attack and were releasing an experimental tape and zine series. Much of 2018 saw the band on the road with Young Fathers, a DIY tour with Downtown Boys, and a special set at the Black Cat 25th anniversary party. Their live show has been described as "recalling at various points PIL’s dub-style expansions, Afrobeat, industrial, no wave, free jazz, Suicide, the XTC of “Travels in Nihilon,” Nick Cave’s fire and brimstone, and musique concrète."
Ali Farka Toure
Ali Ibrahim "Ali Farka" Touré (31 October 1939 – 6 March 2006) was a Malian singer and multi-instrumentalist, and one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues. The belief that the latter is historically derived from the former is reflected in Martin Scorsese's often quoted characterization of Touré's tradition as constituting "the DNA of the blues". Touré was ranked number 76 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and number 37 on Spin magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Source Wikipedia
Alice Boman
Alice Boman is a singer-songwriter from Malmö, Sweden. She recorded her first EP, Skisser (which means "sketches" in Swedish) in her bedroom, never intending it to be publicly released. She treated the recordings like demos, and sent them to a studio with the intention of getting the songs professionally recorded. However, she said that "the guy at the studio liked [the demos] so much that he sent them to Adrian Recordings, and they wanted to release them." The EP came out on Adrian Recordings on the 22nd of May 2013, and it has since been re-released on limited edition vinyl. An EP containing remixes of Skisser tracks 'Waiting' and 'Skiss 2' was digitally released in November 2013. It contained remixes by 1987, NATTEN, Summer Heart, Kalter and PAL. A video for 'Skiss 3' was released in January 2014, directed by Henric Claesson at Studio Pop. In June 2014, Alice Boman released her second EP called EP II. The video for the first single ”What” was filmed and directed by Studio Pop. The Fader premiered the video on April the 9th, 2014. Boman released her single ”Dreams” in September 2017. It earned praise by Billboard (magazine), The New York Times and Gorilla vs. Bear among others. The video was filmed in Vårhallarna, Sweden. Alice Boman’s music has been featured in a wide range of TV-shows and films, such as Suits, Paper Towns, Transparent. and The Resident.
Alice Phoebe Lou
Alice Phoebe Lou (born 19 July 1993) is a Berlin-based South African singer-songwriter. She has released three EPs and four studio albums. In December 2017 her song "She" from the film Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story was included on the Oscars shortlist for Best Original Song. Since 2019 she had also been active in her side project Strongboi. She has released four studio albums to date — Orbit (2016), Paper Castles (2019), Glow (2021) and Child's Play (2021) — alongside two live albums and various singles. Early life Lou spent her childhood in Kommetjie on west coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa and attended a Waldorf school. Her parents are documentary filmmakers. She took piano and guitar lessons as a child. When she was 14 years old she was fond of trance music and started to take photographs from concerts, sometimes even getting paid for them. In 2010 she spent her summer holiday in Paris living first with her aunt but soon moved to live with a friend and started earning money by fire-dancing.
Aloe Blacc
Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born January 7, 1979), known professionally by his stage name Aloe Blacc (/ˈæloʊ ˈblæk/), is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and philanthropist. He is best known for his singles "I Need a Dollar", "The Man", which topped the charts in the United Kingdom, and for writing and performing vocals on Avicii's "Wake Me Up", which topped the charts in 22 countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom. Aside from his solo career, Blacc is also a member of hip hop duo Emanon, alongside American record producer Exile. Early Life Blacc was born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III to Panamanian parents in Southern California's Orange County. Growing up in Laguna Hills, he began playing a rented trumpet in third grade. When it made more sense to buy the instrument, Blacc had what he later described as a "very specific moment" in his evolution as a musician. "It forced me to be serious about it. I couldn't just do it to get out of the class room," he said in a 2010 interview. His exposure to LL Cool J in fourth grade was equally significant. "It wasn't too far off from the trumpet moment...I had a hip hop moment and a musician moment." A Renaissance and Trustee Scholar at the University of Southern California, Blacc majored in linguistics and psychology and graduated in 2001. He worked briefly in the corporate sector for Ernst & Young.
Alton Ellis
Alton Nehemiah Ellis OD (1 September 1938 – 10 October 2008) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter. One of the innovators of rocksteady who was given the informal title "Godfather of Rocksteady". In 2006, he was inducted into the International Reggae And World Music Awards Hall Of Fame. Early life Born Alton Nehemiah Ellis in Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica, Ellis was raised within a musical family which included his older brothers Leslie [who performed as one of his back up singers and co-wrote some of his songs], and Irving [known as 'Niney'] who was a popular singer and steel pan player on Jamaica's North Coast. He learned to play the piano at a young age. He attended Ebeneezer and Boys' Town schools, where he excelled in both music and sport. While at Boys' Town Ellis performed as a dancer (in a duo) in the first show that a school director called Mr Bailey had organized for Vere Johns who had been invited down to talent scout. He would later compete on Vere Johns' Opportunity Hour. After winning some competitions, he switched to singing, starting his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton & Eddy with Eddy Parkins.
Amadou & Mariam
Amadou & Mariam are a musical duo from Mali, composed of the Bamako-born couple Amadou Bagayoko (guitar and vocals) (born 24 October 1954) and Mariam Doumbia (vocals) (born 15 April 1958). Their album Welcome To Mali (2008) was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album. Background Amadou lost his vision at the age of 16, while Mariam became blind at age 5 as a consequence of untreated measles. Known as "the blind couple from Mali", they met at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, where they both performed at the Institute’s Eclipse Orchestra, directed by Idrissa Soumaouro, and found they shared an interest in music. Between 1974 and 1980, Amadou played guitar in the West African band Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako. In 1980 the couple married and by 1983 they began to play together while Amadou continued a successful solo career and ran the blind institute's music programme. Amadou is a fan of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Style The duo's early recordings in the 1980s and 1990s featured sparse arrangements of guitar and voice. Since the late 1990s Amadou & Mariam have produced music that mixes traditional Mali sound with rock guitars, Syrian violins, Cuban trumpets, Egyptian ney, Indian tablas and Dogon percussion. In combination these elements have been called "Afro-blues".
Amen Dunes
Damon McMahon founded the band Amen Dunes in 2006 in New York, New York. Amen Dunes' fifth record, Freedom, has received positive reviews, with Pitchfork calling it McMahon's "euphoric breakthrough". In addition to his regular collaborators Parker Kindred and Jordi Wheeler, Freedom features Delicate Steve and underground Roman musician Panoram. Chris Coady (Beach House) produced. The record was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City and Sunset Sound in Los Angeles. Amen Dunes is made up of McMahon and a rotating cast of musicians. In an interview, McMahon explained: "It's a solo project, but it's a band when it's in action, you know what I mean? I always relate to people like David Bowie, who were very considered with their collaborators, and collaboration is what he did, and it's a big part of what I do, but it's a solo project. I have a band per album, you could say. Even less, I have different band for each stage of album development. Because I had a band that helped me flesh out these songs, and then there's a different group of guys who are coming on the road with me."
American Music Club
American Music Club was an American, San Francisco-based indie rock band, led by singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel. Formed in 1983, the band released seven albums before splitting up in 1995. They reformed in 2003 and released two further albums. History Although born in California, Eitzel spent his formative years in Okinawa (Japan), Taiwan, Southampton (the United Kingdom) and Ohio (United States) before returning to the Bay Area in 1981. After a brief stint with the bands The Cowboys (one single: "Supermarket"/"Teenage Life") and The Naked Skinnies (one single) he founded American Music Club in San Francisco in 1983 with guitarist Scott Alexander, drummer Greg Bonnell and bass player Brad Johnson. The band went through many personnel changes before arriving at a stable line up of guitarist Vudi (Mark Pankler), bassist Danny Pearson, keyboardist Brad Johnson and drummer Matt Norelli. This lineup would change over the next several years, but Eitzel always remained the core of the band in terms of its vocals, lyrics and thematic focus, with Vudi and Pearson accompanying him on guitar and bass. Their 1985 debut, The Restless Stranger, released on Grifter Records, is widely considered as the first slowcore release, establishing the band as major pioneers of slowcore and an early influence on post-rock. It was later followed by 1987's Engine which saw record producer Tom Mallon as a full-time member. American Music Club earned a solid cult following in Europe on the strength of 1988's California. Their next LP, 1989's United Kingdom, was a UK-only release comprising new material, some of which was recorded live at the Hotel Utah in San Francisco. These two albums were described by Ian Canadine in Rock: The Rough Guide as "the band's two unequivocal masterpieces". In 1991 American Music Club released Everclear, which has been described as "more polished and radio-friendly" compared to the previous albums, with David Sprague, writing for Trouser Press stating the "slickened production works against the band", but as the band's masterpiece by Allmusic writer Jason Ankeny. Critical acclaim attracted the attention of several major labels. Rolling Stone called it the Album of the Year and named Eitzel Songwriter of the Year for 1991. Eventually, AMC—now consisting of Eitzel, Vudi, Pearson, multi-instrumentalist Bruce Kaphan and drummer Tim Mooney—signed with Reprise in the US and Virgin throughout the rest of the world. The band contributed the track "All Your Jeans Were Too Tight" to the 1993 AIDS-Benefit Album No Alternative produced by the Red Hot Organization. The album Mercury, produced by Mitchell Froom, followed in 1993 and, despite positive reviews (although Canadine considered it over-produced), the album only reached number 41 on the UK Albums Chart and got little radio and television exposure. In 1994, AMC issued San Francisco, which balanced confessional tunes like "Fearless" and "The Thorn in My Side Is Gone" alongside more accessible offerings such as "Wish the World Away". The band disbanded in 1995, with Eitzel concentrating on his solo career, having already released a solo live album and en EP as side projects. Vudi subsequently formed Clovis de la Floret while working as a bus driver in Los Angeles. The band reunited in 2003, with Eitzel joined by Pearson and Mooney, and later Vudi and keyboard player Marc Capelle, to record a new album, Love Songs for Patriots (released in 2004), which is described by Allmusic reviewer Mark Deming as "a stronger and more coherent effort than the group's last set, 1994's San Francisco, and while it's too early to tell if this is a new start or a last hurrah for AMC, it at least shows that their formula still yields potent results. Here's hoping Eitzel and Vudi have more where this came from." A performance in Pittsburgh on November 10, 2004, was released as a live CD, A Toast To You, on January 1, 2005. The band then consisted of Eitzel, Vudi, Pearson, Mooney, with Jason Borger on keyboards. On June 20, 2007, AMC announced a new lineup connected to the band's base of operations moving to Los Angeles. Eitzel and Vudi remained, while Mooney and Pearson stayed behind in San Francisco. They were replaced by bassist Sean Hoffman and drummer Steve Didelot from the band the Larks. AMC's next record, entitled The Golden Age, was released in the UK on February 4, 2008, on Cooking Vinyl and in the US on February 19 on Merge Records. The band split up again around 2010. Tim Mooney died of a blood clot in June 2012; he was 53. Tom Mallon died after a long battle with brain cancer on January 9, 2014; he was 57.
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. Winehouse's debut album, Frank (2003), was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her follow-up album, Back to Black (2006), led to five 2008 Grammy Awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made her the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Winehouse won three Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors: in 2004, Best Contemporary Song for "Stronger Than Me"; in 2007, Best Contemporary Song again, this time for "Rehab"; and in 2008, Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Love Is a Losing Game." She also won the 2007 Brit Award for Best British Female Artist, having been nominated for Best British Album, with Back to Black. Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. Her album Back to Black posthumously became, for a time, the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. 2006–2008: Back to Black and international success In contrast to her jazz-influenced former album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard. Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85 million copies over the course of the year. The album spawned a number of hit singles. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
Ancient River
Ancient River is a psychedelic rock band formed in 2008. The band was created by singer/songwriter James Barreto, and features Barreto (vocals/guitar/songwriter) and Alexis Cordova, Jr. (drums/vocals). Formed in 2008, with friends and now past members Zachary Veltheim on bass (from Barreto's previous band The Ohm) and Chad Voight on drums. The band name was taken from the Neil Young song "Thrasher": “Where the eagle glides ascending/There’s an ancient river bending/Down the timeless gorge of changes/Where sleeplessness awaits.” In reviewing 2011's Songs from North America, the Knoxville Mercury described Ancient River’s music as reminiscent of "the sun-baked desert twang of the Meat Puppets and Crazy Horse." Cordova and Barreto met when Cordova moved to Gainesville to join another band. In the Mercury interview, Cordova is quoted as saying, "when I found out about [Ancient River], if I hadn’t joined, they probably would have been my favorite band in Gainesville. I kind of feel like it was the right time, right place." Cordova now plays drums in the band, which was his first instrument growing up. The band's origins can be traced back the music scene in Gainesville, Florida and its thriving home grown DIY scene. Barreto, who had trained as an audio engineer, had a home studio and was busy recording local musicians. Ancient River made their debut at Austin Psych Festival on April 24, 2010. Cordova joined the line up in 2011 and the band began regularly playing the live circuit, playing Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia and Austin Psych Festival for a second time in 2012. Appearances at Los Angeles’ Psycho De Mayo and Desert Stars Festival Pre-Party followed in 2014 along with Milwaukee Psych Fest in 2015.
Andrew Bird
Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. He was a member of the bands Squirrel Nut Zippers and Bowl of Fire before pursuing a solo career. His main instrument is violin, but he also plays guitar and glockenspiel and is an expert whistler. He wrote and performed "The Whistling Caruso" for The Muppets movie and composed the score for the television series Baskets. Trained in the Suzuki method from the age of four, Bird graduated from Lake Forest High School in 1991 and Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in violin performance in 1996. That same year he self-released his first solo album, Music of Hair. Vastly different from his later work, this album showcased his violin skills and paid tribute to his fascination with both American and European folk traditions, as well as jazz and blues. Following this, his initial commercial exposure came through collaborative work with the band Squirrel Nut Zippers, appearing on three of their albums (Hot, Sold Out, and Perennial Favorites) between 1996 and 1998. Taking on the role of bandleader, Bird released Thrills on Rykodisc in 1998 with his group Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, shortly followed by second album Oh! The Grandeur in 1999. Both albums were heavily influenced by traditional folk, pre-war jazz, and swing, with Bird relying on the violin as his primary musical instrument, as well as providing vocals along with his trademark verbose lyrics. The Bowl of Fire featured musicians from Bird's home town of Chicago, including Kevin O'Donnell, Joshua Hirsch, Jon Williams, Nora O'Connor, Andy Hopkins, Jimmy Sutton, Colin Bunn, and Ryan Hembrey. During this period, Andrew Bird was a member of the jazz group Kevin O'Donnells Quality Six, for which he was the lead singer and violinist and contributed to arrangements and songwriting for the albums Heretic Blues (Delmark 1999) and Control Freak (Delmark 2000) (both Delmark albums were produced by Raymond Salvatore Harmon). In 2001, the Bowl of Fire released their third album, The Swimming Hour, a dramatic departure from their previous recordings. It featured a mixture of styles, from the zydeco-influenced "Core and Rind" to more straightforward rock songs such as "11:11". Due to this eclectic nature, Bird has often referred to it as his "jukebox album". Although gaining critical praise (The Swimming Hour received a 9.0 from indie music website Pitchfork), the band failed to attain commercial success or recognition, playing to audiences as small as 40 people. In 2002, Bird was asked to open for a band in his hometown of Chicago, but fellow Bowl of Fire members were unavailable for the date. The reluctant Bird performed the gig alone, and the surprising success of this solo show suggested potential new directions for his music.
Andrew Duhon
Andrew Duhon is a songwriter from New Orleans, a teller of stories with an undeniable voice, weighted and soulful. Duhon has released 3 recordings, the latest of which, ‘The Moorings’, was nominated for a Grammy in 2014 for ‘Best Engineered Album’. He has toured solo for much of his career, and that troubadour element is certainly present, an usher of modern day folklore.
Andy Shauf
Shauf was a drummer in the Christian pop punk band Captain until 2006. He released his debut album, Darker Days, in 2009, and followed up with the EPs Waiting for the Sun to Leave (2010) and Sam Jones Feeds His Demons (2012). He released the album The Bearer of Bad News independently in 2012. The album was rereleased in 2015 on Tender Loving Empire and Party Damage Records. In 2015, Shauf signed to Arts & Crafts Productions in Canada and ANTI- internationally, releasing the non-album single "Jenny Come Home" as his first release on both labels. "Jenny Come Home" was Shauf's breakthrough on Canadian radio, charting on both CBC Radio 2's Radio 2 Top 20 and CBC Radio 3. Through early 2016, he toured Europe as an opening act for The Lumineers. He moved from Saskatchewan to Toronto in April, and his album, The Party, was released in May. After some experimental recordings with a group of musicians, Shauf ended up playing almost all of the instruments on the album himself, recording the tracks sequentially. His song "Wendell Walker" from The Bearer of Bad News was shortlisted for the 2016 SOCAN Songwriting Prize, and The Party was a shortlisted finalist for the 2016 Polaris Music Prize. Following the release he toured throughout 2017 accompanied with a five-piece band that included multi-intrumentalist Karen Ng. In 2018 Shauf recorded an album with D.A. Kissick, Avery Kissick and Dallas Bryson, under the band name Foxwarren. The album was released on November 30, 2018.
Angel Olsen
Angel Olsen (born January 22, 1987) is an American singer-songwriter and musician from St. Louis, Missouri who lives in Asheville, North Carolina. Early life and education Angel Olsen was born on January 22, 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri. At age three, Olsen was adopted by a foster family that had cared for her since shortly after her birth. The difference in years between her and her parents left an impression. "Because there are so many decades of difference between us, I became more interested in what their childhood was like," she says of her parents, both of whom still live in St. Louis. "I fantasized about what it was like to be young in the ’30s and ’50s, more so than other kids my age." Olsen explained that "my mother just has this capacity for children." Despite early adolescent aspirations to be a "pop star", her interests later shifted in high school. Olsen became more introverted, regularly attending punk rock and noise music shows at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center and the Creepy Crawl as well as Christian rock shows throughout the city. She began learning the piano and guitar and writing her own music. At the age of 16, she joined a local band called Good Fight, self-described as "a meeting of early No Doubt and punk rock." Two years after graduating from Tower Grove Christian High School, Olsen moved to Chicago. Career After releasing her first EP, Strange Cacti, and a debut studio album, Half Way Home, on Bathetic Records, Olsen signed with Jagjaguwar, ahead of her first full-band record, Burn Your Fire for No Witness, which was released on February 17, 2014. The closing track of the album, "Windows", was featured in the final episode of the Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why in 2017. Olsen's third studio album, My Woman, was released on September 2, 2016. In a review for Consequence of Sound, critic Ciara Dolan described the album as a "startling record of unimpeachable strength and honesty", while Pitchfork's Jenn Pelly described it as "her best record yet". In addition to her work with Bonnie "Prince" Billy and the Cairo Gang, Olsen has collaborated with a number of other notable figures of American indie rock, including Tim Kinsella of Cap'n Jazz, LeRoy Bach of Wilco and Cass McCombs. Her collaboration with Kinsella and Bach, as well as with Chicago poet Marvin Tate, resulted in the album Tim Kinsella Sings the Songs of Marvin Tate by Leroy Bach Featuring Angel Olsen which the group released on Indianapolis label Joyful Noise Recordings on December 3, 2013. Olsen's fourth studio album, All Mirrors, was released on October 4, 2019 to critical acclaim. Laura Snapes of Pitchfork described the album as "breathtaking", and a "strong wind" that blows in and "leaves you undone", while Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "challenging and intriguing", and Luke Saunders of Happy Mag described it as a change of "theatric transcendency", when compared to her previous releases. Olsen plays a vintage Gibson S-1 guitar from 1979. On August 28, 2020, Olsen released her fifth studio album Whole New Mess through Seasick Records.
Angelo Badalamenti
Angelo Badalamenti (born March 22, 1937) is an American composer, best known for his work scoring films for director David Lynch, notably Blue Velvet, the Twin Peaks saga (1990–1992, 2017), The Straight Story and Mulholland Drive. Badalamenti received the 1990 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for his "Twin Peaks Theme", and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Awards and the Henry Mancini Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Badalamenti was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Italian-American family; his father, who was of Sicilian descent, was a fish market owner. He began taking piano lessons at age eight. By the time Badalamenti was a teenager, his aptitude at the piano earned him a summer job accompanying singers at resorts in the Catskill Mountains. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music and then earned Master of Arts degrees in composition, French horn, and piano from the Manhattan School of Music in 1960.
Angus & Julia Stone
Angus & Julia Stone are an Australian folk and indie pop group, formed in 2006 by brother and sister Angus and Julia Stone. Angus & Julia Stone have released four studio albums: A Book Like This (2007), Down the Way (2010), Angus & Julia Stone (2014), and Snow (2017). At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010, they won five awards from nine nominations: Album of the Year, Best Adult Alternative Album, Best Cover Art and Producer of the Year for Down the Way, and Single of the Year for "Big Jet Plane". The siblings have issued two solo albums each. Angus and Julia Stone were born in Sydney to Kim and John Stone in 1986 and 1984, respectively. Kim was a marine biologist, singer and high school teacher. She then spent 20 years in institutional funds management. She now goes by the name Kim Jones and serves as a non-executive board director. John Stone was a builder and high school teacher, as well as a musician in his own right. Kim and John were a folk duo before Angus and Julia's older sister, Catherine, was born in October, 1982. Catherine, Julia and Angus grew up in the suburb of Newport on Sydney's Northern Beaches. They attended Newport Primary School and then Barrenjoey High School. They were all taught by their father with their mother singing to them, which helped them develop their musicality. At family gatherings, when the Stones performed, Catherine was on saxophone, Julia on trumpet and Angus on trombone; with Kim singing and John on keyboards or guitar. During their teen years, their parents separated amicably. The children spent equal time with their mother and father, as both parents lived in the same suburb. During this time, Angus started writing pop songs. After finishing school, Angus worked as a labourer while Julia taught trumpet. Angus learned guitar and while recuperating from a snowboarding accident, Kim and Angus travelled to South America to join Julia and then go on to meet Catherine who was travelling in Italy.
Anoushka Shankar
Anoushka Shankar (born 9 June 1981 is a British Indian sitar player and composer. She is the daughter of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Rajan, and the half-sister of Norah Jones. Early life Shankar was born in London and her childhood was divided between London and Delhi. She is the daughter of Sukanya Shankar and Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who was 61 when she was born. Through her father, she is also the half-sister of American singer Norah Jones (born Geetali Norah Shankar), and Shubhendra "Shubho" Shankar, who died in 1992. As a teenager, Shankar lived in Encinitas, California, and attended San Dieguito High School Academy. A 1999 honors graduate and Homecoming Queen, Anoushka decided to pursue a career in music rather than attend college. Career Shankar began training on the sitar with her father Ravi Shankar at the age of seven. As part of her training, she began accompanying him on the tanpura at his performances from the age of ten, soaking up the music and becoming acclimated to the stage. She gave her first public sitar performance on 27 February 1995 at the age of 13, at Siri Fort in New Delhi as part of her father's 75th birthday celebration concert. For this solo debut, she was accompanied by tabla maestro Zakir Hussain. Her first experience in the recording studio came that same year when Angel Records released a special four-CD box set called In Celebration, to mark her father's birthday. By the age of fourteen, she was accompanying her father at concerts around the world. At fifteen, she assisted her father on the landmark album Chants of India, produced by George Harrison. Under both their guidance, she was in charge of notation and eventually of conducting the performers who took part in the record. After this experience, the heads of Angel Records came to her parents' home to ask to sign her, and Shankar signed her first exclusive recording contract with Angel/EMI when she was sixteen. She released her first album, Anoushka, in 1998, followed by Anourag in 2000. In 1999 Shankar graduated from high school with honors, but decided against university in favour of beginning to tour as a solo artist. Both Shankar and her half-sister Norah Jones were nominated for Grammy awards in 2003 when Anoushka became the youngest nominee in the World Music category for her third album, Live at Carnegie Hall. Having released three albums of Indian classical music, Shankar took several years away from recording and focused her energy on establishing herself as a solo concert performer outside of her father's ensemble. In that time, she toured worldwide, playing an average of 50–60 concerts per year. 2005 brought the release of her fourth album RISE, her first self-produced, self-composed, non-classical album, earning her another Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary World Music category. In February 2006 she became the first Indian to play at the Grammy Awards, playing material from RISE. Shankar, in collaboration with Karsh Kale, released Breathing Under Water on 28 August 2007. It is a mix of classical sitar and electronica beats and melodies. Notable guest vocals included her paternal half-sister Norah Jones, Sting, and her father, who performed a sitar duet with her. In 2011 Shankar signed with record label Deutsche Grammophon as an exclusive artist. This marked the beginning of a prolific recording and creative period for Shankar, during which time she continued to refine the sitar sound and musical ideas she had become known for. She earned a third Grammy Award nomination in 2013 for Traveller, an exploration of the shared history between flamenco and Indian classical music, which was produced by Javier Limón and featured artists such as Buika, Pepe Habichuela and Duquende. As Shankar had begun to do with Rise, she created a specially handpicked ensemble of musicians with whom to perform this cross-genre music, and played over a hundred concerts worldwide in support of Traveller. In 2013 she released a personal album called Traces of You, which was released several months after the passing of her father Ravi Shankar. Produced by Nitin Sawhney, and featuring her half-sister Norah Jones as the sole vocal performer, Traces of You earned Shankar a fourth Grammy nomination in the World Music category. In July 2015 Shankar released Home, her first purely classical album of Indian Ragas. Self-composed and produced, Home was recorded over a week in October 2014 in Shankar's new, purpose-built home-studio. Shankar has made many guest appearances on recordings by other artists, among them Sting, Lenny Kravitz, Thievery Corporation and Nitin Sawhney. Recently, Shankar has collaborated with Herbie Hancock on his latest record The Imagine Project, and with Rodrigo y Gabriela on their album Area 52. Duets with artists such as violinist Joshua Bell, in a sitar-cello duet with Mstislav Rostropovich, and with flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal, playing both sitar and piano, Shankar has championed her father's compositions. Shankar also performs Ravi Shankar's 1st and 2nd Concertos for Sitar and Orchestra, performing multiple times under legendary conductors such as Zubin Mehta. In January 2009 she was the sitar soloist alongside the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra premiering her father's 3rd Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra, and in July 2010 she premiered Ravi Shankar's first symphony for sitar and orchestra with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at London's Royal Festival Hall. In April 2016, Shankar performed with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja during a concert in Konzerthaus Berlin, Germany. The Raga Piloo was originally composed, performed and recorded by Ravi Shankar as a duet with Yehudi Menuhin on the album West Meets East, Volume 2 in 1968. ‘Love Letters’ marks a different direction for the internationally celebrated artist; it offers a shift in intimacy and content and comes at a pivotal time in her career as she signs to her new record label, Mercury KX. A host of trail-blazing women feature on ‘Love Letters’ including singer and co-producer Alev Lenz, twin sister vocal duo Ibeyi, singer and cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson, renowned Indian singer Shilpa Rao, Brooklyn-based mastering engineer Heba Kadry (Björk, Slowdive) and British audio mastering engineer Mandy Parnell (Aphex Twin, The XX). On 13 November 2020, Shankar was featured on "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. The single debuted at number 7 on the Official UK Singles Chart and number 1 on both the Official UK Singles Sales Chart and the Official UK Singles Download Chart
Anti Bypass
To those that don't know all the tech-know about Dub Studio works: "Bypass" is a mode on an effect device which basically disables that particular effect. Yes, sometimes that is necessary although it seems to be a little bit different in Anti-Bypass' studio. An 8 tracks live act in the King Tubby's tradition from the 70' ; from the recording to the mixing technics, building and modifications of his own gear; Anti Bypass delivers a pure homemade roots-dub music for all the lovers of old jamaicans studios sound, splashing spring reverbs and ruff echoes. All the tracks are mixed strickly one shot at the console using hardware analog effects, no computer automations,mutes or fx plugs.... in studio as in live act... Peace & Dub...
Antibalas
Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof") is an American, Brooklyn-based afrobeat band that is modeled after Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra. Although their music generally follows the musical architecture and language of afrobeat, it incorporates elements of jazz, funk, dub, improvised music, and traditional drumming from Cuba and West Africa. History Founded in 1998 by Martín Perna as "Conjunto Antibalas", the group first performed on May 26, 1998, at St. Nicks Pub in Harlem at a poetry night organized by renowned visual artist Xaviera Simmons. Over the course of the next few months, the group solidified with a core of eleven band members and expanded their repertoire of original songs. For the first year of the group's existence, they performed exclusively at non-commercial venues such as block parties, lofts, and public parks, before securing a Friday night residency at the now-defunct NoMoore in August 1999. Called Africalia!, the residency lasted from August 1999 till April 2001, when the club was shut down by fire officials during the Giuliani administration's crackdown on nightclubs and cabarets. Guitarist and producer/engineer Gabriel Roth wrote several of the earlier tunes and oversaw recording and production of the first three records. Over the next few years, the band's presence grew; by summer 2000 Antibalas had released their first album Liberation Afrobeat Vol. 1 and had toured twice in England, while continuing to play at venues throughout New York City. Recording with the group in the early days was Cameroonian drummer Jojo Kuo, who can be heard on the studio recordings of "Uprising" and "Machete". By early 2002, the horn-driven outfit had released their second album, Talkatif, and continued to tour throughout the United States and Europe. In summer 2004, their third studio album, Who is This America?, was released on Ropeadope Records. Antibalas's album, Security, was produced by John McEntire and released on the ANTI- label in 2007. Antibalas has performed in 35 countries, from Japan to Turkey to Portugal to Australia, and throughout New York City, from Carnegie Hall to Central Park Summerstage to the Rikers Island prison facility. The group has received guest visits from several musicians from Fela Kuti's Afrika 70 and Egypt 80 bands, including Tony Allen (drums), Femi Kuti (alto sax), Seun Kuti (tenor sax), Tunde Williams (trumpet), Oghene Kologbo (guitar), Nicolas Addey (congas), Dele Sosimi (keyboards), Ola Jagun (drums/percussion), and Jojo Kuo (drums) among others. In the summer of 2008, Antibalas was featured off-Broadway in Fela!, a musical celebrating the life of Fela Kuti. The group arranged and performed the show's score of music originally performed by Kuti. In the fall of 2009, Fela! opened on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, once again with Antibalas. In 2010, the band released their Rat Race EP, with an arrangement of Bob Marley's "Rat Race" featuring Amayo on vocals, as well as "Se Chifló" featuring Chico Mann as vocalist. In 2011, the band reunited with producer and former Antibalas guitarist Gabriel Roth at Daptone Studios in Bushwick, Brooklyn, to record their fifth full-length album, entitled Antibalas. The album was released on August 7, 2012, on the Daptone label. The band resumed a heavy touring schedule beginning in April 2012 with their debut tour in Brazil, performing in São Paulo and Recife, and kicked off a US tour at the Outsidelands Festival in San Francisco, followed by a tour of California. On August 24, 2012, Antibalas made their national television debut, performing their single "Dirty Money" on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. On September 11, they resumed their US/Canada tour with 30 dates in the Midwest, East Coast, Southeast and Gulf Coast, including the Austin City Limits Festival. On October 4, they appeared on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts. The band toured in Europe in October and November 2012, followed by an Australian tour in March 2013 . In May of the same year Antibalas visited Mexico for first time, performing in Puebla "Festival 5 de Mayo" with originals members like Victor Axelrod. In 2015, The Antibalas horn section collaborated with The Dap-Kings horn section, Mark Ronson, and Bruno Mars to record Uptown Funk and other tracks off of Mark Ronson's 2015 album Uptown Special. They also performed Uptown Funk together on Saturday Night Live in November 2014.
Aoife O'Donovan
Aoife O'Donovan (/ˈiːfə/ EE-fə, Irish: [ˈiːfʲə]; born November 18, 1982) is an Irish-American singer and Grammy award-winning songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer for the string band Crooked Still and she also co-founded the Grammy Award-winning female folk trio I'm with Her. She has released three critically acclaimed studio albums: Fossils (2013), In the Magic Hour (2016), and Man in a Neon Coat: Live from Cambridge (2016), as well as multiple noteworthy EPs, including Blue Light (2010), Peachstone (2012), In the Magic Hour: Solo Sessions (2019), and Bull Frog's Croon (and Other Songs) (2020). She also spent a decade contributing to the radio variety shows Live from Here and A Prairie Home Companion. Her first professional engagement was singing lead for the folk group The Wayfaring Strangers. O'Donovan has performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, she sang on most of the tracks on the album Be Still by the jazz group the Dave Douglas Quintet, featuring trumpeter Dave Douglas. During the summer of 2013, she toured with Garrison Keillor and his A Prairie Home Companion Radio Romance Tour. She also performed at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark 2014. In summer 2017, she joined Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home "Love and Comedy" Tour. She has performed, recorded and collaborated with a large variety of acclaimed musicians including Ollabelle, Karan Casey and Seamus Egan, Jerry Douglas, Jim Lauderdale, Darol Anger, Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins, Christina Courtin, Chris Thile (Nickel Creek, Punch Brothers), Noam Pikelny (Punch Brothers), Edgar Meyer, Stuart Duncan, Greensky Bluegrass, Kronos Quartet and Yo-Yo Ma. Her songwriting has also led her to be featured in films and television and came to the attention of Alison Krauss, who recorded Aoife's song "Lay My Burden Down" on her album Paper Airplane (2011 Rounder Records) and is used in the film Get Low (2010 Sony Pictures). She has had songs placed on True Blood (HBO) and Private Practice (ABC).
Apifera
Apifera is Yuval Havkin – aka Rejoicer– (keys), Nitai Hershkovits (keys), Amir Bresler (drums) and Yonatan Albalak (bass). Named after a variety of bee-attracting orchid, Apifera create organic-sounding structures, harmonies and arrangements intended to reflect the rich variety and equilibrium of the natural world. Their influences range from the folk music of their home country Israel, to Impressionist composers Ravel and Satie, traditional music from Sudan and Ghana, and the transcendental jazz of Sun Ra. Working intuitively, the quartet wrote and recorded Overstand mostly live in just three days, and the final album includes minimal overdubbing. “Orchestrating is a big part of our sound,” says Nitai. “We paid a lot of attention to the textures, discussing timbres and temperatures in detail throughout the recording process.” Each of the ten free-flowing pieces on Overstand evokes an intricate scene or story: on the title track, a fanfare-like melody builds in an echo of a crowd marching across city streets; “Lake VU” sets the scene of an evening stroll across the lake, and “The Pit & The Beggar”, moves like a spiral staircase into a wide abyss, revealing new colors on every turn — at once ethereal and electrifying. Drawing on real-life spiritual and psychedelic experiences, often intertwined with nature, as a springboard for their music, Apifera showcases a sound “more like a lucid dream than reality”, as Nitai puts it — free, improvisatory, and live.
Ariel Pink
Ariel Marcus Rosenberg (/ˈɑːriɛl/ AR-ee-el; born June 24, 1978), also known as Ariel Pink, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter whose work draws heavily from 1970s–1980s pop radio. His lo-fi aesthetic and home-recorded albums proved influential to many indie musicians starting in the late 2000s. He is frequently cited as "godfather" of the hypnagogic pop and chillwave movements, and he is credited with galvanizing a larger trend involving the evocation of the media, sounds, and outmoded technologies of prior decades. A native of Los Angeles, Pink began experimenting with recording songs on an eight-track Portastudio as a teenager. His early influences were artists such as Michael Jackson, the Cure, and R. Stevie Moore. The majority of his recorded output stems from a prolific eight-year period (1996–2003) in which he accumulated over 200 cassette tapes of material. Virtually all of his music released in the 2000s was written and recorded before 2004, the same year he debuted on Animal Collective's Paw Tracks label with The Doldrums (2000), followed with House Arrest (2002) and Worn Copy (2003). The albums immediately attracted a cult following. In the 2000s, Pink's unusual sound prompted a renewed critical discussion of hauntological phenomena, for which he was a central figure. Until 2014, his records were usually credited to "Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti", a solo project sometimes conflated with his touring band. His fame and recognition escalated following the success of his 2010 album Before Today, his first recorded in a professional studio. Since then, he has recorded three more albums: Mature Themes (2012), Pom Pom (2014), and Dedicated to Bobby Jameson (2017). He has also collaborated with a variety of other artists.
Arms and Sleepers
Arms and Sleepers is an ambient/trip hop duo consisting of Max Lewis, and Mirza Ramic. The band was formed in 2006 and has since released a handful of albums and EPs, including Bliss Was It in That Dawn to Be Alive, an EP released in 2006; Black Paris 86, an album released in 2007; and Matador, which was released in November 2009. The band gives a cinematic experience when performing live, backing their music up with synchronised visuals created by Dado Ramadani.
Atahualpa Yupanqui
Atahualpa Yupanqui (Spanish pronunciation: [ataˈwalpa ʃuˈpaŋki]; born Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburu; 31 January 1908 – 23 May 1992) was an Argentine singer, songwriter, guitarist, and writer. He is considered the most important Argentine folk musician of the 20th century. Biography Yupanqui was born Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburu in Pergamino (Buenos Aires Province), in the Argentine pampas, about 200 kilometers away from Buenos Aires. His father was a mestizo descended from indigenous people, while his mother was born in the Basque country. His family moved to the Northwest city of Tucumán when he was nine. In a bow to two legendary Incan kings, he adopted the stage name Atahualpa Yupanqui, which became famous all around the world. In his early years, Yupanqui traveled extensively through the northwest of Argentina and the Altiplano studying the indigenous culture. He became politically active and joined the Communist Party of Argentina. In 1931, he took part in the failed Kennedy brothers uprising against the de facto government of José Félix Uriburu and in support of deposed president Hipólito Yrigoyen. After the uprising was defeated, he was forced to seek refuge in Uruguay. He returned to Argentina in 1934. In 1935, Yupanqui paid his first visit to Buenos Aires; his compositions were growing in popularity, and he was invited to perform on the radio. Shortly thereafter, he made the acquaintance of pianist Antonieta Paula Pepin Fitzpatrick, nicknamed "Nenette", who became his lifelong companion and musical collaborator under the pseudonym "Pablo Del Cerro". Because of his Communist Party affiliation (which lasted until 1952), his work suffered from censorship during Juan Perón's presidency; he was detained and incarcerated several times. He left for Europe in 1949. Édith Piaf invited him to perform in Paris on 7 July 1950. He immediately signed a contract with "Chant Du Monde", the recording company that published his first LP in Europe, "Minero Soy" (I am a Miner). This record won first prize for Best Foreign Disc at the Charles Cros Academy, which included three hundred fifty participants from all continents in its International Folklore Contest He subsequently toured extensively throughout Europe. In 1952, Yupanqui returned to Buenos Aires. He broke with the Communist Party, which made it easier for him to book radio performances. While with Nenette they constructed their house on Cerro Colorado (Córdoba). Recognition of Yupanqui's ethnographic work became widespread during the 1960s, and nueva canción artists such as Facundo Cabral, Mercedes Sosa and Jorge Cafrune recorded his compositions and made him popular among the younger musicians, who referred to him as Don Ata. Yupanqui alternated between houses in Buenos Aires and Cerro Colorado, Córdoba province. During 1963–1964, he toured Colombia, Japan, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, and Italy. In 1967, he toured Spain, and settled in Paris. He returned regularly to Argentina and appeared in Argentinísima II in 1973, but these visits became less frequent when the military dictatorship of Jorge Videla came to power in 1976. In February 1968, Yupanqui was named a Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France by the Ministry of Culture of that country, in honor of 18 years work enriching the literature of the French nation. Some of his songs are included in the programs of Institutes and Schools where Castilian Literature is taught. In 1985, the Konex Foundation from Argentina granted him the Diamond Konex Award, one of the most prestigious awards in Argentina, as the most important Popular Musician in the last decade in his country. In 1989, an important cultural center of France, the University of Nanterre, asked Yupanqui to write the lyrics of a cantata to commemorate the Bicentennial of the French Revolution. The piece, entitled "The Sacred Word" (Parole sacrée), was released before high French authorities. It was not a recollection of historical facts but rather a tribute to all the oppressed peoples that freed themselves. Yupanqui died in Nîmes, France in 1992 at the age of 84; his remains were cremated and dispersed on his beloved Colorado Hill on 8 June 1992.
Augustus Pablo
Horace Swaby (21 June 1954 – 18 May 1999), known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer, melodica player and keyboardist, active from the 1970s onwards. He popularised the use of the melodica (an instrument at that time primarily used in Jamaica to teach music to schoolchildren) in reggae music. His album King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown (1976) is often regarded as one of the most important examples of dub. He was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica, and learned to play the organ at the Kingston College School, where a girl lent him a melodica, an instrument that fascinated him. He also met Herman Chin Loy, who after working at his cousin Leslie Kong's Beverley's record shop, had set up his own Aquarius store in Half Way Tree. Swaby recorded early tracks including "Higgi Higgi", "East of the River Nile", "Song of the East" and "The Red Sea" between 1971 and 1973 for Chin-Loy's Aquarius Records. Chin Loy had previously used the name Augustus Pablo generically for keyboard instrumentals recorded by Lloyd Charmers and Glen Adams, and Swaby took the name for this recording. "East of the River Nile", a unique blend of East Asian and Jamaican sounds, became a moderate hit. He soon joined Now Generation (Mikey Chung's band) and played keyboard with them while his friend Clive Chin began his own career as a record producer. Pablo and Chin recorded "Java" (1972) together, as soon as Pablo quit Now Generation and Clive was able to obtain studio time. This instrumental was a massive hit and launched Pablo's solo career. He recorded with Chin and others including Lee Perry and Chin's uncle, Leonard Chin. Pablo scored another smash hit with "My Desire" (John Holt). Pablo formed the labels Hot Stuff, Message and Rockers (named after his brother's soundsystem, Rockers), and released a steady stream of well-received instrumentals, mostly versions of older hits from Studio One. In spite of his success with Rockers, Pablo's 1974 album, This Is Augustus Pablo was recorded with Clive and Pat Chin. This was followed by a collaboration with the legendary reggae engineer King Tubby, 1975's Ital Dub. Pablo produced a steady stream of hits in the late 1970s, including the hit "Black Star Liner" (Fred Locks). He also worked with Dillinger, Norris Reid, I-Roy, Jacob Miller, The Immortals, Paul Blackman, Earl Sixteen, Roman Stewart, Lacksley Castell, The Heptones, Bob Marley, Ricky Grant, Delroy Wilson, Junior Delgado, Horace Andy and Freddy McKay. This period was eventually commemorated with a series of critically acclaimed LPs including King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown (1976) and Hugh Mundell's classic Africa Must Be Free by 1983. This was followed by East of the River Nile (1978), Original Rockers (1979) and another acclaimed hit album, Rockers Meets King Tubbys in a Firehouse. In the 1980s, Pablo's career slowed significantly. In 1980, he appeared on the soundtrack of the documentary DOA. He had begun to establish an American audience and released Rising Sun in 1986 to good reviews and sales. Pablo also produced memorable hits, including "Ragamuffin Year" (Junior Delgado), "Humble Yourself" (Asher & Tremble) and "Far Far Away" (Ricky Grant). In addition, he toured extensively throughout the world, recording a memorable live album in Tokyo in 1987. That same year, Rockers Come East re-established his career and he began to release a series of favourably reviewed though somewhat inaccessible albums in the 1990s (including Blowing With the Wind), while producing such records as Dawn Penn's "Night & Day" and Yami Bolo's "Jah Made Them All". Augustus Pablo died as a result of a collapsed lung on 18 May 1999. He had been suffering for some time from the nerve disorder myasthenia gravis.
Ayub Ogada
Baaba Maal
Baaba Maal (born 12 November 1953) is a Senegalese singer and guitarist born in Podor, on the Senegal River. He is well known in Africa and internationally and is one of Senegal's most famous musicians. In addition to acoustic guitar, he also plays percussion. He has released several albums, both for independent and major labels. In July 2003, he was made a UNDP Youth Emissary. Maal sings primarily in Pulaar and is the foremost promoter of the traditions of the Pulaar-speaking people, who live on either side of the Senegal River in the ancient Senegalese kingdom of Futa Tooro. Early life and education Maal was expected to follow in his father's profession and become a fisherman. However, under the influence of his lifelong friend and family gawlo, blind guitarist Mansour Seck, Maal devoted himself to learning music from his mother and his school's headmaster. He went on to study music at the university in Dakar before leaving for postgraduate studies on a scholarship at Beaux-Arts in Paris.
BadBadNotGood
BadBadNotGood (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian instrumental band and production team from Toronto, Canada. The group was founded in 2010 by bassist Chester Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares, and drummer Alexander Sowinski. In 2016, they were joined by frequent collaborator Leland Whitty. Among other projects, the group has released five solo studio albums, with the latest, Talk Memory, released in October 2021. They have had critical and crossover success, finding audiences in the hip hop, jazz, and alternative music communities. The group combines jazz musicianship with a hip hop production perspective and are well known for their collaborations with artists like Tyler, The Creator, Daniel Caesar, Mick Jenkins, Kendrick Lamar, and Ghostface Killah. For their songwriting and production work, they have been nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning two.
BALTHVS
Hailing from Bogotá, Colombia. BALTHVS can be seen as spearheading a musical psychedelic revolution in their home country, where it's conservative roots have historically shunned counterculture. But their sound is not about freaking out, rather it's about flowing and grooving gently amidst the general anger and chaos of 21st century society. After all, the band doesn't know anything else, it was formed 2 months before the rise of the COVID pandemic, making them one of the first pandemic bands out there. They are not strangers to the digital realm, embracing it fully, while retaining time tested values such as live musicianship, steady songwriting and journeying into different musical traditions from all over the world. The trio composed by Balthazar Aguirre (Guitar) Johanna Mercuriana (Bass) and Santiago Lizcano (Drums) explore the limits of funk, disco, dream pop, vaporwave, soul, r&B and world music while enveloping everything with their innate psychedelic essence. So sit back, relax, and melt down the cosmic grooves MACROCOSM is BALTHVS' first LP. The name implies the diverse nature of the music, the substantial genre blending throughout the record and the general psychedelic vibe of the songs. It's a cross continental trip across time, styles, languages and rhythms.
Band of Annuals
Specializing in a kind of atmospheric country-folk-pop, Band of Annuals formed in 2004 in Salt Lake City, UT, with a lineup that included Jay Henderson (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Jeremi Hanson (vocals, keyboards), Brent Dreiling (pedal steel), Trevor Handley (bass), Jamie Timm (guitar), and Charlie Lewis (drums). Initially known as the Annuals, the group self-released the lo-fi Respondez shortly after coming together, following it up with the Live Warehouse EP. A full-length album, Let Me Live, appeared in 2007 and a second, five-song EP, available only at the group's live shows, was released in 2008. By Steve Leggett
Banes World
Banes World is a group coming out of Long Beach, CA, lead by singer/songwriter and guitarist Shane Blanchard, who writes and records the music, with other members which help perform the shows live consisting of Michael Seyer, Vincent Reyes, Eric Baisa, and Antonio Aiello. Their music is often described as synth infested Alternative/Indie Pop, with a somewhat 60’s/70’s rock vibe, and 80’s/90’s aesthetic.
Barrington Levy
Barrington Ainsworth Levy (born 30 April 1964) is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist. Levy was born in Clarendon, Jamaica. He formed a band called the Mighty Multitude, with his cousin, Everton Dacres; the pair released "My Black Girl" in 1977. Levy established his solo career the next year with "A Long Time Since We Don't Have No Love"; though the single was a failure, the fourteen-year-old was a popular performer at Jamaican dancehalls.
Beabadoobee
Beatrice Laus[a] (born 3 June 2000), known professionally as Beabadoobee (/biːbəduːbiːˈ/; stylized in all lowercase), is a Filipino-born British singer-songwriter. Since 2018, she has released four extended plays under the independent label Dirty Hit including Lice (2018), Patched Up (2018), Loveworm (2019) and Space Cadet (2019). Her debut studio album, Fake It Flowers, was released in October 2020. Beabadoobee served as a supporting act for labelmates The 1975 during several legs of their Music for Cars Tour, as well as American singer Clairo during her Immunity Tour. She was nominated for the Rising Star Award at the 2020 Brit Awards, and was presented with the Radar Award at the 2020 NME Awards. Beabadoobee was also predicted as a breakthrough act for 2020 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2020. Early life Laus was born in Iloilo City, Philippines on 3 June 2000 and moved to London with her parents at the age of 3. She grew up in West London listening to original pinoy music as well as pop and rock music from the 1980s. While she was a teenager, she listened to indie rock including Karen O, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Florist and Alex G. She was expelled from Sacred Heart High School before completing her thirteenth year at Hammersmith Academy. Laus spent seven years learning to play the violin, before getting her first guitar second-hand at the age of 17. She taught herself how to play the instrument using YouTube tutorials. She was inspired by Kimya Dawson and the Juno soundtrack to start making music.
Beach House
Beach House is an American musical duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. The band consists of vocalist and keyboardist Victoria Legrand and guitarist, keyboardist, and backup vocalist Alex Scally. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006 to critical acclaim and has been followed by Devotion (2008), Teen Dream (2010), Bloom (2012), Depression Cherry (2015), Thank Your Lucky Stars (2015), B-sides and Rarities (2017), 7 (2018), and Once Twice Melody (2022). 2004–2007: Formation and Beach House Vocalist and organist Victoria Legrand, who graduated from Vassar College in 2003, and guitarist Alex Scally, who graduated from Oberlin College in 2004, formed the band in 2004 after meeting in Baltimore's indie rock scene, producing music composed largely of organ, programmed drums, and steel guitar. Of the origins of the band name Scally said: "We’d been writing music, and we had all these songs, and then there was that moment where you say ‘what do we call ourselves?’ We tried to intellectualize it, and it didn’t work. There were different plant-names, Wisteria, that kind of thing. Stupid stuff. But, once we stopped trying, it just came out, it just happened. And it just seemed perfect." In an interview with Pitchfork, Legrand addressed their being a two-member status thus: "It's a way to challenge ourselves: What do you do when it's just the two of you? ... One of the reasons this has been such a fulfilling experience for me is that with two people, it's so much easier to achieve things that feel exciting and new." In August 2006, their song "Apple Orchard" was featured on a Pitchfork MP3 mixtape. By October 2006 the band's self-titled debut album, Beach House, was released through Carpark Records, and was ranked 16th on Pitchfork's Best Albums of that year. The album was recorded on a 4-track over a two day period in Scally's basement.
Beck
Beck Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known professionally as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical collages of wide genre styles. Today, he musically encompasses folk, funk, soul, hip hop, electronic, alternative rock, country, and psychedelia. He has released 13 studio albums (3 of which were independently released), as well as several non-album singles and a book of sheet music. Born in Los Angeles in 1970, Beck grew towards hip-hop and folk in his teens and began to perform locally at coffeehouses and clubs. He moved to New York City in 1989 and became involved in the city's small and fiery anti-folk movement. Returning to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, he cut his breakthrough single "Loser," which became a worldwide hit in 1994, and released his first major album, Mellow Gold, the same year. Odelay, released in 1996, topped critic polls and won several awards. He released the psychedelic Mutations in 1998, and the funk-infused Midnite Vultures in 1999. The soft-acoustic Sea Change in 2002 showcased a more serious Beck, and 2005's Guero returned to Odelay's sample-based production. The Information in 2006 was inspired by electro-funk, hip hop, and psychedelia; 2008's Modern Guilt was inspired by '60s pop music; and 2014's folk-infused Morning Phase won Album of the Year at the 57th Grammy Awards on February 8, 2015. His thirteenth studio album, Colors, was released in October 2017 after a long production process. With a pop art collage of musical styles, oblique and ironic lyrics, and postmodern arrangements incorporating samples, drum machines, live instrumentation and sound effects, Beck has been hailed by critics and the public throughout his musical career as being among the most idiosyncratically creative musicians of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock. Two of Beck's most popular and acclaimed recordings are Odelay and Sea Change, both of which were ranked on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The four-time platinum artist has collaborated with several artists and has made several contributions to soundtracks.
Beirut
Beirut is an American band which was originally the solo musical project of Santa Fe native Zach Condon. Beirut's music combines elements of indie-rock and world music. The band's first performance was in New York, in May 2006, to support its debut album, Gulag Orkestar. Condon named the band after Lebanon’s capital, because of the city’s history of conflict and as a place where cultures collide. Beirut performed in Lebanon for the first time in 2014, at the Byblos International Festival. Early years Zach Condon was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 13, 1986. He grew up in Newport News, Virginia, and in Santa Fe. Condon played trumpet in a jazz band as a teenager and cites jazz as a major influence. Condon attended Santa Fe High School, until dropping out aged 17. Santa Fe's proximity to Mexico exposed Condon to mariachi music. Work at a cinema showing international films piqued his interest in Fellini arias, Sicilian funeral brass and Balkan music. Cordon attended community college for a short period, before traveling to Europe at the age of 17 with his older brother, Ryan. Condon's exploration of world music developed Beirut's melodic sound. Zach's younger brother Ross Condon played in the Brooklyn-based band Total Slacker. Gulag Orkestar Returning from Europe Condon enrolled at the University of New Mexico, where he studied Portuguese and photography. Condon recorded most of the material for Gulag Orkestar alone in his bedroom, finishing the album in a studio with Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw), who became early contributors to the band. Ba Da Bing! records signed Condon on the strength of the recordings. Condon recruited friends to play Gulag Orkestar's first live shows in New York in May 2006. Beirut's first music video was for "Elephant Gun". The second video, for "Postcards from Italy", was directed by Alma Har'el. Lon Gisland EP was the full band's first release, in 2007.
Benjamin Booker
Benjamin Booker (born Benjamin Roderick Evans; June 14, 1989) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He cites The Gun Club, Blind Willie Johnson and T. Rex as influences. His music was described by the Chicago Tribune as "a raw brand of blues/boogie/soul,", by The Independent as "frenzied guitar-strumming and raw, soulful vocals that are hair-raising in intensity" and by SPIN as "bright, furious, explosive garage rock." Early life Benjamin Booker was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia. His family relocated to Tampa, Florida, where he attended all-ages DIY punk shows as a teenager. He attended Orange Grove Middle School, a magnet school for the performing arts, followed by Hillsborough High School, where he studied in the International Baccalaureate Program. He then attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, studying journalism with intentions of going into music journalism. After college, he moved to New Orleans to work for a non-profit organization and began playing shows. He self-released the four-track EP Waiting Ones in 2012, a collection of "low-fi blues-influenced folk-punk recordings and handclap percussion" that gained the attention of music blog Aquarium Drunkard. The track "Have You Seen My Son" eventually landed on Sirius XM satellite radio. In 2013, he began touring as an electric duo and signed with ATO Records to produce his debut album. Career 2013–present: Benjamin Booker Booker's self-titled debut album was recorded in December 2013 at The Bomb Shelter, an analog studio in Nashville. Produced by Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff), the album was released on August 19, 2014 via ATO Records in the United States and Rough Trade Records in Europe. The first single from the album, "Violent Shiver," was released in April 2014. The album received early praise, debuting in the top 10 of Billboard's Alternative Albums and Independent Albums charts and leading to Benjamin Booker being named an "artist you need to know" by Rolling Stone, "the best of what's next" by Paste Magazine and a "contender for rock record of the year" by SPIN. Benjamin Booker also performed on late night television programs Late Night with David Letterman, Conan and Later With Jools Holland. Since release, in addition to touring with Jack White and Courtney Barnett, Booker, accompanied by drummer Max Norton and bassist Alex Spoto, has played international headlining tours and performed at a number of festivals. In 2013, he performed at FYF Fest, the Newport Folk Festival, the Austin City Limits Music Festival, Voodoo Experience and Lollapalooza, where Rolling Stone named his performance the festival's "best rock star moment... best experienced live and turned up to 11". Internationally, he has appeared on the lineups of France's Festival Les InRocks Philips and Australia's St Jerome's Laneway Festival.
Bertrand Belin
Bertrand Belin is a French singer, guitarist and writer, born on December 7 , 1970 in Quiberon ( Morbihan ). Bertrand Belin was born and raised in Quiberon, along with four siblings, a stay-at-home mom and a fisherman's father. In 1989 , he met the Cajun band and zydeco Stompin 'Crawfish, with whom he toured for six years and recorded two albums. In 1996, he toured with the British group Sons of the Desert, for the release of the second album Greedy, then recorded with him the album Good night noises everywhere, at Universal Jazz. His debut album, Bertrand Belin, was released in 2005. La Perdue, his second album, appears in 2007. In addition to his career as a singer-songwriter, he also composes music for shows and films, including Marinette by Blandine Lenoir, prize for best music at the 1999 Clermont-Ferrand festival. He is also seen in the stage adaptation of Olivier Libaux 's Imbécile, directed by Olivier Martinaud, alongside JP Nataf, Armelle Pioline and Barbara Carlotti. It has also been seen since 2007 in Philippe Decouflé's show Sombreros alongside Sébastien Libolt . He published in 2010 Hypernuit, critically acclaimed album. He received for this third opus the Grand Prix du Disque of the Académie Charles-Cros 2010. In 2011, he writes and interprets a musical fiction, Cachalot?, whose action takes place around the Grosbois counter-tank. Bertrand Belin directed in 2013 the 4 tracks Sunnight by Fiodor Dream Dog, released on the label La Gosse Productions. On May 27, 2013, Betrand Belin unveils Parks, his fourth album. October 9, 2015 released his fifth album, Cap Waller. He is laureate in 2016 of the price Raoul Breton, awarded by SACEM. In 2018 , he participated in the album Shadow People of The Limiñanas on the title Sunday where he lends his voice. He has also published three novels at POL: Shark, Littoral and Large carnivores.
Big Thief
Big Thief is an American indie rock band with folk roots based in Brooklyn, New York, United States. Its members are Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar, backing vocals), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums). All four members of Big Thief attended the Berklee College of Music, but only formed a group after each had graduated. The band's first album, Masterpiece, was released on Saddle Creek Records on May 27, 2016. On April 4, 2017, Big Thief premiered a new single, "Mythological Beauty," on NPR. The following day, the band released the single's official video and confirmed that the song would appear on their next LP, Capacity. The full album was released on June 9 via Saddle Creek. In 2019, Big Thief released two albums and several singles. In the lead up to their third album, U.F.O.F., the band released three singles, ''U.F.O.F", "Cattails", and "Century." The album was released on May 3, 2019. The band's fourth album, Two Hands, was later released on October 11, 2019. Its release was preceded by the singles "Not" and "Forgotten Eyes." Both albums received critical acclaim.
Bill Evans
William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who mostly played in trios. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continue to influence jazz pianists today. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1929, he was classically trained at Southeastern Louisiana University and the Mannes School of Music, where he majored in composition and received the Artist Diploma. In 1955, he moved to New York City, where he worked with bandleader and theorist George Russell. In 1958, Evans joined Miles Davis's sextet, which in 1959, then immersed in modal jazz, recorded Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz album of all time. During that time, Evans was also playing with Chet Baker for the album Chet. In late 1959, Evans left the Miles Davis band and began his career as a leader, with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, a group now regarded as a seminal modern jazz trio. In 1961, ten days after finishing an engagement at the New York Village Vanguard jazz club, LaFaro died in a car accident. After months of seclusion, Evans re-emerged with a new trio, featuring bassist Chuck Israels. In 1963, Evans recorded Conversations with Myself, a solo album using the unconventional technique of overdubbing over himself. In 1966, he met bassist Eddie Gómez, with whom he would work for eleven years. Many of Evans's compositions, such as "Waltz for Debby", have become standards, played and recorded by many artists. Evans was honored with 31 Grammy nominations and seven awards, and was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.
Bill Withers
William Harrison Withers Jr. (born July 4, 1938) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. He recorded several major hits, including "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands". Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for four more. His life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Bill Withers was born in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. He was born with a stutter and has said he had a hard time fitting in. Raised in nearby Beckley, he was 13 years old when his father died. Withers enlisted with the United States Navy at the age of 18 and served for nine years, during which time he overcame his stutter and became interested in singing and writing songs. He left the Navy in 1965. Using the $250 he received from selling his furniture to IBM co-worker Ron Sierra, he relocated to Los Angeles in 1967 to start a musical career. Withers worked as an assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around and performing in clubs at night. When he debuted with the song "Ain't No Sunshine", he refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry.
Billie Holiday
Eleanora Fagan (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), better known as Billie Holiday, was an African American jazz singer with a career spanning nearly thirty years. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills. After a turbulent childhood, Holiday began singing in nightclubs in Harlem, where she was heard by the producer John Hammond, who commended her voice. She signed a recording contract with Brunswick in 1935. Collaborations with Teddy Wilson yielded the hit "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", which became a jazz standard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia and Decca. By the late 1940s, however, she was beset with legal troubles and drug abuse. After a short prison sentence, she performed at a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall, but her reputation deteriorated because of her drug and alcohol problems. She was a successful concert performer throughout the 1950s with two further sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall. Due to personal struggles and an altered voice, her final recordings were met with mixed reaction, but were mild commercial successes. Her final album, Lady in Satin, was released in 1958. Holiday died of cirrhosis on July 17, 1959. She won four Grammy Awards, all of them posthumously, for Best Historical Album. She was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1973. Lady Sings the Blues, a film about her life, starring Diana Ross, was released in 1972. She is the primary character in the play (later made into a film) Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill; the role was originated by Reenie Upchurch in 1986, and was played by Audra McDonald on Broadway and in the film. In 2017 Holiday was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
Bim Sherman
Jarret Lloyd Vincent (12 February 1950 – 17 November 2000), better known by one of his stage aliases Bim Sherman (others include Jarrett Tomlinson, Jarrett Vincent, Lloyd Vincent, J. L. Vincent, Bim Shieman and Lloyd Tomlinson), was a Jamaican musician and singer-songwriter. Biography Rooted in reggae, his music developed in later years in many directions, combining influences from all around the world, notably India. Sherman was also hailed as "reggae's sweetest voice". In the mid 1970s, he recorded a small body of roots tunes as a young struggling singer in Jamaica. He later moved to London where, as part of the post-punk reggae infatuation, he made a name for himself recording with Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound label. He became part of various musical collectives associated with On-U Sound, such as New Age Steppers (alongside Ari Up, formerly of The Slits), Singers & Players (with Congo Ashanti Roy and the late Prince Far-I ), Dub Syndicate and Justice League of Zion. Sherman also recorded a handful of solo reggae LPs. Towards the end of his life, Bim Sherman took a whole new musical direction. He went to India and re-recorded his classic 70s roots tunes alongside a full Indian classical orchestra in Bombay, creating his masterpiece LP, Miracle. This opened Sherman up to an entire new audience and he seemed at last to be emerging from the reggae underworld. It Must Be A Dream, an entire remix of Miracle was released with dance mixes by top UK DJs, followed by another notable Indian/reggae crossover LP What Happened? Bim Sherman was diagnosed with cancer and died in November 2000, within weeks of his diagnosis. He received an obituary in The Times, a rare accolade for an underground reggae singer
Björk
jörk Guðmundsdóttir (/bjɜːrk/; Icelandic: pjœr̥k]; born 21 November 1965) is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, actress, record producer, and DJ. Over her four-decade career, she has developed an eclectic musical style that draws on a range of influences and genres spanning electronic, pop, experimental, classical, trip hop, IDM, and avant-garde music. Born and raised in Reykjavík, she began her music career at age 11 and first gained international recognition as the lead singer of the alternative rock band the Sugarcubes, whose 1987 single "Birthday" was a hit on US and UK indie stations and a favorite among music critics. After the band's breakup, Björk embarked on a solo career in 1993, coming to prominence as a solo artist with albums such as Debut (1993), Post (1995), and Homogenic (1997), while collaborating with a range of artists and exploring a variety of multimedia projects. Several of Björk's albums have reached the top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart, the most recent being Vulnicura (2015). Björk has had 31 singles reach the top 40 on pop charts around the world, with 22 top 40 hits in the UK, including the top 10 hits "It's Oh So Quiet", "Army of Me", and "Hyperballad". She is reported to have sold between 20 and 40 million records worldwide as of 2015. She has won the 2010 Polar Music Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in recognition of her "deeply personal music and lyrics, her precise arrangements and her unique voice." Björk was included in Time's 2015 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. She was ranked both sixtieth and eighty-first in Rolling Stone's 100 greatest singers and songwriters lists respectively. Björk also won five BRIT Awards, and has been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards. Outside her music career, Björk starred in the 2000 Lars von Trier film Dancer in the Dark, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song for "I've Seen It All". Her 2011 album Biophillia was marketed as an interactive app album with its own education program. Björk has also been an advocate for environmental causes in her home country Iceland. A full-scale retrospective exhibition dedicated to Björk was held at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 2015.
Black Dub
Black Dub is the debut album by the Daniel Lanois-instigated collaboration Black Dub, an amalgam of dub, blues, soul and rock. Allmusic gave it three and a half stars out of five, praising singer Trixie Whitley's "deeply soulful contralto." All songs are written by Lanois, save for two, the group effort "Last Time." and the song "Ring the Alarm" written by Tenor Saw. Black Dub consists of Daryl Johnson (bass), Trixie Whitley (vocals), Brian Blade (drums), and Daniel Lanois (piano, guitar).
Black Pumas
Black Pumas is a funk and soul duo based in Austin, Texas, United States, consisting of singer Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada. Their work also has strong Latin music influences. The duo is a nominee for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards—its first-ever Grammy nomination. History The duo formed in 2017 and released their debut album, Black Pumas, on June 21, 2019. They performed at South by Southwest in 2019 and won a best new band trophy at the 2019 Austin Music Awards. On November 20, 2019, they were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Quesada was a member of Latin funk band Grupo Fantasma when it won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album for the 2010 album El Existential, and when it was previously nominated for the same award in 2008 for Sonidos Gold.
Blake Mills
Blake Mills (born September 21, 1986) is an American songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer based in California. Biography Blake Mills was born in Santa Monica, California, United States, and grew up in Malibu, where he attended Malibu High School with Taylor Goldsmith. Mills and Goldsmith began their musical careers in a band they co-founded called Simon Dawes. Simon Dawes released its debut EP What No One Hears in 2005, and its first LP Carnivore in September 2006 via Record Collection. After the band broke up in 2007, Goldsmith and his younger brother, Griffin, formed the band Dawes with Simon Dawes bassist, Wylie Gelber, and Mills went on to serve as a touring guitarist for Jenny Lewis. He went on to tour with Band of Horses, Cass McCombs, Julian Casablancas and Lucinda Williams. As a session musician, Mills has collaborated with Conor Oberst, Kid Rock, Weezer, The Avett Brothers, Paolo Nutini, Norah Jones, Carlene Carter, Jesca Hoop, Dixie Chicks, Zucchero, Pink, Lana Del Rey, Dangermouse, Vulfpeck and more. In 2010, Mills released his first solo LP, Break Mirrors, via Record Collection. The original intent for the album was to serve as a calling card for Mills to get session work. Break Mirrors was touted as the album of the year by many websites and fellow musicians, despite its limited release. In late 2011, after spending back-to-back years on tour and in the studio playing on other people’s records, Mills made the decision to begin producing in order to explore musical concepts beyond guitar. Analog Edition Records released a Blake Mills double A side 7" in 2011, featuring the songs "Hey Lover" and "Wintersong" in 2011. In January 2012, Mills appeared on Conan O’Brien for his first national televised performance as a solo artist. He covered Bob Dylan’s “Heart Of Mine,” which he had recently played at an Amnesty International benefit. Later that year, he went on to co-produce Jesca Hoop's album The House that Jack Built, produced Sara Watkins' album Sun Midnight Sun, wrote and produced "Sad Dream" on Sky Ferreira's latest EP Ghost and an additional two tracks on her upcoming LP I'm Not Alright. Mills was featured on electric slide guitar on the track '"Go Home" from the 2013 debut album from the group Lucius. For the compilation album Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac, he co-produced and played with Billy Gibbons and Matt Sweeney on the track "Oh Well". Mills also served as the opening act and guitarist for Fiona Apple during her 2012 tour through North America. Mills co-produced the track "Artifact 1" on Conor Oberst's album, Upside Down Mountain, which was released in May 2014. He also produced the forthcoming untitled release from Jesca Hoop and Mt. Egypt's III. Mills released his second full length album, Heigh Ho, on September 16, 2014. This self-produced album combines a range of genres. Along with friends and inspirations including Fiona Apple, Jim Keltner, Don Was, Benmont Tench, Jon Brion, and Mike Elizondo, Mills recorded Heigh Ho at the legendary Ocean Way Recording studios in a room built for Frank Sinatra. He also produced the sophomore release from Alabama Shakes. Recording took place at Sound Emporium in Nashville, a studio originally built for Sun Records house producer Cowboy Jack Clement. In 2015 Mills was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for his work on Alabama Shakes breakthrough album Sound & Color. Mills' 2016 producer credits include albums from former bandmates Dawes, along with upcoming albums from John Legend, Laura Marling, Jim James and Perfume Genius. In the same year, he also performed guitar and various other instruments on Andrew Bird's album Are You Serious. In 2017, Mills took part in Randy Newman's Dark Matter as a guitarist. In November of 2018, Mills quietly released an almost-entirely-instrumental EP entitled "Look" on his own label imprint New Deal Music. The album was created almost entirely using Roland guitar synthesizers from the 1970s with collaboration from saxophonist Sam Gendel, singer Natalie Mering of Weyes Blood, and violin and string-arrangement virtuoso, Rob Moose, who has appeared on nearly every release Mills has produced. "Look" was the second release on New Deal Music. The first New Deal release, in September of 2018, was a soundtrack by Colin Stetson, Canadian-American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal, for the short-lived dramatic television series The First (TV series). On December 5th, 2019 Mills teased a clip of a new song via an NPR piece by Grayson Haver Currin titled "Songs In An Emergency" that centers around the urgency of climate change. The new song, from his upcoming and yet-to-be-titled third full-length album, is titled "Summer All Over." It is a piano-based ballad musing on the Malibu fires of 2018 and co-written with Cass McCombs. When describing the spacious sound-landscape that the song embodies and the title, Mills commented that "writing about the season of summer inherently evokes a Beach Boys vibe, maybe because I'm in Los Angeles, but the implication of the warmest season happening all over the world at the same time is an 'endless summer." The third full-length is expected to be released in 2020 on New Deal Music with management support by Record Collection and distribution by Verve Label Group, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc. In 2020, Blake Mills played guitar on Bob Dylan's album Rough and Rowdy Ways.
Blaze Foley
Michael David Fuller (December 18, 1949 – February 1, 1989), better known by his stage name Blaze Foley, was an American country music singer-songwriter, poet, and artist active in Austin, Texas. Background Foley was born Michael David Fuller in Malvern, Arkansas on December 18, 1949. He grew up in San Antonio, Texas and performed in a gospel band called The Singing Fuller Family with his mother, brother, and sisters. As a child, Blaze contracted polio, and as a consequence, one of his legs was shorter than the other, causing him to drag his foot while walking. He was nicknamed "Deputy Dawg" early in his career. In the spring of 1975, he was living in a small artists' community just outside Whitesburg, Georgia when he met Sybil Rosen. Rosen and Foley were in a relationship and decided to leave the artist community together to support his music. He went on the road and performed in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and, finally, Austin, Texas. Together, they ended up in Austin. Foley tried to get into songwriting, but after the move, he experienced a lot of career pressure. Foley started drinking more and the bar scene complicated his relationship with Rosen, which eventually ended. Foley was close friends with Townes Van Zandt and was greatly influenced by him. Foley's stage name was inspired by his admiration of musician Red Foley and the stripper and burlesque performer Blaze Starr. Music and lyrics The master tapes from his first studio album were confiscated by the DEA when the executive producer was caught in a drug bust. Another studio album disappeared when the master copies were stolen with his belongings from a station wagon that Foley had been given and lived in. A third studio album, Wanted More Dead Than Alive, was thought to have disappeared until, many years after Blaze died, a friend who was cleaning out his car discovered what sounded like the Bee Creek recording sessions on which he and other musicians had performed. This was Foley's last studio album, and he was scheduled to tour the UK with Townes Van Zandt in support of the album. When Foley died, his attorney immediately nullified the recording contract and the master tapes subsequently disappeared (reportedly lost in a flood). Foley worked with Gurf Morlix, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Schwartz, Billy Block, Calvin Russell, and others. Death and legacy On February 1, 1989, Foley was at a house in the Bouldin Creek neighborhood of Austin, Texas when he was shot in the chest and killed by Carey January, the son of Foley's friend Concho January. Foley had confronted Carey January accusing him of stealing his father's veteran pension and welfare checks. Carey January was acquitted of first-degree murder by reason of self-defense. He and his father presented completely different versions of the shooting at trial. Concho January, who has since died, liked to drink and proved an unreliable witness even though he tried to testify against his son. At his funeral, Foley's casket was coated with duct tape by his friends. Townes Van Zandt told a story where he and his musicians went to Foley's grave to dig up his body because they wanted the pawn ticket that Foley had for Townes' guitar.
Blonde Redhead
Blonde Redhead is an alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keys/rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace (drums/keys and lead guitar/keys/vocals, respectively) that formed in New York City in 1993. The band's earliest albums were noted for their noise rock influences, though their sound evolved by the early 2000s with the releases of Misery is a Butterfly (2004) and 23 (2007), which both incorporated elements of dream pop, shoegaze and other genres. They have released nine regular studio albums and have toured internationally.
Blue Lab Beats
Following their appearance on the acclaimed 2020 project Blue Note Re:imagined and the release their 2021 EP We Will Rise, the London duo Blue Lab Beats—producer NK-OK and multi-instrumentalist Mr DM—make their full-length Blue Note Records debut with Motherland Journey. The vibes are strong on everything this pair cook up inside Blue Lab HQ, including their sublime take on vibist Bobby Hutcherson’s 1975 classic “Montara” which appeared on the 2020 collection Blue Note Re:imagined. “To be affiliated with Blue Note, whose artists we’ve grown up with, and whose music and politics have influenced us, was exciting,” says Mr DM. One of the fastest-rising production duos in the world right now, with a Grammy nomination for their work on the Angelique Kidjo album Mother Nature, and a MOBO nomination for ‘Best Jazz Act’ in 2021 testament to their rise, Blue Lab Beats craft a supple, wide-ranging sound that blends boom-bap grooves and jazz-funk hooks are wide-ranging influences inspired by the pioneers of hip-hop and the music of the African diaspora; a sound that tells of London, of today, while hinting at the future.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author and visual artist. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career spanning nearly 60 years. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and anti-war movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated a range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture. Following his self-titled debut album in 1962, which mainly comprised traditional folk songs, Dylan made his breakthrough as a songwriter with the release of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan the following year. The album features "Blowin' in the Wind" and the thematically complex "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". Many of his songs adapted the tunes and phraseology of older folk songs. He went on to release the politically charged The Times They Are a-Changin' and the more lyrically abstract and introspective Another Side of Bob Dylan in 1964. In 1965 and 1966, Dylan drew controversy when he adopted electrically amplified rock instrumentation, and in the space of 15 months recorded three of the most important and influential rock albums of the 1960s: Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966). Commenting on the six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965), Rolling Stone wrote: "No other pop song has so thoroughly challenged and transformed the commercial laws and artistic conventions of its time, for all time". In July 1966, a motorcycle accident led to Dylan's withdrawal from touring. During this period, he recorded a large body of songs with members of the Band, who had previously backed him on tour. These recordings were released as the collaborative album The Basement Tapes in 1975. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dylan explored country music and rural themes in John Wesley Harding (1967), Nashville Skyline (1969), and New Morning (1970). In 1975, he released Blood on the Tracks, which many saw as a return to form. In the late 1970s, he became a born-again Christian and released a series of albums of contemporary gospel music before returning to his more familiar rock-based idiom in the early 1980s. Dylan's 1997 album Time Out of Mind marked the beginning of a renaissance for his career. He has released five critically acclaimed albums of original material since then, the most recent being Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020). He also recorded a series of three albums in the 2010s comprising versions of traditional American standards, especially songs recorded by Frank Sinatra. Backed by a changing lineup of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. Since 1994, Dylan has published eight books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. He has sold more than 125 million records, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, ten Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award. Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Pulitzer Prize Board in 2008 awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power". In 2016, Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
Bobby "Blue" Bland
Robert Calvin Bland (né Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was described as "among the great storytellers of blues and soul music... [who] created tempestuous arias of love, betrayal and resignation, set against roiling, dramatic orchestrations, and left the listener drained but awed." He was sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues" and as the "Sinatra of the Blues" His music was also influenced by Nat King Cole. Bland was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2012. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame described him as "second in stature only to B.B. King as a product of Memphis's Beale Street blues scene".
Bobby Long
Bobby Long (born Robert Thomas Long, 18 September 1985) is a British singer-songwriter, whose largely acoustic body of work has its roots in folk. Born in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, he moved at the age of four to Calne, Wiltshire, where he grew up, though he still holds deep roots in Wigan. He currently resides in New York. Long learned cello and guitar and started writing songs when he was 18. His earliest performing experience was as lead guitarist in a local grunge band. Long moved to London in 2005 to attend London Metropolitan University where he studied sound and media for film. He began playing open-mic nights at local clubs, meeting a coterie of likeminded young musicians, among them Sam Bradley, Marcus Foster and Robert Pattinson, whose career as an actor was just beginning. Long’s career trajectory took a major leap when Pattinson performed the song "Let Me Sign," co-written by Long and Foster, in the 2008 blockbuster vampire film Twilight. Long graduated from college in June, 2009 (earning a degree in music for film after writing his senior thesis on the social impact of American folk music) and commenced performing full-time. A spring series of showcase dates introduced him to American audiences in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville, and, by July, he embarked on the critically well-received "Dangerous Summer" tour. Long fans, who first discovered his music via the "Twilight" soundtrack, turned out for shows throughout the U.S. and Canada and pushed his MySpace page well over one million page views. He recorded the 10-song collection Dirty Pond Songs to be available at his shows. Recorded in his London bedroom, it included traffic noises and all. "Left to Lie" from Dirty Pond Songs, became an iTunes favorite, topping the site’s "Unsigned" chart and reaching #8 its folk music chart. "The Bounty of Mary Jane" from Dirty Pond Songs and a live version of his "Being a Mockingbird," recorded at Arlene’s Grocery in New York City, were also released via iTunes. "The Dangerous Summer" tour continued until the end of 2009, logging some 80 performances in all.
Bodywash
On the song “Sunspots”, Bodywash vocalists Chris Steward and Rosie Long Decter sing, “When everything is so serene, it’s hard to see/We miss the cracks that open up beneath our feet.” It’s the perfect distillation of the Montreal band’s new full-length record, Comforter, both in mood and sound. Long Decter and Steward’s harmonies rise over an icy sheet of programmed drums and a fog of synth and guitar, deceptively peaceful on the surface, hiding the roiling chaos underneath. Bodywash was formed in 2014 when Chris Steward and Rosie Long Decter began jamming in a basement rehearsal room at McGill University. Bonding over a shared affection for shoegaze and dream pop, the two found an immediate chemistry. “There is an excitement that comes from having people of diverse backgrounds and personalities in one room,” says Steward, “trying to make something beautiful together.” Tom Gould joined soon after on bass, and they recorded an EP in 2016. When it came time to make a full-length album, Bodywash enlisted Nigel Ward to record the LP. However, the road to Comforter wasn’t easy. The recording process spanned two years and five recording studios, with the band constantly rewriting, reworking, and rearranging songs, until every note and tone felt exactly right. Drummer Ryan White joined the band mid-way through the recording process. “The album evolved as we were evolving as a band,” says Long Decter. “You can hear us grow and change with each song.” The final product was mixed by Taylor Smith and Austin Tufts of the band Braids, and was mastered by Evan Tighe. “The joy of experimentation is everything,” says Steward. “The whole thing is alchemic, trying to combine a bunch of ingredients together to make gold, or whatever gold is.” Long Decter agrees. “We’re perfectionists,” she says, “but it comes from a place of feeling.” The result is the perfect insomniac’s record, a late-night album of emotional extremes, from the enveloping warmth of shoegaze to the stark electronics of 90s trip-hop and IDM. Guitars blur in and out, melodies vanish and appear, synths blinking like lights in a fog. It’s an album of obsessive detail buried in a blur of reverb. It draws you in and pushes you away in equal measure. Album standout “Twins” began as a thirty-second guitar loop, with Steward adding layer after layer of synths. It careens from despair to an exhilaration, a manic scream of a song that reaches a full catharsis. “We deal a lot in sonic moments of anxiety,” says Long Decter, “but the goal is to live in that space between extremes, between worry and comfort.” The band’s restless experimentation can best be seen on the shimmering “With Heat.” Initially a guitar-driven indie rock tune Steward wrote for a contest, the song took on new life when Long Decter broke the song into spare parts on a computer, slowing it down, changing the key, adding layer after layer until something entirely new emerged, and the song took its final form. The album closes with the epic “Another Plane.” Built on a combination of krautrock-style rhythms and breakbeats with a haze of guitars and synths hovering above, it glimmers with possibility. The song is a harrowing account of the frantic moments when reality begins to blur, a gaze over the emotional edge of things. With its increasing emphasis on electronics, “Another Plane” is also a look into what sonic possibilities might lie ahead for the band. Comforter is a document to a band’s own becoming, the exhilaration that comes from constant exploration, the drive for perfection and the joy of learning how to let things just be. It’s a mix of contradictions, the smothering warmth and the frigid cold, the chaotic and the peaceful. It’s a testament to the way that from many familiar ingredients something new can be formed, the joy and wonder of what’s possible when four people are in a room together, trying to make something beautiful. – Jimmy Cajoleas
Bola Sete
Bola Sete (born Djalma de Andrade) (July 16, 1923 – February 14, 1987) was a Brazilian guitarist. Sete played jazz with Vince Guaraldi and Dizzy Gillespie. History Born in Rio de Janeiro, Bola Sete's name means "Seven Ball". In snooker, which is fairly popular in Brazil, the seven ball is the only black ball on the table (like the eight ball in pool), and Bola got this nickname when he was the only black member of a small jazz group. Sete studied guitar at the Conservatory of Rio. He started performing with his own sextet and local samba groups while he was a student. His early influences were guitarists Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel, George Van Eps, and Oscar Moore of the Nat King Cole Trio. He admired the big bands that were touring South America at that time, led by Dizzy Gillespie, Tommy Dorsey, and Woody Herman. His career started in 1952 when he played clubs and hotels in Italy for four years. Then he returned to Brazil and started touring all of South America, during which time the manager of Sheraton Hotels noticed him and decided to bring him to the US to play in the hotels. He played for New York's Park Sheraton, then moved to San Francisco to play in the Sheraton Palace. Dizzy Gillespie was staying there at the time and listening to Sete playing every day. When Gillespie brought his pianist, Lalo Schifrin, to the hotel, he discovered that Schifrin and Sete had played together in Argentina. This meeting was the beginning of Sete's success in the US. In the fall of 1962, Gillespie took Sete to the Monterey Jazz Festival, where he enjoyed a huge success. Sete toured with Gillespie, then returned to San Francisco, where he joined the Vince Guaraldi trio. He was well known in the US, and his partnership with Guaraldi yielded several well-received recordings. After staying for a couple of years with Guaraldi, Sete formed his own trio with Sebastião Neto on bass and Paulinho da Costa on drums. With this trio, he appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966 and released an album of his performance, which peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Jazz chart. In the 1970s, Sete became friends with guitarist John Fahey, who had been an admirer. In 1975, Sete's album Ocean was released on Fahey's label, Takoma Records.
Bonobo
Simon Green (born 30 March 1976), known by his stage name Bonobo, is a British musician, producer and DJ based in Los Angeles. He debuted with a trip hop aesthetic, and has since explored more upbeat approaches as well as jazz and world music influences. His tranquil electronic sound incorporates the use of organic instrumentation, and is recreated by a full band in live performances. Green's work has attained a cult following, and he has collaborated with a variety of other artists. Green debuted in 1999 on the Tru Thoughts compilation When Shapes Join Together. His stage name Bonobo, is a reference to the Bonobo chimpanzee species. Following the releases of the EP Scuba and the single "Terrapin", Bonobo was offered label deals with XL recordings and Mute records, but he chose to remain in Tru Thoughts. His first album Animal Magic was released on the same label in 2000. It received mixed reviews; Pitchfork stated that despite not being a ground-breaking chill-out album, Bonobo "[showcases] smooth breakbeat loops, synth sounds, and aforementioned dub effects. [And his] electronic music draws on live playing," according to PopMatters. Reviewer Dean Carlson also said that the album "slowly takes shape as a solid debut of narcoleptic downtempo." In spite of reactions, Animal Magic has given Bonobo a cult following. Its accompanying compilation album titled "One Offs...", was issued in 2002 and contains reworked songs and rarities. In 2001, Bonobo was signed to Coldcut's label Ninja Tune and in 2003, he released Dial 'M' for Monkey. John Bush of Allmusic stated in a review that Bonobo's influences were drawn more towards alternative rock and world music rather than hip-hop or trip hop. The album tracks "Pick up" and "Flutter" were featured in the snowboarding game SSX on Tour. In 2005, Bonobo contributed to the Solid Steel series, with It Came from the Sea. The mix features several exclusive tracks as well as remixes and re-edits. His third album, entitled Days to Come, was released on 2 October 2006. An AllMusic review states that "[Bonobo] breathes new life into a well-worn genre." With the album as well as his future work, he featured vocalists such as Bajka, thus "adding [an] organic and vibrant musicality that's rare in electronic music." Days to Come was voted Best Album of 2006 by Gilles Peterson's listeners. The song "Nightlite" appeared on UEFA Champions League 2006–2007, and "Recurring" was used in a surfing film broadcast on Fuel TV.
Boogarins
Boogarins is a brazilian psychedelic rock e Neo-psychedelia band formed in 2012, in Goiânia, by members Fernando "Dinho" Almeida (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Benke Ferraz (lead guitar). To complete the quartet, later joined Hans Castro (drums) and Raphael Vaz (contrabass). In 2014, Ynaiã Benthroldo replaced Hans in the drums. The band played in a variety of international festivals, such as Rock in Rio Lisboa, Primavera Sound, Porão do Rock, Coquetel molotov, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Lollapalooza and South by Southwest. History Boogarins was formed by Benke and Dinho, two childhood friends who got together and recorded an EP at home (As Plantas Que Curam) while they were still at school. After the release of the EP, Boogarins signed a contract with Other Music, the debut album As Plantas Que Curam was released in 2013. After the LP's release, the band toured and performed more than 70 shows across Europe, the United States, and in Latin America, plating in festivals such as South by Southwest, in Texas, and the Primavera Sound, in Barcelona. In 2015, the band played in the festival Lollapalooza, in São Paulo After the long tour, the band recorded their new album, Manual, ou Guia Livre de Dissolução dos Sonhos, in Spain. The album had its release by the end of October in CD, vinil and all streaming platforms. In 2016, the band participated in Rock in Rio Lisboa, played in Seattle's influential alternative radio [KEXP]] and also in the famous festival Levitation. In the same year, their album Manual was nominated in the Latin Grammy Award for Best Portuguese Language Rock or Alternative Album category. In 2017, the band released a live album, called Desvio Onírico,. The album is composed by 4 tracks with more or less 10 minutes each, with jams, improvs on material recorded during their USA and Europe tour. In June of the same year, the band shared their new studio album, Lá Vem a Morte, by surprise in YouTube. The work was considered by the magazine Rolling Stone Brasil to be the 9th best Brazilian LP of 2017. In 2019, they released Sombrou Dúvida, which was considered one of the 25 best Brazilian albums of the first half of 2019 by the São Paulo Association of Art Critics.
Boyd Rivers
Boyd Rivers (December 25, 1934 – November 22, 1993) was an American gospel blues singer and guitarist. He was born near Pickens in Madison County, Mississippi and started playing blues guitar at the age of 13, but three years later switched into spirituals. After moving to Canton, Mississippi he was first recorded by Alan Lomax, John Bishop and Worth Long in 1979. In 1979 he played at the Mississippi Delta Blues Festival. He died in Jackson, Mississippi on November 22, 1993. In 2012, an album of Rivers work that had been recorded in 1991 and 1993, You Can't Make Me Doubt, was released on Mississippi Records.
Brad stank
“I just thought it sounded funny,” Brad Stank says of his artist name. “I wasn't going to keep it at first. I just used it for posting stuff on Soundcloud, but then Flirting in Space started getting some attention and it just stuck. I’ve grown to like it. I guess B Stank is my alter ego now... a true love boy.” We’ve grown to like it too. Same goes for the Liverpool musician’s mellow music – in the vein of Mac DeMarco and his slacker pop disciples – which climaxed with the release of his debut EP Eternal Slowdown a couple of months back via Untitled Records. Stand-out tracks from the EP will win you over with their lo-fi charm: Condemned To Be Freaky (on which Brad accepts his destiny), Flirting In Space (an ode to alien romance) and lead single Take Me To The Crib (a sweet invitation to come over for green and red wine). Serving up an introverted take on love and loneliness, there’s something charismatic and pretty hilarious about our Brad, who has already played shows with fellow bedroom pop head Clairo and reportedly has a headline UK tour coming soon. Rumour has is that there are usually some Brad Stank-branded rolling papers floating about at his live shows, so if that's not worth leaving the house for, I'm not sure what is. Anyway, if you’re keen to know more about him, read through these 10 things you need to know about the man formerly known as Bradley Mullins and have a little smile to yourself...
Brainstory
What is Buck? Buck is a state of mind, a way of life, a demeanor that gets you through the good times and the bad. If you ask Brainstory, It is also the energy that permeates their debut album. Kevin, Tony, and Eric are a trio of brothers bounded by blood, fate, and a small town with nothing to do. Their story begins in the long lost lands of the San Bernardino Valley, in the twilight zone known as Rialto, California: An arid wasteland of boredom and empty lots. Through punk rock and skateboarding they found temporary liberation from the local monotony. However, it wouldn’t be long before a hunger for more led them to explore musical realms beyond that of the hardcore punk they admired. After stints at music school and steady disappointment trying to navigate their local jazz scene they moved to Los Angeles and Brainstory was born. Through a introduction from Chicano Batman’s bassist, Brainstory caught the ears of Big Crown head honchos Danny Akalepse and Leon Michels. Shortly thereafter they were on their way to Queens, to record at The Legendary Diamond Mine with Michels at the helm. An instant chemistry yielded 10 songs in 10 days and now Brainstory has gifted the world with one hell of an introduction to all things Buck. Highlights include the sublime slow burner, “Dead End” which was the A-side to their first 45 on Big Crown that sold out in a matter of days. With Kevin’s sublime falsetto floating atop Tony and Eric’s unflappable and unmistakable backbeat, this tune has become a favorite with the ballad heads, the low-riders, and the slowie collectors. “Breathe” showcases another side of their sound taking a page out of the Shuggie Otis playbook and flipping the script with some stoned out west coast swag. Kev and Tony’s father, Big Tone, an accomplished performer himself, steps in on “Peter Pan” to sing lead vocals over a chorus of friends and family. Bassist extraordinaire, Tony, takes over lead vocal duties on “Sorry”, a smoked out, G Funk groove that is just waiting to be sampled. These guys have come a long way from their self released EPs and opening tours with Chicano Batman. Their musical growth is undeniable, and taking their California sunshine vibes and mixing them with Michels’ NYC aesthetic has proven to be an amazing combination. It’s a debut record that pulls influences from so many genres seamlessly it’s hard to nail down. Call it Funk, call it Rock, call it Soul, but over here at Big Crown HQ, we’ve decided to call it BUCK.
Brett Dennen
Brett Michael Dennen (born October 28, 1979) is an American folk/pop singer and songwriter from Central California. His sixth studio album, Por Favor, was released in May 2016. Early life Dennen grew up in Central Valley, California in a small farm town. As a child, Dennen was homeschooled, where he was given creative freedom by his parents. His father was an avid pickler, which Dennen attributes to his own love for briney foods. He spent much of his time learning to play music. After becoming proficient in the guitar, he started to write his own songs. Dennen learned to play guitar while attending Camp Jack Hazard, a residential summer camp in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. His camp counselors played the music of Neil Young, John Denver, and Joni Mitchell, the same music that his parents listened to. As an adolescent, he worked there as a counselor. He has continued to help the camp, performing at a fundraiser in February 2012 for the Jack and Buena Foundation, which now runs Camp Jack Hazard. He attended Oakdale High School. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2002, where he was a student at Kresge College. He majored in sociology and philosophy, with goals of becoming an educator, a teacher, or a community worker. He also led numerous anti-smoking campaigns on campus, and was instrumental in removing ash trays from building entrances. He also began writing music with friends, and he eventually established a jam band, playing mandolin alongside an acoustic guitarist, bassist, hand drummer, and flutist. He found writing music that everyone would like, however, "stifling and overwhelming." After graduating college and remaining in Santa Cruz, Dennen moved to Los Angeles to perform. In late 2003 and early 2004, he began to record his first album, which he self-released. A year after the album's release, Universal signed on as a distributor.
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, RDI (/ˈiːnoʊ/; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is an English musician, record producer, visual artist, and theorist best known for his pioneering work in ambient music and contributions to rock, pop, and electronica. A self-described "non-musician", Eno has helped introduce unique conceptual approaches and recording techniques to contemporary music. He has been described as one of popular music's most influential and innovative figures. Born in Suffolk, Eno studied painting and experimental music at the art school of Ipswich Civic College in the mid 1960s, and then at Winchester School of Art. He joined glam rock group Roxy Music as synthesiser player in 1971. After recording two albums with Roxy Music, he departed in 1973 to record a number of solo albums, coining the term "ambient music" to describe his work on releases such as Another Green World (1975), Discreet Music (1975), and Music for Airports (1978). He also collaborated with artists such as Robert Fripp, Cluster, Harold Budd, David Bowie on his "Berlin Trilogy", and David Byrne, and produced albums by artists including John Cale, Jon Hassell, Laraaji, Talking Heads and Devo, and the no wave compilation No New York (1978). Eno has continued to record solo albums and work with artists including U2, Laurie Anderson, Grace Jones, Slowdive, Coldplay, James Blake, and Damon Albarn. Dating back to his time as a student, he has also worked in media including sound installations and his mid-70s co-development of Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards featuring cryptic aphorisms intended to spur creative thinking. From the 1970s onwards, Eno's installations have included the sails of the Sydney Opera House in 2009 and the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank in 2016. An advocate of a range of humanitarian causes, Eno writes on a variety of subjects and is a founding member of the Long Now Foundation. In 2019, Eno was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Roxy Music.
Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Most of its members play in various other groups and solo projects, mainly in the city of Toronto. These associated acts include Metric, Feist, Stars, Apostle of Hustle, Do Make Say Think, KC Accidental, Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton, Amy Millan, and Jason Collett. The group's sound combines elements of all of its members' respective musical projects, and is occasionally considered baroque pop. It includes grand orchestrations featuring guitars, horns, woodwinds, and violins, unusual song structures, and an experimental, and sometimes chaotic production style from David Newfeld, who produced the second and third albums. Stuart Berman's This Book Is Broken (2009) covers the band from its inception to its critical acclaim. In 2010, Bruce McDonald made This Movie Is Broken, a movie about the band's Harbourfront show during the 2009 Toronto strike.
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "The Boss", is an American singer-songwriter who is a solo artist and is the leader of the E Street Band. Springsteen received critical acclaim for his early 1970s albums and attained worldwide fame upon the release of Born to Run in 1975. Springsteen is known for his poetic and socially conscious lyrics, his career longevity, and his lengthy, energetic stage performances. He has recorded both rock albums and folk-oriented works, and his lyrics often address the experiences and struggles of working-class Americans. Springsteen has sold more than 135 million records worldwide and more than 64 million records in the United States, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. His best-known songs include "Born to Run" (1975), "Thunder Road" (1975), "Badlands" (1978), "Hungry Heart" (1980), "Dancing in the Dark" (1984), "Born in the U.S.A." (1984), "Glory Days" (1985), "Brilliant Disguise" (1987), "Human Touch" (1992), and "Streets of Philadelphia" (1994). He has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award (for Springsteen on Broadway). Springsteen was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1999, received Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, was named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.
Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club is an ensemble of Cuban musicians established in 1996 to revive the music of pre-revolutionary Cuba. The project was organized by World Circuit executive Nick Gold, produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder and directed by Juan de Marcos González. They named the group after the homonymous members' club in the Buenavista quarter of Havana, a popular music venue in the 1940s. To showcase the popular styles of the time, such as son, bolero and danzón, they recruited a dozen veteran musicians, many of whom had been retired for many years. The group's eponymous album was recorded in March 1996 and released in September 1997, quickly becoming an international success, which prompted the ensemble to perform with a full line-up in Amsterdam and New York in 1998. German director Wim Wenders captured the performance on film for a documentary—also called Buena Vista Social Club—that included interviews with the musicians conducted in Havana. Wenders' film was released in June 1999 to critical acclaim, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary feature and winning numerous accolades including Best Documentary at the European Film Awards. This was followed up by a second documentary Buena Vista Social Club: Adios in 2017. The success of both the album and film sparked a revival of interest in traditional Cuban music and Latin American music in general. Some of the Cuban performers later released well-received solo albums and recorded collaborations with stars from different musical genres. The "Buena Vista Social Club" name became an umbrella term to describe these performances and releases, and has been likened to a brand label that encapsulates Cuba's "musical golden age" between the 1930s and 1950s. The new success was fleeting for the most recognizable artists in the ensemble: Compay Segundo, Rubén González, and Ibrahim Ferrer, who died at the ages of ninety-five, eighty-four, and seventy-eight respectively; Compay Segundo and González in 2003, then Ferrer in 2005. Several surviving members of the Buena Vista Social Club, such as veteran singer Omara Portuondo, trumpeter Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal, laúd player Barbarito Torres and trombonist and conductor Jesús "Aguaje" Ramos currently tour worldwide, to popular acclaim, with new members such as singer Carlos Calunga and pianist Rolando Luna, as part of a 13-member band called Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club. The original Buenavista Social Club Abandoned building in Almendares, Marianao, that housed the Buenavista Social Club in the 1940s. The Buenavista Social Club was a members-only club originally located in Buenavista (literally fair view), a quarter in the current neighbourhood of Playa (before 1976 part of Marianao), one of the 15 municipalities in Cuba's capital, Havana. The original club was founded in 1932 in a small wooden venue at calle Consulado y pasaje "A" (currently calle 29, n. 6007). In 1939, due to lack of space the club relocated to number 4610 on Avenue 31, between calles 46 and 48, in Almendares, Marianao. This location is recalled by Juan Cruz, former director of the Marianao Social Club and master of ceremonies at the Salón Rosado de la Tropical (other nightclubs in Havana). As seen in the Buena Vista Social Club documentary, when musicians Ry Cooder, Compay Segundo and a film crew attempted to identify the location of the club in the 1990s, local people could not agree on where it had stood. At the time, clubs in Cuba were segregated; there were sociedades de blancos (white societies), sociedades de negros (black societies), etc. The Buenavista Social Club operated as a black society, which was rooted in a cabildo. Cabildos were fraternities organized during the 19th century by African slaves. The existence of many other black societies such as Marianao Social Club, Unión Fraternal, Club Atenas (whose members included doctors and engineers), and Buenavista Social Club, exemplified the remnants of institutionalized racial discrimination against Afro-Cubans. These societies operated as recreational centers where workers went to drink, play games, dance and listen to music. In the words of Ry Cooder, Society in Cuba and in the Caribbean including New Orleans, as far as I know, was organized around these fraternal social clubs. There were clubs of cigar wrappers, clubs for baseball players and they'd play sports and cards—whatever it is they did in their club—and they had mascots, like dogs. At the Buena Vista Social Club, musicians went there to hang out with each other, like they used to do at musicians' unions in the U.S., and they'd have dances and activities. As a music venue, the Buenavista Social Club experienced the peak of Havana's nightclub life, when charangas and conjuntos played several sets every night, going from club to club over the course of a week. Often, bands would dedicate songs to the clubs where they played. In the case of the Buenavista Social Club, an eponymous danzón was composed by Israel López "Cachao" in 1938, and performed with Arcaño y sus Maravillas. In addition, Arsenio Rodríguez dedicated "Buenavista en guaguancó" to the same place. Together with Orquesta Melodías del 40, the Maravillas and Arsenio's conjunto were known as Los Tres Grandes (The Big Three), drawing the largest audiences wherever they played. These vibrant times in Havana were described by pianist Rubén González, who played in Arsenio's conjunto, as "an era of real musical life in Cuba, when there was very little money to earn, but everyone played because they really wanted to".
Burning Spear
Winston Rodney OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae vocalist and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian and one of the most influential and long-standing roots artists to emerge from the 1970s. Winston Rodney was born in Saint Ann's Bay, Saint Ann, Jamaica. As a young man he listened to the R&B, soul and jazz music transmitted by the US radio stations whose broadcasts reached Jamaica. Curtis Mayfield is cited by Rodney as a major US musical influence along with James Brown. Rodney was deeply influenced as a young man by the views of the political activist Marcus Garvey, especially with regard to the exploration of the themes of Pan-Africanism and self-determination. In 1969, Bob Marley, who was also from Saint Ann, advised Rodney to approach Coxsone Dodd's Studio One label after Rodney sought his advice during a casual conversation.
Busta Rhymes
Trevor George Smith Jr.(born May 20, 1972), better known by his stage name Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes. He is best known for his outlandish style and fashion sense depicted in several innovative music videos as well as his intricate rhyming technique, rapping at high speed with heavy use of internal rhyme and half rhyme. He has received 11 Grammy Award nominations for his work. About.com included him on its list of the 50 Greatest MCs of Our Time (1987–2007), while Steve Huey of AllMusic called him one of the best and most prolific rappers of the 1990s. In 2012, The Source placed him on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time. MTV has called him "one of hip-hop's greatest visual artists". Source Wikipedia
C. W. Stoneking
Christopher William "C.W." Stoneking (born 1974) is an Australian blues singer-songwriter, guitarist and banjo player. He has released three studio albums, King Hokum (March 2005), Jungle Blues (28 August 2008) and Gon' Boogaloo (17 October 2014), on his own King Hokum Records label. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2009 Jungle Blues won Best Blues and Roots Album; he was also nominated for Best Male Artist, Breakthrough Artist – Album, Best Independent Release and Best Cover Art. Gon' Boogaloo peaked at No. 17 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
Cal Tjader
Callen Radcliffe "Cal" Tjader, Jr. (/ˈtʃeɪdər/ CHAY-dər; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin jazz musician, known as the most successful non-Latino Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, even as he continued to perform the music of Cuba, the Caribbean, and Latin America for the rest of his life. Source Wikipedia
Calexico
Calexico is a Tucson, Arizona-based Americana, Tex-Mex, indie rock band. The band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on Quarterstick Records, while their 2005 EP In the Reins, recorded with Iron & Wine, has reached the Billboard 200 album charts. Their musical style is influenced by traditional Latin sounds of mariachi, conjunto, cumbia, and tejano mixed with country, jazz, and post-rock. The band is named for the border town of Calexico, California, and has been described by some as "desert noir". Formation Calexico had its origins in 1990 when Joey Burns, who was studying music at the University of California, Irvine, met up with John Convertino, who was playing drums with Howe Gelb in Giant Sand. Burns joined them, after first playing upright bass on a European tour. Giant Sand moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1994. Burns and Convertino formed the Friends of Dean Martin (later the Friends of Dean Martinez) which scored a record deal with Sub Pop. However, the pair split up with Bill Elm, the co-founder of The Friends of Dean Martinez in 1996. The band subsequently became a kind of indie rhythm section for hire, working with the likes of Victoria Williams, Barbara Manning and Richard Buckner before forming Calexico.
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet (/væn ˈvliːt/, born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. He conducted a rotating ensemble called the Magic Band, with whom he recorded 13 studio albums between 1964 and 1982. His music blended elements of blues, free jazz, rock, and the avant-garde with idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdist wordplay, and his wide vocal range. Known for his enigmatic persona, Beefheart frequently constructed myths about his life and was known to exercise an almost dictatorial control over his supporting musicians. Although he achieved little commercial success, he sustained a cult following as a "highly significant" and "incalculable" influence on an array of new wave, punk, and experimental rock artists. An artistic prodigy in his childhood, Van Vliet developed an eclectic musical taste during his teen years in Lancaster, California, and formed "a mutually useful but volatile" friendship with musician Frank Zappa, with whom he sporadically competed and collaborated. He began performing with his Captain Beefheart persona in 1964 and joined the original Magic Band line-up, initiated by Alexis Snouffer, the same year. The group released their debut album Safe as Milk in 1967 on Buddah Records. After being dropped by two consecutive record labels they signed to Zappa's Straight Records, where they released 1969's Trout Mask Replica; the album would later rank 58th in Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 1974, frustrated by lack of commercial success, he pursued a more conventional rock sound, but the ensuing albums were critically panned; this move, combined with not having been paid for a European tour, and years of enduring Beefheart's abusive behavior, led the entire band to quit. Beefheart eventually formed a new Magic Band with a group of younger musicians and regained critical approval through three final albums: Shiny Beast (1978), Doc at the Radar Station (1980) and Ice Cream for Crow (1982). Van Vliet made few public appearances after his retirement from music in 1982. He pursued a career in art, an interest that originated in his childhood talent for sculpture, and a venture which proved to be his most financially secure. His expressionist paintings and drawings command high prices, and have been exhibited in art galleries and museums across the world. Van Vliet died in 2010, having suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years.
Carl Broemel
Carl Broemel is an American rock musician. He currently plays guitar, pedal steel guitar, saxophone and sings back-up vocals for the Louisville, Kentucky band My Morning Jacket. He played guitar in the pop/rock band Old Pike and in the alternative pop/rock band Silvercrush. Carl grew up on the northside of Indianapolis, Indiana. The son of a symphony musician, he attended school and graduated from Pike High School. During High School, Carl was one of the stand-out musicians among his peers. He played lead guitar for the band Planet Earth and regularly amazed party goers with their sound. In 2007 Broemel was listed among Rolling Stone's "20 New Guitar Gods" along with My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James. He has also released two solo albums. On October 11, 2010, Broemel played as a sit in guitarist with The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. In December 2010 Broemel contributed to Wanda Jackson's album The Party Ain't Over.
Carlton and The Shoes
Carlton and the Shoes (sometimes credited as Carlton & His Shoes) are a Jamaican vocal group who had their greatest success in the late 1960s, as rocksteady gradually became reggae and are still active in 2008, most notably in Japan and Jamaica. The group had several Studio One recorded hits in Jamaica, most notably "Love me Forever" in 1968. The group is led by Carlton Manning, and the line-up was originally completed by his younger brothers Donald and Lynford (both members of The Abyssinians), and Alexander Henry. Manning originally named the group Carlton and his Shades, but a printer's mistake on their debut release (for Sonia Pottinger) led to the "Shoes" name sticking. Although their debut release made little impact, they moved on to work with Clement "Coxsone" Dodd at Studio One, where they enjoyed a massive rocksteady hit with "Love Me Forever". "Love Me Forever" has been re-released and covered many times since, and the single's B-side, "Happy Land", formed the basis for The Abyssinians' "Satta Massa Ganna", one of the most covered songs in the history of reggae. When Donald and Lynford formed The Abyssinians, Carlton remained at Studio One, continuing to make records, and working as a session guitarist. He continued to record through the 1970s and early 1980s, though never repeated his early success.
Cass McCombs
Cass McCombs (born 1977 in Concord, California) is an American musician, best known for releasing a number of albums since 2002. Blending genres such as rock, folk, psychedelic, punk, and alt country, he has played in numerous bands in the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest during the 1990s, often in DIY spaces, before relocating to New York City. He moved to San Francisco in 2001, where he recorded his debut E.P., entitled Not the Way E.P., released on Monitor Records in Baltimore. McCombs then recorded a Peel Session for John Peel in 2003, and that year released his first LP A, also touring with Baltimore’s OXES as his backing band. McCombs and his band spent much of 2003 and 2004 touring, performing everywhere from the All Tomorrow's Parties festival to house shows. McCombs otherwise divided his time amongst the Pacific Northwest, England and Baltimore. In spring 2005 he released PREfection on Monitor Records and 4AD, and in support of the album he toured with Modest Mouse. Later that year, he moved to Southern California to begin work on his third full-length, Dropping the Writ, which was released on October 9, 2007, by Domino Records. It was named one of Amazon.com’s Best Albums of 2007. Also in 2007 he toured with Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. He signed a multiple-album deal with Domino Records, who released his following four records including Catacombs (2009), which was voted one of the “50 Top Albums on the Year” by Pitchfork. It was followed by Wit's End (2011), Humor Risk (2011), and Big Wheel and Others (2013). He toured with John Cale in 2012, and also performed at the benefit concert Occupy Sandy. Other bands he has performed or toured with include Ariel Pink, Cat Power, Band of Horses, Andrew Bird, The Decemberists, Arcade Fire, Peter Bjorn and John, Papercuts, The Shins, Iron and Wine, Deerhoof, The Walkmen, Jana Hunter, Thurston Moore, Joe Russo and The War On Drugs. His single "Bradley Manning" premiered on the Democracy Now News Hour in 2012. His songs have been featured in films including the surf film The Present (2009), and Ralph Arlyck documentary Following Sean, as well as notable skate videos featuring Jason Dill, Jerry Hsu Chima Ferguson and Dylan Rieder. His song "Bobby, King of Boys Town" appeared in HBO show Girls (Season 2, Episode 9 - "On All Fours").
Catherine MacLellan
Catherine MacLellan is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter, based in Prince Edward Island. Early Life The daughter of Canadian songwriter Gene MacLellan, MacLellan was born in Burlington, Ontario but raised in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Before beginning her solo recording career, she sang with The New Drifts, a four-piece band featuring Island musicians James Phillips (guitar, mandolin), Stéphane Bouchard (bass) and Dave Gould (drums & percussion). She spent time working at the box office of Summerside's Harbourfront Jubilee Theatre. Career MacLellan released two albums, 2004's Dark Dream Midnight and 2006's Church Bell Blues, independently before signing to True North Records, which rereleased Church Bell Blues in 2007. She followed up with Water in the Ground in 2009; Dark Dream Midnight was included as a bonus disc with physical copies of that album. She toured Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom throughout 2009 to support the album, including performances on CBC Radio's Canada Live and The Vinyl Cafe. Her album Silhouette was released by True North Records in July 2011. Her album "The Raven's Sun" was released August 2014. She has also participated in two collaborative "Canadian Songbook" tours: in 2008 with Murray McLauchlan, Stephen Fearing and Paul Quarrington, and in 2009 with McLauchlan, Barney Bentall and Nathan Rogers. In November 2009, she recorded a new song, "Singing Sands", for CBC Radio 2's Great Canadian Song Quest. In 2014 MacLellan released her first independent record since signing with True North, The Raven's Sun. The record was recorded in Woodstock, New York at Hidden Quarry Studio, Engineered by Danny Blume, and produced by MacLellan's long-time musical partner Chris Gauthier. The Raven's Sun was received with critical-acclaim and won many awards including a 2015 JUNO award. In 2017 she made a record on True North records with songs of her father Gene MacLellan. This record was named after the LP her father recorded in 1977 If It's Alright With You. This album tied in with a show by the same name in the summer of 2017 that MacLellan wrote based on her father's life and music. In 2019 she self-produced and released a new record, Coyote, which she pronounces kahy-oh-tee
Cavedoll
Eclectic-Indie-Pop-Glam-Prog band comprised of Camden Chamberlain, Zak Mason, Brian Kubarycz, Eric Stoye, Vanessa Angulo, Josh Emery, & Nate Simpson. Songwriter/Producer/Curator Camden Chamberlain’s hyper-creative musical collective also frequently features Van Christensen, Greg Nielsen, Mike Sasich, Jamison Wilkins, Terence Hansen, and Anthony Phan, along with distinguished collaborators such as the legendary siren Ruby Friedman, Grammy-nominated producer/drummer Alex Elena, renowned TV/film/West-End-Musical composer Tim Phillips, Rich DeCicco of The Ladies Of Sport, Gentry Densley of Iceburn, Maya Coppola, Dustin Swan, Jake Emery, Ahmond, Josh Wells, Calhoon Popadopolis, Pat Maine, and so many more. At the core are Camden Chamberlain and Vanessa Angulo who once shared a home, cars, dishes, and a marriage... They now share children, music, and a close friendship. Based in Salt Lake City and Saint George, Utah as of 2019, the project eschews genres yet never loses complete sight of certain pop-sensibilities. One can typically expect, on average, two or three full-length releases per year. So be sure to check in with this prolific and unique project regularly! Your ears will thank you.
Celestine Ukwu
Celestine Ukwu (1940 – 7 May 1977) was a Nigerian Igbo highlife musician during the 1960s and 1970s, best known for his hit songs "Ije Enu", "Igede" and "Money Palava". Described as a "prolific and outstanding composer" by music critic Benson Idonije of Radio Nigeria Two, Ukwu's works have been featured on various world music compilations including The Rough Guide to Highlife and The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Africa. Life Ukwu was born in Enugu to music-oriented parents. His father was a local performer of the igede, ikpa and ode genres of Igbo music while his mother was lead singer in a women's musical group. At a young age, he began learning how to read music and play the harmonium with the help of his uncle. Upon completing his primary school education, he went to teacher training school for two years but dropped out to pursue music as a career. He went on to join Mike Ejeagha's group Paradise Rhythm Orchestra in 1962 at Enugu as a vocalist and maraca player before he left to join Mr. Picolo's band who were touring the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the time. He returned to Nigeria to form his own band known as Celestine Ukwu & His Music Royals of Nigeria in 1966 which was later disbanded in 1967 following the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War, before releasing a song at the outbreak of the war titled 'Hail Biafra'. After the war, Ukwu formed another group, Celestine Ukwu & His Philosophers National; with whom he released several albums, including Igede Fantasia which did well commercially Artistry His songs were primarily composed in Igbo language with a bit of Efik. In a 1986 edition of Thisweek, a writer once wrote that his songs "gave a food for thought to its listeners".
Charles Bradley
Charles Edward Bradley (November 5, 1948 – September 23, 2017) was an American singer. His performances and recording style were consistent with the revivalist approach of his main label Daptone Records, celebrating the feel of funk and soul music from the 1960s and 1970s. One review said he "echoes the evocative delivery of Otis Redding". Calling himself "the screaming eagle of soul", Bradley was the subject of the documentary Soul of America which premiered at South by Southwest in 2012.
Charlie Winston
Charlie Winston Gleave (born 14 September 1978), better known as Charlie Winston, is an English singer-songwriter based in London. Winston has so far had his most significant commercial success in France. Charlie played bass guitar for his brother Tom Baxter, appearing on Baxter's Feather and Stone album. As well as touring with Tom, much of Charlie's early career saw him composing music for, and performing in, London-based contemporary theatre productions. His first ever unreleased and rarest record was Mischifus, a mix between beatbox, guitar and piano, which appeared as a theater/dance production that he had performed on stage in 2007 recorded under the Real World label.
Charlotte Dos Santos
Charlotte Hall Dos Santos (born 1990 in Oslo, Norway) is a Brazilian-Norwegian jazz singer, composer, and arranger, currently based in Berlin. Biography Dos Santos grew up in Bærum with a Norwegian mother and Brazilian father. She attended jazz studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts (2013–16), where she earned a Bachelor of Music in Contemporary Writing and Production, and Vocal Jazz Performance. Her music mixes „South-American traditions, jazz, neo soul, and tasty beats, with music history samples in a colorful way“. Dos Santos released her solo EP Cleo in 2017 on the label Fresh Selects. The EP was received positively in Norwegian media.
Cheikh Lô
He was born in the late 1950s to Senegalese parents in Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso and began playing drums and singing at an early age. He joined Orchestre Volta Jazz, a Bobo variety band that played Cuban and Congolese pop songs as well as traditional Burkinabé music. Lô moved to Senegal in 1978, performing in several mbalax outfits. By then, the Zairean sound was in full flower, Camerounian makossa was coming on strong, and reggae had entered the mix, and Lô absorbed everything. In 1985, he was playing guitar with numerous Côte d'Ivoire and French musicians, which led him to record material in Paris in 1987. After his band dissolved, Lô remained in Paris as a session musician, developing his own sound, described as a mix of mbalax, reggae and soukous influences. He spent most of his time in recording studios, and he picked up as much as he could. His casual contacts with Zaire's most successful progressive singer, Papa Wemba, were especially memorable. "I was a drummer. So when there was a group who came and didn't have a drummer, I would practice with them. Papa Wemba's drummer was also a businessman, so if he wasn't there, I would help out. He's from the school of Tabu Ley, and when I was young, I listened to Tabu Ley a lot." In 1995, Youssou N'Dour offered to produce Lô's debut album, Ne La Thiass, which became a success worldwide. In 2000, Lô sang alongside Ibrahim Ferrer on "Choco's Guajira", from Cuban pianist Rubén González's, (Buena Vista Social Club) album Chanchullo. In 2002, he appeared on two tracks of the Red Hot Organization's tribute album to Fela Kuti, Red Hot and Riot. He collaborated with Les Nubians and Manu Dibango on one of the tracks, "Shakara / Lady (Part Two)."
Cheo
Latin GRAMMY winner and former founding member, lead songwriter and guitar player of Los Amigos Invisibles, Jose Luis “Cheo” Pardo, is based in Brooklyn, NY and hails from Caracas, Venezuela. Cheo has compiled a soulful body of tasteful work over the years, including projects released under the names of Locoeach, DJ Afro, Los Crema Paraiso, and Orquesta Discotheque. He has also released over 50 remixes for a wide variety of artists like The Beastie Boys, David Byrne, Devendra Banhart, Julieta Venegas, Natalia Lafourcade, Monsieur Periné and Basement Jaxx. His new album SORPRESA (released on April 2020) includes sounds of Latin Soul, Bossa nova, Disco, Funk, House, and Mambo- this time, all released under his own name.
Chicano Batman
Chicano Batman is a four-piece American band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2008, the band is composed of Eduardo Arenas (bass, guitar, vocals), Carlos Arévalo (guitars), Bardo Martinez (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Gabriel Villa (drums). The group's sound draws from a mix of genres ranging from psychedelic soul, funk, indie, tropicalia, and rock. Chicano Batman was formed in 2008. NPR's Alt.Latino referred to the band's music as one of the show's and listener's favorites of 2014. Chicano Batman provided support for select dates on the January–February leg of Jack White's Lazaretto Tour 2015. In April 2015, the band performed on Day 3 (April 12 & 19) for both weekends of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In July 2015, Chicano Batman performed at Ruido Fest. As of 2017, the band has played at Bonnaroo (2016) and LouFest (2016), as well as both weekends of Coachella (2017), Sasquatch! Music Festival (2017), the Forecastle Festival (2017), FYF (2017), Beer X (2017). Chicano Batman made their late night television debut on Conan in 2017. They star in a 2018 commercial for Johnnie Walker Scotch whiskey, singing This Land is Your Land.
Chicha Libre
Chicha Libre is a Brooklyn-based six-member band founded by Olivier Conan. Its name is a reference to chicha, a corn-based liquor that has been produced in South America since the time of the Incas. It is also the name of a Peruvian musical genre (also known as Peruvian cumbia) on which the band's music is based. History Conan was first introduced to chicha music on a trip to Peru in 2005. Their first album, ¡Sonido Amazonico!, was released in 2008 on Barbes Records, a label which Conan runs from his home in Brooklyn. They released their second album, Canibalismo, in 2012, and an EP, Cuatro Tigres, in 2013, both digitally and on vinyl. The band's original members were Olivier Conan (lead vocalist, cuatro), Josh Camp (DuoVox, keyboards, background vocals), Vincent Douglas (guitar), Greg Burrows (percussion, background vocals, timbales, bongos, guiro, reco-reco), Timothy Quigley (percussion, bongo, shakers, conga) and Nick Cudahy (bass guitar). Additional members are Neil Ochoa (congas) and Karina Colis (timbales). Featured guest artists have included Jose Carballo (a former member of the seminal Peruvian chicha band, Los Hijos del Sol).
Chico Hamilton
Foreststorn "Chico" Hamilton, (September 20, 1921 – November 25, 2013) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He came to prominence as sideman for Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Count Basie, and Lena Horne. Hamilton became a bandleader, first with a quintet featuring the cello as a lead instrument, an unusual choice for a jazz band in the 1950s, and subsequently leading bands that performed cool jazz, post bop, and jazz fusion. Early life and career Foreststorn Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California, one of three brothers, one of whom was actor Bernie Hamilton. Hamilton started his career in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso before he had finished high school. Engagements with Lionel Hampton, Slim & Slam, T-Bone Walker, Lester Young, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnet, Billy Eckstine, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Billie Holiday, Gerry Mulligan and Lena Horne established his career. Hamilton appeared in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) as part of the backing group supporting Fred Astaire. Hamilton also performed on the soundtrack of the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope film Road to Bali (1952). Bandleader He recorded his first album as leader in 1955 with George Duvivier (double bass) and Howard Roberts (jazz guitar) for Pacific Jazz. In the same year Hamilton formed an unusual quintet in L.A. featuring cello, flute/saxes/clarinet, guitar, bass and drums. The quintet has been described as one of the last important West Coast jazz bands. The original personnel included flutist/saxophonist/clarinetist Buddy Collette, guitarist Jim Hall, cellist Fred Katz and bassist Jim Aton, who was later replaced by Carson Smith. Hamilton continued to tour, using different personnel, from 1957 to 1960. A version of the quintet including flutist Paul Horn was featured in the film Sweet Smell of Success in 1957 and one including Eric Dolphy appeared in the film Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960), set at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Hamilton revamped his group in 1961 with Charles Lloyd, Gabor Szabo, George Bohanon and Albert Stinson, playing what has been described as chamber jazz, with "a moderate avant-gardism." The group recorded for Columbia, Reprise and Impulse Records and also recorded the soundtrack for the industrial film Litho in 1962, the first American film to be shown behind the Iron Curtain. Hamilton formed a commercial and film production company in 1965, and went on to score the feature films Repulsion (1965), Mr. Ricco (1975), Coonskin (1975), By Design (1982), the television programs Portrait of Willie Mays and Gerald McBoing Boing, and scored hundreds of commercials for TV and radio. In 1996 Hamilton formed his sextet Chico Hamilton and the Young Alto's featuring Kenneth Lampl, Eric Person and Marc Bernstein. The group performed at the 1986 JVC Jazz Festival, the Apollo Theater, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Chris Isaak
Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American musician and occasional actor. He is widely known for his hit "Wicked Game", as well as the popular hit songs "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing" and "Somebody's Crying". He is renowned for his signature 1950s rock & roll style and crooner sound, as well as his soaring falsetto and reverb-laden music. He is closely associated with film director David Lynch, who has used his music in numerous films and gave him a role in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. His songs generally focus on the themes of love, loss, and heartbreak. With a career spanning four decades, he has amassed a total of 12 studio albums and has accumulated numerous award nominations and tours. He has been called the Roy Orbison of the 1990s and is often also compared to Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, and Duane Eddy.
Chris Whitley
Christopher Becker Whitley (August 31, 1960 – November 20, 2005) was an American blues/rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. During his 25-year career he released more than a dozen albums, had two songs in the top 50 of the Billboard mainstream rock charts and received two Independent Music Awards. Whitley's sound was drawn from the traditions of blues, jazz and rock and he recorded songs by artists from many genres. He died in 2005 of lung cancer at the age of 45. During the early 1980s Whitley was busking on the streets of New York City and collaborating with musicians Marc Miller, Arto Lindsay and Michael Beinhorn. He was given a plane ticket to Ghent, Belgium in 1981, and lived there for six years, recording several albums and playing with the bands Kuruki, 2 Belgen, Nacht Und Nebel, Alan Fawn, and A Noh Rodeo. Whitley with Alan Gevaert of Deus in the late 1990s in New York City In 1988, producer Daniel Lanois heard Whitley perform at the Mondo Cane club in New York City and he helped Whitley obtain a recording contract with Columbia Records. In 1991 two of Whitley's songs charted on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts: "Big Sky Country" (#36) and "Living with the Law" (#28).
Cigarettes After Sex
Cigarettes After Sex is an American ambient pop band formed in El Paso, Texas, in 2008, founded by Greg Gonzalez. The band is known for their ethereal, limerent and often dream-like musical style, lyrics often based on the themes of romance and love, as well as Gonzalez's voice, described as "androgynous". While marketed as an ambient pop band, Cigarettes After Sex are also considered to be shoegaze, dream pop and slowcore. The band's debut extended play (EP), I., was released in 2012, with the song "Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby" eventually becoming a sleeper hit through commercial licensing. After the release of the standalone single "Affection" in 2015, the band released their self-titled debut studio album in June 2017 to positive reviews. In August 2019, the band announced their second studio album, titled Cry, along with the single "Heavenly". The album was released on October 25, 2019. History Cigarettes After Sex was formed in El Paso, Texas, in 2008. Gonzalez recorded the first EP, I., in a four-story stairway at his alma mater, University of Texas at El Paso, calling the experience "basically an accident; kind of an experiment". Gonzalez relocated to Brooklyn, New York, where the band's single "Affection" was recorded and released in 2015 along with a cover of REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Loving You". Through music recommendations, Cigarettes After Sex became popular on YouTube, leading to live performances across Europe, Asia, and the United States. The band then released their self-titled debut studio album on June 9, 2017. Musical style and influences In a feature for Noisey by Vice, Christina Cacouris describes Cigarettes After Sex as "elemental, hazy and romantic, but with a noir edge underneath Gonzalez's androgynous voice" as well as "sweet and sentimental". "As the band’s name suggests, it’s reminiscent of lying in bed, but its ambient qualities don’t prevent it from being music you can dance to." Gonzalez cites Françoise Hardy as his favorite singer and Miles Davis as having great impact. In an interview with Sound of Boston, he also noted films such as L'Avventura and The Double Life of Veronique were influential to the feel and sound of the music in "Affection" and their LP. The band also includes The Cowboy Junkies' album The Trinity Session, Julee Cruise, and Cocteau Twins as influences. The music blog Eardrums Music describes the band as "slow, dreamy and beautiful with gorgeous, tender vocals and very good lyrics." and compares it to Mazzy Star Music bloggers behind Swell Tone describe Cigarettes After Sex as a band producing "melancholy, slow pop that will sweetly rock any listener into a listless stupor." Reviewing Affection for Independentmusicnews.com, Jae Pyl concludes that "there’s just such an intimacy to Cigarettes After Sex's sound that it’s impossible to not let it into the pit of your belly."
Citizen Cope
Ask him how he knew it was time to record a new studio album and Clarence Greenwood, the trailblazing artist and producer better known as Citizen Cope, has a simple answer: “It was time.” Cope has built an entire career on trusting his gut and following his muse, and if his new album, ‘Heroin & Helicopters,’ is any indication, his instincts are sharper now than ever before. As technically innovative as it is emotionally resonant, the record arrives at a uniquely challenging moment in modern American culture, when profound political polarization and social divisions seem to grow deeper by the day. Rather than dwell on our differences, though, Cope tunes in to what unites us here, drawing on everything from Chuck Brown and The Beatles to Randy Newman and Bill Withers, aiming his unique brand of urban-folk inwards to reflect on the personal journeys we all undertake to embrace ourselves despite our flaws. “I think we’re all on a mission to find some inner peace,” he reflects. “We’re all going towards this collective consciousness, and even though it’s dark right now, I believe we’re going to reach that place together. Peace and harmony and understanding, that’s how you combat the darkness, and that’s what this record is all about.” While ‘Heroin & Helicopters’ feels particularly timely, the record’s themes have been fixtures of Cope’s music since the release of his self-titled debut in 2002. That album was the culmination of years of pursuing his passion. Cope got his musical start in DC before moving to Brooklyn, where he wrote songs while supporting himself on the streets, buying and selling concert and sporting tickets with a cast of characters outside arenas and stadiums. His music spread from fan-to-fan via word of mouth, and over the course of time his songs have become the soundtrack of his fans lives. The success of Cope’s music has always been a slow burn, rather than a flash in the pan. His single “Let The Drummer Kick” eventually went Platinum without any support from commercial radio. The Washington Post has hailed him as “DC’s finest export since Marvin Gaye,” while Rolling Stone raved that his “uncommon chords and harmonies combine delicate dissonance with unexpected flashes of beauty.” In 2004, Cope followed up his self-titled debut with ‘The Clarence Greenwood Recordings,’ an album Vibe praised as “flawless throughout,” gushing that Cope “makes music that feeds your soul…this is one of those CDs you hear at a friend’s house and rush out to buy.” The collection was largely ignored by mainstream media and never charted, yet the grassroots swell of support kept sales rolling year after year, to the tune of 700,000 copies, and opened the doors to film and television syncs with tracks appearing in Entourage, Sons of Anarchy, Alpha Dog, and more. Songs from the record would go on to be covered by everyone from Carlos Santana and Sheryl Crow to Richie Havens and Rhymefest, and in the years that followed, Cope has headlined all 50 states and shared stages with superstars like Eric Clapton. He cracked the Billboard 200 for the first time with 2006’s ‘Every Waking Moment,’ and then launched his own label to release 2010’s ‘The Rainwater LP’ and 2012’s ‘One Lovely Day,’ his highest charting album to date. As Cope’s career grew, his style of urban-folk never settled into any particular genre in an industry fixated on arbitrary distinctions like radio formats. “I can understand why it didn’t go into the cookie-cutter. The music and my life were influenced by growing up in very distinct but different American cultures.” Born in Memphis, spending summer months with his great aunt and uncle in a small west Texas town, while being primarily raised in Washington, DC, Cope grew up equally influenced by the production techniques of George Martin, Dr. Dre and Willie Mitchell while listening to everything from Willie Nelson, to John Lennon, Bob Marley, Outkast and A Tribe Called Quest. Artistic boundaries meant nothing. The 2011 birth of his daughter proved to be an ideal moment to step away from it all and reevaluate what mattered most, both as a songwriter and a man. “It was really important for me to be there with my daughter as she grew up,” says Cope. “I took these past several years off of recording mostly just to spend time with her. People say it’s not rocket science making records, but there really is a science to making a piece of art that’s going to touch people emotionally and have an impact on their lives, and if you’re not feeling it, you can’t fake it.” Cope’s time away from music was also a moment to deal with reflecting and addressing the turmoil he faced surrounding the death of his estranged biological father, who had been physically abusive before abandoning his responsibilities decades earlier. “He was sick and I was able to have a sit down with him before he died,” Cope told Lance Armstrong in a poignant conversation for The Forward Podcast. “I had a lot of fear surrounding my father, and when I saw him, I realized I wasn’t scared of him as a person. He was just a flawed individual and I saw him in a whole different light. I didn’t want to go through life having this anger or hatred, and I don’t even know what forgiveness is in that realm, but maybe it’s a little bit of forgiving yourself and giving love to yourself.” That kind of self-reflection is at the heart of ‘Heroin & Helicopters,’ which actually draws its title from a warning Santana shared with Cope one night backstage at The Fillmore. “Stay away from the two H’s, Heroin and Helicopters” he said, because they all too often prove fatal for musicians and celebrities. The message resonated with Cope, who saw parallels with a broader culture fixated on shortcuts over self-improvement, on mass production over quality, on greed over empathy. “We’re living in an addicted society,” says Cope, “and not just addicted to drugs or alcohol or substances. We’re addicted to conflict and fame and social media. We’re addicted to getting what we want without working for it, without paying the price.” ‘Heroin & Helicopters opens with “Duck Confit,” a slow-burning and arresting spoken-word meditation that finds Cope looking in as much as he looks out, channeling the uneasy feeling that comes with recognizing your own role in perpetuating the very same social constructs you wish to change. “Where crimes of humanity are concealed and condoned / By self preservation and biblical prophecy...Where you know deep down inside / That something’s not right / Like a man killing the mother of his son / Cleaning his shotgun” he says over a simmering organ punctuated with 808 kicks. The track plays out like an overheard prayer, spiritual in its intimacy, and it sets the stage beautifully for a record unafraid to push boundaries and ask uncomfortable questions, questions that transcend any political party or movement and cut to the heart of what it means to be human. “People try to politicize my music sometimes, but I don’t write political records,” Cope says definitively. “My music has always been built around consciousness.” The first single “Justice” challenges our very notion of the concept, wondering if we’ve ever even seen what true righteousness looks like in this world. “The River” castigates and identifies a system built to devalue our lives… “They’ll take you down to the river / Leave you down by the river / They’ll shoot you down by the river / Leave you to drown by the river.” The heavy drum and piano-laden swing of “Sally Walks” is clothed in the story of a lover who’s swallowed whole by addiction, but it’s not clear if Sally is the lover or the substance itself. Though it would be easy to despair in the face of it all, ‘Heroin & Helicopters’ insists on defiance, on standing up to power and resisting the force of the invisible hands that seem to guide our every move. “Yella” could almost be a country song, with Cope singing over acoustic guitar and a drum shuffle played by Abe Laboreal, Jr. With lyrics touching on the migration of people from small towns to big cities, Cope uses the analogy of a little league baseball player striking out, ultimately realizing that strength and redemption are gained through struggle, loss and failure. “And the baseball rolls slowly off the pitcher’s mound / As I stood in the batter’s box once they struck me out / I showed a sign a weakness and I swung my bat / And the fire that once burned yella turned to ash” “Government / counterfeit / dollar bill / you worship it,” Cope sings on “War,” an infectious track produced by XZ, who worked closely with him in the studio. The song is a perfect distillation of Cope’s brand of wordplay and lyricism, where war not only represents a battlefield, but also alludes to an individual’s self-inflicted inner turmoil, moving between the mandated laws of religion and society, and how we reconcile choices within the human psyche. “Essentially, I’m trying to connect an emotion and lyrics and wrap them up in heavy drums,” he explains. “The music isn’t hip hop, it isn’t reggae, it isn’t pop, and it isn’t rock and roll. It doesn’t necessarily have a home, genre-wise, but it lives in all of those places, it pays respect to all those places.” Respect is ultimately what it all comes down to for Cope: respect for the art, respect for each other, respect for ourselves, respect for our instincts. At the end of the day, we all want the same things, and no matter how much the culture conditions us to believe that peace and happiness can be bought and sold, there’s no price tag because they come from within. Change, growth, and satisfaction require patience, work, and love. Seven years in the making, ‘Heroin & Helicopters’ is proof of that.
Cotton Jones
Cotton Jones (formerly The Cotton Jones Basket Ride) is an indie folk band, with elements of psychedelic folk, dream pop, baroque pop, and Americana, based in Cumberland, Maryland and currently signed to Suicide Squeeze Records. Michael Nau (born October 31, 1984) is the lead singer-songwriter and plays guitar, Whitney McGraw (born July 20, 1986) is on keyboards, organ, and electronic autoharp, Todd Gowans (born February 4, 1986) is on lead electric guitar, and Greg Bender is on bass. The signature sound of the band is Michael Nau and his wife Whitney McGraw's ethereal vocals.
Crumb
Crumb is an American indie rock band, founded in Boston. The group is a collaboration of Brooklyn-based musicians Lila Ramani (guitar, vocals), Jesse Brotter (bass, backing vocals), Brian Aronow (synthesizers, keyboard, saxophone), and Jonathan Gilad (drums), who met while attending Tufts University. History Ramani, Brotter, Aronow, and Gilad, met at Tufts University and, prior to the formation of Crumb, had collaborated on Boston-based projects, including Bad and Blue, JG and The Funky Bunch, and The American Symphony of Soul. In 2016 they came together to develop and record a collection of songs Ramani had started writing in high school and college, ultimately resulting in the band’s first two EPs, Crumb (2016) and Locket (2017). Both EPs were independently released, with physical cassettes released by DIY label Citrus City Records. Crumb went on to release their debut full-length album, Jinx, on June 14, 2019. The album received positive reviews from music critics. Music style Indie Current described Crumb's sound on 'Locket' as psychedelic slacker-rock. Paste Magazine called their sound a meld of "60s psych, loose jazz, and freeform indie rock into a soothing pop amalgamation." Their sound has been compared to Melody's Echo Chamber, BadBadNotGood, Quilt, Tame Impala, and Broadcast.
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music. He first achieved success and recognition with The Impressions during the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s, and later worked as a solo artist. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Mayfield started his musical career in a gospel choir. Moving to the North Side, he met Jerry Butler in 1956 at the age of 14, and joined the vocal group The Impressions. As a songwriter, Mayfield became noted as one of the first musicians to bring more prevalent themes of social awareness into soul music. In 1965, he wrote "People Get Ready" for the Impressions, which displayed his more politically charged songwriting. Ranked at no. 24 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the song received numerous other awards, and was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, as well as being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. After leaving the Impressions in 1970 in the pursuit of a solo career, Mayfield released several albums, including the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Super Fly in 1972. The soundtrack was noted for its socially conscious themes, mostly addressing problems surrounding inner city minorities such as crime, poverty and drug abuse. The album was ranked at no. 72 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Mayfield was paralyzed from the neck down after lighting equipment fell on him during a live performance at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, on August 13, 1990. Despite this, he continued his career as a recording artist, releasing his final album New World Order in 1996. Mayfield won a Grammy Legend Award in 1994 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995, and was a double inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of the Impressions in 1991, and again in 1999 as a solo artist. He was also a two-time Grammy Hall of Fame inductee. He died from complications of type 2 diabetes in 1999 at the age of 57.
Cymande
Cymande (pronounced sah-mahn-day) is a British funk group that was originally active in the early 1970s. The band name derives from a calypso word for "dove", which symbolises peace and love; it is also the title of one of their best-known songs. With a membership deriving from several Caribbean nations, Cymande were noted for an eclectic mix of funk, soul, reggae, rock, African music, calypso, and jazz that they called "nyah-rock". The band formed in 1971 and released three albums before disbanding in 1974. After gaining newfound popularity when their music was sampled by many notable rap artists, Cymande reformed in the 2010s. History Original incarnation Cymande was formed by bassist Steve Scipio and guitarist Patrick Patterson in London, England in 1971. Scipio and Patterson had previously played together in a jazz fusion group called Meta, in which they picked up additional influences from a Nigerian bandmate. Cymande variously had either eight or nine members in its original incarnation, and also included singer/percussionist Ray King, saxophonist Derek Gibbs, conga player Pablo Gonsales, singer/percussionist Joey Dee, saxophonist Peter Serreo, drummer Sam Kelly, and flautist/percussionist Mike Rose. All were members of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora community in London, originating in nations including Guyana, Jamaica, and Saint Vincent. Cymande was discovered by British R&B producer John Schroeder while they played in a basement club in Soho in 1971. Schroeder recorded some demos and convinced Janus Records to sign the group. Their first single "The Message" reached the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B charts in the United States. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1972 and also reached the Billboard pop and R&B albums charts in the United States. During this period the group toured the United States successfully; their wide-ranging sound was illustrated by invitations to tour with soul singer Al Green, funk-rock band Mandrill, and jazz musician Ramsey Lewis. In 1973 they made history as the first British band to headline the Apollo Theater in New York, and they also performed on Soul Train. However they achieved little notice in their home country. The album Second Time Round, featuring newly politicized lyrics, was released in 1973, and their third album Promised Heights was released in 1974. A lack of notice from the British music industry caused the group to break up in 1974. A fourth album titled Arrival was recorded during this period but was not released until 1981. Rediscovery and reunions After a period of obscurity, Cymande's music was rediscovered in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of their songs were deconstructed and used as breakbeats by early hip-hop DJs Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash. The British rare groove scene of the 1980s was openly influenced by Cymande. By the late 1980s they were being sampled regularly by rap artists, starting with De La Soul on their 3 Feet High and Rising album, plus EPMD, The KLF, MC Solaar, Heavy D, and many others. An unauthorized sample of "Dove" by The Fugees resulted in a lucrative copyright infringement settlement for Scipio and Patterson. Additional recognition arrived in 1994 when Spike Lee used the Cymande song "Bra" in his film Crooklyn; Lee used the same song in his 2002 film 25th Hour. Thanks to ongoing recognition of their early 1970s original works by more modern fans, Cymande reformed with most of its original members for a one-off show in 2006. A fuller reunion commenced in 2012. Their original producer John Schroeder was recruited as well, and plans were announced for a new album. The group completed several one-off shows in the next few years, with all nine original members eventually contributing at various times, alongside some new sidemen. Cymande released A Simple Act of Faith in 2015 – the band's first new album in 41 years. In 2016 the group completed a short tour of the United States, where it had not played since 1973.
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (pronounced di-Angelo), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Along with artists like Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Maxwell, and collaborator Angie Stone, D'Angelo is associated with the Neo soul movement. Born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of a Pentecostal minister, he taught himself piano as a child. At eighteen he won the amateur talent competition at Harlem's Apollo Theater three weeks in a row. After a brief affiliation with hip-hop group I.D.U., his first major success came in 1994 as the co-writer and co-producer of the song "U Will Know". His debut solo album, Brown Sugar (1995), received positive reviews and sold over two million copies. His next album, Voodoo (2000), debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. Its lead single "Untitled (How Does It Feel)," entered the R&B charts and won a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal; likewise, Voodoo won for Best R&B Album. D'Angelo was hailed as the next Marvin Gaye by GQ in 2014.
Damien Jurado
Damien Jurado is an American singer/songwriter from Seattle, Washington. Over the years, he has released albums on Sub Pop and currently on Secretly Canadian. Jurado's solo career began during the mid-1990s, releasing lo-fi folk based recordings on his own cassette-only label, Casa Recordings. Gaining a local cult following in Seattle, he was brought to the attention of Sub Pop Records by Sunny Day Real Estate singer Jeremy Enigk. After two 7-inch releases (Motorbike and Trampoline) Sub Pop issued his first full album, Waters Ave S. in 1997. His second album Rehearsals for Departure, was released in 1999, produced by Ken Stringfellow (The Posies, Big Star, R.E.M.). He often makes use of found sound and field recording techniques, and has experimented with different forms of tape recordings. In 2000 he released Postcards and Audio Letters, a collection of found audio letters and fragments that he had found from sources such as thrift store tape players and answering machines. Also released in 2000 was Ghost of David, Jurado's bleakest and most personal sounding record to date. I Break Chairs (2002) was produced by long-time friend, Pedro the Lion's David Bazan. It was his last album for Sub Pop, and was a much rockier, electric affair. After signing for the Indiana-based label Secretly Canadian, Jurado reverted to his trademark folk ballad-based style, releasing four more albums: Where Shall You Take Me? (2003), On My Way to Absence, (2005) And Now That I'm in Your Shadow (2006) and the rockier Caught in the Trees (2008). In 2009, Jurado teamed with his brother Drake to issue an LP under the moniker Hoquiam, released on February 23, 2010. The album preceded Damien's next solo release, dubbed Saint Bartlett, which was released May 25, 2010 and was produced by label mate Richard Swift. After touring the album with Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, Jurado began work on his next album. On February 21, 2012 he released his 10th studio album, Maraqopa, his sixth for Secretly Canadian. In January 2014 Jurado released Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son an album which marked the third straight collaboration with producer Richard Swift. In March 2016, Jurado released Visions of Us on the Land, and in December of the same year he and Swift released a collection of covers from 2010, Other People's Songs, Volume 1. In September 2016 he was forced to cancel an Australian tour due to health issues.
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn OBE (/ˈdeɪmən ˈælbɑːrn/; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-founder, lead vocalist, instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of the virtual band Gorillaz. Raised in Leytonstone, East London, and around Colchester, Essex, Albarn attended the Stanway School, where he met guitarist Graham Coxon and formed Blur, releasing their debut album Leisure in 1991. After spending long periods touring the US, Albarn's songwriting became increasingly influenced by British bands from the 1960s. The result was the Blur albums Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). All three albums received critical acclaim while Blur gained mass popularity in the UK, aided by a Britpop chart rivalry with Oasis. Subsequent albums such as Blur (1997), 13 (1999), and Think Tank (2003) incorporated influences from lo-fi, art rock, electronic and world music. These were followed by The Magic Whip (2015), Blur's first studio album in 12 years. Albarn formed the virtual band Gorillaz in 1998 with comic book artist Jamie Hewlett. Drawing influences from hip hop, dub, pop, trip hop, and world music, Gorillaz released their self-titled debut album in 2001 to worldwide success, spawning successful follow-ups Demon Days (2005), Plastic Beach, The Fall (both released in 2010), Humanz (2017), The Now Now (2018) and the first season of their Song Machine project, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (2020). Although Albarn is the only permanent musical contributor, Gorillaz albums typically feature collaborations from a range of artists. Gorillaz are cited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Most Successful Virtual Band". Albarn's other notable projects have included two supergroups: the Good, the Bad & the Queen and Rocket Juice & the Moon, working with the non-profit organization Africa Express, which he co-founded, and composing film soundtracks. He also scored the stage productions Monkey: Journey to the West (2008), Dr Dee (2012) and Wonder.land (2016). His debut solo studio album Everyday Robots was released in 2014, with his second The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows released in 2021. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked Albarn number 18 in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture". In 2016, Albarn received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music. In 2020, Albarn was granted Icelandic citizenship.
Dan Auerbach
Daniel Quine Auerbach (born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of the Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has recorded and co-produced eleven studio albums with his bandmate Patrick Carney. Auerbach has also released two solo albums, Keep It Hid (2009) Waiting on a Song (2017), and formed a side project, the Arcs, which released the album Yours, Dreamily, in 2015. Auerbach owns the Easy Eye Sound recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as a record label of the same name. He has produced records by artists such as Cage the Elephant, Dr. John, Lana Del Rey, Ray LaMontagne, Jake Bugg, and the Pretenders. In addition to winning several Grammy Awards as a member of the Black Keys, Auerbach received the 2013 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.
Danger Mouse
Brian Joseph Burton (born July 29, 1977), better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from The Beatles' The Beatles (aka the White Album). He formed Gnarls Barkley with CeeLo Green and produced its albums St. Elsewhere and The Odd Couple. In 2009 he collaborated with James Mercer of the indie rock band The Shins to form the band Broken Bells. In addition, Burton worked with rapper MF Doom as Danger Doom and released the album The Mouse and the Mask. As a producer Danger Mouse produced the second Gorillaz album, 2005's Demon Days, as well as Beck's 2008 record Modern Guilt and four albums with The Black Keys (Attack & Release, Brothers, El Camino and Turn Blue). In 2016, Danger Mouse produced, performed on and co-wrote songs for the eleventh studio album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers titled The Getaway. Danger Mouse has also produced and co-written albums by Norah Jones (Little Broken Hearts), Electric Guest (Mondo), Portugal. The Man (Evil Friends), Adele (25), and ASAP Rocky's (At.Long.Last.ASAP (ALLA)). He has been nominated for 19 Grammy Awards and has won six. He's been nominated in the Producer of the Year category five times, and won the award in 2011.
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Roland Lanois, born September 19, 1951, is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. Lanois has released several albums of his own work. However, he is best known for producing albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Brandon Flowers. Lanois also collaborated with Brian Eno: most famously on producing several albums for U2, including the multi-platinum The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Three albums produced or co-produced by Lanois have won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Four other albums received Grammy nominations. Lanois wrote and performed the music for Billy Bob Thornton's film Sling Blade (1996). Biography Early life and career Lanois was born in Hull, Quebec. Lanois started his production career when he was 17 recording local artists including Simply Saucer with his brother Bob Lanois in a studio in the basement of their mother's home in Ancaster, Ontario. Later, Lanois started Grant Avenue Studios in an old house which he purchased in Hamilton, Ontario. He worked with a number of local bands, including Martha and the Muffins (for whom his sister Jocelyne played bass), Ray Materick, Spoons, and the Canadian children's singer Raffi. Lanois attended Ancaster High School. Producer In 1981 Lanois played on and produced the album This Is the Ice Age by Martha and the Muffins. In 1985 he and two members of the band earned a CASBY award for their work on the band's (by then going by "M + M") 1984 album Mystery Walk. Lanois worked collaboratively with Brian Eno on some of Eno's own projects, one of which was the "Prophecy Theme" for David Lynch's film adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune. Eno invited him to co-produce U2's album The Unforgettable Fire. Along with Eno, he went on to produce U2's The Joshua Tree, the 1987 Grammy Award for Album of the Year winner, and some of the band's other works including Achtung Baby and All That You Can't Leave Behind, both of which were nominated for the same award but did not win. Lanois once again collaborated with U2 and Brian Eno on the band's 2009 album, No Line on the Horizon. He was involved in the songwriting process as well as mixing and production. Lanois' early work with U2 led to him being hired to produce albums for other top-selling artists. He collaborated with Peter Gabriel on his album Birdy (1985), the soundtrack to Alan Parker's film of the same name, and then spent most of 1985 co-producing Gabriel's album So. The album was released in 1986 and became his best-selling release, earning multi-platinum sales and a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Lanois later co-produced Gabriel's follow-up, Us which was released in 1992 and also went platinum. Bono recommended Lanois to Bob Dylan in the late 1980s; in 1989 Lanois produced Dylan's Oh Mercy. Eight years later, Dylan and Lanois worked together on Time Out of Mind, which won another Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1997. In his autobiographical Chronicles, Vol. 1, Dylan describes in depth the contentious but rewarding working relationship he developed with Lanois. Wrecking Ball, his 1995 collaboration with Emmylou Harris, won a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 1998, he produced and appeared on Willie Nelson's album Teatro. Lanois was working on Neil Young's record Le Noise in June 2010 when he was hospitalized after suffering multiple injuries in a motorcycle crash in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. He has since recovered. Lanois' production is recognizable and notable for its 'big' and 'live' drum sound, atmospheric guitars and ambient reverb. Rolling Stone called Lanois the "most important record producer to emerge in the Eighties." On July 12, 2019, Lakeshore Records released the official soundtrack of Red Dead Redemption 2 computer game, and Lanois was given credit for producing; additionally he was given seven composition credits, including one for the song "Table Top", which was released in the days before the soundtrack's release, next to collaborator Rocco DeLuca's song "Crash of Worlds" to promote the upcoming release. Recording artist As well as being a producer, Lanois is a songwriter, musician and recording artist. He has released several solo albums and film scores; his first album, Acadie was released in 1989. A number of Lanois' songs have been covered by other artists, including Dave Matthews, Jerry Garcia Band, Willie Nelson, Tea Party, Anna Beljin, Isabelle Boulay, and Emmylou Harris. His albums have had some success, particularly in Canada. Lanois plays the guitar, pedal steel, and drums. Belladonna, an instrumental album released in 2005 was nominated for a Grammy. Lanois' song "Sonho Dourado" was included in the 2004 Billy Bob Thornton film, Friday Night Lights. In 2005 with the re-release of his first solo album, Acadie, a late-1980s version of the song appears on the additional tracks called "Early Dourado Sketch". Lanois had performed the song numerous times in the intervening years, including on a Toronto television program in 1993 where it was credited as "Irish Melody" on a recording of the performance. Though the melody does indeed feel Irish, the title is Portuguese and means golden dream. Lanois also provided an instrumental score for LOUDquietLOUD, a 2006 documentary about the Pixies. Lanois premiered a documentary entitled Here Is What Is at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007. The film chronicles the recording of his album of the same name and includes footage of the actual recording. The album Here Is What Is was released, first by download, then on compact disc, in late 2007 and early 2008. Soon after that, Lanois released a three-disc recording called Omni. In October 2009, Lanois started a project called Black Dub which features Lanois on guitar, Brian Blade on drums, and Daryl Johnson on bass, along with multi-instrumentalist/singer Trixie Whitley. They released a self-titled album in 2010. In 2014, Lanois played with Emmylou Harris as a sideman and opening act on a tour focused on the Wrecking Ball material he produced. Solo career On October 28, 2014, Lanois released an album titled Flesh and Machine on ANTI- Records, based on Brian Eno's ambient albums. The instrumental album consists primarily of original atmospheric and process-based sounds, blending pedal steel guitar and a variety of digital and analog sound processing devices. He was assisted by the drummer Brian Blade. In 2016, he released the album Goodbye to Language with Rocco DeLuca. The collaborative album Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois was released on Venetian Snares' label Timesig in May 2018. Lanois also contributed to the composition and production of the soundtrack for the 2018 video game Red Dead Redemption 2, released by Rockstar Games.
Daniel Norgren
Lennarth Daniel Norgren (born 18 July 1983), is a Swedish singer-songwriter. He has been working through a small indie label called Superpuma Records since 2006. Norgren's debut album Kerosene Dreams was mainly recorded on homemade instruments and was followed up by Outskirt in 2008. This album attracted a steady crowd of blues fans and also opened the doors for touring Europe. In 2010, Horrifying Deatheating Bloodspider was released and opened the doors even wider. It was also nominated for singer/songwriter album of the year at the Swedish manifest gala. Horrifying Deatheating Bloodspider was followed up by the six-track EP Black Vultures in late 2011, including "Going Home Finally" that was originally tracked for and aired in the BBC Radio show called God's Jukebox. On stage, Norgren plays the drums and guitar, with Anders Grahn on upright bass, while Andreas Filipsson sometimes accompanies the duo on a homemade organ. Norgren has played festivals and venues in Europe such as Way Out West in 2010, Roskilde Festival in 2011, and End of the Road in 2023. In early 2013, the album Buck was released, followed up by a European tour. Most of the songs on Buck were recorded in Norgren's home on a 4-channel cassette porta-studio. It contains studio recordings like "Whatever Turns You On". This song was tracked and filmed in the Algorythm Sound studio and quickly became a hit when it came out on YouTube. The album contains a live version of "Moonshine Got Me" that was originally released on the Black Vultures EP, but was re-recorded during a tour in Scandinavia. In 2015, Norgren's album Alabursy was released, followed by another European tour. Again, most of the songs were recorded at home on his 4-channel cassette porta studio. In 2022, many songs from Alabursy, along with others by Norgren, were used in an almost-exclusive soundtrack to the film The Eight Mountains.
Daniel Villarreal
Daniel Villarreal-Carrillo is a well known drummer, musician and DJ in the Chicago music scene. Originally from Panamá he fuses his pan-Latin style with influences of psychedelic rock, Cumbia, afro-beat, boogaloo, rock, free experimental jazz, hip-hop, and funk to create an original contemporary soundscape. Daniel Villarreal has long been a widely known and beloved character on the Chicago music scene. On almost any night of the week, you’ll find him DJing at at least one spot on bustling 18th Street in his home neighborhood of Pilsen. If he’s not there, he’s playing drums with Dos Santos, Valebol, The Los Sundowns or Ida y Vuelta (all bands he co-leads), or sitting in with Wild Belle or Rudy De Anda. Villarreal may be most known for his big style and magnetic personality, but to musicians on the scene, it’s as much for his talents as a malleable and reliable drummer, with a deep pocket in many styles and sounds... As a DJ, Daniel specializes in groovy vintage Afro-diasporic sounds. His DJ sets (vinyl or digital) showcase his knowledge of world music, electronica,Tropicalia, vintage latin soul, Chicha, psychedelic Cumbia, Afrobeat, reggae, funk, and groovy deep cuts beats.
Darondo
William Daron Pulliam (October 5, 1946 – June 9, 2013), who performed in the 1970s under the name Darondo, was a funk and soul singer from the San Francisco Bay Area. Although he is not widely recognized today, serious enthusiasts of the soul genre consistently rate him in high regard.[1] The mythology surrounding Darondo describes him as a pimp, although he has denied this claim. His performing name is said to have originated as a compliment from a waitress who was fond of his generous tipping habits. Darondo has received more attention in recent years thanks to London DJ Gilles Peterson playing his 1973 single, "Didn't I" on his BBC Radio 1 program. In 2007, Darondo's song "Didn't I" was covered by Jack Peñate on his Spit At Stars EP and in 2008, featured on an episode (season 1, episode 4) of Breaking Bad. "Didn't I" was also featured in the 2010 film Saint John of Las Vegas in a scene featuring Steve Buscemi and In 2009, the song "Legs" was featured in an episode (season 1, episode 8) of the American version of Life on Mars. In 2010, "Didn't I" was featured in the films Night Catches Us and Jack Goes Boating. It also appeared in the New Element video, Future Nature. In 2013, "Didn't I" was featured on a LateNightTales compilation mixed by Bonobo (musician) (Late Night Tales: Bonobo). In the same year, "Didn't I" was featured in the third instalment of the Spanish Apartment trilogy, Chinese Puzzle starring Romain Duris. It was used as an ending theme in an episode (season 2, episode 1) of Lovesick . "Didn't I" was covered by the English electronic music duo HONNE on their 2015 EP "Coastal Love". Recordings of Darondo are available from Luv N Haight, an imprint label of Ubiquity Records. Other works can be purchased from Omnivore Recordings. He also hosted a public broadcasting music video program where he did comedy skits and gave love advice in a segment called "Penthouse Letters" which can be found on YouTube. He died of heart failure in 2013. Source Wikipedia
Dave Brubeck
Dave Van Ronk
David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 – February 10, 2002) was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street". Van Ronk's work ranged from old English ballads to blues, gospel, rock, New Orleans jazz, and swing. He was also known for performing instrumental ragtime guitar music, especially his transcription of "St. Louis Tickle" and Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag". Van Ronk was a widely admired avuncular figure in "the Village", presiding over the coffeehouse folk culture and acting as a friend to many up-and-coming artists by inspiring, assisting, and promoting them. Folk performers whom he befriended include Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Patrick Sky, Phil Ochs, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and Joni Mitchell. Bob Dylan recorded Van Ronk's arrangement of the traditional song "House of the Rising Sun" on his first album, which the Animals turned into a chart-topping rock single in 1964, helping inaugurate the folk-rock movement. Van Ronk received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in December 1997. He died in a New York hospital of cardiopulmonary failure while undergoing postoperative treatment for colon cancer.
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie (/ˈboʊi/, BOH-ee), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. He was a leading figure in the music industry and is considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, with his music and stagecraft having a significant impact on popular music. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million albums worldwide, made him one of the world's best-selling music artists. In the UK, he was awarded ten platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, and released eleven number-one albums. In the US, he received five platinum and nine gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Born in Brixton, South London, Bowie developed an interest in music as a child, eventually studying art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. "Space Oddity" became his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart after its release in July 1969. After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of his single "Starman" and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which won him widespread popularity. In 1975, Bowie's style shifted radically towards a sound he characterised as "plastic soul", initially alienating many of his UK devotees but garnering him his first major US crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the album Young Americans. In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth, directed by Nicolas Roeg, and released Station to Station. The following year, he further confounded musical expectations with the electronic-inflected album Low (1977), the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that came to be known as the "Berlin Trilogy". "Heroes" (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed; each album reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise. After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He reached his commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance; the album's title track topped both UK and US charts. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including industrial and jungle. He also continued acting; his roles included Major Jack Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth (1986), Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006), among other film and television appearances and cameos. He stopped touring after 2004 and his last live performance was at a charity event in 2006. In 2013, Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with The Next Day. He remained musically active until he died of liver cancer two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar (2016).
David Ramirez
We’re Not Going Anywhere: At a historical moment of immense political, social, and ecological uncertainty, those four simple words comprise both a promise and a protest, a comforting reassurance of inclusion as well as a hearty cry of defiance. It’s a statement that offers no small sense of hope, in that sense matching the music contained on the album. On these vividly imagined and passionately performed songs David Ramirez takes in the world from his unique perspective: “Being half white and half Mexican has made this current political climate especially interesting. So many cultures in this country are being viewed as un-American and it breaks my heart. My family have raised children here, created successful businesses here, and are proud to be a part of this country. Most of what I've seen as of late is misplaced fear. I wanted to write about that fear and how, instead of benefiting us, it sends us spiraling out control.” The album that bears that title marks a departure for Ramirez, who builds on the rootsy sound of his early albums to create something new, something bold, something anchored in the here and now. Scouting out unexplored music territory, these songs bounce around energetically, toying with new ideas and experimenting with new sounds, as barbed-wire guitars and retro-futuristic synths grind against his anguished vocals and evocative lyrics. “We flipped script a little bit and went in with a pretty specific vision: lots of keyboards and some out-of-the-box guitar sounds. I took a lot of notes from the indie bands I’ve been listening to and from the bands I loved growing up in the ‘80s, like the Cars and Journey. Let’s just live in this spacy world for a while and see what comes out of it.” What came out of it isn’t just Ramirez’s most adventurous album to date, but a record that captures the mood of the country in its music as well as in its lyrics. While he does tackle some new subjects, Ramirez grounds these songs in his own perspective, which means every song remains both human and humane, outraged and generous. There are some break-up songs on here, sober and self-castigating: first single “Watching from a Distance” thrums with iridescent synths and a tight backbeat that sounds like lines on the highway measuring the widening rift between lovers. “People Call Who They Wanna Talk To” is Ramirez at his catchiest, marrying a playful earworm hook to a somber realization about romantic irreconcilability: “Don’t blame it on the distance, don’t blame it on the booze… people call who they wanna talk to.” A simple line, but completely devastating. “This is the first album I’ve had properly produced,” says Ramirez, who either produced or co-produced all of his previous efforts. For We’re Not Going Anywhere, he hired Sam Kassirer, who has helmed albums by Josh Ritter, Lake Street Dive, Bhi Bhiman, and many other artists. “I needed to evolve and change things up a bit, which is why I chose Sam. He pushed me in a way I hadn’t been pushed before.” Kassirer challenged Ramirez to simultaneously simplify and complicate his songwriting, to find new ways to tell his stories. “He said, I want you to try to tell a story but use fewer words and more space. In other words, let’s not make a singer-songwriter record. Let’s make a band record. Once he said that, my mind just opened up in a way it never had before. It was fun to just be more straightforward lyrically. It left a lot of space for the music.” In January 2017 Ramirez and his band decamped to the Great North Sound Society, an eighteenth-century farmhouse in rural Maine that serves as Kassirer’s studio. Especially in the winter, when the trees are bare and snow blankets the ground, the setting proved inspiring. “It’s very secluded, which was part of the appeal. We were able to get out of our touring headspace and stay completely involved with the record and what we were doing.” That allowed the band to concentrate on the music, to pursue ideas without distractions and misgivings, but it also removed them from the world during a momentous event. We’re Not Going Anywhere turns that distance into a big-picture perspective— engaged and informed, compassionately political but not necessarily partisan. “We’d take breaks during the day and watch the news and see all the rallies and marches and the disruption and the out-of-control feeling that was everywhere then—and, frankly, still is now. We were looking around and no one was around us. The closest house was a mile away, so it was just us. We were grateful just to retreat from that social tornado for a while and create something that we hoped would be very beautiful.” Looming over every song is the ghost of Ramirez’s great-grandmother, who inspired “Eliza Jane,” a deeply poignant and personal tune near the album’s conclusion. In gracefully plainspoken lyrics, Ramirez describes how she and her brothers left Oklahoma during the Great Depression, heading northwest to Oregon, where she played piano in a country band. “My mom was telling me this story and the song was writing itself. I wish I had known her, because I’m curious what drove her. I know what drives a lot of my musician friends, but I really want to ask a family member: Why did you do this? Was it just for fun? Was it a passion so deep-rooted that you couldn’t not do it?” While he may describe the creative process as fun, Ramirez obviously has inherited a deep-rooted passion—one that will continue to drive him well into the future. “I’m not going to be so afraid to take risks in the future, like I have been in the past. I’ve been so stressed and concerned with every detail, but I learned to let that go. Let’s just have fun. Let’s get weird. I’ve never felt that way about my work. I still respect my older stuff, but I just didn’t want to be afraid anymore. That’s what I learned on this one.”
David Sylvian
David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman of the band Japan. The band's androgynous look and increasingly electronic sound made them an important influence on the UK's early-1980s New Romantic scene. Following their breakup, Sylvian embarked on a solo career with his debut album Brilliant Trees (1984). His solo work has been described by AllMusic as "far-ranging and esoteric," and has included collaborations with artists such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Robert Fripp, Holger Czukay, and Fennesz.
Dead Can Dance
Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance's style as "constructed soundscapes of mesmerising grandeur and solemn beauty; African polyrhythms, Gaelic folk, Gregorian chant, Middle Eastern mantras, and art rock." Having disbanded in 1998, they reunited briefly in 2005 for a world tour and reformed in 2011 when they released and toured a new album, Anastasis. Dead Can Dance formed in Melbourne, Australia in August 1981 with Paul Erikson on bass guitar, Lisa Gerrard (ex-Microfilm) on vocals, Simon Monroe (Marching Girls) on drums and Brendan Perry (also of Marching Girls) on vocals and guitar. Gerrard and Perry were a couple who met as members of Melbourne's little band scene. In May 1982, the band left Monroe in Australia and moved to London, England, where they signed with alternative rock label 4AD. With the duo, the initial United Kingdom line-up were Paul Erikson and Peter Ulrich. The group's debut album, Dead Can Dance, was released in February 1984. The artwork, which depicts a ritual mask from New Guinea, "provide[s] a visual reinterpretation of the meaning of the name Dead Can Dance", set in a faux Greek typeface. The album featured "drum-driven, ambient guitar music with chanting, singing and howling", and fit in with the ethereal wave style of label mates Cocteau Twins. They followed with a four-track extended play, Garden of the Arcane Delights in August. AllMusic described their early work as "as goth as it gets" (despite the group themselves rejecting the label), while the EP saw them "plunging into a wider range of music and style". For their second album, Spleen and Ideal, the group comprised the core duo of Gerrard and Perry with cello, trombone and tympani added in by session musicians. Released in November 1985, it was co-produced by the duo and John A. Rivers. Raggett describes it as "a consciously medieval European sound like it was recorded in an immense cathedral". The group built a following in Europe, and the album reached No. 2 on the UK indie charts. By 1989, Gerrard and Perry had separated domestically – Gerrard returned to Australia and Perry moved to Ireland – but still wrote, recorded and performed as Dead Can Dance.
Dead Man Winter
Dave Simonett sings, plays guitar and writes songs for the acoustic band Trampled by Turtles. Dead Man Winter is his electric rock & roll band featuring a cast of talented musicians that happen to be dear friends.
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon in 1980. The group consists of a trio of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting) and Andy Fletcher (keyboards). Depeche Mode released their debut album, Speak & Spell, in 1981, bringing the band onto the British new wave scene. Founding member Vince Clarke left after the release of the album; they recorded A Broken Frame as a trio. Gore took over as main songwriter and later, in 1982, Alan Wilder replaced Clarke, establishing a lineup that continued for 13 years. The band's last albums of the 1980s, Black Celebration and Music for the Masses, established them as a dominant force within the electronic music scene. A highlight of this era was the band's June 1988 concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, where they drew a crowd in excess of 60,000 people. In early 1990, they released Violator, an international mainstream success. The following album Songs of Faith and Devotion, released in 1993, was also a success, though the band's internal struggles during recording and touring resulted in Wilder's departure in 1995. Depeche Mode have had 54 songs in the UK Singles Chart and 17 Top 10 albums in the UK chart; they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Q included the band in its list of the "50 Bands That Changed the World!" Depeche Mode also rank No. 98 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In December 2016, Billboard named Depeche Mode the 10th Greatest of All Time Top Dance Club Artists. They were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 and 2018, and were inducted as part of the Class of 2020.
Desire
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was one of the first players of the instrument in the bebop idiom of musicians such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell. Gordon's height was 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm), so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" and "Sophisticated Giant". His studio and performance career spanned over 40 years. Gordon's sound was commonly characterized as being "large" and spacious and he had a tendency to play behind the beat. He was known for humorously inserting musical quotes into his solos, with sources as diverse as popular tunes, "Happy Birthday", and the operas of Wagner. This is not unusual in common-practice jazz improvisation, but Gordon did it frequently enough to make it a hallmark of his style. One of his major influences was Lester Young. Gordon, in turn, was an early influence on John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Rollins and Coltrane then influenced Gordon's playing as he explored hard bop and modal playing during the 1960s. Gordon was known for his genial and humorous stage presence. He was an advocate of playing to communicate with the audience. One of his idiosyncratic rituals was to recite lyrics from each ballad before playing it. A photograph by Herman Leonard of Gordon taking a smoke break at the Royal Roost in 1948 is one of the iconic images in jazz photography. Cigarettes were a recurring theme on covers of Gordon's albums. Gordon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in the Bertrand Tavernier film Round Midnight (Warner Bros, 1986), and he won a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist, for the soundtrack album The Other Side of Round Midnight (Blue Note Records, 1986). He also had a cameo role in the 1990 film Awakenings. In 2019, Gordon's album Go (Blue Note, 1962) was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Digable Planets
Digable Planets (/ˈdɪɡəbəl ˈplænəts/) is a Grammy award-winning hip hop trio formed in 1987, in Brooklyn, New York. The trio is composed of rappers Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler (from Seattle), Mariana "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira (from Silver Spring, Maryland), and Craig "Doodlebug" Irving (from Philadelphia). The group is notable for their contributions to the subgenres of classic hip hop and alternative hip hop.
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Pick Withers (drums and percussion). The band became one of the world's best-selling music artists, with album sales of over 100 million. Their first hit single "Sultans of Swing", from their self-titled debut album released in 1978, reached the top ten in the US chart and became a top ten hit in the UK the following year. The band released several hit singles in the 1980s, such as "Romeo and Juliet" (1981), "Private Investigations" (1982), "Twisting by the Pool" (1983), "Money for Nothing" (1985), and "Walk of Life" (1986). Their most commercially successful album was Brothers in Arms (1985), which has sold more than 30 million copies and was the first album to sell a million copies on the compact disc (CD) format. Dire Straits' sound was drawn from a wide variety of musical influences including jazz, folk, and country, as well as the blues-rock of J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton. Their stripped-down sound contrasted with punk rock and demonstrated a roots rock influence that emerged from pub rock. According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Albums, Dire Straits have spent over 1,100 weeks on the UK albums chart, ranking fifth all-time. Brothers in Arms is the eighth-best-selling album in UK chart history. Their career spanned 15 years. They split in 1988, reformed in 1991, and disbanded again in 1995 after Mark Knopfler launched his solo career full-time. There were several changes in personnel over both periods, with Mark Knopfler and Illsley the only members who remained throughout the band's career. Dire Straits won four Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards (Best British Group twice), two MTV Video Music Awards, and various other music awards. The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. Source Wikipedia
Dirty Beaches
Alex Zhang Hungtai (born September 4, 1980 in Taipei) is a Taiwanese-born Canadian musician and actor. In addition to his given name, he makes music under the names Last Lizard and Dirty Beaches. Zhang released several EPs and three albums as Dirty Beaches on cassette-only labels before releasing his fourth full-length, Badlands, in March 2011. Badlands, unlike Zhang's earlier work, included his vocals on most songs. The album was long listed as a nominee for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize. Drifters/Love Is The Devil followed in 2013, pushing further into no wave, electronic music, jazz and ambient territory. In 2014 Zhang decided to end the Dirty Beaches project after releasing the instrumental album Stateless, on which he played sax. As Last Lizard, Zhang collaborated with jazz and improvisational musicians and released new solo pieces on Soundcloud, Vimeo and Vine. In 2016 Zhang released the instrumental piano album Knave of Hearts under his own name. Zhang has also recorded original film soundtracks for several documentaries, including Water Park (2012) and Who Is Arthur Chu? (2017), in addition to directing music videos for himself and others. Source Wikipedia
Dirty Three
Dirty Three is an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis (violin and bass guitar), Mick Turner (electric and bass guitars) and Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their 1996 album Horse Stories was voted by Rolling Stone as one of the top three albums of the year. Two of their albums have peaked into the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, Ocean Songs (1998) and Toward the Low Sun (2012). During their career they have spent much of their time overseas when not performing together. Turner is based in Melbourne, White lives in New York, and Ellis in Paris. Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane described them as providing a "rumbling, dynamic sound incorporated open-ended, improvisational, electric rock ... minus the jazz-rock histrionics". In October 2010, Ocean Songs was listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums.
Djivan Gasparyan
Djivan Gasparyan (var. Jivan Gasparyan; Armenian: Ջիվան Գասպարյան, Armenian pronunciation: [dʒiˈvɑn ɡɑspɑɾˈjɑn]; born October 12, 1928) is an Armenian musician and composer. He plays the duduk, a double reed woodwind instrument related to the orchestral oboe. Gasparyan is known as the "Master of the duduk". Biography Born in Solak, Armenia to parents from Mush, Gasparyan started to play duduk when he was six. In 1948, he became a soloist of the Armenian Song and Dance Popular Ensemble and the Yerevan Philharmonic Orchestra. He has won four medals at UNESCO worldwide competitions (1959, 1962, 1973, and 1980). In 1973 Gasparyan was awarded the honorary title People's Artist of Armenia. In 2002, he received the WOMEX (World Music Expo) Lifetime Achievement Award. A professor at the Yerevan State Musical Conservatory, he has instructed and nurtured many performers to professional levels of performance in duduk. In 1998 he released an album with a unique duduk quartet he formed. Creating arrangements for 4 musicians with "new duduk tones, alto and bass, was an extremely difficult task" and challenge, but the quartet did become a reality performing and "there is no other like it in the world", he witnessed in the lines notes of Nazeli. He has toured the world several times with a small ensemble playing Armenian folk music. His music has been chosen on the soundtrack of several international films. He has collaborated with many artists, such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Hossein Alizadeh, Erkan Ogur, Michael Brook, Brian May, Lionel Richie, Derek Sherinian, Ludovico Einaudi, Luigi Cinque, Boris Grebenshchikov, Brian Eno, David Sylvian, Hans Zimmer and Andreas Vollenweider. He also recorded with the Kronos Quartet and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Gasparyan played as part of the Armenian entry "Apricot Stone" by Eva Rivas at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo and became the oldest ever person to feature in a Eurovision Song Contest performance, but was not officially listed as a guest artist.
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while remaining a jazz artist. As a bandleader, Byrd was an influence on the early career of Herbie Hancock. Byrd attended Cass Technical High School. He performed with Lionel Hampton before finishing high school. After playing in a military band during a term in the United States Air Force, Byrd obtained a bachelor's degree in music from Wayne State University and a master's degree from Manhattan School of Music. While still at the Manhattan School, he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, as the successor to Clifford Brown. In 1955, he recorded with Gigi Gryce, Jackie McLean and Mal Waldron. After leaving the Jazz Messengers in 1956, he performed with many leading jazz musicians of the day, including John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, and later Herbie Hancock. Byrd's first regular group was a quintet that he co-led from 1958 to 1961 with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, an ensemble whose hard-driving performances are captured "live" on At the Half Note Cafe. Byrd's 1961 LP Royal Flush marked the Blue Note debut of Hancock, who came to further attention with Byrd's successful 1962 album Free Form, and these albums also featured the first recordings of Hancock's original compositions. Hancock has credited Byrd as a key influence in his early career, recounting that he took the young pianist "under his wings" when he was a struggling musician newly arrived in New York, even letting him sleep on a hide-a-bed in his Bronx apartment for several years He was the first person to let me be a permanent member of an internationally known band. He has always nurtured and encouraged young musicians. He's a born educator, it seems to be in his blood, and he really tried to encourage the development of creativity. Hancock also recalled that Byrd helped him in many other ways: he encouraged Hancock to make his debut album for Blue Note, connected him with Mongo Santamaria, who turned Hancock's tune "Watermelon Man" into a chart-topping hit, and that Byrd also later urged him to accept Miles Davis' offer to join his quintet. Hancock also credits Byrd with giving him one of the most important pieces of advice of his career – not to give away his publishing rights. When Blue Note offered Hancock the chance to record his first solo LP, label executives tried to convince him to relinquish his publishing in exchange for being able to record the album, but he stuck to Byrd's advice and refused, so the meeting came to an impasse. At this point, he stood up to leave and when it became clear that he was about to walk out, the executives relented and allowed him to retain his publishing. Thanks to Santamaria's subsequent hit cover version of "Watermelon Man", Hancock was soon receiving substantial royalties, and he used his first royalty check of $3,000 to buy his first car, a 1963 Shelby Cobra (also recommended by Byrd) which Hancock still owns, and which is now the oldest production Cobra still in its original owner's hands. Source Wikipedia
Donny Hathaway
Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and arranger. Hathaway has been described as a "soul legend" by Rolling Stone. His enduring songs include "The Ghetto", "This Christmas", "Someday We'll All Be Free", "Little Ghetto Boy", "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know". Hathaway is also renowned for his signature versions of "A Song for You", "For All We Know" together with "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. He's been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and won one Grammy from four nominations. Hathaway was also posthumously bestowed with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Hathaway worked as songwriter, session musician and producer for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records in Chicago. He did the arrangements for hits by the Unifics ("Court of Love" and "The Beginning of My End") and took part in projects by the Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, Aretha Franklin, the Impressions and Curtis Mayfield himself. After becoming a "house producer" at Curtom, he also started recording there. Hathaway recorded his first single under his own name in 1969, a duet with singer June Conquest called "I Thank You Baby". They also recorded the duet "Just Another Reason", released as the b-side. Former Cleveland Browns president Bill Futterer, who as a college student promoted Curtom in the southeast in 1968 and 1969, was befriended by Hathaway and has cited Hathaway's influence on his later projects. That year, Hathaway signed to Atco Records, then a division of Atlantic Records, after being spotted for the label by producer/musician King Curtis at a trade convention. He released his first single of note, "The Ghetto, Pt. 1", which he co-wrote with former Howard roommate Leroy Hutson, who became a performer, writer and producer with Curtom. The track appeared the following year on his critically acclaimed debut LP, Everything Is Everything, which he co-produced with Ric Powell while also arranging all the cuts. His second LP, Donny Hathaway, consisted mostly of covers of contemporary pop, soul, and gospel songs. His third album Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway was an album of duets with former Howard University associate and label mate Roberta Flack that established him, especially on the pop charts. The album was both a critical and commercial success, including the Ralph MacDonald-penned track "Where Is the Love", which proved to be not only an R&B success, but also scored Top Five on the pop Hot 100. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA on September 5, 1972. The album also included a number of other covers, including versions of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend", "Baby I Love You", originally a hit for Aretha Franklin, and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling". Perhaps Hathaway's most influential recording is his 1972 album, Live, which has been termed "one of the best live albums ever recorded" by Daryl Easlea of the BBC. The album can also be found on the British online music and culture magazine The Quietus' list of "40 Favourite Live Albums". It was recorded at two concerts: side one at the Troubadour in Hollywood, and side two at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Donny Hathaway is also known as the co-composer and performer of the Christmas standard, "This Christmas". The song, released in 1970, has become a holiday staple and is often used in movies, television and advertising. "This Christmas" has been covered by numerous artists across diverse musical genres, including the Whispers, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Alexander O'Neal, Christina Aguilera, Chicago, Harry Connick, Jr., Dru Hill, *NSYNC, Gloria Estefan, Boney James, The Cheetah Girls, Chris Brown, Anthony Arnett (First Baptist Bracktown Christmas Celebration), Patti LaBelle and Mary J. Blige (A Mary Christmas), Seal, Train and CeeLo Green, among other artists. Hathaway followed this flurry of work with some contributions to soundtracks, along with his recording of the theme song to the TV series Maude. He also composed and conducted music for the 1972 soundtrack of the movie Come Back Charleston Blue. In the mid-1970s, he also produced albums for other artists including Cold Blood, where he expanded the musical range of lead singer Lydia Pense. His final studio album, Extension of a Man came out in 1973 with two tracks, "Love Love Love" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" reaching both the pop and R&B charts. However, it was probably best noted for his classic ballad, "Someday We'll All Be Free" and a six-minute symphonic-styled instrumental piece called "I Love The Lord, He Heard My Cry". He told UK music journalist David Nathan in 1973, "I always liked pretty music and I've always wanted to write it." Added the writer, "He declined to give one particular influence or inspiration but said that Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky were amongst whom he studied." He returned to the charts in 1978 after again teaming up with Roberta Flack for a duet, "The Closer I Get to You" on her album, Blue Lights in the Basement. The song topped the R&B chart and just missed the number 1 spot on the Hot 100 (reaching #2). Atlantic then put out another solo single, "You Were Meant For Me" shortly before his sudden death. Liner notes for later releases of his final solo album explain: "Donny is no longer here, but the song "Someday We'll All Be Free" gathers momentum as part of his legacy... Donny literally sat in the studio and cried when he heard the playback of his final mix. It's pretty special when an artist can create something that wipes them out." Edward Howard, lyricist of the song, adds, "It was a spiritual thing for me... What was going through my mind at the time was Donny, because Donny was a very troubled person. I hoped that at some point he would be released from all that he was going through. There was nothing I could do but write something that might be encouraging for him. He's a good leader for young black men".
Dr. John
Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music combined blues, pop, jazz, boogie-woogie, and rock and roll. Active as a session musician from the late 1950s until his death, he gained a following in the late 1960s after the release of his album Gris-Gris and his appearance at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. He typically performed a lively, theatrical stage show inspired by medicine shows, Mardi Gras costumes, and voodoo ceremonies. Rebennack recorded 30 studio albums and 9 live albums, as well as contributing to thousands of other musicians' recordings. In 1973 he achieved a top-10 hit single with "Right Place, Wrong Time". The winner of six Grammy Awards, Rebennack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by singer John Legend in March 2011. In May 2013, Rebennack received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from Tulane University.
Durand Jones & The Indications
"My grandma always heard me singing at home, and she said, ‘I’m gonna put your ass in the youth choir,’” remembers Durand Jones. “I was reluctant. But one day the organist could hear me in the choir, and said ‘boy I’m gonna give you a song.’ So I sang the song… the whole church just flipped out. People were running and jumping and afterwards they were giving me money and stuff. Man it was really cool. That’s when the realization came that maybe I could make something of this.” In the fall of 2012, Durand Jones left his small-town in Louisiana for the foothills of Indiana. Alto saxophone in tow he enrolled in the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. “Being a singer was never part of the plan,” Jones admits. But soon enough he found his way in front of a rowdy rock-n-roll band belting out a rambunctious rendition of “Dock Of The Bay,” to a basement full of drunken undergrads. That rowdy band unfolded into The Indications—comprised of Aaron Frazer [of The Flying Stars of Brooklyn, NY] (drums), Blake Rhein (guitar), Kyle Houpt (bass) and Justin Hubler (organ). Inspired by a handful of dusty and obscure 45s bearing names like The Ethics, Brothers of Soul and The Icemen, The Indications set out to make a record steeped in heavy drums, blown-out vocals, and deep grooves. Gathered around a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder and a case of Miller High-Life, the group spent their Sunday evenings recording into the early hours of the morning. Durand Jones & The Indications' self-titled debut album was the result. With comparisons from Charles Bradley and Lee Fields to Al Green, the only thing that separates this band from those greats is their youth. Having now taken their raucous live show all across the US, the band have galvanized a following that are ready to take them to the next level.
Ebo Taylor
Ebo Taylor (born 1936) is a Ghanaian guitarist, composer, bandleader, producer and arranger focusing on highlife and afrobeat music. Ebo Taylor has been a pivotal figure on the Ghanaian music scene for over six decades. In the late '50s he was active in the influential highlife bands the Stargazers and the Broadway Dance Band. In 1962, Taylor took his group, the Black Star Highlife Band, to London. In London, Taylor collaborated with Nigerian afrobeat star Fela Kuti as well as other African musicians in Britain at the time. Returning to Ghana, Taylor worked as a producer, crafting recordings for Pat Thomas, C.K. Mann, and others, as well as exploring solo projects, combining traditional Ghanaian material with afrobeat, jazz, and funk rhythms to create his own recognizable sound in the '70s. Taylor's work became popular internationally with hip-hop producers in the 21st century. In 2008, Ebo Taylor met the Berlin-based musicians of the Afrobeat Academy band, including saxophonist Ben Abarbanel-Wolff, which led to the release of the album Love and Death with Strut Records (his first internationally distributed album). In 2009, Usher used a sample from Taylor's song "Heaven" for "She Don’t Know." The success of Love and Death prompted Strut to issue the retrospective Life Stories: Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980, in the spring of 2011. A year later, in 2012, a third Strut album, Appia Kwa Bridge, was released. Appia Kwa Bridge showed that at 77 years old, Taylor remained creative, mixing traditional Fante songs and chants with children's rhymes and personal stories into his own sharp vision of highlife. He performed at the 2015 edition of the annual Stanbic Jazz Festival along with Earl Klugh,Ackah Blay and others.
El Chicano
El Chicano was an American brown-eyed soul group from Los Angeles, California, whose style incorporated various modern music genres including rock, funk, soul, blues, jazz, and salsa. The group's name was from Chicano, a term for United States citizens of typically Mexican descent. History El Chicano, originally formed by Freddie Sanchez under the name The VIP's arose during a period of increasing Chicano consciousness in America. Their initial hit, "Viva Tirado", was a jazzy soul rock rendition of Gerald Wilson's original song about a bullfighter. The song did very well on Los Angeles radio and remained #1 for thirteen straight weeks. Other notable tracks recorded by El Chicano are the funky "Tell Her She's Lovely" as well as a cover of Van Morrison's 1967 hit, "Brown Eyed Girl". Original members of El Chicano include Bobby Espinosa, Freddie Sanchez, Mickey Lespron, Andre Baeza, and John De Luna. Ersi Arvisu was lead singer. During the 1970s, new members Rudy Regalado, Max Garduno, Danny Lamonte, Brian Magness, Jerry Salas, Joe Pererria. joined the group. On their 1970 album, Viva Tirado the group covered Herbie Hancock's jazz standard "Cantaloupe Island". The song was one of nine on the album, which included the hit single "Viva Tirado" that went gold. El Chicano continues to be active with a combination of original and new members. They performed on the 2009 PBS pledge break special, Trini Lopez Presents 'The Legends of Latin Rock' , along with Thee Midniters, Tierra, and Gregg Rolie (of Santana and Journey fame). Original keyboardist, Bobby Espinosa ‒ who laid down Hammond organ on some of El Chicano's most recognizable tracks ‒ died on February 27, 2010. Former percussionist, Rudy Regalado, who spent twelve years with the band died on November 4, 2010. Latin percussionist of former Santana renown, Walfredo Reyes Jr., recorded with the band from 2010 to 2012, and is currently performing with the band Chicago.
El Michels Affair
Michels played with Soul Fire Records house band The Mighty Imperials before forming his own ensemble in 2002. This group released singles for Soul Fire and for Misty, a sublabel of Daptone Records, as well as a full-length album which was released on the Michels-cofounded label Truth & Soul Records in 2005. After performing with Raekwon at a concert, the group began working with other members of the Wu-Tang Clan and covered several of their songs for vinyl single releases. By 2009, this had yielded an album's worth of material, which was released in 2009 as Enter the 37th Chamber, the name a play on the album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). El Michels Affair followed this with a second album of arrangements of songs by Wu-Tang Clan and from its members' solo releases, titled Return to the 37th Chamber.
Electric Wire Hustle
Developing their own sound and twist on modern hip hop, psychedelic and soul, New Zealand’s Electric Wire Hustle has forged a fresh sound that challenges genre boundaries and preconceptions. The music of EWH reaches forward while referencing key points of music’s past. Thick drums and percussion layered with synth lines, hints of Fender Rhodes and nylon stringed guitars have your neck snapping while your ear cranes to the evocative vocals of Mara TK. Since forming in 2007 the trio of – Mara TK, Taay Ninh and Myele Manzanza – have experienced an outstanding response to their music. Their strong live shows have seen them support the likes of UK soul singer Alice Russell, Japan’s DJ Krush, Grooveman Spot and U.S. psychedlic soul outfit SA-RA Creative Partners. EWH have also had the pleasure of collaborating with U.S. recording artists Georgia Anne Muldrow (Epistrophik Peach/SomeOthaShip/ Ubiquity Records), Atlanta based Stacy Epps, Mara’s dad; NZ blues legend Billy TK and UK future Soul exponent Steve Spacek who all feature on their debut album to be released worldwide through BBE Records in July 2010. EWH have garnered unprecedented radio support worldwide most notably from the likes of BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Benji B, New York’s Tyler Askew and LA’s DJ Jamad. Their track ‘They Don’t Want’ skyrocketed to the number 1 spot on the Hype Machine (www.hypemcom) music and blog aggregator and was also selected by BBC Radio1’s Gilles Petersen as the first track to feature on his latest Brownswood Bubblers Compilation. Electric Wire Hustle’s first European tour saw them visit London, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris in 2009. They will be returning for the European summer in July 2010 in support of their worldside album release with more international dates to follow.
Eleni Mandell
Eleni Mandell is an American singer-songwriter. Since 2000, she has published albums through Zedtone Records in Toronto, Ontario, which in 2012 began licensing her releases to Yep Roc in the United States, and Make My Day in Europe. She is also a member of folk supergroup The Living Sisters with Inara George and Becky Stark. Mandell attended punk and underground rock shows while growing up in Los Angeles in the 1980s. She was inspired as a young songwriter by Tom Waits, X, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Randy Newman. Chuck E. Weiss, a socialite musician and associate of Tom Waits, was a mentor to Mandell. Eleni Mandell's first album, Wishbone (1998), was produced by Jon Brion. Her second album, Thrill, was released in 2000, earning her comparisons to PJ Harvey and Tom Waits. Around 2001, The New Yorker magazine described Mandell "as perhaps the best unsigned artist in the business." In the same year, Mandell won the Los Angeles Regional Poll at The 1st Independent Music Awards for the song "Pauline." In 2003, she released Country For True Lovers, which was produced by X guitarist Tony Gilkyson. Miracle of Five (2007) featured contributions from Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and X drummer DJ Bonebrake. Mandell's eighth full-length release, I Can See the Future (2012), was her first album to be licensed by Yep Roc, a U.S. record label. Produced by Joe Chiccarelli (The Shins, The Strokes, White Stripes), guest appearances include drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, Atoms for Peace), saxophonist Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), a duet with Benji Hughes, backing vocals throughout by Becky Stark and Inara George (The Living Sisters), and arrangements by Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes).
Elliott Smith
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity. Smith's primary instrument was the guitar, though he also used piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica. Smith had a distinctive vocal style, characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery", and used multi-tracking to create vocal layers, textures, and harmonies. After playing in the rock band Heatmiser for several years, Smith began his solo career in 1994, with releases on the independent record labels Cavity Search and Kill Rock Stars (KRS). In 1997, he signed a contract with DreamWorks Records, for which he recorded two albums. Smith rose to mainstream prominence when his song "Miss Misery"—included in the soundtrack for the film Good Will Hunting (1997)—was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category in 1998. Smith was a heavy drinker and drug user, as well as being diagnosed as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and major depressive disorder, which impacted his life and work; the topics often appearing in his lyrics. In 2003, aged 34, he died in Los Angeles, California, from two stab wounds to the chest. The autopsy evidence was inconclusive as to whether the wounds were self-inflicted or the result of homicide. At the time of his death, Smith was working on his sixth studio album, From a Basement on the Hill, which was posthumously completed and released in 2004.
Elmore James
Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and bandleader. He was known as "King of the Slide Guitar" and was noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice. For his contributions to music, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Biography James was born Elmore Brooks in Richland, Holmes County, Mississippi, the illegitimate son of 15-year-old Leola Brooks, a field hand. His father was probably Joe Willie "Frost" James, who moved in with Leola, and Elmore took his surname. He began making music at the age of 12, using a simple one-string instrument (diddley bow, or jitterbug) strung on a shack wall. As a teen he performed at dances under the names Cleanhead and Joe Willie James. He married Minnie Mae about 1942. James was influenced by Robert Johnson, Kokomo Arnold and Tampa Red. He recorded several of Tampa Red's songs. He also inherited from Tampa Red's band two musicians who joined his own backing band, the Broomdusters, "Little" Johnny Jones (piano) and Odie Payne (drums). There is a dispute about whether Johnson or James wrote James's signature song, "Dust My Broom". In the late 1930s, James worked alongside Sonny Boy Williamson II. During World War II, James joined the United States Navy, was promoted to coxswain and took part in the invasion of Guam. Upon his discharge, he returned to central Mississippi and settled in the town of Canton with his adopted brother Robert Holston. Working in Holston's electrical shop, he devised his unique electric sound, using parts from the shop and an unusual placement of two DeArmond pickups. Around this time James learned that he had a serious heart condition. He began recording with Trumpet Records in nearby Jackson in January 1951, first as a sideman again for Sonny Boy Williamson II and for their mutual friend Willie Love and possibly others. He made his debut as a session leader in August with "Dust My Broom", which was a surprise R&B hit in 1952. His backing musicians became known as the Broomdusters. James broke his contract with Trumpet Records to sign with the Bihari brothers through their scout Ike Turner, who played guitar and piano on a couple of his early Bihari recordings. His "I Believe" was a hit a year later. During the 1950s he recorded for the Bihari brothers' Flair Records, Meteor Records and Modern Records; he also recorded for Chess Records and Mel London's Chief Records. He played lead guitar on Big Joe Turner's 1954 top 10 R&B hit "TV Mama". In 1959, he began recording for Bobby Robinson's Fire Records, which released "The Sky Is Crying", "My Bleeding Heart", "Stranger Blues", "Look on Yonder Wall", "Done Somebody Wrong", and "Shake Your Moneymaker", among others. James died of a heart attack in Chicago in 1963, as he was about to tour Europe with that year's American Folk Blues Festival. He was buried in the Newport Baptist Church Cemetery, in Ebenezer, Mississippi. Phil Walden of Capricorn Records raised funds for a granite headstone for James' grave. The headstone which reads "King of the Slide Guitar", features a bronze relief of James playing guitar. It was revealed at a dedication ceremony sponsored by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund in 1992. James was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as an "Early Influence" inductee. In 2012, he was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Ebenezer. Sound James played a wide variety of "blues" (which often crossed over into other styles of music) similar to that of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and some of B. B. King's work, but distinguished by his guitar's unique tone, coming from a modified hollow-body acoustic guitar that sounded like an amped-up version of the more "modern" solid-body guitars. Muddy Waters took Belgian blues fan George Adins to see James play in Chicago in 1959; Adins described James' vocals as "strong and rough", and his guitar accompaniment as similarly "rough, violent and expressive." Adins also praised a later performance for its "hysteric" sound. Influence James influenced many slide players, such as blues guitarists Homesick James, Hound Dog Taylor, and J. B. Hutto. His single string playing also influenced B.B. King and Chuck Berry. Rock guitarists Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Jeremy Spencer, and Frank Zappa have acknowledged his influence. In the Beatles' song "For You Blue", John Lennon plays a slide solo on a Höfner lap steel guitar; George Harrison encourages him with "Go, Johnny, go ... Elmore James' got nothin' on this, baby"
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane’s quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such widely celebrated albums as My Favorite Things, A Love Supreme, Ascension and Live at Birdland. After 1966, Jones led his own trio, and later larger groups under the name The Elvin Jones Jazz Machine. His brothers Hank and Thad were also celebrated jazz musicians with whom he occasionally recorded. Elvin was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1995. In his The History of Jazz, jazz historian and critic Ted Goia calls Jones "one of the most influential drummers in the history of jazz." Early Life Elvin Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan, United States, to parents Henry and Olivia Jones, who had moved to Michigan from Vicksburg, Mississippi. His elder brothers were pianist Hank Jones and trumpeter Thad Jones, both highly regarded musicians as well. By age two he said drums held a special fascination for him. He would watch the circus parades go past his home as a child, and was particularly excited by the marching band drummers. Following this early passion, Elvin joined his high school's black marching band, where he developed his foundation in rudiments. Jones served in the United States Army from 1946 to 1949. With his mustering-out pay (and an additional $35.00 borrowed from his sister), Jones purchased his first drumset.
Elysian Fields
Elysian Fields is an American band based in Brooklyn, New York, founded in 1995 by the co-composers Jennifer Charles (vocals, instruments) and Oren Bloedow (guitar). Their music has sometimes been described as "noir rock", due to its sultry, dark and mysterious inflections, be it sonically or lyrically. The band uses mainly acoustic instruments, predominantly guitar, piano, bass and drums, with the occasional appearance of eastern instruments, classical strings, and subtle electronics, the focal point being the voice of Charles in the forefront. Based in New York City, Elysian Fields have found underground success in the United States but are more popular in Europe. The author of The Dark Stuff, Nick Kent, says of their music, "Maybe we have their out-of-the-mainstreamness to thank for a sound that is still unique -- as sensual as a sleepwalker's wet dream." Since its formation, the band has won quite a devoted cult following, largely by word of mouth. Besides its well received albums, the band is also noted for its strong live performances. The rest of the band has included many of New York's strongest players: all the members of Jeff Buckley's band, members of Medeski Martin and Wood, Ed Pastorini, Ben Perowsky, James Genus, Thomas Bartlett, Jamie Saft and members of Ollabelle have all played in Elysian Fields at various times.
Emma Ruth Rundle
Emma Ruth Rundle is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and visual artist based in Louisville, Kentucky. Formerly of the Nocturnes, she has released three solo albums and is a current member of Red Sparowes and Marriages. Career Rundle was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, United States, together with her sister in a household where a lot of folk music was played. She has cited Kate Bush and David Lynch as influences. With her first band, the Nocturnes, she released the Wellington EP (2008) and two albums, A Year of Spring (2009) and Aokigahara (2011). Rundle also joined Red Sparowes and played on their third album, The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer, released by Sargent House on April 6, 2010. She self-released an ambient guitar album, Electric Guitar: One, in 2011. It was later reissued in 2014 by Errant Child Recordings. In 2012, she formed the trio Marriages, who have released the Kitsune EP (2012) and Salome full-length (2015). On January 7, 2013, she self-released the album Somnambulant, attributed to the Headless Prince of Zolpidem, which she described as "my somewhat anonymous downtempo, somewhat creepy electronic dark wave project". Rundle's official debut solo studio album, Some Heavy Ocean, was released on May 20, 2014 by Sargent House. It was co-produced by Chris Common and recorded at the Sargent House studio. Rundle lived at the studio complex as an artist-in-residence for the period. The release was accompanied by a US tour with King Buzzo. Rundle suffers from adenomyosis, which in part inspired the material on her second album, Marked for Death, produced by Sonny DiPerri. It was released in October 2016 on Sargent House. In January 2017, a split EP with Jaye Jayle, titled The Time Between Us, was announced, and the song "The Distance" was made available on streaming platforms. The EP was released by Sargent House on February 24. Rundle's third studio album, On Dark Horses, was released on September 14, 2018. It featured contributions by Jay Jayle members Evan Patterson and Todd Cook as well as Dylan Nadon of Wovenhand. Also in 2018, Rundle provided backing vocals for "Just Breathe", a song on American rock band Thrice's 2018 album Palms. In August 2019, Roadburn Festival announced that Rundle was one of two curators for the 2020 edition.
Emmylou Harris
Eric Kranso
Soulive and Lettuce co-founder, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and two-time GRAMMY® Award-winning songwriter-produce Eric Krasno continues to evolve with each record, project, and performance. Something of a musical journeyman, his extensive catalog comprises three solo albums, four Lettuce albums, twelve Soulive albums, and production and/or songwriting for Norah Jones, Robert Randolph, Pretty Lights, Talib Kweli, 50 Cent, Aaron Neville, and Allen Stone. As a dynamic performer, he’s shared stages with Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, and The Roots. Out of seven nominations, he picked up two GRAMMY® Awards for his role as a songwriter and guitarist on Tedeschi Trucks Band’s Revelator and guitarist on Derek Trucks Band’ Already Free. In 2019, he served up Telescope under the KRAZ moniker. The cinematic concept album earned widespread acclaim from the likes of Relix and Salon who hailed it as “a timely New York story.” On his 2021 fourth full-length solo offering Always, he defines himself as not only an artist, but also as a husband, father, and man across these ten tracks with inimitable instrumentation, eloquent songcraft, and raw honesty. Grammys Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator (Best Blues Album Winner) Songwriter/Guitarist Tedeschi Trucks Band - Live In Oakland (Best Contemporary Blues Album Nominee) Guitarist Derek Trucks Band - Already Free (Best Contemporary Blues Album Winner) Guitarist Ledisi - Turn Me Loose (Best R&B Album Nominee) Producer Pretty Lights - Color Map Of The Sun (Best Electronic Album Nominee) Multi-Instrumentalist Tedeschi Trucks Band - Live in Oakland (Best Contemporary Blues Album Nominee) Songwriter Robert Randolph - Got Soul (Best Contemporary Blues Album Nominee) Songwriter/Guitarist Producer Highlights Aaron Neville - Apache (Producer/Songwriter Full Album) 50 Cent - My Gun Go Off (Producer/Writer) Talib Kweli & Norah Jones - Soon The New Day (Producer) Talib Kweli & Justin Timberlake - Nature (Producer/Writer) Vieux Farka Toure - The Secret feat. Dave Mathews & various special guests (Producer Full Album) Lawrence - Breakfast (Producer Full Album) Marcus King Band - Producer Collaborations Gramatik & Eric Krasno - Recovery Gramatik & Eric Krasno - Torture (featured on ‘Narcos’ & ’Step it Up’) Griz & Eric Krasno - Wicked Griz & Eric Krasno - Gotta Push On
Ernest Ranglin
Ernest Ranglin OD (born 19 June 1932) is a Jamaican guitarist and composer who established his career while working as a session guitarist and music director for various Jamaican record labels including Studio One and Island Records. Ranglin played guitar on many early ska recordings and helped create the rhythmic guitar style that defined the form. Ranglin has worked with Theophilus Beckford, Jimmy Cliff, Monty Alexander, Prince Buster, the Skatalites, Bob Marley and the Eric Deans Orchestra. He is noted for a chordal and rhythmic approach that blends jazz, mento and reggae with percussive guitar solos incorporating rhythm 'n' blues and jazz inflections. Ernest Ranglin was born in Manchester, West Central Jamaica. His family moved to Kingston, where he attended the Providence Primary School, Kingston Senior School and Bodin College. Ranglin's introduction to music was through two uncles who both played guitar. Initially a self-taught guitarist; he received some tutoring on how to sight-read from a violin player named Tommy Tomlins. At the age of 15, Ranglin joined the Val Bennett Orchestra, which was followed by a period of employment with the Eric Deans Orchestra. While performing locally with these orchestras Ranglin was introduced to the jazz pianist Monty Alexander, which led to a lifelong friendship as well as numerous musical collaborations. During the 1950s Ranglin played guitar on calypso and mento releases, some of which were recorded for the tourist market. The 1958 album The Wrigglers Sing Calypso at the Arawak is representative of the type of calypso floor show that Jamaican bands performed at hotels (some of the tracks from the original album were included on the 2010 CD release Jamaica - Mento 1951-1958). He was employed as a guitarist by the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) between the years 1958 and 1965 with public radio broadcasting (radio services had been established earlier with the first broadcast transmitted in November 1939) commencing in 1959 and television broadcasting commencing in 1963. Ranglin also played with Cluett Johnson's studio band Clue J and the Blues Blasters; recording several tracks for Coxsone Dodd at Federal Studios, including the Theophilus Beckford hit "Easy Snapping" (recorded in 1956 and released in 1959), which he arranged and played guitar on. Ranglin also played on the Beckford tracks "Jack and Jill Shuffle" and "Shuffling Jug."
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (/ˈɛrɪkə bɑːˈduː/), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Badu's career began after opening a show for D'Angelo in 1994 in Fort Worth; record label executive Kedar Massenburg was highly impressed with her performance and signed her to Kedar Entertainment. Her first album, Baduizm, was released in February 1997. It spawned three singles: "On & On", "Next Lifetime" and "Other Side of the Game". The album was certified triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Her first live album, Live, was released in November 1997 and was certified double Platinum by the RIAA. Her second studio album, Mama's Gun, was released in 2000. It spawned three singles: "Bag Lady", which became her first top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #6, "Didn't Cha Know?" and "Cleva". The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA. Badu's third album, Worldwide Underground, was released in 2003. It generated three singles: "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)", "Danger" and "Back in the Day (Puff)" with 'Love' becoming her second song to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #9. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA. Badu's fourth album, New Amerykah Part One, was released in 2008. It spawned two singles: "Honey" and "Soldier". New Amerykah Part Two was released in 2010 and fared well both critically and commercially. It contained the album's lead single "Window Seat", which led to controversy. Influenced by R&B, 1970s soul, and 1980s hip hop, Badu became associated with the neo soul subgenre in the 1990s along with artists like D'Angelo. Badu has been called the queen of neo soul. Her voice has been compared to jazz singer Billie Holiday. Early in her career, Badu was recognizable for her eccentric style, which often included wearing very large and colorful headwraps. She was a core member of the Soulquarians. As an actress, she has played a number of supporting roles in movies including Blues Brothers 2000, The Cider House Rules and House of D. She also has appeared in the documentaries Before the Music Dies and The Black Power Mixtapes.
Ethan Gruska
An indie singer/songwriter with a reflective, literate style in the vein of influences like Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell, Ethan Gruska was half of indie pop duo the Belle Brigade before launching a solo career with 2017's Slowmotionary. He found demand as a producer, as well, after working on Phoebe Bridgers' debut album, Stranger in the Alps, from the same year. He's also written songs for John Legend and Kimbra, among others. Gruska comes from an extended family of professional musicians: his father is Emmy-nominated TV/film composer and songwriter Jay Gruska, and his grandfather is Oscar-winning composer John Williams. Other professional musicians from the family include but are not limited to drummer Johnny Williams of Raymond Scott Quintette and Joseph Williams of Toto. His older sister, Barbara Gruska, has played drums for the likes of Jenny Lewis and HONEYHONEY, and is the other half of the Belle Brigade, contributing drums, vocals, and guitar. The duo's self-titled debut was co-produced by Matthew Wilder and released by Reprise in 2011. They followed it with Just Because on ATO in 2014. To support the album, the Belle Brigade opened for Ray LaMontagne on his North American Supernova tour, doubling as members of his backing band. In 2016, a song Gruska co-wrote with Blake Mills and John Stephens for John Legend, "Right by You," appeared on Legend's album DARKNESS AND LIGHT. A year later, Mills would appear on Gruska's solo debut album alongside guests Rob Moose, Gabe Noel, and Barbara Gruska. With production by Tony Berg (Aimee Mann, Andrew Bird), Slowmotionary arrived via Sire in March 2017. Lending a hand to then-newcomer Phoebe Bridgers, Gruska produced and played around a dozen instruments on her likewise soft-spoken debut album, Stranger in the Alps, released in September 2017. That led to more work as a producer, including collaborations with alt-pop singer Kimbra and pensive indie rockers Bad Books. He co-penned songs for artists as varied as Madison Cunningham, Joseph, and Trombone Shorty before returning with his sophomore solo album, En Garde. It was released by Warner Bros. in early 2020. Biography by Marcy Donelson
Extra Golden
Extra Golden is a musical ensemble founded by two Americans and one Kenyan. Bandmember Ian Eagleson studied Benga music from Nairobi for his Ph.D. thesis, and received assistance from Otieno Jagwasi, a Kenyan musician who played in a group called Orchestra Extra Solar Africa. Eagleson traveled with Jagwasi to Africa to continue his studies in 2004, bringing studio equipments along. His friend Alex Minoff, of Weird War, visited him in April 2004, and the three of them recorded an album together during their stay, which was released on Thrill Jockey Records. Jagwasi died of liver failure in 2005, but the remaining two members collaborated further with Jagwasi's brother, Onyago Wuod Omari (a drummer in Orchestra Extra Solar Africa) and Opiyo Bilongo, an established Benga musician. Two more albums with this configuration arrived in 2007 and 2009.
Father John Misty
Joshua Michael Tillman, born May 3, 1981, also known as Father John Misty and previously J. Tillman, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, drummer and record producer.
Fatoumata Diawara
Fatoumata Diawara (born 1982 in Ivory Coast) is a Malian actor, singer-songwriter and multiple Grammy Award nominee currently living in France. She received two nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for Best World Music Album for her album Fenfo and Best Dance Recording for Ultimatum featuring the English band Disclosure. Biography Born in the Ivory Coast to Malian parents, Diawara moved to France to pursue acting, appearing in Cheick Oumar Sissoko's 1999 feature film Genesis, Dani Kouyaté's popular 2001 film Sia, le rêve du python, in the internationally renowned street theatre troupe Royal de Luxe, and played a leading role in the musical Kirikou et Karaba. She later took up the guitar and began composing her own material, writing songs that blend Wassoulou traditions of southern Mali with international influences. Noted for her "sensuous voice," she has performed or recorded with Malian and international greats such as Cheick Tidiane Seck, Oumou Sangaré, AfroCubism, Dee Dee Bridgewater (on Red Earth: A Malian Journey), and the Orchestre Poly Rythmo de Cotonou. The EP Kanou was released May 9, 2011, and her debut album Fatou from World Circuit Records was released in September 2011. (Nonesuch Records released the Kanou EP digitally in North America on September 27, 2011, and the album Fatou on August 28, 2012.) In September 2012, she featured in a campaign called "30 Songs / 30 Days" to support Half the Sky, a multi-platform media project inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book. September 2012 also saw her board the Africa Express Train with Damon Albarn, Rokia Traoré, Baaba Maal, Amadou & Mariam, Nicolas Jaar, and the Noisettes, amongst many others. The show culminated in a 4.5k venue in Kings Cross where Fatoumata performed with Paul McCartney. Fatoumata has spent the recent years touring the world, with a landmark performance for the English-speaking public at Glastonbury 2013. Alongside many European gigs her schedule has taken her to South America, Asia and Australia as well as on multiple trips to the US, where in September 2013 she performed as part of the Clinton Global Initiative alongside The Roots in New York. Since mid-2014 she has been in collaboration with Roberto Fonseca, with numerous live performances and a joint live album, At Home - Live in Marciac, along the way. In 2014 she also extended her list of collaborations by a joint performance with Mayra Andrade and Omara Portuondo. February 2015 saw her first live concert as a meanwhile established international name back home at the Festival Sur Le Niger in Ségou, Mali, where she shared the stage once again with her long-time friend and mentor, Oumou Sangaré; Bassekou Kouyate; and many other domestic acts. Alongside, she has continued her cinematic activities, with numerous roles, appearances and musical input in multiple feature films, such as the seven times César Award winning and Academy Award nominated 2014 Timbuktu.
Faye Webster
Faye Webster is an American indie folk musician, singer, and photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia. She self-released her debut album Run and Tell in 2013. Webster has released three albums since: Faye Webster (2017) on Awful Records, Atlanta Millionaires Club (2019) on Secretly Canadian, and her most recent, I Know I'm Funny haha, was released on June 25, 2021. Background Webster self-released her debut album, Run and Tell on October 30, 2013. An early review compared Webster's sound to the likes of Kacey Musgraves and Sherri DuPree. Webster signed to Awful Records in 2017, and released her sophomore album, the self-titled Faye Webster in 2017. Webster signed to the record label Secretly Canadian in late 2018. Webster released her third full-length album, Atlanta Millionaires Club, in 2019 via Secretly Canadian. Webster's song "Room Temperature" was featured in a Rolling Stone article, and she received further acclaim when one of her 2020 singles, "Better Distractions", was featured in a Pitchfork article and was chosen by President Barack Obama as one of his favorite songs of 2020. In April 2020, Webster released the single "In a Good Way". In April 2021, she released the single "Cheers" and announced her fourth studio album I Know I'm Funny haha, which released on June 25, 2021.
Finley Quaye
Finley Quaye (born 25 March 1974, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish musician. He won the 1997 Mobo Award for best reggae act, and the 1998 BRIT Award for Best Male Solo Artist. Quaye made a solo recording contract with Polydor Records and moved to New York City. He began working with Epic/Sony when Polydor let him out of contract, and in late 1997 he reached the UK Top 20 twice, with "Sunday Shining" and "Even After All". His reputation was established by Maverick A Strike, released in September 1997. It went gold less than three weeks later, and led directly to the BRIT Award victory. The album is now certified multi platinum. In 1998, Quaye performed George Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So" for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody, a tribute to George Gershwin, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease. Two more albums were released on Epic, Vanguard (2000) and Much More Than Much Love (2004). "Spiritualized" became his last single to score a top 40 landing in the UK chart when it was released in September 2000, reaching number 26. In 2004 the single "Dice" was released in collaboration with William Orbit and featuring Beth Orton. The song featured in Fox Network's The OC and on the season 1 soundtrack, becoming a minor hit.
Fiona Apple
Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Classically trained on piano as a child, Apple began composing her own songs when she was eight years old. Her debut album, Tidal, written when Apple was 17, was released in 1996 and received a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Criminal". She followed with When the Pawn... (1999), produced by Jon Brion, which was also critically and commercially successful and was certified platinum. For her third album, Extraordinary Machine (2005), Apple again collaborated with Brion, and began recording the album in 2002. However, Apple was reportedly unhappy with the production and opted not to release the record, leading fans to erroneously protest Epic Records, believing that the label was withholding its release. The album was eventually reproduced without Brion and released in October 2005. The album was certified gold, and nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. In 2012, she released her fourth studio album, The Idler Wheel..., which received critical praise and was followed by a tour of the United States. Born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City in 1977, Apple is the daughter of singer Diane McAfee and actor Brandon Maggart, who met when both were cast in the Broadway musical Applause. Her father is from Tennessee, and through him, Apple has Melungeon ancestry. Her maternal grandparents were dancer Millicent Green and big band vocalist Johnny McAfee. Her sister sings cabaret under the stage name Maude Maggart, and actor Garett Maggart is her half brother. Apple grew up in Morningside Gardens in Harlem with her mother and sister, but spent summers with her father in Los Angeles, California. Apple was classically trained on piano as a child, and began composing her own pieces by the age of eight. When learning to play piano, she would often take sheet music and translate guitar tablature into the corresponding notes. Apple later began to play along with jazz standard compositions after becoming proficient, through which she discovered Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, who became major influences on her. At age 12, Apple was raped outside the apartment she shared with her mother and sister in Harlem. She then developed an eating disorder, purposely slimming her developing body, which she saw as "bait." After the incident, Apple also suffered panic attacks while walking home from school, which led to her relocating to Los Angeles to live with her father for one year. In 2000, she insisted that she did not write songs about this trauma: "It doesn't get into the writing. It's a boring pain. It's such a fuckin' old pain that, you know, there's nothing poetic about it."
FKA Twigs
Tahliah Debrett Barnett (born 17 January 1988), known professionally as FKA Twigs (stylized as FKA twigs), is an English singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actress. Born and raised in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, she became a backup dancer after moving to South London at age 17. She made her musical debut with the extended play EP1 (2012). Her debut studio album, LP1, was released in August 2014 to critical acclaim, peaking at number 16 on the UK Albums Chart and number 30 on the US Billboard 200. It was later nominated for the 2014 Mercury Prize. She released the M3LL155X EP in 2015 to further critical acclaim, as well as her second studio album Magdalene four years later. Her work has been described as "genre-bending", drawing on various genres including electronic music, trip hop, R&B, and avant-garde. Early Life Tahliah Debrett Barnett was born and raised in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Her mother is an English woman of partly Spanish descent who used to be a dancer and gymnast, and her father, a musician, is Jamaican. She was raised by her mother and stepfather, a "jazz fanatic", and did not meet her father until she was 18. Barnett grew up in Gloucestershire, and described the county as "kind of in the middle of nowhere". She attended St Edward's School, Cheltenham, a private Catholic school for boys and girls aged 11 to 18. Her education at the school was funded by an academic scholarship. From a young age, she undertook opera and ballet lessons and took part in several St Edward's School productions. At age 16, Barnett started making music in youth clubs. At 17, she moved to South London to pursue a career as a dancer, where she also attended the BRIT School. After changing her focus from dance to music, she transferred from the BRIT School to Croydon College to pursue an education in fine arts. She worked as a backup dancer in music videos by artists such as Kylie Minogue, Plan B, Ed Sheeran, Taio Cruz, Dionne Bromfield, Jessie J, and Wretch 32. Barnett was a backup dancer for Jessie J in her 2010 video for "Do It like a Dude", and appeared again in her 2011 video for "Price Tag". She also appeared in Dionne Bromfield's video "Yeah Right". In 2011, she appeared in a two-minute BBC comedy sketch titled Beyoncé Wants Groceries, in which she was a backup dancer in a supermarket. At 18, Barnett began working with local London producers to try to find what she calls "her sound". Around this time is when she wrote "I'm Your Doll". She ended up producing a lot of "really bad demos". For a time, she worked as a hostess in a strip club and also sang periodically at The Box.
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington. Their first two albums were released by Sub Pop and Bella Union, with their third by Nonesuch and Bella Union. The band came to prominence in 2008 with the release of their second EP, Sun Giant, and their self-titled debut album. Both received much critical praise and reviewers often noted the band's use of refined lyrics and vocal harmonies. Fleet Foxes' second studio album, Helplessness Blues, was released on May 3, 2011, and their third album, Crack-Up, was released on June 16, 2017. Robin Pecknold and Skyler Skjelset both attended Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, a suburb of Seattle, and soon became close friends. Pecknold and Skjelset bonded over a mutual appreciation of Bob Dylan and Neil Young and began making music together. Their parents influenced their musical tastes early on—Skjelset's mother Peggi was a keen listener to both Dylan and Hank Williams while Pecknold's father Greg was a member of The Fathoms, a local 1960s soul group. The two shared an interest in the music of Dylan and Brian Wilson. Pecknold played bass for Seattle's Dolour on a US tour in 2005, shortly before forming the first incarnation of Fleet Foxes. Originally going by the name "The Pineapples", a name clash with another local band prompted a change and Pecknold decided upon "Fleet Foxes", suggesting that it was "evocative of some weird English activity like fox hunting". Pecknold took up the role of principal songwriter, both singing and playing guitar, while Skjelset played lead guitar. The original lineup was filled out by Casey Wescott on keyboards and backing vocals, Bryn Lumsden on bass and Nicholas Peterson on drums and backing vocals. Pecknold's late-sixties pop style caught the attention of the Seattle producer Phil Ek and he helped them record their first demo in 2006, the self-released Fleet Foxes EP. Ek was impressed with the band's songwriting, and on hearing Pecknold for the first time, noted, "It was obvious he had talent coming out of his ass." By late 2006 the Seattle press began to take notice of the band; Tom Scanlon of the Seattle Times stated that he was impressed with the band's lyrics and musical maturity. By the end of the year, Lumsden had been replaced on bass by Craig Curran, who would also handle many of the band's vocal harmonies. With growing popularity on the local circuit, the band set about making their first album in early 2007, spending time in the studio with producer Ek in addition to recording material at home. However, funds for recording were tight, so the band members cobbled together what funds they had, which limited the time they had in the studio, and so the majority of the tracks were recorded in various band members' apartments, other spaces, or the basement of Pecknold's parents' house.
Fleetwood Mac
leetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. They have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling bands. In 1998, select members of Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. Fleetwood Mac was founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Bassist John McVie completed the lineup for their self-titled debut album. Danny Kirwan joined as a third guitarist in 1968. Keyboardist Christine Perfect, who contributed as a session musician from the second album, married McVie and joined in 1970. At this time it was primarily a British blues band, scoring a UK number one with "Albatross", and had lesser hits with the singles "Oh Well" and "Black Magic Woman". All three guitarists left in succession during the early 1970s, to be replaced by guitarists Bob Welch and Bob Weston and vocalist Dave Walker. By 1974, all three had either departed or been dismissed, leaving the band without a male lead vocalist or guitarist. In late 1974, while Fleetwood was scouting studios in Los Angeles, he was introduced to folk-rock duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Fleetwood Mac soon asked Buckingham to be their new lead guitarist, and Buckingham agreed on condition that Nicks would also join the band. The addition of Buckingham and Nicks gave the band a more pop rock sound, and their 1975 self-titled album, Fleetwood Mac, reached No. 1 in the U.S. Rumours (1977), Fleetwood Mac's second album after the arrival of Buckingham and Nicks, produced four U.S. Top 10 singles and remained at number one on the American albums chart for 31 weeks. It also reached the top spot in various countries around the world and won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978. Rumours has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the eighth-highest-selling album in history. The band went through personal turmoil while recording the album, as both the romantic partnerships in the band (one being John and Christine McVie, and the other being Buckingham and Nicks) separated while continuing to make music together. The band's personnel remained stable through three more studio albums, but by the late 1980s began to disintegrate. After Buckingham and Nicks each left the band, a 1993 one-off performance for the first inauguration of Bill Clinton featured the lineup of Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Nicks, and Buckingham back together for the first time in six years. A full reunion occurred four years later, and the group released their fourth U.S. No. 1 album, The Dance (1997), a live compilation of their work. Christine McVie left the band in 1998, but continued to work with the band in a session capacity. Meanwhile, the group remained together as a four-piece, releasing their most recent studio album, Say You Will, in 2003. Christine McVie rejoined the band full-time in 2014. In 2018, Buckingham was fired from the band and was replaced by Mike Campbell, formerly of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House.
Florist
Florist began in 2013 with the release of a six-track EP titled We Have Been This Way Forever. Florist recorded another six-song EP, titled 6 days of songs, in May 2014, after lead vocalist Emily Sprague was severely injured in a hit-and-run while riding her bicycle. In October 2015, Florist released another EP titled Holdly on Double Double Whammy. Also in 2015, the band was listed on Stereogum's "50 Best New Bands Of 2015" list. The band was also featured as one of Stereogum's "Band To Watch" in 2015. In January 2016, Florist released their debut studio album titled The Birds Outside Sang on Double Double Whammy. The album was listed at number 34 on Noisey's "100 Best Albums of 2016" list. Sprague is an avid modular synthesizer collector and has made a number of YouTube videos showcasing her equipment. She self-released her debut solo album Water Memory, an ambient album composed with these instruments, in December 2017 with a follow-up album "Mount Vision" released in September 2018. In 2019, Beyoncé used an instrumental portion of Florist track "Thank You" from their 2016 release The Birds Outside Sang in her Netflix concert movie Homecoming. Florist's latest album, Emily Alone, was released on July 26th, 2019. It was granted "Best New Music" by Pitchfork.
Floyd Dixon
Dixon was born in Marshall, Texas. Some sources give his birth name as Jay Riggins, Jr., although he himself stated that Floyd Dixon was his real name and that his parents were Velma and Ford Dixon. Growing up, he was influenced by blues, gospel, jazz and country music. His family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1942. There Dixon met Charles Brown, who had an influence on his music. The self-dubbed "Mr. Magnificent", Dixon signed a recording contract with Modern Records in 1949, specializing in jump blues and sexualized songs like "Red Cherries", "Wine Wine Wine", "Too Much Jelly Roll" and "Baby Let's Go Down to the Woods". Both "Dallas Blues" and "Mississippi Blues", credited to the Floyd Dixon Trio, reached the Billboard R&B chart in 1949, as did "Sad Journey Blues", issued by Peacock Records in 1950. Dixon replaced Charles Brown on piano and vocals in the band Johnny Moore's Three Blazers in 1950, when Brown departed to start a solo career. The group recorded for Aladdin Records and reached the R&B chart with "Telephone Blues" (credited to Floyd Dixon with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers). Staying with the record label, Dixon had a small hit under his own name in 1952 with "Call Operator 210". He switched to Specialty Records in 1952 and to Cat Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records in 1954. "Hey Bartender" (later covered by the Blues Brothers) and "Hole in the Wall" were released during this time. In the 1970s Dixon left the music industry for a quieter life in Texas, though he did occasional tours in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984 he was commissioned to write "Olympic Blues" for the 1984 Summer Olympics. In 1993, Dixon received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. In the mid-1990s, he secured a contract with Alligator Records, releasing the critically acclaimed album Wake Up and Live. On June 1 and 2, 2006, Dixon hosted a concert with Pinetop Perkins and Henry Gray, celebrating the intergenerational aspect of blues piano. The band was led by Kid Ramos and included Larry Taylor and Richard "Bigfoot" Innes. Kim Wilson, Fred Kaplan (from the Hollywood Blue Flames) and Lynwood Slim also performed. This concert was recorded and released on the DVD Time Brings About a Change by HighJohn Records on March 6, 2013. Dixon died of kidney failure in Orange County, California, in July 2006, at the age of 77, having suffered from cancer. A public memorial service was held in Grace Chapel, at the Inglewood Park Cemetery.
Flying Lotus
Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, musician, DJ, filmmaker, and rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder. Flying Lotus has released six studio albums—1983 (2006), Los Angeles (2008), Cosmogramma (2010), Until the Quiet Comes (2012), You're Dead! (2014), and Flamagra (2019)—to critical acclaim. He has produced much of the bumper music on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. He also contributed remixes for fellow Plug Research artists including Mia Doi Todd. In 2012, Ellison began rapping under the persona Captain Murphy, based on the Sealab 2021 character of the same name. Ellison kept this fact a secret for several months, finally revealing his identity several weeks after the release of his first rap mixtape, Duality.
Foxygen
Foxygen is an American indie rock duo from Westlake Village, California, formed in 2005. The band consists of multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Rado and vocalist Sam France. They have released four albums and a number of self-released EPs. Rado and France started their band in high school when both were fifteen. After their formation in 2005, the band played experimental music; influenced by psychedelia and avant-garde. Their early music won them first place in Agoura High School's Battle of the Bands. They self-released four EPs between 2007 and 2011. In early 2011, they were 'discovered' by producer Richard Swift after handing him one of their EPs at a The Mynabirds show in New York. The group were later signed on to Jagjaguwar Records and their first studio album, Take the Kids Off Broadway, was released by Jagjaguwar on July 24, 2012. On January 22, 2013, Jagjaguwar released Foxygen's second album, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic. This album was produced by Richard Swift and recorded at his National Freedom studio. The record was preceded by the single "Shuggie," released on October 4, 2012. In March 2013, Foxygen was named one of Fuse TV's 30 must-see artists at SXSW. The band has gained a reputation for its unhinged live shows and maniacal behavior of lead singer France. In 2014, for their tours promoting the sprawling double album …And Star Power, the group expanded to a nine-piece live band including three back-up singer/dancers. The band released their fourth LP, the theatrical Hang, on January 20, 2017, via Jagjaguwar. The album features collaborations with The Lemon Twigs, the Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd and a 40+ piece orchestra arranged by Trey Pollard and Matthew E White. The Irish Times said of the album: “Theatrical is an apt description of this collection as a whole," while noting that the album "edges perilously close to pastiche". The new album was admittedly referred to as a concept album by Sam France and Jonathan Rado themselves. The duo expressed their hope to create an album characterized by rock music mixing with the Hollywood style musical at the 30s. Allegedly, Hang is their first ever album to be recorded in a studio, prior to this their albums and songs written were all conducted at home. In February 2019, they announced an April 26 release of a new album, Seeing Other People, via Jagjaguwar. The lead single is called "Livin’ A Lie"
Frank Ocean
Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist among other accolades, and his two studio albums have been listed on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020). Ocean began his musical career as a ghostwriter, prior to joining the hip hop collective Odd Future in 2010. The following year, he released his first mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra, and subsequently secured a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings. His first studio album, the eclectic Channel Orange (2012), incorporated R&B and soul styles. At the 2013 Grammy Awards, Channel Orange was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Urban Contemporary Album; one of its singles, "Thinkin Bout You", was nominated for Record of the Year. He was named by Time as one of the world's most influential people in 2013. After a four-year hiatus, Ocean released a visual album titled Endless in 2016 to fulfill contractual obligations with Def Jam. Ocean self-released his second studio album, Blonde, a day after Endless's release. Blonde expanded on Ocean's experimental musical approach and ranked first on Pitchfork's list of the best albums of the 2010s decade. It was his first number-one album on the US Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). From 2017 onwards, Ocean released sporadic singles, worked as a photographer for magazines, and launched the fashion brand Homer.
Fred Eaglesmith
Frederick John Elgersma (born July 9, 1957), known by the stage name Fred Eaglesmith, is a Canadian alternative country singer-songwriter. He is known for writing songs about vehicles, rural life, down-and-out characters, lost love and quirky rural folk. His songwriting uses techniques of short story writing, including unreliable narrators, surprise endings, and plot twists. In 2016, Eaglesmith toured extensively with his band. Career As a teenager Eaglesmith hopped a freight train to Western Canada and began writing songs and performing. Eaglesmith founded a band known as the Smokin' Losers. He later formed a group called known as both the Flying Squirrels and the Flathead Noodlers, switching the name to represent different styles of music. The Flathead Noodlers play bluegrass, while the Flying Squirrels play more folk and rock. His first self-titled album was released in 1980. Eaglesmith appeared in a 2001 television movie, The Gift. A typical Fred Eaglesmith show includes his music set between several lengthy between-song comic monologues by Eaglesmith. Topics in the past have included stories about crossing the U.S.–Canada border, Newfoundlanders, and some friends from an Indian reserve. His fans are known as "Fredheads", a nod to deadheads, who followed the Grateful Dead. He is known to tour extensively throughout Canada and the U.S. When Eaglesmith appears in solo performances, he bills himself as Fred J. Eaglesmith. In addition to his own albums, he frequently collaborated with the late Willie P. Bennett, a former member of Eaglesmith's band, who stepped down after a heart attack in early 2007. Eaglesmith publishes his own records. In 2010, Eaglesmith was featured on the Late Show with David Letterman as the musical guest. He performed "Careless" from the album Cha Cha Cha. Starting 2012, performances were billed as the Fred Eaglesmith Travelling Steam Show and include opening songs performed by Bill Poss, The Ginn Sisters, and Tif Ginn. Fred co-wrote Tif's self-titled 2012 album with her, and the pair married in 2014. The backing band was disbanded in 2016 and they have been touring together as a duo since. Eaglesmith's songs have been included in the musical play, Dear Johnny Deere. The play was performed at the Charlottetown Festival in 2013. Tif co-produced and mixed Fred's 2017 album, Standard.
Fruit Bats
Fruit Bats is an American rock band formed in 1997 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Noted as an early entrant into the folk-rock boom of the early 2000s, the group has had many personnel changes but revolves around singer/songwriter Eric D. Johnson. History In 2000, Eric D. Johnson was an instructor at The Old Town School of Folk Music, led his own space-rock band called I Rowboat, and was a guitarist in various groups, including Califone and The Shins. He also had a four-track solo outlet called Fruit Bats, which he had been working on since 1997. Fruit Bats had begun to evolve into a band with the inclusion of I Rowboat members Dan Strack and Brian Belval and in 2001, their debut record Echolocation was released on Califone's imprint, Perishable Records. Tours followed with the likes of Modest Mouse and The Shins. Fruit Bats signed with Sub Pop in 2002 and have released four albums with the label including Mouthfuls in 2003, Spelled in Bones in 2005, The Ruminant Band in 2009 and Tripper in 2011. Johnson also joined The Shins in 2009. Their song "Humbug Mountain Song" spurred new fan activity. In an interview with Reverb Magazine's Nick Milligan (Australia), Eric D. Johnson has said of The Ruminant Band: "I shouldn't say I had any strong ideas about how I wanted The Ruminant Band to differ from our other records, but I knew that I definitely wanted it to. Previously, when I did those other albums, I think I set rules for myself. This time I didn't try to go by the book so much. I also let the other [band members] play, rather than me being in charge. I played very little on this record – I wrote the songs and the vocal arrangements, and played some piano, but for the most part everything else is the band. That trust is something that comes with time. I had four years to sit and think about it. It can get lonely when you're doing the – quote unquote – solo thing. My band is really talented, so I wanted their voices to be heard." The song "When U Love Somebody" from the album Mouthfuls can be heard in the 2010 film Youth in Revolt. The music video for "The Ruminant Band" from the album The Ruminant Band was shot in El Monte, California and directed by The General Assembly. Eric D. Johnson is the only member of the Fruit Bats to appear in the video. He is backed by a fictitious band that includes legendary guitarist, Willie Chambers of The Chambers Brothers. In June 2011, Johnson appeared in the music video for "You're Too Weird" from the album Tripper. The video was shot in Hollywood, California and directed by The General Assembly. In November 2013, Johnson announced the demise of the Fruit Bats on the band's website. The band played a handful of live shows, which also marked the 10th anniversary of their album Mouthfuls, in the Pacific Northwest, with their final show in Portland on November 16, 2013. Johnson announced via Twitter in May 2015, "I'm doing Fruit Bats again", and linked an Instagram photo of a handwritten letter, indicating that an album will be released in 2016. Additionally they have scheduled 2015 tour dates with My Morning Jacket. The album Absolute Loser was released in 2016. Johnson is also the cofounder of the Huichica Musical Festival, in Sonoma, California, along with Jeff Bundschu, owner of Gundlach Bundschu winery. Johnson started this festival in 2009 to give him and his friends a place to play. Musical influences According to an article in The Aspen Times, lead singer Eric D. Johnson's musical influences include 70s AM radio, which he listened to while growing up in Naperville, Illinois, and The Grateful Dead. One writer described the band's fourth album, The Ruminant Band, as one that ..."revels in early ‘70s SoCal bliss and other alt-country permutations," with elements reflective of classic rock icons including Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac and Three Dog Night. In a music blog entry in the Chicago Sun-Times from 2010, the band's influences include The Byrds, The Kinks' album The Village Green Preservation Society, pop radio from the late '70s and early '80s, and Supertramp. According to the same blog post, lead singer Johnson said of his musical style, "I started out a hippie, but I've always had that pop jones -- and that's been plenty revolutionary, at least for me."
Fugazi
Fugazi (/fuˈɡɑːzi/; foo-GAH-zee) is an American rock band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. It is noted for its style-transcending music, DIY ethical stance, manner of business practice, and contempt for the music industry. Fugazi has performed numerous worldwide tours and produced six studio albums, a film and a comprehensive live series, gaining the band critical acclaim and success around the world. Fugazi has been on an indefinite hiatus since 2003. History Formation and early years (1986–1989) After the hardcore punk group Minor Threat dissolved, MacKaye (vocals and guitar) was active with a few short-lived groups, most notably Embrace. He decided he wanted a project that was "like The Stooges with reggae", but was wary about forming another band after Embrace's breakup. MacKaye recalled, "My interests were not necessarily to be in a band, but to be with people who wanted to play music with me." MacKaye recruited ex-Dag Nasty drummer Colin Sears and bass guitarist Lally, and the trio began practicing together in September 1986. After a few months of rehearsals, Sears returned to Dag Nasty and was replaced by Canty (earlier of Rites of Spring). One day, Picciotto, Canty's Rites of Spring bandmate, dropped by during a practice session to see how his friend was getting along; he later admitted he secretly harbored the idea of joining the group. But Picciotto was disappointed that there seemed to be no place for him. After some uncertainty from Canty about what he wanted to do with his future, the trio regrouped and booked their first show at the Wilson Center in early September 1987. The group still needed a name, so MacKaye chose the word "fugazi" from Mark Baker's Nam, a compilation of stories of Vietnam War veterans, it there being a slang acronym for "Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In [into a body bag]". The band began inviting Picciotto to practices. Inspired by use of a foil in hip hop, Picciotto sang backup vocals. After his band Happy Go Licky broke up, he became more involved with Fugazi. MacKaye eventually asked Picciotto to become a full member, and he accepted. Fugazi EP & Margin Walker – 13 Songs (1988–1989) Fugazi embarked on its first tour in January 1988. In June 1988 the band recorded its debut EP Fugazi with producer Ted Niceley and producer/engineer Don Zientara (who became a longtime collaborator), and shortly afterward embarked on an arduous tour of Europe. At the tour's conclusion in December, the band recorded songs for its intended debut album. But the band was spent from touring and found the resulting sessions were unsatisfactory. The track list was cut down to an EP and released as Margin Walker the next year. Both EPs were eventually combined into the 13 Songs release in late 1989. Upon the band's return from Europe, Picciotto, unsatisfied with singing, began playing guitar too.
Funkadelic
Funkadelic is an American band that was most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of that decade. Relative to its sister act, Funkadelic pursued a heavier, psychedelic rock-oriented sound. The group that would become Funkadelic was formed by George Clinton in 1964, as the unnamed backing section for his doo wop group The Parliaments while on tour. The band originally consisted of musicians Frankie Boyce, Richard Boyce, and Langston Booth plus the five members of the Parliaments on vocals. Boyce, Boyce, and Booth enlisted in the Army in 1966, and Clinton recruited bassist Billy Bass Nelson and guitarist Eddie Hazel in 1967, then added guitarist Tawl Ross and drummer Tiki Fulwood. The name "Funkadelic" was coined by Nelson after the band relocated to Detroit. By 1968, because of a dispute with Revilot, the record company that owned "The Parliaments" name, the ensemble began playing under the name Funkadelic. Psychedelic era As Funkadelic, the group signed to Westbound in 1968. Around this time, the group's music evolved from soul and doo wop into a harder guitar-driven mix of psychedelic rock, soul and funk, much influenced by the popular musical (and political) movements of the time. Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone were major inspirations. This style later evolved into a tighter guitar and horns-based funk (circa 1971-75), which subsequently, during the height of Parliament-Funkadelic success (circa 1976-81), added elements of R&B and electronic music, with fewer psychedelic rock elements. The band made their first live television performance on Say Brother in October 7, 1969. They played a jam with songs "Into My Own Thing", "What Is Soul?", "(I Wanna) Testify", "I Was Made to Love Her" (Stevie Wonder cover), "Friday Night, August 14th" and "Music for My Mother". The group's self-titled debut album, Funkadelic, was released in 1970. The credits listed organist Mickey Atkins plus Clinton, Fulwood, Hazel, Nelson, and Ross. The recording also included the rest of the Parliaments singers (still uncredited due to contractual concerns), several uncredited session musicians then employed by Motown, as well as Ray Monette (of Rare Earth) and future P-Funk mainstay Bernie Worrell. Bernie Worrell was officially credited starting with Funkadelic's second album, 1970s Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow, thus beginning a long working relationship between Worrell and Clinton. The album Maggot Brain followed in 1971. The first three Funkadelic albums displayed strong psychedelic influences (not least in terms of production) and limited commercial potential, despite containing many songs that stayed in the band's set list for several years and would influence many future funk, rock, and hip hop artists. After the release of Maggot Brain, the Funkadelic lineup was expanded greatly. Tawl Ross was unavailable after experiencing either a bad LSD trip or a speed overdose, while Billy Bass Nelson and Eddie Hazel quit due to financial concerns. From this point, many more musicians and singers would be added during Funkadelic's (and Parliament's) history, including the recruitment of several members of James Brown's backing band, The JB's in 1972 – most notably Bootsy Collins and the Horny Horns. Bootsy and his brother Catfish Collins were recruited by Clinton to replace the departed Nelson and Hazel. Bootsy in particular became a major contributor to the P-Funk sound. In 1972, this new line-up released the politically charged double album America Eats Its Young. The lineup stabilized a bit with the album Cosmic Slop in 1973, featuring major contributions from recently added singer-guitarist Garry Shider. After first leaving the band, Eddie Hazel spent a year in jail after assaulting an airline stewardess and air marshal while under the influence of PCP, then he returned to make major contributions to the 1974 album Standing on the Verge of Getting It On. Hazel only contributed to P-Funk sporadically thereafter.
Gabor Szabo
Gábor István Szabó (March 8, 1936 – February 26, 1982) was a Hungarian American guitarist whose style incorporated jazz, pop, rock, and Hungarian music. Early years Gábor Szabó was born in Budapest, Hungary. He began playing guitar at the age of 14. When he was 20, in the aftermath of the Hungarian revolution of 1956, he moved to California and he later attended Berklee College of Music in Boston between 1958 and 1960. Career In 1961, Szabo became a member of quintet that was led by Chico Hamilton and included Charles Lloyd, playing what has been described as chamber jazz, with "a moderate avant-gardism". Szabo was influenced by the rock music of the 1960s, particularly the use of feedback. In 1965 he was in a jazz pop group led by Gary McFarland, then worked again with Lloyd in an energetic quartet with Ron Carter and Tony Williams. The song "Gypsy Queen" from Szabo's debut solo album Spellbinder became a hit for rock guitarist Carlos Santana. During the late 1960s, Szabo worked in a group with guitarist Jimmy Stewart. He started the label Skye Records with McFarland and Cal Tjader. Szabo continued to be drawn to more popular, commercial music in the 1970s. He performed often in California, combining elements of Gypsy and Indian music with jazz. He returned often to his home country of Hungary to perform, and it was there that he died just short of his 46th birthday. On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Gábor Szabó among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
Geoffrey Oryema
Geoffrey Oryema (16 April 1953 – 22 June 2018) was a Ugandan musician. In 1977 after the murder of his father, Erinayo Wilson Oryema, who was a cabinet minister in the government of Idi Amin, he began his life in exile. At the age of 24, and at the height of Amin's power, Oryema was smuggled out of the country in the trunk of a car. He sang in the languages of his youth, Swahili and Acholi, the languages of his lost country, the "clear green land" of Uganda, and he also sang in English and French. Oryema earned his international reputation on the release of his second album, Beat the Border. He had collaborated with Peter Gabriel and others, and was backed by French musicians including Jean-Pierre Alarcen (guitar) and Patrick Buchmann (drums, percussion, backing vocals), touring with WOMAD in Australia, the USA, Japan, Brazil and Europe. In 1994 the band performed at Woodstock 94 celebrating the 25th anniversary of the legendary festival. Gabriel's record label, Real World, helped with the first three of Oryema's albums, before his move to Sony International, a label established in France, where Oryema had lived since his exile. In July 2005, he performed at the LIVE 8: Africa Calling concert in Cornwall, and with 1 Giant Leap at the Live 8 Edinburgh concert. He resided in Paris, France until his passing. His ashes were delivered to Anaka.
George Baker
George Baker (born Johannes "Hans" Bouwens, 8 December 1944) is a Dutch singer and songwriter who, with his band George Baker Selection, scored two international hits in the 1970s, "Paloma Blanca" and "Little Green Bag." He became a solo artist after 1989. "Little Green Bag" was used as the opening soundtrack for the movie Reservoir Dogs.
George Jackson
George Henry Jackson (March 12, 1945 – April 14, 2013) was an American blues, rhythm & blues, rock and soul songwriter and singer. His prominence was as a prolific and skilled songwriter; he wrote or co-wrote many hit songs for other musicians, including "Down Home Blues," "One Bad Apple", "Old Time Rock and Roll" and "The Only Way Is Up". As a southern soul singer he recorded fifteen singles between 1963 and 1985, with some success. Biography Jackson was born in Indianola, Mississippi, and moved with his family to Greenville at the age of five. He started writing songs while in his teens, and in 1963 introduced himself to Ike Turner. Turner took him to Cosimo Matassa's studios in New Orleans to record "Nobody Wants to Cha Cha With Me" for his Prann label, but it was not successful. Jackson then traveled to Memphis to promote his songs, but was rejected by Stax before helping to form vocal group The Ovations with Louis Williams at Goldwax Records. Jackson wrote and sang on their 1965 hit "It's Wonderful To Be in Love", which reached no.61 on the Billboard Hot 100 and no.22 on the R&B chart. He also wrote for other artists at Goldwax, including Spencer Wiggins and James Carr, and recorded with Dan Greer as the duo George and Greer. After the Ovations split up in 1968, he recorded briefly for Hi Records, and also for Decca using the pseudonym Bart Jackson. As a singer, he had a versatile tenor that was influenced by Sam Cooke, and released many records over the years, for a host of different labels, but his recordings never made him a star. At the suggestion of record producer Billy Sherrill, Jackson moved to Rick Hall's FAME Studios at Muscle Shoals in the late 1960s, Alabama, where he wrote for leading singers including Clarence Carter – whose "Too Weak To Fight" reached no.13 on the pop chart and no.3 on the R&B chart in 1968 – Wilson Pickett, and Candi Staton. Some of Jackson's songs for Staton, including her first hit in 1969, "I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart (Than A Young Man's Fool)", are "widely regarded as examples of some of the finest southern soul ever recorded by a female artist, with lyrics that were full of meaning and innuendo, a hallmark of Jackson's best work." Jackson also recorded for Fame Records, and had his first chart success as a singer in 1970 with "That's How Much You Mean To Me", which reached no. 48 on the R&B chart. The Osmonds visited the FAME studio in 1970, and heard and liked Jackson's song "One Bad Apple", which he had originally written with The Jackson 5 in mind. The Osmonds recorded the song, and it became the group's first hit, rising to the top of the Hot 100 in February 1971; it also reached no.6 on the R&B chart. In 1972 he briefly rejoined the Hi label, and had his second and last solo recording success with "Aretha, Sing One For Me", an answer song to Aretha Franklin's "Don't Play That Song"; Jackson's song reached no.38 on the R&B chart. He then released several singles for MGM Records, while continuing to write for other artists. In the early 1970s he began working as a songwriter for the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and, with Thomas Jones III, wrote "Old Time Rock and Roll" which Bob Seger recorded in 1978; Seger's version reached no.28 on the pop chart. While with Muscle Shoals Sound, he also wrote "Down Home Blues", recorded by Z.Z. Hill, which became a theme tune for Malaco Records in the 1980s; "Unlock Your Mind", recorded by the Staple Singers and a no.16 R&B hit in 1978; and "The Only Way Is Up", originally recorded by Otis Clay in 1980. A version of "The Only Way Is Up" by Yazz & The Plastic Population reached no.1 on the UK singles chart, and no.2 on the Billboard dance chart, in 1988. In 1983, Jackson formed his own publishing company, Happy Hooker Music, before joining Malaco Records as a staff songwriter. There he wrote hits for Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, Latimore, Denise LaSalle, and Z.Z. Hill. He recorded an album of his own songs, Heart To Heart Collect, in 1991 for Hep' Me Records. In 2011, a compilation CD of his FAME recordings, Don't Count Me Out, was released. Jackson died on April 14, 2013, at his home in Ridgeland, Mississippi, from cancer at the age of 68. He left a son and two grandchildren.
Giant Sand
Giant Sand (also currently recording as Giant Giant Sand) is an American band from Tucson, Arizona. Its most constant member is singer-songwriter Howe Gelb. Members have included keyboardist Chris Cacavas (of Green on Red), bassist Paula Jean Brown (who was briefly a member of The Go-Go's and was married to Gelb at the time), Mark Walton (of The Dream Syndicate and Continental Drifters), drummer Tom Larkins (later to become a Jonathan Richman sideman). and Iain Shedden, drummer with Australian band The Saints. For a long while the band's rhythm section consisted of John Convertino and Joey Burns (of Calexico fame). In the early 2000s Howe Gelb reinvented the band again - this time with players from Denmark. Guest artists over the last 3 decades have included Victoria Williams, Neko Case, Juliana Hatfield, PJ Harvey, Vic Chesnutt, Steve Wynn, Vicki Peterson, Rainer Ptacek, M. Ward, Isobel Campbell, nearly all members of the band Poi Dog Pondering, and Indiosa Patsy Jean (Gelb and Brown's daughter).
Gillian Welch
Gillian Howard Welch (/ˈɡɪliən ˈwɛltʃ/; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, country and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms." Welch and Rawlings have collaborated on seven critically acclaimed albums, five released under her name, and two released under the name Dave Rawlings Machine. Her 1996 debut, Revival, and the 2001 release Time (The Revelator), received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her 2003 album, Soul Journey, introduced electric guitar, drums, and a more upbeat sound to their body of work. After a gap of eight years, she released a fifth studio album, The Harrow & The Harvest, in 2011, which was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Welch was an associate producer and performed on two songs of the soundtrack of the Coen brothers 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a platinum album that won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002. She also appeared in the film attempting to buy a Soggy Bottom Boys record. Welch, while not one of the principal actors, did sing and provide additional lyrics to the Sirens song "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby." In 2018 she and Rawlings wrote the song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" for the Coens' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, for which they received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Welch has collaborated and recorded with Alison Krauss, Ryan Adams, Jay Farrar, Emmylou Harris, the Decemberists, Sam Phillips, Conor Oberst, and Ani DiFranco.
Gipsy Kings
The Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier in the south of France, who perform in Andalusian Spanish. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Spanish gypsies who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. They are known for bringing Catalan rumba, a pop-oriented music distantly derived from traditional flamenco music, to worldwide audiences. The group originally called itself Los Reyes. Their music has a particular rumba flamenca style, with pop influences; many songs of the Gipsy Kings fit social dances, such as salsa and rumba. Their music has been described as a place where "Spanish flamenco and gypsy rhapsody meet salsa funk".
Goat
Goat is a Swedish alternative and experimental fusion music group. The band originates—according to its own publicity—from Korpilombolo, Norrbotten County. Their first album World Music, was released on 20 August 2012 by Rocket Recordings, and in North America on the Sub Pop label. The group released their third studio album, Requiem, in October 2016.
Gold Celeste
Norwegian psych pop blending an animated sonic palate of refreshing guitars, nimble drums, frisky bass, bursting organs, and earnest, lyrical vocals.
Gonzalo Bergara
Gonzalo Bergara has emerged a virtuoso composer and lead guitarist, mixing a cascade of arpeggios with the sounds of Paris and his native Argentina, to forge his own style of progressive Gypsy Jazz. Gonzalo began playing professionally at age 16 in Buenos Aires. By 17 he was already fronting his own blues trio on National Television. In 2000, at age 19, he arrived in America. Just 30 years old, Gonzalo has toured worldwide with John Jorgenson Quintet, as well as performed and recorded with hundreds of artists including Tim Hausser from Manhattan Transfer, Sylvie Vartan, Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks, Howard Alden and more. His touring resume covers Croatia, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Hungary, Argentina, Brazil, England, Scotland and the U.S. with notable appearances at Playboy Jazz Fest, Sweet and Hot Jazz Fest, The Montreal Jazz Fest, Django Reinhardt Fest (Germany), Suev Guitar Fest (Italy), Merle Fest, Strawberry Fest, most Django-style Fests in the US and countless more. The Gonzalo Bergara Quartet (GBQ) explores a modern variant of the 1930s Django Reinhardt-inspired sound. The Quartet's first CD, Porteña Soledad, was Editor’s Pick in Guitar Player Magazine, and Vintage Guitar Magazine called it a "masterpiece." The music is heavily influenced by Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club of France, as well as the traditional jazz and music of Bergara's true home, Buenos Aires. "Gonzalo Bergara’s music exists in a way that very little music does. He has lavished such care on every phrase, built each arrangement with such lapidary precision and pared away anything extraneous, the music becomes sculpture. It has weight, density, gravity. This is serious….and deeply moving."
Grant Green
Grant Green (June 6, 1935 – January 31, 1979) was an American jazz guitarist and composer. Recording prolifically and mainly for Blue Note Records as both leader and sideman, Green performed in the hard bop, soul jazz, bebop, and Latin-tinged idioms throughout his career. Critics Michael Erlewine and Ron Wynn write, "A severely underrated player during his lifetime, Grant Green is one of the great unsung heroes of jazz guitar ... Green's playing is immediately recognizable – perhaps more than any other guitarist." Critic Dave Hunter described his sound as "lithe, loose, slightly bluesy and righteously groovy". He often performed in an organ trio, a small group with an organ and drummer. Apart from guitarist Charlie Christian, Green's primary influences were saxophonists, particularly Charlie Parker, and his approach was therefore almost exclusively linear rather than chordal. He thus rarely played rhythm guitar except as a sideman on albums led by other musicians. The simplicity and immediacy of Green's playing, which tended to avoid chromaticism, derived from his early work playing rhythm and blues and, although at his best he achieved a synthesis of this style with bop, he was essentially a blues guitarist and returned almost exclusively to this style in his later career.
Green River Blues
Over the last few years Green River Blues has been playing their hard hitting blues rock in the Salt Lake scene and through-out the west coast. With a sound that is reminiscent of Zeppelin, Sabbath, The Black Keys and more. Having a particular sound in mind for their debut record, the group recorded countless demo tracks in various studios throughout Salt Lake, California, and Nashville. It was in Coatati California, home to Prairie Sun Recording that the group stumbled upon the sound they had been looking for. The studio appears to be nothing more than a old barn tucked back in the middle of wine country, with a knack for attracting the strange. In the late 60’s Prairie Sun began turning out records by artists like The Grateful Dead, The Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison, and more. In October 2018 Green River Blues teamed up with grammy award winning producer Phil Joly of Electric Lady Studios (The Arcs, The Kills, The Strokes and more) and cut their debut record at Prairie Sun. The record was tracked in “The Waits Room”, a small corner storage room made famous by Tom Waits (Bone Machine). With old barn wood walls, and an aged water heater in the corner that can be heard rattling at the end of the titled track “LocoMotive”. The group settled into the small room and live tracked their debut release. The album was mastered by Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Sound (Tom Waits, Rival Sons, All them Witches, and more). Set to drop April 25th 2019, the release show will be held at Urban Lounge featuring the Lovely Noughts, and Crook and The Bluff and Sponsored by Coalatree.
Gregory Alan Isakov
Many musicians have day jobs to make ends meet. However, few artists maintain the lifestyle kept by Gregory Alan Isakov. The Colorado-based indie-folk artist is a full-time farmer who sells vegetable seeds and grows various market crops on his three-acre farm, while also tending to a thriving musical career. “I switch gears a lot,” he says. “I wake up really early in the growing season, and then in the winters, I’m up all night. I’m constantly moving back and forth.” Isakov had an easier time balancing his two passions while making his fourth full-length studio album, Evening Machines. In between farm duties, the multi-instrumentalist wrote and recorded in a studio housed in a barn on his property. Like the farm, this studio has a communal atmosphere, filled with instruments and gear stored there by musician friends—gear Isakov always leaves on, just in case inspiration strikes. “Sometimes I couldn’t sleep, so I’d walk into the studio and work really hard into the night,” he says. “A lot of times I would find myself in the light of all these VU meters and the tape machine glow, so that’s where the title came from. I recorded mostly at night, when I wasn’t working in the gardens. It doesn’t matter if it’s summer or winter, morning or afternoon, this music always feels like evening to me.”
Gregory Isaacs
Gregory Anthony Isaacs OD (15 July 1951 – 25 October 2010) was a Jamaican reggae musician. Milo Miles, writing in The New York Times, described Isaacs as "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae". In his teenage years, Isaacs became a veteran of the talent contests that regularly took place in Jamaica. In 1968, he made his recording debut as Winston Sinclair, with the single "Another Heartache", recorded for producer Byron Lee. The single sold poorly and Isaacs went on to team up with Errol Dunkley to start the African Museum record label and shop, and soon had a massive hit with "My Only Lover", credited as the first lovers rock record ever made. He recorded for other producers to finance further African Museum recordings, having a string of hits in the three years that followed, ranging from ballads to roots reggae, including "All I Have Is Love", "Lonely Soldier", "Black a Kill Black", "Extra Classic" and his cover version of Dobby Dobson's "Loving Pauper". In 1974, he began working with producer Alvin Ranglin, and that year he had his first Jamaican no. 1 single with "Love Is Overdue". Isaacs recorded for many of Jamaica's top producers during the 1970s, including Winston "Niney" Holness, Gussie Clarke ("My Time"), Lloyd Campbell ("Slavemaster"), Glen Brown ("One One Cocoa Fill Basket"), Harry Mudie, Roy Cousins, Sydney Crooks and Lee "Scratch" Perry ("Mr. Cop"). By the late-1970s, Isaacs was one of the biggest reggae performers in the world, regularly touring the US and the UK, and only challenged by Dennis Brown and Bob Marley. Between 1977 and 1978, Isaacs again teamed up with Alvin Ranglin, recording a string of hits including "Border" and "Number One" for Ranglin's GG's label. He opened the Cash and Carry shop at 118 Orange Street, later moving to no. 125, next door to Prince Buster's Record Shack, which was also the base for the Cash and Carry record label that he ran with Trevor "Leggo" Douglas.
Gregory Porter
Gregory Porter (born November 4, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2014 for Liquid Spirit and in 2017 for Take Me to the Alley. Early life and education Gregory Porter was born in Sacramento, California, and was raised in Bakersfield, California, where his mother Ruth was a minister. Porter has seven siblings. His mother was a large influence on his life, having encouraged him to sing in church at an early age. His father, Rufus, was largely absent from his life. Says Porter, "Everybody had some issues with their father, even if he was in the house. He may have been emotionally absent. My father was just straight-up absent. I hung out with him just a few days in my life. And it wasn't a long time. He just didn’t seem to be completely interested in being there. Maybe he was, I don't know." A 1989 graduate of Highland High School, he received a full athletic scholarship as a football lineman to San Diego State University (SDSU Aztecs), but a shoulder injury during his junior year cut short his football career. Porter's mother died from cancer when he was 21 years old. From her death bed, she entreated him: "Sing, baby, sing."
H Hunt
Recorded in one comfortably-seated take at Studio Ferber, Paris, France in 2015 - h hunt’s ‘playing piano for dad’ was initially conceived as a Christmas gift to the composer’s father. Intimately recorded, ‘playing piano for dad’ is a heartbreakingly gorgeous & sincere work of eleven vignettes which capture even the most nuanced sounds of the recording session - the composer’s breath, the shifting sounds of the piano pedals, the ambient noise and conversation within the studio. With minimalist tendencies, h hunt’s compositions are earnest and heartfelt, evoking both the jazz sensibilities of Bill Evans as much as Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou’s classical piano works - with pieces from the album having even been championed by Ryuichi Sakamoto for his Kajitsu Restaurant playlist. What is the story behind the title of h hunt’s album Playing Piano for Dad? Are these really songs he would play for his father? Harry (tasty morsels co-founder, AKA artist h hunt) and I were in Studio Ferber (Paris) doing something, I can’t remember exactly what. He told me his dad played piano and is a fan of jazz, and he didn’t know Harry could play. So he wanted to record himself to give to his dad as a Christmas present. The piano in Ferber is probably my favorite piano, so I set up some mics and left him to record it. He sent me it after he’d given it to his dad and it was very obvious to me we should release it. I love it and I know plenty of others who do too. It’s a bit like seeing a non-actor in a film, it’s so shocking because sometimes actually being normal and not “acting.” He really at no point in the process realized we were making an album, so it really is very sincerely not trying. That’s extremely rare, I think. By Austin Kleon
Habib Koité
Habib Koité (Bambara: Habib Kuwate, born 1958 in Thiès, Senegal) is a Malian musician, singer, songwriter based in Mali. His band, Bamada, is a supergroup of West African musicians, which included Kélétigui Diabaté on balafon until his death in 2012. Koité is known primarily for his unique approach to playing the guitar by tuning it on a pentatonic scale and playing on open strings as one would on a kamale n'goni. Other pieces of his music sound more like the blues or flamenco which are two styles he learned under Khalilou Traore. Koité's vocal style is intimate and relaxed, emphasizing calm, moody singing rather than operatic technical prowess. Members of Bamada play talking drum, guitar, bass, drum set, harmonica, violin, calabash, and balafon. Koité composes and arranges all songs, singing in English, French, and Bambara.
Hailu Mergia
Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument (Amharic:ኃይሉ መርጊያና የመሣረያ ቅንብሮቹ), also known as Shemonmuanaye, is a 1985 studio album by Ethiopian jazz musician Hailu Mergia, formerly of the Walias Band. After the band split up in 1983, Mergia moved to the United States and began studying music at Howard University, during which time he discovered an accordion and began playing it. Initially intending to record a cassette of himself playing the accordion in a small studio belonging to an acquaintance at Howard, he also incorporated other instruments in the studio, such as a Rhodes piano and synthesiser. Using all three instruments and a drum machine, he recorded His Classical Instrument to showcase his mastery of the accordion, an instrument which reminded him of his youth – and which had lost popularity in Ethiopia since the 1950s – with the hopes of bringing it back to prominence. Via the inclusion of modern instruments, the album was also intended to mix the old accordion style with the modern technology of the United States. Originally released in Ethiopia on cassette by Kaifa Records, the album was a surprise hit when listeners warmed to its unusual sound, though, as was often the case with Mergia's music, the album was unheard outside of the country, and he soon slipped into obscurity. When Brian Shimkovitz, founder of American reissue label Awesome Tapes From Africa, discovered a copy of the album in Ethiopia in 2013, he hoped to re-release it on his label, and contacted Mergia, who greenlit the project. Upon its re-release in various formats by the label that same year, the album received critical acclaim, with Western critics complimenting its uniquely psychedelic and dreamy sound. The success of the album relaunched Mergia's international touring career, which had ceased several decades earlier, and brought him international recognition. The label would later re-release further cassettes of Mergia's music.
Hamilton Leithauser
James Hamilton Leithauser (born April 15, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. From 2000 to 2014, he was the lead vocalist of the American indie rock band The Walkmen, with whom he recorded seven studio albums. Prior to The Walkmen's formation, Leithauser and bass guitarist and organist Peter Matthew Bauer were both members of The Recoys. Leithauser was born and raised in Washington, DC, and has lived in New York City since the 1990s. Leithauser embarked upon a solo career in 2014, releasing his debut studio album, Black Hours, on June 3, written and recorded alongside his Walkmen bandmate Paul Maroon. In 2016, Leithauser collaborated with former Vampire Weekend multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij on the studio album, I Had a Dream That You Were Mine. It was released to widespread critical acclaim later that year. He released the studio album The Loves of Your Life in 2020 Early Life Leithauser was born in Washington, D.C. to Mary Bryan and Mark Leithauser, an artist and former curator at the National Gallery of Art. His sister Anna is also an artist. His paternal uncle is poet and novelist Brad Leithauser. Leithauser attended St. Albans School where he was close friends with future bandmate Paul Maroon. As a teenager, he had a summer job at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia where he helped engineer Fugazi's Red Medicine. He attended Boston University for two years, before transferring to New York University, where he graduated with a degree in philosophy
Har-You Percussion Group
The 101 Strangest Records on Spotify: Har-You Percussion Group - Har-You Percussion Group Forming after the Harlem Riots of 1964, Har-You make Afro-Cuban sounds with furious and hip-shakingly groovesome rhythms If you've ever wondered whether the world has changed a bit since the late summer of 1969, or whether it's basically the same, your answer will lie in this record and one of its contemporary reviews. "Here is a young, unknown group of musicians from Harlem," US music industry bible Billboard wrote in the last August of the 1960's. "[They've] pooled their talents to prove to the world that ghettos can produce more than shiftless undesirables." Wow, well there's a phrase to conjure with. Of course, it's hard to tell whether the unnamed writer was going for humour, but - either way - there's nothing funny about this LP. Funky, yes. Furious, yes. Hip-shakingly groovesome, yes. Awesomely enthusiastic, yes. Funny? Not so much. Produced by legendary Jamaican jazz percussionist and drummer Roger "Montego Joe" Sanders and released by ESP Disk, this is a fantastically dynamic blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms with richly melodic jazz overtones, capturing the sound of people on the cusp of becoming great players. The horn-section in Tico is together and on the beat, but not quite confident enough to stretch out, while the gloriously full-steam-ahead attack of Santa Cruz threatens to derail itself but never does. Har-You began life as Harlem Youth Unlimited, a community group put together by Sanders after the Harlem Riots of 1964. On the audio track that accompanies this edition of the LP he described the group as "emotionally unstable young men with no inspiration and no place to go" and the record was meant to show those who held the city's purse strings that many people who had been written off and ignored would be much better listened to and appreciated. You have to hope that, after a showing like this, they were. Of course, despite the goodwill, the stinging Latin percussion and the powerful R&B horn riffs, no one really bought it, but the track Welcome To The Party - thanks to its ebullient brilliance and insane rarity - grew into a huge rare-groove club hit, one big enough to ensure this wonderful album was never forgotten. An original will cost you £500, by the way. So up yours, anonymous critic.
Harry Nilsson
Hayward Williams
Hayward Williams is a veteran singer/songwriter from Milwaukee, WI. With six full length records under his belt, Williams is set to release his latest effort: Pretenders. This record is yet another swan dive into the deep end of the Americana/Soul world that Hayward tends to reside in. Growing up in Wisconsin in the 80's and 90's convinced Hayward Williams to search for something more out there in the world. Foregoing higher education, he joined a band and learned much about what to do and what not to do in the Midwest music scene. Playing in pubs for many years, getting thick skin and finding a notably sharp tongue, avenues opened up to Williams. Headlining European tours, major US festivals and a few trips to Australia later, Hayward has carved out an impressive niche in the folk music business. Williams' previous release, The Reef, was produced by venerated songwriter, friend and collaborator Jeffrey Foucault. Utilizing an impressive rhythm section of Billy Conway (Morphine) on drums and Jeremy Moses Curtis (Booker T, Levon Helm, Session Americana) on bass, The Reef is an unequaled Americana record with soaring vocals and hooks that dig in deep. "The surprisingly soulful voice of Milwaukee-based singer/songwriter Hayward Williams emanates from a slight, almost unassuming figure, yet that voice is imbued with so much power, it's difficult to imagine it coming from anywhere other than midway between Memphis and Muscle Shoals... The Reef is an album to return to again and again." - Allan Wilkinson, Northern Sky Magazine (UK) Pretenders was recorded in October of 2016 at Midwest Sound in Rockford, IL under a full moon and the care of Dan McMahon and Jeremy Koester. Hayward and J. Hardin would co-produced the album. Charles Koltak, who played drums on Williams' Haymaker (2012) teamed up with Jeremy Moses Curtis in the rhythm section. Corey Matthew Hart of Madison, WI (Lost Lakes) would lend his talented voice and guitar work to the project during one late night session. Finally, Brooks Milgate would send his B3 performances in remotely from the east coast adding a layer to the project that would fit in with any Al Green classic. "Often dark, always honest and in the groove, Williams continues to break new ground in new traditional folk rock. There’s a ghostly spirit that floats through the songs on “Pretenders.” Williams is a wary caretaker of those spirits. His songs brim with the smoke and mirror lyricism of Leonard Cohen—with the rocker’s heart of Neil Young." -Andy Moore ISTHMUS (Madison, WI)
Heartless Bastards
Heartless Bastards are an American rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2003. History Heartless Bastards originally started as a recording project of Erika Wennerstrom. Erika played most of the instruments and featured David Colvin on drums, along with contributions from Reuben Glaser on lead guitar and Jesse Ebaugh on bass. The 5-song demo was recorded in December 2002 at Ultrasuede Studios by Shannon McGee. Erika put together a live band and played the first live show at The Comet, a bar in the Cincinnati community of Northside, in August 2003. The live line up came to be a three-piece with Kevin Vaughn on drums and Mike Lamping on bass. The band was signed to Fat Possum Records in 2004 after Patrick Carney from The Black Keys passed along a demo he received from Erika. Rolling Stone reviewed their debut album Stairs and Elevators and said, "the Heartless Bastards are a small-town band who are ready to show the big city no mercy". The Village Voice wrote: "deadeye accurate in pitch and message... what we've got is a hard, gnarled voice singing simple-seeming melodies that feel archetypal rather than ordinary, which is no easier to explain than it is to do". Stylus gave the group high praise, stating, "(Erika Wennerstrom) and her two band mates have created an album with more rocking songs and fat hooks than most bands can dream of. It’s not just that they rock, it’s that you believe what you hear, that they love the sound they make, that Wennerstrom lays her soul bare in her lyrics without sounding like Sarah McLachlan, that the women of rock who labored to make it OK for a girl to dream of playing guitar deserve far better than Avril Lavigne or Kelly Osbourne as their descendants." The second full-length album from the band, All This Time, was released on August 8, 2006. The band road tested many of the tracks on the record prior to releasing it and received rave reviews from audiences. The album relies less on guitar riffs and belted vocals and more on musicianship, without leaving behind the group's unique sound. On the modern rock station WOXY, the band was ranked No. 12 on the 97 Best of 2005, putting the band among the likes of Spoon and ahead of blues rockers The White Stripes. According to Wennerstrom, the name of the band comes from a question on a Mega Touch trivia quiz game at a bar. A question asked the name of Tom Petty's backing band, and one of the options was "Tom Petty and the Heartless Bastards". She thought it was funny, and used it when she later formed a band. In August 2008, a new line-up for the band was announced. Erika Wennerstrom remains the only constant member, rejoined by bassist Jesse Ebaugh and original Heartless Bastards drummer Dave Colvin. Their third album The Mountain was released February 3, 2009 on Fat Possum Records and was produced by Spoon producer Mike McCarthy. For this album the band broadened their sound to include elements of country music, employing violin, banjo, mandolin, and steel guitar. Heartless Bastards performed a taping for the PBS series Austin City Limits on June 3, 2009 as part of the show's 35th anniversary season. In October and November 2009 the band opened for Wolfmother during the band's American tour.
Helado Negro
Roberto Carlos Lange (born 1980), better known by his stage name Helado Negro, is an American musician. In 2019 he was awarded a United States Artists Fellow in Music and also the recipient of a 2019 Grants to Artists award in Music from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. In 2015 he received a Joyce Foundation award. A South Florida native, born to Ecuadorian immigrants and based in Brooklyn, Roberto Carlos Lange's upbringing provides essential elements to his songwriting, including his consistently bilingual—English and Spanish—lyrics. Exploring the expressivity within intense states of being, Latinx identity, and pluralistic sensibilities, his music as Helado Negro is an engrossing statement achieved through lyrically personal and political avant-pop music. Since Helado Negro's 2009 debut album Awe Owe, Lange has cultivated an untraditional approach to songcraft that places his voice on an adventurous musical impulse without shying away from familiar pop appreciation, through multiple projects under various aliases. Helado Negro released his 2019 album This Is How You Smile through RVNG Intl., a Brooklyn-based music institution. This Is How You Smile received an 8.5 rating and Best New Music from Pitchfork. Early life The son of Ecuadorean immigrants, Helado Negro (Roberto Carlos Lange) was born in South Florida in 1980. He grew up in Lauderhill and Davie. As a high school student during the early 1990s, Roberto Carlos Lange would stay up late watching "Liquid Television" on MTV. Intrigued by the experimental videos and animation he saw there, he "was fascinated by the mystery of how they were made, and was curious as to how to make them." In 1999 he enrolled at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia, to study Computer Art and Sound Design. His sound studies focused on installation, performance and experimental art. During his time at SCAD, he participated in experimental sound and art shows, and he began to develop his musical work by purchasing an MPC sampler to create music. He graduated in 2003 with a B.F.A. in Computer Art from SCAD.
Henryk Górecki
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (Polish: [ˈxɛnrɨk mʲiˈkɔwaj ɡuˈrɛtskʲi]; English pronunciation Goo-RET-ski; 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. According to critic Alex Ross, no recent classical composer has had as much commercial success as Górecki. Górecki became a leading figure of the Polish avant-garde during the post-Stalin cultural thaw. His Webernian-influenced serialist works of the 1950s and 1960s were characterized by adherence to dissonant modernism and drew influence from Luigi Nono, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki and Kazimierz Serocki. He continued in this direction throughout the 1960s, but by the mid-1970s had changed to a less complex sacred minimalist sound, exemplified by the transitional Symphony No. 2 and the hugely popular Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs). This later style developed through several other distinct phases, from such works as his 1979 Beatus Vir, to the 1981 choral hymn Miserere, the 1993 Kleines Requiem für eine Polka and his requiem Good Night. He was largely unknown outside Poland until the mid-to late 1980s, and his fame arrived in the 1990s. In 1992, 15 years after it was composed, a recording of his Third Symphony, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs—recorded with soprano Dawn Upshaw and released to commemorate the memory of those lost during the Holocaust—became a worldwide commercial and critical success, selling more than a million copies and vastly exceeding the typical lifetime sales of a recording of symphonic music by a 20th-century composer. As surprised as anyone at its popularity, Górecki said, "Perhaps people find something they need in this piece of music somehow I hit the right note, something they were missing. Something somewhere had been lost to them. I feel that I instinctively knew what they needed." This popular acclaim did not generate wide interest in Górecki's other works, and he pointedly resisted the temptation to repeat earlier success, or compose for commercial reward. Apart from two brief periods studying in Paris and a short time living in Berlin, Górecki spent most of his life in southern Poland.
Here We Go Magic
Here We Go Magic is an American indie rock band based in Brooklyn, New York. The group was originally formed by core members Luke Temple, Michael Bloch and Peter Hale, in late 2008. The project signed to Western Vinyl in 2008, followed by the five-piece group's signing to Secretly Canadian in 2009. After previously releasing two folk albums under his own name in the mid-2000s, Luke Temple released the self-titled album Here We Go Magic in February 2009 on Western Vinyl, described by Pitchfork as "hazy electronic textures, endlessly-spiraling lyrical loops, occasional forays into extended sections of ambience and noise". Temple recorded the album at home on a 4-track recorder, describing the recording: "I just had one tom, one microphone, a synth and an acoustic guitar. I didn't have a full drum kit or normal bass, it was just all synth stuff that I did myself." The album does feature a live band on one of its nine tracks, the song "Everything's Big", which features Here We Go Magic guitarist Michael Bloch along with musicians Tyler Wood (keyboards), Parker Kindred (drums) and Adam Chilenski (bass).
Hermanos Gutiérrez
“When Alejandro and I play together, it’s like we are driving a car,” says Estevan Gutiérrez, one half of the guitar duo Hermanos Gutiérrez. “It’s like we are taking a road trip. Sometimes we’re driving through a desert. Sometimes we’re traveling up the coast. But always we are in nature, and we see the most beautiful landscapes, sunrises, sunsets.” The music these two brothers make evokes expansive plains and rough wildernesses, saguaros and surfs, spaghetti westerns and Morricone soundtracks, Lynch and Jarmusch. With their guitars they travel through landscapes haunted by vaqueros, cancioneros, wanderers, fugitives, lovers, family—and whatever ghosts their listeners bring to the music. “Each album is a journey on its own,” says Alejandro Gutiérrez. “We just have to go with the music, trust in ourselves, and see where it takes us.” El Bueno Y El Malo is their most epic journey yet: Working with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach at his Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville, they’ve crafted ten vivid compositions that highlight their intimate guitar playing, where one brother’s rhythms and the other brother’s melodies twine around each other so that they become inextricable. Together, they generate what Estevan calls a “deeper, darker energy” defined by complex arrangements, sophisticated playing, and most of all their very close relationship. “We have such different personalities and such different approaches,” says Alejandro,” but in the end we have a strong balance. Because we’re brothers and because we love each other, there’s always this connection.”
Hiatus Kaiyote
Hiatus Kaiyote (/haɪˈeɪtəs keɪˈjoʊti/) is a future soul quartet formed in Melbourne in 2011. The members are Naomi "Nai Palm" Saalfield (vocals, guitar), Paul Bender (bass), Simon Mavin (keyboards) and Perrin Moss (drums, percussion). They have been nominated twice for Grammy Awards. In 2013, they were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance for their song "Nakamarra", performed with Q-Tip. The song appears on their debut album, Tawk Tomahawk. The band released their second album, Choose Your Weapon, on 1 May 2015. The review aggregator Metacritic has given the album a normalised rating of 88 out of 100, based on 6 reviews. On 9 May 2015, Choose Your Weapon debuted at number 22 on the Australian albums chart. The song "Breathing Underwater" from Choose Your Weapon was nominated for Best R&B Performance at the 58th Grammy Awards.
Hiss Golden Messenger
The band's music contains elements from various musical genres, such as folk, country, dub, country soul, rhythm and blues, bluegrass, jazz, funk, swamp pop, gospel, blues, and rock. The band's style was also described as "alternative country" and "country rock." The band's main influences include the Beatles, The Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield. The band has been compared to Will Oldham and Bill Callahan. Source Wikipedia
HOMESHAKE
Homeshake (stylized as HOMESHAKE) is the solo musical project of Montreal-based singer-songwriter and musician Peter Sagar. Featuring contributions from Mark Goetz, Greg Napier, and Brad Loughead, the project started in 2012. In 2014, he left Mac DeMarco's live band to focus on the Homeshake project; Fixture Records released his debut cassette, The Homeshake Tape, in January 2013 with a second, titled Dynamic Meditation released in October 2013 . This was followed by his debut full-length album, In the Shower (2014) and his second album, Midnight Snack (2015). His third album under the project, Fresh Air, was released in 2017.
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions is an independent alternative/dream pop band composed of Hope Sandoval from the band Mazzy Star and Colm Ó Cíosóig of My Bloody Valentine. Their first studio album, Bavarian Fruit Bread, was released on October 23, 2001. Alan Browne, from Irish band Dirt Blue Gene, played bass and co-wrote several songs on the album. Through the Devil Softly was released on September 29, 2009, and was recorded with Dirt Blue Gene. Their third album, Until the Hunter, was released on November 4, 2016. Its first single, "Isn't It True", was released on 7" vinyl as part of Record Store Day 2016. A second single, "Let Me Get There" featuring Kurt Vile, was released on September 23. In a 2016 interview with Consequence of Sound, Ó Cíosóig explained how the musical composition differed from his and Hope's other bands, "It’s not that our other bands have restrictions, but there's a certain sound in those bands. Hope and I have a sound, but it's always changing and morphing into different things while still carrying a similar thread."
Hossam Ramzy
Hossam Ramzy (Arabic: حسام رمزي; born in Cairo, Egypt) is an Egyptian percussionist and composer. He has worked with Western artists like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant as well as with Arabic music artists like Rachid Taha and Khaled. Ramzy was born into a wealthy Cairo family. He began playing the darbuka and tabla at an early age. He moved to Saudi Arabia for a time and learned traditional Bedouin music styles. In the 1970s he moved to London and began playing with saxophonist Andy Sheppard. His collaborations with jazz musicians earned him the nickname "The Sultan of Swing". In 1989 he worked with Peter Gabriel on the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. This brought him to the attention of artists such as Frank Asher and the Gipsy Kings. In 1994 he returned to his roots and formed a ten piece Egyptian ensemble that performed on the album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded. Ramzy and his ensemble also gained exposure by touring with Plant and Page throughout 1995 in support of their album. The next year Ramzy released the first of three collaborations with English arranger Phil Thornton, Eternal Egypt. The success of Eternal Egypt's blend of Arabic music prompted the follow up albums Immortal Egypt and Enchanted Egypt. In 1996, Hossam and his percussion section played with Big Country in Dingwalls club. From this event was recorded "Eclectic". In 1998, he performed with Rachid Taha, Khaled and Faudel at their 1,2,3 Soleils concert and backed Khaled again for the Claude Challe album Flying Carpet. In 2000, Jay-Z sampled his version of "Khosara" for "Big Pimpin'". After 2000 Ramzy increasingly began to work arranging music for pop stars. In 2005 he arranged some songs for Ricky Martin's album Life and he worked with Shakira on her album She Wolf. He also contributed two songs to the soundtrack for the film Prince of Persia and one to the soundtrack for Conan The Barbarian. His latest album titled Rock the Tabla released on 30 August 2011. It features Indian composer A.R. Rahman, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Manu Katché and Billy Cobham.
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), known as Howlin' Wolf, was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. Originally from Mississippi, he moved to Chicago in adulthood and became successful, forming a rivalry with fellow bluesman Muddy Waters. With a booming voice and imposing physical presence, he is one of the best-known Chicago blues artists. The musician and critic Cub Koda noted, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits." Producer Sam Phillips recalled, "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.'" Several of his songs, including "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Killing Floor" and "Spoonful", have become blues and blues rock standards. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 54 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Musical Career 1930s and 1940s In 1930, Burnett met Charley Patton, the most popular bluesman in the Mississippi Delta at the time. He would listen to Patton play nightly from outside a nearby juke joint. There he remembered Patton playing "Pony Blues", "High Water Everywhere", "A Spoonful Blues", and "Banty Rooster Blues". The two became acquainted, and soon Patton was teaching him guitar. Burnett recalled that "the first piece I ever played in my life was ... a tune about hook up my pony and saddle up my black mare"—Patton's "Pony Blues". He also learned about showmanship from Patton: "When he played his guitar, he would turn it over backwards and forwards, and throw it around over his shoulders, between his legs, throw it up in the sky". Burnett would perform the guitar tricks he learned from Patton for the rest of his life. He played with Patton often in small Delta communities. Burnett was influenced by other popular blues performers of the time, including the Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, Blind Blake, and Tommy Johnson. Two of the earliest songs he mastered were Jefferson's "Match Box Blues" and Leroy Carr's "How Long, How Long Blues". The country singer Jimmie Rodgers was also an influence. Burnett tried to emulate Rodgers's "blue yodel" but found that his efforts sounded more like a growl or a howl: "I couldn't do no yodelin', so I turned to howlin'. And it's done me just fine". His harmonica playing was modeled after that of Sonny Boy Williamson II, who taught him how to play when Burnett moved to Parkin, Arkansas, in 1933. During the 1930s, Burnett performed in the South as a solo performer and with numerous blues musicians, including Floyd Jones, Johnny Shines, Honeyboy Edwards, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Johnson, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Willie Brown, Son House and Willie Johnson. By the end of the decade, he was a fixture in clubs, with a harmonica and an early electric guitar. On April 9, 1941, he was inducted into the U.S. Army and was stationed at several bases around the country. Finding it difficult to adjust to military life, he was discharged on November 3, 1943. He returned to his family, who had recently moved near West Memphis, Arkansas, and helped with the farming while also performing, as he had done in the 1930s, with Floyd Jones and others. In 1948 he formed a band, which included the guitarists Willie Johnson and Matt "Guitar" Murphy, the harmonica player Junior Parker, a pianist remembered only as "Destruction" and the drummer Willie Steele. Radio station KWEM in West Memphis began broadcasting his live performances, and he occasionally sat in with Williamson on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. 1950s In 1951, Howlin' Wolf was discovered by A&R man Ike Turner who had him record several songs for both Sam Phillips at Sun Records (which licensed its recordings to Chess Records) and the Bihari brothers at Modern Records. Phillips praised his singing, saying, "God, what it would be worth on film to see the fervour in that man's face when he sang. His eyes would light up, you'd see the veins come out on his neck and, buddy, there was nothing on his mind but that song. He sang with his damn soul." Howlin' Wolf quickly became a local celebrity and began working with a band that included the guitarists Willie Johnson and Pat Hare. His first singles were issued by two different record companies in 1951: "How Many More Years" backed with "Moaning at Midnight", released by Chess Records, and "Riding in the Moonlight" backed with "Moaning at Midnight", released by RPM Records. Later, Leonard Chess was able to secure his contract, and Howlin' Wolf relocated to Chicago in 1952. There he assembled a new band and recruited the Chicagoan Jody Williams from Memphis Slim's band as his first guitarist. Within a year he had persuaded the guitarist Hubert Sumlin to leave Memphis and join him in Chicago; Sumlin's understated solos and surprisingly subtle phrasing perfectly complemented Burnett's huge voice. The lineup of the Howlin' Wolf band changed often over the years. He employed many different guitarists, both on recordings and in live performance, including Willie Johnson, Jody Williams, Lee Cooper, L.D. McGhee, Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers, his brother Little Smokey Smothers, Jimmy Rogers, Freddie Robinson, and Buddy Guy, among others. Burnett was able to attract some of the best musicians available because of his policy, unusual among bandleaders, of paying his musicians well and on time, even including unemployment insurance and Social Security contributions. With the exception of a couple of brief absences in the late 1950s, Sumlin remained a member of the band for the rest of Howlin' Wolf's career and is the guitarist most often associated with the Chicago Howlin' Wolf sound. Howlin' Wolf had a series of hits with songs written by Willie Dixon, who had been hired by the Chess brothers in 1950 as a songwriter, and during that period the competition between Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf was intense. Dixon reported "Every once in a while Wolf would mention the fact that, 'Hey man, you wrote that song for Muddy. How come you won't write me one like that?' But when you'd write for him he wouldn't like it." So, Dixon decided to use reverse psychology on him, by introducing the songs to Wolf as written for Muddy, thus inducing Wolf to accept them. In the 1950s, Howlin' Wolf had five songs on the Billboard national R&B charts: "Moanin' at Midnight", "How Many More Years", "Who Will Be Next", "Smokestack Lightning", and "I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)". His first LP, Moanin' in the Moonlight, was released in 1959. As was standard practice in that era, it was a collection of previously released singles. 1960s and 1970s In the early 1960s, Howlin' Wolf recorded several songs that became his most famous, despite receiving no radio play: "Wang Dang Doodle", "Back Door Man", "Spoonful", "The Red Rooster" (later known as "Little Red Rooster"), "I Ain't Superstitious", "Goin' Down Slow", and "Killing Floor", many of which were written by Willie Dixon. Several became part of the repertoires of British and American rock groups, who further popularized them. Howlin' Wolf's second compilation album, Howlin' Wolf (often called "the rocking chair album", from its cover illustration), was released in 1962. During the blues revival in the 1950s and 1960s, black blues musicians found a new audience among white youths, and Howlin' Wolf was among the first to capitalize on it. He toured Europe in 1964 as part of the American Folk Blues Festival, produced by the German promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau. In 1965, he appeared on the popular television program Shindig! at the insistence of the Rolling Stones, whose recording of "Little Red Rooster" had reached number one in the UK in 1964. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Howlin' Wolf recorded albums with others, including The Super Super Blues Band, with Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters; The Howlin' Wolf Album, with psychedelic rock and free-jazz musicians like Gene Barge, Pete Cosey, Roland Faulkner, Morris Jennings, Louis Satterfield, Charles Stepney and Phil Upchurch; and The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, accompanied by the British rock musicians Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and others. The Howlin' Wolf Album, like rival bluesman Muddy Waters's album Electric Mud, was designed to appeal to the hippie audience. The album had an attention-getting cover: large black letters on a white background proclaiming "This is Howlin' Wolf's new album. He doesn't like it. He didn't like his electric guitar at first either." The album cover may have contributed to its poor sales. Chess co-founder Leonard Chess admitted that the cover was a bad idea, saying, "I guess negativity isn't a good way to sell records. Who wants to hear that a musician doesn't like his own music?" The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, like Muddy Waters's London album, proved more successful with British audiences than American. Wolf's last album was 1973's The Back Door Wolf. Entirely composed of new material, it was recorded with musicians who regularly backed him on stage, including Hubert Sumlin, Detroit Junior, Andrew "Blueblood" McMahon, Chico Chism, Lafayette "Shorty" Gilbert and the bandleader Eddie Shaw. The album is shorter (a little more than 35 minutes) than any other he recorded, as a result of his declining health.
Ian Dury
Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 – 27 March 2000) was an English singer-songwriter and actor who rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer of Ian Dury and the Blockheads and before that of Kilburn and the High Roads. Dury was born at his parents' home at 43 Weald Rise, Harrow Weald, Middlesex (though he often pretended that he had been born in Upminster, Essex, which all but one of his obituaries in the UK national press stated as fact). His father, William George Dury (born 23 September 1905, Southborough, Kent; died 25 February 1968), was a bus driver and former boxer, while his mother Margaret (known as "Peggy", born Margaret Cuthbertson Walker, 17 April 1910, Rochdale, Lancashire; d. January 1995) was a health visitor, the daughter of a Cornish doctor and the granddaughter of an Irish landowner. William Dury trained with Rolls-Royce to be a chauffeur, and was then absent for long periods, so Peggy Dury took Ian to stay with her parents in Cornwall. After the Second World War, the family moved to Switzerland, where his father chauffeured for a millionaire and the Western European Union. In 1946 Peggy brought Ian back to England and they stayed with her sister, Mary, a doctor in Cranham, a small village in Essex. Although he saw his father on visits, they never lived together again. At the age of seven, he contracted polio, most likely, he believed, from a swimming pool at Southend on Sea during the 1949 polio epidemic. After six weeks in a full plaster cast in the Royal Cornwall Infirmary, Truro, he was moved to Black Notley Hospital, Braintree, Essex, where he spent a year and a half before going to Chailey Heritage Craft School, East Sussex, in 1951.
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
The second album from odd-couple collaborators Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan feels a touch phony but hardly phoned in. He's got the voice, she's got the songs, and together they take us back to the late 60s. It was another surprising detour in a career composed almost exclusively of detours: Isobel Campbell, former Belle & Sebastian member and sometime solo act, teamed with Mark Lanegan, taciturn former Screaming Trees singer and serial collaborator. With the release of their Ballad of the Broken Seas, the "Beauty and the Beast" lines came fast and furious. So did the Nancy and Lee comparisons, which were probably welcome. The pairing of Lanegan and Campbell may have come as a shock to fans of the latter (and maybe even the former) but the music itself was less than revelatory. Indeed, the Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra template is iconic for a reason, and to borrow it means to risk imitating them. It also means treading closely to Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker, or any other somber, late-1960s orchestral pop act. Still, the results were beautiful and brooding, with Campbell's songwriting significantly enhanced by this very specific setting. Sequels, however, are inherently built on familiarity and a sequel to the solid yet by-the-books Ballad of the Broken Seas could be as problematic as the Hollywood models are. Yet while Sunday at Devil Dirt may be more of the same (with glimpses of Tom Waits' junkyard blues tossed in to good effect), Campbell and Lanegan were never out to do anything different. Once again, melancholy, minor-key folk melodies, and bits of spy-theme and spaghetti-western cool color the album, typically enhanced by only the classiest of accompaniment-- upright bass, strings, brushed drums, twangy electric guitars, and other chamber-pop mainstays. And once again, Campbell works better as a supporting player on her own record than as a leader, cooing and chiming away in the background. Sure, she provides most of the songwriting, but it's Lanegan who provides the gravitas. Fortunately, Campbell seems to realize her place here as writer and arranger first and foremost, generally ceding the spotlight to Lanegan on the likes of the bleak (of course) "The Raven" and "Back Burner", the somewhat lighter country-blues of "Salvation" and "Sally Don't You Cry", and the spare folk of "Something to Believe". Compared to Lanegan, Campbell sounds thin singing lead on "Shot Gun Blues" or as duet partner on "Who Built the Road" and "The Flame That Burns". Her vocals are almost like post-production special effects. In a lot of ways that's what makes the disc such a good, breezy listen. Campbell's turn on "Come On Over (Turn Me On)" aims for sultry yet can't get beyond sweet and innocent; in Lanegan, however, she's found a substitute singer that's a perfect match for the strength of her compositions, a rumbling, grumbling vessel through which to channel her songs, themselves channeling the vibe of a lost but not forgotten time of smoky bars, scratchy jukeboxes, convertibles, open roads, broken hearts, cheap motels, and cheaper thrills. It's a bit like a dust-specked and flickering faux Super-8 road trip reel, with Campbell manning the camera and sitting in the director's chair and Lanegan glowering away in the uncomfortable glare of the sun.
Israel Nash
Texas’ genre-bending rock ‘n’ roller Israel Nash presents his latest long play, Lifted. It is a modern day hippie-spiritual, a tonic for those needing to put aside the mess of the daily grind. With luscious beds of strings, horns and well adorned towering walls of sound, Lifted finds Nash continuing his tradition of creating a sonic experience of feeling that is at once both vast and intimate - soaring and untamed at times, placid and sincerely personal at others. Originally from the Ozarks of Missouri, Israel Nash has made his home in Dripping Springs, Texas for the greater part of a decade. There, on his ranch with sweeping views of the Texas Hill Country, the tall, hirsute mountain man built his own studio; a Quonset hut structure he’s dubbed Plum Creek Sound. The studio became a sanctuary, a creative outlet where Nash reached a meditative state of escapism, which ultimately became the inspiration behind Lifted. The creative process of writing, recording and producing Lifted allowed Nash to leave his own downhearted feelings about the political landscape of the recent elections and the deeper queries of purpose and life that supersede the material world. Nash wrote and recorded Lifted with the intention of achieving a sonic experience that will elevate the listener - that the feeling of peace, love and happiness which saturates the words and music can provide the same escape he achieved while creating the LP. Being able to finally use Plum Creek Sound to its utmost, Nash incorporated found sounds and field recordings from his Texas ranch to create a setting of the sounds that represent his Hill Country life. Drums played in rain collection tanks, water rushing against the limestone, frogs and crickets in their habitats, and even a curious, yet guarded rattlesnake, all appear throughout the record. Inspired by methods pioneered by John Cage, Nash also randomized sounds and music and rearranged them according to the I Ching (The Book of Changes). Utilizing these recording and tracking techniques help create a sonic and very present picture of Nash’s home and his life. Accompanied by his longtime band, with arrangements by Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev, Midlake), horns by members of Austin’s cumbia/funk compadre’s Grupo Fantasma, and strings from Kelsey Wilson and Sadie Wolf of indie pop’s Wild Child, Nash, alongside co- producer and engineer Ted Young (Kurt Vile, The Rolling Stones), presents an album that soars as a masterwork of American roots songs, meticulously crafted and gently sprinkled with life meaning and multi-hued rock and psychedelia. “It’s all about finding, searching for little sparks of inspiration. It may be a sound, a groove, a color, or even an object. Old things are inspiring. Whatever it is, when you find it, it spreads like a conflagration that is out of your control. It doesn’t matter if you’re making a record or living your life, find these inspirations with a vigil eye and watch them change both you and your world.” Lifted opens with an extended instrumental introduction, preparing the listener to get comfortable and settle in for the journey ahead, before blossoming into “Rolling On.” It’s a manifesto, a hearty breath of rock goodness, clean air for all that follows. A sing-along anthem of urgency, encouraging one to let go of yesterday and spring from the traps of worry in order to move onward and upward - rolling on, right here and right now. “It was a simple message to myself, to not get stuck in thinking and the past. It’s too easy for us to worry about pretty much everything. I had been down and low for a bit and really had to sing and write those feelings away, give them to the moment and find a better self in the end.” What follows is an Americana-bred opus without equal. From the familial harmonies of “Sweet Springs,” recalling the Beach Boys at their most joyous (almost all performed by Nash himself), to the country rock riffage of “Lucky Ones” and “SpiritFalls” conjuring up that much needed healing, to the album ending “Golden Fleeces,” a sunshine laden song offering up sweet relief from those troubles and tying the preceding up with a sense of lightness and much needed joy. By immersing oneself in Lifted, one can see Nash succeeds in a way that’s exquisite yet spiritually satisfying. Nash welcomes you to join him on his uplifting path - one he’s taken throughout his career, now continuing on a higher, imaginative plane. May your ears be blessed and may your soul be lifted.
J. Tillman
Joshua Michael Tillman (born May 3, 1981), also known as Father John Misty and previously J. Tillman, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. Maintaining a steady output of solo recordings since 2004, Tillman had been a member of or toured with Demon Hunter, Saxon Shore, Fleet Foxes, Jeffertitti's Nile, Pearly Gate Music, Siberian, Har Mar Superstar, Poor Moon, Low Hums, Jonathan Wilson, and has toured extensively with Pacific Northwest artists Damien Jurado, Jesse Sykes, and David Bazan. He has also made contributions to albums by popular artists, including Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Kid Cudi, and has produced one album for Matthew Daniel Siskin, known as Gambles.
J.J. Cale
John Weldon "J. J." Cale (December 5, 1938 – July 26, 2013) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been widely acknowledged by figures such as Mark Knopfler, Neil Young and Eric Clapton, who described him as "one of the most important artists in the history of rock". He is considered to be one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz. Many songs written by Cale have been recorded by other acts, including "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton; "Call Me the Breeze" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, John Mayer, Johnny Cash, and Bobby Bare; "Clyde" by Waylon Jennings and Dr. Hook; "I Got The Same Old Blues" by Captain Beefheart, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Freddie King, and Bryan Ferry; "Travelin' Light" and "Ride Me High" by Widespread Panic; and "Magnolia" by Poco, Pat Travers, Beck, Lucinda Williams, Iron & Wine, José Feliciano, Ben Bridwell, John Mayer with Eric Clapton, Joan Shelley, and Sadie Johnson; as well as “Bringing It Back” covered by Kansas. In 2008, Cale, along with Clapton, received a Grammy Award for their album The Road to Escondido.
Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. An important figure of the fusion era of jazz, DeJohnette is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, given his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, Alice Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock and John Scofield. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2007. Early life and musical beginnings DeJohnette was born in Chicago, Illinois. He began his musical career as a pianist, studying from age four and first playing professionally at age fourteen He later switched focus to the drums. DeJohnette credits his uncle, Roy I. Wood Sr., a Chicago disc jockey and vice president of the National Network of Black Broadcasters, as his inspiration to play music. DeJohnette played R&B, hard bop, and avant-garde music in Chicago. He led his own groups in addition to playing with Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell and other eventual core members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (founded in 1965). He also occasionally performed with Sun Ra and his Arkestra (and later in New York as well). In the early 1960s, DeJohnette had the opportunity to sit in for three tunes with John Coltrane and his quintet, an early foray into playing with big-name jazz musicians. In 1966 DeJohnette moved to New York City, where he became a member of the Charles Lloyd Quartet. A band that recognized the potential influence of rock and roll on jazz, Lloyd's group was where DeJohnette first encountered pianist Keith Jarrett, who would work extensively with him throughout his career. However, DeJohnette left the group in early 1968, citing Lloyd's deteriorating, "flat" playing as his main reason for leaving. While Lloyd's band was where he received international recognition for the first time, it was not the only group DeJohnette played with during his early years in New York, as he also worked with groups including Jackie McLean, Abbey Lincoln, Betty Carter, and Bill Evans. DeJohnette joined Evans' trio in 1968, the same year the group headlined the Montreux Jazz Festival and produced the album Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In November 1968 he worked briefly with Stan Getz and his quartet, which led to his first recordings with Miles Davis.
Jackpot
American rock band formed in Sacramento, California.
James Booker
James Carroll Booker III (December 17, 1939 – November 8, 1983) was a New Orleans rhythm and blues keyboardist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Booker's unique style combined rhythm and blues with jazz standards. Musician Dr. John described Booker as "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced." Flamboyant in personality, he was known as "the Black Liberace". Biography Early life Booker was the son and grandson of Baptist ministers, both of whom played the piano. He spent most of his childhood on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where his father was a church pastor. Booker received a saxophone as a gift from his mother, but he was more interested in the keyboard. He played the organ in his father's churches. After returning to New Orleans in his early adolescence, Booker attended the Xavier Academy Preparatory School. He learned some elements of his keyboard style from Tuts Washington and Edward Frank. Booker was highly skilled in classical music and played music by Bach and Chopin, among other composers. He also mastered and memorized solos by Erroll Garner and Liberace. His performances combined elements of stride, blues, gospel and Latin piano styles.
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. A progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music and dance, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Soul". In a career that lasted 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He joined an R&B vocal group, the Gospel Starlighters (which later evolved into the Flames) founded by Bobby Byrd, in which he was the lead singer. First coming to national public attention in the late 1950s as a member of the singing group The Famous Flames with the hit ballads "Please, Please, Please" and "Try Me", Brown built a reputation as a tireless live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra. His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". During the late 1960s he moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music-making that influenced the development of funk music. By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of the J.B.s with records such as "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" and "The Payback". He also became noted for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud". Brown continued to perform and record until his death from pneumonia in 2006. Brown recorded 17 singles that reached number one on the Billboard R&B charts. He also holds the record for the most singles listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart which did not reach number one. Brown has received honors from many institutions, including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In Joel Whitburn's analysis of the Billboard R&B charts from 1942 to 2010, James Brown is ranked as number one in The Top 500 Artists. He is ranked seventh on the music magazine Rolling Stone's list of its 100 greatest artists of all time. Rolling Stone has also cited Brown as the most sampled artist of all time. Source Wikipedia
James Shook
The Utah vortex got me,” says James Shook, one of several fine Salt Lake musicians we’d lost to the lush Portland, Ore., scene. During the ’90s, Shook was busy on the Salt Lake music scene with his bands Loose and James Shook & the Resolutions until 1999, when he left for the reason everybody leaves: “Portland has much more music industry for its size than does Salt Lake City, so it seemed the natural next step for what I was trying to do.” He’s back now, due to circumstances beyond his control. Living and working in Portland, Shook was planning to return to Logan to spend three months finishing a solo album before relocating to Los Angeles. But two months into the recording, he ate concrete in a skateboard park, breaking both arms and partially paralyzing the fingers in his left hand. “It took about six months, two surgeries, a steel plate and 12 screws to get everything working again,” he says, adding the medical bills forced him to stay in Utah. This would be strange serendipity. He was born here but moved around during his childhood (L.A., Hawaii, Idaho, back here—to Logan). He wrote his first song on guitar when he was six, “no chords, just open strings.” He says he was expected to be a visual artist, so he didn’t seriously pursue music until he was 18, when he spent a summer in Alaska with a friend who owned a guitar. “I just started playing it all the time. The rest is sort of a blur.” A blur, perhaps, because when he returned to Salt Lake to form the jammy Loose, the band rose quickly on the scene, drawing fat crowds at the Holy Cow (now the Urban Lounge) and the Zephyr Club. They released an album, Fluid, and toured for a year—to the tune of 180 shows—until “we just burned ourselves out and split up.” After Loose, Shook went solo acoustic and played bass with Mighty Dave & His Crescent City Thunder and formed an embryonic version of the R& -rock-reggae Resolutions. About that time the Jackmormons took Shook on the road for 18 months, first as their merchandise handler, then their opening act, “which turned into me playing with them every night until we were talking about me joining up.” He didn’t, but he did make the move to Portland and lured more Salt Lake players there in order to give the Resolutions a serious go. The Resolutions released one album, Fidelity, a result of Shook having an old analog eight-track machine lying around. Since the band never really had a solid lineup, the album featured “lots of different players” (including Jameson Wilkins of J.W. Blackout and Jed Keipp of Jebu) but with Shook handling many of the instruments himself. He put together a touring lineup and went out for six months, with basically the same result as with Loose. Six months later, he was doing solo acoustic gigs in Portland. Which brings us to the fortuitous fracture, the bills from which kept Shook in Salt Lake. While recovering, he considered abandoning music, but for bedroom jamming. He still loved playing, but he’d lost the drive to “make it” and was “disappointed at how much of my life I’d let slip by trying to catch success.” He eventually “relaxed” and hooked up with drummer Nate Smith and bassist Mark McKnight, neither of whom he’d played with previously. The new band, which begins gigging this month, is called Jin Shen, which translates roughly to “internal power of spirit.” The group is very much like the Resolutions’ multifarious sound, only more laidback. Like Shook, post-priority shift. “It’s important for me to write songs that are honest,” he says, which may be the extent of his goals for Jin Shen. “Maybe I’m not sure.” He’s content with his day-to-day life here—studying martial arts five days a week—and is trying to avoid letting the business or social aspects of a band interfere with or run his life, “because they will if you let them. I’ll wait and see what comes to me as a result of investing in just what I love about playing music. If the right opportunity comes along, well, we’ll see.” By Randy Harward on 6/11/2007
James Tillman
Janet Kay
Janet Kay (born 17 January 1958) is an English actor and vocalist, best known for her 1979 lovers rock hit "Silly Games". Biography Janet Kay Bogle was born in Willesden, North West London. She was discovered singing impromptu at a rehearsal studio by Tony "Gad" Robinson, the keyboardist from Aswad, who recommended Kay to Alton Ellis. The Jamaican-born Ellis, a successful rocksteady vocalist, had relocated permanently to London, where he continued to be involved with reggae music and was looking for a female vocalist to record a reggae cover of Minnie Riperton's song "Lovin' You". In 1978 Kay recorded "I Do Love You" and "That's What Friends Are For". The single "Silly Games", written and produced by Dennis Bovell, was released in 1979 and became a hit across Europe, reaching No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart. The chart success of "Silly Games" led to Kay appearing on Top of the Pops, then the BBC's flagship music programme. She played the character Angel in the UK sitcom No Problem!, created by the Black Theatre Co-operative (now NitroBeat) and broadcast on Channel 4 (1983–85). While on the programme, she enjoyed a further club hit with "Eternally Grateful" in 1984, which also reached the UK top 100. Kay has recorded, and co-produced her seventh album for Sony Music Japan. It was released on 18 June 2003, and is entitled Lovin' You … More. The popularity of the song "Lovin' You" in Japan is so strong that she was asked to record it again for this album (for the third time). That version was produced by Omar. "Silly Games" first hit the UK charts in 1979, and appeared again in 1990 as a re-recording, billed as by Lindy Layton featuring Janet Kay, which reached No. 22. A remix version of Kay's original recording spent three weeks in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 62. Kay is credited as producer on "Missing You", recorded by Aswad. She was a founding member of BiBi Crew, Britain's first theatre troupe made up entirely of Black women. Kay was included on the 2003 list of "100 Great Black Britons".
Jay William Henderson
Jay William Henderson is a singer songwriter from Salt Lake City, UT. Former front man and primary song writer for 'Band Of Annuals' Jay struck out on his solo career with his release of 'The Sun Will Burn Our Eyes'. Nominated by Magnet Magazine as one of the best Indie Folk albums of 2012.
Jed Keipp
Jed Keipp was the songwriter and frontman of JEBU. "I've experimented with many different genres over the years and have learned from some amazing teachers. I mostly enjoy the process of songwriting and producing. The tracks you are hearing are songs I've put together over time and in most cases, performed all the instruments. I do on occasion use a couple choice samples that are near and dear to me on a nostalgic and creative level. And I most certainly give much credit and all my gratitude to the musicians who have contributed. Thanks for listening. Enjoy!"
Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley was born in California’s Orange County in 1966 and died in a tragic drowning accident in Memphis on May 29, 1997. He had emerged in New York City’s avant-garde club scene in the 1990’s as one of the most remarkable musical artists of his generation, acclaimed by audiences, critics, and fellow musicians alike. His first commercial recording, the four-song EP Live At Sin-é, was released in December 1993 on Columbia Records. The EP captured Buckley, accompanying himself on electric guitar, in a tiny coffeehouse in New York’s East Village, the neighborhood he’d made his home. By the time of the EP’s release during the fall of 1993, Buckley had already entered the studio with Mick Grondahl (bass), Matt Johnson (drummer), and producer Andy Wallace and recorded seven original songs (including “Grace” and “Last Goodbye”) and three covers (among them Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, Benjamin Britten’s “Corpus Christi Carol”) that comprised his debut album Grace. Guitarist Michael Tighe became a permanent member of Jeff Buckley’s ensemble and went on to co-write and perform on Grace’s “So Real” just prior to the release of the album. In early 1994, not long after Live At Sin-é appeared in stores, Jeff Buckley toured clubs, lounges, and coffeehouses in North America as a solo artist from January 15-March 5 as well as in Europe from March 11-22. Following extensive rehearsals in April-May 1994, Buckley’s “Peyote Radio Theatre Tour” found him on the road with his band from June 2-August 16. His full-length full-band album, Grace, was released in the United States on August 23, 1994, the same day Buckley and band kicked off a European tour in Dublin, Ireland; the 1994 European Tour ran through September 22, with Buckley and Ensemble performing at the CMJ convention at New York’s Supper Club on September 24. The group headed back into America’s clublands for a Fall Tour lasting from October 19-December 18. Source JeffBuckley.com
Jim James
James Edward Olliges Jr. (born April 27, 1978), professionally known as Jim James or Yim Yames, is an American vocalist, guitarist, producer, and primary songwriter of the rock band My Morning Jacket. He has released three solo albums. As the vocalist, frontman, producer and lead songwriter for My Morning Jacket, James has been instrumental in defining the sound of the band. He was given an "Esky" for best songwriter in Esquire's 2006 Esky Music Awards in the April issue. James typically plays rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, and occasional lead guitar on My Morning Jacket songs. He played the role of the band leader in the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, singing the song "Going to Acapulco", with Calexico as his backing band, which was featured on the soundtrack of the film. Rolling Stone listed James among their "20 New Guitar Gods" along with fellow My Morning Jacket guitarist Carl Broemel. In 2008, James, along with former My Morning Jacket guitarist and cousin Johnny Quaid, formed Removador Recordings and Solutions record label. The label, as described on its website, functions "on the simple principal of yielding the highest annual percentage of aural joy back into the hearts and minds of investors and shareholders with ease and convenience". He contributed vocals on The Decemberists' 2009 album The Hazards of Love. Source Wikipedia
Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke (born January 18, 1969) is an American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene. Around 2000, he relocated to New York before moving on to Tokyo, Japan, where he currently resides. O’Rourke is best known for his numerous solo and collaborative projects, many of which are entirely instrumental, and for his tenure as a member of Sonic Youth from 1999 to 2005.
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His mainstream career lasted only four years, but he is widely regarded as one of the most influential guitarists in history and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music". Born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at age 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army and trained as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division, but he was discharged the following year. He moved to Clarksville, Tennessee soon after and began playing gigs on the Chitlin' Circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers' backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965. He played with Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after being discovered by Linda Keith, who interested bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals in becoming his first manager. Within months, Hendrix earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary". He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and his third and final studio album Electric Ladyland reached number one in the US in 1968; it was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his only number-one album. He was the world's highest-paid performer, and he headlined the Woodstock festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. He died from barbiturate-related asphyxia on September 18, 1970, at age 27. Hendrix was inspired by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in popularizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He was also one of the first guitarists to make extensive use of tone-altering effects units in mainstream rock, such as fuzz distortion, Octavia, wah-wah, and Uni-Vibe. He was the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone writes: "Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began." In 1967, readers of Melody Maker voted Hendrix the Pop Musician of the Year, and Rolling Stone declared him the Performer of the Year in 1968. Disc and Music Echo magazine honored him with the World Top Musician of 1969, and Guitar Player named him the Rock Guitarist of the Year in 1970. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Rolling Stone ranked the band's three studio albums among the 100 greatest albums of all time, and ranked Hendrix the greatest guitarist and the sixth greatest artist of all time.
Jimmy Hunt
Jimmy Hunt is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Quebec. Originally from Saint Nicolas, a suburb of Quebec City, Hunt began performing on the local music scene in Montreal in 2000. With the band Chocolat, he released the album Piano élégant in 2008 on Grosse Boîte. In the same year, he appeared on Cœur de pirate's debut album Cœur de pirate as a duet vocalist on her song "Pour un infidèle". He subsequently released a self-titled album as a solo artist in 2010. He was nominated for two Félix Awards in 2011, in the categories of Contemporary Folk Album of the Year and New Artist of the Year. He also won three awards at the same year's Gala alternatif de la musique indépendante du Québec, winning for Songwriter of the Year, Video of the Year and Singer-Songwriter Album of the Year, and was named one of that year's Révélations Radio-Canada. He followed up with Maladie d’amour in 2013. The album was a longlisted nominee for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize, and won the Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2015. He has also been a two-time nominee for the SOCAN Songwriting Prize, for his songs "Ça va de soi" in 2011 and "Nos corps" in 2014.
Jimmy Scott
James Victor Scott (July 17, 1925 – June 12, 2014), known professionally as Little Jimmy Scott or Jimmy Scott, was an American jazz vocalist known for his high natural contralto voice and his sensitivity on ballads and love songs. After success in the 1940s and 1950s, Scott's career faltered in the early 1960s. He slid into obscurity before a comeback in the 1990s. His unusual singing voice was due to Kallmann syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that limited his height to 4 feet 11 inches (150 cm) until the age of 37, when he grew by 8 inches (20 cm). The syndrome prevented him from reaching classic puberty and left him with a high voice and unusual timbre.
Jitwam
Jitwam - mind, body, soul With his roots in Assam, northeast India, and his hustle now based in Brooklyn, the psychedelic soul-savant known as jitwam. has cemented his reputation as a world-class DJ, live performer and label head at The Jazz Diaries. Following his Detroit Swindle collaboration 'Coffee In The Morning' and his 'Back To My Place' outing on Darker Than Wax (which saw him gain support from the likes of Benji B, OkayPlayer & more), his new EP 'Sun After Rain', with French producer Folamour is a keys-driven dance floor groover, complete with triumphant brass stabs and a rock solid rhythm section. Delivering a promise of the brighter tomorrow that the world is currently yearning for. Utilising knowledge acquired through years spent digging through dusty crates, and talents honed as a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and vocalist, jitwam moves freely between the dancefloor and your headphones, fusing musical identities and stitching together ideas into some of the warmest music you’ll hear all year. His talents haven't gone unnoticed with placements on Moodymann’s DJ Kicks compilation, as well as a steady string of gigs that took his talents from a country-wide NTS-Radio tour in India, to shows in Europe and the US, where he opened for legendary jazz-funk artist Roy Ayers with his full live band.
Joan As Police Woman
Joan Wasser (born July 26, 1970), known by her stage name Joan As Police Woman, is an American musician, singer-songwriter and producer. She began her career playing violin with the Dambuilders and played with Black Beetle, Antony and the Johnsons, and Those Bastard Souls. Since 2004 she has released her solo material as Joan As Police Woman. She has released five regular studio albums, one EP, a number of singles and a collection of covers. Throughout her career, she has regularly collaborated with other artists as a writer, performer and arranger. Born at the Saint Andre Home in Biddeford, Maine, to an unmarried teenage mother, Wasser was given up for adoption at infancy. She was raised in Norwalk, Connecticut, with her adoptive younger brother Dan, who is a visual artist. She credits her background as an adopted child with her "very extroverted" personality and dressing up a lot. She explained that "when you are in a situation where you're not blood-related to your family, it does become extremely obvious that you're born with your personality". Wasser began piano lessons at age six and had her first violin lessons at age eight. She played violin in school and community orchestras before leaving Norwalk for her college studies. At the age of 18, Wasser began her music career during her studies at the College of Fine Arts, Boston University, where she was an early admittance student. She studied music under, among others, Yuri Mazurkevich and played with the Boston University Symphony Orchestra. Wasser soon grew disillusioned and found that she "didn't want to make classical music my life, the Beethoven symphonies have already been played a million times and I am not going to do it any better." Instead she joined a number of local punk bands trying "to bridge the gap between the guitar and the bass and play the violin really loud." While working with others, Wasser began to develop her own material, which she described as sounding "like old Al Green records." She focused on guitar and singing as "for a long time, I was really content with playing violin, and then all of a sudden it wasn't enough." The end of Black Beetle in June 2002 brought the beginning of Wasser's work as a solo artist and the creation of a new band, Joan as Police Woman. The name was a reference to the TV series Police Woman featuring Angie Dickinson. Wasser found the actress inspirational as "she was really powerful but sexy at the same time" in the role. She also preferred "the name to be funny because, although my music is serious, I like to laugh at tragedy." She formed a new trio in New York City together with Ben Perowsky on drums and Rainy Orteca on bass. Perowsky also co-produced the EP that also featured contributions by Oren Bloedow, Dave Derby and Erik Sanko. She co-wrote the song "My Gurl" with Michael Tighe. The group self-released a five-track eponymous EP in 2004, as Wasser had "decided to do it without a record deal because I wanted to make music on my own terms." In February 2004, Rufus Wainwright asked her to join his band on tour providing backing vocals and strings. In the second half of the year, she joined Joseph Arthur on tour as a violinist.
Joan Shelley
Joan Shelley is a songwriter and singer from Louisville, KY. She draws inspiration from traditional and traditionally-minded performers from her native Kentucky, as well as those from Ireland, Scotland, and England, but she’s not a folksinger. Her disposition aligns more closely with that of, say, Roger Miller, Dolly Parton, or her fellow Kentuckian Tom T. Hall, who once explained—simply, succinctly, in a song—“I Witness Life.” Her perspective and performances both have been described, apparently positively, as “pure,” but there’s no trace of the Pollyanna and there’s little of the pastoral, either: her work instead wrestles with the possibility of reconciling, if only for a moment, the perceived “natural” world with its reflection—sometimes, relatively speaking, clear; other times hopelessly distorted—in the human heart, mind, and footprint. Since the 2015 release of her fourth album Over and Even, Shelley has crossed the country and toured Europe several times as a headlining artist, joined by guitarist Nathan Salsburg and sharing shows with the likes of Jake Xerxes Fussell, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Doug Paisley, Daniel Martin Moore, the Other Years, and Michael Hurley. She has opened for Wilco, Chris Smither, Andrew Bird, and Richard Thompson. Jeff Tweedy produced her 2017 record “Joan Shelley” at The Loft in Chicago. She’ll be familiar to readers of guitar-centric magazines for having appeared, in the same season, on the covers of Fretboard Journal and Acoustic Guitar. Her sixth and most recent album, “Like the River Loves the Sea,” was released to wide acclaim in Uncut magazine, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Mojo, and Q magazine.
Joe Henry
Joseph Lee Henry (born December 2, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He has released 13 studio albums and produced multiple recordings for other artists, including three Grammy Award-winning albums. Henry moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1985 and began performing in local music venues. He released his first album "Talk of Heaven" in 1986. The album earned him a recording contract with A&M, which subsequently released the albums Murder of Crows in 1989 and Shuffletown in 1990. Shuffletown, produced by T-Bone Burnett, represented a shift in musical direction towards the "alt country" genre. Henry's next two recordings, Short Man's Room (1992) and Kindness of the World (1993), featured members of the country-rock band the Jayhawks. The song "King's Highway" was recorded by Joan Baez in 2003 and Gov't Mule in 2005. For his 1996 album Trampoline, Henry incorporated guitarist Page Hamilton of Helmet and a reviewer at Trouserpress called the album "idiosyncratic broadmindedness." 1999's Fuse was recorded with producers Daniel Lanois and T-Bone Burnett. The album was called an "atmospheric marvel" by one reviewer and Ann Powers of the New York Times wrote: Henry has "found the sound that completes his verbal approach." Scar, released in 2001, featured jazz musicians Marc Ribot, Brian Blade, Brad Mehldau and saxophonist Ornette Coleman on "Richard Pryor Addresses A Tearful Nation." According to Allmusic's Thom Jurek, the album is a "triumph not only for Henry—who has set a new watermark for himself—but for American popular music, which so desperately needed something else to make it sing again." 2003's self-produced Tiny Voices album was Henry's first recording on Epitaph's Anti label. Jurek described this album as "the sound of....electric guitars in an abandoned yet fully furnished Tiki bar in Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles."
Joel Jerome
JOEL JEROME'S hometown of Hawthorne is where you'll find nearby beaches, a tireless working class and a rich musical history. This combination of SoCal casual cool and an intense, dedicated work ethic is infused in some of the prolific and important artists of the area, such as, Brian Wilson/Beach Boys, Black Flag, Red Kross and Emmit Rhodes. It's this tradition that JOEL JEROME has fiercely embraced and maintained throughout his musical career. Signed in the early 00's to Startime (an imprint of Columbia/Sony), Joel's group DIOS was a timely convergence of dreamy pop and brash, urban toughness. Since then Joel has reinvigorated his dedication to the studio arts, much of the time to engineering and production. While writing, performing and recording his own music he also spends time nurturing up-and-coming L.A. bands who have recently begun coming to him to help them maneuver through their musical explorations like an old spirit guide. His production has been on numerous local releases as well as making its way to YSL runway shows in Paris.
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was at the forefront of free jazz. He led at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk. Over the course of his career, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension. He remains one of the most influential saxophonists in music history. He received many posthumous awards, including canonization by the African Orthodox Church and a Pulitzer Prize in 2007. His second wife was pianist Alice Coltrane and their son, Ravi Coltrane, is also a saxophonist.
John Fahey
John Aloysius Fahey (/ˈfeɪhi/ FAY-hee; February 28, 1939 – February 22, 2001) was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who played the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been enormously influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitive Guitar, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style. Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres. He would later incorporate 20th-century classical, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Indian influences into his work. Fahey spent many of his later years in poverty and poor health, but enjoyed a minor career resurgence in the late 1990s, with a turn towards the avant-garde. He also created a series of abstract paintings in his final years. Fahey died in 2001 from complications from heart surgery. In 2003, he was ranked 35th on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list.
John Holt
John Kenneth Holt CD (11 July 1947 – 19 October 2014), better known as John Holt, was a reggae singer and songwriter from Jamaica who first found fame as a me Biography Holt was born in the Greenwich Farm area of Kingston, Jamaica, in 1947. His mother Amy was a nurse. By the age of 12, he was a regular entrant in talent contests run at Jamaican theatres by Vere Johns, winning 28 contests, some broadcast live on Radio Jamaica. He recorded his first single in 1963 with "Forever I'll Stay"/"I Cried a Tear" for record producer Leslie Kong, and also recorded a duet with Alton Ellis, "Rum Bumper", for producer Vincent "Randy" Chin. In 1965 Holt joined Bob Andy, Garth "Tyrone" Evans, and Junior Menz in their group the Binders; Menz departed to be replaced by Howard Barrett and they changed their name to the Paragons. They initially recorded for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One before cutting a succession of singles for Duke Reid at his Treasure Isle Studio in the rocksteady era of 1966–1968; They enjoyed a string of hits, including "Ali Baba", "Tonight", "I See Your Face", and the Holt-penned "The Tide Is High" (later made famous by Blondie and also covered by Atomic Kitten). "Wear You to the Ball" was another of his hits with the Paragons, and it made the charts again when U-Roy (whom he had introduced to Duke Reid) recorded a Deejay version over it. With Andy having left early on, the departures of Barrett (in 1969) and Evans (in 1970), who had both won scholarships in the US, brought the group to an end. During his time with the Paragons, he also recorded solo material for Bunny Lee ("Tonight"), and Harry J. He subsequently concentrated on his solo career, recording for Prince Buster ("Oh Girl", "Rain From the Skies"), Reid ("Stealing Stealing", "Ali Baba"), Dodd (including "Fancy Make-up", "A Love I Can Feel", "Let's Build Our Dreams" and "OK Fred"), Alvin Ranglin ("Strange Things"), and Phil Pratt ("My Heart Is Gone"). By the early 1970s, he was one of the biggest stars of reggae, and his work with producer Lee was key to his success; "Stick By Me" was the biggest selling Jamaican record of 1972, one of a number of records recorded with Lee. His 1973 Harry Mudie-produced album, Time Is The Master, was successful, with orchestral arrangements recorded in London by Tony Ashfield. The success of the string-laden reggae led to Trojan Records issuing a series of similarly arranged albums produced by Ashfield starting with the 1,000 Volts of Holt in 1973, a compilation of Holt's reggae cover versions of popular hits (and later followed by similarly named releases up to the Lee-produced 3,000 Volts of Holt). 1,000 Volts spawned the UK Top 10 hit "Help Me Make It Through the Night" (written by Kris Kristofferson), which peaked at number 6, and included covers of Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" and "Touch Me in the Morning" by Diana Ross. He had success back in Jamaica in 1976 with "Up Park Camp" (on a reworking of the Heptones' "Get in the Groove" rhythm), and his success continued into the 1980s with tracks such as "Police in Helicopter" and "Fat She Fat", recorded with producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes, and a standout appearance at the 1982 Reggae Sunsplash festival. "Police in Helicopter" was a condemnation of the Jamaican government's crackdown on marijuana plantations. The cover to the album single pictured Holt growing locks and a beard, an indication of the increasing importance of Rastafari in his life. He continued to tour regularly, performed several times at Sunsplash in the 1990s, and performed in the United Kingdom with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, with a live album taken from these shows released in 2001. In 2004 he was awarded the Order of Distinction (Commander Class) by the Jamaican government for his contribution to Jamaican music. Holt's style, notably slower and more romantic than most of his contemporaries, is a recognisable forerunner of the lovers rock subgenre. His song "Man Next Door" has been covered by numerous other reggae artists, including Dennis Brown, UB40 and Horace Andy. The latter sang in a more electronic vein for the Massive Attack album Mezzanine. Having been taken ill at the One Love Festival on 16 August, Holt died on 19 October 2014 in the Wellington Hospital in London. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2014. He is survived by his wife Valerie, 12 children, and 25 grandchildren. His funeral took place on 17 November at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kingston, and featured performances by U-Roy, The Silvertones, Tinga Stewart, Boris Gardiner, George Nooks, Luciano, Carlene Davis, Ken Boothe, and members of Holt's family, backed by Lloyd Parks and the We the People Band. He was buried at Dovecot Memorial Park.mber of The Paragons, before establishing himself as a solo artist. Biography Holt was born in the Greenwich Farm area of Kingston, Jamaica, in 1947. His mother Amy was a nurse. By the age of 12, he was a regular entrant in talent contests run at Jamaican theatres by Vere Johns, winning 28 contests, some broadcast live on Radio Jamaica. He recorded his first single in 1963 with "Forever I'll Stay"/"I Cried a Tear" for record producer Leslie Kong, and also recorded a duet with Alton Ellis, "Rum Bumper", for producer Vincent "Randy" Chin. In 1965 Holt joined Bob Andy, Garth "Tyrone" Evans, and Junior Menz in their group the Binders; Menz departed to be replaced by Howard Barrett and they changed their name to the Paragons. They initially recorded for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One before cutting a succession of singles for Duke Reid at his Treasure Isle Studio in the rocksteady era of 1966–1968; They enjoyed a string of hits, including "Ali Baba", "Tonight", "I See Your Face", and the Holt-penned "The Tide Is High" (later made famous by Blondie and also covered by Atomic Kitten). "Wear You to the Ball" was another of his hits with the Paragons, and it made the charts again when U-Roy (whom he had introduced to Duke Reid) recorded a Deejay version over it. With Andy having left early on, the departures of Barrett (in 1969) and Evans (in 1970), who had both won scholarships in the US, brought the group to an end. During his time with the Paragons, he also recorded solo material for Bunny Lee ("Tonight"), and Harry J. He subsequently concentrated on his solo career, recording for Prince Buster ("Oh Girl", "Rain From the Skies"), Reid ("Stealing Stealing", "Ali Baba"), Dodd (including "Fancy Make-up", "A Love I Can Feel", "Let's Build Our Dreams" and "OK Fred"), Alvin Ranglin ("Strange Things"), and Phil Pratt ("My Heart Is Gone"). By the early 1970s, he was one of the biggest stars of reggae, and his work with producer Lee was key to his success; "Stick By Me" was the biggest selling Jamaican record of 1972, one of a number of records recorded with Lee. His 1973 Harry Mudie-produced album, Time Is The Master, was successful, with orchestral arrangements recorded in London by Tony Ashfield. The success of the string-laden reggae led to Trojan Records issuing a series of similarly arranged albums produced by Ashfield starting with the 1,000 Volts of Holt in 1973, a compilation of Holt's reggae cover versions of popular hits (and later followed by similarly named releases up to the Lee-produced 3,000 Volts of Holt). 1,000 Volts spawned the UK Top 10 hit "Help Me Make It Through the Night" (written by Kris Kristofferson), which peaked at number 6, and included covers of Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" and "Touch Me in the Morning" by Diana Ross. He had success back in Jamaica in 1976 with "Up Park Camp" (on a reworking of the Heptones' "Get in the Groove" rhythm), and his success continued into the 1980s with tracks such as "Police in Helicopter" and "Fat She Fat", recorded with producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes, and a standout appearance at the 1982 Reggae Sunsplash festival. "Police in Helicopter" was a condemnation of the Jamaican government's crackdown on marijuana plantations. The cover to the album single pictured Holt growing locks and a beard, an indication of the increasing importance of Rastafari in his life. He continued to tour regularly, performed several times at Sunsplash in the 1990s, and performed in the United Kingdom with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, with a live album taken from these shows released in 2001. In 2004 he was awarded the Order of Distinction (Commander Class) by the Jamaican government for his contribution to Jamaican music. Holt's style, notably slower and more romantic than most of his contemporaries, is a recognisable forerunner of the lovers rock subgenre. His song "Man Next Door" has been covered by numerous other reggae artists, including Dennis Brown, UB40 and Horace Andy. The latter sang in a more electronic vein for the Massive Attack album Mezzanine. Having been taken ill at the One Love Festival on 16 August, Holt died on 19 October 2014 in the Wellington Hospital in London. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2014. He is survived by his wife Valerie, 12 children, and 25 grandchildren. His funeral took place on 17 November at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kingston, and featured performances by U-Roy, The Silvertones, Tinga Stewart, Boris Gardiner, George Nooks, Luciano, Carlene Davis, Ken Boothe, and members of Holt's family, backed by Lloyd Parks and the We the People Band. He was buried at Dovecot Memorial Park.
John Lee Hooker
Known to music fans around the world as the “King of the Boogie,” John Lee Hooker endures as one of the true superstars of the blues genre: the ultimate beholder of cool. His work is widely recognized for its impact on modern music – his simple, yet deeply effective songs transcend borders and languages around the globe. Each decade of Hooker’s long career brought a new generation of fans and fresh opportunities for the ever-evolving artist. He never slowed down either: As John Lee Hooker entered his 70s, he suddenly found himself in the most successful era of his career – reinvented yet again, and energized as ever, touring and recording up until his passing in 2001. Born near Clarksdale, Mississippi on August 22, 1917 to a sharecropping family, John Lee Hooker‘s earliest musical influence came from his stepfather, William Moore ̶— a blues musician who taught his young stepson to play the guitar, and whom John Lee later credited for his unique style on the instrument. By the early 1940s, Hooker had moved north to Detroit by way of Memphis and Cincinnati. By day, he was a janitor in the auto factories, but by night, like many other transplants from the rural Delta, he entertained friends and neighbors by playing at house parties. “The Hook” gained fans around town from these shows, including local record store owner Elmer Barbee. Barbee was so impressed by the young musician that he introduced him to Bernard Besman ̶ a producer, record distributor and owner of Sensation Records. By 1948, Hooker ̶ now honing his style on an electric guitar ̶ had recorded several songs for Besman, who, in turn, leased the tracks to Modern Records. Among these first recordings was “Boogie Chillun,” (soon after appearing as “Boogie Chillen”) which became a number one jukebox hit, selling over a million copies. This success was soon followed by a string of hits, including “I’m in the Mood,” “Crawling Kingsnake” and “Hobo Blues.” Over the next 15 years, John Lee signed to a new label, Vee-Jay Records, and maintained a prolific recording schedule, releasing over 100 songs on the imprint.
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, and peace activist who co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music. He and fellow member Paul McCartney formed a much-celebrated songwriting partnership. Along with George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the group would ascend to worldwide fame during the 1960s. After the group disbanded in 1970, Lennon pursued a solo career and started the band Plastic Ono Band with his second wife Yoko Ono. He was born as John Winston Lennon in Liverpool, where he became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager. In 1957, he formed his first band, the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Lennon began to record as a solo artist before the band's break-up in April 1970; two of those songs were "Give Peace a Chance" and "Instant Karma!" Lennon subsequently produced albums that included John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and songs such as "Working Class Hero", "Imagine" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". After he married Yoko Ono in 1969, he added "Ono" as one of his middle names. Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to raise his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the album Double Fantasy. He was shot and killed in the archway of his Manhattan apartment building three weeks after the album was released. Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews. Controversial through his political and peace activism, he moved from London to Manhattan in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by the Nixon administration to deport him. Some of his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement and the larger counterculture. By 2012, Lennon's solo album sales in the United States had exceeded 14 million units. He had 25 number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart as a writer, co-writer, or performer. In 2002, Lennon was voted eighth in a BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons and in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all time. In 1987, he was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Lennon was twice posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: first in 1988 as a member of the Beatles and again in 1994 as a solo artist.
John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (born 4 January 1942), also known as "Mahavishnu John", is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer. His music includes many genres of jazz, combined with elements of rock, Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. He is one of the pioneering figures in fusion. After contributing to several key British groups of the early 1960s, McLaughlin made Extrapolation, his first album as a bandleader, in 1969. He then moved to the U.S., where he played with Tony Williams's group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his electric jazz-fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, and On the Corner. His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Indian influences. McLaughlin's solo on "Miles Beyond" from his album Live at Ronnie Scott's won the 2018 Grammy Award for the Best Improvised Jazz Solo. He has been awarded multiple "Guitarist of the Year" and "Best Jazz Guitarist" awards from magazines such as DownBeat and Guitar Player based on reader polls. In 2003, he was ranked 49th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In 2009, DownBeat included McLaughlin in its unranked list of "75 Great Guitarists", in the "Modern Jazz Maestros" category. In 2012, Guitar World magazine ranked him 63rd on its top 100 list. In 2010, Jeff Beck called McLaughlin "the best guitarist alive," and Pat Metheny has also described him as the world's greatest guitarist.
Jonathan Wilson
Wilson was born on December 30, 1974 in Forest City, North Carolina and raised in nearby Spindale, North Carolina. His father was a bandleader of a rock group for 35 years and his grandfather a Baptist pastor whose services Wilson was often invited to play at. Wilson has cited his upbringing in North Carolina and the state's rich musical heritage as an early influence. Wilson founded the band Muscadine with Benji Hughes in 1995. The band released their debut album, The Ballad of Hope Nicholls, on Sire Records in 1998. Wilson currently maintains his recording studio, Fivestar Studios, in Echo Park, Los Angeles, which he relocated from its original location in Laurel Canyon in 2009. The space is renowned for its sound and analog recording equipment. Over several months in 2013 and 2014, Wilson produced and played on Conor Oberst's new album Upside Down Mountain released on Nonesuch Records in May 2014. The album was recorded at Wilson's Fivestar Studios in Los Angeles and Blackbird Studios in Nashville. In 2013 Wilson produced "Jubilee", the fifth album from Canadian band, The Deep Dark Woods in Alberta, Canada. In 2012, Wilson co-produced and played on Roy Harper's latest album, Man and Myth (Bella Union, 2013) at Fivestar Studios. In the same year, Wilson produced a Glen Campbell session at Fivestar Studios for Daytrotter. In 2011, Wilson co-produced and played on the debut Father John Misty record, Fear Fun released on Sub Pop, at Fivestar Studios. In 2010, Wilson produced and collaborated with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy on a series of songs for release on Spiritual Pajamas Records, a boutique 7" label associated with Folk Yeah Presents. Wilson recorded and produced Dawes' debut album, North Hills, at his Laurel Canyon studio. That same year, Wilson recorded and produced Dawes' second album, Nothing Is Wrong, at Five Star Studio. As part of Wilson's project, What You Need Is What You Have, The Songs of Roy Harper, Wilson has produced songs performed by Will Oldham, Andy Cabic, Chris Robinson, Benji Hughes, Dawes, Jenny O., Johnathan Rice, Josh Tillman, and others. Wilson also produced Jason Boesel's album, Hustler's Son, Mia Doi Todd's album Cosmic Ocean Ship and mixed Goodnight Lenin's debut album, In The Fullness Of Time, due for release in late 2014. Wilson has also recorded and/or produced many other artists in his studio, including Gerald Johnson, James Gadson, and Josh Tillman.
Jorja Smith
Jorja Alice Smith (born 11 June 1997) is an English singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Walsall, West Midlands, she has been writing songs since the age of 11. In 2012, Smith's friend uploaded her cover to YouTube, which led to her discovery by record producer Guy Moot. After her first two singles received broader recognition, she signed with Sony/ATV in 2016, releasing two extended plays throughout 2016 and 2017. Her debut studio album, Lost & Found, was released in 2018 to critical acclaim, and peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart. The same year, Smith won the Brit Critics' Choice Award. In 2019, she was named Best British Female Artist at the Brit Awards and was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Her third EP Be Right Back, which was released in May 2021 received favorable reviews. Early Life Jorja Smith was born on 11 June 1997 in Walsall, West Midlands, to a Jamaican father and an English mother. Her father Peter, a benefits officer, is a former musician who sang in a neo-soul group called 2nd Naicha before Smith was born, and her mother, Jolene, is a jewelery designer. Smith has a younger brother, Luca, and is the cousin of Rangers player Kemar Roofe. She began taking piano lessons at the age of 8 at the encouragement of her father. Smith earned a music scholarship at Aldridge School, where she learned the oboe and studied classical singing, before taking music for her A-level exams. She was scouted by a manager at the age of 15 after uploading videos of herself singing cover songs on YouTube. Shortly after, she began traveling to London for writing sessions with Maverick Sabre and Ed Thomas, while still in school. After graduation, she moved to London at the age of 18 where she supported herself by working as a barista, and continued to write songs. Influences Smith grew up listening to reggae, punk, hip-hop, and R&B, and wrote her first song at the age of 11. She describes being "obsessed" with Amy Winehouse's 2003 debut album Frank as a teenager and was inspired by the singer's raw approach to songwriting. Smith said her songs are about social issues: "When things are going on in the world, I think it's important to touch on them, because as a musician, you can make people listen. As soon as people press play, you've got their attention." She cites Lauryn Hill, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Sade, Nina Simone, Alicia Keys, Mos Def and the Streets as influences. Style wise, Smith cites Rihanna as the sole fashion icon she is inspired by.
José James
osé James (born January 20, 1978) is an American vocalist best known for performing and blending modern jazz and hip-hop. James performs all over the world both as a bandleader and with other groups. Biography José James attended The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. In 2008, he debuted with his first album, The Dreamer, on the Brownswood label. Blackmagic followed in 2010. 2010's For All We Know came out on the Impulse! label. For All We Know became the winner of both the Edison Award and L'Académie du Jazz Grand Prix for best Vocal Jazz Album of 2010.
Josh McCune
Josh Rouse
Josh Rouse (born March 9, 1972) is an American folk/roots pop singer-songwriter. Originally from Nebraska, Rouse began his recording career in Nashville in 1998 and later relocated to Spain. In 2014, Rouse won a Spanish Goya Film Award in the category of Best Original Song for "Do You Really Want To Be In Love?" from the motion picture La Gran Familia Española. Biography Born in the rural town of Oshkosh, Nebraska, he moved to various places during his childhood including Utah, California, Wyoming, and Georgia. He began writing songs aged 18, and following his nomadic childhood, he eventually moved to Clarksville, Tennessee to attend college (although he soon dropped out and moved to Nashville, Tennessee and worked as a parking valet), where he met some local musicians and began recording. The initial recordings he put to tape eventually became his debut release, Dressed Up Like Nebraska (1998). The album received critical acclaim from music writers. Billboard wrote that it was "a dark-horse gem", and "[a]s pure and unpretentious as any singer/songwriter album issued this year". He went on to collaborate with Kurt Wagner on an EP the following year, and toured in support of artists such as Mark Eitzel, Aimee Mann, and Vic Chesnutt. Home (2000) and Under Cold Blue Stars (2002) followed before he began a working relationship with producer Brad Jones on 1972, released in 2003. "Directions" from Home was used on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's film Vanilla Sky. After his first marriage ended, Rouse relocated to Spain to be with his then girlfriend (and now wife) Paz Suay and has resided there off and on since 2004. His last album recorded before the move, Nashville, was released in 2005 and reached number 66 on the UK Albums Chart. Rouse and Suay moved back to the US to promote his 2007 album Country Mouse City House, but they returned to Spain after Suay became pregnant. He collaborated with Suay as 'She's Spanish, I'm American', the duo releasing a self-titled EP in 2007. His music took on Spanish and Latin American influences and albums such as El Turista included songs sung in Spanish. Rouse and Suay have two children. On November 1, 2019, Rouse released the holiday album The Holiday Sounds Of Josh Rouse.
Julia Jacklin
Julia Jacklin (born 30 August 1990) is an Australian singer-songwriter based in Sydney, Australia. Jacklin grew up in the Blue Mountains, Australia, in a family of school teachers. Inspired by Britney Spears, at the age of 10, she took classical singing lessons before joining a high school band which did Avril Lavigne and Evanescence covers. She studied social policy at Sydney University, and after graduating she lived in a garage in Glebe, a suburb of Sydney, and worked in a factory making essential oils. Growing up, Jacklin did not know anyone who was a full-time musician, and her family did not understand what it meant to be a musician: “They didn’t really see it as being something that was going to work out, at all,” Jacklin says in an interview with Sound of Boston. She continued to perform locally, and formed the band Salta together with Liz Hughes in 2012. She gained an audience and significant critical acclaim through her first two singles "Pool Party" and "Coming of Age" which both received radio airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music. She has been touring extensively since March 2016 in the US, UK, Europe and Australia, appearing at various festivals (most notably End of the Road Festival, Electric Picnic and South by Southwest). She has played headline gigs and has also supported artists such as First Aid Kit, Whitney, Marlon Williams and Okkervil River. In 2016, Rolling Stone Australia tipped Jacklin as one of their "Future Is Now" artists, while Triple J nominated her for a J Award for Unearthed Artist of the Year. Jacklin did not consider herself a full-time musician until August 2016, when she really started touring and figured she could not manage her regular job anymore
Julian Lage
Julian Lage (/lɑːʒ/ LAHZH; born December 25, 1987) is an American guitarist and composer. Biography A child prodigy, Lage was the subject of the 1996 short documentary film Jules at Eight. At 12, he performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards. Three years later, he became a faculty member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University. Classically trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he has studied at Sonoma State University and the Ali Akbar College of Music. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2008. He has Jewish ancestry on his mother's side. On March 24, 2009 EmArcy released his debut album Sounding Point to favorable reviews. It was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award Best Contemporary Jazz Album. His second album, Gladwell, was released April 26, 2011, to positive reviews. His first solo acoustic album, World's Fair, was released on March 2, 2015, and his fourth album, Arclight, was released on March 11, 2016. He has worked in a trio with Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen and has recorded duo albums with guitarists Chris Eldridge, Gyan Riley, and Nels Cline. For the 2017 guitar duo album Mount Royal, Lage and Eldridge received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. He is currently a faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Julie Byrne
Julie Byrne is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist from Buffalo, New York. To date, she has released two studio albums, Rooms With Walls and Windows (2014) and Not Even Happiness (2017). Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Julie Byrne was influenced by her father's guitar playing at an early age: "I grew up with the sound of his playing, which was fingerstyle guitar, so I would say that my style is completely rooted in his influence." At the age of seventeen, Byrne began learning the instrument herself, after her father could no longer play due to complications from multiple sclerosis: "The opportunity to play his instrument and honor the legacy of his craft and all of the time it took for him to cultivate a skill that he ultimately had to find a way to give up — it feels like a bit of an offering to him." At the age of 18, Byrne left Buffalo, living in various different cities in America, including, Pittsburgh, Northampton, Chicago, Lawrence, Seattle, and New Orleans.
Jungle Fire
Jungle Fire’s highly infectious and explosive sound draws inspiration from the groundbreaking rhythm sections behind James Brown, Fela Kuti, Ray Barretto and Irakere; a musical recipe consisting of West African and Afro-Caribbean styles layered with heavy break-beat funk, all spiced with a dose of uniquely Angeleno grit. Originally conceived as a one-off project back in 2011, JF quickly gained attention and thus proved its place among the thriving LA funk/soul scene by lighting up local clubs, venues and underground warehouse parties. The buzz grew and word of mouth spread eventually linking up the band with the Ohio-based indie soul label Colemine Records to cut their first 7” single “Comencemos” (a cover of Fela’s “Let’s Start”). Lauded by DJ’s, radio stations, tastemakers and rabid funk fans across the globe “Comencemos” sold out internationally paving the way for the second 7” Colemine release “Firewalker”. “Few bands live up to their name in the way Jungle Fire do; fusing Cumbia, Afrobeat and traditional funk, each JF jam blazes the floor with real power” as described by Juno Records UK, best sums up the Jungle Fire live show. Serving up a healthy dose of originals and deep latin/afro funk covers all cooked up together in a live mixtape style set ensuring an energy that is nothing short of fire. Since their inception Jungle Fire has played an impressive amount of club dates and festivals both domestic and abroad having shared the stage with Shuggi Otis, The Blackbyrds, Lee Fields, Charles Wright, The Budos Band and even performing for Los Angeles’ recent mayoral inauguration. Currently, JF has been supporting their first full-length record “Tropicoso” via the Los Angeles heavyweight Latin Alternative label Nacional. Focused on taking their show international Jungle Fire embarked on a massively successful U.K. tour playing to packed venues at every stop including headlining Craig Charles’ Funk Club (Band On The Wall) and BBC 6 Radio. Not stopping there, the band also made their South American debut at the Mompox Jazz Festival in Colombia.
Justin Townes Earle
Justin Townes Earle (born January 4, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is a son of alternative country artist Steve Earle and is named after Townes Van Zandt. Early life Earle grew up in South Nashville, Tennessee, with his mother, Carol Ann Hunter Earle. His father, Steve Earle, gave him his middle name in honor of his own mentor, singer and songwriter Townes van Zandt. At the age of two he was left by his father with his mother, but returned to live with his father after Steve got clean in 1994. He dropped out of school, occasionally touring with and working for his father, eventually moving to eastern Tennessee with other songwriters. Like his father, Earle battled addiction beginning in his early teens. Career Earle played in two Nashville bands: the Distributors, a rock band, and a ragtime and bluegrass combo the Swindlers. Earle spent some time as guitarist and keyboardist for his father's touring band the Dukes. Earle developed a hybrid style of music mixing folk, blues and country. In 2007, he released a six-song EP called Yuma. He then signed a contract with Chicago's Bloodshot Records and he released an album called The Good Life in 2008. In 2009 Earle co-billed The Big Surprise Tour with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Old Crow Medicine Show and The Felice Brothers and released the album Midnight at the Movies. In September 2009, Earle received an Americana Music Award for New and Emerging Artist of the Year. In 2010 he released the album Harlem River Blues, followed by the album Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now in 2012. He also appeared in an episode of the HBO television series Treme with his father. In 2011 Earle received the Americana Music Award in the Song of the Year category for "Harlem River Blues". His album of the same name has been described as having a "gently flowing, urban Americana sound, with horns, organ and tangy electric guitar". That year he also contributed a cover of Maybe Baby on the 2011 tribute album Rave on Buddy Holly. and played Newport Folk Festival and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now was listed at album number 37 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012, with the annotation as follows: "The son of country-rock renegade Steve Earle has grown into a songwriter to rival his dad." Earle produced Wanda Jackson's album Unfinished Business in 2012. Earle played the Grand Ole Opry in 2008, Historical WSM, South By Southwest (2008–2010, 2012), the historic Beacon Theater (May 2009), Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion (September 2009), Bonnaroo (2009) Bumbershoot (2010), the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival (Byron Bay, Australia), 2012, the Bowery Ballroom (March 2010) the Winnipeg Folk Festival (July 2008), and the Nelsonville Music Festival (2008 and 2011). In 2018, Earle opened up for California rock band Social Distortion.
Kaada
John Erik Kaada (born 28 July 1975 in Stavanger, Norway), also known by the mononym Kaada, is a Norwegian singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Kaada's career spans a string of solo albums, motion picture soundtracks, high-profile collaborations with key players such as Mike Patton, as well as numerous live appearances at home and abroad. Kaada´s debut in a recorded format came with his 2001 solo album Thank You for Giving Me Your Valuable Time. A musical blend of woo-wop, show tunes and jungle rhythms into a coherent mix of live instrumentation and electronic elements, fusing elements of five decades of popular music. Thank You for Giving Me Your Valuable Time firmly established Kaada as a key voice on Norway´s blossoming music scene. The album was named as one of the ten most important releases of the year by Billboard (magazine) 2006 saw the release of Music for Moviebikers (Ipecac Recordings), a collection of lush arrangements set as soundtracks for imaginary films. The album features an evocative quality as it sets out to bring the two musical worlds of Kaada together; the one of the recording artist with the cinematic film music one. The albums´s 22-strong ensemble consists of traditional instrumentation with strings, vocals and electric guitars as well as homemade instruments and some exotic folk music performers hailing from various corners of Europe. The strings were recorded in the Vigeland mausoleum in Oslo. 2009 ´s outing Junkyard Nostalgias with its myriad sounds and instruments. The album was conceived as a self-proclaimed homage to the thousands of Polish workers that have come to Norway to earn a better living and to fuel the country´s economy with cheap labour. Junkyard Nostalgias featured Kaada playing all of the instruments on the album, solidifying his very personal universe of sound. Kaada have said about the album that he made it to justify buying hundreds of instruments on eBay
KaiL Baxley
“He could literally sing the phone book and bring you to tears.” The warm, raspy, honey-soaked voice of a troubadour lived well beyond his years. His is a story with many layers and moving parts. The classic breed of the folk hero born poor in the rich southern soul of a small South Carolina town. But Baxley would have none of that. A humble quiet type that sums his accolades up to over sensationalism. The outlaw parents, the impoverished youth, the golden glove medals, the gunshot wounds. He refers to them as over-glorified and “not much worth looking back on”. It’s the sap at the core of a solid oak. A well that runs deep and plentiful. And the curse and blessing of those true songwriters that come ever so seldom a generation.
Kako Y Su Orquesta
Francisco Ángel Bastar (June 21, 1936 – July 29, 1994), known as Kako, was a Puerto Rican percussionist and bandleader. He is considered one of the most important timbaleros of the incipient salsa of New York City in the 1960s, especially due to his long-lasting association with Alegre Records. Career Born on June 21, 1936, in Obrero, a barrio of Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Kako started his career as a dancer and later as a percussionist in the bands of Arsenio Rodríguez and Tito Puente, among others. In 1961, he recorded and released his debut album for Alegre Records, Kako y su Combo, Vol 1, which was followed by Vol. 2 in 1962. These were followed by Puerto Rican All-Stars (1963) and Tributo a Noro (1964). Kako was a member of the Alegre All-Stars (and its spin-off Cesta All-Stars) and recorded with Alegre Records music director and pianist Charlie Palmieri. His important role in the group was reflected in songs like Estoy buscando a Kako and Kako y Palmieri. He also performed on some of the most critically acclaimed Latin music recordings of the 1960s, including Mon Rivera's Qué gente averiguá, Mongo Santamaría's Watermelon Man and Celia Cruz's Son con guaguancó. In the late 1960s, he switched to Musicor for the LPs Sock It to Me Latino (1968) and Live It Up (1969). In the 1970s, he collaborated with Rafael Cortijo, Meñique, Totico and Azuquita. He also worked with Ismael Rivera, Willie Colón and Mon Rivera, and took part in the 1977 Alegre All-Stars reunion. He died from a heart attack in New York City on July 29, 1994. His son, Richie Bastar, is bongosero of El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico.
Kaleb Hanly
A native of California, Kaleb grew up in a family of 6 boys and started playing a variety of musical instruments at the age of 9. His love of music and precocious natural ability compelled him to write music as a teen. At the tender age of 14, he wrote “Restless Evil” (which he eventually sang for the soundtrack of the 2008 movie “Vicious Circle”)
Kaleo
Icelandic rock band KALEO – led by frontman/songwriter JJ Julius Son - quickly rose to the upper ranks of contemporary alternative rock with the global success of their 2016 breakthrough album, A/B - which went on to be certified Gold in the U.S. with its trio of hit singles - the chart-topping, 2x Platinum-certified “Way Down We Go,” Gold-certified follow-up “All The Pretty Girls”, and Grammy-nominated “No Good”. Known for their electrifying live performances, KALEO completely sold out their first U.S. headline tour and was a standout at Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo. Amassing over 1 Billion global streams, 39 international certifications, and countless sold-out headline shows spanning from London to Moscow, KALEO has proven to be a worldwide phenomenon.
Kaouding Cissoko
The kora is the most popular instrument of the griots - the musical caste of west Africa's Wolof and Fula peoples. A cross between a harp and a lute, with 21 to 25 strings, its striking appearance - a gourd-shaped base, which players rest in their groin, and a long, thin, bridged neck - and its beautiful ringing sound have made it west Africa's most revered instrument. Kaouding Cissokho, who has died of tuberculosis aged 38, was internationally acclaimed as one of its masters. Kaouding was born in Tamba Counda, eastern Senegal, the son of the famous oral historian and kora player Banna Cissokho. Being born into a griot family would normally have meant he was studying kora at the feet of his father. Yet his parents sent him to a vocational school to be a carpenter. But Kaouding's desire to play the instrument led him, with his brother's kora, to take lessons from his uncle Cheick Diabate, a fine guitarist. As a result he turned into a more experimental musician than the tradition-bound players in his family - and, when touring the world, he added double bass pickups to make his kora's ringing tone heard above the electric guitars and keyboards. Kaouding began by accompanying griot praise singers - reciting the histories and accomplishments of their employers - with his fluid finger work creating exquisite melodies. He came into his own when he teamed up with Baaba Maal, who is ranked second in terms of international following only to Youssou N'Dour among Senegalese singers. Soon Kaouding was playing in Europe, the United States and Asia. His energy and joy fitted well into Maal's show, while his desire to experiment - he is remembered as a funky, boundary-crossing player by aficionados - found him playing on recordings with Senegalese rappers Positive Black Soul, the late Pakistani qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and on Jamaican jazz guitarist Ernest Ranglin's acclaimed In Search Of The Lost Riddim (1998). On this last, his light melodic touch provided the perfect accompaniment to Ranglin's dazzling lead guitar. Kaouding was a co-founder of Afro-Celt Sound System, formed in 1996 at a Real World recording week. This musical collaboration, at Peter Gabriel's Real World label's Wiltshire studios, follows each summer's Womad festival. Mixing west African and Celtic instrumentation over electronic dance rhythms suggested a mess in the making, but the result was Real World's bestselling album. The Afro-Celts became a summer festival fixture and, while Kaouding's commitment to Maal kept him from becoming an Afro-Celt fulltimer, he contributed much to their development. In November 1998, Kaouding joined Maal in New York for the Red, Hot And Rhapsody George Gershwin tribute concerts and recording. The kora lines on Bess, You Is My Woman sparkle and shimmer. Maal's 2001 album Missing You (Mi Yeewnii) was hailed as a triumph, and a good deal of that glory must be shared with Kaouding and his exquisite kora rhythms and melodies. His solo album Kora Revolution was released in 1999. Kaouding had been ill for a few weeks and, thinking he had been cursed, visited various witchdoctors. At Maal's urging, he finally sought hospital treatment - expensive in Senegal - where he was diagnosed. Kaouding was, as his tour manager observed, "one of the kindest and most generous people that you could meet". He is survived by his second wife and three children. · Kaouding Cissokho, musician, born November 2 1964; died July 18 2003.
Ken Boothe
Ken Boothe OD (born 22 March 1948) is a Jamaican vocalist known for his distinctive vibrato and timbre. Boothe achieved an international reputation as one of Jamaica's finest vocalists through a series of crossover hits that appealed to both reggae fans and mainstream audiences. Biography Ken Boothe was born in Denham Town, Kingston. He attended Denham Primary Elementary School and during this period developed an interest in music after receiving encouragement from his eldest sister, Hyacinth Clover, who was an established vocalist. Boothe cites singer Owen Gray as a major influence, particularly after hearing Gray perform the Leiber and Stoller rhythm and blues version of the 1920s blues standard, "Kansas City Blues", written by E L Bowman and notably performed by Jim Jackson in 1927. Stranger Cole, who was an established artist and neighbor to Boothe, had already worked with Boothe on the Sir Percy sound system as well as recording two songs for independent producer Sir Mike though Boothe's major breakthrough came in 1963 after Cole arranged an audition at Duke Reid's studio. The audition with Cole and Boothe performing the song "Uno Dos Tres" was a success and Boothe and Cole formed the duo 'Stranger & Ken' with the first track released by them being "Hush Baby" on the B-side of Cole's Island Records single "Last Love". This was followed by the singles "Thick in Love" both released in 1963 on R&B Records. They released several more popular singles between 1963 and 1965, including "World's Fair", "Hush", and "Artibella". Boothe also recorded as a duo with Roy Shirley (as Roy & Ken), which resulted in the release of the single "Paradise" in 1966. Boothe's first solo tracks were recorded in 1966 after Clement "Coxsone" Dodd had signed him to his Studio One Label. He also recorded material for Phil Pratt and Sonia Pottinger the same year. He had almost immediate success with songs including "The Train Is Coming" (on which he was backed by the Wailers), the first, ska version, of later reggae song You're No Good with Soulettes (the group Bob Marley's future wife Rita Anderson was in) on B-side, and "Lonely Teardrops". The following year, Boothe and Alton Ellis had a successful UK tour with the Studio One session group, the Soul Vendors. Boothe was promoted as "Mr. Rock Steady" by Dodd during this period. The rocksteady classic "Moving Away" was released in 1967 or 1968 on the Coxsone label. "Moving Away" is a song still popular today, and covered or sampled by many artists, among them Dennis Brown, Jackie Mittoo ("Macka Fat"), Jack Radics I-Roy, U-Roy ("African Message"), Janet Key, Jaime Hinckson, Romain des Bois, Bruno Mars, Al Campbell ("Dress Black" Garnett Silk ("It's Growing"), Half Pint ("Substitute Lover"), Wayne Wonder ("Time To Say Good Bye"), Leroy Smart ("Talk About Friends"), Sanchez ("Don't Worry"), Admiral Tibet ("Nuthin Nah Run" among many others. Many of Boothe's songs have been reused in one way or another. On the B-side of the single "Moving Away" was the instrumental "Streets Of Gold" by the Skatalites. Boothe continued to record for Dodd until 1970, when he switched to producer Leslie Kong's Beverley's Records and reggae, where his success continued with hits such as "Freedom Street" and "Why Baby Why". After Kong died, Boothe recorded for many of Jamaica's top producers during the early 1970s, including Keith Hudson, Herman Chin Loy, Vincent "Randy" Chin, and Phil Pratt. He then formed the group Conscious Minds with B. B. Seaton. Under a new direction from record producer Lloyd Charmers, Boothe released "Everything I Own" on Trojan Records, which reached Number One in the UK Singles Chart in 1974. The song, written by David Gates, was given a sympathetic light reggae feel and it received airplay and an appreciative audience in the West Indies and was regularly played on the radio stations of the UK due to its "crossover" appeal. David Gates' own group, Bread, had had a minor UK hit with the song in the spring of 1972, but it had only reached No. 32. Boothe's reggae version of the song "Everything I Own" reached Number One in the UK Singles Chart on 26 October 1974, and stayed at the top of the charts for three weeks. It featured Lloyd Parks on bass guitar, Paul Douglas a.k.a. Paul Williams on drums, Willie Lindo on guitar, and Lloyd Charmers on organ, piano and percussion. The recording was produced by Lloyd Charmers. Boothe had one more hit in the UK Singles Chart during the 1970s, "Crying Over You", which made No. 11, with Trojan Records' collapse and a split with Charmers losing much of the momentum built up by his two hits. Boothe recorded a reggae version of the standard "When I Fall In Love" which was released in 1974 on the Studio One label. In 1978, along with Dillinger, Leroy Smart, and Delroy Wilson, Boothe was referenced by lyricist Joe Strummer in the Clash's song, "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais". Boothe reunited with Charmers in the late 1970s when a revived Trojan Records released the albums Blood Brothers (first issued on LTD in 1976) and Who Gets Your Love, but the reunion proved to be short-lived. He continued to record during the 1980s and had a few hits during 1986 and 1987. In more recent times, Boothe has recorded for Bunny Lee, Phil Pratt, King Jammy, Pete Weston, Jack Ruby, Hugh "Red Man" James, Castro Brown and Tappa Zukie. In 1995 a version of "The Train Is Coming", re-worked with Shaggy, was used in the soundtrack for the film Money Train. A two-disc set of Boothe's recordings for Trojan, Crying Over You, was released in 2001. Boothe was awarded the Order of Distinction for his contribution to Jamaican music by the Jamaican government in 2003.
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active in free improvisation and occasionally contributed to rock music recordings. Wheeler wrote over one hundred compositions and was a skilled arranger for small groups and large ensembles. Wheeler was the patron of the Royal Academy Junior Jazz course. Early life Wheeler was born in Toronto, Ontario, on 14 January 1930. Growing up in Toronto, he began playing the cornet at age 12 and became interested in jazz in his mid-teens. Wheeler spent a year studying composition at The Royal Conservatory of Music in 1950. In 1952 he moved to Britain. He found his way into the London jazz scene of the time, playing in groups led by Tommy Whittle, Tubby Hayes, and Ronnie Scott. Career In the late 1950s, he was a member of Buddy Featherstonhaugh's quintet together with Bobby Wellins. Throughout the sixties, he worked with John Dankworth, and also formed part of (Eric Burdon and) the Animals' Big Band that made its only public appearance at the 5th Annual British Jazz & Blues Festival in Richmond (1965) with tenors Stan Robinson, Dick Morrissey and Al Gay, baritone sax Paul Carroll, and fellow trumpets Ian Carr and Greg Brown. In 1968, Wheeler appeared on guitarist Terry Smith's first solo album, Fall Out. Kenny Wheeler performing with the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble, 1992 Wheeler performed and recorded his own compositions with large jazz ensembles throughout his career, beginning with the first album under his own name, Windmill Tilter (1969), recorded with the John Dankworth band. BGO Records released a CD in September 2010. The big band album Song for Someone (1973) fused Wheeler's characteristic orchestral writing with passages of free improvisation provided by musicians such as Evan Parker and Derek Bailey, and was also named Album of the Year by Melody Maker magazine in 1975. It has subsequently been reissued on CD by Parker's Psi label. In the mid-1960s, Wheeler became a close participant in the nascent free improvisation movement in London, playing with Parker, John Stevens, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and the Globe Unity Orchestra. Despite the above-noted accomplishments, much of his reputation rests on his work with smaller jazz groups. Wheeler's first small group recordings to gain significant critical attention were Gnu High (1975) and Deer Wan (1977), both for the ECM label (Gnu High is one of the few albums to feature Keith Jarrett as a sideman since his tenure with Charles Lloyd). One exception from the ongoing collaboration with ECM was his rare album on CBC called Ensemble Fusionaire in 1976. This had three other Canadian musicians and was recorded in St. Mary's Church in Toronto for a different character to the sound than on the ECM recordings. Wheeler was the trumpeter in the Anthony Braxton Quartet from 1971 to 1976. He was also a member of the chamber jazz trio Azimuth with John Taylor and Norma Winstone from 1977 to 2000. Their first release under this name was a 1977 album issued by ECM; two albums followed, with later albums coming in 1985 and 1995.
Kevin Morby
Kevin Robert Morby (born April 2, 1988) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He has released four albums including Harlem River (2013), Still Life (2014), Singing Saw (2016) and City Music (2017), all of which achieved critical acclaim by indie critics. During live performances, Morby is accompanied by his backing band consisting of Meg Duffy on guitar, Cyrus Gengras on bass, and Nick Kinsey on drums. Kevin Morby was born in Lubbock, Texas on April 2, 1988; his family relocated around the U.S. due to his father's employment with General Motors before settling in Kansas City, Missouri. Morby learned to play guitar when he was 10. In his teens he formed the band Creepy Aliens. 17-year-old Morby dropped out of Blue Valley Northwest High School, got his GED, and moved from his native Kansas City to Brooklyn in the mid-2000s, supporting himself by working bike delivery and café jobs. Morby has stated he had "loved New York from the movies" he'd seen, "I just wanted to experience it". He later joined the noise-folk group Woods on bass. While living in Brooklyn, he became close friends and roommates with Cassie Ramone of the punk trio Vivian Girls, and the two formed a side project together called The Babies, who released albums in 2011 and 2012.
Khruangbin
Khruangbin is a three-piece band from Texas, formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald Johnson on drums. Taking influence from 1960's Thai funk - their name literally translates to "Engine Fly" in Thai - Khruangbin is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool. Source Bandcamp
Kid Congo Powers
Brian Tristan (born March 27, 1959) better known by his stage name Kid Congo Powers , is an American rock guitarist and singer, best known as a member of The Gun Club, the Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He has also played with the Divine Horsemen, the Angels of Light, Die Haut, and Knoxville Girls. As of January 2015, Powers' primary musical project is the band The Pink Monkey Birds. Early life Born in La Puente, California, Powers is a second generation Mexican American. His earliest childhood influences were the Southern California Chicano rock band Thee Midniters. In 1976, he was president of The Ramones fan club, then ran a fanzine for The Screamers. Music 1979–1987: The Gun Club and The Cramps After traveling to London and New York City he returned to L.A. and in 1979 met Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Pierce taught him to play guitar using open tuning, and they formed The Creeping Ritual, which became The Gun Club. Powers left that group before their recording debut, instead joining New York-based band The Cramps in December 1980. Powers rejoined the Gun Club briefly in 1983, touring with Pierce's band in Australia the following year, and then again between 1985 and 1988. 1986–1996: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, and The Gun Club Powers joined Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Berlin, Germany, September 1986 for several albums and corresponding tours. Powers recorded the Tender Prey and The Good Son albums with Cave and his band, and he said in early 2015 that he "loved" the "primaeval element of rock'n'roll" that they had a firm grasp of. During April 1990, it was amicably decided with Nick Cave that he leave The Bad Seeds and concentrate on The Gun Club band that he had reconvened with Jeffery Lee Pierce during downtime in 1989. 1997–2009: JLP tribute albums, The Pink Monkey Birds and Dracula Boots For his next project, The Pink Monkey Birds, Powers initially collaborated with New York City guitarist Jack Martin, who he has also collaborated with for the Congo Norvell and Knoxville Girls projects. Then, in 2009, Powers recruited Kiki Solis on bass, Ron Miller on drums, and Jesse Roberts on guitar and keyboards. The band moved to In The Red Records and released the much acclaimed debut studio album, Dracula Boots, which was called a "return to form." Dracula Boots was coproduced by Jason Ward and recorded in a former high school gymnasium in Harveyville, Kansas, which is now an artists' retreat called "The Harveyville Project." Dracula Boots consists of numerous genres, including southern soul, 60s Chicano rock, and psychedelic imagery. British magazine N.M.E. wrote: "In short, on Dracula Boots Kid Congo Powers has once again found the juicy jugular of soul-fired, funked-up rock'n'roll. You'd be foolish not to take a bite." 2010–present: Gorilla Rose In 2011, Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds released their second album, Gorilla Rose, which was also on the In The Red Records label. Eamon Carr of The Dublin Evening Herald said of Gorilla Rose, "Having a working band is paying off. Gorilla Rose elevates seedy go-go weirdness to the level of high art." Powers returned to Australia for the first time in 25 years—when he toured with Cave's Bad Seeds project—at the end of January 2015. The band played at Melbourne's "Summersalt Festival" and the Sydney Festival. In a promotional interview for the Australian shows, Powers spoke in regard to his new band: "I think the Pink Monkey Birds conjures up all the best aspects of primal rock'n'roll ... Lyrically, I'm speaking in images, and from a very skewed viewpoint, whatever the subject may be. I still have the passion and the incentive to make music that's different, but still within the confines of a punk rock language people will know and understand." The Pink Monkey Birds, whose name Kid credits to inspiration from David Bowie, has been an evolving unit since their earliest albums, and as of 2016 the touring members are bassist Kiki Solis, drummer Ron Miller, and guitarist Mark Cisneros. Kid Congo Powers was profiled by Vogue in late April 2016 while promoting their fourth album, where he was noted for his iconic sense of punk style. In his Vogue interview he mentions the aesthetic importance of tying the look of the band to match the music. "For me, the whole art of being a band—and I do think it's an art—is to create a whole world, a whole language, that is every aspect. The Gun Club, we kind of made it up as we went along, but what I learned from The Cramps and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds is that they created a whole uncompromising world, and it's all kind of sprung out of that. You want to communicate with people, and I think through all aesthetics—artwork, the look, and music—you get to keep your world, and you get to let people enter your world and live in your world with you."
King Crimson
King Crimson are an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968. King Crimson have been influential both on the early 1970s progressive rock movement and many contemporary artists. Although the band has undergone numerous formations throughout its history, Robert Fripp is the only constant member of the group and is considered the band's leader and driving force. The band has earned a large cult following. They were ranked No. 87 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. Although considered to be a seminal progressive rock band (a genre characterised by extended instrumental sections and complex song structures), they have often distanced themselves from the genre: as well as influencing several generations of progressive and psychedelic rock bands, they have also been an influence on subsequent alternative metal, hardcore and experimental/noise musicians. Developed from the unsuccessful psychedelic pop trio Giles, Giles and Fripp, the initial King Crimson were key to the formation of early progressive rock, strongly influencing and altering the music of contemporaries such as Yes and Genesis. Their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King (1969), remains their most successful and influential release, with its elements of jazz, classical and experimental music. Their success increased following an opening act performance for the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park, London, in 1969. Following In the Wake of Poseidon (1970) and the less successful chamber jazz-inspired Lizard (1970), and Islands (1971), the group reformatted and changed their instrumentation (swapping out saxophone in favour of violin and unusual percussion) in order to develop their own take on European rock improvisation, reaching a new creative peak on Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973), Starless and Bible Black (1974) and Red (1974). Fripp disbanded the group in 1974. In 1981, King Crimson reformed with another change in musical direction and instrumentation (incorporating, for the first time, a mixture of British and American personnel plus doubled guitar and influences taken from gamelan, post-punk and New York minimalism). This lasted for three years, resulting in the trio of albums Discipline (1981), Beat (1982) and Three of a Perfect Pair (1984). Following a decade-long hiatus, Fripp revived the group as an expanded "Double Trio" sextet in 1994, mingling its mid-‘70s and 1980s approaches with new creative options available via MIDI technology. This resulted in another three-year cycle of activity including the release of Thrak (1995). King Crimson reunited again in 2000 as a more alternative metal-oriented quartet (or "Double Duo"), releasing The Construkction of Light in 2000 and The Power to Believe in 2003: after further personnel shuffles, the band expanded to a double-drummer quintet for a 2008 tour celebrating their 40th anniversary. Following another hiatus between 2009 and 2012, King Crimson reformed once again in 2013; this time as a septet (and, later, octet) with an unusual three-drumkit frontline and the return of saxophone/flute to the lineup for the first time since 1972. This current version of King Crimson has continued to tour and to release live albums, significantly rearranging and reinterpreting music from across the band's career. Since 1997, several musicians have pursued aspects of the band's work and approaches through a series of related bands collectively referred to as ProjeKcts. Formation In August 1967, brothers Michael Giles (drums) and Peter Giles (bass), who had been professional musicians in various jobbing bands since their mid-teens in Dorset, England, advertised for a singing organist to join their new group. Fellow Dorset musician Robert Fripp – a guitarist who did not sing – responded and the trio formed the band Giles, Giles and Fripp. Based on a format of eccentric pop songs and complex instrumentals, the band recorded several unsuccessful singles and one album, The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp. The band hovered on the edge of success, with several radio sessions and a television appearance, but never scored the hit that would have been crucial for a commercial breakthrough. Attempting to expand their sound, the three recruited Ian McDonald on keyboards, reeds and woodwinds. McDonald brought along his then-girlfriend, former Fairport Convention singer Judy Dyble, whose brief tenure with the group ended when the two split. McDonald brought in lyricist, roadie, and art strategist Peter Sinfield, with whom he had been writing songs – a partnership initiated when McDonald had said to Sinfield, regarding his 1968 band Creation, "Peter, I have to tell you that your band is hopeless, but you write some great words. Would you like to get together on a couple of songs?" Fripp, meanwhile, saw Clouds perform at the Marquee Club in London which inspired him to incorporate classical melodies and jazz-like improvisation in his songwriting. No longer interested in pursuing Peter Giles' more whimsical pop style, Fripp recommended his friend, singer, and guitarist Greg Lake, join and replace either Peter Giles or Fripp himself. Peter Giles later called it one of Fripp's "cute political moves". But he had become disillusioned with the band's lack of success and departed, leaving Lake to become bassist and singer.
King Khan
Arish Ahmad Khan (born January 24, 1977), better known by his stage name King Khan, is a Canadian musician/producer/artist/writer. He is best known as the frontman of King Khan and the Shrines and for being one half of The King Khan & BBQ Show. Career Khan was born in Montreal to an Indo-Canadian family. Since 2005, he resides in Berlin, Germany with his wife and two daughters. King Khan was a member of a number of Canadian garage bands including the Spaceshits, a frantic garage punk outfit formed in mid-1995. As his circle of fellow troublemaker musicians grew, in 1999, he helped create a "death cult" of such musicians, originally known as the "Kukamongas" with identifying tattoos and a love for real rock n' roll. He used the Blacksnake moniker while in the Spaceshits whose two full-length albums were released on Sympathy for the Record Industry. He has spent a considerable amount of time in collaboration with former Spaceshits bandmate Mark Sultan in the two-man band, The King Khan & BBQ Show. Since 1999, King Khan has performed as leader and front man of King Khan and the Shrines, a psychedelic soul nine member band. They signed to Vice Records in 2008 and Merge Records in 2013. In early 2009, King Khan collaborated with Mark Sultan and the four members of the Black Lips to form a gospel supergroup called Almighty Defenders. Their debut album was released on Vice Records on September 22, 2009.
Koko Taylor
Koko Taylor (born Cora Anna Walton, September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009) was an American singer whose style encompassed Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul blues. Sometimes called "The Queen of the Blues", she was known for her rough, powerful vocals. Life and career Born on a farm near Memphis, Tennessee, Taylor was the daughter of a sharecropper. She left Tennessee for Chicago in 1952 with her husband, Robert "Pops" Taylor, a truck driver. In the late 1950s, she began singing in blues clubs in Chicago. She was spotted by Willie Dixon in 1962, and this led to more opportunities for performing and her first recordings. In 1963 she had a single on USA Records, and in 1964 a cut on a Chicago blues collection on Spivey Records, called Chicago Blues. In 1964 Dixon brought Taylor to Checker Records, a subsidiary label of Chess Records, for which she recorded "Wang Dang Doodle", a song written by Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf five years earlier. The record became a hit, reaching number four on the R&B chart and number 58 on the pop chart in 1966, and selling a million copies. She recorded several versions of the song over the years, including a live rendition at the 1967 American Folk Blues Festival, with the harmonica player Little Walter and the guitarist Hound Dog Taylor. Her subsequent recordings, both original songs and covers, did not achieve as much success on the charts. "Taylor sounds like you always wanted those women with Big in front of their names to sound—powerful, even rough, without ever altogether abandoning her rather feminine register." — Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981) Taylor became better known by touring in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and she became accessible to a wider record-buying public when she signed a recording contract with Alligator Records in 1975. She recorded nine albums for Alligator, eight of which were nominated for Grammy awards, and came to dominate ranks of female blues singers, winning twenty-nine W. C. Handy/Blues Music Awards. She survived a near-fatal car crash in 1989. In the 1990s, she appeared in the films Blues Brothers 2000 and Wild at Heart. She opened a blues club on Division Street in Chicago in 1994, which relocated to Wabash Avenue, in Chicago's South Loop, in 2000 (the club is now closed). In 2003, she appeared as a guest with Taj Mahal in an episode of the television series Arthur. In 2009, she performed with Umphrey's McGee at the band's New Year's Eve concert at the Auditorium Theater, in Chicago. Taylor influenced Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Janis Joplin, Shannon Curfman, and Susan Tedeschi. In her later years, she performed over 70 concerts a year and resided just south of Chicago, in Country Club Hills, Illinois. In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service said that Taylor owed $400,000 in unpaid taxes, penalties and interest, for the years 1998, 2000 and 2001. In those years combined, her adjusted gross income was $949,000. Taylor's final performance was at the Blues Music Awards, on May 7, 2009. She suffered complications from surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding on May 19 and died on June 3. On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Koko Taylor among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
Kokoroko
Kokoroko (stylised as KOKOROKO) is a London-based eight-piece musical group led by Sheila Maurice-Grey, playing a fusion of Jazz and Afrobeat. In February 2019 they were named "ones to watch" by the Guardian, after their track "Abusey Junction" garnered 23 million views on YouTube. In February 2020 they won Best Group at the Urban Music Awards. In September 2020 they played BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
Kurt Vile
Kurt Samuel Vile (born January 3, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is known for his solo work and as the former lead guitarist of rock band The War on Drugs, both in the studio and during live performances, Vile is accompanied by his backing band, The Violators, which currently includes Jesse Trbovich (bass, guitar, saxophone), Rob Laakso (guitar, bass) and Kyle Spence (drums). Influenced by Pavement, Neil Young, Tom Petty, and John Fahey, Vile began his musical career creating lo-fi home recordings with frequent collaborator Adam Granduciel in Philadelphia, with whom he has participated in early work by The War on Drugs as well as various solo projects. Focusing on his solo career, Vile released two albums, Constant Hitmaker (2008) and God Is Saying This to You... (2009), compiling various home recordings dating back to 2003. Vile signed to Matador Records in 2009, and released his third album, Childish Prodigy, that same year. The album was his first recorded in a studio and with the full participation of The Violators. In 2011, Vile released his fourth studio album, Smoke Ring for My Halo, which significantly increased his exposure. His fifth studio album, Wakin on a Pretty Daze, was released in 2013, with Laakso replacing Granduciel in his backing band. In 2015, Vile released his sixth studio album, b'lieve I'm goin down.... The lead single from the album, "Pretty Pimpin", was Vile's best performing song to date, topping the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart in March 2016. His 2017 release, Lotta Sea Lice, is a collaboration with Australian singer and guitarist Courtney Barnett. His latest album, Bottle It In, was released on October 12, 2018.
L’Eclair
L’Eclair is a cosmic instrumental six piece from Geneva, Switzerland. Their origins can be traced back to 2015 when, while studying in London, keyboardist Sebastien Bui and guitarist Stefan Lilov recorded several demos together in their hotel room. Hearing something special in this batch of songs, they returned to Geneva and enlisted Yavor Lilov (drums), Alain Sandri (percussion, keyboard), Quentin Pilet (percussion) and Elie Ghersinu (bass) to flesh out these ideas into a full fledged band. The relentless grooves, classic tones and silky smooth melodies were instantly present, and L’Eclair was born. Their debut record Cruise Control was released in 2017, to positive reviews. Touring extensively in Switzerland and abroad, they further honed their trademark sound while steadily growing their audience. They soon convened in Haarlem, Netherlands to record with famed studio wizard Jasper Geluk (Altin Gun, Jacco Gardner, Allah Las). These sessions became their second studio album entitled Polymood, which was released in 2018 on US label Beyond Beyond is Beyond, opening up even more opportunities for L’Eclair. On the heels of Polymood, L’Eclair continued to tour across Europe, playing in the Netherlands, UK, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and France, and quickly becoming a live staple on the festival circuit. Appearances at Montreux Jazz Festival, Paléo, Kilbi, Les Transmusicales de Rennes, Eurosonic, and the Copenhagen Jazz Festival gained them critical acclaim and a cult following. Expanding their sound, their third album Sauropoda came in 2019, as well as a collaborative EP with friends Mauskovic Dance Band, both released by Bongo Joe. These projects displayed the band’s increasing propensity toward more electronic sounds, while still firmly rooted in their trademark organic grooves and rhythms. Another fruitful collaboration, this time with LA musician and producer Frank Maston, resulted in the album Souvenir (2021) and several tours in the US and Europe in late 2019. L’Eclair continued their growth as a live band supporting the Cinematic Orchestra at O2 arena, playing to their biggest audience yet. Their fourth LP Noshtta was released in 2020, showing flirtations with house and prog, and blending seamlessly with the organic sound they had become known for. Hometown: Geneva, Switzerland
L'Rain
Taja Cheek, known professionally as L'Rain, is an American experimentalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and curator known primarily as the lead vocalist and songwriter of her eponymous band. Her self-titled debut, L'Rain, was included in best-of-year lists by publications including Pitchfork and Bandcamp Daily; her second album, Fatigue, was counted among Pitchfork's "Best New Music". She has collaborated with artists including Vagabon, Helado Negro, and Naama Tsabar, and performed with Kevin Beasley at the Whitney Museum of American Art. L'Rain has been recognized for experimental music that draws on a vast number of traditions and genres in a practice and aesthetic Cheek calls "approaching songness". Reviewers have variously identified her style and influences as including free jazz, ambient, noise music, and disco; experimental pop and dance; "psychedelic orchestral pop" and "distorted shoegaze"; krautrock, outsider music, and hip hop; R&B and avant-garde rock; gospel, funk, and post-punk; and soul, drone, avant-pop, and musique concrète. Early life and career Cheek was born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where she lived with her mother, father, and grandparents. Her father, Wyatt Cheek, worked in music marketing and promotion for entities including Select Records and Kiss FM; her grandmother ran a liquor store; and in the 1950s her grandfather owned a neighborhood jazz club. Cheek's mother, Lorraine C. Porter, taught physical education, health, math, and science in Brooklyn schools. The stage name L'Rain is an homage to Porter, who died before the release of the self-titled debut. Cheek studied ballet and modern dance at The Ailey School and learned piano, cello, and Baroque recorder before picking up bass in high school, then forming and joining groups that included an Iron Maiden cover band. She attended Yale to study music but dropped the major, citing factors including a lack of diversity among the program's course offerings. She transferred to the American Studies program, where her major included a concentration in visual, audio, literary, and performance cultures; in 2011, she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction. While at Yale she worked as music director of radio station WYBC and booked shows. After graduating, Cheek returned to New York. She resumed playing in and co-leading Brooklyn bands including Throw Vision; the group released their debut in 2013 and a 7" EP in 2015. She also began presenting and curating public art, working with organizations such as Creative Time and the High Line. In 2014, Cheek was a site manager for the Funk, God, Jazz, and Medicine: Black Radical Brooklyn exhibit, installing a radio station in a pink Cadillac outside the Utica Avenue A/C subway station in homage to Jitu Weusi, black nationalist community arts center The East, and jazz nonprofit and festival the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium. The same year, she co-organized "The Kara Walker Experience: WE ARE HERE", a public gathering of people of color at the Domino Sugar Refinery for Kara Walker's installation A Subtlety. Cheek began working for contemporary art institution MoMA PS1 in 2016, with curatorial work including co-organizing the Sunday Sessions and Warm Up series; as of 2021, she serves as Associate Curator. In 2017, Cheek released the self-titled L'Rain on New York City-based label Astro Nautico. She composed and performs vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, guitar, bass, samples, and percussion on the album; L'Rain also features Alex Goldberg, Jeremy Powell, Kyp Malone (of TV on the Radio), and Andrew Lappin, who co-produced the album with Cheek. Pitchfork included L'Rain among their 20 Best Experimental Albums of 2017, and Bandcamp Daily listed the release as #10 in their Best Albums of 2017. L'Rain's second album, Fatigue, was released on Mexican Summer in 2021. The album met with wide acclaim, with positive reviews from outlets including Pitchfork and NPR. Cheek provides vocals and plays guitar, bass, synth, keyboards, piano, percussion, tape effects, and airhorn on the album, which also features an expanded roster of twenty collaborators. In July 2021, Cheek performed at Mass MOCA after a week-long residency. She toured with Black Midi in the Fall of 2021 and will be touring with Animal Collective in Spring 2022. Musical style L'Rain often layers and loops her vocals, and her work frequently features samples from her collection of hundreds of field recordings, some pitch-shifted or otherwise manipulated beyond recognition. She has spoken in interviews about her work's tendency to evade or reject categorization, saying that she is "more interested in a Barthes, Death of the Author, approach to genre", values illegibility, and seeks to complicate assumptions about the relationship between identity and aesthetics: "I’m hyper-aware of how marketing and packaging happens for Black people and women and Black women I like feeling a sense of agency in how those stories are told". While Cheek is the sole fixed figure in L'Rain recordings and performances, she says the project follows a "more nuanced and collective [model]" than that of the "lone genius or creator": "I’m trying to find a way to nurture my own voice and singular vision, especially as a Black woman musician, while also acknowledging that I work collaboratively with a team that is essential to the project." As of June 2021, L'Rain's bandmates are Ben Chapoteau-Katz, Justin Felton, and Alwyn Robinson.
Lady Wray
Nicole Monique Wray (born May 2, 1979), also known as simply Nicole, is an American R&B and hip hop singer. Her 1998 debut single "Make It Hot" was certified gold. Musical career Wray was born in Salinas, California and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia. After being introduced to Missy Elliott, Wray was featured on Missy's platinum certified debut Supa Dupa Fly. When Elliott started her own label, The Goldmind, the then 17-year-old Wray was the first artist signed. She impressed Elliot with her singing skills. In 1998, her debut album Make It Hot was released. Heavily criticized for Elliott's heavy-handed involvement (she produced, wrote, and performed on much of the album) the first single, "Make It Hot", peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified gold. Her second single, "I Can't See", reached number 36 on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart. Her debut album Make It Hot peaked at number nineteen on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart (number 42 on The Billboard 200) and dropped off by the end of the year. The third single, "Eyes Better Not Wander", peaked at number 71 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Later that year, Wray would sing the hook to "All n My Grill" on Missy Elliott's platinum certified second album, Da Real World. In July 2001, Wray released "I'm Lookin'", the first single from her planned second album Elektric Blue. "I'm Lookin'" peaked at number 66 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but the album would eventually be shelved. After amicably parting with The Goldmind, Wray was sought after to feature vocals on various albums and soundtracks. She would go on to sign a new album deal and under the guidance of Damon Dash was featured on Cam'ron's gold certified 2004 release, Purple Haze. Later that year she released the single, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" from her scheduled Roc-A-Fella Records debut and sophomore studio set LoveChild. Though garnering some buzz, there ultimately was not enough push to release the album. After the temporary halt of Roc-A-Fella, LoveChild would suffer the same fate as its predecessor. Wray moved through the Dame Dash Music Group, and also Channel 7 Records, garnering several guest vocal appearances. Still maintaining her work relationship with Damon Dash, Wray joined The Black Keys rock/hip-hop collective Blakroc, and was a major vocal contributor to the group's self-titled November 2009 debut. Wray was then enlisted to add her background vocals on The Black Keys' seventh studio LP, Brothers, which was released in May 2010. In 2010, she appeared on Kid Cudi's second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager on the song "The End", alongside Chip tha Ripper and GLC. In 2012, Wray teamed up with fellow soulstress Terri Walker to form retro-soul duo Lady. They were signed to Truth and Soul Records and their self-titled debut album was released on March 5, 2013. In 2016, she announced a new single "Do It Again" and a new album "Queen Alone" set for a September 23, 2016 release date, under her new stage name Lady Wray.
Lakota John
Lakota John is an old soul with a love for the blues. “Pembroke’s Lakota John Locklear is a prodigious blues guitarist of Lumbee and Lakota lineage–Indy Week”. From Robeson County, North Carolina and born in 1997, John Lakota Locklear is no stranger to music. He grew up listening to his dad’s music library and at 6 years old, he picked up one of his Dad’s old harmonicas and at age 7, his first guitar. This lefty learned to play guitar in standard tuning and was intrigued by the sound of the slide guitar. At age 10, he bought himself a glass slide, placed it on his pinky finger and he has been sliding over the frets ever since. Lakota John started performing in 2009 and has repeated performances at the NC Museum of History; The PineCone Music Series; Shakori Hills Music Festival; IAIA Music Festival; the North Carolina Indian Heritage Celebration; New Mexico State Fair, and many more. He is a 2015 NAMA Nominee (Native American Music Awards) and has opened up for and shared the stage with Native American Blues Artist, Pura Fe; Blues icon, Taj Mahal; Native blues rocker, Keith Secola; Scott Ainslie, Blues Historian and Musician; Cary Morin, Native American Blues Guitarist and mentor; the Jeff Sipe Trio; Legendary Bluesman Mr. John Dee Holeman and the South Carolina “Blues Doctor” Mr. Drink Small. Lakota John continues to learn alongside the elder bluesmasters, carrying on the traditional sounds of the acoustic Piedmont to the electric blues guitar styles and preserving his heritage with songs from the Native American flute. Some of his musical influences include Blind Boy Fuller, Reverend Gary Davis, Duane Allman, Johnny Winter, Robert Johnson, Taj Mahal, Jimi Hendrix, Derek Trucks, Jesse Fuller and many-many more. Lakota John received two scholarships, 2008 and 2009 to attend Centrum’s Acoustic Blues Festival in Port Townsend, WA, where he participated in a week of guitar workshops and jam sessions with the late John Cephas, Phil Wiggins, Terry “Harmonica” Bean, Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton and many more. In 2009, he released his first CD “Old Bluez That’s Newz to Me” and shortly after, Music Maker Relief Foundation began working with the guitar prodigy, Lakota John, as one of their “Next Generation Artists”. Humble thanks to Pura Fe, blues musician and mentor, for the introduction to the Music Maker record label.
Laney Jones
Independent rock n roll from the gutters of Nashville, Tennessee. Laney Jones and the Spirits have big f*cking heart. It's undeniable watching Jones who usually performs live as a trio on her gnarly 1960s Sears Roebuck Silvertone guitar with her life and musical partner (Brian Dowd) holding the heartbeat on the drums. They're "everything that’s good about rock and roll” says GRAMMY-winning icon Lucinda Williams. And like Williams, Jones's road has been hard fought. Cutting their teeth on mics literally and metaphorically across the US for the past decade, Jones's free-wheeling, do-it-yourself lifestyle is the stuff of modern folklore. With few prospects when the Florida-raised couple first moved to Nashville in 2017, they made rent by stacking beers at the local Piggly Wiggly. A chameleon of a songwriter, Jones has since found other ways to pay the bills, licensing songs for pop projects to the likes of Guinness and Google, but the music the couple creates cuts deeper than that. It's personal. And nothing shows more clearly the spirit of their work than one of their latest self-produced and mixed release, the aptly titled “Feel Something” “If everything was perfect, and we lived just like a king, I don’t know if it would matter, babe, I don’t know if I could sing. It’s the ripping of my heart out – the flicker of a dream – that binds us to tomorrow and makes us feel something.” Catchy, yet raw and arrestingly sincere, it's no wonder Jones's cult following has been steadily growing since the release of their seminal record Stories Up High (2022) produced by Andrjia Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Langhorne Slim) of the famed Bomb Shelter in East Nashville. Though the record wrestles with themes of depression and the meaning of life, the vibes are more bittersweet than sad. Jones says “Stories Up High was me writing what I needed to hear. It taught me to let go. Let my ego die...it was deeply healing and freeing. It's where I live now". As Laney Jones and the Spirits open for bands like The Heartless Bastards and Kurt Vile -- a night where Jones sold so much merch that the theater owner out of pure amazement doubled their opening band slot pay -- one thing is clear, their live punk energy is something to witness. Jones's newest song, “Stay At Home,” released this February is an acid lick taste of where the band is heading. Sonically rich and lofi, it hints of Doolittle-era Pixies without the stale, microwaved mouthfeel of someone trying to reheat the 90s grunge scene. At the core, as usual, it's their songwriting that begs more from the listener. Using hyperbole and the popular pandemic catch-phrase to question modern man's true sense of reality and humanity. From a youth growing up with kangaroos in swampy central Florida to officially showcasing at this year's SXSW, Laney Jones is not someone you can put in a box. Nor should you try with their music. They're something and someone wholly unique that you just gotta see for yourself.
Lapcat
The inter-continental trio known as Lapcat, comprised of Cate, Jonas and Jean-Jaques, combines Swiss cool with American fun. Born out of a shared love of creative expression, and drawing inspirations from everyday life, Lapcat takes diverse past influences and goes somewhere new. With sounds ranging from melodic vocals and electronic beats, to hip-hop rhythms and sparse instrumentals, the music they make is like dark chocolate with chile: bittersweet and spicy. Moving lyrics and spirited beats create the feeling of traveling to far away places only to find yourself finally at home with the ones you love.
Lapdog
What is a Lapdog? Who is a Lapdog? Why is a Lapdog here and not there? I know just as little as everyone else so it's best not to ask and not to tell. "From scrum to scram this rat has seen the scene. Dodging the darts, up and down, corner to corner, fast as fate and swift like salt." That's the story of a project of this website. The life and times of Lapdog. Lapdog is most likely a rock n roll band from SLC with frequently changing members and styles. You want in? Come join but then leave after if you want to. Lapdog is mostly a recording project actually. Not much to say other than that. . . Lots of love to the friends who come and record and play it live with us in our basement.
Larsen Gardens
By Jeffrey Brown Sarah Edmonds, the sole member of Larsen Gardens, told the Daily Cardinal she is on the road looking for magic. Now, in the opening stretch of her self-booked tour, she lives in her minivan, occasionally staying with friends when possible. The long, uninterrupted stretches of solitude are an experience Edmonds considers sacred saying, “The chance to be alone is a chance to connect to yourself.” Edmonds’ story begins with piano lessons as a child in Salem, Oregon. She was always fascinated by musical composition. She then moved to Nashville for school and purchased her first guitar — what would become her primary instrument — at 19 or 20 years old. As a singer for a 16 piece jazz band in the Nashville area, Edmonds grew very familiar with the works of June Christy, Sarah Vaughn and the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald. She said performing the work of these female jazz icons taught her to express the sultry, sensual and intimate side of her voice. But, these songs, being of their time, center traditional gender norms and the male gaze. She loved the music but felt it could use some updates on its treatment of relationships — something that empowers “the feminine side we push down when we’re scared.” That’s a large part of what goes into Larsen Gardens... (continued)
Lauren Ruth Ward
Declared by music critics as a cross between Janis Joplin, Florence Welch and Courtney Barnett, Lauren Ruth Ward is a force of nature. Her lyrics are secrets to strangers, writing about her life’s trajectory sharing both vulnerability and strength delivered with grit and vibrato. Her band flirts with 1950-90’s rock and roll nuances, allowing Ward to release a powerhouse of raw, visceral emotion in their live show. Her critically acclaimed debut album Well, Hell introduced her too a worldwide audience, with accolades from NYLON, Noisey, Consequence of Sound, The Los Angeles Times, Indie Shuffle and more. She has played to sold out crowds in US and overseas, sharing stages with artists as diverse as Keith Urban, Shirley Manson, Eddie Vedder, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Shakey Graves, LP and Liz Phair. Her band capped off last year with a cover of “White Rabbit” in celebration of Grace Slick’s birthday and paid the same respects for Jim Morrison’s 75th by releasing “Happy Birthday Jim”, a 7 song Doors tribute album which included music videos for all 7 tracks. Ward hit the ground running this year releasing 6 original singles and 3 music videos. This prolific catalog includes; “Valhalla”, “Hungry Barber”, “Pullstring”, “We Are Grown Ups”, “Wise Gal” and soon to be released “Super Bullshit”. “Same Soul”, a collaboration between Ward and Desi Valentine for Jack Daniels, was also released. Ward is addicted to discovering herself. She joined forces with Chris Hess of SWIMM for their side project called Aging Actress, directed/produced a music video for Alicia Blue’s song “Incognito” and will be releasing a 12 track, 5 music video, body of work in the new year. She is inspired by everything and is most thankful for her guitarist / writing partner Eduardo Rivera for nurturing their creative process.
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter and rapper, known for being a member of Fugees, and for her solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which won many awards and broke several sales records. Raised mostly in South Orange, New Jersey, Hill began singing with her music-oriented family during her childhood. In high school, Hill was approached by Pras Michel for a band he started, which his friend, Wyclef Jean, soon joined. They renamed themselves the Fugees and released the albums Blunted on Reality (1994), and the Grammy Award–winning The Score (1996), which sold six million copies in the U.S. Hill rose to prominence with her African-American and Caribbean music influences, her rapping and singing, and her rendition of the hit "Killing Me Softly". Her tumultuous romantic relationship with Jean led to the split of the band in 1997, after which she began to focus on solo projects. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998) remains Hill's only solo studio album. It received critical acclaim showcasing a representation of life and relationships and locating a contemporary voice within the neo soul genre. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and has sold approximately eight million copies there. This included the singles "Doo Wop (That Thing)" (also a number one), "Ex-Factor" (became her biggest solo hit in UK), and "Everything Is Everything". At the 41st Grammy Awards, the record earned her five awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist. During this time, she won several other awards and became a common sight on the cover of magazines. Soon afterward, Hill dropped out of the public eye, dissatisfied with the music industry and suffering with the pressures of fame. Her last full-length recording, the new-material live album MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 (2002), sharply divided critics and sold poorly compared to her first album and work with the Fugees. Hill's subsequent activity, which includes the release of a few songs and occasional festival appearances, has been sporadic. Her behavior has sometimes caused audience dissatisfaction; a reunion with her former group did not last long. Her music and public statements have become critical of pop culture and societal institutions. Hill has six children, five of them with Rohan Marley. In 2012 she pleaded guilty to tax evasion and served a three-month prison sentence the following year.
Leah Dou
Dou Jingtong (born 3 January 1997), also known as Leah Dou, is a Chinese singer-songwriter who primarily sings in English. She is the daughter of Chinese musician Dou Wei and Chinese-born Hong Kong singer Faye Wong. She first contributed her voice to her mother's song "童 (Tong)" when she was 1 year old. In 2011, Dou formed her first band and became the lead singer. In 2012, she released her first song "With You". In 2013, she launched second personal original single "On the Beach", in the same year, she released third personal original single "Blue Flamingo". She debuted in 2015 in a performance in Tokyo. Later in Clockenflap 2015, she debuted in Hong Kong. She released her first single River Run on December 11, 2015, selling 25,000 copies on QQ Music in three days. Her second single Brother was released in 2016 for a Chinese Shu Uemura campaign. In 2016, she won the QQ New Female Artist Of The Year. Dou has two half sisters, Li Yan (李嫣), the daughter of her mother Faye Wong and her stepfather Li Yapeng, and Dou Jiayuan (窦佳嫄), the daughter of her father Dou Wei and her stepmother Gao Yuan (高原). Dou and her half sister Li Yan and her mother Faye Wong were all born at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Dongcheng District, Beijing. Before reaching her current level of fame, Dou spent time studying at Berklee College of Music, only to withdraw from school after two years to couch-surf in Los Angeles.
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. Along with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, the band's heavy, guitar-driven sound has led them to be cited as one of the progenitors of heavy metal. Their style drew from a wide variety of influences, including blues, psychedelia, and folk music. After changing their name from the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin signed a deal with Atlantic Records that afforded them considerable artistic freedom. Although the group were initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums released over eleven years, from Led Zeppelin (1969) to In Through the Out Door (1979). Their untitled fourth studio album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971) and featuring the song "Stairway to Heaven", is among the most popular and influential works in rock music, and it helped to secure the group's popularity. Page wrote most of Led Zeppelin's music, particularly early in their career, while Plant generally supplied the lyrics. Jones' keyboard-based compositions later became central to the group's catalogue, which featured increasing experimentation. The latter half of their career saw a series of record-breaking tours that earned the group a reputation for excess and debauchery. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, their output and touring schedule were limited during the late 1970s, and the group disbanded following Bonham's death from alcohol-related asphyxia in 1980. In the decades that followed, the surviving members sporadically collaborated and participated in one-off Led Zeppelin reunions. The most successful of these was the 2007 Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in London, with Jason Bonham taking his late father's place behind the drums. Many critics consider Led Zeppelin to be one of the most successful, innovative, and influential rock groups in history. They are one of the best-selling music artists in the history of audio recording; various sources estimate the group's record sales at 200 to 300 million units worldwide. With RIAA-certified sales of 111.5 million units, they are the third-best-selling band in the US. Each of their nine studio albums placed in the top 10 of the Billboard album chart and six reached the number-one spot. They achieved eight consecutive UK number-one albums. Rolling Stone magazine described them as "the heaviest band of all time", "the biggest band of the Seventies", and "unquestionably one of the most enduring bands in rock history". They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995; the museum's biography of the band states that they were "as influential" during the 1970s as the Beatles were during the 1960s.
Lee Rafugee
Lee Rafugee is a four piece Rock n' Roll band based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. The band started in 2020 during covid as a way to "break on through" during such an ambivalent time. The sounds of Lee Rafugee range between the despondencies of the old soul singers to the loose and unconfined presence of the Band of Gypsys or Gary Clark Jr. With Sarah DeGraw on guitar and vocals, Aidan Triantafillou on guitar and vocals, Cael Sorenson on bass, and Ethan Shaw on percussion, the best way to sum up the sounds and feeling of Lee Rafugee is unpredictable.
Leif Vollebekk
Leif Vollebekk is a Canadian indie folk singer-songwriter, whose 2017 album Twin Solitude was a shortlisted finalist for the 2017 Polaris Music Prize and the 2018 Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year. Of mixed Norwegian and French descent and originally from Ottawa, Ontario, he learned to play violin, guitar and piano in childhood. While studying philosophy at the University of Ottawa he spent some time in Iceland on an educational exchange, before moving to Montreal after graduation to pursue his musical career. His debut album, Inland, was released on Nevado Records in 2010, and incorporated some songs he had written during his trip to Iceland. He followed up with North Americana in 2013 on Outside Music. He then signed to Secret City Records, which released Twin Solitude in 2017. All three albums were supported by extensive touring in both North America and Europe. His fourth album, New Ways, was released November 1, 2019 on Secret City Records. He also contributed to Piano mal, the 2012 debut album by Julien Sagot.
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. His "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop, folk, and ballads. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Kravitz often plays all of the instruments himself when recording. He won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category as well as setting the record for most consecutive wins in one category by a male. He has been nominated for and won other awards, including American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, Brit Awards, and Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. He was also ranked number 93 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. On December 1, 2011, Kravitz was made an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He played Cinna in the Hunger Games film series.
Leon Bridges
Todd Michael "Leon" Bridges (born July 13, 1989) is an American soul singer, songwriter and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. He is best known for his song "Coming Home", which received regular airplay and was also a Top 10 Most Viral Track on Spotify. Bridges' debut album, also titled Coming Home, was released on June 23, 2015, on Columbia Records and subsequently nominated for Best R&B Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. Bridges learned to play the guitar by playing simple chords to accompany his lyrics. While working at Del Frisco's Grille in Fort Worth, he played countless open-mics until he was signed by Columbia Records in December 2014. It was his song "Lisa Sawyer", about his mother's conversion, that first defined his style.
Lera Lynn
Throughout her career — a nearly decade-long run filled with three album releases, a career-shifting appearance and soundtrack for HBO’s True Detective, hundreds of shows on both sides of the Atlantic, and a sound encompassing everything from Americana to stark indie rock — Lera Lynn has balanced her fierce independence with a string of collaborations. She's written songs with T Bone Burnett and Rosanne Cash. She's recorded albums with full bands (2014's The Avenues, hailed by outlets like Rolling Stone and American Songwriter) and smaller lineups (the experimental, NPR and New York Times-approved Resistor, which Lynn co-produced at her Nashville home). On her fourth album, Plays Well With Others, she teams up with eight different duet partners and seven co-writers, resulting in her most diverse, collaborative work to date. Plays Well With Others is a unique duets album — one in which nearly every song is completely co-written and co-sung. Peter Bradley Adams, John Paul White, Dylan LeBlanc, Andrew Combs, Rodney Crowell, Shovels & Rope, JD McPherson, and Nicole Atkins all make appearances, working alongside Lynn not only to perform these songs, but to create them, too. "Songwriting can be such a personal process; in the past I have tended to do it alone," Lynn admits. “With this record, I wanted to get outside of my own writing corner. I have access to a great community of writers and singers in Nashville, and it became an exciting challenge to sit down with some friends and say, 'Let's write a duet — one that maybe hasn't been written before — and then record it together.' This was an important thing for me to do as an artist: to open myself up to other people and have some fun.” Lynn recorded Plays Well With Others at John Paul White's studio, Sun Drop Sound, in Florence, Alabama. There — with Lynn, White, and the Alabama Shakes' Ben Tanner all serving as co-producers — she tracked nine songs in a series of live takes. Looking to add some sonic framework to an album whose tracklist was vast and varied, she only used acoustic instruments, layering upright piano, strings, percussion, acoustic guitars, and creative sounds into arrangements that nodded to artists like Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Neil Young, John Lennon and Tom Petty. The result is an album that's at times more stripped-down than The Avenues and far less amplified than Resistor, while still shining a light on Lynn's striking voice and unique blend of American music.
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the vocalists for the Band. Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, multi-instrumental ability, and creative drumming style, highlighted on many of the Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". Helm also had a successful career as a film actor, appearing as Loretta Lynn's father in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), as Chuck Yeager's friend and colleague Captain Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff (1983), as a Tennessee firearms expert in Shooter (2007), and as General John Bell Hood in In the Electric Mist (2009). In 1998, Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer which caused him to lose his singing voice. After treatment, his cancer eventually went into remission, and he gradually regained the use of his voice. His 2007 comeback album Dirt Farmer earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in February 2008, and in November of that year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 91 in its list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2010, Electric Dirt, his 2009 follow-up to Dirt Farmer, won the first Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, a category inaugurated in 2010. In 2011, his live album Ramble at the Ryman won the Grammy in the same category. In 2016, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 22 in its list of 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time. The Band Helm returned to the group, then referred to simply as "the band", as it was known around Woodstock. While contemplating a recording contract, Helm had dubbed the band "The Crackers". However, when Robertson and their new manager Albert Grossman worked out the contracts, the group's name was given as "The Band". Under these contracts, the Band was contracted to Grossman, who in turn contracted their services to Capitol Records. This arrangement allowed the Band to release recordings on other labels if the work was done in support of Dylan. Thus the Band was able to play on Dylan's Planet Waves album and to release The Last Waltz, both on other labels. The Band also recorded their own album Music from Big Pink (1968), which catapulted them into stardom. Helm was the Band's only American member. On Music from Big Pink, Manuel was the most prominent vocalist and Helm sang backup and harmony, with the exception of "The Weight". However, as Manuel's health deteriorated and Robbie Robertson's songwriting increasingly looked to the South for influence and direction, subsequent albums relied more and more on Helm's vocals, alone or in harmony with Danko. Helm was primarily a drummer and vocalist and increasingly sang lead, although, like all his bandmates, he was also a multi-instrumentalist. On occasion Manuel switched to drums while Helm played mandolin, guitar, or bass guitar (while Danko played fiddle) on some songs. Helm played the 12-string guitar backdrop to "Daniel and the Sacred Harp". Helm with the Band at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 1976 Photo: David Gans Helm remained with the Band until their farewell performance on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, which was the subject of the documentary film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese. Helm repudiated his involvement with The Last Waltz shortly after the completion of its final scenes. In his autobiography Helm criticized the film and Robertson who produced it.
Lia Ices
Lia Ices is a singer-songwriter from Westport, Connecticut, currently living in Northern California. While she has been performing and recording for several years, Ices gained prominence when her song "Love is Won", from her second studio album Grown Unknown, was played over the closing credits of the second-to-last episode of season one of HBO's Girls on June 10, 2012. Her mother is a photographer and book binder, and Ices says that her father has been a source of musical inspiration throughout her life, encouraging her to write her own songs from an early age. She began playing the piano at age 5, studied theatre at the preparatory high school Walnut Hill School for the Arts and went on to explore the worlds of dance and theater at the Experimental Theatre Wing of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and by studying Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Kessel's brother, Eliot, is also a musician, and a collaborator in her music. In 2008, her first full-length album, Necima, was released in September of that year, produced by Nicolas Vernhes at Rare Book Room Studios in Brooklyn, NY. The music webzine Pitchfork wrote of the album: "When Ices and Vernhes find a creative symbiosis, usually on the record's shorter, pop-leaning tracks, the results are spectacular." Critics compared her singing favorably to that of Kate Bush, and more contemporary artists like Feist and Bat for Lashes, as well as Tori Amos and Cat Power. In early 2011, Ices released her sophomore album, Grown Unknown, which was again mixed at the Rare Book Room Studios in Brooklyn, but released through her new label, Jagjaguwar Records. She spent six months in Vermont writing most of the album, and recorded the album at The Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, New York. The album's second track, "Daphne", features a duet with Bon Iver frontman, Justin Vernon. Critics found her voice more relaxed than on her debut album. On April 3, 2012, Jagjaguwar Records released a 7" single of Ices covering Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," taken from Mojo magazine's Pink Floyd October 2011 special edition, The B side was another cover, of Syd Barrett's Late Night.
Lianne La Havas
Lianne Charlotte Barnes (born 23 August 1989), known professionally as Lianne La Havas, is a British singer and songwriter. Her career began after being introduced to various musicians, including singer Paloma Faith, for whom she sang backing vocals. In 2010, La Havas signed to Warner Bros. Records, spending two years developing her songwriting, before releasing any music. La Havas' debut studio album, Is Your Love Big Enough? (2012), was released to positive reviews from critics and earned her a nomination for the BBC's Sound of 2012 poll and awards for the iTunes Album of The Year 2012. La Havas was born and raised in London, England, to a Greek father and Jamaican mother. She was raised in Tooting and Streatham, spending the majority of her time with her grandparents after her parents separated. La Havas began singing at seven, and cites her parents' diverse musical tastes as having the biggest influence on her music. Her father, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, taught her the basics of guitar and piano. Lianne wrote her first song at the age of 11, but did not learn to play the guitar until she was 18 years old. Lianne sang in her school choir. She attended Norbury Manor Business and Enterprise College for Girls in Thornton Heath where she studied art A-level, and had planned to take an art foundation course before she decided to leave college to pursue a career in music full-time. Her birth name is Lianne Barnes, and her stage name is an adaptation of her Greek father Henry Vlahavas's surname. She lives in London.
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American popular music singer known for singing in a wide range of genres including rock, country, light opera, and Latin. She has earned 10 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, and an ALMA Award, and many of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum in the United States and internationally. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award. She was awarded the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by The Latin Recording Academy in 2011 and also awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by The Recording Academy in 2016. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. On July 28, 2014, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities. In 2019, she will receive a joint star with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work as the group Trio. In total, she has released over 30 studio albums and 15 compilation or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt charted 38 Billboard Hot 100 singles, with 21 reaching the top 40, 10 in the top 10, three at number 2, and "You're No Good" at number 1. This success did not translate to the UK, with only her single "Blue Bayou" reaching the UK Top 40. Her duet with Aaron Neville, "Don't Know Much", peaked at number 2 in December 1989. In addition, she has charted 36 albums, 10 top-10 albums and three number 1 albums on the Billboard Pop Album Chart. Her autobiography, Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir, was published in September 2013. It debuted in the Top 10 on The New York Times Best Seller list. Ronstadt has collaborated with artists in diverse genres, including Bette Midler, Billy Eckstine, Frank Zappa, Carla Bley (Escalator Over the Hill), Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jiménez, Philip Glass, Warren Zevon, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Earl Scruggs, Johnny Cash, and Nelson Riddle. She has lent her voice to over 120 albums and has sold more than 100 million records, making her one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. Christopher Loudon, of Jazz Times, wrote in 2004 that Ronstadt is "blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation." After completing her last live concert in late 2009, Ronstadt retired in 2011. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in December 2012, which left her unable to sing.
Lisa O'Neill
O'Neill moved to Dublin aged 18 to study music at Ballyfermot College. For seven years after that, she worked in the service industry in places like Eddie Rocket's and Bewley's of Grafton Street, continuing to write songs. Her first album, Has An Album, was released in 2009. In 2011, David Gray invited her to open for him on his American and Canadian tour and she was also part of his touring band for a time. Her 2013 and 2018 albums were nominated for the Choice Music Prize. She played at the 2016 Vancouver Folk Music Festival. In 2016, O'Neill made an appearance on the debut album by the trio Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, Everything Sacred. In the album's liner notes, singer James Yorkston reveals that the possibility of calling the group Yorkston/Thorne/Khan/O'Neill was discussed, but that she saw herself as a guest. In 2017, O'Neill was featured in the film Song of Granite, in which she sang "The Galway Shawl". O'Neill won Best Original Folk Track with "Rock the Machine" (from her album Heard a Long Gone Song) at the 2019 RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards, and was nominated for Folk Singer of the Year, Best Traditional Track, Best Original Track and Best Album at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in the same year.
Little Dragon
Little Dragon are a Swedish electronic music band from Gothenburg, formed in 1996. The band consists of Yukimi Nagano (vocals, percussion), Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Wallin (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards). Little Dragon's first release was the double A-side seven-inch vinyl single "Twice"/"Test", released on the Off the Wall label in 2006. The following year, the band signed with the larger British independent label Peacefrog Records and released their eponymous debut album in August 2007. Their second album, Machine Dreams, was released in August 2009, and gathered favourable reviews. The third album, Ritual Union, was released in July 2011 and was ranked at number 41 on Rolling Stone list of the 50 Best Albums of 2011. Clash placed it at number 31 on its list of The Top 40 Albums of 2011. The band's fourth studio album, Nabuma Rubberband, was released in May 2014 by Because Music and was met with critical acclaim. It received a nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. The band's fifth studio album, Season High, was released on 14 April 2017.
Little Hurricane
Little Hurricane is an American rock and blues band, based out of San Diego, California, United States. Formed in 2010, the band consists of front man Anthony "Tone" Catalano and drummer Celeste "C.C." Spina. They are a male/female duo with minimalist blues approach to a rocking, indie sound. It is a perfect blueprint for the Little Hurricane's sound. Influences include Van Morrison, Dead Weather, Gorillaz, James Taylor, Paul Simon, and The Beatles. In 2010, Chicago-born Spina (a cook and bartender) got back on drums after eight years away from a set and put an advertisement on the website Craigslist looking for like-minded musicians. Guitarist Anthony “Tone” Catalano (former studio engineer) caught her attention when he mentioned his jazz-band days in high school. “I’ve been writing songs for years, looking for drummers,” says Tone (who relocated from Santa Cruz to San Diego). “I think it’s unique to have a girl drummer.” says Tone, who makes custom guitar slides from wine- and whiskey-bottle necks. Formed in early 2010, Little Hurricane began when front man Tone, and drummer CC met via Craigslist and have been creating blues[citation needed] together since. Little Hurricane’s bluesy soul stems from Santa Cruz, where Tone was educated by his musical surroundings, and Chicago, where CC first created her back breaking beats” (Boikdaddy, 2011). “By coincidence, both members lived on the 30th Street in North Park, San Diego. They also found a common interest in unique and vintage equipment and a love of blues. Little Hurricane released their debut album Homewrecker, in April 2011. The band has toured in direct support for multiple North American tours for the English ska band The Specials, as well as supported Manchester Orchestra, White Denim, and The Heartless Bastards. In 2013 Little Hurricane toured as direct support for The John Butler Trio, who are an Australian roots and jam band led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler. In 2016, the band signed their first record deal with Mascot Records. Their fourth studio album and first on Mascot, Same Sun Same Moon, was released on April 14, 2017, and became their second album to appear on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart.
Lord Vox
Lord Vox = Radiohead + The Black Keys From slow, dramatic builds to head-pounding riffage that blows my hair back, Lord Vox’s self-titled release is a soulful rock EP that has everything I wanted and more. As a debut release, I honestly couldn’t be more impressed. The mixing is excellent, I can clearly hear the intricacies of each instrument, and the band’s use of dynamics turn each song into a rollercoaster of thick, fuzzy energy. This EP contains five songs, and each one is full of groove and soul. If you’re a fan of no-nonsense rock ’n roll, I can wholeheartedly recommend that you pick up Lord Vox. I’ve been to a few Lord Vox gigs in the past, so I knew I was going to love this release. I was still blown away by how closely the band’s live sound compares to this EP. The reverb is so convincing that if I close my eyes, I can see the three-piece band standing around me, each member communing through their instrument as though guided by a higher power. Lord Vox have a mystical aspect to their music. Sometimes they’re throwing down psychedelic guitar licks ala Jefferson Airplane, and other times stripping down to just the bare essentials. Take “Sonic Load,” for example. The song begins with a morose, listless melody that swims through stringy guitar strumming until it explodes into a thick groove that surrounds me in a warm wash of guitars and pining vocals. In fact, lead singer Nahum Reyes pours so much soul into his vocals that I’m pretty sure a divine glow started coming out of my speakers while I was listening to this record. Washy jamming and twangy melodies make this debut release from Lord Vox well worth your attention. You can catch the whole album on Spotify, or check out Lord Vox’s SoundCloud. Of course, Lord Vox are always tearing it up at local venues, so keep your eyes open for them around town, too! –Alex Blackburn
Los Straitjackets
Los Straitjackets is an American instrumental rock band that formed in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, in 1988. Originally comprising guitarists Danny Amis (formerly of the Raybeats), Eddie Angel and drummer L. J. "Jimmy" Lester under the name The Straitjackets, the band split up soon after forming, but reunited as Los Straitjackets in 1994 with the addition of bassist E. Scott Esbeck. Esbeck left the band in 1998 and was replaced by Pete Curry. The current lineup also features Greg Townson on guitar and Chris Sprague on drums. The band has released fourteen studio albums, four collaboration albums and eight live albums. History Eddie Angel was a noted rockabilly guitarist who moved to Nashville in the early 1980s to record and perform with the Planet Rockers. Danny Amis recorded and performed with the Raybeats, then worked as a sound engineer in Nashville. The two formed The Straitjackets in 1988 with Jimmy Lester, a Nashville session player who had worked and toured with Robert Gordon. They played several gigs during the summer of that year, but soon broke up. In 1994 they reformed as Los Straitjackets, adding bass player Scott Esbeck. Their first album, The Utterly Fantastic and Totally Unbelievable Sound of Los Straitjackets, was released the following year on Upstart Records. In the post-Pulp Fiction surf revival, the group began attracting a following, though their music is not entirely surf-oriented. Over the next few years, the band developed a cult following through its tight instrumentation and stage shows. In its live performances, band members dress in identical black suits, gold Aztec medallions, and personalized Mexican wrestling masks. Danny Amis, a fan of Luchador films and Mexican culture had suggested the band wear the masks he had purchased in Mexico at the band's first gig on a whim; the crowd went wild and a tradition was born. Frontman Amis (aka "Daddy-O Grande") was the sole spokesperson of the band, and would introduce the songs in fast, heavily accented Spanish. In 1998 Esbeck left the band during the recording of The Velvet Touch of Los Straitjackets and was replaced by Pete Curry, formerly of the Halibuts, a 1980s surf-revival group. In 2005 Lester left and was replaced by Jason "Teen Beat" Smay. They have become known as frequent collaborators, recording Sing Along with Los Straitjackets with a number of different artists. They were nominated for a Grammy Award for their collaboration with blues singer Eddy Clearwater, Rock 'N' Roll City. Their stage shows have become more elaborate and frequently feature choreography, guest vocalists such as Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater, Kaiser George of the Scottish band the Kaisers, Big Sandy, and the burlesque dancing troupe The World Famous Pontani Sisters. In recent years, they have staged festive Christmas shows during the holiday season. In 2010 Danny Amis was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He was sidelined from recording and touring while under treatment. Los Straitjackets recruited guitarist Greg "Gregorio El Grande" Townson to fill Amis' role during his absence. In 2012 Amis announced that his cancer was "under control" and he would return to recording and limited touring with Los Straitjackets in September 2012. This coincided with the band's new studio release Jet Set and debut of new drummer Chris "Sugar Balls" Sprague. Amis now lives in Mexico City. In late 2016, Los Straitjackets were due to embark on a tour with NRBQ. Prior to the tour, Pete Curry had to undergo shoulder replacement surgery. While he was recovering, his replacements consisted of Eddie's son, Max, Todd Bradley of the Hi-Risers, and Juan Ugalde of The Outta Sites. On May 19, 2017, the band released What's So Funny About Peace, Love And..., a tribute to the music of Nick Lowe, on Yep Roc Records. In 2019 the band embarked on a UK tour backing Lowe. Their February 2019 single with Lowe, "Love Starvation," was described by Rolling Stone magazine as "a peppy-sounding old-school rock song that paints a bleak lyrical picture of romantic fallout." Lowe said of the band: "Apart from being a fantastic rock ‘n’ roll band, they know how to play tons of different styles really well. They can knock you out a version of Bacharach and David's "The Look of Love" with no trouble at all."
Loving
Loving is the musical collaboration of David Parry, Lucas Henderson and Jesse Henderson. The band formed by way of a long-distance recording project (Victoria – Toronto) that resulted in the creation of their debut self-titled EP. After the unexpected embrace of this work, the band reconvened in Victoria, BC to begin playing live shows and work on new material. Following in the path of their debut EP, If l am only my thoughts was home recorded and represents a deeper exploration of the band’s creative process - a process marked by an appreciation for the generative limitations of recording to tape. The resulting album constructs a warm and dreamy sonic landscape kept adrift by existentially oriented lyrics and an unspecified all-encompassing sense of nostalgia. Between the recording and completion of If l am only my thoughts, the band has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe, supporting prominent artists including Alice Phoebe Lou, Crumb and Still Woozy. For all live shows, Loving is joined by Keenan Mittag-Degala (Elan Noon) on drums. “Nihilist Kite Flyer”, the first single from the upcoming LP, is slated for release May 16th, 2019. The full album will be released via Last Gang Records.
Lucinda Williams
Three-time Grammy Award winner, Lucinda Williams has been carving her own path for more than three decades now. Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Williams had been imbued with a “culturally rich, economically poor” worldview. Several years of playing the hardscrabble clubs gave her a solid enough footing to record a self-titled album that would become a touchstone for the embryonic Americana movement – helping launch a thousand musical ships along the way. While not a huge commercial success at the time Lucinda Williams (aka, the Rough Trade album) retained a cult reputation, and finally got the reception it deserved upon its reissue in 2014. Jim Farber of New York’s Daily News hailed the reissue by saying “Listening again proves it to be that rarest of beasts: a perfect work. There’s not a chord, lyric, beat or inflection that doesn’t pull at the heart or make it soar.” For much of the next decade, Williams moved around the country, stopping in Austin, Los Angeles, Nashville, and turning out work that won immense respect within the industry (winning a Grammy for Mary Chapin Carpenter’s version of “Passionate Kisses”) and a gradually growing cult audience. While her recorded output was sparse for a time, the work that emerged was invariably hailed for its indelible impressionism — like 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which notched her first Grammy as a performer. The past decade brought further development, both musically and personally, evidenced on albums like West (2007), which All Music Guide called “flawless…destined to become a classic” and Blessed (2011), which the Los Angeles Times dubbed “a dynamic, human, album, one that’s easy to fall in love with.” Those albums retained much of Williams’ trademark melancholy and southern Gothic starkness, but also exuded more rays of light and hope. This all lead to the 2014 release of Williams’ first double studio album Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone. The album received overwhelming praise from the media and fans, thus proving that Williams’ songwriting is as strong and important as it has ever been.
Lucrecia Dalt
Musician, sound artist, performer from Colombia based in Berlin.
Lucy Dacus
Lucy Dacus (born May 2, 1995) is an American indie rock singer-songwriter from Richmond, Virginia. She has released two critically acclaimed albums: No Burden (2016) and Historian (2018). In 2018, she formed boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. Early life Dacus grew up in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia. She graduated from Maggie L. Walker Governor's School and began studying film at Virginia Commonwealth University but left to pursue her music career. Career Dacus first performed in New York City in March 2015. Her first single, "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore", premiered in November 2015. Her debut album, No Burden, was produced in Nashville by her hometown friends, Berklee College of Music graduate Collin Pastore and Oberlin Conservatory of Music graduate Jacob Blizard, and was originally released digitally on CD, and on vinyl via Richmond's EggHunt Records on February 26, 2016. No Burden was engineered and mixed by Collin Pastore. Dacus was then signed to Matador Records, who re-released the album on September 9, 2016. In the same year she performed at Lollapalooza, in Chicago's Grant Park and made her national television debut on CBS This Morning. She recorded a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR the same weekend. In October 2016 she played the London Calling festival in Amsterdam, as a replacement for The Duke Spirit, who were forced to cancel. Dacus's second album, entitled Historian, was released on March 2, 2018. Like its predecessor, it was met with widespread critical acclaim. Writing for Pitchfork, Sasha Gessen praised its nuance and sensitivity: " It’s not an easy album to wear out. It lasts, and it should, given that so many of its lyrics pick at time, and the way time condenses around deep emotional attachments to other people." Rolling Stone rated the album 4/5 stars, as did NME. Historian, like No Burden, was recorded in Nashville, at Trace Horse Studio, in a similar collaborative effort by Lucy Dacus, Jacob Blizard, and Collin Pastore. In September 2016, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine stated in an interview that Dacus was a "new favorite". In a 2019 interview, Dacus revealed that she had attended kindergarten with Kaine's daughter and that she considers him to be an old family friend. In 2018, Dacus, along with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, formed the supergroup boygenius. They released three songs in August 2018 and subsequently announced an EP and tour. The EP, titled boygenius, came out on October 26, 2018. To coincide with Valentine's Day 2019, Dacus released a cover of La Vie En Rose, the first in a planned series of songs commemorating major holidays.
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, sometimes referred to as POTR, is an American country rock group based in California. The band consists of Lukas Nelson (lead vocals, guitar), Anthony LoGerfo (drums, percussion), Corey McCormick (bass guitar, vocals), Logan Metz (keyboards, lap steel, guitar, harmonica, vocals), and Tato Melgar (percussion). Lukas is the son of Willie Nelson. Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real has released 6 studio albums and 4 EP's. Since 2015, Promise of the Real have been Canadian musician Neil Young's regular backing band. The band has recorded two studio albums with Young, The Monsanto Years (2015) and The Visitor (2017), a soundtrack album, Paradox (2018), and a live album, Earth (2016). Formation of Promise of the Real Lukas Autry Nelson moved from Paia, Hawaii to Los Angeles in 2007 to attend Loyola Marymount University where he met and became friends with future keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Logan Metz, who later joined the band in 2018. In 2008, Nelson met then current if all else fails drummer Anthony LoGerfo at a Neil Young concert, where they bonded over their shared love of rock music. They began playing music together regularly after Lukas dropped out of college in October, 2008. They enlisted Tato Melgar (percussionist), and Merlyn Kelly (bassist) to form POTR.
M. Ward
Matthew Stephen "M." Ward (born October 4, 1973) is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Portland, Oregon. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings; he has released nine albums since 1999, primarily through independent label Merge Records. In addition to his solo work, he is a member of pop duo She & Him and folk-rock supergroup Monsters of Folk, and also participates in recording, producing, and playing with multiple other artists. M. Ward was raised in Ventura County, California, and moved to Portland, Oregon after college. Growing up, Ward taught himself songs by The Beatles on his brother's guitar, and began recording demos on a four-track analog tape recorder when he was about fifteen. Ward continues to only record analog, and starts all of his songs as demos on the same recorder he has had since his teens. Ward's solo debut, Duet for Guitars #2, was released by Co-Dependent Records in 1999, then re-issued by Howe Gelb's Ow Om record label in 2000. Described by Joshua Klein of Pitchfork as "ragged and lo-fi...recorded on a shoestring and not necessarily worse for it," Duet for Guitars #2 soon went out of print for a second time, before being reissued by Merge in 2007. Ward's second album, End of Amnesia, was put out by Future Farmer Records and Loose Music (Europe) in 2001. In a retrospective review, Ryan Kearney of Pitchfork compares the album to a contemporary band, Sparklehorse, saying that "both Linkous and Ward are country- and folk-influenced artists who scratch unavoidable, but nominally disruptive marks on the traditional blueprint. Sparklehorse had released It's a Wonderful Life to critical acclaim earlier in the year. A collection of live recordings, Live Music & The Voice of Strangers, was a self-released disc that was sold at his shows in 2001.
Madison Cunningham
As its title suggests, Revealer—the new album by Madison Cunningham—is full of confessions, intimations, and hard truths the Los Angeles singer-songwriter-guitarist might rather have kept to herself. It’s a warts-and-all self-portrait of a young artist who is full of doubt and uncertainty, yet bursting with exciting ideas about music and life, who has numerous Grammy nominations but still feels like she has far to go, who turns those misgivings into songs that are confident in their idiosyncrasies. It’s also a rumination on music as a vehicle for such revelations, what’s gained and what’s lost when you put words to your innermost feelings. “There’s a sense of conflict about revealing anything about yourself—not just what to reveal, but whether you should reveal anything at all,” she says. “When you have to vouch for yourself and present a true picture of who you are, that can get confusing very quickly. This record is a product of me trying to find myself and my interests again. I felt like somewhere along the way I had lost the big picture of my own life.” Reassembling that picture resulted in songs full of odd turns of phrase, skewed imagery, and witty asides; Cunningham writes to figure things out, and she doesn’t settle for easy answers or pat platitudes. Instead, more often than not she pulls the rug out from under herself, playing both straight man and comic relief. “I’m not immune to a piece of bad news, I just do what I must to move on,” she sings on the percolating opener “All I’ve Ever Known.” If it sounds like a cry of determination and fortitude, Cunningham immediately undercuts herself: “Give me truth but put me under so I don’t feel a thing.” These are dark, funny songs for dark, not-so-funny times. “I wanted this work to reflect how I was taking in the world at that moment, and I promised myself I wouldn’t withhold the good or the bad from this self-portrait. I couldn’t have planned for the startling range of emotions a pandemic would bring on — sorrow, depression, anger, anxiety, fear, apathy. Much less writing during one. While I could take some comfort in knowing other people were experiencing those very things, I had yet to understand how many conflicting emotions a person could carry at once.” The confusion she shared with the rest of the world, however, was compounded and complicated when her grandmother died unexpectedly. Suddenly, the pain became unbearably personal. Revealer became a way for her to work through all of those overwhelming emotions. With rich strings eddying around her measured guitar strums, “Life According to Raechel” is a catalog of missed opportunities and lost time, all the visits she never made to her beloved grandmother, all the important details that make up a life. “There’s always something left unsaid,” Cunningham sings. “Were your eyes green? Were they blue? What was it that I forgot to ask you?” She offers no resolution, no closure, no comfort at all—which is exactly what makes the song so honest about grief. “You’ve got this wound that’s never really going to heal,” she says, “because you’re going to feel the absence of that person for the rest of your life. It’s never going to be resolved. When I realized that, I turned a corner I knew I wouldn’t come back from. When I was able to finally be honest about what it felt like to grieve her, I was able to properly grieve the state of the world and the other things I had lost. Like earning your first gray hair. You could pluck it, but it would just keep growing back.” The rest of Revealer didn’t come easily, but the songs did come. “Songwriting wasn’t this romantic outlet. It was not fun. It was a constant reflection of how poorly I was doing as a human being. I didn’t want it to be true, because it’s such a humbling thing to admit to needing help.” To capture the rawness of those emotions and the urgency of these new songs, Cunningham recorded as she wrote, finishing a song and then taking it to the studio within a matter of days. She worked once again with Tyler Chester, her longtime producer and collaborator, who manned her debut, 2019’s Who Are You Now and her 2020 covers EP Wednesday, and she also brought in producers Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor, Mastodon) and Tucker Martine (Neko Case, Sufjan Stevens). Cunningham has already proved herself to be a deft and imaginative guitar player, but Revealer foregrounds her spry staccato playing so that it becomes a musical signature. “I’ve always been interested in different ways of approaching the guitar that challenges the way I think I should play it. I tried to explore that more fully and intentionally on this record. I pulled some inspiration from non-Western styles, like Afropop and South American music. I wanted to make the guitar sound more integral to the song structure and less like, ‘now here comes Mr. Electric Guitar.’” While experimenting in the studio, Cunningham found ways to make familiar instruments sound unusual and unsettling. On the hard-driving “Your Hate Could Power a Train”—which directs its most withering observations inward rather than outward—she transforms a simple ukulele into something dark and menacing, drawing out the song’s darker undercurrents. “I plugged it in and detuned it an octave with a pedal, so it has this wild, undefinable sound. I used that as the main instrument on that song because I wanted it to feel out of control, frantic, and angry. There were so many moments like that, when I felt liberated to stop and take a deep dive and explore sounds. I used to think there’s no use in messing around. But actually there’s only use in messing around. You have to explore, because the best ideas come from childlike curiosity.” Eventually she emerged with a set of songs prickly with emotions and revelations, an album full of contradictions that somehow speak to a unified truth. Revealer reckons with her recent past, but also defines her future. Hoping that she would be singing these songs for many years to come, she planted secret messages to her future self: promises and reminders that she believes might continue to reinforce the lessons she learned during the writing process. “No one’s holding you back now!” she exclaims on “In From Japan,” which she recorded with Martine. “That statement wasn’t true when I wrote it or when I sang it, but I chose to keep that line. That’s a very beautiful part of the songwriting process: Sometimes you write things for your future self to grab onto. You write some idea or sentiment that you hope you can eventually find meaning in.” As Cunningham learned while making this album, the songwriting process is just as open-ended as the grieving process. That idea is at the heart of Revealer, which is more than simply a document of a dark time in her life. It’s a survival guide, a chronicle of growth and change written by the artist who finds joy in the process and beauty in the mistakes. “Doesn’t it feel strange when you say it out loud?” she asks on “Who Are You Now.” “Time to act your age, no one’s gonna show you how.”
Maggie Björklund
Margrethe "Maggie" Björklund is a Danish guitarist and singer-songwriter who composes, plays, and sings music in the folk and alternative country genres. She began her career playing electric guitar in the female band The Darleens and briefly for the experimental pop band Miss B Haven. Björklund then started playing pedal steel guitar as a studio musician and has released two solo recordings. Early life Maggie Björklund was born in Denmark and grew up near Copenhagen. She took piano lessons, but switched to guitar as soon as she could. She moved to Hollywood and attended the Musicians Institute, where she was introduced to country music. She returned to Denmark after a year. Career Back in Denmark, she formed the all-female country band Darleens, and they recorded three albums for Sony Records. After Darleens split up, she took pedal steel guitar lessons from Jeff Newman in Nashville, Tennessee. Her 2011 debut Coming Home was produced by Johnny Sangster (The Tripwires). The record featured members of Calexico, and guest vocalists Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees), Jon Auer (The Posies), and Rachel Flotard (Visqueen). After the album's release, she played pedal steel with Jack White's all-female backing band, the Peacocks. In 2011 and 2012 she performed at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. She also toured with John Doe and with Exene Cervenka from the band X. For her sophomore album Shaken, released in 2014, she enlisted John Convertino (Calexico), Barb Hunter (Afghan Whigs), and Jim Barr (Portishead). John Parish (producer for Sparklehorse) was producer, and Kurt Wagner (Lambchop) provided a guest vocal. The songs reflected the impact of the death of her mother.
Magnolia Electric Co.
In March 2003, while on tour, Molina announced that he would rename the band Magnolia Electric Co., retaining the stylistic direction of the album of the same name. Molina also continued to release solo work under his own name. The first such release came in January 2004, as the full-length vinyl release Pyramid Electric Co.. Though Magnolia Electric Co. and Pyramid Electric Co. were originally intended as a double album, the latter seems to be the stylistic polar opposite of the former. Engineered by Mike Mogis, who also engineered Ghost Tropic, Pyramid found Molina alone at the microphone with only his voice and a piano or guitar. Magnolia Electric Co.'s first official release was a live album, Trials and Errors, followed by a studio album, What Comes After The Blues, and an EP, Hard To Love a Man, all released in 2005. In 2006, Molina released two more records: the sparse solo Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go and the more conventional Fading Trails with Magnolia Electric Co., the latter culled from three separate sessions over the previous year. It is not entirely clear when Songs: Ohia became Magnolia Electric Co. In interviews, Molina claimed that he considered the tenure of Songs: Ohia over after Didn't It Rain, which would make Magnolia Electric Co. the eponymous debut album under the new name. The name "Songs: Ohia" appears nowhere on the artwork of the album and only a promotional sticker on the cellophane wrapping connects it with the prior name. Nevertheless, Secretly Canadian still promotes the album under the Songs: Ohia moniker. On the other hand, the Magnolia Electric Co. live album Trials and Errors was recorded on April 16, 2003, at the Ancienne Belgique club in Brussels, at a time when the band was still touring under the Songs: Ohia name. Pitchfork Media later reported that name change would be made official after the Spanish tour in October 2003.
Manu Chao
Manu Chao (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmanu ˈtʃao]; born José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao, June 21, 1961) is a French musician of Spanish descent. He sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Greek and occasionally in other languages. Chao began his musical career in Paris, busking and playing with groups such as Hot Pants and Los Carayos, which combined a variety of languages and musical styles. With friends and his brother Antoine Chao, he founded the band Mano Negra in 1987, achieving considerable success, particularly in Europe. He became a solo artist after its breakup in 1995, and since then tours regularly with his live band, Radio Bemba.
Many Miles
The story of Many Miles began in two places; the towering red rock cliffs of Zion National Park and the mystical lakes and forests surrounding Stockholm, Sweden. In 2007 word of American Singer/Songwriter Dave Tate’s etherial solo album, “The Solitude of Here” was beginning to spread throughout Europe. With high praise from several prominent music magazines, Dave’s music soon gained the attention of Swedish Singer/Songwriter Victoria Lagerström. She fell in love with Dave’s music and reached out to him to collaborate. Captivated by Victoria’s soulful voice and songwriting, Dave was on board. Victoria booked a ticket to Utah to write and record their first album. Over the course of a couple weeks as Dave and Victoria wrote the acoustic ballads that would eventually be “The Same Heart”, the two fell fast in love. They were married three weeks after meeting on a sagebrush hill in Dave’s native home of Zion National Park. Victoria never used her return ticket to Sweden.
Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos
One of the ultimate New York City party bands, Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos (aka “The Prosthetic Cubans”) became a must-see attraction in the late 1990s, with its feverishly cooking shows built around arrangements of Cuban bandleader Arsenio Rodriguez – innovator of the son montuno, and two critically acclaimed albums released on Atlantic Records. Reformed by popular demand with the addition of Cuban’s own Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez on drums and original members Anthony Coleman (keys), Brad Jones (bass) and EJ Rodriquez (perc), 2011 had the band once again in front of ecstatic audiences from such stages as the Montreal Jazz Festival, Fuji Rock Festival and Ellnora Guitar Festival at the Krannert Center of Performing Arts.
Marcia Aitken
Aitken's break into the music industry came while she was still a student at Excelsior High School - in her own words: "I was singing at a school concert, and Lloyd Parks and the We the People Band was backing us. They said they liked the sound of my voice, and I became a member of the band after that. Then I began to do recordings for Joe Gibbs". She concentrated on lovers rock and recorded a popular version of the Alton Ellis song "I'm Still in Love With You" (as "I'm Still in Love with You Boy", recorded while still at Excelsior), which was a number one hit in Jamaica and successful UK and US reggae charts, and also formed the basis of Trinity's "Three Piece Suit" and Althea & Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking". She had another Jamaican number one single in 1978 with "My Man", a combination record with Trinity. She also recorded songs by Ansel Cridland of The Meditations, including "Narrow Minded Man", a response to The Meditations' chauvinistic "Woman is Like a Shadow". Aitken recorded a single album, Reggae Impact, produced by Gibbs and Willie Lindo. After completing high school in 1981, Aitken retired from music and moved to Brooklyn, where she opened the Norstrand Eatery with her husband in 1985. In the 2000s she studied for a degree in Business Management. She subsequently moved into nursing for over twenty years. Aitken returned to recording with the 2014 album Conception to Redemption, which featured gospel versions of some of her earlier songs
Maria Elena Silva
Pushing past the submissive qualities of her debut, Silva captures a deep and deliberate pop-forward poignancy in her sophomore “Dulce”. Written in the wake of her relocation to Chicago, Silva contemplates new love, a listless fate, sobriety, and maternity all the while retaining the patience of her previous release, “Eros”. Temperate motifs aside, a freer, wilder intensity permeates “Dulce”. Silva shows her roots in both rock n’ roll and the romantic. The fabric of the album gives palpable hints to her experimental aspirations that make borderline frantic use of the world-class instrumentalists at her disposal. This no holds barred approach results in Silva's most modern statement to date, beginning with the lead single "Love, If It Is So." A perfect avant-pop song that captures Maria in full flight with her studio band featuring the legendary guitarist Marc Ribot and percussionist Stephen Hodges - reunited for the first time since the pair were part of Tom Waits' seminal "Rain Dogs" in 1985. Ribot enhances Silva's songs with characteristic inspiration, skill, and abandon - jumping between frenzied guitar arpeggios, Philly Soul electric sitar lines, and subtle nylon string acoustic. Longtime collaborator Scott Dean Taylor has developed a singular vocabulary when playing with Silva and dispenses all manner of obligatory drummer-isms. A sonic ascetic, he plays only what her songs require. Listen to his booming kick drum mimic the sound of a thunderclap three minutes into "Jasper." Hammond organ whiz Carey Frank fills in blanks throughout the spectrum as he trades off with Maria's down-tuned electric guitar for command of the bass frequencies and longtime Lou Reed and kd lang drummer Danny Frankel alternates with Hodges for percussion duties. Silva’s “Dulce” is unapologetic. She brings forth higher than ever before highs, powerful whispers, and a noteworthy knack for teetering between the classical and the senseless. One minute you're hanging on every syllable of Silva's vocals and the next minute you're flying into the clouds on Ribot's guitar and the group’s rhythmic interplay.
Maribou State
Maribou State are an English electronic music duo consisting of Chris Davids and Liam Ivory. To date, they have released eight EPs and two studio albums, Portraits (2015) and Kingdoms In Colour (2018). Besides their own material, the two producers have also done remixes for the likes of Alpines and Lana Del Rey. The duo perform internationally and are signed to Counter Records, an imprint of UK independent label Ninja Tune. Originally from Hertfordshire, Davids and Ivory met at school, where they first developed an interest in music. After writing music and being in local bands for a number of years, they were offered the opportunity to create a remix for the band Hadouken! at the age of 16. They made their debut as Maribou State in 2011 with the five-track EP Habitat on FatCat Records. They released several EPs and singles on Norman Cook's Southern Fried Records in 2012 and 2013, and did a number of remixes for Fatboy Slim, Lana Del Rey, Ultraísta, Kelis, and others. Their 2013 EP Truths featured vocals by Jimi Nxir, Holly Walker, and Nubiya Brandon. While the duo were preparing their first full-length album, their former record-company FatCat Records released the compilation Beginnings, which contained eight tracks and seven remixes by other artists. In June 2015, Maribou State released their debut album Portraits, under the Ninja Tune imprint Counter Records, preceded by the single "The Clown" featuring North Downs (Pedestrian). In 2018, the band returned with Kingdoms in Colour, which included the track "Feel Good" featuring Khruangbin; vocals from long-standing collaborators Holly Walker, (who previously sang on fan favourites "Midas", "Steal", and "Tongue"); a collaboration with North Downs (Pedestrian); and the standout single "Turnmills" (named after the London club which closed in 2008). The record earned them a #25 spot on the UK album charts (and #4 on the UK Record Store chart), was BBC 6 Music’s 'Album of the Day', and received huge support from Annie Mac, Nick Grimshaw, Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, Pete Tong, Nemone, and many more, with the band also performing live on Lauren Laverne’s show. Press support came from the likes of NME, Complex, GQ, and Crack Magazine, with Mixmag naming them as one of their 'Artists of the Year' in 2018. In 2019, Maribou State completed a sold-out UK & EU tour, which included a show at London’s O2 Brixton Academy, with the 5-piece band joined on stage by a string quartet and choir. They have also played to sold-out crowds in cities across Europe and North America, with shows in Manchester, Bristol, Cologne, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Zurich, and Brussels. They also played a run of sold-out North American shows in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland.
Mark Kozelek
Mark Edward Kozelek (born January 24, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer and occasional actor. He is best known as the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums, and as the vocalist, guitarist and founding member of the indie rock band Red House Painters, with whom he recorded six studio albums from 1989 until 2001. Born and raised in Massillon, Ohio, Kozelek developed an interest in music as a child. Upon meeting drummer Anthony Koutsos in Atlanta, Georgia, the pair moved to San Francisco, California and formed Red House Painters alongside guitarist Gorden Mack and bass guitarist Jerry Vessel. Signing with record label 4AD, the band released four studio albums to critical acclaim. In 1996, Kozelek recorded the band's fifth studio album, Songs for a Blue Guitar, mostly alone. The release of the band's final studio album, Old Ramon (2001), was delayed for three years. In the interim, Kozelek recorded both an album and an EP of AC/DC cover songs. Reconvening with Koutsos and Vessel, the trio continued performing under the new name of Sun Kil Moon, releasing their debut album, Ghosts of the Great Highway, in 2003. Inspired by classical guitar music, Kozelek recorded Sun Kil Moon's fourth studio album, Admiral Fell Promises (2010), as a solo act, and continued to record mostly alone on its follow-up, Among the Leaves (2012). The album introduced a deeply personal lyrical perspective, which continued on the collaborative solo releases, Perils from the Sea and Mark Kozelek & Desertshore, both released in 2013. In 2014, Sun Kil Moon's sixth studio album, Benji, was released to widespread critical acclaim and increased exposure, with its follow-up, Universal Themes, featuring lengthy compositions and stream-of-consciousness lyrics. In 2016, Kozelek released a collaborative studio album with Jesu, titled Jesu/Sun Kil Moon. Across his work in Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters and his own solo material, Kozelek has released twenty-seven studio albums.
Mark Lanegan
Mark William Lanegan (born November 25, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He released more than 10 studio albums and was the lead singer for Screaming Trees. He was also a member of Queens of the Stone Age. Lanegan is known for his baritone voice, which has been described as being "as scratchy as a three-day beard yet as supple and pliable as moccasin leather." Lanegan began his musical career in 1984 as the frontman of the psychedelic grunge band Screaming Trees, with whom he released seven studio albums and five EPs before they split up in 2000. During his time in the band, he also started a solo career and released his first solo studio album, The Winding Sheet, in 1990. He has since released a further 10 solo albums, and has received critical recognition but only moderate commercial success. Following the end of Screaming Trees, he became a frequent collaborator of Queens of the Stone Age and featured on their albums Rated R, Songs for the Deaf, Lullabies to Paralyze, Era Vulgaris, and ...Like Clockwork. Lanegan has also collaborated with various artists throughout his career, including Kurt Cobain, with whom he recorded an unreleased album of Lead Belly covers. He also performed with Layne Staley and Mike McCready in the band Mad Season. He also formed The Gutter Twins with Greg Dulli in 2003, released three collaboration albums with singer Isobel Campbell, and has contributed to releases by Melissa Auf der Maur, Martina Topley-Bird, Creature with the Atom Brain, Moby, Bomb the Bass, Soulsavers, Tinariwen, The Twilight Singers, and Unkle, among others.
Marlee Saxe
Marlon Williams
Marlon Williams (born 31 December 1990) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor based in Melbourne, Australia. Primarily known as a solo artist, he works and tours with his backing band The Yarra Benders and first came to attention as front-man of The Unfaithful Ways and for his collaborative work with musician Delaney Davidson. Early life and family Williams was born in Christchurch to David Williams, a librarian and musician, and Jenny Rendall, a visual artist, and raised in the nearby port town of Lyttelton. He is of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāi Tai descent. Williams had a musical upbringing and was a member of the choir of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, which toured Europe in 2009–10. He was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School and learned to play guitar during his final year there Awards and nominations For his music, Williams has won multiple New Zealand Music Awards, New Zealand's most prominent music award, as well as the country's most significant songwriting honor, APRA's Silver Scroll, among other recognition. From twelve nominations including three for Album of the Year, Williams has won five New Zealand Music Awards, including Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2015 and Album of the Year in 2018 for Make Way for Love. Williams was recognized early in his music career when his group The Unfaithful Ways was nominated for the ceremony's Critics' Choice Prize in 2011. He has been a finalist for an APRA Award on four separate years. He won his first APRA Award in 2013 with Delaney Davidson, receiving the honor for Best Country Music Song after being a finalist the previous year in the same category. In 2015, Marlon was shortlisted for the prestigious Silver Scroll songwriting award for "Dark Child." His single "Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore (feat. Aldous Harding)" was awarded the Silver Scroll in 2018. Additionally, he was nominated for a 2015 ARIA Music Award in the category of Best Blues and Roots Album. In November 2020 he was named one of the best dressed men in show business on David Hartnell MNZM's Best Dressed List.
Marny Proudfit
Marny Proudfit is an artist, songwriter and musician from Ogden, Utah. With arms outstretched and an eye to all directions, Marny writes and sings to understand the people and places she’s been, and where she’s still going.
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye (born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, earning him the nicknames "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul". Gaye's Motown hits include "Ain't That Peculiar", "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and duet recordings with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross, and Tammi Terrell. During the 1970s, he recorded the albums What's Going On and Let's Get It On and became one of the first artists in Motown, along with Stevie Wonder, to break away from the reins of a production company. His later recordings influenced several contemporary R&B subgenres, such as quiet storm and neo soul. Following a period in Europe as a tax exile in the early 1980s, he released the 1982 hit "Sexual Healing", which won him his first Grammy Awards, and its parent album Midnight Love. Gaye's last television appearances were at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, where he sung "The Star-Spangled Banner", Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever and on Soul Train which was his third and final appearance. On April 1, 1984, Gaye's father, Marvin Gay Sr., fatally shot him at their house in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. Since his death, many institutions have posthumously bestowed Gaye with awards and other honors including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and inductions into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Monica, California, in 1989 from remnants of the group Opal. Founding member David Roback's friend Hope Sandoval became the group's vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal. Mazzy Star is best known for the song "Fade into You" which brought the band some success in the mid-1990s and was the group's biggest mainstream hit, earning extensive exposure on MTV, VH1, and radio airplay. Roback and Sandoval are the creative center of the band, with Sandoval as lyricist and Roback as composer of the majority of the band's material. The band's most recent studio album, Seasons of Your Day, was released in 2013, followed by the EP Still in 2018. History Opal and Paisley Underground (1981–1987) Mazzy Star has deep roots within the Californian Paisley Underground movement of the early 1980s. David Roback, along with his brother Steven, was one of the main architects of leading Los Angeles psychedelic revival band the Rain Parade. Leaving that band after their first LP, he founded Clay Allison in 1983 with then-girlfriend, ex-Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith. Soon after the publication of their sole release, the 1983 double A-sided single "Fell From the Sun"/"All Souls", Clay Allison renamed themselves Opal and released the LP Happy Nightmare Baby on SST on December 14, 1987. With Roback as its musical catalyst, Opal were a direct precursor to Mazzy Star musically—often featuring the same psychedelic guitar drones and similar hints of blues and folk that would later appear on Mazzy Star recordings. Meanwhile, Sandoval—who was in high school at the time—formed the folk music duo Going Home in the early 1980s with fellow student Sylvia Gomez, and played gigs with Sonic Youth and Minutemen. Both were devoted followers of the Rain Parade, and after a 1983 concert by the band in the Los Angeles area, Gomez entered the backstage area of the venue and gave Roback a copy of Going Home's demo tape, featuring Sandoval on vocals and Gomez on guitar. Upon hearing the tape, Roback offered to produce a still-unreleased album by the pair. When Smith left Opal under cloudy circumstances in the middle of a tour supporting the Jesus & Mary Chain, Sandoval was tapped as her replacement. Formation and Rough Trade (1988–1990) Despite Smith's departure, Rough Trade retained Roback's original record deal, contractually obligating him to supply a follow-up to Opal's debut LP. As a result, Roback and Sandoval continued to tour under the Opal alias for the next two years, during which time they completed production on Opal's planned second album, titled Ghost Highway. Composed mainly of songs written by Roback and Smith, Sandoval stated that she was unhappy with the material, and expressed an interest in wanting to "start something completely new". The pair quickly composed and recorded seven new tracks in Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, and renamed the band Mazzy Star. Written over a year before Mazzy Star's inception, the track "Ghost Highway" is the duo's only original song to not feature a writing credit from Sandoval, while another song, "Give You My Lovin'", was written by Going Home guitarist Sylvia Gomez and first recorded by Sandoval and Gomez in the mid-1980s. She Hangs Brightly was released in April 1990 on Rough Trade and, although it was not an immediate commercial success, the album established the duo as a recurrent fixture on alternative rock radio, with lead single "Blue Flower" – a cover of the Slapp Happy track – peaking at No. 29 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album would go on to sell over 70,000 copies in the UK. Capitol (1990–1997) The American branch of Rough Trade folded in late 1990, briefly leaving Mazzy Star without a record label. Within weeks, the duo's contract was picked up by Capitol, who re-released She Hangs Brightly on November 4, 1990, and released their follow-up, So Tonight That I Might See on September 27, 1993. A year after its release, the album yielded an unexpected hit single. "Fade into You" peaked at No. 44 to become their first Billboard Hot 100 single, while also reaching a career-high peak of No. 3 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. On April 19, 1995, the album was certified platinum by the RIAA for shipments in excess of 1 million units. The album also peaked at No. 68 in the UK, and was certified silver by the BPI on July 22, 2013 for sales of over 60,000 copies. Following the success of "Fade into You", She Hangs Brightly album opener "Halah" began to receive heavy airplay in the US a nd peaked at No. 19 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, a chart based solely on airplay. In 1995, She Hangs Brightly was awarded a gold certification from the RIAA for shipments in excess of 500,000 units. Their final album for Capitol, Among My Swan, was released on October 29, 1996. Entering the Billboard 200 at No. 68 and, as of September 2001, selling 214,000 copies in the United States, the album was less commercially successful than its predecessors, although it produced their highest-peaking single in the United Kingdom, when "Flowers in December" entered at No. 40 to become their only top forty entry on the chart. The band promoted the album with a five-month tour of the US and Europe, after which Sandoval and Roback began work on new material. Over the course of these sessions, Sandoval reportedly "begged" Capitol to be released from her contract, later elaborating, "It seemed record companies wanted bands to be creative because they didn't know how to manufacture underground music. We could do our own thing and go at our own pace. But that changed when major labels started wanting bands that would sell 7 million records. They had a formula. And suddenly all these people wanted to come to the studio to keep track of what we were doing and make sure we were following that formula. So we got out."
Mdou Moctar
Mdou Moctar (also known as M.dou Mouktar; born c. 1986) is a Tuareg songwriter and musician based in Agadez, Niger, and is one of the first musicians to perform modern electronic adaptations of Tuareg guitar music. He first became famous through a subtle trading network of cellphones and memory cards in West Africa. Mdou Moctar is a popular wedding performer and sings about Islam, education, love and peace in Tamasheq. He plays a left-handed Fender in a takamba and assouf style. He is originally from Abalak and has also lived in Tchintabaraden and Libya. His first album, Anar, was recorded in Sokoto, Nigeria in 2008 and prominently featured "spaced-out" autotuned vocals and the influence of Hausa music. The album was not officially released at the time but the songs became hugely popular across the Sahel when they went viral through cell-phone music trading networks. They reached a global audience when Sahel Sounds released his music on the Music from Saharan Cellphones: Volume 1 compilation. Two songs were covered with English homophone lyrics by Brainstorm, an American band from Portland, Oregon. Anar was released on vinyl in 2014 with a high price, due to "predatory business practices" from Sixt on Moctar's first European tour. His next album, Afelan, was recorded live in Tchintabaraden and features "rusty-edged jams and sun-weathered ballads". The title track is named after a celebrated historical/folkloric hero of the Azawough of Western Niger. It contains a cover of "Chet Boghassa" by Tinariwen. On his first realizations and interest of an audience outside of the Saharan region, Moctar said in late 2014: "“I first met (Christopher Kirkley of Sahel Sounds) on the mobile phone as he had called me ... It was a weird conversation, as I thought my cousin was pulling a joke on me so I hung up. This American guy calling me, saying he wanted to work with me for my music, it just couldn’t be real. He called me again and we talked. He came to visit me in my village and also sent me a lefthanded guitar, which is very hard to find in Niger. This guitar has crossed several African countries to arrive in my hands, I have been playing it ever since!
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells. Early Life Melvin Howard Tormé was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, to William David Torme, a Polish-Jewish immigrant, and Betty Torme (née Sopkin), a New York City native. He graduated from Hyde Park High School. A child prodigy, he first performed professionally at age four with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra, singing "You're Driving Me Crazy" at Chicago's Blackhawk restaurant. He played drums in the drum-and-bugle corps at Shakespeare Elementary School. From 1933 to 1941, he acted in the radio programs The Romance of Helen Trent and Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. He wrote his first song at 13. Three years later his first published song, "Lament to Love", became a hit for bandleader Harry James. Jazz Music From 1942 to 1943, he was a member of a band led by Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers. He was the singer, drummer, and also created some arrangements. In 1943, Tormé made his movie debut in Frank Sinatra's first film, the musical Higher and Higher. His appearance in the 1947 film musical Good News made him a teen idol. In 1944, he formed the vocal quintet Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones, modeled on Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers. The Mel-Tones, which included Les Baxter and Ginny O'Connor, had several hits fronting Artie Shaw's band and on their own, including Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love?" The Mel-Tones were among the first jazz-influenced vocal groups, blazing a path later followed by The Hi-Lo's, The Four Freshmen, and The Manhattan Transfer. Tormé was discharged from the United States Army in 1946, and soon returned to a life of radio, television, movies, and music. In 1947, he started a solo singing career. His appearances at New York's Copacabana led local disc jockey Fred Robbins to give him the nickname "The Velvet Fog" in honor of his high tenor and smooth vocal style. Tormé detested the nickname. He self-deprecatingly referred to it as "this Velvet Frog voice". As a solo singer, he recorded several romantic hits for Decca and with the Artie Shaw Orchestra for Musicraft (1946–1948). In 1949, he moved to Capitol, where his first record, "Careless Hands", became his only number-one hit. His versions of "Again" and "Blue Moon" became signature songs. His composition California Suite, prompted by Gordon Jenkins's "Manhattan Tower", became Capitol's first 12-inch LP album. Around this time, he helped pioneer cool jazz. He had a radio program, Mel Torme Time, which appeared on the short-lived Progressive Broadcasting System in the 1950s. From 1955 to 1957, he recorded seven vocal jazz albums for Red Clyde's Bethlehem Records, all with groups led by Marty Paich, most notably Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dek-Tette. He became known for his arranging skills, earning the respect of musicians. In his 1994 book My Singing Teachers, Tormé cited Patty Andrews, lead singer of the Andrews Sisters, one of the most successful show business acts of the 1940s, as one of his favorite vocalists, saying, They had more hit records to their credit than you could count, and one of the main reasons for their popularity was Patty Andrews. She stood in the middle of her sisters, planted her feet apart, and belted out solos as well as singing the lead parts with zest and confidence. The kind of singing she did cannot be taught, it can't be studied in books, it can't be written down. Long experience as a singer and wide-open ears were her only teachers, and she learned her lessons well. Though he spent most of his career singing jazz, Tormé had a deep appreciation for classical music, especially that of Frederick Delius and Percy Grainger. Rock and roll he considered "three-chord manure". In the 1960s and '70s, Tormé covered pop tunes of the day, never staying long with one label. He had two minor hits: his 1956 recording of "Mountain Greenery", which did better in the United Kingdom where it reached No. 4; and his 1962 R&B song "Comin' Home Baby", arranged by Claus Ogerman, which reached No. 13 in the UK. The latter recording led the jazz and gospel singer Ethel Waters to say that "Tormé is the only white man who sings with the soul of a black man." "Comin' Home Baby" was later covered by Quincy Jones and Kai Winding. Television In 1960, Tormé appeared in the TV crime drama Dan Raven with Don Dubbins. He had a role in a cross-cultural western entitled Walk Like a Dragon, starring Jack Lord. He played "The Deacon", a bible-quoting gunfighter who protects a female saloon-owner and teaches a young Chinese man the art of the fast draw. In one scene, he tells a soon-to-be victim: "Say your prayers, brother Masters. You're a corpse" and then delivers on the promise. Like Sammy Davis Jr. and Robert Fuller, Tormé was a real-life fast-draw expert. He also sang the show's theme song. In 1963–1964, Tormé wrote songs and arrangements for The Judy Garland Show, where he made three guest appearances. When he and Garland had a dispute, he was fired. A few years later, after Garland's death, his time with her show became the subject of his first book, The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol (1970). Although the book was praised, some felt it painted an excessively unflattering picture of Garland and that Tormé had exaggerated his contributions to the program; it led to an unsuccessful lawsuit by Garland's family. In 1967, he appeared with Lucille Ball in a two-part episode of The Lucy Show — "Main Street U.S.A." — as Mel Tinker, a songwriter who hopes to preserve the character of his small town. Torme also wrote the song that gave the episode its title, and performs it with Ball. Tormé made nine guest appearances as himself (and one as a guardian angel) on the 1980s situation comedy Night Court. The main character, Judge Harry Stone, played by Harry Anderson, was depicted as an unabashed Tormé fan, an admiration that Anderson shared in real-life; he would deliver the eulogy at Tormé's funeral. Tormé appeared in Mountain Dew commercials and in a 1995 episode of the sitcom Seinfeld ("The Jimmy") as himself. He recorded a version of Nat King Cole's "Straighten Up and Fly Right" with his son, singer Steve March-Tormé. He worked with his other son, television writer-producer Tracy Tormé, on Sliders. The 1996 episode, entitled "Greatfellas," featured Tormé as a version of himself from a parallel universe in which he is a country music singer who is also an FBI informant. In the 1988 Warner Bros. cartoon The Night of the Living Duck, Daffy Duck has to sing in front of several monsters but lacks a good singing voice, so he inhales a substance called "Eau de Tormé" and sings like Mel Tormé, who provided the vocals.: p. 176 On December 31, 1988, Torme hosted a two-hour variety show titled Happy New Year, U. S. A. on PBS television.
Melodiesinfonie
The line crackles and I can barely hear Kevin to begin with. Skype interviews aren’t my personal go-to when it comes to speaking to an artist but Kevin being based out of Zurich and us sitting in balmy Mumbai and an even balmier Bengaluru, respectively – we weren’t exactly spoilt for choice. But, the connection cleared up soon enough and as Kevin’s soothing voice filled up the virtual line, we jumped right into it. Kevin Wettstein aka Melodiesinfonie, a musician, producer and composer based in Zurich, has officially been active on the music map across Europe, South Africa, America, and dare I say, India, for almost a decade now. Down to earth and uncomplicated, his simple words belie the intricacies of his lush jazz & hip & hop pieces. We spoke with him to understand more about who he is and what he does best. Read the whole interview onthejunglefloor.com
Men I Trust
Men I Trust is a Montreal-based band founded in 2014 by high school friends Jessy Caron and Dragos Chiriac, who reunited in the music department at Université Laval. They were later joined by Emma Proulx, a singer and guitarist. They released a self-titled EP in 2014 and later performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Quebec City Summer Festival, and M for Montreal. They released the album Headroom in 2015. The band toured in China, playing shows in Shenzhen, Beijing, and Shanghai. In 2017 Men I Trust released the single "I Hope To Be Around" with an accompanying music video. In 2018, they released the single "Show Me How" along with a self-directed music video. In 2018, they embarked on a North American tour. They performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 14 and 21, 2019.
Menahan Street Band
Menahan Street Band is a Brooklyn, New York-based instrumental band formed in 2007, that plays funk and soul music. The band features musicians from Antibalas, El Michels Affair, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and the Budos Band. The group was founded by Thomas Brenneck while living in an apartment on Menahan St. in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Their debut album, Make the Road by Walking, was released in 2008 on Dunham, a sublabel of Daptone Records. Various songs from Make the Road by Walking have been sampled by hip hop artists, including the title track, which was sampled by Jay-Z on the track "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)...", "Going The Distance", which was sampled by Kid Cudi on his song "Solo Dolo Pt.II" featuring Kendrick Lamar on Cudi's third studio album Indicud, and "The Traitor," sampled by 50 Cent on his mixtape War Angel LP and by Cudi on his debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day. In addition, the song "Tired of Fighting" is used as a primary sample in Kendrick Lamar's "Faith" from his eponymous 2009 EP, as well as YBN Cordae's 2019 track "Family Matters" from his debut album The Lost Boy.
Metá Metá
São Paulo trio Meta Meta fuse punk, jazz, samba, Afrobeat and candomblé into a compelling, visceral whole, permeated with Brazilian song, orixá chants and Yoruba roots. Guitarist Kiko Dinucci, saxophonist/flautist Thiago França and singer Juçara Nunes are on a continuing journey through the connected cultural strains of the 21st century. Their 2011 debut Metá Metá began with a smooth blend of Afro-samba, gathering in intensity until a sudden Brazilian Afrobeat finale. The following release resumed the journey, adding bass and drums and featuring pioneering Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen on two tracks. Their third album, MM3, took matters further, bringing in musical influences from a visit to Morocco and thematically taking aim at their country’s political crisis, pushing the mood from brooding Braziliana to squalling jazz-punk thrash-outs. It has to be done and Meta Meta do it with serious skill.
Mexican Institute of Sound
Mexican Institute of Sound (MIS; Spanish: Instituto Mexicano del Sonido — IMS) is an electronic music project created by Mexico City-based DJ and producer Camilo Lara. Along with groups like Nortec Collective and Kinky, M.I.S. is part of a growing Mexican electronica movement, encouraging fusions of folk and more traditional music with modern sounds. Career Lara's annual Christmas compilation of the year's best tracks and early Mexican Institute of Sound songs became a collector's item in a niche market. This hobby led Lara to collaborate on remixes under the moniker of Mexican Institute of Sound for bands and friends such as Placebo, Le Hammond Inferno, Gecko Turner and Babasónicos. In 2005, he officially founded the M.I.S. project, relying on classic Mexican music samples ranging from the 1920s to the 1960s mixed with Esquivel vocal samples and modern scratches/beats. M.I.S. has 5 albums. Mejico Maxico, Piñata, Soy Sauce, Politico and Disco Popular. 3 EP's Extra Extra Extra!, Suave Patria, IMS vs Sant. In 2006, Mexican Institute of Sound released its debut album, Méjico Máxico, on Nacional Records. It is a pastiche of electronica, dub, cha-cha-cha, cumbia and spoken word. The album helped M.I.S. garner critical acclaim in publications like Spin, the New York Times, and URB, as well as radio support from such tastemakers as KCRW (Los Angeles), Indie 103 (Los Angeles), KEXP (Seattle), and KUT (Austin). Mexican Institute of Sound released its second album, Piñata, in 2007. The disc continued the vision established by the debut as a collage of musical influences that reflect Lara's impression of life in the sprawling metropolis of Mexico City. Special guests include members of Tom Tom Club, Fantastic Plastic Machine, and Babasónicos. Songs from M.I.S. releases have been featured in ABC's Ugly Betty, Showtime's Californication, New Line Cinema's Pride and Glory, a Dos Equis national advertising campaign, and the EA Games FIFA 08 video game, which features El Microfono. In Australia, "Escríbeme Pronto" was featured in a 2009 ice-cream advertisement. In 2010, MIS released the song "Suave Patria" for the parade for the Bicentennial of Independence of Mexico; the homonymous EP contains six tracks. Camilo created this music in an attempt to evoke some passages of the Mexican Constitution and represent a soundscape Homeland. Their song "Alocatel" was featured in EA Sports' FIFA 10. Their video for their song "Katia, Tania, Paulina y la Kim" from Piñata has been featured on Link TV. In 2012, they released their fourth studio album, Politico, which contained songs that relate, as the album title implies, to a political environment. "Es Toy" was one of its most successful singles. In 2013, MIS made a radio station on East Los FM Grand Theft Auto V, while the song "Es Toy" appears in the game. In 2014 Camilo Lara recorded his fifth studio album, with Toy Selectah. With Red Bull's help, they are recording in Jamaica, the US (New York and Los Angeles), London, and Brazil. The disc had many collaborators, including Ana Bárbara (Latin Grammy Mexican singer-songwriter), Sly and Robbie, Toots Maytals, Gogol Bordello (Eugene), Nina Sky, Money Mark, MC Lyte, N.A.S.A., Kool AD (Das Racist), Kut Masta, Kurt Chrome Sparks, Eric Bobo (Cypress Hill), Tanto Blacks, Chedda Helado, Negro Kita, Kaine Notch, Maluca Mala, Benjamin Lozinger (Mø), DJ Lengua, Matty Rico, Tiombe Lockhart, Angela Hunte, Mela Murder, Los Master Plus, Centavrvs, Sergio Mendoza J. (Los Planetas), Carlos Ann, Ohmega Watts, DJ Dusty, Stro Elliot Pharo (The Leftovers), Dezzie Gee (The Leftovers), Speakz, Nic Haircourt, and Pilar (Los Abandoned). In 2015 Camilo released his fifth album, 'Compass' alongside Toy Selectah. After four years with no new material, MIS released their single "Mi T-Shirt De La NASA" in advance of the fifth studio album by MIS. 'Disco Popular' was released on Nov 3rd, 2017. Recorded in Jamaica, Mexico and the US, it contains appearances from: La Yegros, Calexico & Orkesta Mendoza, Press Kay, Lorna, Toots Hibbert, Sly & Robbie, Pamputae & Ranco and Adan Jodorowsky. That same year, Lara was brought on as a creative consultant to the animated film Coco. He helped director Lee Unkrich "navigate all the different rhythms from Mexico…to understand the geography of the music." He also helped arranged and produce many of the songs of the film and assisted composer Michael Giacchino. Under MIS, Lara provided the song "Jálale" to the film's soundtrack, and makes a cameo as a skeleton DJ in a party scene of the movie. MIS contributed a cover of the Metallica song "Sad But True", featuring rappers La Perla and Gera MX, to the charity tribute album The Metallica Blacklist, released in September 2021.
Michael Chapman
Michael Chapman (24 January 1941 – 10 September 2021) was an English singer-songwriter, and virtuosic guitar player. Chapman originally began playing guitar with jazz bands, mainly in his home town of Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He became well known in the folk clubs of the late 1960s, as well as on the 'progressive' music scene, and released over 50 albums. In 2016, Chapman celebrated fifty years as a professional musician. Towards the end of his life he still played professionally and regularly toured in the UK, Europe and US. Biography Chapman was born in Hunslet, Leeds, Yorkshire, England. He attended art college in Leeds and then worked as an art and photography teacher at Bolton College, Lancashire. At the time he was playing mostly jazz guitar standards as he was heavily influenced by American jazz performers. Listening to other English guitar players such as Ralph McTell, Chapman evolved his own distinctive style of playing incorporating jazz, folk & ragtime stylings. He first appeared on the London and Cornwall folk music circuits in 1967, including the Piper's Folk Club in Penzance, alongside John Martyn and Roy Harper. His first album was Rainmaker in 1969. The producer was Gus Dudgeon who also produced records by Elton John, David Bowie, Steeleye Span and many others. Rainmaker was released on the EMI progressive label Harvest, and Chapman played the folk and progressive circuits during the festivals of the early 1970s, with Mick Ronson, Rick Kemp and Keef Hartley. While living in Kingston upon Hull, Chapman recorded a further three albums for Harvest. Fully Qualified Survivor, again produced by Gus Dudgeon with lush strings arranged by Paul Buckmaster, received much critical acclaim from the likes of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, and contained his best-known track, "Postcards of Scarborough". Window and Wrecked Again followed, the latter being Chapman's attempt at a Memphis album. Brass arrangements featured on biographical tracks like "Shuffleboat River Farewell" and the title track. After a tour of the United States with Rick Kemp, Chapman signed to Decca's subsidiary, Deram, recording an increasingly rockier set of albums. Championed by Charles Shaar Murray and John Peel, he retained a high profile, a lively draw on the college circuit in the UK and across mainland Europe. The record producer Don Nix worked on the album Savage Amusement, which included several songs from the past. Chapman and Kemp used the album's title for a band in the mid 1980s. 1977 saw the end of Chapman's Decca deal, and the beginning of an association with Criminal Records in 1978 and the two labels produced versions of The Man Who Hated Mornings. Chapman released a record of guitar instruction, and continued giving concerts and recording in a variety of styles and with varying formations. Chapman then started a period of prolific recording activity, recording for numerous smaller record labels, and playing the folk and club circuits. The 1980s was a quieter time for Chapman. He continued to make recordings that straddled musical genres and pushed his guitar playing to the fore, but had neither the profile nor sales of the previous decade. Chapman performing on 21 March 1980 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (Serbia) The late 1990s onwards represented a period of continued rebirth for Chapman. He embraced the "elder statesman" role and enjoyed critical acclaim for albums like Navigation, Dreaming Out Loud and Still Making Rain (a wry pun title that looked back to his debut album). Chapman released albums about every two years, receiving praise but without great sales, ending with the 1997 release Dreaming Out Loud. Bands like Supergrass acknowledged Chapman's material and playing as a formative influence. The new century saw Chapman exploring his guitar player roots and releasing instrumental albums alongside his song-based sets. Americana and Words Fail Me feature soundscapes that recalled travels in America, and featured a dexterity and inventiveness on the guitar equal to the classic Harvest and Decca periods. In February 2008, he hosted a charity dinner/auction where a limited edition Vanity and Pride was released featuring Ursa who added her own contribution to Chapman's music. A tribute album titled Oh Michael, Look What You've Done: Friends Play Michael Chapman was released in 2012 on Tompkins Square Records. It includes contributions from Lucinda Williams, Maddy Prior, William Tyler, Hiss Golden Messenger and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. Chapman's back catalogue for Harvest has been re-released by US based label Light in the Attic in both heavyweight vinyl and CD formats. He also recorded several instrumental albums for Tompkins Square Records, including Fish in 2015. His website stated: "I had an art college education and on a rainy night in 1966 I went into a pub in Cornwall, but I couldn't afford to pay to go in. So I said, I'll tell you what, I don't want to stay outside in the rain, I'll play guitar for half an hour for you. They offered me a job for the rest of the summer and I've been at it ever since." Chapman died on 10 September 2021, at the age of 80.
Michael Kiwanuka
Michael Samuel Kiwanuka (born 3 May 1987) is a British singer-songwriter and record producer who is signed with Polydor Records. His 2012 debut album, Home Again, went gold in the United Kingdom and his second album, Love & Hate, debuted in 2016 at number one. He has been nominated for numerous honours, including the Brit Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, BBC Music Awards, and The Grammy Awards. In January 2012, he won the BBC's Sound of 2012, and in September 2020, he won the Mercury Prize. Early life Born and raised in Muswell Hill, London, Kiwanuka is the son of Michael and Deborah, Ugandan parents who escaped the Amin regime. He attended Fortismere School, leaving there in 2005 after completing his A-Levels. He went on to study at the School of Media, Arts and Design at the University of Westminster. Career Early years Kiwanuka worked as a session guitarist, playing with Chipmunk and Bashy before working as a solo artist. His first proper gig was at The Oxford in Kentish Town at age 22. He came to the attention of Communion Records, which released his first two EPs, including his debut Tell Me A Tale on 13 June 2011. 2011–2016: Home Again and Love & Hate Kiwanuka supported Adele on her Adele Live 2011 tour, as well as at her iTunes Festival 2011 gig, and played at the 2011 Hard Rock Calling. In 2011, he signed a deal with Polydor Records. He was included in the BBC's Sound of 2012 poll and was named as the winner on 6 January 2012. In June 2012, he was illustrated in a BBC article regarding Spain vis-à-vis Uganda during the Eurozone crisis; his putative counterpart was actress Penélope Cruz. Kiwanuka released his debut studio album, Home Again, in 2012 to positive reviews from critics. The album peaked at number 4 in the UK and, as of 2012, has sold over 70,000 copies in the UK. In 2016, Kiwanuka released his follow-up to Home Again, Love & Hate. The album was a critical and commercial success, reaching a peak at number 1 on the UK albums chart. The album was produced by Danger Mouse and spawned several singles. Musical style Kiwanuka has acknowledged influences from musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles, Bill Withers, Otis Redding, Jack Johnson, Pops Staples, The Band, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Eric Bibb, Tommy Sims, Wham!, Richie Havens and Funkadelic. He has played with James Gadson, who drummed for Bill Withers.
Michelle Moonshine
Cutting her teeth by sneaking into venues and clubs to perform starting at eighteen years old, Michelle Moonshine has spent the last seven years developing her own blend of Americana music. Pulling from such influences as Gram Parsons, Doc Watson and Dylan, you can hear tastes of Folk, Classic Country, Bluegrass and American Roots music. With frequent comparisons to Alison Krauss or a young Emmylou Harris, Michelle delivers a performance that feels both raw yet refined. Declining her recruitment from NBC's The Voice, she traded bright lights for hard work and a chance to serve the song with a group of seasoned musicians who both compliment and contribute to her sound. Michelle and company are currently finishing up their upcoming album and continue to showcase their music regionally with lush harmony and ample twang. Touring artist Michelle Moonshine has shared the stage with the likes of Lake Street Dive, Leftover Salmon, Lukas Nelson and POTR, Mason Jennings, Charlie Parr, Los Lobos, Lil Smokies, Niki Bluhm, Dead Winter Carpenters, Amy Helm, Sam Outlaw, Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars, Judy Collins, Howie Day, Paul Thorn and is based in Salt Lake City.
Miles Davis
Over six full decades, from his arrival on the national scene in 1945 until his death in 1991, Miles Davis made music that grew from an uncanny talent to hear the future and a headstrong desire to play it. From his beginnings in the circle of modern jazz, he came to intuit new worlds of sound and challenge. While the vast majority of musicians – jazz, rock, R&B, otherwise – find the experimental charge and imperviousness of youth eventually running down, Miles forever forged ahead, trusting and following instinct until the end. In doing so, Miles became the standard bearer for successive generations of musicians, shaped the course of modern improvisational music more than a half-dozen times. This biography attempts to explain those paradigm-shifts one after another, through his recordings and major life changes. The factors leading to that process are now the foundation of the Miles Davis legend: the dentist’s son born in 1926 to middle-class comfort in East St Louis. The fresh acolyte learning trumpet in the fertile, blues-drenched music scene of his hometown. The sensitive soul forging a seething streetwise exterior that later earned him the title, Prince Of Darkness. The determined teenager convincing his parents to send him to New York’s famed Juilliard School of Music in 1944, a ploy allowing him to locate and join the band of his idol, bebop pioneer Charlie Parker. It wasn’t long before the headstrong young arrival grew from sideman to leading his own projects and bands of renown, from the restrained, classical underpinning of the famous “Birth of the Cool” group (Miles’ first foray with arranger Gil Evans), to the blues-infused hardbop anthem “Walkin’”, to his first famous quintet (Coltrane, Chambers, Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones) with whom his recordings on muted trumpet helped him develop a signature sound that broke through to mainstream recognition. His subsequent jump from recording with independent labels (Prestige, Blue Note) to Columbia Records, then the Tiffany of record companies, propelled his career further from a limited jazz audience and a series of late ‘50s albums (Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess, Miles Ahead, Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain) secured his widespread popularity. Miles’ group shifted and morphed through the early ‘60s until he settled for a four-year run with his classic quintet, a lineup that is still hailed today as one of the greatest and most influential jazz groups of all time. Their albums together — from Miles Smiles, ESP and Nefertiti, to Miles In The Sky, and Filles de Kilimanjaro — traced a pattern of unparalleled growth and innovation. Had Miles stopped his progress at that point, he’d still be hailed as one of the greatest pioneers in jazz, but his creative momentum from the end of the ‘60s into the ‘70s would not let up. He was listening to the world around him — the amplified explosion of rock bands and the new, heavy-on-the-one funk of James Brown and Sly & The Family Stone. From the ambient hush of In A Silent Way, to the strange and unsettling – yet wildly popular Bitches Brew, he achieved another shift in musical paradigm and a personal career breakthrough. Bitches Brew was controversial, a best-seller and attracted another, younger generation into the Miles fold. Thousands whose musical taste respected no categorical walls flocked to hear Miles, and a slew of fusion bands were soon spawned, led by his former sidemen: Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever. The studio albums that defined Miles’ kaleidoscopic sound in the ‘70s included a series of (mostly) double albums, from …Brew to 1971’s Live-Evil, ‘72’s On The Corner and ‘75’s Get Up With It. The covers listed populous line-ups that reached up to 11 musicians, adding new names to an ever-widening circle of on-call talent. By the end of 1975, Miles was tired – and sick. A period of seclusion ensued, full years to deal with personal demons and health issues, bouncing between bouts of self-abuse and boredom. It was the longest time Miles had been off the public radar – only amplifying the appetite for his return. When Miles reappeared in 1981, expectation had reached fever pitch. A final series of albums for Columbia reflected his continuing fascination with funk of the day (Rose Royce, Cameo, Chaka Khan and later, Prince), and the sounds of synthesizer and drum machines (Great Miles Shift Number 8). The Man With A Horn, We Want Miles and Decoy found him still working with Teo Macero and still surrounding himself with young talent, including bassist Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones). In 1985, his album You’re Under Arrest — with unexpected covers of recent pop charters (Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”) – brought the long Davis-Columbia association to a close. He embarked on a new relationship with Warner Bros. Records and producer Tommy LiPuma, scoring successes with Tutu (written in a large part by his bassist Marcus Miller), Music from Siesta (also with Miller), Amandla (featuring a new breed of soloists, including alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett, tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza, guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly, keyboardist Joey DeFrancesco, and others) and Doo-Bop (his collaboration with hip hop producer Easy Moe Bee.) Those titles proved Miles’ farewell, still pushing forward, still exploring new musical territory. Throughout his career, he had always resisted looking back, avoiding nostalgia and loathing leftovers. “It’s more like warmed-over turkey,” the eternal modernist described the music of Kind of Blue twenty-five years after recording it. Ironically, in 1991, only weeks after performing a career-overview concert in Paris that featured old friends and collaborators from as early as the ‘40s, he died from a brain aneurysm. Like his music, Miles always spoke with an economy of expression. And for Miles, it had to be fresh, or forget it. “I don’t want you to like me because of Kind of Blue,” he insisted. “Like me for what we’re doing now.”
Mndsgn
Mndsgn was born Ringgo Ancheta in San Diego, California and was raised in New Jersey. He is the youngest of four in a family of Filipino descent. His mother was a nurse and his father was a Navy man. He learned to play organ before his older brother introduced him to rap music and beat production at a pivotal age. In 2008, platforms like Myspace and AIM messenger connected Mndsgn with beatmakers Knxwledge, Suzi Analogue and devonwho to form Klipm0de. The collective played and released beat tapes through Bandcamp. Ancheta relocated to Los Angeles in 2011 and self-released beat tapes as well as a few projects distributed by labels Leaving and Fresh Selects, and regularly performed at local hubs such as Low End Theory. In 2013, Mndsgn collaborated with Danny Brown on "Sweeney Song," which appeared on Classic Drug References Vol. 1. His first solo studio album for Stones Throw Records, titled Yawn Zen, was released in 2014. He followed up with Body Wash in 2016, an album that drew heavily on ‘80s R&B and boogie which Vinyl Me, Please cited as one of "The 10 Best Stones Throw Albums To Own On Vinyl", before releasing raw, mixtape-style records Snax and Snaxx in 2018 and 2019, the latter which Clash called "an instant classic" and "everything we’ve come to expect and more, from the San Diego beat maker". In March 2021, Mndsgn announced his third studio album for Stones Throw Records, Rare Pleasure. Inspired by R&B, soundtrack music, psychedelia and jazz, Rare Pleasure features Kiefer (musician), Swarvy, Carlos Niño, Fousheé, Devin Morrison, Anna Wise and more. Rare Pleasure was released in June 2021 on Stones Throw Records. In addition to his solo work, Mndsgn co-wrote and produced Prophet’s 2018 album, Wanna Be Your Man, and Peach Fuzz with Tyler, the Creator.
Moses Sumney
Moses Frimpong Sumney (born May 19, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. His self-recorded EP, Mid-City Island, was released in 2014. He released another 5-song EP in 2016, titled Lamentations. His first full-length album, Aromanticism, was released in September 2017. Sumney has performed as an opening act for Dirty Projectors, Junip, and Sufjan Stevens. Sumney was born on May 19, 1990 in San Bernardino, California to Ghanaian parents. He moved with his family back to Ghana at the age of 10. Sumney described his childhood as "Americanized" by this age and had difficulty adjusting to the culture of Ghana. He did not learn to play any instruments until he was older, writing a cappella music for years instead. Sumney did not perform his musical compositions publicly until he was 20. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles. Sumney's debut, Mid-City Island is a 5-song EP that was self-recorded onto a 4-track recorder given to him by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek. The EP was described by Pitchfork as "primarily composed of first-takes and improvisation; the music is stirring but purposefully incomplete". Sumney joined Terrible Records after the release. Sumney considers his songs to be performance based, and that many of his recorded compositions derive from fleshing the songs out through live performance. He has gone on to perform at venues such as the Hollywood Bowl and alongside artists such as Dirty Projectors, Junip, and St. Vincent, and Local Natives. Sumney sang on the opening track for Beck's album Song Reader. On September 30, 2016, Sumney released Lamentations, an EP which featured a guest appearance from Thundercat. Sumney's first full-length album, Aromanticism, was released on September 22, 2017 by Jagjaguwar. It received acclaim from Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and The New York Times, which also named it one of the best albums of 2017.
Mulatu Astatke
Musor
My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band currently consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The band's sound, rooted in rock and country, is often experimental and psychedelic. The group amassed a following beginning in the 2000s in part due to their live performances. The group first found success in Europe after the release of its debut album, The Tennessee Fire (1999). Its next release, At Dawn (2001), led to a large stateside following and preceded several lineup changes. After signing to major label ATO Records, the group released two albums, It Still Moves (2003) and Z (2005), with the latter representing a critical breakthrough. The group's next release, Evil Urges (2008), was more polarizing for fans and critics, while Circuital (2011), its sixth album, saw a more measured response. After many years of side projects and touring, the band's seventh album, The Waterfall, was released in 2015. The band's debut album, The Tennessee Fire, was released in May 1999. It was mildly successful in the U.S., though it became a surprise hit internationally, particularly in the Netherlands and Belgium. Soon, the group launched a European tour, where it received high marks from Dutch and Belgian press; the group also appeared in the Dutch documentary, This is NOT America. Danny Cash joined the band as keyboardist in 2000. Source Wikipedia
Myriam Gendron
Ottawa-born, Myriam Gendron spent much of her youth in transition, her father being a foreign correspondent. She spent spells in Gatineau (Quebec), D.C., Paris, and Montreal, where she finally settled at age sixteen. Still in Montreal, she makes her living now as a copy-editor and book dealer, leading to her discovery of an anthology of Dorothy Parker poetry, titled Not So Deep as a Well. Parker’s poems hit just the right note and Myriam began putting them to music. “Before even understanding the meaning of the words, I heard a song,” she says. “I flipped through the pages and it just kept happening.” A nine-track album came out of it. Recorded and mixed in her bedroom, Myriam Gendron’s debut album started as a simple project but became more serious as she began to absorb Parker’s work. The album, also titled Not So Deep as a Well, is one of love and hate, all at once brutal, mischievous, humorous and blue.
Nathaniel Rateliff
Nathaniel David Rateliff (born October 7, 1978) is an American singer and songwriter based in Denver, whose influences are described as folk, Americana and vintage rhythm & blues. Rateliff has garnered attention with Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, the soulful R&B combo he formed in 2013. He has also released two solo albums and one album under the name Nathaniel Rateliff and the Wheel. Rateliff was born in St. Louis, MO on October 7, 1978. He grew up in rural Missouri, learning to play the drums at age seven and joining his family's Gospel Band. When Rateliff was 13, his father was killed in a car crash. As a result he taught himself guitar and began writing his own songs. At eighteen, Rateliff moved to Denver for missionary work. After his internal struggles with life in the Church, he left the group and moved home back to Hermann for work in a plastic factory. A few months later he returned to Denver and started work first as a carpenter, then at a trucking depot where he remained (at first in the yard, and then on the dock) for 10 years before becoming a gardener.
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945), is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. After embarking on a music career in the 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he formed Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and others. Young had released two solo albums and three as a member of Buffalo Springfield by the time he joined Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969. From his early solo albums and those with his backing band Crazy Horse, Young has recorded a steady stream of studio and live albums, sometimes warring with his recording company along the way. Young's guitar work, deeply personal lyrics and signature tenor singing voice transcend his long career. Young also plays piano and harmonica on many albums, which frequently combine folk, rock, country and other musical styles. His often distorted electric guitar playing, especially with Crazy Horse, earned him the nickname "Godfather of Grunge" and led to his 1995 album Mirror Ball with Pearl Jam. More recently Young has been backed by Promise of the Real. Young directed (or co-directed) films using the pseudonym Bernard Shakey, including Journey Through the Past (1973), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Human Highway (1982), Greendale (2003), and CSNY/Déjà Vu (2008). He also contributed to the soundtracks of the films Philadelphia (1993) and Dead Man (1995). Young has received several Grammy and Juno awards. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him twice: as a solo artist in 1995 and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield. In 2000, Rolling Stone named Young the 34th greatest rock 'n roll artist. He has lived in California since the 1960s but retains Canadian citizenship. He was awarded the Order of Manitoba on July 14, 2006, and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 30, 2009.
Nick Hakim
Nick Hakim (full name Nicholas Hakim) is an American musician based in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He has released two EPs and two full length albums: Green Twins, which was released on ATO Records in May 2017, and "WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD", which was released on ATO Records in May 2020. Early life and education Nick was raised in Washington, D.C. by his parents, a Chilean mother and Peruvian father. At 17, a friend invited him to sing with her church choir, where Nick taught himself to play piano. Soon after, he attended Berklee College of Music. Career Nick self-released his debut EP, Where Will We Go (Pt I & II) in 2014. In 2017, he released Green Twins through ATO Records and toured internationally. The album went on to earn critical acclaim by media outlets including Pitchfork and The Guardian, and was named one of the Ten Best R&B Albums of 2017 by NPR. Vice called it a "soulful, psychedelic experience". In 2018, Nick performed on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts. His song "Needy Bees" was featured in an episode of HBO's Insecure. In 2019, T-Pain sampled his song "Cuffed" for his single "Getcha Roll On". In March 2020, he announced his new album WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD and released a music video for the single "QADIR".
Nick Mulvey
Nick Mulvey (born 4 November 1984) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He played the hang as a founding member of the band Portico Quartet. In 2011 started his career as a singer-songwriter releasing the EPs The Trellis (2012) and Fever to the Form (2013) and his studio album First Mind in 2014 which received a Mercury Music Prize nomination. His second album, Wake Up Now, was released on 8 September 2017. Beginnings Mulvey grew up in Cambridge and attended Chesterton Community College and Long Road Sixth Form College. At the age of 19 he moved to Havana, Cuba, to study music and art. On returning to the UK, Mulvey enrolled at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies to study Ethnomusicology. Portico Quartet While studying ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Mulvey met the other members of Portico Quartet. The band consisted of Cambridge school friend Duncan Bellamy (drums), Jack Wyllie (soprano and tenor saxophone), and Milo Fitzpatrick (double bass). Their debut album Knee-deep in the North Sea, was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize alongside Radiohead, Elbow, and Adele. The album's title was mentioned in the closing words to Alt-J's song Dissolve Me. Portico Quartet released their second album Isla on 9 October 2009 through Real World Records. Solo career Mulvey left Portico Quartet in 2011 to focus on a solo career as a singer-songwriter. Some critics noted his change in style, Mulvey states that his style of music stays consistent. "I'm always drawn to the same principles in music. Beneath each genre, at a certain level, they hold the same principles". As a solo artist, Mulvey released his first EP The Trellis in November 2012, and his second, Fever to the Form in July 2013. On his autumn 2013 tour with Laura Marling, he performed in symphony halls across the UK, naming Marling as a great influence to his solo music. In 2014, Mulvey played Wonderfruit in Thailand. On 16 May 2017, Mulvey announced a new track, Unconditional, and on 20 May 2017 announced the album Wake Up Now, to be released on 8 September 2017. Two further singles were released: Myela (about the European migrant crisis) and Mountain to Move.
Nicole Canaan
For Utah-based singer-songwriter Nicole Canaan, an avid interest in the power of music came from hearing the various synth-based orchestrations in the video games her older brothers would play. “The analog sounds in those video games when they’re telling the stories of the characters, something about those sounds scratches my brain more than anything ever has,” says Canaan. “I love combining those synths with sadder lyrics. I think it creates a really interesting balance.” Wherever, which was released in October of 2020, was not only Canaan’s first EP, but her first time sharing her songs and all the emotions packed into them with someone else. After posting several songs on Soundcloud, Canaan’s music caught the ear of producer Isaac Elmont, who expressed interest in producing an album. “It was a lovely and very fun experience making the EP. It was also extremely nerve racking—I had never been vulnerable with someone about my music and I had to be when I started recording with Isaac,” she says.
Nicole Willis
Nicole Willis (born 1963) is an American singer/songwriter/producer/director and visual artist. Ms Willis lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. Ms Willis contributed vocals in London, United Kingdom in 1985 with Washington Week In Review. Prior to that she was a member of The Hello Strangers and Blue Period with performances at Munson Diner and Danceteria's No Entiendes, based in New York City while working at night clubs Berlin and Danceteria. In 1984, Willis performed as lead vocalist with Jenn Vix on backing vocals, Adam Horovitz on electric bass, Phil Painson on drums and David Strahan on electric guitar, called Disco Donut. Ms Willis toured with The The as a back up and lead vocalist in 1989. Nicole Willis was the lead vocalist of the nu-soul group Repercussions. Singles and albums were released on Mo' Wax, Reprise/Warner Brothers USA, Pony Canyon Japan. Producers of those records include Nicole Willis, Gary Katz, Daniel Wyatt, Genji Siraisi, and Gordon Clay. The single Promise Me Nothing from the debut album of Repercussions LP Earth and Heaven, peaked at number 6 in the Hot Dance Music, Club Play chart of Billboard magazine on 18 March 1995. Together with Curtis Mayfield, the band recorded a version of Mayfield's Let's Do It Again in which Willis sings a duet with Curtis Mayfield in 1994 released on Reprise/Warner Brothers Records. The group also released an album on Pony Canyon Japan, titled Charmed Life in 1997.
Nina Simone
She was one of the most extraordinary artists of the twentieth century, an icon of American music. She was the consummate musical storyteller, a griot as she would come to learn, who used her remarkable talent to create a legacy of liberation, empowerment, passion, and love through a magnificent body of works. She earned the moniker ‘High Priestess of Soul’ for she could weave a spell so seductive and hypnotic that the listener lost track of time and space as they became absorbed in the moment. She was who the world would come to know as Nina Simone. When Nina Simone died on April 21, 2003, she left a timeless treasure trove of musical magic spanning over four decades from her first hit, the 1959 Top 10 classic “I Loves You Porgy,” to “A Single Woman,” the title cut from her one and only 1993 Elektra album. While thirty-three years separate those recordings, the element of honest emotion is the glue that binds the two together – it is that approach to every piece of work that became Nina’s uncompromising musical trademark. By the end of her life, Nina was enjoying an unprecedented degree of recognition. Her music was enjoyed by the masses due to the CD revolution, discovery on the Internet, and exposure through movies and television. Nina had sold over one million CDs in the last decade of her life, making her a global catalog best-seller. No one website can fully explore the many nuances and flavors that made up the more than 40 original albums in the Nina Simone library. This site and accompanying radio station contain many of Nina’s finest works. However, we might not have had the chance to witness the breathtaking range of material Nina could cover if she hadn’t taken the path she did. Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina on February 21st, 1933, Nina’s prodigious talent as a musician was evident early on when she started playing piano by ear at the age of three. Her mother, a Methodist minister, and her father, a handyman and preacher himself, couldn’t ignore young Eunice’s God-given gift of music. Raised in the church on the straight and narrow, her parents taught her right from wrong, to carry herself with dignity, and to work hard. She played piano – but didn’t sing – in her mother’s church, displaying remarkable talent early in her life. Able to play virtually anything by ear, she was soon studying classical music with an Englishwoman named Muriel Mazzanovich, who had moved to the small southern town. It was from these humble roots that Eunice developed a lifelong love of Johann Sebastian Bach, Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert. After graduating valedictorian of her high school class, the community raised money for a scholarship for Eunice to study at Julliard in New York City before applying to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her family had already moved to the City Of Brotherly Love, but Eunice’s hopes for a career as a pioneering African American classical pianist were dashed when the school denied her admission. To the end, she herself would claim that racism was the reason she did not attend. While her original dream was unfulfilled, Eunice ended up with an incredible worldwide career as Nina Simone – almost by default.
Novos Baianos
Novos Baianos was a Brazilian rock and MPB group from Salvador, Bahia. It was formed in the 1960s and enjoyed success throughout most of the 1970s. The band members were Paulinho Boca de Cantor (vocals), Pepeu Gomes (electric guitar), Moraes Moreira (vocals and acoustic guitar), Baby Consuelo (vocals and percussion) and Luiz Galvão (lyrics). The group always counted on the collaboration of the band A Cor do Som, composed of Pepeu Gomes (guitar), Dadi (bass), Jorginho (cavaquinho, drums and percussion), Baixinho (drums and percussion) and Bolacha (percussion). Novos Baianos is considered one of the most important and revolutionary groups in Brazilian music. History Novos Baianos started in the 1960s, but they appeared in public for the first time in 1968 at the show "Desembarque dos bichos depois do dilúvio", presented in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. At the time, the group was composed of Moreira, Boca de Cantor, Consuelo and Galvão. In 1969, the group participated in V Festival de Música Popular Brasileira, playing the song 'De vera'. The origin of the name came up during a performance on the TV channel Rede Record. When the group was still nameless, the festival producer, Marcos Antônio Riso yelled (in Portuguese) "Bring up these new Bahians!", referring to the band's place of origin ("Novos Baianos" is Portuguese for "new Bahians"). This song was on the band's first album, É ferro na boneca, recorded one year later. Initially their sound was a fusion of psychedelic rock with traditional folk sounds from Brazil. Originally, the group only played with Pepeu Gomes and Jorginho at their live shows. However, gradually, Gomes started to acquire an ever more important role in the group: after he married Consuelo, he became a fully fledged band member and song arranger along with Moreira. Their music began to gravitate more towards MPB, particularly due to João Gilberto's influence, who frequently visited the group. Their second album Acabou Chorare contained the classics 'Brasil Pandeiro', 'Preta Pretinha', 'Mistério do Planeta' and 'Besta é tu'. It was recorded on the Som Livre label in 1972, and years later would be considered the best Brazilian music album by Rolling Stone magazine. It was around this period that the group incorporated A Cor do Som as an auxiliary band. In 1972, after recording Acabou Chorare, Novos Baianos moved to a community in Vargem Grande, Rio de Janeiro, in a garage where they lived, played and composed music, and played soccer. This was the reason for the name of their third album, Novos Baianos F.C., recorded on the label Continental in 1973. The group had a strong hippie image at this time. The band released records until their break-up in 1978. In 1974, they recorded the first album without Moreira, who decided to start his own solo career. As Moreira had previously composed songs with Galvão and arranged songs with Gomes for the band's previous albums, it was a great loss to the band. The members tried to continue and incorporated Gato Félix to the group. In 1976, Dadi left the group to start A Cor do Som. Novos Baianos substituted Didi, the brother of Pepeu Gomes, for the loss of Dadi. However, the group disbanded some years later due to members starting their solo careers. Despite the end of the band, Novos Baianos' members reunited many times to celebrate special events. In 1997, the composer of the group, Luiz Galvão, published the book Anos 70: Novos e Baianos for Editora 34. In the book he tells the history of the group and its importance to Brazilian music. After Galvão released the book, the group reunited to record a new album, named Infinito Circular, recorded live at Metropolitan, Rio de Janeiro. In 2007, Moreira also published a book about the group. It was written as a cordel text and was named A História dos Novos Baianos e Outros Versos. In 2009, the band reunited without Moreira to celebrate 40 years of Novos Baianos and their revolutionary role in Brazilian music.
NxWorries
NxWorries (pronounced "No Worries") is an American music duo from Los Angeles, California that consists of record producer Knxwledge and singer/rapper Anderson Paak. They are currently signed to Stones Throw Records and have released their debut studio album Yes Lawd! on October 21, 2016. 2015–present: Link Up & Suede and Yes Lawd! Knxwledge's and Anderson Paak's debut under the name NxWorries, "Suede", was released as the lead single of their EP, Link Up & Suede. The song premiered on February 10, 2015, on Stones Throw Records' SoundCloud page. The song contains a sample of "The Bottle" as written and performed by Gil Scott-Heron. The song became a viral hit, with more than a million SoundCloud listens and nearly as many YouTube plays. From August 21 to September 17, 2015, NxWorries toured with Earl Sweatshirt and Remy Banks. On August 25, 2015, the music video for "Suede" was released on the official Stones Throw YouTube channel. The second single, "Link Up", was broadcast on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show on December 1, 2015. Link Up & Suede was released on December 4, 2015 under Stones Throw Records. On March 3, 2016, a music video for "Link Up" was released on the official Stones Throw YouTube channel. It featured guest appearances from Eric André and Earl Sweatshirt. On June 19, 2016, Paak confirmed that NxWorries' debut studio album is finished and set for release. On July 25, 2016, it was confirmed that the album was to be titled Yes Lawd. On September 19, 2016, Yes Lawd! was confirmed for a release date of October 21, 2016, in addition to releasing a single, 'Lyk Dis' off the album, but was released on October 14, 2016.
O Terno
O Terno is a São Paulo rock band founded in 2009, when it began to cover songs by bands such as Os Mutantes, The Beatles and The Kinks, and later presented its own repertoire. It is one of the references of independent Brazilian music these days, being one of the founders of the RISCO label. Biography O Terno is a rock band from São Paulo, formed by Tim Bernardes, Guilherme D'Almeida and Gabriel Basile. In June 2012, he released his first album, 66, independently. Since its release, the album has been very well evaluated, being considered by O Globo newspaper as "one of the most impressive debut albums of a Brazilian band" and placed among the 25 best Brazilian albums of 2012 by Rolling Stone Brazil. The disc contains 5 songs and 5 songs written by Maurício Pereira, with arrangements of the trio.
of Montreal
Of Montreal is an American indie pop band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontperson Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance between Barnes and a woman "of Montreal". The band is identified as part of the Elephant 6 collective. Throughout its existence, of Montreal's musical style has evolved considerably and drawn inspiration from 1960s psychedelic pop acts. History 2013–present On April 25, 2013, of Montreal posted an announcement on their Facebook page stating that a new album entitled Lousy with Sylvianbriar had been completed. The post went into detail about the album's conception, including that Barnes' writing occurred while on a "self imposed isolation experiment in San Francisco" in early 2013. She was influenced by Sylvia Plath, the Grateful Dead, Neil Young, and the Flying Burrito Brothers in her writing. The album was recorded with a new lineup of musicians, including Jojo Glidewell, Nicolas Dobbratz, Bennett Lewis, and Bob Parins, with Clayton Rychlik and Kevin Barnes as the only returning members. The album and subsequent tour also featured Rebecca Cash on vocals. Lousy with Sylvianbriar was released on October 8, 2013. On July 10, 2013, the band released the first single from the album, entitled "Fugitive Air." On July 31, 2013, they announced that they would be touring their new album in October and November. This tour featured the same musicians that performed on the album, instead of longtime band members such as Bryan Poole and Dottie Alexander. By means of a Facebook post and a Kevin Barnes interview conducted by Stereogum.com, of Montreal's album Aureate Gloom was announced. The record was influenced by "the mid-to-late 1970s music scene in New York," including bands such as Talking Heads and Led Zeppelin. The album captures Barnes' emotions borne from her separation from her wife of 11 years and its aftermath. Barnes described the album as being "all over the place musically", lending to its reflection of her mindset during the time of its creation. The album was released March 3, 2015. In August 2016, of Montreal released Innocence Reaches, which incorporated new, EDM-inspired sounds, as well as the progressive rock sounds of the previous two albums. For the tour following the album's release, bassist Davey Pierce returned to the band, replacing Bob Parins. On January 13, 2017, of Montreal released a new EP by surprise, entitled Rune Husk. On March 9, 2018, the album White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood was released on Polyvinyl, with singer Barnes explaining that the sound was influenced by "extended dance mixes" from the 1980s. The band released its sixteenth studio album, UR FUN, on January 17, 2020. Of Montreal released its seventeenth studio album, I Feel Safe with You, Trash, on March 5, 2021.
Oliver Mtukudzi
Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi (22 September 1952 – 23 January 2019) was a Zimbabwean musician, businessman, philanthropist, human rights activist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Southern Africa Region. Tuku was considered to have been Zimbabwe's most renowned and internationally recognised cultural icon of all time. Mtukudzi grew up in Highfield, a poor neighborhood in Salisbury (modern-day Harare) in Southern Rhodesia, as the eldest of seven siblings. While both his parents sang in a choir, they were initially not supportive of his continued interest in music, consequently breaking his first homemade guitar. He began performing in 1977 when he joined the Wagon Wheels, a band that also featured Thomas Mapfumo and fellow legendary guitarist James Chimombe. They were given the rare opportunity by Paul Tangi Mhova Mkondo, an African nationalist and music promoter, who provided money and resources to the group. With the support of Mutanga, the prayers and blessings of Amai Mutanga, he allowed them to perform at Mutanga Restaurant & Night Club (Pungwe) which, at the time, was the first and only African licensed (obtained by Mkondo) night club available for blacks under Rhodesia's policy of segregation. Their single Dzandimomotera went gold and Tuku's first album followed, which was also a major success. Mtukudzi is also a contributor to Mahube, Southern Africa's "supergroup". With his husky voice, Mtukudzi has become the most recognised voice to emerge from Zimbabwe and onto the international scene and he has earned a devoted following across Africa and beyond. A member of Zimbabwe's KoreKore group, with Nzou Samanyanga as his totem, he sings in the nation's dominant Shona language along with Ndebele and English. He also incorporates elements of different musical traditions, giving his music a distinctive style, known to fans as Tuku Music. Mtukudzi has had a number of tours around the world. He has been on several tours in the UK, US and Canada to perform for large audiences. In 2017 Mtukudzi entertained guests at the wedding of Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo. Mtukudzi is the father of five children and has two grandchildren. Two of his children are also musicians. His son Sam Mtukudzi, a successful musician in his own right, died in a car accident in March 2010 and in 2013, he released an album titled "Sarawoga", in tribute to his son.
Orchestra Baobab
Orchestra Baobab is a Senegalese band established in 1970 as the house band of the Baobab Club in Dakar. Many of the band's original members had previously played with Star Band de Dakar in the 1960s. Directed by timbalero and vocalist Balla Sidibe, the group features saxophonists Issa Cissoko and Thierno Koité, two singers, two guitarists and a rhythm section with drums, congas and bass guitar. Since their formation, the band has predominantly played a mix of son cubano, Wolof music, and to a lesser extent Mande musical traditions. Orchestra Baobab became one of the dominant African bands of the 1970s, recording 20 albums before their breakup in 1987, which occurred as a result of the increase in popularity of mbalax, a more contemporary genre of Senegalese music. In the years following their disbandment, World Circuit released several of their albums on CD, making the band very popular among world music fans in the UK and the rest of Europe. This prompted their reformation in 2001, which was followed by the recording of a new album, Specialist in All Styles. The group continues to tour extensively and has released two more studio albums, Made in Dakar (2007) and Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng (2017). Many of the original members were veterans of the famous Star Band, whose alumni later included the Étoile de Dakar, El Hadji Faye and Youssou N’Dour. Star Band were the resident band of the upscale Dakar Miami Club. When the Baobab Club opened in Dakar in 1970, six musicians, led by saxophonist Baro N'Diaye, were lured from Star Band and the Orchestra Baobab was born. The club, in turn, is named for the baobab tree (Adansonia). The original frontmen of the band were the Casamance singers Balla Sidibe and Rudy Gomis, who came from the melting pot of Casamance musical styles, and most famously Laye M'Boup, who provided vocals in the Wolof griot style. His Wolof language lyrics and his soaring, nasal voice defined the sound of Baobab's early hits. Togolese guitarist and arranger Barthélémy Attisso was a law student in Dakar, and a self-taught musician, whose arpeggiated runs became instantly recognizable. With the saxophone of N'Diaye, this was the first core of the band. After touring Cameroon in 1971, N'Diaye was replaced by tenor saxophonist Issa Cissoko, who became leader of the band, and was joined by clarinettist Peter Udo. Both Cissoko and drummer Mountaga Koité were from Maninka griot families, from Mali and eastern Senegal, respectively. The group's lineup was rounded out by the slow groove Latin styles of Latfi Benjeloum (rhythm guitar), who came from a Moroccan family exiled to Saint-Louis, Senegal, and Charlie N'Diaye (bass) from Casamance. The group's first recodings were released as Orchestre Saf Mounadem on a split album with Orchestre Laye Thiam, another band of ex-Star Band musicians. Attisso is credited as musical director, and singers Balla Sidibe and Medoune Diallo (who had stayed with the Star Band a bit longer than the others), along with Issa Cissoko are also credited on the cover. Like most of the recordings by Star Band, the album was produced by Ibrahim Kassé, and was later reissued in France under the title Star Band de Dakar Vol. 7. Their first two albums under the name Orchestra Baobab, were recorded at the Baobab Club between 1970 and 1972, and self-produced by the band. Both bear the title Orchestre du Baobab.
Os Mutantes
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. Redding's style of singing gained inspiration from the gospel music that preceded the genre. His singing style influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s. Redding was born in Dawson, Georgia, and at the age of 2, moved to Macon, Georgia. Redding quit school at age 15 to support his family, working with Little Richard's backing band, the Upsetters, and by performing in talent shows at the historic Douglass Theatre in Macon. In 1958, he joined Johnny Jenkins's band, the Pinetoppers, with whom he toured the Southern states as a singer and driver. An unscheduled appearance on a Stax recording session led to a contract and his first single, "These Arms of Mine", in 1962. Stax released Redding's debut album, Pain in My Heart, two years later. Initially popular mainly with African-Americans, Redding later reached a wider American pop music audience. Along with his group, he first played small shows in the American South. He later performed at the popular Los Angeles night club Whisky a Go Go and toured Europe, performing in London, Paris and other major cities. He also performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Shortly before his death in a plane crash, Redding wrote and recorded his iconic "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" with Steve Cropper. The song became the first posthumous number-one record on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts. The album The Dock of the Bay was the first posthumous album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. Redding's premature death devastated Stax. Already on the verge of bankruptcy, the label soon discovered that the Atco division of Atlantic Records owned the rights to his entire song catalog. Redding received many posthumous accolades, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In addition to "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," "Respect" and "Try a Little Tenderness" are among his best-known songs.
Pachyman
As a young, university-trained musician looking to find his way in this tropical space, Pachy García (a/k/a Pachyman) became obsessed with old Jamaican dub records like the ones from King Tubby and Scientist and is determined to re-create the vibe in his own way. “The recordings of the early roots stuff really got to me, the raw-ness of the sound and how the distortion and the drive that come out of these recordings come out sounding like the root of the sound,” said García. “They were kind of like the old Delta blues recordings, like super-raw, people and their instruments rehearse this song and it sounds so perfect.” Garcia is perhaps best known as the drummer/vocalist for the L.A.-based band Prettiest Eyes, a unique pop-noise project that reflects his other formative interest, synth punk. He thinks of his new recording, called The Return of Pachyman, the way King Tubby would, an “x-ray” of reggae music, breaking it down to its bare bones. Originally a guitarist, he moved to Los Angeles in the early 2010s and developed his passion for dub. From there, he started recording bass, drums, and piano and collecting recording equipment in his basement studio, which he calls 333 House. As a teenager, García was drawn to guitar as a fan of bands like Nirvana, hardcore Dischord label bands, and Puerto Rican hardcore pioneers Tropiezo and Juventud Crasa. Yet he was also busily imbibing electronic dance music, drum and bass, and, at Universidad Interamericana, jazz, fusion, and Wes Montgomery. “At the same time, I was discovering the Wailers, The Easy All Stars from New York—when they did that Dub Side of the Moon Thing [dub versions of Pink Floyd classics] it was a big thing for me,” said García. In the early 2000s, Cultura Profética was the dominant force in Puerto Rican reggae, and García was drawn like a moth to the flame. “When their third record came, it was a live one, and it was all over the radio,” said García. After moving to LA, García found a niche group called Dub Club and started crate-diving classic records, old microphones and reel-to-reel tape machines in his quest to achieve an old-school reggae sound. With The Return of Pachyman, García wants to show how the Caribbean flow is transnational, a vibe that resounds from Jamaica to San Juan to Southern California. “With this project, I was looking to make positive music and radiate good energy; something to kinda disconnect from the negative things that were happening at the moment,” Garcia explains. “I am trying to make this project a service for humanity in the sense that I just wanted to shine a positive light.” Pachyman’s planet is a world between worlds, where exiled multi-instrument basement studio composers stand and deliver.
Palace
Leo Wyndham, Matt Hodges and Rupert Turner have been friends since they were thirteen and released their debut album “So Long Forever” in 2016. Following extensive touring of the festival circuit and a sold-out UK headline tour including Shepherds Bush Empire, the London based three-piece have been busy writing and recording at their own studio in Tottenham.
Paolo Nutini
Paolo Giovanni Nutini (born 9 January 1987) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician from Paisley. Nutini's debut album, These Streets (2006), peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart. Its follow-up, Sunny Side Up (2009), debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. Both albums have been certified quintuple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. After 5 years, Nutini released his third studio album, Caustic Love, in April 2014. The album received positive reviews from music critics. Caustic Love debuted at number one on the UK Album Charts and was certified platinum by the BPI in June 2014. In late July 2014, he was referred to by the BBC as "arguably Scotland's biggest musician right now".
Parliament
Parliament is a funk band formed in the late 1960s by George Clinton as part of his Parliament-Funkadelic collective. Less rock-oriented than its sister act Funkadelic, Parliament drew on science-fiction and outlandish performances in their work. The band scored a number of Top 10 hits, including the million-selling 1975 single "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)," and Top 40 albums such as Mothership Connection (1975). Parliament was originally the Parliaments, a doo-wop vocal group based at a Plainfield, New Jersey barbershop. The group was formed in the late 1950s and included George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas. Clinton was the group leader and manager. The group scored a hit single in 1967 with "(I Wanna) Testify" (co-written by Clinton) on Revilot Records. To capitalize on this chart success, Clinton formed a touring band, featuring teenage barbershop employee Billy Nelson on bass and his friend Eddie Hazel on guitar, with the lineup eventually rounded out by Tawl Ross on guitar, Tiki Fulwood on drums, and Mickey Atkins on organ. During a contractual dispute with Revilot, Clinton temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments", and signed the ensemble to Westbound Records as Funkadelic, which Clinton positioned as a funk-rock band featuring the five touring musicians with the five Parliaments singers as uncredited guests. With Funkadelic as a recording and touring entity in its own right, in 1970 Clinton relaunched the singing group, now known as Parliament, at first featuring the same ten members. Clinton was now the leader of two different acts, Parliament and Funkadelic, which featured the same members but were marketed as creating two different types of funk. The Parliament album entitled Osmium was released on Invictus Records in 1970, and was later reissued on CD with non-album tracks as both Rhenium and First Thangs. Osmium featured a mostly psychedelic soul sound that was more similar to the Funkadelic albums of the period than to the later Parliament albums. The song "The Breakdown" was released separately as a single, and reached #30 on the R&B charts in 1971. Due to continuing contractual problems and the fact that Funkadelic releases were more successful at the time, Clinton temporarily abandoned the name Parliament (which he revived in 1974). Following Osmium, the lineup of Parliament-Funkadelic began going through many changes and was expanded significantly, with the addition of important members such as keyboardist Bernie Worrell in 1970, singer/guitarist Garry Shider in 1971, and bassist Bootsy Collins (recruited from the James Brown backing band) in 1972. Dozens of singers and musicians would contribute to future Parliament-Funkadelic releases. Clinton relaunched Parliament in 1974 and signed the act to Casablanca Records. Parliament, now augmented by the Horny Horns (also recruited from James Brown's band) was positioned as a smoother R&B-based funk ensemble with intricate horn and vocal arrangements, and as a counterpoint to the guitar-based funk-rock of Funkadelic. By this point, Parliament and Funkadelic were touring as a combined entity known as Parliament-Funkadelic or simply P-Funk (which also became the catch-all term for George Clinton's rapidly growing stable of funk artists). The album Up for the Down Stroke was released in 1974, with Chocolate City following in 1975. Both performed strongly on the Billboard R&B charts and were moderately successful on the Pop charts. Parliament began its period of greatest mainstream success with the concept album Mothership Connection (1975), the lyrics of which launched much of the P-Funk mythology. The subsequent albums The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (1976), Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome (1977), and Motor Booty Affair (1978) all reached high on both the R&B and Pop charts, while Funkadelic was also experiencing significant mainstream success. Parliament scored the #1 R&B singles "Flash Light" in 1977 and "Aqua Boogie" in 1978. The rapidly expanding ensemble of musicians and singers in the Parliament-Funkadelic enterprise, as well as Clinton's problematic management practices, began to take their toll by the late 1970s. Original Parliaments members Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas, who had been with Clinton since the barbershop days in the late 1950s, departed acrimoniously in 1977, after disputes over Clinton's management. Other important group members like singer/guitarist Glenn Goins and drummer Jerome Brailey left Parliament-Funkadelic in 1978 after disputes over Clinton's management. Two further Parliament albums, Gloryhallastoopid (1979) and Trombipulation (1980) were less successful than the albums from the group's prime 1975-1978 period. Parliament's 1978 release "Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)" would go on to become one of the defining samples of the West Coast G-Funk movement. The song came to sampling prominence in the late '80s, appearing on tracks by King Tee ("Just Clowning"), Ice-T ("The Syndicate") and Fat Boys (“Get Down”), before finding a national audience on Ice Cube's 1990 release "Rollin' With Da Lench Mob". The song would go on to be sampled more than 12 additional times before the turn of the century by West Coast artists including Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik, DJ Muggs, Tha Dogg Pound, and Warren G. It found a national audience on Ice Cube's Bomb Squad-produced "Rollin’ With Da Lench Mob," and again on Cypress Hill’s "Psycobetabuckdown." In the early 1980s, with legal difficulties arising from the multiple names used by multiple groups, as well as a shakeup at Casablanca Records, George Clinton dissolved Parliament and Funkadelic as recording and touring entities. However, many of the musicians in later versions of the two groups remained employed by Clinton. Clinton continued to release new albums regularly, sometimes under his own name and sometimes under the name George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars. The P-Funk All-Stars continued to record and tour into the 1990s and 2000s, and regularly perform classic Parliament songs. Parliament reformed in January 2018 and released the song "I'm Gon Make U Sick O'Me", which features the rapper Scarface. This was the first new Parliament release in 38 years. Clinton also announced the title of a new Parliament album, Medicaid Fraud Dogg, which was released on May 22, 2018. Most of the 23 tracks on the album were written by Clinton in collaboration with his son, Tracey Lewis. Guest musicians on the album include former long-time James Brown collaborators Fred Wesley and Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis.
Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth For Christ Choir
Thomas Lee Barrett, Jr. (born January 13, 1944), better known professionally as Pastor T.L. Barrett and Rev. T.L. Barrett, is an American Pentecostal preacher and gospel musician. Barrett is a preacher on Chicago's South Side who released gospel albums in the 1970s; as a musician, he was largely unknown outside of Chicago until a resurgence in interest in his music occurred in the 2010s. In the 1970s, Barrett's congregation included many noteworthy Chicago-area musicians, such as Maurice White and Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind and Fire, Donny Hathaway, and Phil Cohran. Barrett, recording as Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir, released the album Like a Ship (Without a Sail) in 1971. The Youth for Christ Choir, led by Barrett, was an approximately 40-member ensemble of children ages 12 to 19, which grew out of his Tuesday night weekly choir meetings. The album featured instrumental contributions from Phil Upchurch, Gene Barge, Charles Pittman, and Richard Evans (of Rotary Connection). It was reissued by Light in the Attic Records in 2010 to critical acclaim and praise from musicians such as Jim James and Colin Greenwood. Barrett also released several further albums of music over the course of the 1970s, as well as discs of sermons; he also recorded as Rev. T.L. Barrett. In 2016, Kanye West sampled the song "Father I Stretch My Hands", from Barrett's 1976 album Do Not Pass Me By, in the song "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1" and "Pt. 2" from the album The Life of Pablo. In 2016, Barrett's music was used in an Under Armour commercial directed by Harmony Korine and on the soundtrack to the film Barry. and in the 2017 Almeida Theatre (London) production of Martin Crimp's "The Treatment". In 2019, Barrett's song "Nobody Knows", from the 1971 album 'Like a Ship (Without a Sail)', was used in an AT&T commercial titled "Roll Up Your Sleeves". It was also used in a trailer to Corpus Christi. Also in 2019, English musician Richard Ashcroft covered live the song 'Like a Ship (Without a Sail)' and released it as a streaming single (labeled as 'Just Like A Ship'). The song was covered during a live session at the Chris Evans Breakfast Show. The following year, Barrett's recording of 'Like a Ship (Without a Sail)' was featured in the Netflix documentary, Crip Camp. In 2020, Barrett’s song “Like a Ship” was sampled by electronic music Duo The Knocks in their song “All About You” featuring Foster The People. In June 2021, Barrett's song "Like a Ship" was used on closing credits of Season 1 Episode 9 of HBO "HACKS". The song "Nobody Knows", from the 1971 album 'Like a Ship (Without a Sail)', has been sampled numerous times, including on rapper Copywrite's song "Trouble" from the album "Choose your own adventure: Murderland" and DJ Khaled's album Grateful.
Pat Metheny
PAT METHENY was born in Kansas City on August 12, 1954 into a musical family. Starting on trumpet at the age of 8, Metheny switched to guitar at age 12. By the age of 15, he was working regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience at an unusually young age. Metheny first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974. Over the course of his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, the young Missouri native already displayed his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, which blended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility - a way of playing and improvising that was modern in conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues. With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional "jazz guitar" sound for a new generation of players. Throughout his career, Pat Metheny has continued to re-define the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve the improvisational and sonic potential of his instrument. METHENY'S versatility is almost nearly without peer on any instrument. Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Hancock to Jim Hall to Milton Nascimento to David Bowie. Metheny's body of work includes compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical. As well as being an accomplished musician, Metheny has also participated in the academic arena as a music educator. At 18, he was the youngest teacher ever at the University of Miami. At 19, he became the youngest teacher ever at the Berklee College of Music, where he also received an honorary doctorate more than twenty years later (1996). He has also taught music workshops all over the world, from the Dutch Royal Conservatory to the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz to clinics in Asia and South America. He has also been a true musical pioneer in the realm of electronic music, and was one of the very first jazz musicians to treat the synthesizer as a serious musical instrument. Years before the invention of MIDI technology, Metheny was using the Synclavier as a composing tool. He has also been instrumental in the development of several new kinds of guitars such as the soprano acoustic guitar, the 42-string Pikasso guitar, Ibanez's PM-100 jazz guitar, and a variety of other custom instruments. He took the whole instrument development process into a different level with his mechanical, solenoid driven Orchestrion. It is one thing to attain popularity as a musician, but it is another to receive the kind of acclaim Metheny has garnered from critics and peers. Over the years, Metheny has won countless polls as "Best Jazz Guitarist" and awards, including three gold records for Still Life (Talking), Letter from Home, and Secret Story. He has also won 20 Grammy Awards in 12 different categories including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, Best Instrumental Composition. The Pat Metheny Group won an unprecedented seven consecutive Grammies for seven consecutive albums. Metheny has spent most of his life on tour, averaging between 120-240 shows a year since 1974. At the time of this writing, he continues to be one of the brightest stars of the jazz community, dedicating time to both his own projects and those of emerging artists and established veterans alike, helping them to reach their audience as well as realizing their own artistic visions.
Patrick Watson
Patrick Watson (born 1979) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Montreal, Quebec. It also refers to the eponymous band formed by Watson, whose blend of cabaret pop and classical music influences with indie rock has been compared to Rufus Wainwright, Andrew Bird, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley and Pink Floyd for its experimental musicianship. Patrick Watson's album Close to Paradise was awarded the Polaris Music Prize in 2007.
Paul and Linda McCartney
Ram is the only album credited to the husband-and-wife music duo Paul and Linda McCartney, released in May 1971 by Apple Records. It was recorded in New York with guitarists David Spinozza and Hugh McCracken, and future Wings drummer Denny Seiwell. Three singles were issued from the album: "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" (Paul's first number 1 hit in America without the Beatles), "The Back Seat of My Car" and "Eat at Home". The recording sessions also yielded the non-album single "Another Day". The album's release coincided with a period of acrimony between McCartney and his former Beatles bandmates, and followed his legal action in the United Kingdom's High Court to dissolve the Beatles partnership. John Lennon perceived slights in the lyrics to songs such as "Too Many People". Although McCartney felt that he had addressed the criticisms he received with his 1970 solo debut, McCartney, Ram elicited a similarly unfavourable reaction from music journalists. It nonetheless topped the national albums charts in the UK, the Netherlands and Canada. Today, Ram is held in high regard by many music critics and is often ranked as one of McCartney's best solo albums. It has also been recognised as an early indie pop album. In 1971, McCartney produced Thrillington, an instrumental interpretation of Ram that was released in 1977 under the pseudonym "Percy 'Thrills' Thrillington". In 2012, an expanded edition of Ram was reissued with over two dozen bonus tracks as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. In 2020, Ram was ranked number 450 on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest albums of all time.
Paul McCartney and Wings
Paul McCartney and Wings (also known by their original name Wings) were a British-American rock band formed in 1971 by former Beatle Paul McCartney, his wife Linda on keyboards, session drummer Denny Seiwell, and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings were noted for frequent personnel changes along with their commercial successes, going through three lead guitarists and four drummers. However, the core trio of the McCartneys and Laine remained intact throughout the group's existence. Created following the McCartneys' 1971 album Ram, the band's first two albums, Wild Life (1971) and Red Rose Speedway (1973) (the latter featuring guitarist Henry McCullough), were viewed as artistic disappointments beside Paul's work with the Beatles. After the release of the title track of the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, McCullough and Seiwell resigned from the band. The McCartneys and Laine then released 1973's Band on the Run, a commercial and critical success that spawned two top ten singles in "Jet" and the title track. Following that album, the band recruited guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton, only for Britton to quit shortly afterwards and be replaced by Joe English. With the new line-up, Wings released 1975's Venus and Mars, which included the US number one single "Listen to What the Man Said", and undertook a highly successful world tour over 1975–76. Intended as more of a group effort, Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976) was issued midway through the tour and featured the hit singles "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In". In 1977, the band earned their only UK number one single, with "Mull of Kintyre", which became the then-best-selling UK single in history. Wings experienced another line-up shuffle, however, with both McCulloch and English departing before the release of the group's 1978 album London Town. The McCartneys and Laine again added new members, recruiting guitarist Laurence Juber and drummer Steve Holley. The resulting album, Back to the Egg, was a relative flop, with its singles under-performing and the critical reception negative. During the supporting tour, Paul was arrested in Japan for cannabis possession, putting the band on hold. Despite a final US number one with a live-recorded version of "Coming Up" (1979), after Laine departed from the band, Wings discontinued for good in 1981.
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Simon's musical career has spanned seven decades with his fame and commercial success beginning as half of the duo Simon & Garfunkel (originally known as Tom & Jerry), formed in 1956 with Art Garfunkel. Simon was responsible for writing nearly all of the pair's songs including three that reached number one on the U.S. singles charts: "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge over Troubled Water". The duo split up in 1970 at the height of their popularity, and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three acclaimed albums over the next five years. In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music, which sold 14 million copies worldwide on its release and remains his most popular solo work. Simon also wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony (1980) and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman (1998) with the poet Derek Walcott. On June 3, 2016, Simon released his 13th solo album, Stranger to Stranger, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Album Chart and the UK charts. Simon has earned sixteen Grammys for his solo and collaborative work, including three for Album of the Year (Bridge Over Troubled Water, Still Crazy After All These Years, and Graceland), and a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time. In 2011, Rolling Stone named Simon one of the 100 greatest guitarists. In 2015, he was named one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time by Rolling Stone. Among many other honors, Simon was the first recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007. In 1986, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music, where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees.
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and activist who rose to fame as the original lead singer and flautist of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, Gabriel launched a successful solo career with "Solsbury Hill" as his first single. His 1986 album, So, is his best-selling release and is certified triple platinum in the UK and five times platinum in the U.S. The album's most successful single, "Sledgehammer", won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards and, according to a report in 2011, it was MTV's most played music video of all time. Gabriel has been a champion of world music for much of his career. He co-founded the WOMAD festival in 1982. He has continued to focus on producing and promoting world music through his Real World Records label. He has also pioneered digital distribution methods for music, co-founding OD2, one of the first online music download services. Gabriel has also been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts. In 1980, he released the anti-apartheid single "Biko". He has participated in several human rights benefit concerts, including Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! tour in 1988, and co-founded the Witness human rights organisation in 1992. Gabriel developed The Elders with Richard Branson, which was launched by Nelson Mandela in 2007. Gabriel has won three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1987, six Grammy Awards, thirteen MTV Video Music Awards, the first Pioneer Award at the BT Digital Music Awards, the Q magazine Lifetime Achievement, the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Polar Music Prize. He was made a BMI Icon at the 57th annual BMI London Awards for his "influence on generations of music makers". In recognition of his many years of human rights activism, he received the Man of Peace award from the Nobel Peace Prize laureates in 2006, and Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008. AllMusic has described Gabriel as "one of rock's most ambitious, innovative musicians, as well as one of its most political". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010, followed by his induction as a solo artist in 2014. In March 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of South Australia in recognition of his achievements in music.
Peter Green
Peter Green (born Peter Allen Greenbaum; 29 October 1946 – 25 July 2020) was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. As the founder of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Green's songs, such as "Albatross", "Black Magic Woman", "Oh Well", "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" and "Man of the World", appeared on singles charts, and several have been adapted by a variety of musicians. Green was a major figure in the "second great epoch" of the British blues movement. B.B. King commented, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats." Eric Clapton praised his guitar playing; he was interested in expressing emotion in his songs, rather than showing off how fast he could play and used string bending, vibrato, and economy of style. Rolling Stone ranked Green at number 58 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". His tone on the instrumental "The Super-Natural" was rated as one of the 50 greatest of all time by Guitar Player. In June 1996, Green was voted the third-best guitarist of all time in Mojo magazine. Early years Peter Allen Greenbaum was born in Bethnal Green, London, on 29 October 1946, into a Jewish family, the youngest of Joe and Ann Greenbaum's four children. His brother, Michael, taught him his first guitar chords and by the age of 11 Green was teaching himself. He began playing professionally by the age of 15, while working for a number of East London shipping companies. He first played bass guitar in a band called Bobby Dennis and the Dominoes, which performed pop chart covers and rock 'n' roll standards, including Shadows covers. He later stated that Hank Marvin was his guitar hero and he played The Shadows' song "Midnight" on the 1996 tribute album Twang. He went on to join a rhythm and blues outfit, the Muskrats, then a band called The Tridents in which he played bass. By Christmas 1965 Green was playing lead guitar in Peter Bardens' band "Peter B's Looners", where he met drummer Mick Fleetwood. It was with Peter B's Looners that he made his recording début with the single "If You Wanna Be Happy" with "Jodrell Blues" as a B-side. His recording of "If You Wanna Be Happy" was an instrumental cover of a song by Jimmy Soul. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers In October 1965, before joining Bardens' group, Green had the opportunity to fill in for Eric Clapton in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers for four gigs. Soon afterwards, when Clapton left the Bluesbreakers, Green became a full-time member of Mayall's band from July 1966. Mike Vernon, a producer at Decca Records recalls Green's début with the Bluesbreakers: As the band walked in the studio I noticed an amplifier which I never saw before, so I said to John Mayall, "Where's Eric Clapton?" Mayall answered, "He's not with us anymore, he left us a few weeks ago." I was in a shock of state [sic] but Mayall said, "Don't worry, we got someone better." I said, "Wait a minute, hang on a second, this is ridiculous. You've got someone better? Than Eric Clapton?" John said, "He might not be better now, but you wait, in a couple of years he's going to be the best." Then he introduced me to Peter Green. Green made his recording debut with the Bluesbreakers in 1966 on the album A Hard Road (1967), which featured two of his own compositions, "The Same Way" and "The Supernatural". The latter was one of Green's first instrumentals, which would soon become a trademark. So proficient was he that his musician friends bestowed upon him the nickname "The Green God". In 1967, Green decided to form his own blues band and left the Bluesbreakers. Fleetwood Mac Green's new band, with former Bluesbreaker Mick Fleetwood on drums and Jeremy Spencer on guitar, was initially called "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac featuring Jeremy Spencer". Bob Brunning was temporarily employed on bass guitar (Green's first choice, Bluesbreakers' bassist John McVie, was not yet ready to join the band). Within a month they played at the Windsor National Jazz and Blues Festival in August 1967 and were quickly signed to Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label. Their repertoire consisted mainly of blues covers and originals, mostly written by Green, but some were written by slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer. The band's first single, Spencer's "I Believe My Time Ain't Long" with Green's "Rambling Pony" as a B-side, did not chart but their eponymous debut album made a significant impression, remaining in the British charts for over a year. By September 1967, John McVie had replaced Brunning. Although classic blues covers and blues-styled originals remained prominent in the band's repertoire through this period, Green rapidly blossomed as a songwriter and contributed many successful original compositions from 1968 onwards. The songs chosen for single release showed Green's style gradually moving away from the group's blues roots into new musical territory. Their second studio album Mr. Wonderful was released in 1968 and continued the formula of the first album. In the same year they scored a hit with Green's "Black Magic Woman" (later covered by Santana), followed by the guitar instrumental "Albatross" (1969), which reached number one in the British singles charts. More hits written by Green followed, including "Oh Well", "Man of the World" (both 1969) and the ominous "The Green Manalishi" (1970). The double album Blues Jam in Chicago (1969) was recorded at the Chess Records Ter-Mar Studio in Chicago. There, under the joint supervision of Vernon and Marshall Chess, they recorded with some of their American blues heroes including Otis Spann, Big Walter Horton, Willie Dixon, J. T. Brown and Buddy Guy. In 1969, after signing to Immediate Records for one single ("Man of the World", prior to that label's collapse) the group signed with Warner Bros. Records' Reprise Records label and recorded their third studio album Then Play On, prominently featuring the group's new third guitarist, 18-year-old Danny Kirwan. Green had first seen Kirwan in 1967 playing with his blues trio Boilerhouse, with Trevor Stevens on bass and Dave Terrey on drums. Green was impressed with Kirwan's playing and used the band as a support act for Fleetwood Mac before recruiting Kirwan to his own band in 1968 at the suggestion of Mick Fleetwood. Spencer, however, made virtually no contribution to Then Play On, owing to his reported refusal to play on any of Green's original material. Beginning with "Man of the World"'s melancholy lyric, Green's bandmates began to notice changes in his state of mind. He was taking large doses of LSD, grew a beard and began to wear robes and a crucifix. Mick Fleetwood recalls Green becoming concerned about accumulating wealth: "I had conversations with Peter Green around that time and he was obsessive about us not making money, wanting us to give it all away. And I'd say, 'Well you can do it, I don't wanna do that, and that doesn't make me a bad person.'" While touring Europe in late March 1970, Green took LSD at a party at a commune in Munich, an incident cited by Fleetwood Mac manager Clifford Davis as the crucial point in his mental decline. Communard Rainer Langhans mentions in his autobiography that he and Uschi Obermaier met Green in Munich, where they invited him to their Highfisch-Kommune. Fleetwood Mac roadie Dinky Dawson remembers that Green went to the party with another roadie, Dennis Keane, and that when Keane returned to the band's hotel to explain that Green would not leave the commune, Keane, Dawson and Mick Fleetwood travelled there to fetch him. By contrast, Green stated that he had fond memories of jamming at the commune when speaking in 2009: "I had a good play there, it was great, someone recorded it, they gave me a tape. There were people playing along, a few of us just fooling around and it was... yeah it was great." He told Jeremy Spencer at the time "That's the most spiritual music I've ever recorded in my life." After a final performance on 20 May 1970, Green left Fleetwood Mac.
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders (born Farrell Sanders, October 13, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. A member of John Coltrane's groups of the mid-1960s, Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound". He has released over 30 albums as a leader and has collaborated extensively with Leon Thomas, Alice Coltrane and Tisziji Muñoz, among others. Saxophonist Ornette Coleman described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world". Sanders' music has been called "spiritual jazz" due his inspiration in religious concepts such as Karma and Tawhid, and his rich, meditative aesthetic. This style is seen as a continuation of Coltrane's work on albums such as A Love Supreme. As a result, Sanders is considered a disciple of Coltrane or, as Albert Ayler said, "Trane was the Father, Pharoah was the Son, I am the Holy Ghost". Early life Pharoah Sanders was born on October 13, 1940, in Little Rock, Arkansas. His mother worked as a cook in a school cafeteria, and his father worked for the City of Little Rock. An only child, Sanders began his musical career accompanying church hymns on clarinet. His initial artistic accomplishments were in the visual arts, but when he was at Scipio Jones High School in North Little Rock, Sanders began playing the tenor saxophone. The band director, Jimmy Cannon, was also a saxophone player and introduced Sanders to jazz. When Cannon left, Sanders, although still a student, took over as the band director until a permanent director could be found. During the late 1950s, Sanders would often sneak into African-American clubs in downtown Little Rock to play with acts that were passing through. At the time, Little Rock was part of the touring route through Memphis, Tennessee, and Hot Springs for R&B and jazz musicians. Sanders found himself limited by the state's segregation and the R&B and jazz standards that dominated the Little Rock music scene. After finishing high school in 1959, Sanders moved to Oakland, California, and lived with relatives. He briefly attended Oakland Junior College and studied art and music. Once outside the Jim Crow South, Sanders could play in both black and white clubs. His Arkansas connection stuck with him in the Bay Area with the nickname of "Little Rock." It was also during this time that he met and befriended John Coltrane.
Phil Cook
OUR FRONT PORCH, OR SOUTHERN LIVING ROOM... opens to the street where we live in Durham, NC. There’s no hiding from the the outside world. We’re accessible. We choose to sit out here and greet the day as it passes because time eases right on by and yes folks do still wave to each other. I began taking my banjo and guitar on the front porch, starting in the spring of 2009. I’m not everybody, but I love to hear the sounds of learning instruments drifting from the inside a house. It’s like the human spirit is alive and well in there and that reassures me. Recently, I left a raucous late night second line down in New Orleans for some fresh air and ended up sitting on a house stoop with my friend Derek while someone inside the house beautifully worked through several Chopin Etudes. We sat there nodding in silence, taking it in like children. I’ve never been too good at practicing. Since I was a child, the same story year after year. “I can tell he’s practicing, he’s just not playing what I’m assigning him…”, I’d overhear in hushed tones when my parents picked me up from lessons. I start with good intention, like we all do, and then I guess I just wander. Always have. Wander around the feeling and let the instrument say what it wants to say. I will never regret it, for those wanderings have been my most formative teachers. I don’t know if they got me to where I was supposed to be going, but they damn sure brought me to right here and right now. Ten years have passed since that spring. In that time, I’ve traveled this country and beyond many times, met a host of truly incredible people, grown our family to include two beautiful children, buried two grandparents, watched our resilient community fight to maintain its soul and along the way, gathered an impressive collection of moments that make me believe and trust the good in people. Also along the way, I’ve found discreet pockets of time here and there to sit on the porch and wander. I’ve approached every single one of these recordings with the same mindset. “Couple of Takes, Keep the Mistakes.” and whatever I finish in a single day is the record. Sunrise to sunset allows me to believe in the spirit of these wandering moments and see them as a snapshot of that day, that time. It’s not who I am, it’s just where I was that day. Polaroids in a pile, all of them capturing an essence, none of them without imperfection. This is a collection of snapshots. Recording “D.L.’s Holler” in the upstairs hallway of an elementary school, outside my wife’s classroom while she graded papers in a thunderstorm. Listen for the thunder roll in one of the breaks. Recording “Waiting Round The Oven Buns” in my house in January while my wife Heather, pregnant with our first child, napped in the front room. Driving hours in the wrong direction during a blizzard into Tennessee on Highway 40, making us four hours late for the recording session I had booked for This Side Up. Loading in wet and snowy and then loading out 4 hours later with my friends Nick and Yan, finished, victorious and laughing. Recording “Saratoga” with one son next to me flipping through “Calvin and Hobbes” and my other son napping just a room away. Sitting on an old front porch in Birmingham, Alabama one hot spring morning with James’ beat-up classical guitar and recording a quick voice memo as we were packing up to leave. Sharing a joint with my brother Brad on the way to The Cave in Chapel Hill and feeling grateful for the spontaneous virtuosity of the Canine Boys and Libby Rodenbough. These moments, stacked up in a pile, feel like the kind of riches nobody can ever take away from me. The truest currency. I hope you, dear listener, also share this currency and feel this gratitude when you think of the journey of moments that has formed you.
Phox
PHOX was an American six-piece alternative folk / indie pop band from Baraboo, Wisconsin. PHOX's self-titled debut LP was released on June 24, 2014. Prior to the formation of PHOX, many eventual members collaborated with Zach Johnston for his album Sonntag, which was written in California, but recorded in Wisconsin. Some time later while Matt Holmen was playing with Davey Roberts, Matt Roberts (keys), and Jason Krunnfusz (bass) in Baraboo. The group connected once again for what was originally thought to be a one-off show at the local event, Boo Bash on May 4, 2011. The group still needed songs to play and someone to sing them. Monica Martin was asked if she'd sing some tracks from Sonntag and some cover songs at the event and she agreed. Moving forward, Monica wrote lyrics and melodies, and the group arranged the songs from their first two EP's and their self-titled first record release. The band released their EP Confetti in early 2013, for which they created a video component for each track. 2013 also saw a Daytrotter session, positive press, a spot at South by Southwest and a national tour opening for Blitzen Trapper. The band played Lollapalooza as a last-minute addition in August 2013, drawing a large crowd despite their midday spot. In September 2013 PHOX opened for The Lumineers at Apple's iTunes Festival in London. Local Wisconsin publication Isthmus praised PHOX as one of the year's greatest musical success stories. Throughout 2015, Phox supported Paolo Nutini and The Head and the Heart, while also headlining around the U.S. non-stop. They also made their debut in New Zealand and Australia during March 2015. They were also featured on NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert. Other notable festival stops include Coachella, Bonnaroo, Firefly, Summerfest, Sasquatch, and the inaugural Eaux Claires Music and Arts Festival where they also screened their latest [mockumentary] film titled, Amor Fati, directed by member Zach Johnston. The film was uploaded publicly to YouTube on December 24, 2015. The band is currently signed to Partisan Records, and are managed by Foundations Artist Management. They recorded their first full-length, self-titled album at April Base – Justin Vernon's home studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. PHOX announced an indefinite hiatus on October 17, 2016. The band played their farewell concert at the Al. Ringling Theatre in their hometown of Baraboo, WI on February 4, 2017.
Piero Umiliani
Piero Umiliani (17 July 1926 – 14 February 2001) was an Italian composer of film scores. Umiliani was born in Florence, Tuscany. Like many of his Italian colleagues at that time, he composed the scores for many exploitation films in the 1960s and 1970s, covering genres such as Spaghetti Westerns, Eurospy, Giallo, and softcore sex films. Biography His composition "Mah Nà Mah Nà" (1968) was originally used in Sweden: Heaven and Hell, a 1968 Mondo documentary about Sweden. It was a minor charting single (spending 6 weeks on the Billboard chart and peaking at #55), popularized by The Muppets, who covered the song several times; starting on episode 0014 of Sesame Street on 27 November 1969, then The Ed Sullivan Show three days later, and again on the syndicated series The Muppet Show in 1977. The track was also a hit in the UK, reaching number 8 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1977. Umiliani's other scores included Son of Django, Orgasmo, Gangster's Law, Death Knocks Twice, Five Dolls for an August Moon, Baba Yaga, The Slave and Sex Pot. His orchestra score "Arrivano I Marines" for War Italian Style, a 1966 comedy about two USMC soldiers in Italy, is used in the Armored Trooper Votoms series as "March of the Red Shoulders". His composition "Crepuscolo Sul Mare" was later used in Ocean's Twelve. Umiliani died in Rome in February 2001, at the age of 74
Pierre Flasse
Pierre Flasse (1995) is a British/Belgian composer, sound designer, performer, arranger, musical director and educator based in London. He creates music and sound that explores diverse musical landscapes while remaining true to his own voice and style. Whether delving into the realms of spiritual jazz, cinematic music, or electronica, his music pulsates with genuine emotion and raw honesty. From theatre, to game audio and film, from live orchestral works to drum and bass production, he has a deep knowledge, love and understanding of strong and powerful musical experiences. One of Pierre's personal missions as a creative is to develop powerful and impactful work that resonates with the humanity of audiences. Pierre is an Elemental Artist in partnership with the Watermill Theatre, Newbury. In 2021, he began working with Bolton-based theatre company Ordinary Glory on a new verbatim stage show 'Joy Unspeakable' exploring disordered eating through dance and music, and toured the North West in Summer 2024. He is being mentored by sound designer Pete Malkin (Cursed Child, Othello, Let The Right One In) with support from the Association of Sound Designers.Pierre is the bandleader for his jazz originals project under his own name. The music he writes for this blends the worlds of cinematic, folk and jazz. The music is meditative and creates a space for reflection through a dynamic journey with constantly shifting textures and instrumentation. The debut singles 'Elegy' and 'Elegy (Part 2)' were released in 2023 to a fantastic response, and his debut single 'True' was released in 2024 with radio plays (Jazz FM, Amazing Radio), Spotify playlist placements (53,500+ followers) and online blogs (with Facebook followers 160k+ followers). Pierre is currently an assistant composer to Sally Potter OBE, working as a transcriber, arranger, orchestrator, mixer, sound editor and creative collaborator. He creates bespoke music and sound for indie video game projects. He has also scored two original soundtracks for film; Sis - a drama about a broken family relationship, and Svaha - an adventure film about two friends kayaking the Caribbean. He also took part in the Edinburgh-based collaborative animation festival 10x10x21 and collaborated with animator Calum Main. He studied his bachelors and masters at the University of Manchester in music and composition, and graduated in 2018
Piers Faccini
Piers Faccini was born in London, England to an Italian father and an English mother. His family moved to France when he was five years old. His brother is the writer Ben Faccini. Faccini first appeared on the music scene in London in 1997, co-founding Charley Marlowe with performance poet Francesca Beard, percussionist Frank Byng and guitarist Luc Suarez; the band split in 2001 when Faccini decided to pursue a solo career. His first solo album Leave no Trace was released in 2004 by French Independent label Label Bleu. His second album was released by Los Angeles label Everloving Records in 2006; Tearing Sky was produced by JP Plunier, and featured Ben Harper, who Faccini would tour with between 2006 and 2008. His third album released by French Independent 'Tot ou Tard' in 2009 was co-produced by Faccini and Renaud Letang. His fourth album, My Wilderness, was released in late 2011 on Six Degrees Records. His fifth album, Between dogs and wolves 2013 and sixth album I Dreamed an Island 2016 were released on his own label Beating Drum. Faccini has collaborated over the years with many musicians and singers including Rokia Traore, Busi Mhlongo, Ben Harper, Ballake Sissoko, Vincent Segal, Camille, Francesca Beard, Luc Suarez, Seb Martel, Patrick Watson, Dawn Landes and Ibrahim Maalouf amongst others. In March 2011, Faccini contributed to the Patagonia Music Collective, contributing to the UK-based Environmental Justice Foundation. Faccini has also produced several albums for other artists, most notably Ela by Brazilian cellist and singer Dom La Nena, Northern Folk by Jenny Lysander and Terre de Mon Poeme by Yelli Yelli. Faccini is also a poet and children's author, publishing his first book of poetry ‘No one’s here’ in 2016 and a children's book/cd 'La Plus Belle des Berceuses' which he also illustrated in 2017, published by the French publisher, Actes Sud. in 2009 his album Two Grains Of Sand was nominated for the French independent music award, Le Prix Constantin and voted album of the year by the listeners of French national radio, France Inter. His album with the cellist Vincent Segal 'Songs of Time Lost' was in NPR’s top ten world music albums of 2014 and in Songlines top 10 albums of 2014 as well as in their Greatest World Music Albums of the last 5 years.
Pink Floyd
PJ Harvey
Polly Jean Harvey, MBE (born 9 October 1969) known as PJ Harvey, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, writer, poet and composer. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments. Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined local band Automatic Dlamini as a vocalist, guitarist and saxophone player. The band's frontman, John Parish, would become her long-term collaborator. In 1991, she formed an eponymous trio and subsequently began her professional career. The trio released two studio albums, Dry (1992) and Rid of Me (1993) before disbanding, after which Harvey continued as a solo artist. Since 1995, she has released a further nine studio albums with collaborations from various musicians including John Parish, former bandmate Rob Ellis, Mick Harvey and Eric Drew Feldman and has also worked extensively with record producer Flood. Among the accolades she has received are the 2001 and 2011 Mercury Prize for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000 and Let England Shake (2011), respectively—the only artist to have been awarded the prize twice—eight Brit Award nominations, seven Grammy Award nominations and two further Mercury Prize nominations. Rolling Stone awarded her 1992's Best New Artist and Best Singer Songwriter and 1995's Artist of the Year, and listed Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love (1995) and Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. In 2011, she was awarded for Outstanding Contribution To Music at the NME Awards. In June 2013, she was awarded an MBE for services to music.
Porter Wagoner
Porter Wayne Wagoner (August 12, 1927 – October 28, 2007) was an American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. In 1967, he introduced singer Dolly Parton on his television show. She became part of a well-known vocal duo with him throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. Known as Mr. Grand Ole Opry, Wagoner charted 81 singles from 1954 to 1983. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002. Early life and career Wagoner was born in West Plains, Missouri, the son of Bertha May (née Bridges) and Charles E. Wagoner, a farmer. His first band, the Blue Ridge Boys, performed on radio station KWPM-AM from a butcher shop in his native West Plains, where Wagoner cut meat. In 1951, he was hired by Si Siman as a performer on KWTO in Springfield, Missouri. This led to a contract with RCA Victor. With lagging sales, Wagoner and his trio played schoolhouses for the gate proceeds; but in 1953 his song "Trademark" became a hit for Carl Smith, followed by a few hits of his own for RCA Victor. Starting in 1955, he was a featured performer on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee in Springfield. He often appeared on the show as part of the Porter Wagoner Trio with Don Warden and Speedy Haworth. Warden, on steel guitar, became Wagoner's long-time business manager. In 1957, Wagoner and Warden moved to Nashville, Tennessee, joining the Grand Ole Opry. Chart success Wagoner's 81 charted records include "A Satisfied Mind" (No. 1, 1955), "Misery Loves Company" (No. 1, 1962), "I've Enjoyed as Much of This as I Can Stand" (No. 7, 1962–1963), "Sorrow on the Rocks" (No. 5, 1964), "Green, Green Grass of Home" (No. 4, 1965), "Skid Row Joe" (No. 3, 1965–1966), "The Cold Hard Facts of Life" (No. 2, 1967), and "The Carroll County Accident" (No. 2, 1968–1969). Among his hit duets with Dolly Parton were a remake of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind" (1967), "We'll Get Ahead Someday" (1968), "Just Someone I Used to Know" (1969), "Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man", (1970), "Better Move it on Home" (1971), "The Right Combination" (1972), "Please Don't Stop Loving Me" (No. 1, 1974) and "Making Plans" (No. 2, 1980). He also won three Grammy Awards for gospel recordings.
Portishead
Portishead is an English band formed in 1991 in Bristol. They are often considered one of the pioneers of trip hop music. The band is named after the nearby town of the same name, eight miles west of Bristol, along the coast. Portishead consists of Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley, while sometimes citing a fourth member, Dave McDonald, an engineer on their first records. Their debut album, Dummy, was met with critical acclaim in 1994, quickly becoming a landmark album in the trip hop genre. Two other studio albums have been issued: Portishead in 1997 and Third in 2008, both of which received similar acclaim. In 1998, the band released a concert album, Roseland NYC Live. Style and influences Portishead's music was influenced by a wide range of singers and composers. Gibbons's voice has been compared to singer Billie Holiday. Utley mentioned the spaghetti western guitar composed by Ennio Morricone; he said that "[Morricone's] The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the sort of soundtracks that I love".
Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer, actor, and filmmaker. A guitar virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist known for his genre-crossing work, wide-ranging singing voice, and flamboyant stage appearances, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians in the history of popular music. His innovative music integrated a wide variety of styles, including funk, R&B, rock, new wave, soul, psychedelia, and pop. Prince pioneered the late 1970s Minneapolis sound, a funk rock subgenre drawing from synth-pop and new wave. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Prince developed an interest in music as a young child and wrote his first song, "Funk Machine", at the age of seven. He signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records at the age of 19, and released his debut album For You in 1978. Following up with his next four albums—Prince (1979), Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982)—Prince gained critical success, prominently showcasing his explicit lyrics as well as his blending of funk, dance, and rock music. In 1984, he began referring to his backup band as The Revolution and released his sixth album Purple Rain, which was also the soundtrack to his hugely successful film acting debut of the same name. It quickly became his most critically and commercially successful record, spending 24 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200. The film itself was critically and commercially successful and also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score, the last film to receive the award. Following the disbandment of The Revolution, Prince released the critically acclaimed double album Sign o' the Times (1987). He released three more solo albums—Lovesexy (1988), the Batman soundtrack (1989), and the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack (1990)—before debuting his New Power Generation backing band in 1991. In the midst of a contractual dispute with Warner Bros. in 1993, Prince changed his stage name to the unpronounceable symbol Logo. Hollow circle above downward arrow crossed with a curlicued horn-shaped symbol and then a short bar, known to fans as the "Love Symbol", and began releasing new albums at a faster rate in order to quickly meet his contract quota and release himself from further obligations to the record label. He released five records between 1994 and 1996 before he signed with Arista Records in 1998. He began referring to himself as "Prince" again in 2000 and subsequently released 16 albums, including Musicology (2004), his most successful album of that decade. His final album, Hit n Run Phase Two, was first released on the Tidal streaming service in 2015. In April 2016, at the age of 57, Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park home and recording studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. He sold over 100 million records worldwide, ranking him among the best-selling music artists of all time. He won seven Grammy Awards, seven Brit Awards, six American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He was also honored with special awards including the Grammy President's Merit Award, American Music Awards for Achievement and of Merit, and the Billboard Icon Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2016, he was posthumously honored with a Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Minnesota. Rolling Stone ranked him at No. 27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Psychic Ills
Psychic Ills are an American experimental rock/psychedelic rock band from New York City, consisting of Tres Warren (vocals/guitar) and Elizabeth Hart (vocals/bass). They formed in 2003, and have released five albums, one compilation, four EPs and a number of singles. For the period 2005 to 2010, the band were signed to The Social Registry. Since then their albums have been released by Sacred Bones Records.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, that was formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist/backing vocalist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe. One of the first alternative rock bands, R.E.M. was noted for Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style, Stipe's distinctive vocal quality and obscure lyrics, Mills' melodic basslines and backing vocals, and Berry's tight, economical style of drumming. R.E.M. released its first single—"Radio Free Europe"—in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. The single was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, the band's first release on I.R.S. Records. In 1983, the group released its critically acclaimed debut album, Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. Following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit in 1987 with the single "The One I Love". The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide. By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience broad mainstream success, R.E.M. was viewed by subsequent acts such as Nirvana and Pavement as a pioneer of the genre. The band then released its two most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), which veered from the band's established sound and catapulted it to international fame. R.E.M.'s 1994 release, Monster, was a return to a more rock-oriented sound, but still continued its run of success. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three of the band members. In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history. Its 1996 release, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, though critically acclaimed, fared worse commercially than its predecessors. The following year, Bill Berry left the band, while Stipe, Buck, and Mills continued the group as a trio. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success, despite having sold more than 85 million albums worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling music artists of all time. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. R.E.M. disbanded amicably in September 2011, announcing the split on its website. Source Wikipedia
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards), brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals) and Philip Selway (drums, percussion). They have worked with producer Nigel Godrich and cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. After signing to EMI in 1991, Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992. It became a worldwide hit after the release of their debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). Their popularity and critical standing rose in the United Kingdom with the release of their second album, The Bends (1995). Radiohead's third album, OK Computer (1997), brought them international fame; noted for its complex production and themes of modern alienation, it is often acclaimed as a landmark record of the 1990s and one of the best albums in popular music. The group's next albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), recorded simultaneously, marked a dramatic change in style, incorporating influences from experimental electronic music, 20th-century classical music, krautrock, and jazz. Kid A divided listeners but was named the best album of the decade by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and the Times. Radiohead's sixth album, Hail to the Thief (2003), mixed rock and electronic music with lyrics inspired by the War on Terror, and was the band's final album for EMI. Their subsequent releases have pioneered alternative release platforms such as pay-what-you-want and BitTorrent; Radiohead self-released their seventh album, In Rainbows (2007), as a download for which customers could set their own price, to critical and chart success. Their eighth album, The King of Limbs (2011), an exploration of rhythm, was developed using extensive looping and sampling. A Moon Shaped Pool (2016) prominently featured Jonny Greenwood's orchestral arrangements. Radiohead had sold more than 30 million albums worldwide by 2011. Their work places highly in both listener polls and critics' lists of the best music of the 1990s and 2000s. In 2005, they were ranked 73rd in Rolling Stone's list of "The Greatest Artists of All Time"; Jonny Greenwood and O'Brien were both included in Rolling Stone's list of greatest guitarists, and Yorke in their list of greatest singers. In 2009, Rolling Stone readers voted Radiohead the second-best artist of the 2000s. They will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
Rain Tree Crow
Rain Tree Crow is the sole album released by English band Rain Tree Crow, a reunion project by the members of the new wave band Japan. Recorded in 1989 and 1990 and released in April 1991, it was the first time that members David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri had collaborated as a four-piece since 1982. The album peaked at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart. Background and content Trouser Press wrote: "the album doesn't sound drastically different from any of their previous work together, but successfully revives Japan's late-period neo-tribal rhythms and vaguely Asian feel." The name Rain Tree Crow was chosen to mark a break from Japan's past, with the intention of creating a new long-term project. As the music turned out to be less commercial than originally envisaged, all members of the band aside from Sylvian became amenable to the idea of retaining the Japan moniker, in order to gain maximum exposure. Virgin records pressured the musicians to let them market the album under the name Japan; however, Sylvian was adamant that this would not take place. Sylvian’s opinion prevailed and the album was released as by Rain Tree Crow. Release and reception "Blackwater" was released as the album's only single and reached number 62 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1991. The album reached number 24 in the UK Albums Chart. The album was remastered and reissued on CD in 2003. The B-side track from the "Blackwater" single, "I Drink To Forget", was included on this reissue, but omitted on the later vinyl reissue of March 2019.
Raphael Saadiq
Raphael Saadiq (/səˈdiːk/; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné!. In addition to his solo and group career, he has also produced songs for such artists as Joss Stone, D'Angelo, TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend.
Ratatat
Ratatat (/ˈrætətæt/ RAT-ə-tat) is a Brooklyn-based electronic rock duo consisting of Mike Stroud (guitar, melodica, synthesizers, percussion) and producer Evan Mast (bass, synthesizers, percussion). History Beginnings and first album, Ratatat (2001–2005) Evan Mast and Mike Stroud first met as students at Skidmore College. They started working together in 2001, recording several songs under the name "Cherry", Stroud had previously toured with Dashboard Confessional in 2000. Ratatat debuted in 2003 with the release of the single "Seventeen Years" on Mast's and his brother Eric's (E*Rock) record label Audio Dregs in the US and Rex Records in the UK. Mike Stroud had been a touring member of Ben Kweller's band, but he "had enough" by 2003 and, after two years of touring, left the band after appearing on their second album, On My Way (released in 2004). Having signed for XL Recordings, Ratatat released their self-titled debut album, Ratatat and the single "Germany to Germany". The album was written and recorded in Mast's Crown Heights, Brooklyn apartment on his laptop. It is entirely instrumental with the exception of vocal excerpts at the beginning and end of select tracks. In the following year, Ratatat supported the band Interpol on their tour. Also in 2004, Ratatat released Ratatat Remixes Vol. 1 in co-operation with Audio Dregs, a compilation of remixed tracks by other artists, thereby garnering the attention of Rolling Stone. Second album, Classics (2006–2008) On August 22, 2006, Ratatat released their second album entitled Classics on XL Recordings. On October 6, 2006, Ratatat became the first band to perform a public show inside the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. On October 10, 2006, a new demo album from Ratatat titled 9 Beats was leaked online. This set of tracks does not appear on any official discography listings. 9 Beats was not an official album, the tracks consist of short instrumental electronic musical pieces and demos for their next mixtape. In 2007, this release was followed by their second volume of remixed tracks, Ratatat Remixes Vol. 2. From June 2007 until October 2008, Ratatat had Martin Bonventre accompany them on their European tour and fall shows in America as the pianist/synthesizer player. Bonventre drew much attention due to his erratic dance movements on stage. The reason for him leaving the performance is unknown. Third album, LP3 (2008–2009) Leading up to the release of Ratatat's third album LP3 on July 8, 2008, their official website showed the videos of the three first singles. "Shiller", "Shempi" and then "Mirando" have all been released (or announced) on 7" or 12" singles. "Shiller", the first to be released, featured a special b-side, the track "Mahalo" which was later also included on the fourth album, LP4. In 2008, it was rumored that they would be signed by Star Trak Entertainment as the understudies of The Neptunes. Ratatat contributed two songs to Man on the Moon: The End of Day, the debut album by alternative rapper Kid Cudi released September 15, 2009, "Alive (Nightmare)" and "Pursuit of Happiness", the latter of which also featured MGMT. Cudi and Ratatat performed "Pursuit of Happiness" together on Late Show with David Letterman on September 11, 2009. Fourth album, LP4 (2010–2014) According to Mike Stroud in an interview with Paste Magazine released on August 4, 2009, "most of [LP4] was recorded during the same studio sessions that yielded LP3". Ratatat's fourth album, LP4, was released on June 8, 2010, via XL Recordings. In 2010, Ratatat supported Vampire Weekend on their UK tour at The Brighton Centre and Alexandra Palace. Meanwhile, their song Neckbrace was used in the ski film "The Way I See It" by Matchstick Productions. In 2011, their track "Mirando" was used in Prada's SS2011 ad campaign. In August 2011, Ratatat was featured in the song "Red Alert" on CSS's new album La Liberación. On September 29, 2012 past collaborator Kid Cudi confirmed that Ratatat would be featured and producing on his upcoming third studio album Indicud, however the collaboration didn't make the final cut after Kid Cudi decided to produce the whole album by himself, with the exception of an additional production by Hit-Boy on the track "Red Eye" featuring Haim. In May 2013 they entered the Austrian Singlecharts after the Austrian network provider A1 used "Loud Pipes" for a radio-advertisement. Fifth album, Magnifique (2015–present) Ratatat at the Fox Theater in Pomona, promoting Magnifique, on April 15, 2015. The band played Coachella Festival and Governor's Ball Music Festival in 2015. They debuted their new song "Cream On Chrome" just a few hours before their night-ending Coachella set on April 11, 2015. The band also played a concert in Pomona, California on April 15, 2015, and at Primavera Sound in Barcelona in May. In May 2015, the band announced that their fifth album, Magnifique, would be released on July 17, 2015, and feature a cover of the 1971 Springwater single "I Will Return". The first single from the album, the track "Cream on Chrome", was voted number 52 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2015 held in January 2016. This is their second appearance on the annual countdown run by the Australian radio station, after featuring on Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness", which polled 33rd in the 2009 countdown.
Ray Barretto
Ray Barretto (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican ancestry. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Latin jazz. His first hit, "El Watusi", was recorded by his Charanga Moderna in 1962, becoming the most successful pachanga song in the United States. In the late 1960s, Barretto became one of the leading exponents of boogaloo and what would later be known as salsa. Nonetheless, many of Barretto's recordings would remain rooted in more traditional genres such as son cubano. A master of the descarga (improvised jam session), Barretto was a long-time member of the Fania All-Stars. His success continued into the 1970s with songs such as "Cocinando" and "Indestructible." His last album for Fania Records, Soy dichoso, was released in 1990. He then formed the New World Spirit jazz ensemble and continued to tour and record until his death in 2006. Life and career Early years Barretto (his real name, "Barreto", was misspelled on his birth certificate) was born on April 29, 1929, in New York City. His parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico in the early 1920s, looking for a better life. His father left their family when Barretto was four, and his mother Delores moved the family to the Bronx, and from a young age he was influenced by his mother's love of music and by the jazz of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. In 1946, when Barretto was 17 years old, he joined the Army. While stationed in Germany, he met Belgian vibraphonist Fats Sadi. However, it was when he heard Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" with Gil Fuller and Chano Pozo that he realized his calling. Beginnings as a sideman In 1949, when Barretto returned home from military service, he started to visit clubs and participated in jam sessions, where he perfected his conga playing. On one occasion Charlie Parker heard Barretto play and invited him to play in his band. Later, he was asked to play for José Curbelo and Tito Puente, for whom he played for four years. It was in 1958, while playing for Puente, that Barretto received his first recoding credit. Barretto developed a unique style of playing the conga and soon he was sought by other jazz band leaders. Latin percussionists started to appear in jazz groups with frequency as a consequence of Barretto's musical influence. Charanga Moderna and rise to fame In 1960, Barretto was a house musician for the Prestige, Blue Note, and Riverside labels. He also recorded on Columbia Records with Jazz flautist Herbie Mann. New York had become the center of Latin music in the United States and a musical genre called pachanga was the Latin music craze of the early 1960s. In 1962, Barretto formed his first group, Charanga La Moderna, and recorded his first hit, "El Watusi" for Tico Records. He was quite successful with the song and the genre, to the point of being typecast (something that he disliked). Boogaloo and early salsa In 1965, Barretto signed with the Latin division of United Artists, UA Latino, and began recording a series of albums in the boogaloo genre, which merges rhythm and blues with Latin music. On his album El Ray Criollo, Barretto explored the modern Latin sounds of New York, combining features of charanga and conjunto to birth a new style which would later be known as salsa. After recording four albums for the United Artists label, Barretto joined the Fania record label in 1967, and his first recording for the new label was the 1968 album Acid, which is often cited as one of the most enduring boogaloo albums, with songs such as "A Deeper Shade of Soul" and the title track was included in the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories on the fictitious Latin music radio station "Radio Espantoso". During this period, Adalberto Santiago was the band's lead vocalist.
Ray LaMontagne
Raymond Charles Jack "Ray" LaMontagne (/lɑːmɒnˈteɪn/; born June 18, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. LaMontagne has released seven studio albums, Trouble, Till the Sun Turns Black, Gossip in the Grain, God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise, Supernova, Ouroboros and Part of the Light. He was born in New Hampshire and was inspired to create music after hearing an album by Stephen Stills. Critics have compared LaMontagne's music to that of Otis Redding, The Band, Van Morrison, Nick Drake and Tim Buckley. Early life LaMontagne was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, in 1973, one of six children raised by his mother. In his early teens he lived in Morgan, Utah, and was more interested in drawing images of Dungeons & Dragons than in his school work. After graduating from high school, LaMontagne moved to Lewiston, Maine, and found work in a shoe factory. LaMontagne also spent a significant amount of time in Wilton, Maine. Other sources state that by his teen years he was living in Maine, spending time in Turner and Buckfield.
Rayland Baxter
Rayland Baxter (stylized as rayLand baxter) is an American alternative country musician from Nashville, Tennessee. He is currently signed to ATO Records. Baxter is the son of musician Bucky Baxter. He is 6-feet 5-inches tall. Early Life Baxter excelled as a lacrosse player in high school as a midfielder. He attended the Severn School in Maryland and later Suffield Academy in Connecticut. He played Division I Lacrosse at Loyola University in Maryland before a knee injury ended his playing career. He was expelled from Loyola his sophomore year for getting in a fight on campus. In Baltimore, Baxter worked as a bartender at Jerry's Belvedere before moving to Colorado to work as a snowboard instructor in Breckenridge. There he began playing open mics at Gold Pan Saloon, starting his music career before eventually moving back to his hometown of Nashville to pursue music full time. Career Baxter began performing in 2010, when he was featured on the song Shanghai Cigarettes by country musician Caitlin Rose. In 2012, Baxter released his debut full-length album, titled Feathers & Fishhooks (stylized as feathers & fishHooks), via ATO Records. In 2013, Baxter released his first extended play, titled Ashkelon (stylized as ashkeLON) also via ATO Records. The title is named after the town Ashkelon in Israel. On August 14, 2015, Baxter released his second studio album titled Imaginary Man. In 2018, Baxter released his third full-length album titled Wide Awake. In 2019, Baxter released Good Mmornin, an album of seven Mac Miller cover songs. The record was released the day before he played the Newport Folk Fest where he debuted several of the songs live for the first time.
Red House Painters
Red House Painters were an American rock band, formed in San Francisco, California in 1988. They were one of the most prominent acts associated with the slowcore/sadcore subgenre. Fronted by primary songwriter Mark Kozelek (vocals, guitar), the band also included drummer Anthony Koutsos and bass guitarist Jerry Vessel. Guitarists Gorden Mack and Phil Carney both performed with the band during separate six-year tenures. In 2001, Red House Painters quietly dissolved, with Koutsos, Vessel and Carney continuing to record and perform with Kozelek under his new guise Sun Kil Moon until 2010. While in Atlanta, Georgia, Ohio-born Kozelek became friends with Anthony Koutsos, a drummer. He then moved to San Francisco, California, adding guitarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel to complete the line-up for Red House Painters. After forming, the group played the San Francisco scene extensively, and recorded demos from 1989 to 1992. The band were signed to 4AD in 1992, on the strength of a demo tape passed to 4AD boss Ivo Watts-Russell by American Music Club frontman Mark Eitzel. Journalist Martin Aston passed on a tape that Mark Eitzel had given to him. Never before or since had I received a demo that was 90 minutes long! In fact, it was quite some time before I actually listened to the whole thing all the way through. Every morning and evening, driving to and from work, I would start at the beginning, "24" (I know, I know, what more do you need to hear, right? What a song.), but only get about half way through that and whatever the second song on the tape was before arriving home/at 4AD. When I finally did listen to the full 90 minutes I called young Mark K. and left him a message. I learned later he was sitting in the bath listening to me talk. It was a perfect time for me to hear that brilliant band. — Ivo Watts-Russell Between September 1992 and March 1995, the band released three LPs, one double LP, and one EP. Their first 4AD release was an album made up of demos entitled Down Colorful Hill. In 1993, the group came out with two self-titled records (now commonly referred to as Rollercoaster and Bridge because of their cover artwork). In early 1994, they released an EP entitled Shock Me, featuring two cover versions of an Ace Frehley-written KISS song. The introspective Ocean Beach followed in spring 1995. Founding guitarist Gorden Mack left shortly after the album's release, and he was replaced shortly thereafter by Phil Carney. While Kozelek was beginning work on a solo project, he parted ways with 4AD after a tumultuous relationship, so Songs for a Blue Guitar was eventually released on Island Records subsidiary Supreme Recordings/Polygram in summer 1996. The album featured lengthy guitar jams and cover songs, and was the band's biggest seller in the U.S. By early 1998, their sixth album was completed. However, the band was beginning to dissolve, and major label mergers during the late 1990s would leave the record in limbo; it was not until 2001 that Old Ramon was issued on the Sub Pop label.
Rejoicer
Yuval Havkin aka Rejoicer is one of Tel Aviv’s busiest producers and founder of the Raw Tapes label, home to Israel’s own beat movement. He was born in London and moved to Tel Aviv at the age of 5. He began collecting vinyl at the age of 14, and started his way in the music world as a Jungle/Drum&Bass artist in 2006. He later moved on to hip hop, and produced beat tapes under the Guadaloop moniker. After finding a crew of like minded beat makers from around the city, Rejoicer founded the Raw Tapes Label in 2009. Since then he released more then 20 albums under all different aliases. In 2011 Rejoicer started the band Buttering Trio with KerenDun and Beno Hendler and released Toast LP. the trio played shows with Oh No & DJ Romes, Black Milk, Peanut Butter Wolf, Hudson Mohawke and more. He has collaborated with Free The Robots, Dudley Perkins & Georgia Anne Muldrow, Bajka, Balkan Beat Box, Ester Rada, Cohenbeats and many more, and continues to be one of Tel Aviv’s most interesting artists
Remmy Ongala
Ramazani "Remmy" Mtoro Ongala (1947 10 Feb – 13 December 2010) was a Tanzanian guitarist and singer. Ongala was born in Kindu near the Tanzanian border, in what was the Belgian Congo at the time, and now is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A rising musician since the 1980s, Remmy Ongala was part of the soukous scene (also known as "Congolese rumba"). In 1978 he travelled to Dar es Salaam where he joined Orchestra Makassy. Later with his own band, Orchestre Super Matimila (named after the businessman who owned the band's instruments), he helped to transmit the soukous style to the Tanzanian musical subculture often called Ubongo, the Swahili word for brain. This in turn contributed to the development of Tanzanian hip-hop, particularly in the city of Dar es Salaam during the 1990s. The use of his music as a social instrument led him to address concerns in his hometown that entailed social issues including poverty, AIDS/HIV, urbanization and family life. Known as the Sauti ya Mnyonge (voice of the poor man), his fight was strong. Ubongo is usually perceived by artists and listeners alike as "conscious" music, a style that actively contributes socio-political commentary to the Tanzanian soundscape. Believing in the abolition of racism and social injustice, Ongala infused his lyrics with these messages. His inspiring and sometimes didactic message led him to be nicknamed "Dr Remmy". Following the end of British colonial rule in 1961, Julius Nyerere preached the value of Ujamaa, or familyhood, as a basic constituent of Tanzanian nationalism, placing an emphasis on equality and justice. This became a recurring theme in many Tanzanian artists' music, including Remmy Ongala's. His song "Kipenda Roho" was used in Oliver Stone's film Natural Born Killers. Ongala died on 13 December 2010 at his home in Dar es Salaam. Posthumously, he received the Hall of Fame trophy at the 2012 Tanzania Music Awards. Veteran musician Ramadhan Mtoro Ongara better known as Dr. Remmy Ongala has passed on. The singer well known for his hit single ‘Kifo’ died on Monday morning at Muhimbili hospital. According to reports Remmy Ongala died as his family rushed him to hospital. Ongala's music is meant to be appreciated on a physical and mental level. As he looked around his homeland of the Congo, he noticed much poverty and social inequality. Outraged by the despicable way the poor are treated, he used song as a way of fighting back, and after long days of tedious and physically strenuous labor, Ongala would perform his music with ad hoc bands in nightclubs and hotels in the Congo, (then Zaire), and later, Uganda. Songs like "Ndumila Kuwili" ("Don't Speak with Two Mouths") and "Mnyonge Hana Haki" ("The Poor Have No Rights") reflected his working-class outlook. Despite a flourishing Congolese music scene, Remmy was unable to strike a universal chord with listeners across Africa, as his idols Franco and Joseph Kabasele had done so effortlessly. It wasn't until he ventured to Tanzania at the age of thirty-one that Ongala began to get a musical career on track. An uncle living in the Tanzanian capital of Dar-es-Salaam invited Ongala to come play music with him in the band Orchestra Makassy. When Makassy went to Kenya, Ongala stayed behind and joined Orchestre Matimila, which he later renamed Super Matimila. Ongala's group gets big band textures from the horn section and from elaborate arrangements for three guitars. The sound swept the local Tanzanian music scene, which, because of the closing of the border in 1977, had become isolated and quite unlike anything else in Africa. By 1981, Ongala and Orchestra Super Matimila, and were playing up to five nights a week in various nightclubs in Dar-es-Salaam. Because of the dearth of quality recording studios in the financially-strapped nation, most bands would simply record and release their live performances, and Orchestra Super Matimila was no exception. Soon, their songs were being played on Radio Tanzania and various Kenyan radio stations, and they helped to develop quite a following for the band. His inspiring message led him to be nicknamed "Dr Remmy". Following the end of British colonial rule in 1961, Julius Nyerere introduced the value of Ujamaa, or family hood, which emphasized equality and justice. Such became a recurring theme in many Tanzanian artists' music, including Remmy Ongala. Dr. Remmy will be remembered for publicly urging people to use condoms. Although he faced opposition, he went ahead and recorded a song ‘Mambo kwa soksi’. Ongala continued to record and perform in Tanzania--despite his international fame--and his songs are still as concerned with social injustice as ever. One song, urging men to use condoms--"Mambo Kwa Socks/Things with Socks"--appeared on the acclaimed AIDS awareness compilation Spirit of Africa, in 2001. When this song was first released, it proved too much for Radio Tanzania, which refused to play it. But live shows and black market tapes ensured that few urban Tanzanians missed the message. In a musical career approaching two decades, Remmy Ongala and Orchestra Super Matimila still made social issues sound funky. In 1989 he released his first studio album titled ‘Songs for the poor man’ which had songs like ‘Sauti Ya Mnyonge, Kifo ,Usingizi ,Muziki Asili Yake Wapi ,Pamella ,Dole
Reuben and the Dark
Reuben and the Dark are a Canadian indie folk band from Calgary, Alberta. Led by singer and songwriter Reuben Bullock, the band also currently includes Shea Alain (guitar/keys), Brock Geiger (guitar/keys), Ian Jarvis (bass), and Brendan 'Dino' Soares (drums). History Bullock released the solo albums Pulling Up Arrows in 2010 and Man Made Lakes in 2012 before deciding to adopt a band name. The band signed to Arts & Crafts Productions in 2013. The full band's debut album Funeral Sky, produced by Christopher Hayden of Florence and the Machine and Stephen Kozmeniuk, was released on Arts & Crafts in 2014. The album was supported by a concert tour of both Canada and the United States, as well as a smaller follow-up tour of Western Canada. In 2016, they released the single "Heart in Two", and toured North America as an opening act for Vance Joy. "Heart in Two" reached #1 on CBC Radio 2's Radio 2 Top 20 chart the week of February 12, 2016. In 2018 the band released their second album Arms of a Dream, as well as a cover of The Tragically Hip's "Bobcaygeon" as a charity single to benefit the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund. During the tour for the Arms of a Dream album across Canada, the band's tour bus crashed on the Trans-Canada Highway near to Banff National Park. Whilst the vehicles were written off, the band members only suffered slight injuries and were able to continue their tour, even though some of their instruments were damaged beyond repair. In February 2019 the band released a stand alone digital single "Hold Me Like A Fire" along with a collaboration video produced by the National Music Centre during their artist in residence program. On October 25, 2019, the band released their third album un love. Also in 2019, their song Black Water, from the album Funeral Sky, was featured in the trailer for El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. The band also contributed a cover of What a Wonderful World for the soundtrack of the 2020 film Doolittle.
Rhye
Rhye is an R&B musical project of Canadian singer Mike Milosh. It originally consisted of him and Danish instrumentalist Robin Hannibal. They released the singles "Open" and "The Fall" online without much detail, which led to speculation about the band. Their debut album, Woman, was released on March 4, 2013. In June 2013, the album was longlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. In 2017, it was reported that Robin Hannibal was no longer a member of Rhye and that the project had evolved into a music collective led by Milosh and focused around the associated live band. Their second album, Blood, was released on February 2, 2018, and was largely written, produced, and performed by Milosh. In 2018, Rhye began an international tour to promote the album Blood. Members Michael Milosh was born in Toronto, Canada, and is an electronic musician and vocalist. He is a classically trained cellist. He moved to Berlin, Germany to pursue music as a vocalist and a producer. Professionally using the name Milosh, he signed with the record label Plug Research and released two albums, You Make Me Feel (2004), and Meme (2006). He also contributed the track "Then It Happened" to the Ghostly International/Williams Street album Ghostly Swim, which was released in 2008. Robin Hannibal (born Robin Braun) was a member of the Danish duo Quadron together with Coco Maja Hastrup Karshøj. They were also signed to the Plug Research label and released a self-titled album in July 2009. Hannibal was also part of a Danish electronica collective called Boom Clap Bachelors, who in early 2008 released the album Just Before Your Lips. He has collaborated with other artists such as Nobody Beats the Beats, Clemens, Jokeren, and L.O.C.. Hannibal also launched two projects, Owusu & Hannibal and Parallel Dance Ensemble, and contributed to Szjerdene's "Lead the Way" and to Leon Ware's "Orchids for the Sun". In 2011, Quadron collaborated with American DJ and record producer Kaskade on the song "Waste Love" off his album Fire & Ice. History In 2010, Hannibal was working on some Quadron material and got tipped off about Milosh's work through their common record label. He contacted Milosh, who was at the time living in Berlin, and asked him to fly to Copenhagen, Denmark to meet him. The two musicians spent a week together in the studio recording three tracks for their first collaboration. Eventually, Hannibal moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career there. As it happened, Milosh had also gone to the States independently. Based on their earlier cooperation in Denmark, the two agreed to continue working together, forming the duo Rhye, initially as an internet-based mystery, posting several singles online, but without providing any background information or contact details. Their online postings for "Open" and "The Fall", both romantic soul-pop numbers, garnered attention and a following. The songs were accompanied by sensual and high-quality shot videos. There was great interest as well as speculation amongst music journalists and reviewers about the group's identity. Discussions also ensued about Milosh's high and sigh-like contralto androgynous vocals. His voice and the band's instrumentation are likened to those of British-Nigerian singer Sade and The xx. In 2013, the band released its debut album, Woman. During their 2014 tour, Rhye sold a poster printed for the Boston show containing cryptic text in Wingdings that read "Who is Rhye. Edward Bernays." In 2017, Rhye collaborated with Bonobo on a track called "Break Apart" from his album Migration. In June 2017, Rhye released the split single featuring the songs "Please" and "Summer Days". In 2018, Rhye released their second album Blood, to largely positive critical feedback. The cover art for the album features Milosh's naked girlfriend (a different woman from the one on the cover of Woman).
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant CBE (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Plant is regarded as one of the greatest vocalists in the history of rock music. Plant enjoyed great success with Led Zeppelin throughout the 1970s and developed a compelling image as the charismatic rock-and-roll front man, similar to contemporaries such as Roger Daltrey of the Who, Freddie Mercury of Queen, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones and Jim Morrison of the Doors. With his mane of long blond hair and powerful, bare-chested appearance, Plant helped to create the "god of rock and roll" or "rock god" archetype. Although Led Zeppelin dissolved in 1980, Plant occasionally collaborated with Jimmy Page on various projects through this period, including forming a short-lived all-star group with Page and Jeff Beck in 1984, called the Honeydrippers. They released an album called The Honeydrippers: Volume One, and the band had a No. 3 hit with a remake of the Phil Phillips' tune "Sea of Love", plus a follow-up hit with a cover of Roy Brown's "Rockin' at Midnight". A powerful and wide vocal range (particularly evident in his high-pitched vocals) has given him a successful singing career spanning over 50 years. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 15 on their list of the 100 best singers of all time. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers ranked Plant the greatest of all lead singers. In 2006, magazine Hit Parader named Plant the "Greatest Metal Vocalist of All Time". In 2009, Plant was voted "the greatest voice in rock" in a poll conducted by Planet Rock.
Robin Trower
Robin Leonard Trower (born 9 March 1945) is an English rock guitarist and vocalist who achieved success with Procol Harum during the 1960s, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio known as Robin Trower. Robin Trower was born in Catford, London, but grew up in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. In 1962, he formed a group that became The Paramounts, later including Westcliff High School pupil Gary Brooker. The Paramounts disbanded in 1966 to pursue individual projects. During this time, Trower created a local three-piece band called the Jam (not to be confused with the later group with Paul Weller). Trower then joined Brooker's new band Procol Harum following the success of their debut single "A Whiter Shade of Pale" in 1967, remaining with them until 1971 and appearing on the group's first five albums. Before launching his eponymous band, he joined singer Frankie Miller, ex-Stone the Crows bassist/singer James Dewar, and former Jethro Tull drummer Clive Bunker to form the short-lived combo Jude. This outfit did not record and soon split up. Trower retained Dewar as his bassist, who took on lead vocals as well, and recruited drummer Reg Isidore (later replaced by Bill Lordan) to form the Robin Trower Band in 1973. Perhaps Trower's most famous album is Bridge of Sighs (1974). This album, along with his first and third solo albums, was produced by his former Procol Harum bandmate, organist Matthew Fisher. Despite differences, Trower's early power trio work was noted for Hendrixesque influences. Trower is an influential guitarist who has inspired other guitar legends such as Robert Fripp, who praised him for his bends and the quality of his sounds, and took lessons from him. In the early 1980s, Trower teamed up with former Cream bassist Jack Bruce and his previous drummers Lordan and Isidore, for two albums, BLT (Bruce, Lordan, Trower) and Truce (Trower, Bruce, Isidore). After those albums, he released another album with James Dewar on vocals titled Back It Up in 1983. Robin Trower was dropped from Chrysalis Records afterwards.
Roots Radics + Bravo
The Roots Radics Band was formed in 1978 by bass player Errol "Flabba" Holt, guitarist Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont and drummer Lincoln "Style" Scott. They were joined by many musicians, including guitarist Noel "Sowell" Bailey, Dwight Pinkney and Steve Golding, keyboard player Wycliffe "Steelie" Johnson, Pianist Gladstone "Gladdy" Anderson and saxophonist Headley Bennett. As a combined force the Roots Radics became a well-respected studio and stage band, which dominated the sound in the first half of the 1980s. They supported artists like Bunny Wailer, Gregory Isaacs, Michael Prophet, Eek-A-Mouse, and Israel Vibration and have released several albums to their name as well. As an aside, the English word 'Radical' is derived from the Latin word 'Radix', which is the Latin word for 'Root'. Somewhere late in 1979 the band recorded the riddims for Barrington Levy's first songs for producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes, credited at the time as the Channel One Stars. With hindsight these riddims are now considered the birth of Jamaican dancehall music. As a sought after studio lineup, Roots Radics backed several well known reggae stars in the studio and on tour. For example, they appear on several Eek-A-Mouse albums: Bubble Up Yu Hip (1980), Wa-Do-Dem (1981), Skidip (1982), The Mouse and the Man (1983) and Assassinator (1983). They backed reggae superstar Gregory Isaacs on his classic album Night Nurse (1982), and are often credited on releases by Prince Far I, both on his solo recording work, and as part of producer Adrian Sherwood's studio supergroup Singers and Players.
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation
“Der Name ist Programm”, they say in Germany. Indeed, loaded with drums, bass, guitar, piano, organs, and a wide range of horns, the Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation (RSJF) takes the music of the sixties as a starting point. But be careful! The RSJF is NOT a retro band in any perspective. They start where others have left and persistently refined their mix of ska, jazz, reggae, soul and rock & roll over the past 16 years. In the meantime, the RSJF has recorded two EP's and three full-length studio albums. Furthermore, their music appears on various samplers throughout the world. However, the best way to experience this lubricated off-beat locomotive is live on stage... Rockin' and Rollin' Ska-Jazz with a Rough Edge! The RSJF hits the road pretty constantly and played on many big Dutch festivals like Bevrijdingsfestivals, Metropolis, Oerol, Noorderzon and the Parade, as well as major International festivals like Summer Jam, Oulala, Popkomm, Three Floors of Ska at the Knitting Factory NYC, and many other, festival or venue, varying from big to small, in e.g. The Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Denmark, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, United States, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and will most likely play in your neighborhood soon! Don't worry about a language barrier, let the music of the RSJF do the talking... Recently, the RSJF joined forces with the horn section from the BOSCO small big band. Result: RSJF "En Grand", a paradigm shift in contemporary music. The first milestone exhibiting the extraordinary potential of this ultimately powerful combination will be the forthcoming 4-track EP "Big Horns" to be released on WTF records later in 2016. Ska-Jazz anno 2036 recorded in 2016. Beware of the big horns!
Rubblebucket
Rubblebucket is an American art-pop and indie-rock band from Brooklyn, NY. The primary members are musical couple (now separated) Annakalmia Traver and Alex Toth. In March 2008, Rubblebucket self-released their debut album, Rose's Dream, under the name Rubblebucket Orchestra and began to tour full-time. They were chosen by Spin magazine as a "Must-hear artist from the 2009 CMJs". On October 13, they released their self-titled second studio album, and officially changed their name to Rubblebucket. In December, they won a Boston Music Award for Live Act of the Year. In 2010, Rubblebucket appeared at festivals such as High Sierra, All Good Music Festival, and the Liberate Music and Dance Festival. On October 19, 2010, they released their Triangular Daisies EP; it included a cover of the Beatles' "Michelle", which Paste magazine named on their list of 50 Greatest Beatles Covers of All Time. In Spring 2011 Rubblebucket released their third full-length album, Omega La La. It was recorded at DFA studios and produced by Eric Broucek and mastered by Joe Lambert. On April 4, 2011, the band released it as a free download before its physical release on June 21 through MRI Distribution. Promotional performances for the album included an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2012. The band also performed at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival for the 1st time where they “revved up like an indie-rock Miami Sound Machine” (Rolling Stone), including multiple sets throughout the weekend In 2013, Rubblebucket collaborated with Questlove, Tune-Yards singer Merrill Garbus, Angelique Kidjo and poet Akua Naru to create a new compilation album for Fela Kuti's Lady. In 2014, Rubblebucket served as Arcade Fire's "The Reflektors" at the Glastonbury Festival. Customary to most Arcade Fire shows of the time, "The Reflektors" wore massive papier-mâché heads as a fake-out to fans. Also in 2014, Rubblebucket recorded with John Congleton and signed with Communion Records to release Survival Sounds. Paste said about the record, "Survival Sounds should be a victory lap." The album's reception was positive, gaining the support of many online publications and radio stations, such as NPR's Tiny Desk. "Came Out of a Lady" was featured in feature film Drinking Buddies. While on tour, singer Annakalmia Traver was diagnosed with first stage, clear-cell ovarian cancer, and underwent and completed treatment while on tour. Rubblebucket embarked on a Spring tour that began in March 2015 across the United States, with support from Vacationer. Also in 2015, Rubblebucket performed at the BAM Opera House Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell in New York City along with other acts including Cults, Dev Hynes, and Arcade Fire. Source Wikipedia
Ruby Friedman
Ruby Friedman is an American singer/songwriter/composer, with roots in New Orleans, New York, and Los Angeles. She is the leader of the Ruby Friedman Orchestra. Career The Ruby Friedman Orchestra has been in studio in New Orleans, in New York City with Josh Valleau at The Glass Wall, with Peter Malick at OCL Studios in Calgary, and at his studio in Los Angeles. Final recording, production and mixing were done by Alex Elena and Topher Mohr at Beethoven Studios in Culver City. The band released their debut album, Gem on November 11, 2016. The first single from the album I'm Not Your Friend was released in June 2016. Late 2019 Ruby Friedman was in the studio recording with legend Mitchell Froom for her upcoming release entitled Late Afternoon Highs. The single entitled “Teardrop Trailer” has been released and first premiered on KCSN by DJ Nic Harcourt on radio and buzzbands.la in online media. The version of "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive", was featured in the Season Five finale of Justified. Graham Yost, creator and Executive Producer of the series, discussed the use of the Ruby Friedman version in the show. Her version of the song was also selected for use in the Emmy-winning Reveal documentary, The Dead Unknown, an investigative report on a 1969 cold case regarding the disappearance and murder of a young woman, in Harlan, Kentucky, in June 1969. In late 2015, The Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award winning Amazon Studios TV show Transparent selected the arrangement featuring her vocals on the Gina Villalobos/Eric Colvin produced version of the Sly and the Family Stone hit Family Affair for use in the trailer promoting the launch of Season 2. In 2015, Ruby Friedman performed the vocals on the song, Hunt You Down for the CLIO award-winning advertising campaign for the launch of the Sony PS4 game, Bloodborne. The song is a collaboration with The Hit House Music, and was written by Scott Miller and William Hunt. It was recorded by Wyn Davis in Los Angeles, and by Ruby Friedman at Word of Mouth Recording Studios in New Orleans. The Petrol Advertising campaign using the song won the Golden Trailer Award for best Video Game TV Spot. The song was released as a single in conjunction with availability of the game. In March 2015, the EP, Song of the Demimonde was released, containing 7 tracks of her most-requested cover material. "House of the Rising Sun", the last song on the EP,> was recorded at Word of Mouth Recording Studios in New Orleans with New Orleans piano player Tom McDermott, and Smashing Pumpkins violinist, Ysanne Spevack. She has also performed with McDermott, and Ysanne Spevack, in New Orleans, Emmy Award and Grammy Award-nominated TV series Treme), In both April 2015 and 2016, she performed at Buffa's and at the Lagnaippe Stage for Jazzfest with McDermott and others. She has been retained by the estate of 20th Century Academy Award film song composer Harry Warren to re-imagine and record some of the extensive Harry Warren catalog. The catalog consists of hundreds of songs, from Academy Award winners to unfinished works in process. Several of these recordings, "Rose Tattoo", "Ungrateful Heart", and "Welcome to the Party" are included on the Song of the Demimonde EP. In 2014, Ruby Friedman was commissioned to perform two songs, including the title track, on a tribute album, Life, honoring the life and music of Tarka Cordell, (produced by Alex Elena). Other contributing vocalists on the album include Lily Allen, Imani Coppola, and Evan Dando. Her original songs have been selected for promotional use on NBC and have been licensed internationally for continued use in the Got Talent franchise. Her songs or vocals have also been licensed for use by Fox Sports and numerous movie and video game trailers, recently in 2017 trailers for the film Marshall and Netflix miniseries Godless. The original song, Drowned, was also featured in Season Three of the television show Sons of Anarchy. She composed extensive original score for the 2018 World Cup special Phenoms on Fox Sports. She was commissioned to compose and perform the official theme song for author Kim Michele Richardson's New York Times bestseller The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek to be used in various advertising platforms and future media. She has recently been co-writing compositions for the upcoming Wynonna Judd album. Her original music is regularly supported by KCRW as well many other independent radio stations. Ruby Friedman Orchestra has toured with Brian Wilson and Jeff Bridges She has also provided live backup vocals for many legends as well including Donovan and Heart. When in Los Angeles, she has headlined at the House of Blues, The Troubadour, The Viper Room, Hotel Café, Los Globos, Echoplex, and Pershing Square. She has made numerous invited guest appearances, including performances with Bernard Fowler, with Grammy Award nominee Scott Healy, with the Jeff Goldblum jazz ensemble, and at many events at the Sayers Club. She performed an acoustic invitation only show, at the Turn Gallery in Soho, accompanied by Imani Coppola, Matthew Steer, Maiya Sykes, Ben Crippin Taylor, and Conor Brendan.
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is an American-Canadian singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded seven albums of original music and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written a classical opera and set Shakespeare sonnets to music for a theater piece by Robert Wilson. Wainwright's self-titled debut album was released through DreamWorks Records in May 1998. His second album, Poses, was released in June 2001. Wainwright's third and fourth studio albums, Want One (2003) and Want Two (2004), were repackaged as the double album Want in 2005. In 2007, Wainwright released his fifth studio album Release the Stars and his first live album Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall. His second live album Milwaukee at Last!!! was released in 2009, followed by the studio albums All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu (2010) and Out of the Game (2012). The double album Prima Donna (2015), was a recording of his opera of the same name. His ninth studio album Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets (2016), featured nine adaptions of Shakespeare's sonnets. Wainwright is the son of musicians Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, and the older brother of singer Martha Wainwright.
Ruth Brown
Ruth Alston Brown (née Weston, January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes known as the "Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", "Teardrops from My Eyes" and "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean". For these contributions, Atlantic became known as "the house that Ruth built" (alluding to the popular nickname for the old Yankee Stadium). Brown was a 1993 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Following a resurgence that began in the mid-1970s and peaked in the 1980s, Brown used her influence to press for musicians' rights regarding royalties and contracts; these efforts led to the founding of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Her performances in the Broadway musical Black and Blue earned Brown a Tony Award, and the original cast recording won a Grammy Award. Brown was a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. In 2017, Brown was inducted into National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. She is also the aunt to legendary hip hop MC Rakim. Early life Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Brown was the eldest of seven siblings. She attended I. C. Norcom High School, which was then legally segregated. Brown's father was a dockhand. He also directed the local church choir at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, but the young Ruth showed more interest in singing at USO shows and nightclubs, rebelling against her father. She was inspired by Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, and Dinah Washington. In 1945, aged 17, Brown ran away from her home in Portsmouth along with the trumpeter Jimmy Brown, whom she soon married, to sing in bars and clubs. She then spent a month with Lucky Millinder's orchestra. Early Career Ruth Brown performs at the Mambo Club in Wichita, Kansas, 1957 Blanche Calloway, Cab Calloway's sister, also a bandleader, arranged a gig for Brown at the Crystal Caverns, a nightclub in Washington, D.C., and soon became her manager. Willis Conover, the future Voice of America disc jockey, caught her act with Duke Ellington and recommended her to Atlantic Records bosses Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Brown was unable to audition as planned because of a car crash, which resulted in a nine-month stay in the hospital. She signed with Atlantic Records from her hospital bed. In 1948, Ertegun and Abramson drove from New York City to Washington, D.C., to hear Brown sing. Her repertoire was mostly popular ballads, but Ertegun convinced her to switch to rhythm and blues. In her first audition, in 1949, she sang "So Long", which became a hit. This was followed by "Teardrops from My Eyes" in 1950. Written by Rudy Toombs, it was the first upbeat major hit for Brown. Recorded for Atlantic Records in New York City in September 1950 and released in October, it was Billboard's R&B number one for 11 weeks. The hit earned her the nickname "Miss Rhythm", and within a few months, she became the acknowledged queen of R&B. She followed up this hit with "I'll Wait for You" (1951), "I Know" (1951), "5-10-15 Hours" (1953), "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" (1953), "Oh What a Dream" (1954), "Mambo Baby" (1954), and "Don't Deceive Me" (1960), some of which were credited to Ruth Brown and the Rhythm Makers. Between 1949 and 1955, her records stayed on the R&B chart for a total of 149 weeks; she would go on to score 21 Top 10 hits altogether, including five that landed at number one. Brown ranked No. 1 on The Billboard 1954 Disk Jockey Poll for Favorite R&B Artists. Brown played many racially segregated dances in the southern states, where she toured extensively and was immensely popular. She claimed that a writer had once summed up her popularity by saying, "In the South Ruth Brown is better known than Coca-Cola." Brown performed at the famed tenth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on June 20, 1954. She performed along with The Flairs, Count Basie and his Orchestra, Lamp Lighters, Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five, Christine Kittrell, and Perez Prado and his Orchestra. Her first pop hit came with "Lucky Lips", a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and recorded in 1957. The single reached number 6 on the R&B chart and number 25 on the U.S. pop chart. The 1958 follow-up was "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'", written by Bobby Darin and Mann Curtis. It reached number 7 on the R&B chart and number 24 on the pop chart. She had further hits with "I Don't Know" in 1959 and "Don't Deceive Me" in 1960, which were more successful on the R&B chart than on the pop chart. During the 1960s, Brown faded from public view and lived as a housewife and mother.
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, and record producer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries Cooder's solo work draws upon many genres. He has played with John Lee Hooker, Captain Beefheart, Ali Farka Touré, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Randy Newman, David Lindley, The Chieftains, The Doobie Brothers, and Carla Olson & the Textones (on record and film). He formed the band Little Village. He also produced the Buena Vista Social Club album (1997), which became a worldwide hit. Wim Wenders directed the documentary film of the same name (1999), which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000. Cooder was ranked eighth on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" (David Fricke's Picks). A 2010 ranking by Gibson placed him at number 32.
Ryan Adams
David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and poet. He has released 16 albums, as well as three studio albums as a former member of rock/alt-country band Whiskeytown. In 2000, Adams left Whiskeytown and released his debut solo album, Heartbreaker, to critical acclaim. The album was nominated for the Shortlist Music Prize. The following year, his profile increased with the release of the UK certified-gold Gold, which included the hit single, "New York, New York". During this time, Adams worked on several unreleased albums, which were consolidated into a third solo release, Demolition (2002). Working at a prolific rate, Adams released the classic rock-influenced Rock N Roll (2003), after a planned album, Love Is Hell, was rejected by his label Lost Highway. As a compromise, Love Is Hell was released as two EPs and eventually released in its full-length state in 2004. After breaking his wrist during a live performance, Adams took a short-lived break, and formed The Cardinals, a backing band that accompanied him on his next four studio albums. In 2009, after the release of Cardinology (2009), Adams disbanded The Cardinals and announced an extended break from music due to complications from Ménière's disease. The break-up of Ryan Adams & The Cardinals was also attributed to the death of Ryan’s childhood friend and active bass player Chris Feinstein in 2009. Chris was known to his friends and band-mates as “Spacewolf”. The following year, however, Adams resumed performing and released his Glyn Johns-produced thirteenth studio album, Ashes & Fire, in late 2011. The album peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. In September 2014, Adams released his fourteenth album, Ryan Adams, on his own PAX AM label, and formed a new backing band, The Shining, to support the release. In 2015, Adams released 1989, a song-for-song cover of Taylor Swift's album of the same name, and worked on up to eighty songs for an album influenced by his divorce from actress and singer-songwriter Mandy Moore. The album, Prisoner, was released in 2017. In 2019, Adams announced three albums to be released that year. However, the release of these albums was cancelled after several women, including a minor, came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Adams. In addition to his own material, Adams has also produced albums for Willie Nelson, Jesse Malin, Jenny Lewis, and Fall Out Boy, and has collaborated with Counting Crows, Weezer, Norah Jones, America, Minnie Driver, Cowboy Junkies, Leona Naess, Toots and the Maytals, Beth Orton and Krista Polvere. He has written Infinity Blues, a book of poems, and Hello Sunshine, a collection of poems and short stories.
Ryan Tanner
Songs steeped in Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle,enduring, timeless storytellers who keep genre-namers busy. Is it folk? Is it rock? Is it country? The real questions are: does it move you? Does it take you somewhere? And, when listening to Ryan Tanner sing his songs, the answer is yes.
Ryley Walker
Ralker began his career in Chicago's independent music scene after moving there in the early 2010s, releasing several cassette EPs and a vinyl EP. In 2014 he released his debut album for the Tompkins Square label, and followed it early in 2015 with Primrose Green released on Dead Oceans. Backing musicians Walker employed on Primrose Green include several noted Chicago jazz and experimental musicians such as Fred Lonberg-Holm. Also in 2015, Walker released an instrumental album, recorded in collaboration with fellow Chicago musician Bill MacKay, entitled Land of Plenty. It was recorded live during a January 2015 residency at The Whistler in Chicago. The songs on the album were taken from the last two shows of the residency, on January 25 and 30. MacKay's guitar was recorded on the left channel and Walker's guitar was recorded on the right channel. Their instruments converge in the center. MacKay played 6-string guitar, requinto and glass slide, while Walker played 6 & 12-string guitars. The album's sound was described as fingerstyle ballads, psychedelic waltzes, and raga-inspired blues. On August 19, 2016, Walker released his fourth album, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, which was yet another change in his evolving sound. His fifth is Deafman Glance, released in May 2018.
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一 Sakamoto Ryūichi, born January 17, 1952) (Japanese pronunciation: [sakamoto ɾʲɯːitɕi]) is a Japanese composer, singer, songwriter, record producer, activist, and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres. Sakamoto began his career while at university in the 1970s as a session musician, producer, and arranger. His first major success came in 1978 as co-founder of YMO. He concurrently pursued a solo career, releasing the experimental electronic fusion album Thousand Knives in 1978. Two years later, he released the album B-2 Unit. It included the track "Riot in Lagos", which was significant in the development of electro and hip hop music. He went on to produce more solo records, and collaborate with many international artists, David Sylvian, Carsten Nicolai, Youssou N'Dour, and Fennesz among them. Sakamoto composed music for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and his composition "Energy Flow" (1999) was the first instrumental number-one single in Japan's Oricon charts history. As a film-score composer, Sakamoto has won an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and 2 Golden Globe Awards. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) marked his debut as both an actor and a film-score composer; its main theme was adapted into the single "Forbidden Colours" which became an international hit. His most successful work as a film composer was The Last Emperor (1987), after which he continued earning accolades composing for films such as The Sheltering Sky (1990), Little Buddha (1993), and The Revenant (2015). On occasion, Sakamoto has also worked as a composer and a scenario writer on anime and video games. In 2009, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Ministry of Culture of France for his contributions to music.
S. Carey
S. Carey is the moniker of musician Sean Carey of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Carey is best known as the drummer and supporting vocalist of indie folk band Bon Iver. In August 2010, Carey released his first solo album, All We Grow, which he began working on in 2008 during hiatuses from performing with the band. Comparisons have been drawn between Carey's harmonies and those of Brian Wilson in his 2004 album Smile. His music has also been likened to that of Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes, Iron & Wine, José González, Steve Reich, and Talk Talk. Background Sean Carey grew up in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. As the child of a singer and a music teacher, Carey has been immersed in music his entire life. He was raised listening to James Taylor, The Beach Boys, and Bruce Hornsby. At the age of ten he learned to play the drums and developed a deep love of jazz percussion after hearing his oldest sister perform in the middle school jazz band. In 2007, Carey graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire with a performance degree in classical percussion. That same year, upon hearing through mutual friends that Justin Vernon was planning on forming a band (Bon Iver), Carey listened to For Emma, Forever Ago on MySpace until he had learned all the songs. Said Carey: They weren’t just good songs, they were great, interesting, unique; it’s a beautiful album. So I spent two weeks holed up in my bedroom with laptop, headphones and notebook, and I wrote down all the drum parts and learned all the lyrics, melodies and harmonies. When the band I was in opened for Justin at his first local show as Bon Iver, I told him I knew all his songs and I wanted to play with him. After singing a few songs backstage, Vernon and Carey realized how good their voices sounded together. Vernon asked Carey to play the show with him that night, and officially signed him to the band later that same evening.
S.G. Goodman
S.G. Goodman is a singer songwriter from Hickman, Kentucky. Her debut album, Old Time Feeling, was co-produced by Jim James of My Morning Jacket. She is signed to Verve Forecast Records. In 2021 she as a solo artist was inter alia part of the Newport Folk Festival in July.
Sade
Helen Folasade Adu CBE (Yoruba: Fọláṣadé Adú [fɔ̄láʃādé ādú]; born January 16, 1959), known professionally as Sade Adu or simply Sade (/ʃɑːˈdeɪ/ shah-DAY), is a Nigerian-British singer, songwriter, and actress, known as the lead singer of her eponymous band. Born in Ibadan, Nigeria, but brought up in Essex, England, Sade gained modest recognition as a fashion designer and part-time model, prior to joining the band Pride in the early 1980s. After gaining attention as a performer, she formed the band Sade, and secured a recording contract with Epic Records in 1983. The band then released the album Diamond Life a year later, which became one of the best-selling albums of the era, and the best-selling debut ever by a British female vocalist. It also gained widespread critical acclaim and is included in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In July 1985, Sade was among the performers at the Live Aid charity concert at Wembley Stadium. In late 1985, they released Promise, which was also a resounding critical and commercial success, topping the UK Albums Chart and becoming the band's first album to debut atop the Billboard 200. It later earned quadruple platinum certification in the U.S., and reached platinum across Europe. It also earned the group the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1986. Their following two releases, 1988's Stronger Than Pride and 1992's Love Deluxe, were also critically and commercially successful; however, the band would go on hiatus after the birth of Sade's child, while the singer experienced widespread media coverage during the period for unsubstantiated claims of mental health and addiction issues. After a spell of eight years without an album, which came after Sade appeared in the film Absolute Beginners (1986), the band reunited in 1999, and released Lovers Rock in 2000. The album departed from the jazz-inspired inflections of their previous work, featuring mellower sounds and pop compositions, and was critically praised, earning the group the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. The band would then undergo another term of hiatus, not producing music for another ten years until the release of Soldier of Love. The album was another commercial success, although critical reception remained divided, but won the group the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Following the album's release, the band entered a third period of hiatus, and have only released two new songs (2018's "Flower of the Universe" for the soundtrack of Disney's A Wrinkle in Time and "The Big Unknown", part of the soundtrack for Steve McQueen's film Widows) to date. Sade is widely considered a musical influence, and her contributions to music have made her a global figure in popular culture for over two decades. She has been credited as one of the most successful British female artists in history. Her services to music were also recognised with an award of the Officer of the Order of the British Empire chivalry honour in 2002, and later the rank of the Commander of the same order in 2017.
Sam Phillips
I am a songwriter, musician and singer from Los Angeles California. When I began making albums for the Virgin America label in 1988, I started going by my nickname Sam in honor of the Great Producer who discovered and recorded Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. T Bone Burnett produced seven of my albums for Virgin and Nonesuch Records. I produced my last three albums Don’t Do Anything, Push Any Button and now World On Sticks. In 2000, Amy Sherman-Palladino asked me to compose and perform the music for her TV show Gilmore Girls, which I did for seven seasons, and I have reprised that role for the new Gilmore Girls (A Year In The Life) revival for Netflix. In 2017 Amy asked me to contribute some music to her new show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, for Amazon. The band on World on Sticks is Jay Bellerose (drums), Jennifer Condos (bass), and Eric Gorfain (multi-instrumentalist/arranger), joined by special guests Jon Brion (bass/guitar), Chris Bruce (guitar) and The Section Quartet (strings); the recordings swing from broken modern sounds to dreamy, cinematic music. As I wrote these songs I wanted to look at our lost connections…with nature, with mystery, with other humans and parts of ourselves. Watching a tree suffer through the California drought last summer made me feel for him. I wondered if it was painful or difficult for him to sprout leaves in the spring after such a dry year. I spent a few minutes with him every day. As I was standing in front of him, the words ‘Walking Tree’ popped into my head. I imagined this was his name for me…a name that reached out with empathy for my conflicting desires to be both rooted and free. Maybe he felt for me because of my short life and fast-spinning mind…not taking enough time to realize that I’m here to be a loving part of all this.
Sam Prekop
Sam Prekop’s boundless imagination is guided by his strong sense of melody. For more than 25 years, as a solo artist or as part of The Sea and Cake, Prekop creates a singular sound inventive and warm. His distinctive vocals, guitar playing and work on modular analog synthesizers are inventive, delicate, and always bear his signature sense of melody. Comma finds Sam Prekop for the first time working extensively with beat programming, focusing his enveloping synthesizer pieces around a newfound rhythmic pulse. Prekop’s creative process is a combination of preparation and improvisation. Writing sessions for Comma began with an open-ended exploration of sounds and textures from which the first fragments of songs would reveal themselves. The introduction of drum machines and additional synthesizer units to his modular setup shifted things in surprising new directions as he worked to bend them into more traditional pop song structures. Drum tracks and emergent rhythms provided the frameworks and narrative sketches to be fleshed out with lustrous widescreen synth pads and ribboning melodies. In approaching his writing with a completely open mind and letting himself be guided by the music, Prekop maintains a delicate balance between composition and chance, control and spontaneity. Comma embraces the analogue synthesizer’s often unpredictable nature, imbuing the record with a decidedly organic feel even while working within the relative rigidity of beat architectures. Prekop’s wide-eyed sense of discovery guides his exploration of beat-driven music, pushing him to use rhythm as a narrative tool and to embrace electronic music’s romantic and emotional qualities. “Park Line” and “Circle Line” evoke the relentless forward motion of public transit and commuter routine, one propelled by juddering machine-drums, the other illuminated in glistening neon. “Summer Places” and title track “Comma” are utterly transportive in their intoxicating tropical futurism, aqueous electronic loops cascading over melodic percussion. “September Remember” is notable precisely for its lack of drum track, opening up the field of sound and obliterating all but the faintest after-echoes of skittering percussion in its astral melancholy. “Approaching” achieves an incredible depth of sound and feeling using minimal constituent parts, interlocking synth-lines revealing surprising new sonorities with every repetition. With Comma, Prekop compiles an incredible breadth of ideas into a surprisingly coherent sound-world. Comma is Prekop’s modern minimal pop album that taps into the experimental heritage of the synthesizer. The album places Sam Prekop’s work squarely in the tradition of electronic music pioneers like Brian Eno and Yellow Magic Orchestra who brought together the unrestrained ambition of the avant-garde with the immediacy and accessibility of pop music.
Samantha Crain
Samantha Crain (born August 15, 1986) is a Choctaw-American songwriter, musician, producer, and singer from Shawnee, Oklahoma, signed with Ramseur Records (North America) and Full Time Hobby Records (UK/Europe). Crain won 2 NAMMYs (Native American Music Awards) in 2009 for Folk Album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. She also won the Indigenous Music Award for Best Rock Album in 2019. She has had songs featured on 90210, HBO's Hung, and in many independent documentaries and films, including Barking Water and UNRESERVED: The Work of Louie Gong. In 2017 and 2018, she worked with the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. to compose and contribute music for the extensive T.C. Cannon exhibit "At the Edge of America." In July 2018, she self-released a collection of sonnets "En Masse: A Collection of 30 Sonnets by Samantha Crain".
Santana
Santana is an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1966 by Mexican-American guitarist and songwriter Carlos Santana. The band has undergone multiple recording and performing line-ups in its history, with Santana the only consistent member. Santana had early success with their appearance at Woodstock in 1969 and their first three albums, Santana (1969), Abraxas (1970), and Santana III (1971). Other important core members during this period include Gregg Rolie, Mike Carabello, Michael Shrieve, David Brown, and José "Chepito" Areas, forming the "classic" line-up. Following its initial success Santana experimented with elements of jazz fusion on Caravanserai (1972), Welcome (1973), and Borboletta (1974). Santana reached a new peak of commercial and critical success with Supernatural (1999) and its singles "Smooth", featuring singer Rob Thomas, and "Maria Maria". The album reached No. 1 in eleven countries and sold 12 million copies in the US. In 2014, the "classic" line-up reunited for Santana IV (2016) and the group continue to perform and record. Santana is one of the best-selling groups of all time with 43.5 million certified albums sold the US, and an estimated 100 million sold worldwide. Its discography include 25 studio albums, 14 of which reached the US top 10. In 1998, the line-up of Santana, Rolie, Carabello, Shrieve, Brown, and Areas was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2000, the band won six Grammy Awards in one night, a record tied with Michael Jackson, and three Latin Grammy Awards.
Scone Cash Players
The Scone Cash Players are on a mission... The Scone Cash Players arrive with force and fury. It is a mission to bring the purist, most soulful, dynamic and funky organ music to the people of the world. During a breakout performance at the Funky Sole Weekender in Los Angeles alongside Lee Fields & The Expressions, Breakestra, The Monophonics and Jungle Fire they were propelled on to the international scene. Incredible tours followed to Brazil, New York City, California, Midwest US as well as hometown shows in Miami. The Scone Cash Players are eager for more. There was an unforgettable performance at the Miami Downtown Jazz Fest. Brooklyn Vegan choose to premier "Blast Furnace! LP" and "Scone Cold Christmas 7" Single and Video. Scone Cash Players were chosen in the top ten Funk 45's by Flea Market Funk, as well as "Top Vinyl LP and 7" single by Nostalgia King of the year. Adam Scone draws from his vast experience working with soul legends The Sugarman Three, Lee Fields, Naomi Shelton & Sharon Jones. He has also backed up Jazz and Boogaloo legends Lou Donaldson, Melvin Sparks and Ben Dixon. Over the years he has appeared on over 50 recordings. It is this unique experience that fuels the hard driving soul psychedelia that is certain to make any audience jump up and get into it. Where is the bass player? That is Scone playing the bass with the deepest pocket around. The tradition of organ low end is of paramount importance in this band. The left foot mixed with left hand bass truly are the nastiest and funkiest sound in town. Adam Scone is steeped in the organ bass tradition of fellow players and mentors Dr. Lonnie Smith, Dr. Jack McDuff, Big John Patton and Jimmy Smith. Scone learned the ropes traveling the world with various Daptone recording artists. He has brought the organ business at the worlds top music festivals including Bonnaroo, Glastonbury, North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival & the Monterey Jazz Festival. He has also brought the business in many seedy lounges all across the US, Europe, South and Central America, Africa and the Middle East. Scone has manipulated the plastic keys and thrown Leslie switches at iconic NYC venues such as The Village Vanguard, The Blue Note, The Apollo Theater, The Bowery Ballroom and many others. In addition, you can see and hear him playing organ in the recently released Daptone Records concert film “Living on Soul!” Do you want to do the Boogaloo? Enjoy the Scone Cash Players.
Scott Tuma
Scott Tuma is a musician from Chicago who is best known for his live performances and also for having played guitar in the pioneering alt-country band Souled American. Since his departure from Souled American in the late 1990s Tuma has released numerous solo albums, performed and recorded with Chicago's Boxhead Ensemble, and collaborated with members of the band Zelienople in a project dubbed Good Stuff House. Tuma's unique guitar work is one of the primary features responsible for Souled American's highly distinct sound, though the band has continued playing without him seeming relatively unfazed by Tuma's departure. His solo work is more in line with ambient music than folk or country, though elements of those and other styles are still present. "Hard Again" and "The River 1 2 3 4" are expansive, gorgeous albums that feature Tuma playing most of the instruments himself - primarily guitar, harmonium, and organ (though he also plays bass, harmonica, and banjo) - though "Hard Again" also includes guest spots from members of Dirty Three, Rachel's, and Boxhead Ensemble.
Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins (July 18, 1929 – February 12, 2000) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Famed chiefly for his powerful, operatic vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of songs such as "I Put a Spell on You", he sometimes used macabre props onstage, making him an early pioneer of shock rock. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Hawkins studied classical piano as a child and learned guitar in his twenties. His initial goal was to become an opera singer (Hawkins cited Paul Robeson as his musical idol in interviews), but when his initial ambitions failed, he began his career as a conventional blues singer and pianist. He joined the US Army in 1944, and entertained troops as part of his service. After leaving the Army, he returned to music and boxing. Hawkins was an avid and formidable boxer. In 1949, he was the middleweight boxing champion of Alaska. In 1951, he joined guitarist Tiny Grimes' band, and was subsequently featured on some of Grimes' recordings. When Hawkins became a solo performer, he often performed in a stylish wardrobe of leopard skins, red leather, and wild hats.
Scree
First full-length album from the Brooklyn experimental trio Scree. Jasmine on a Night in July features a collection music that draws on the work of the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish "The sky opened a window for me. I looked and found nothing save myself outside itself, as it has always been, and my desert-haunted visions. There is no tomorrow in this desert, save what we saw yesterday, so let me brandish my ode to break the cycle of time, and let there be beautiful days! How much past tomorrow holds." Ryan El-Solh: Guitar, Keyboards Carmen Rothwell: Bass Jason Burger: Drums, Percussion, Kalimba Ari Chersky: loops
Sean Hayes
Sean Patrick Hayes (born August 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter. Hayes was born in New York City, and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. He began playing traditional American and Irish music with a band called the Boys of Bluehill. He traveled the south, from the Black Mountain Music festival (LEAF Festival) in the Blue Ridge Mountains down to Charleston, South Carolina and eventually found his way to San Francisco, where he lived for two decades before moving to Sonoma County, California. In his twenty year career as a musician, Hayes has won acclaim from fans and critics alike and had his music featured in a variety of television shows, films, and commercials. Hayes' song "Rattlesnake Charm" was re-mixed by DJ Mark Farina, and also appears on the Stéphane Pompougnac compilation Hôtel Costes, Vol. 8. His song "3 A.M." is featured on the soundtrack for the television show Kyle XY, and his song "A Thousand Tiny Pieces", was covered by The Be Good Tanyas and the group Blame Sally, and has appeared on the television show Brothers & Sisters. The song is also referenced in the Moth Radio Hour story as told by theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin. The HBO show Bored to Death featured his song "Fucked Me Right Up" on its second episode as well as on the soundtrack for the first season. This song was also featured in the German film, Resturlaub. His song "Turnaroundturnmeon" is part of Big Change: songs for FINCA, an album curated by Natalie Portman to benefit the anti-poverty organization FINCA. Hayes was also featured singing the duet "Ballantines" with Aimee Mann, released on her album Smilers. Hayes' song "Lucky Man" was used in the season four trailer for the show Rectify on the Sundance Channel.
Shearwater
Shearwater is an American indie rock band from Austin, Texas, led by multi-instrumentalist and lead singer Jonathan Meiburg, a singer-songwriter. The band's music is notable for its imagery based in nature, cerebral yet intimate melodic songs, as well as Meiburg's vocals. Early years In 1999, Okkervil River band members Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff founded Shearwater as an outlet for quieter songs on which they were collaborating. The band's name comes from the shearwater, a tribe of seabirds related to petrels and albatrosses. Meiburg, who holds a master's degree in geography with a focus on ornithology, picked the name mostly for the sound of the word. Shearwater's debut, The Dissolving Room, introduced Kim Burke on upright bass; shortly after, drummer and vibraphonist Thor Harris joined the band. The addition of multi-instrumentalist Howard Draper plus tours and support dates with The Mountain Goats, Akron/Family and Blonde Redhead brought them exposure. Shearwater continued to produce music under this lineup in Everybody Makes Mistakes (2002) and Winged Life (2004), as well as the Thieves EP (2005). In May 2006, Shearwater released Palo Santo, their fourth full-length album and last to be released on Misra Records, to much acclaim from critics and fans. The song "Red Sea, Black Sea," was featured as an NPR Song of the Day. NPR's Stephen Thompson subsequently named Palo Santo as the best album of 2006. Although Sheff appeared as an instrumentalist for the recording of Palo Santo, the album's songs were composed and sung entirely by Meiburg, as the band felt that the songs that Meiburg had written were best suited for the project. Sheff then left the band to concentrate on other projects. Matador Records Midway through the tour for Palo Santo, the band was notified by Misra Records that they would be unable to continue to distribute Shearwater's music. Meiburg personally emailed the owner of Matador Records, Gerard Cosloy, who subsequently signed Shearwater to a multi-album deal. On April 10, 2007, Shearwater released a two-disc edition of Palo Santo which featured five re-recorded tracks, remastered versions of the other six tracks, as well as a bonus disc of outtakes from the original sessions. Meiburg had felt that the original Palo Santo suffered from "murkiness", and could be improved upon in the studio. Matador Records released the album Rook on June 3, 2008. On the tour that followed, Shearwater opened for Clinic and later Coldplay. Additional touring accompanists were added at that time: Jordan Geiger of Hospital Ships and Minus Story (on cornet, synthesizer, and percussion) and Kevin Schneider of Black Before Red (on keyboard, bass, and guitar) replaced Howard Draper. On February 23, 2010, Shearwater released their sixth album, The Golden Archipelago, which the band produced with John Congleton. The band toured extensively behind the record in 2010, with an international tours in the spring (with Wye Oak and Hospital Ships opening) and additional U.S. dates in the fall (with special guest Damien Jurado). The Golden Archipelago concluded the band's Island Arc trilogy, a project also encompassing Palo Santo and Rook. On November 6, 2010, the band released an instrumental album, Shearwater is Enron, via Bandcamp. The album was recorded in the spring of 2010 and includes live material recorded at a performance under the pseudonym "Enron." It introduces some textures not traditionally associated with the band, such as electronic drum tracks and squalling guitar rock. Members of Wye Oak and Hospital Ships assist on the live tracks. Sub Pop Records In February 2012, a new full-length album called Animal Joy was released. It was Shearwater's first record with Sub Pop Records. The record signaled a new chapter for the band after the conclusion of the Island trilogy, as the album included more rock elements. Following the release of the album, the band opened for the North American tour of Sharon Van Etten. In 2013, Fellow Travelers was released on Sub Pop, a Shearwater album consisting entirely of cover songs by bands that Shearwater had toured with. Each band that was covered on the album was also invited to play on the album, under the condition that they could not play on their own song. The band's last record Jet Plane and Oxbow was released on Sub Pop January 22, 2016. Frequent collaborator, producer Danny Reisch, worked on the album, as did composer Brian Reitzell, Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner, drummer Cully Symington, Howard Draper, and regular band members Jesca Hoop, Lucas Oswald, and Abram Shook.
Shilo Gold
After attending Berklee College of Music, just finishing season 13 of NBC's the Voice and touring Europe and the US, Shilo Gold is releasing her newest single Not Enough off her upcoming EP Salt / Water. Produced by Mitchell Haeuszer and Balam Garcia at Haus Music.
Shook Twins
Shook Twins is a folk music group originally from Sandpoint, Idaho and currently based in Portland, Oregon, formed in 2004. The nucleus of the band consists of identical twin sisters Katelyn (guitar, mandolin, banjo, glockenspiel, telephone microphone) and Laurie Shook (banjo, guitar, tambourine, golden egg). Their style of music incorporates acoustic instrumentation including banjo, guitar, mandolin, glockenspiel, and their signature golden egg. Twin harmonies layered on top of acoustic and electric instrumentation are coupled with Laurie's beatboxing and inventive use of a looping machine, and Katelyn's repurposed telephone microphone. The band members have performed with or opened for Ani DiFranco, Gregory Alan Isakov, Greensky Bluegrass, Mason Jennings, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Sarah Jarosz, Laura Veirs, Trace Bundy, Jonatha Brooke, Indigo Girls, Walk Off the Earth, Crooked Still, Jason Webley, John Craigie, Elephant Revival, The Head and the Heart, The Infamous Stringdusters, and many more. They have toured coast to coast performing at festivals including High Sierra Music Festival, Oregon Country Fair, Hulaween, Northwest String Summit, Summer Camp Music Festival, Electric Forest, Lightning in a Bottle, Joshua Tree Music Festival, Arise Music Festival, Four Corners Folk Festival, Fayetteville Roots and more. “I love the harmonies of the Shook Twins, the dreamlike songs that seem somehow permeated by the American Folk tradition, without actually being part of it. They make music that twines through your soul the way vines cover an abandoned shack in the woods.” – Neil Gaiman, New York Times Best-Selling Author
Shovels & Rope
Shovels & Rope are an American folk duo from Charleston, South Carolina composed of husband and wife Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst. Combining threads from their individual solo careers, Shovels & Rope blends traditional folk, rock and roll and country rock. Cary Ann Hearst was born in Mississippi in 1979 and raised in Nashville from 1987 until she attended the College of Charleston in 1997. During school she began performing music as a solo artist in local bars and venues. After graduating she toured, recorded and performed with various groups including Caravan and Borrowed Angels. Hearst saw Michael Trent, born in Denver but relocated to Charleston, performing with his band The Films in 2002 and they began touring with various artists including Jump, Little Children. Hearst released her first solo album Dust and Bones in 2006 and Trent released his self-titled solo album, also his first, in 2007. In 2008 Hearst and Trent recorded and released the album Shovels & Rope as a co-bill under their individual names, not intended to ever create a permanent act. Hearst and Trent married in March 2009 and continued to perform and record their music for their individual solo careers. Hearst released the EP Are You Ready to Die in 2010 and the LP Lions and Lambs in 2011. Trent released The Winner in 2010. At the end of 2010 filming began on a documentary titled The Ballad of Shovels and Rope about their life as a band. Originally slated for only 3 months of filming, it didn't end until September 2013. After filming finished a Kickstarter campaign was launched to help get the film finished and released. In 2012, the pair committed to their joint venture and released an album together under the Shovels & Rope moniker entitled O' Be Joyful, which reached #123 on the Billboard 200. The band made their network television debut playing "Birmingham" on Late Show with David Letterman, January 30, 2013. On September 18, 2013 at the Americana Music Honors & Awards Shovels & Rope received the honors of emerging artist of the year, as well as song of the year for their song "Birmingham". They also appear in an end scene, and provide the episode background music, for the Charleston episode of CNN's Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Source Wikipedia
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Sister Rosetta Tharpe (March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and recording artist. She attained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar that was extremely important to the origins of rock and roll. She was the first great recording star of gospel music and among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm-and-blues and rock-and-roll audiences, later being referred to as "the original soul sister" and "the Godmother of rock and roll". She influenced early rock-and-roll musicians, including Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. Tharpe was a pioneer in her guitar technique; she was among the first popular recording artists to use heavy distortion on her electric guitar, presaging the rise of electric blues. Her guitar playing technique had a profound influence on the development of British blues in the 1960s; in particular a European tour with Muddy Waters in 1964 with a stop in Manchester on 7 May is cited by prominent British guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Keith Richards. Willing to cross the line between sacred and secular by performing her music of "light" in the "darkness" of nightclubs and concert halls with big bands behind her, Tharpe pushed spiritual music into the mainstream and helped pioneer the rise of pop-gospel, beginning in 1938 with the recording "Rock Me" and with her 1939 hit "This Train". Her unique music left a lasting mark on more conventional gospel artists such as Ira Tucker, Sr., of the Dixie Hummingbirds. While she offended some conservative churchgoers with her forays into the pop world, she never left gospel music. Tharpe's 1944 release "Down by the Riverside" was selected for the National Recording Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress in 2004, which noted that it "captures her spirited guitar playing and unique vocal style, demonstrating clearly her influence on early rhythm-and-blues performers" and cited her influence on "many gospel, jazz, and rock artists". ("Down by the Riverside" was recorded by Tharpe on December 2, 1948, in New York City, and issued as Decca single 48106.) Her 1945 hit "Strange Things Happening Every Day", recorded in late 1944, featured Tharpe's vocals and electric guitar, with Sammy Price (piano), bass and drums. It was the first gospel record to cross over, hitting no. 2 on the Billboard "race records" chart, the term then used for what later became the R&B chart, in April 1945. The recording has been cited as a precursor of rock and roll, and alternatively has been called the first rock and roll record. In May 2018, Tharpe was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an Early Influence.
Six Organs of Admittance
Six Organs of Admittance is the primary musical project of guitarist Ben Chasny. Chasny's music is largely guitar-based and is often considered new folk; however, it includes obvious influences, marked by the use of drones, chimes, and eclectic percussive elements. He records albums for Drag City and Holy Mountain, among other labels. Chasny is also a member of the psychedelic band Comets on Fire, and has working relationships with Badgerlore, Current 93, and Magik Markers. His newest project is Rangda with Richard Bishop of Sun City Girls and Six Organs contributor Chris Corsano. Six Organs of Admittance has also released a song exclusively on the 2004 new folk compilation record The Golden Apples of the Sun. The album's compiler Devendra Banhart has stated this song comes from a fully produced but unreleased Chasny album he refers to as the "solo record," a bootleg of which circulates the internet.
Skinshape
Skinshape is Will Dorey, originally from Swanage, Dorset. His beats range from reggae, dub, hip/trip-hop, funk and anything else. Long delays and heavy reverbs of dub, psychedelic guitar, heavy bass lines, tuff drums, and some eclectic sampling. Skinshape has released tracks and remixes for Wah Wah 45s, Mystikal Roots, DLoaw & Co ('Secret Garden Vol. 2') & his own label Horus Records. As a DJ, he has been on lineups alongside names such as: Dawn Penn, Channel One Soundsystem, Congo Natty, Mad Professor, Tippa Irie, Corrina Greyson, The Abyssinians, Commix, Macka B, The Resonators, Don Letts, A Skillz, Chainska Brassika, The Dirty Gentlemen, Solo Banton, The Freestylers, Black Twang, Phi Life Cypher, Soom T & many more. Skinshape will be updating you as often as possible, with the latest, most groovy beats from his kitchen.
Skúli Sverrisson
Skúli Sverrisson (born 23 October 1966) is an Icelandic composer and bass guitarist. He has worked with musicians Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey, Lou Reed, Jon Hassel, David Sylvian, Arto Lindsay, and composers Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jóhann Jóhannsson, and Hildur Guðnadóttir. He is known for his work as artistic director for Ólöf Arnalds, recordings with Blonde Redhead, and as musical director for Laurie Anderson. Sverrisson released duo albums with Anthony Burr, Oskar Gudjonsson, and Hilmar Jensson. He has been a member of Pachora, Alas No Axis, the Allan Holdsworth group, and the Ben Monder group. His solo works include Seremonie in 1997 and Sería in 2006. Seria was chosen Best Album of the Year by the Icelandic Music Awards. Sverrisson plays dobro, double bass, and charango, in addition to bass guitar. He has composed music for the Icelandic Dance Company (Open Source), the National Theatre of Iceland (Volva), and films and installations such as Welcome and Music for Furniture with Olafur Thordason, Spatial Meditation with Claudia Hill, and When it was Blue with filmmaker Jennifer Reeves. Sverrisson founded Seria, an ensemble featuring Amedeo Pace, Ólöf Arnalds, David Thor Jonsson, Anthony Burr, Eyvind Kang, and Hildur Guðnadóttir in 2005. He released Seria in 2006 and Seria ll in 2010. Sverrisson has won five Icelandic Music Awards, including Icelandic Album of the Year for Seria in 2006. He has appeared on over one hundred recordings and has performed with Hildur Guðnadóttir, Hilmar Jensson, Jim Black, Chris Speed, Anthony Burr, Laurie Anderson, Allan Holdsworth, Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Sylvian, Blonde Redhead, Yungchen Lhamo, Jamshied Sharifi, Ólöf Arnalds, Pachora, and Alas No Axis. He was a part of Mo Boma with Jamshied Sharifi and Carsten Tiedemann, releasing four albums on Extreme; "Jijimuge", "Myths of the Near Future - Part One", "Myths of the Near Future - Part Two" and "Myths of the Near Future - Part Three".
Soccer Mommy
Sophia Regina Allison (born May 27, 1997), better known by her stage name Soccer Mommy, is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Nashville, Tennessee. History Allison was born in Switzerland in the late 1990s and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. She attended Nashville School of the Arts, a specialty high school where she studied guitar and played in the swing band. She first picked up a guitar at age six and started making music. She began posting home-recorded songs to Bandcamp as Soccer Mommy in 2015, during the summer when she was about to leave for college at New York University (where she studied music business at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development). While in college, Allison played her first show as Soccer Mommy, at the community art space Silent Barn in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and shortly after landed a record deal with Fat Possum. She dropped out of college after two years in 2017 to return to Nashville and pursue her music career. Her first full-length album as Soccer Mommy, For Young Hearts, was released in 2016 on Orchid Tapes. Her second album, Collection, was released in 2017 on Fat Possum Records. Her debut album proper, titled Clean, was released on March 2, 2018. She has toured with Stephen Malkmus, Mitski, Kacey Musgraves, Jay Som, Slowdive, Frankie Cosmos, Liz Phair, Phoebe Bridgers and others. She joined Paramore and Foster the People on the first half of their 2018 summer tour. Soccer Mommy opened for Vampire Weekend in the fall. She also opened for a few shows for Wilco in the fall of 2019. In February 2020, she played at one of Bernie Sanders's presidential rallies and endorsed his 2020 presidential campaign.
Solomon Burke
olomon Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American preacher and singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been called "a key transitional figure bridging R&B and soul", and was known for his "prodigious output". He had a string of hits including "Cry to Me", "If You Need Me", "Got to Get You Off My Mind", "Down in the Valley" and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love". Burke was referred to honorifically as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", "Bishop of Soul" and the "Muhammad Ali of soul". Due to his minimal chart success in comparison to other soul music greats such as James Brown, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding, Burke has been described as the genre's "most unfairly overlooked singer" of its golden age. Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler once referred to Burke as "the greatest male soul singer of all time". Burke's most famous recordings, which spanned five years in the early 1960s, bridged the gap between mainstream R&B and grittier R&B. Burke was "a singer whose smooth, powerful articulation and mingling of sacred and profane themes helped define soul music in the early 1960s." He drew from his roots—gospel, jazz, country, and blues—as well as developing his own style at a time when R&B, and rock were both still in their infancy. Described as both "Rabelaisian" and also as a "spiritual enigma," "perhaps more than any other artist, the ample figure of Solomon Burke symbolized the ways that spirituality and commerce, ecstasy and entertainment, sex and salvation, individualism and brotherhood, could blend in the world of 1960s soul music." During the 55 years that he performed professionally, Burke released 38 studio albums on at least 17 record labels and had 35 singles that charted in the US, including 26 singles that made the Billboard R&B charts. In 2001, Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a performer. His album Don't Give Up on Me won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 45th Grammy Awards in 2003. By 2005 Burke was credited with selling 17 million albums. Rolling Stone ranked Burke as no. 89 on its 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".
Son Little
hat is the new magic of music? If you trace the path of a plan back to its beginnings, what do you find? Is it a tree, growing from seed with deep roots planted in fertile soil, branches arcing out in all directions? Or a spark in the dark, an electrical charge? Is it a waterway, with swirling currents raging to create a river? Or is it a snowflake, falling from on high and dropping down to earth with a singular splash? For Son Little, the genesis of a musical idea — the magic — remains largely a mystery. But his kinetic ability to summon that energy all the same, to command it, hold onto it, and set it in motion, is the stuff of alchemy. “The magic is this well I can draw from; you can’t necessarily see it, you just have to believe that it’s there,” he says. “If you believe, then you can reach your hand down in there and get it wet. But if you don’t feel like it’s there, it won’t be.” Son Little, the singer and songwriter born Aaron Livingston, is the easygoing musical alchemist of our time. He is a conjurer, and much like those of his heroes Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix, his songs are deconstructions of the diaspora of American R & B. Deftly he weaves different eras of the sound — blues, soul, gospel, rock and roll — through his own unique vision, never forced, always smooth, each note a tributary on the flowing river of rhythm and blues. The currents empty into an estuary, and into this well water Son dips his bucket — trusting innately in the magic’s existence. And now, with his second full-length album, New Magic, he has delivered a profound statement, a cohesive creation that captures the diverse spirit of American music in a fresh and modern way. On the heels of his 2015 self-titled debut and the 5-song EP, Songs I Forgot, that came before it, Son Little found his reach steadily growing. His song “Lay Down” had been played over seven million times on Spotify, he had toured the world with artists as diverse as Leon Bridges, Kelis, Mumford & Sons, and Shakey Graves in addition to his own headlining runs, and also became a Grammy Award winning producer, earning a 2016 Best Roots Performance award for his work on Mavis Staples’s “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.” But in the midst of all this success, so too did he find that the window for writing new songs was shrinking. Where his previous releases had been culled from various eras and scattered sessions early in his career, he now craved an opportunity to sit and write a new album in a distinct, unified direction, one that would establish his place in the world of black music. The only problems were: when, and how?
Son Rompe Pera
Born and raised in the deep outskirts of Mexico City, the Gama brothers are keeping alive the rich legacy of marimba music running through their family with their latest project, Son Rompe Pera. While firmly rooted in the tradition of this historic instrument, their fresh take on the folk icon challenges its limits as never before, moving it into the garage/punk world of urban misfits and firmly planting it in the 21st century. Originally performing alongside their father at local events as kids, they now find themselves at the forefront of the contemporary international cumbia scene with their sonic explorations of the classic marimba. Their absolutely unique blend comes from a typical youthful rebellion, when as teenagers they left behind their upbringing and began to play in various punk, rockabilly and ska bands. Now they’ve gone full circle with the return of the marimba on lead, and mixing all of their influences together with an energetic take on the popular instrument, giving it a new twist never before seen in Mexican folk music. Their live shows are a sweaty mess of dancing fans, and this garage-cumbia-marimba-punk band (the only band of its kind in the world) never disappoints on stage. Their authenticity shines through as they give their modern interpretation of Mexican, Peruvian, and Colombian classics, as well as their own original material and some surprise covers. The contrast of the traditional marimba with their youthful attitude and street sense connects the audience to the past while dancing into the future. Formed in 2017, Son Rompe Pera broke onto the potent cumbia scene of today as the marimba duo of brothers Jesús Ángel and Allan Gama (Kacho and Mongo), who inherited this tradition from their father, Batuco. A marimba player by trade, he taught them to play and understand the marimba, which they first used to revive old folk songs for their friends, family, and passers-by on the street. They then incorporated it into the performance of popular Mexican cumbia songs, while spicing things up with an animated identity of their own, creating rhythms of an imaginary repertoire that grows, spreads, and connects the Americas with every passing year. Son Rompe Pera is currently made up of five musicians, (conga, percussion, güiro, drums, guitar, bass and marimba) who develop a full live sound with strong Pan-Latino representation. After a chance meeting in the La Lagunilla market in Mexico City, they were invited to Chile in 2017, where they played over forty gigs at some of the biggest festivals in the country, while also spending weekends at the famous Persa Bio-Bio street market, keeping alive their legacy as street musicians wherever they went. The band also grabbed the attention of major musicians working in this style, such as Café Tacuba, Celso Piña, Fidel Nadal and the Chileans Sonora de Llegar, Santaferia, Anarkia Tropical and the singer Aldo Asenjo, AKA Macha, who has incorporated the Mexican musicians into his three bands Chico Trujillo, La Floripondio, and Bloque Depresivo. In Chile they also took advantage of staying at the mythical Perros con Tiña studio, where they continued to develop their sound and were able to record their first record, loaded with famous guests from the current Chilean music scene. The album, Batuco, due out on the ZZK label imprint, AYA Records, on February 28th, 2020, is named after their recently deceased father, and is a representation of everything he taught them growing up, plus their first steps into a new, international career. In their own words: “The basics of Son Rompe Pera have been developing since we were kids, and the music and streets are in our blood. We found the markets flooded with old, forgotten folk music, and so as kids we decided to carry the marimba with us and create this musical project from our own roots, mixing in rhythms which we thought would never be musical brothers, like cumbia, punk, and the sounds of our barrios and our everyday lives.” The marimba is an idiophone percussion instrument, similar in form to a xylophone. Xylophones are widely used in central and western African music, and were taken to Latin America during the conquest and colonization. The term marimba comes from the Bantu marimba or malimba. The word is formed from ma, or “many”, and rimba “single-bar xylophone.” It consists of a series of wooden strips of different sizes, arranged from largest to smallest, which are struck with mallets to produce musical notes. Each key has its own resonator and the instrument as a whole is fixed into a frame with legs.
Sonido Gallo Negro
Sonido Gallo Negro (Black Rooster Sound) is a stunning 9-piece, instrumental combo from east Mexico City that channels both the mystique and mysticism of 1960’s Peruvian cumbia. The band integrates styles like Amazonian cumbia, huayno, cumbia sonidera, boogaloo and chicha (Peruvian cumbia) with electric guitars, Farfisa organ, theremin, flute and of course fluid Latin percussion. Spaghetti western soundtracks, psychedelia and surf music also echo in their compositions. Sonido Gallo Negro’s music proposal enrichens and cultivates this musical genre with its exotic sui generis version that integrates outstanding visuals performed live by designer Dr. Alderete, who illustrates in real time.
Sonny Sharrock
Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock (August 27, 1940 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. He was married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he recorded and performed. One of few guitarists in the first wave of free jazz in the 1960s, Sharrock was known for his heavily chorded attack, his highly amplified bursts of feedback, and his use of saxophone-like lines played loudly on guitar. Early life and career Sharrock began his musical career singing doo wop in his teen years. He collaborated with Pharoah Sanders and Alexander Solla in the late 1960s, appearing first on Sanders's 1966 album, Tauhid. He made several appearances with flautist Herbie Mann and an uncredited appearance on Miles Davis's A Tribute to Jack Johnson. He wanted to play tenor saxophone from his youth after hearing John Coltrane on Davis's Kind of Blue on the radio at age 19, but his asthma prevented this. Sharrock said repeatedly, however, that he still considered himself "a horn player with a really fucked up axe." Three albums under Sharrock's name were released in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s: Black Woman (which has been described by one reviewer as bringing out the beauty in emotions rather than technical prowess), Monkey-Pockie-Boo, and an album co-credited to both Sharrock and his wife, Paradise (an album by which Sharrock was embarrassed and stated several times that it was not good and should not be reissued). Career revival After the release of Paradise, Sharrock was semi-retired for much of the 1970s, undergoing a divorce from his wife and occasional collaborator Linda in 1978. In the intermittent years until bassist Bill Laswell coaxed him out of retirement, he worked as both a chauffeur and a caretaker for mentally challenged children. At Laswell's urging, Sharrock appeared on Material's (one of Laswell's many projects) 1981 album, Memory Serves. In addition, Sharrock was a member of the punk/jazz band Last Exit, with Peter Brötzmann, Laswell and Ronald Shannon Jackson. During the late 1980s, he recorded and performed extensively with the New York-based improvising band Machine Gun, as well as leading his own bands. Sharrock flourished with Laswell's help, noting in a 1991 interview that "the last five years have been pretty strange for me, because I went twelve years without making a record at all, and then in the last five years, I've made seven records under my own name. That's pretty strange." Laswell would often perform with the guitarist on his albums, and produced many of Sharrock's recordings, including the entirely solo Guitar, the metal-influenced Seize the Rainbow, and the well-received Ask the Ages, which featured John Coltrane's bandmates Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones. "Who Does She Hope To Be?" is a lyrical piece harkening back to the Coltrane/Davis Kind of Blue sessions that had inspired him to play. One writer described Ask the Ages as "hands down, Sharrock's finest hour, and the ideal album to play for those who claim to hate jazz guitar." Sharrock is perhaps best known for the soundtrack to the Cartoon Network program Space Ghost Coast to Coast with his drummer Lance Carter, one of the last projects he completed in the studio before his death. The season 3 episode "Sharrock" carried a dedication to him at the end, and previously unheard music that he had recorded for the show featured throughout most of the episode. "Sharrock" premiered as the 23rd episode on March 1, 1996 on Cartoon Network.
Sparklehorse
Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band, led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous. Sparklehorse was active from 1995 until Linkous' 2010 death by suicide. Sparklehorse's first album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot (1995), was a modest college radio success. In 1996, while touring Europe with Radiohead shortly after the album's release, Mark Linkous consumed a combination of anti-depressants, valium, alcohol, and heroin in a London hotel room. Unconscious and with his legs pinned beneath him for almost fourteen hours, the resulting potassium build-up caused his heart to stop for several minutes after his body was lifted up. The ensuing surgery almost caused him to lose the use of both legs and as a result he needed to use a wheelchair for six months and he required dialysis for acute kidney failure. Good Morning Spider (1998) was recorded following this incident. Critics have conjectured that Linkous's brush with death inspired the sombre tone of the album, though Linkous stated that much of the material on GMS had already been written. One song that did result from it is "St. Mary", which is dedicated to the nurses at the eponymous hospital in Paddington where Linkous recuperated. In 1999 Sparklehorse performed at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. 2001 saw the release of It's a Wonderful Life, featuring appearances by Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Bob Rupe, Nina Persson and Dave Fridmann. Whereas much of Vivadixie... and Spider were recorded solely by Linkous on his Virginia farm, the new album was a more collaborative work. Linkous expressed his satisfaction with the overall sound of It's a Wonderful Life, which was engineered by Joel Hamilton, while also claiming that he would have preferred to include more experimental and instrumental material. On September 25, 2006, Sparklehorse released their fourth album, Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain, collaborating with Danger Mouse, Christian Fennesz, and Steven Drozd. This album featured the radio release "Don't Take My Sunshine Away" and a remastered version of "Shade And Honey", which Linkous originally wrote for Alessandro Nivola to sing in the 2003 movie Laurel Canyon, as well as a virtually unchanged re-release of "Morning Hollow," the bonus track from It's a Wonderful Life. In 2008, Sparklehorse recorded a cover of the song "Jack's Obsession," from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas for the official compilation album Nightmare Revisited. In 2009, Sparklehorse teamed up with Danger Mouse and David Lynch in the project Dark Night of the Soul. In 2009, Linkous teamed up with electronic ambient-music artist Christian Fennesz to create In the Fishtank 15, a wafting album EP of experimentation and dreamy atmospherics. The last four live shows, Linkous did together with Fennesz during a European tour that was held during October 2009.
St Germain
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York by core members Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Blending elements of rock, jazz, Latin music, R&B, blues and sophisticated studio production with cryptic and ironic lyrics, the band enjoyed critical and commercial success starting from the early 1970s until breaking up in 1981. Initially the band had a core lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired the band from live performances altogether to become a studio-only band, opting to record with a revolving cast of session musicians. Rolling Stone has called them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies". After the group disbanded in 1981, Becker and Fagen were less active throughout most of the next decade, though a cult following remained devoted to the group. Since reuniting in 1993, Steely Dan has toured steadily and released two albums of new material, the first of which, Two Against Nature, earned a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. They have sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001. VH1 ranked Steely Dan at No. 82 on their list of the 100 Greatest Musical Artists of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked them No. 15 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time. Founding member Walter Becker died on September 3, 2017, leaving Fagen as the sole official member.
Steve Gunn
Steve Gunn is a New York-based guitarist and songwriter. With a career spanning nearly fifteen years, Steve has produced volumes of critically acclaimed solo, duo, and ensemble recordings. His albums represent milestones of contemporary guitar-driven material, and forward thinking songwriting. Steve has steadily processed his inspirations into a singular, virtuosic stream. Close listening reveals the influence of blues, folk, ecstatic free jazz, and psych in his continually unfolding output. In 2016 Steve released, Eyes On The Lines, his first album for Matador Records which the Washington Post called, "so intimate and so mysteriously distant all at once". In January 2019 he followed it up with his breakthrough fourth album, The Unseen In Between where he explores his own emotional landscapes with his most complex, fully realized songs to date. “The songs are sweeping, with intricate finger picking and rich instrumentation, the lyrics meditative and intimate” -New York Times "It’s the most immediate set Gunn has ever made, a leap forward that’s thrilling to hear” -Rolling Stone
Steve Taylor
With a sound steeped in the sunlit tones of Laurel Canyon, the mid 60’s pop and R&B of the Brill Building, and the lo-fi synths of early prog rock, Los Angeles resident Steve Taylor makes cinematic, impressionistic psych-folk that pushes the envelope of the singer/songwriter genre. A multi-instrumentalist with a remarkably diverse background, he’s been tapped to play with everyone from LA electro soul group Rhye to bass prodigy Tal Wilkenfeld. He’s steadily recorded his new opus, “The Land of Milk and Honey”, in between international tours and recording gigs. A sparse, moody, and soulful record, it is full of ruminations on the search for an idyllic paradise amidst the chaos and loneliness of modern day life. Sonically, you will find layers of vintage organs, pianos, analog synthesizers, and dead drums, creating a sound that’s both modern and thoroughly informed by 70’s AM rock. Influenced by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Nick Drake, and Joni Mitchell, his last album “Has the Size of the Road Got the Better of You?” was recorded at home and at the venerable Tiny Telephone Studio in San Francisco. The record showed the expanded influence of gospel music, something he explored while he was a guitarist and organist at a number of prominent African American congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Performing solo and with his band, Steve has played hundreds of shows, including headlining slots at The Independent and The Chapel in San Francisco, The Echo and The Hotel Café in LA, and The Hope & Anchor in London. An avid busker, he has made many fans the old fashioned way, through singing his heart out and pounding out his songs on his portable Helpinstill piano, an electrified acoustic remnant from the 70’s. In addition to being an active solo artist, Steve has played as a singer, keyboardist and guitarist with an incredibly diverse range of collaborators, including Rhye, Skylar Grey, Lauren Ruth Ward, Duane Betts, Rogue Wave, Nicki Bluhm, and members of the Grateful Dead, CAN, Guns n Roses, The Edwin Hawkins Singers, Deathcab for Cutie, and The Dirty Projectors.
Stevie Wonder
Dubbed “Little Stevie Wonder” by Motown’s Berry Gordy, he was signed to the label when he was only 12 years old and was just 13 when the live recording “Fingertips (Part 2)” hit no. 1 pop and R&B. Playing harmonica, drums and keyboards, as well as singing, the boy who had been blind from infancy proved aptly named. While still a teenager--dropping the “Little” from his stage name--he earned seven top 10 pop singles, including “For Once In My Life,” “My Cherie Amour,” “Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday,” “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” and “I Was Made To Love Her.” By age 20, he was self-sufficient in the studio, writing, playing every instrument and serving as his own producer, including for such hits as “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” and “If You Really Love Me.” He broadened his vision from pure pop to the socially conscious. He began exploring exotic musical ideas incorporating gospel, rock, jazz, reggae, and African and Latin American rhythms, and pioneered the use of synthesizers. Turning 21 in 1971, Stevie holed up in a New York studio and refused to sign with Motown until he was given autonomy to record as he please. Motown agreed and the groundbreaking Music Of My Mind was released followed the next year. Later that year came Talking Book, which boasted the no. 1 pop and R&B hits “Superstition” and “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.” Innervisions, featuring the Top 10 hit “Higher Ground,” “Don’t You Worry ’Bout A Thing” and the epic “Living For The City,” was a landmark LP that became the his first of three consecutive Grammy® Albums of the Year. While the record was riding high, Wonder was in a near-fatal accident. He recovered to record another deeply felt album, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, in 1974, that featured the no. 1 pop “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” (with the Jackson 5 on background vocals) and no. 1 R&B “Boogie On Reggae Woman.” Songs In The Key Of Life was an instant no. 1 album, the first by an American artist to debut at the top spot, where it remained for an incredible 14 weeks. It was highlighted by the no. 1 pop and R&B hits “I Wish” and “Sir Duke.” By the late seventies, Wonder was also leading the way in New Age instrumental music with the soundtrack album Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants, which featured the ballad hit “Send One Your Love.” He won 15 Grammys in just four years.
Submotion Orchestra
Submotion Orchestra are a seven piece band formed in 2009 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. They are influenced by dubstep, soul, ambient electronica, jazz and dub. Their debut LP Finest Hour was released on Ranking Records. They have performed all over the UK and Europe including Festival shows at The Big Chill, Latitude, Outlook and Bestival, and in Thailand at Wonderfruit. They have since released five full-length albums - Finest Hour (2011), Fragments (2012), Alium (2014), Colour Theory (2016), Kites (2018) - and two EPs - 1968 (2013) and III (2015).
Sugar Candy Mountain
A space-age blast of psychedelic pop and Tropicalia that sounds like it could have reverberated right out of Phil Spector’s echo chamber. If Brian Wilson had dropped acid on the beach in Brazil and decided to record an album with Os Mutantes and The Flaming Lips, it would sound like this- all psychedelic pop Wall-of Sound and beach balladry. Source SugarCandyMountainBand.com
Sun Kil Moon
Sun Kil Moon is an American folk rock act from San Francisco, California, founded in 2002. Initially a continuation of the defunct indie rock band Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon is now the primary recording moniker of vocalist and guitarist Mark Kozelek. The project is named after the Korean super flyweight boxer Sung-Kil Moon. Following the delayed release of Red House Painters' final studio album, Old Ramon (2001), vocalist and guitarist Kozelek began recording new material under the name Sun Kil Moon with bandmates Anthony Koutsos (drums) and Jerry Vessel (bass), alongside Geoff Stanfield and Tim Mooney. The resulting album, Ghosts of the Great Highway, was released in 2003 to widespread critical acclaim. The project's second studio album, Tiny Cities (2005), was composed entirely of Modest Mouse cover songs. In 2008, the band released its third studio album, April. Recorded as a three-piece by Kozelek, Koutsos and Stanfield, the album was well received and featured guest vocal appearances from noted indie rock musicians Will Oldham and Ben Gibbard. Inspired by classical guitar music, Kozelek recorded Sun Kil Moon's fourth studio album, Admiral Fell Promises (2010), as a solo act, and continued to record mostly alone on its follow-up, Among the Leaves (2012). In 2013, Kozelek released three studio albums under his own name before releasing Sun Kil Moon's sixth studio album, Benji, in February 2014, to widespread critical acclaim and increased exposure, with the band releasing their seventh studio effort, Universal Themes, in 2015. Sun Kil Moon's eighth studio album, Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood, was released in February 2017, which was followed by their ninth studio album, This Is My Dinner, in November 2018.
Sun Speak
SUN SPEAK is Matt Gold (guitar) and Nate Friedman (drums). SUN SPEAK performs original works of electric chamber music and is based in Chicago, IL.
Supertramp
Supertramp were an English rock band formed in London in 1970. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Rick Davies (vocals, keyboards), they are distinguished for blending progressive rock and pop styles, and for a sound that relied heavily on Wurlitzer electric piano. The group's line-up changed numerous times throughout their career, with Davies the only consistent member. Other longtime members included bassist Dougie Thomson, drummer Bob Siebenberg and saxophonist John Helliwell. The band were initially a full-fledged prog-rock group, but starting with their third album Crime of the Century (1974), they began moving towards a more pop-oriented sound. They reached their commercial peak with 1979's Breakfast in America, which yielded the international top 10 singles "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in America", "Goodbye Stranger" and "Take the Long Way Home". Their other top 40 hits included "Dreamer" (1974), "Give a Little Bit" (1977) and "It's Raining Again" (1982). In 1983, Hodgson left the group to pursue a solo career. Davies took over as the band's sole leader until 1988, after which they disbanded and periodically reformed in various configurations. As of 2007, Supertramp album sales exceeded 60 million. They attained significant popularity in North America, Europe, South Africa and Australia. Their highest sales levels were in Canada, where they had two diamond-certified (ten-times platinum) albums (Crime of the Century and Breakfast in America), and their only number 1 singles anywhere ("The Logical Song" and "Dreamer").
Swantourage
Swantourage is a four piece instrumental band based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. The band, apply named after their founder, Dustin Swan, has been shaking booties across the rockies for several years now. Dustin has been a big part of the music scene in Utah performing with local bands like Samuel Smith Band and PIG EON. Three singles by Swantourage have been released in 2019 and there is more expected to come this year. Keep an eye and an ear out for this group.
Taj Mahal
Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr. (born May 17, 1942), better known by his stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor, and film composer. He plays the guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and many other instruments, often incorporating elements of world music into his work. Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Hawaii, and the South Pacific. Career Mahal moved to Santa Monica, California, in 1964 and formed Rising Sons with fellow blues rock musicians Ry Cooder and Jessie Lee Kincaid, landing a record deal with Columbia Records soon after. Jesse Ed Davis, a Kiowa native from Oklahoma, joined Taj Mahal and played guitar and piano on Mahal's first four albums. The group was one of the first interracial bands of the period, which may have hampered their commercial viability. However, Rising Sons bassist Gary Marker later recalled the band's members had come to a creative impasse and were unable to reconcile their musical and personal differences even with the guidance of veteran producer Terry Melcher. They recorded enough songs for a full-length album, but only released a single and the band soon broke up. Legacy Records did release The Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder in 1992 with material from that period. During this time Mahal was also working with other musicians like Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Muddy Waters. Mahal stayed with Columbia for his solo career, releasing the self-titled Taj Mahal and The Natch'l Blues in 1968. His track "Statesboro Blues" was featured on side 2 of the very successful Columbia/CBS sampler album, The Rock Machine Turns You On, giving a huge early impetus to his career. Giant Step/De Old Folks at Home with session musician Jesse Ed Davis followed in 1969. During this time he and Cooder worked with the Rolling Stones, with whom he has performed at various times throughout his career. In 1968, he performed in the film The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. He recorded a total of twelve albums for Columbia from the late 1960s into the 1970s. His work of the 1970s was especially important, in that his releases began incorporating West Indian and Caribbean music, jazz and reggae into the mix. In 1972, he acted in and wrote the film score for the movie Sounder, which starred Cicely Tyson. He reprised his role and returned as composer in the sequel, Part 2, Sounder. In 1976 Mahal left Columbia and signed with Warner Bros. Records, recording three albums for them. One of these was another film score for 1977's Brothers; the album shares the same name. After his time with Warner Bros., he struggled to find another record contract, this being the era of heavy metal and disco music. Stalled in his career, he decided to move to Kauai, Hawaii in 1981 and soon formed the Hula Blues Band. Originally just a group of guys getting together for fishing and a good time, the band soon began performing regularly and touring. He maintained a low public profile in Hawaii throughout most of the 1980s before recording Taj in 1988 for Gramavision. This started a comeback of sorts for him, recording both for Gramavision and Hannibal Records during this time. In the 1990s Mahal became deeply involved in supporting the nonprofit Music Maker Relief Foundation. As of 2019, he was still on the Foundation's advisory board. In the 1990s he was on the Private Music label, releasing albums full of blues, pop, R&B and rock. He did collaborative works both with Eric Clapton and Etta James. In 1995 he recorded a record fusing traditional American blues with Indian stringed instruments, Mumtaz Mahal, accompanied by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on Mohan veena and N. Ravikiran on chitravina, a fretless lute. In 1998, in collaboration with renowned songwriter David Forman, producer Rick Chertoff and musicians Cyndi Lauper, Willie Nile, Joan Osborne, Rob Hyman, Garth Hudson and Levon Helm of the Band, and the Chieftains, he performed on the Americana album Largo based on the music of Antonín Dvořák. In 1997 he won Best Contemporary Blues Album for Señor Blues at the Grammy Awards, followed by another Grammy for Shoutin' in Key in 2000. He performed the theme song to the children's television show Peep and the Big Wide World, which began broadcast in 2004. In 2002, Mahal appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot and Riot in tribute to Nigerian afrobeat musician Fela Kuti. The Paul Heck produced album was widely acclaimed, and all proceeds from the record were donated to AIDS charities. Taj Mahal contributed to Olmecha Supreme's 2006 album 'hedfoneresonance'. The Wellington-based group led by Mahal's son Imon Starr (Ahmen Mahal) also featured Deva Mahal on vocals. Mahal partnered up with Keb' Mo' to release a joint album TajMo on May 5, 2017. The album has some guest appearances by Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, Sheila E., and Lizz Wright, and has six original compositions and five covers, from artists and bands like John Mayer and The Who. In 2013, Mahal appeared in the documentary film on Byrds founding member Gene Clark, 'The Byrd Who Flew Alone', produced by Four Suns Productions. Clark and Mahal had been friends for many years. In June 2017, Mahal appeared in the award-winning documentary film The American Epic Sessions, directed by Bernard MacMahon, recording Charley Patton's "High Water Everywhere" on the first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s. Mahal appeared throughout the accompanying documentary series American Epic, commenting on the 1920s rural recording artists who had a profound influence on American music and on him personally.
Tame Impala
Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parker (guitar, vocals), Dominic Simper (guitar, synthesiser), Jay Watson (synthesiser, vocals, guitar), Cam Avery (bass guitar, vocals), and Julien Barbagallo (drums, vocals). The group has a close affiliation with fellow Australian psychedelic rock band Pond, sharing members and collaborators, including Nick Allbrook, formerly a live member of Tame Impala. Originally signed to Modular Recordings, Tame Impala is now signed to Interscope Records in the United States and Fiction Records in the UK. Parker originally conceived the project in Perth in 2007. After a series of singles and EPs, Tame Impala's debut studio album, Innerspeaker, was released in 2010; it was certified gold in Australia and well received by critics. Parker's 2012 follow-up, Lonerism, was also acclaimed, reaching platinum status in Australia and receiving a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. Tame Impala's third album, Currents, was released in July 2015, and like its predecessor, it won ARIA Awards for Best Rock Album and Album of the Year. Parker won the APRA Award for Song of the Year 2016 for Currents' first track, "Let It Happen". The fourth studio album, The Slow Rush, was released on 14 February 2020. At the 2020 ARIA Music Awards, Tame Impala won five trophies.
Tears for Fears
Ted Lucas
Ted Lucas was a phenomenal musician who performed solo and in a number of bands. He appeared in-concert and was also a studio musician. He played numerous clubs, concerts, and colleges. Ted's musical career began in Michigan in the early 1960's, and continued until his death in 1992. He played primarily in the Midwest, but also performed in San Francisco, Manhattan, Windsor and Toronto Canada. While Ted is best classified as a rock musician, he originally majored in classical guitar at Wayne State University. He was a student of Blues, Country, Jazz, Middle Far Eastern, and contemporary music. His inspirations and teachers included Jo Fava (guitar) & Ravi Shankar (sitar). He performed in-concert or opened for The Eagles, Frank Zappa, Yes, John McLaughlin, Black Sabbath, Ravi Shankar, and others. Ted was a studio musician with Motown until they moved to Los Angeles. He was their 'exotic string' specialist and played balalaika, sitar, acoustic 6 or 12 string guitar and more.You can hear his work on albums by The Temptations, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and others. He also did session work at Warner/Reprise, RCA and other major labels. Ted Lucas was a member of the original Spike Drivers. He also formed a number of bands including The Misty Wizards, The Horny Toads, Ted Lucas & the Phasers, The Androids and Boogie Disease. Please browse in our online store to purchase Ted's limited re-issue color vinyl album and other music. And while you are here, peruse the photo gallery that includes both personal and band photos and images from the Lucas family archives.
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Go back to December 31, 2008 when guitarist Derek Trucks and his wife, singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, were preparing to ring in the New Year. Married since 1999, these two soulmates, equally steeped in the musical roots of blues, jazz, and gospel, had finally decided the time was right to set aside their successful solo careers and commit to a new band melding their vision and talent. It wasn’t the first time they had collaborated; they had shared a stage countless times and traded album guest appearances, all while starting a family together. But on that night, hitting the stage together with members of the Derek Trucks Band and a guest horn section they heard the future. "The 12-piece outfit puts out a big band sound that still rings intimate, shaking listeners to their emotional core." – Rolling Stone Two years later, the couple debuted Tedeschi Trucks Band. The nation’s economy was heading into recession. The popular music landscape was filled with technological theatrics and auto-tuned singers. And here were Tedeschi and Trucks along with their (then) 8-member band, loading up two tour buses and hitting the road with a sound that defied conventional genre boundaries or traditional labels; a gypsy caravan on the rock-and-roll highway. To call it ambitious was an understatement. During their five-year rise, the group toured incessantly, raising their profile and being handpicked to play with the likes of Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, and Santana. In pursuit of their ideal sound driven by world class musicianship, Tedeschi and Trucks put together a musical collaborative like no other, flying in the face of any practical or economic considerations. There have been evolutionary changes to the band along the way, but the freight-train force of veteran drummers J.J. Johnson and Tyler Greenwell were there from the start, along with two brilliant Trucks Band veterans to amplify the rhythm section: Kofi Burbridge with his prodigious talent on keys and flute, and Mike Mattison, with his dynamic vocals and songwriting skills. A 3-piece horn section brought on for studio work proved indispensable to the group’s sound and became a permanent addition – now composed of Kebbi Williams’ intergalactic saxophone, Ephraim Owens on trumpet and Elizabeth Lea on trombone. Industry-renowned bassist Tim Lefebvre (David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Sting) joined in 2013, and two years later a third incredible voice, Alecia Chakour, was added to the background vocals provided by Mark Rivers and Mattison; each more than capable of delivering a stirring turn as a lead vocalist. On the road for upwards of 200 days a year, the TTB family has grown strong, bonding over backyard BBQs and long bus rides, all the while developing a growing repertoire of original material and paying homage to an extensive canon of influences ranging from Sly & the Family Stone, Miles Davis and George Jones to Joe Cocker, Nina Simone, and even Indian sarod master Ali Akbar Khan. Embracing improvisation over convention, and set lists rarely repeated, the collective is adept at exploring almost any musical territory. The genuine respect within its ranks is evident on stage. Trucks’ masterful guitar skills and Tedeschi’s soaring vocals and bluesy guitar shine but don’t overpower the breadth of talent, happily yielding the spotlight as needed in service of what the song deserves. "I saw them live and it was mind blowing. [Derek] has taken the guitar, specifically slide guitar, somewhere it has never been. His phrasing both with and without slide is uniquely his and just odd and jarring and exciting to listen to. [Susan] is an earnest blues player as well and her voice is astounding. The band was mind-blowing. They take a form that is arguably tired and turn it inside out with originality and musicianship and make it totally their own." – Marc Maron Trucks and Tedeschi’s uncompromising vision has paid off. Now 12-members strong, and with a catalog of five albums and nearly a decade of steady touring in the U.S. and abroad, Tedeschi Trucks Band carries a distinguished reputation earned from both audiences and critics as one of the premier live bands in the world. Sold-out multi-night runs at venerable venues like the Beacon Theatre, Ryman Auditorium and Red Rocks Amphitheater are a testament to the can’t-miss concert experience fans have come to anticipate. The band’s own “Wheels of Soul” tour has become a sought-after summer experience from promoters across the country, bringing TTB’s unique stew of upbeat rock and soul together on stage with a slew of guests, sit ins, and supporting bands that have included the late Sharon Jones, Los Lobos and most recently The Wood Brothers and Hot Tuna. 2018 will also mark the sixth year for the TTB-curated Sunshine Music Festival, hosted each January in their home state of Florida. "Epic is an overused word, but if one contemporary rock band were to rightfully wear it, the Tedeschi Trucks Band might be the ones." - Santa Barbara Independent TTB’s most recent CD/film release, Live From The Fox Oakland (2017) was nominated for a Grammy and follows a quartet of critically-hailed and commercially successful albums, including the Grammy-winning debut, Revelator (2011) and Let Me Get By (2016), called “one of the great records of the year” by the Associated Press. The film documents the progress the band has made since its inception, while also showcasing its endless potential to bring out the best in each other every night in any musical direction they choose. It’s clear that the leaders have no intention of slowing down now. As Trucks remarked to Mark Maron on his WTF podcast featured in the film, “I haven’t found this band’s ceiling yet.” For Tedeschi Trucks Band, there may not be one.
The Aggrolites
The Aggrolites are an amalgamation of two previous Los Angeles reggae and ska bands, the Vessels and the Rhythm Doctors. They formed in 2002 as a live backing band for reggae icon Derrick Morgan, and were asked to record music for a new Morgan album. The project was never released, but the recording sessions inspired the Aggrolites to become a permanent band. They have served as the backing band for Phyllis Dillon, Scotty, Joseph Hill of Culture, Prince Buster, and Tim Armstrong. Regarding their musical style, Aggrolites organist Roger Rivas has stated that a combination of the sounds of 1960s soul music, funk, and skinhead reggae (also known simply as early reggae) constitutes what the band has dubbed "Dirty Reggae." In 2003, the Aggrolites released their debut album, Dirty Reggae, on local reggae label Axe Records. The album was recorded at Signet Studios in Los Angeles in one day, with each song recorded in one take, and with many lyrics improvised on the spot. In November 2004, the Aggrolites were featured on Hellcat Records compilation Give 'Em the Boot IV, and were officially signed to Hellcat in October 2005. The Aggrolites' self-titled Hellcat debut was released on May 9, 2006. In December 2006 they toured the UK as the support band for Madness. The Aggrolites finished a collaboration with Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong for his new solo album, A Poet's Life. They are providing the instrumentals with Tim as lead singer. They released a new album on June 5, 2007 called Reggae Hit L.A., which won an IGN award for Best Reggae Album of 2007. The Aggrolites made an appearance on the Nick Jr. show Yo Gabba Gabba!, created by Christian Jacobs, lead singer of The Aquabats. In mid-2007, original bassist J Bonner quit the band and played his last show on August 12, 2007 in Washington DC. He was replaced by Hepcat bassist David Fuentes. Fuentes died on September 23, 2007. The band entered the studio in early 2009 to record their fourth album. It was released June 9, 2009 and titled IV. The band is kicking off a US tour in October 2009 before joining Slightly Stoopid for a run of dates in November 2009. The band released their fifth studio album, Rugged Road, on February 22, 2011. It is their first album for Young Cub Records. In 2015 the band released three new songs on Bandcamp. Later that songs were re-recorded for their sixth studio album, REGGAE NOW!, released on May 24, 2019. It is their first album for Pirates Press Records.
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band were an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (founder, slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards, songwriting), as well as Dickey Betts (lead guitar, vocals, songwriting), Berry Oakley (bass guitar), Butch Trucks (drums), and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson (drums). Subsequently, based in Macon, Georgia, the band incorporated elements of blues, jazz, and country music, and their live shows featured jam band-style improvisation and instrumentals. The group's first two studio releases, The Allman Brothers Band (1969) and Idlewild South (1970) (both released by Capricorn Records), stalled commercially, but their 1971 live release, At Fillmore East, represented an artistic and commercial breakthrough. The album features extended renderings of their songs "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and "Whipping Post", and is considered among the best live albums ever made. Group leader Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident later that year – on October 29, 1971 – and the band dedicated Eat a Peach (1972) to his memory, a dual studio/live album that cemented the band's popularity and featured Gregg Allman's "Melissa" and Dickey Betts's "Blue Sky". Following the motorcycling death of bassist Berry Oakley one year and 13 days later on November 11, 1972, the group recruited keyboardist Chuck Leavell and bassist Lamar Williams for 1973's Brothers and Sisters. This album included Betts's hit single "Ramblin' Man" and instrumental "Jessica". These tunes went on to become classic rock radio staples, and placed the group at the forefront of 1970s rock music. Internal turmoil overtook them soon after; the group dissolved in 1976, reformed briefly at the end of the decade with additional personnel changes, and dissolved again in 1982. The band reformed once more in 1989, releasing a string of new albums and touring heavily. A series of personnel changes in the late 1990s was capped by the departure of Betts. The group found stability during the 2000s with bassist Oteil Burbridge and guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks (the nephew of their original drummer) and became renowned for their month-long string of shows at New York City's Beacon Theatre each spring. The band retired for good in October 2014 after their final show at the Beacon Theatre. Butch Trucks died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on January 24, 2017, in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 69. Gregg Allman died from complications arising from liver cancer on May 27, 2017, at his home in Georgia, also at the age of 69. The band has been awarded seven gold and four platinum albums, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Rolling Stone ranked them 52nd on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004.
The Bad Plus
The Bad Plus came together at the end of the 20th century and has avoided easy categorization ever since, winning critical hosannas and a legion of fans worldwide with their creativity, unique sound and flair for live performance. The intensely collaborative trio has constantly searched for rules to break and boundaries to cross, bridging genres and techniques while exploring the infinite possibilities of three exceptional musicians working in perfect sync. The band consists of founding members Reid Anderson (bass) and Dave King (drums) and new member Orrin Evans (piano) — a group of passionate collaborators with no single “leader.” Never Stop II is the first full-length release from this lineup, comprised entirely of original music with each member contributing fresh compositions. The New York Times calls it "an exhilarating document" that sparks an exciting new chapter for the iconic group.
The Barr Brothers
The Barr Brothers is an indie folk band founded in Montreal, Quebec, consisting of two American brothers Andrew and Brad Barr as well as bassist Morgan Moore, pedal steel guitarist Brett Lanier, and harpist Eveline Gregoire-Rousseau. History Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the group consists of two brothers: drummer Andrew Barr and songwriter and guitar player Brad Barr, both from Providence, Rhode Island. The third original member is harpist Sarah Pagé who discontinued touring with the band in 2018. Other instrumentation and musicians are added on tour, as needed. Brad and Andrew Barr moved to Montreal from Providence, RI in 2005 after a decade of touring and recording as ⅔ of the trio, The Slip. That group was noted for its approach to long-form, live improvisation and was equally considered part of the jam band and experimental music scenes. Soon after moving to Montreal, Brad heard the sounds of a harp through the bedroom wall of his new apartment. He went next door to introduce himself to Sarah Pagé, who was performing both in classical contexts and developing music with the songwriter Lhasa de Sela. Andrew also began performing with Lhasa. Soon the trio of Andrew, Brad and Sarah began performing Brad's songs under the Barr Brothers name, building upon them with Malian rhythms, slide guitar, homemade percussion instruments, and influences from delta blues, modern classical and Appalachian folk traditions. The band's recordings have been nominated three times for Juno Awards: in 2013, 2015 and 2018 for Adult Alternative Album of the Year. Their self-titled debut album The Barr Brothers was released in 2011 and focused on acoustic and electrified songs rooted in Appalachian folk. Their second album Sleeping Operator (2014) further explored the connections between the Delta blues and its West and North African ancestry. Leftover songs from the Sleeping Operator sessions were released as a five-track collection Alta Falls (2015). Their third album Queens of the Breakers was released in autumn 2017. The band tours frequently in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe and with some shows played in Japan. Notable venues have included Levon Helm's studio in Woodstock, New York; the Red Rocks Amphitheater; and two appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman.
The Be Good Tanyas
Alt folk trio The Be Good Tanyas have achieved cult status since the band's luminous debut Blue Horse, an album named one of 2002’s top 50 releases by Q magazine (UK), firmly established the group on the Americana music scene. With subsequent releases, Chinatown and Hello Love, the band has met with ever growing critical and fan acclaim, garnering 4 star reviews in Rolling Stone and MOJO magazine and selling out concert halls across North America and Europe. Frazey Ford, Trish Klein and Samantha Parton; three women with gorgeous, haunting and plaintive voices accompanied by rustic, sparse and soulful instrumentation, high lonesome harmonies, and intelligent song-writing. “The sonic equivalent of a prairie wind.” – Shawn Edward Cote - No Depression "This balance of sweet and spooky is at the heart of the Be Good Tanyas' timeless beauty. Decades from now, their musical sound is natural next to the traditional songs that inspire their work"–Meredith Ochs of NPR Music
The Bees
The Bees (known in the United States as A Band of Bees) are an English band from Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. Although their sound is generally classified as indie rock or psychedelic rock, the band have a colourful range of styles and influences, such as 1960s garage rock, country, reggae and jazz. The Bees have released four albums: 2002's Mercury Prize-nominated Sunshine Hit Me, its 2004 major label follow-up Free the Bees (which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios), and 2007's Octopus. Their fourth album, Every Step's A Yes, was released on 11 October 2010. The first two albums featured songs that have been used in British television advertisements, which are partially responsible for the band's recognition: Sunshine Hit Me's "A Minha Menina", a cover of an Os Mutantes track, appeared in a Citroën car commercial and also an advert for Magners Irish Cider, whilst "Chicken Payback" and "Wash in the Rain", both from Free the Bees, were incorporated in adverts for Sure Deodorant for Men and Sainsbury's,respectively. The song was also used to introduce the Northern comic character Stan Hibbert on Sky's Soccer AM. "Chicken Payback" is also used as the 'bed' track for The Radcliffe and Maconie programme on BBC Radio 6 Music. The official video for "Chicken Payback" featured the band in an arcade-type dance game machine in a Japanese video arcade. The lead character, apparently a rock and roll dance diva, dances so quickly that his shoes catch fire. The song was used in a 60-second flagship advert produced by Karmarama commissioned by Age UK to launch the charity's 2011 "Thank You" campaign. It was performed by 81-year-old Joy Graham accompanied by a jazz orchestra and was directed by BAFTA winning director Becky Martin of Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show. The Bees supported Oasis in 2005, and Madness in December 2007 during their Christmas tour, and supported Paul Weller in the UK on selected dates of his "Winter Arena Tour". In 2010, The Bees performed a set for The Sun, covering "We Speak No Americano" and playing songs from their album, Every Step's A Yes. Paul Butler appeared on stage at the Glastonbury Festival in 2010 with Devendra Banhart, after performing two sets of their own. In 2011, The Bees supported Fleet Foxes on their UK tour. One of the influences the Bees have cited is the mind-altering drink called ayahuasca. Butler came to drink this plant medicine with shamans in Peru after being introduced to it by Banhart. "The whole thing has brought a lot of joy into my life. I think this kind of cleansing helps with your natural rhythm. Everyone has a song within them or a rhythm that is individual and personal only to you … and this kind of activity unlocks that." In 2018, Fletcher and Parkin announced that they had formed a new group, 77:78, and that their debut album Jellies was set to be released through Heavenly Recordings on 5 July.
The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in Marietta, Georgia, in 1984. Their discography includes eight studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the following year. Their follow-up, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, reached the top of the Billboard 200 in 1992. The albums Amorica (1994), Three Snakes and One Charm (1996), By Your Side (1999), and Lions (2001) followed, with each showing moderate popularity but failing to capture the chart successes of the band's first two albums. After a hiatus from 2002 to 2005, the band regrouped and toured for several years before releasing Warpaint in 2008, which reached number 5 on the Billboard chart. Following the release of their greatest hits/acoustic double album Croweology in August 2010, the band started a 20th anniversary tour that was followed by a second hiatus. After touring in 2013, the band announced another breakup in 2015, reforming in late 2019 to announce a 2020 tour in support of the 30th anniversary of Shake Your Money Maker. By this point the band had none of its original line-up left except for Chris and Rich Robinson, the only two constant members of the band over its entire history. The Black Crowes have sold more than 30 million albums, and are listed at number 92 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. They were labeled by Melody Maker as "The Most Rock 'n' Roll Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World" and the readers of Rolling Stone voted them 'Best New American Band' in 1990.
The Blue Nile
The Blue Nile are a musical group from Glasgow, Scotland. The group's early music was built heavily on synthesizers and electronic instrumentation and percussion, although later works featured guitar more prominently. Following early championing by established artists such as Rickie Lee Jones and Peter Gabriel (the band would later work with both acts), the Blue Nile gained critical acclaim, particularly for their first two albums A Walk Across the Rooftops and Hats, and some commercial success in both the UK and the US, which led to the band working with a wide range of musicians from the late 1980s onwards. The band members have also gained a reputation for their avoidance of publicity, their idiosyncratic dealings with the recording industry, and their perfectionism and slow work rate, which has resulted in the release of just four albums since the group's formation in 1981. The group appears to have disbanded since the release of their fourth album High in 2004, although there has never been any official confirmation.
The Cars
The Cars were an American rock band that emerged from the new wave scene in the late 1970s. The band originated in Boston in 1976, with singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter Ric Ocasek; bassist and singer Benjamin Orr; lead guitarist Elliot Easton; keyboardist Greg Hawkes; and drummer David Robinson. The Cars were at the forefront in merging 1970s guitar-oriented rock with the new synthesizer-oriented pop that was then becoming popular and which flourished in the early 1980s. Robert Palmer, music critic for The New York Times and Rolling Stone, described the Cars' musical style by saying: "they have taken some important but disparate contemporary trends—punk minimalism, the labyrinthine synthesizer and guitar textures of art rock, the '50s rockabilly revival and the melodious terseness of power pop—and mixed them into a personal and appealing blend." The Cars were named "Best New Artist" in the 1978 Rolling Stone Readers' Poll and won "Video of the Year" for "You Might Think" at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. Their debut album, The Cars, sold six million copies and appeared on the Billboard 200 album chart for 139 weeks. As of 2001, the Cars have sold over 23 million albums in the United States. The band broke up in 1988, and Ocasek later discouraged talk of a reunion. Orr died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer. In 2005, Easton and Hawkes joined with Todd Rundgren to form a spin-off band, the New Cars, which performed classic Cars and Rundgren songs alongside new material. The original surviving members reunited in 2010 to record a new album, Move Like This, which was released in May 2011, followed by a short tour. In April 2018, The Cars were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and reunited once more to perform at the induction ceremony
The Court & Spark
The Court & Spark was a San Francisco-based indie rock band formed in the spring of 1998 by Scott Hirsch, Alex Stimmel, James Kim, and lead vocalist M.C. Taylor. Between 1998 and 2001 the group was part of the alt-country Americana scene. History Hirsch and Taylor had previously been members of a band called Ex-Ignota, before moving to San Francisco and forming the country-oriented group, which released their debut album Ventura Whites on Tumult Records in 1999. In 2001 the band released Bless You, which also featured pedal steel player Tom Heyman and vocalist Wendy Allen, as well as Gene Parsons, formerly of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers. A review in Pitchfork by Christopher F. Schiel gave the album a score of 9.0, later downgraded to 8.4, and the album was also featured on NPR's All Things Considered by Sarah Bardeen in December 2001. The band returned in 2004 with Witch Season and the Dead Diamond River EP, featuring contributions from Linda Thompson and M. Ward. The Court & Spark disbanded in the summer of 2007 with an announcement on the band's website: "It's hard to say that The C&S is breaking up, as we still spend all our time together, but seeing as how we're all involved in different musical projects, it seems best to retire the C&S name for a while. We've had a good run and have had the good fortune to meet all kinds of wonderful souls as we've stumbled down the road. Thank you one and all for everything you've given us." Taylor and Hirsch moved to the East Coast—Taylor to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Hirsch to New York City—and started a new project together called Hiss Golden Messenger which has released seven albums.
The Cramps
The Cramps were an American punk rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist and occasional bass guitarist Poison Ivy comprising the only ever-present members. The addition of guitarist Bryan Gregory and drummer Pam Balam resulted in the first complete lineup in April 1976. They were part of the early CBGB punk rock movement that had emerged in New York. The Cramps were one of the first punk bands, and also widely recognized as one of the prime innovators of psychobilly.
The Deslondes
The Deslondes are an Americana musical group from New Orleans, Louisiana. Their music blends together influences from folk, rock 'n' roll, bluegrass, R&B, American roots music, blues, gospel, country, and zydeco. The group's members are Dan Cutler (vocals/stand-up bass), Sam Doores (vocals/guitar), Riley Downing (vocals/guitar), Cameron Snyder (vocals/percussion), and John James Tourville (fiddle/pedal steel). All five members share in the songwriting process. The band's first full-length self-titled album was released in 2015 on New West Records. The band formed in the Holy Cross neighborhood in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, and take their name from a street in that neighborhood. Sam Doores met Cameron Snyder while attending college. When Doores read Woody Guthrie’s autobiography, Bound for Glory, he quit school to head to New Orleans with Snyder where they formed the band The Broken Wing Routine, and attended the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Oklahoma, where they met Missouri native Riley Downing. In New Orleans, Doores met Dan Cutler and formed The Tumbleweeds, while Snyder and John James Tourville met on tour with The Longtime Goners. Doores and Cutler also played in New Orleans band Hurray for the Riff Raff, and The Tumbleweeds often opened for that band. In 2013, The Tumbleweeds officially changed their name to The Deslondes and two years later released their first album, The Deslondes, to critical acclaim. Their first single, "Fought The Blues And Won," was premiered by NPR. The music video for the song "The Real Deal" premiered on Rolling Stone.
The Donnis Trio
The Donnis Trio consists of Nate Donnis (songwriter / guitar / vocals), Phil Woodring (drums / backing vocals), and Denis Sluka (bass). Formed in late 2005, the trio met for the first time after Nate and Denis auditioned Phil on drums at Nate's apartment in Encinitas. In 2006, the band began playing shows in various San Diego venues which prompted them to investigate options for recording. The band settled on renting a desert house for a week and bringing out Phil's (somewhat mobile) studio. They ended up rigging up the guest house as the live tracking room and the house for the mixing/monitoring. The place was very isolated and eerily quiet. It brought about some interesting moods and helped hone the feelings in Tip of the tongue and Pills and Coffee. Despite their intentions only a few tracks made it to the final album from these sessions and the rest were re-recorded in various bedrooms/closets. In early 2007, they released "All Directions" and did some small short tours up the CA coast. The album received favorable reviews and later found its way into the popular British TV Series "Skins". The Skins episodes and a growing fanbase on Pandora (over 4 million plays a year) helped the songs "Tip of the tongue" and "Pills and Coffee" gain momentum and expose the band to new fans all over the world. The bands music later found its way to season premiere of the hit show "Breaking Amish" as well an episode of 90210. In April 2013 the band released the Cole Pond EP. A folk driven EP, with natureesque lyrical tones throughout. A collection of Nate's childhood memories in Vermont and Upstate NY, the songs capture moments of peace and melancholy over an acoustic background. This recording again is produced by the band's drummer Phil Woodring who tastefully adds a number of instruments (most notably piano). The band is also joined by Marta Zaludova on Violin and Viola for two tracks on the album.
The Doors
With an intoxicating, genre-blending sound, provocative and uncompromising songs, and the mesmerizing power of singer Jim Morrison’s poetry and presence, The Doors had a transformative impact not only on popular music but on popular culture. The Doors’ arrival on the rock scene in 1967 marked not only the start of a string of hit singles and albums that would become stone classics, but also of something much bigger – a new and deeper relationship between creators and audience. Refusing to be mere entertainers, the Los Angeles quartet relentlessly challenged, confronted and inspired their fans, leaping headfirst into the heart of darkness while other bands warbled about peace and love. Though they’ve had scores of imitators, there’s never been another band quite like them. And 50 years after their debut album, The Doors’ music and legacy are more influential than ever before. Morrison’s mystical command of the frontman role may be the iconic heart of The Doors, but the group’s extraordinary power would hardly have been possible without the virtuosic keyboard tapestries of Ray Manzarek, the gritty, expressive fretwork of guitarist Robby Krieger and the supple, dynamically rich grooves of drummer John Densmore. From baroque art-rock to jazz-infused pop to gutbucket blues, the band’s instrumental triad could navigate any musical territory with aplomb – and all three contributed mightily as songwriters. The group was born when Morrison and Manzarek – who’d met at UCLA’s film school – met again, unexpectedly, on the beach in Venice, CA, during the summer of 1965. Though he’d never intended to be a singer, Morrison was invited to join Manzarek’s group Rick and the Ravens on the strength of his poetry. Krieger and Densmore, who’d played together in the band Psychedelic Rangers, were recruited soon thereafter; though several bassists auditioned of the new collective, none could furnish the bottom end as effectively as Manzarek’s left hand. Taking their name from Aldous Huxley’s psychotropic monograph The Doors of Perception, the band signed to Elektra Records following a now-legendary gig at the Whisky-a-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip. Their eponymous first album, released in January 1967, kicked off with “Break on Through (to the Other Side)” and also featured the chart smash “Light My Fire”, the scorching “Back Door Man” and the visionary masterpiece “The End”. The Doors arrived fully formed, capable of rocking the pop charts and the avant-garde with one staggering disc. Before ’67 was over, they’d issued the ambitious follow-up Strange Days, with such gems as “Love Me Two Times”, “People Are Strange” and “When the Music’s Over”. Next came 1968’s Waiting for the Sun, boasting “Hello, I Love You”, “Love Street” and “Five to One”. Over the next few years they minded over new territory on such albums as 1969’s The Soft Parade (featuring “Touch Me” and “Tell All the People”), 1970’s Morrison Hotel (which includes “Roadhouse Blues”, “Peace Frog” and “Queen of the Highway”) and 1971’s L.A. Woman (boasting “Rider’s on the Storm”, “Love Her Madly” and the title track). They released six studio albums in all, as well as a live album and a compilation, before Morrison’s death in 1971. Their electrifying achievements in the studio and onstage were unmatched in the annals of rock; and though Morrison’s death meant the end of an era, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore collaborated on two more original Doors albums, Other Voices and Full Circle, and a set of tracks they composed to accompany Morrison’s 1969 recording of his poetry, released in 1978 as An American Prayer. They also pursued individual music projects, books, theatrical productions and other enterprises – and remain restlessly creative to this day. In the decades since the Doors’ heyday, the foursome has loomed ever larger in the pantheon of rock – and they remain a touchstone of insurrectionary culture for writers, activists, visual artists and other creative communities. Their songs, featured in an ever-increasing number of films, TV shows, video games and remixes, always sound uncannily contemporary. No matter how the musical and cultural tides turn, The Doors will always be ready to help a new wave of listeners break on through to the other side. The Doors were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993.
The Dublife Soundsystem
Bronté James was a great person and a local reggae star in Salt Lake City with his band Afro Omega. Bronte Michele James of Eugene, OR passed away on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 at the age of 40 due to complications from cancer. Bronte was born to Laura Ann Hubych (Sasson) and Harding Lewis James on July 31, 1977 in Salt Lake City Utah. He attended East High School, and then went on to attend Orange Coast College. On June 10, 2005 he married Elisa Vasquez in Salt Lake City after being together since November 1998. Bronte loved sports and being active. He played high school football, track, and baseball. Once he finished college football, he started his love of music. He played his first live show as Afro Omega in December 2002, and recorded 5 albums during his music career. He also started up an electronic music project: Dublife Music. Bronte continued performing, writing, collaborating, and influencing the music community until his disease advanced. Bronte fought strongly and courageously until the very end. Bronte was preceded in death by his father Lewis James. He is survived by his wife of 19 years Elisa James (Vasquez); mother Laura Hubych and stepfather John William Hubych; son Tahriq James (18), son Ahmadi James (15), daughter Nia James (9), and daughter Ade James (4), all of Eugene, OR; brother Delano James of Seattle, WA; sister Adrian James of Atlanta, GA; and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews who loved him dearly.
The Flying Stars of Brooklyn, NY
Aaron Frazer of Durand Jones & The Indications. Aaron’s super sweet, silvery falsetto was featured on “Is It Any Wonder?” on The Indications’ debut LP, but Aaron steps out here with some lowdown gospel soul with some help from friends including Eli Paperboy Reed.
The Good, the Bad & the Queen
The Good, the Bad & the Queen was a supergroup composed of singer Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz, bassist Paul Simonon of the Clash, guitarist Simon Tong of the Verve, and Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen. They released their self-titled debut album in 2007. Their second album, Merrie Land, coproduced with Tony Visconti, was released in 2018. Formation and debut album Albarn first met Simonon at the wedding of Clash singer Joe Strummer in 1997, where Simonon. Allen contacted Albarn after hearing the 2000 Blur single "Music Is My Radar", which contains a reference to Allen. In 2002, following the departure of guitarist Graham Coxon, Tong joined Blur on their Think Tank tour. The Good, the Bad & the Queen began as a solo project by Albarn with production by Danger Mouse. However, by July 2006, the project had become a band. They played their debut gig in a village pub in Devon on 20 October, followed by a performance at the London Roundhouse on 26 October as part of the BBC Electric Proms. They released their first single "Herculean" on 30 October. On 12 December, the band performed a secret launch gig exclusive to 300 chosen fans for Myspace's new feature The List in Wilton’s Music Hall, East London. On 12 January 2007, the band released the second single "Kingdom of Doom", which became their first Top 20 single. On 2 April 2007, the third single "Green Fields", which was at No. 51 in the first week after its debut. The band released their self-titled debut album The Good, The Bad & The Queen on 22 January 2007. This album was voted by the Observer Music Magazine as the Best Album of 2007. At this point, Albarn said that The Good The Band And The Queen was the album title and not the band name, saying that the band was "nameless". Simonon said "we didn't properly name the band, because a name is for a marriage". Albarn said the group had "permanently finished" in 2007; however, they reunited to perform at the 2008 Love Music Hate Racism carnival. Tong and Simonon appeared on Albarn's next project, the third Gorillaz album Plastic Beach (2010), and Allen collaborated with Albarn again on the 2012 album Rocket Juice & the Moon. In November 2011, the Good, the Bad & the Queen played a show at London's Coronet Theatre for the 40th anniversary of Greenpeace, the first time they had played together in almost three years. Tong and Simonon appeared on Albarn's next project, the third Gorillaz album Plastic Beach, and participated in the tour in support of the album. Allen and Tong appeared on Albarn's soundtrack for the opera Dr Dee (2012).
The Heliocentrics
The Heliocentrics are an English, London-based musical collective that combines funk, jazz, psych, and library influences. The group is based around drummer and producer Malcolm Catto, bassist Jake Ferguson, guitarist Adrian Owusu, and multi-instrumentalist Jack Yglesias. HISTORY The Heliocentrics released their debut album Out There in 2007 on Now-Again Records. This was followed by collaborations with Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke on the album Inspiration Information (2009), which was awarded that year's Gilles Peterson Worldwide Winner Album of the Year award, Lloyd Miller & The Heliocentrics (OST) (2010), and Orlando Julius. The Heliocentrics appeared on the track "Skullfuckery" on the UK release of the DJ Shadow album The Outsider, which was released in 2006. In 2013, they released their second full album, 13 Degrees of Reality also on Stones Throw. The 2009 album with Astatke was included in a list of 'Five Essential Jazz Albums' chosen by pianist Jamie Cullum in 2013. In 2017, they released A World of Masks with vocals by Barbora Patkova,[12] as well as The Sunshine Makers OST, the score they wrote for the 2015 British documentary The Sunshine Makers, directed by Cosmo Feilding-Mellen. Both records were released on Soundway Records.
The High Llamas
he High Llamas are an Anglo-Irish avant-pop band formed in London circa 1991. They were founded by singer-songwriter Sean O'Hagan, formerly of Microdisney, with drummer Rob Allum and ex-Microdisney bassist Jon Fell. O'Hagan has led the group since its formation. Their music is often compared to the Beach Boys, who he acknowledges as an influence, although more prominent influences were drawn from bossa nova and European film soundtracks. O'Hagan formed the High Llamas after the breakup of his group Microdisney. The band initially played in a more conventional acoustic pop style, but after he joined Stereolab as a keyboardist, he was inspired to revamp the group's music closer to the electronic and orchestral sound he preferred. Their second album, Gideon Gaye (1994), anticipated the mid 1990s easy-listening revivalist movement, and its follow-up Hawaii (1996) nearly led to a collaboration with the Beach Boys. Since then, the High Llamas' albums have been more electronic and stripped-down.
The Jayhawks
The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Twin Cities music scene during the mid-1980s. Led by vocalists, guitarists and songwriters Gary Louris and Mark Olson, its country rock sound was influential on many bands who played the Twin Cities circuit during the 1980s and 1990s like Uncle Tupelo, the Gear Daddies and the Honeydogs. They have released ten studio albums with and without Olson who left the band in 1995, including five on the American Recordings label. On hiatus from 2005 to 2009, the 1994–1995 lineup of the band reunited, releasing the album, Mockingbird Time, in September 2011. After the tour, Mark Olson again left the band. After another hiatus in 2013, the 1997 lineup led by Louris reunited to play shows in 2014 to support the reissue of three albums released between 1997 and 2003. The band has remained active touring and recording since, including the release of the albums Live at The Belly Up in 2015, Paging Mr. Proust, produced by Peter Buck in 2016 and Back Roads and Abandoned Motels in 2018.
The Lewis Express
Primarily based in Leeds, The Lewis Express is comprised of many of the musicians that have graced previous ATA releases: George Cooper, Piano (Abstract Orchestra) Neil Innes, Bass (The Sorcerers, The Magnificent Tape Band, Tony Burkill), Sam Hobbs, Drums (Dread Supreme, Tony Burkill, Matthew Bourne) and Pete Williams, Percussion (The Sorcerers, The Magnificent Tape Band, Tony Burkill). Recorded over an intense two-day session by the band of the same name, “The Lewis Express” is a nod to the classic soul jazz recordings of The Young Holt Trio / Young Holt Unlimited and Ramsey Lewis, from who this group take their name. But, delivered with a distinctly European feel. As with many of the classic Ramsey Lewis cuts this album was recorded live, capturing the rich inter-relationship between the players and leaving in some of that chunky room noise, lending the album a sound that’s as thick as a steak and raw as a carrot. Kicking off the album is Love Can Turn A Man, a slow burner introducing you to the piano of George Cooper as he works over a rock solid backbeat from drummer Sam Hobbs. The addition of a rising brass line conjures up memories of love lost, or indeed love never found. If Love Can’t Turn A Man shows the band in their most introspective of moods then Cancao De Momento sees them at the other end of the spectrum, the swinging end. This is a latin-tinged stormer with a driving piano line and one of the toughest rhythm section workouts on the whole album. Add to this Pete Williams’ punctuating percussion and you are looking at a track squarely aimed at the dancefloor. Brother Move On is probably the most recognizable as being in the soul jazz vein, with nods to such classics as Ramsey Lewis’ The ‘In’ Crowd and Soulful Strut by Young Holt Unlimited, particularly the latter. Moving into Hawkshaw Philly (their nod to session music legend and leader of The Mohawks, Alan Hawkshaw) the band create what sounds like a rare library cut and something diggers would give their back teeth for. Pinned to the floor by Neil Innes’ heavy work on the double bass and Chris Dawkins’ guitar there is some fantastic slow stabbing piano. The overall feel is something funky but slightly sinister. ATA Records has a solid history of putting out releases with a cinematic feel and Theme From The Watcher is a nod to this, conjuring up the sort of imagery that coincides with the black and white spy thrillers of the 1960s. Last Man In The Chain Gang has a very strong Ramsey Lewis feel and offers some of the most powerful piano playing of the whole album. The final track, Straight Seven Strut, is the only vocal track of the album. The staccato swing and French words lend it some of the qualities of 60s yé-yé music but with a far jazzier backbone, spiced with percussive handclaps.
The Melodians
The Melodians are a rocksteady band formed in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston, Jamaica, in 1963, by Tony Brevett (born 1949, nephew of The Skatalites bassist, Lloyd Brevett), Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton. Renford Cogle assisted with writing and arranging material. Career Trevor McNaughton had the idea of putting a group together and contacted the then 14-year-old Tony Brevett, who had already had success in local talent shows. Brevett recruited his friend Brent Dowe and the group was formed, with Brevett taking on lead vocal duties. Bramwell Brown and Renford Cogle also had short stints in the group in its early days, and Cogle became one of the group's main songwriters. The group recorded some material with Prince Buster before Ken Boothe introduced them to Coxsone Dodd's Studio One label where in 1966 they recorded "Lay It On" (one of the first records to reflect the shift from ska to rocksteady), "Meet Me", "I Should Have Made It Up" and "Let's Join Hands (Together)". Lead vocal duties were now shared between Brevett and Dowe. From 1967 to 1968 they had a number of hits on Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label, including "You Have Caught Me", "Expo 67", "I'll Get Along Without You", and "You Don't Need Me". After recording "Swing and Dine" for record producer Sonia Pottinger, they had further hits with "Little Nut Tree" before recording their biggest hit, "Rivers of Babylon" for Leslie Kong. This song became an anthem of the Rastafarian movement, and was featured on the soundtrack of the movie The Harder They Come. In the early 1970s Brevett also recorded as a solo artist, having his greatest success with "Don't Get Weary". After Kong's death in 1971, they recorded for Lee Perry and Byron Lee's Dynamic Studios. In 1973, Brent Dowe left the group for a solo career. The group reformed briefly a few years later, and again in the early 1980s. The Melodians regrouped again in the 1990s as part of the roots revival. In 1992 they recorded "Song of Love", which was issued on the Tappa Zukie label. Throughout the later 1990s they continued touring internationally, including appearing at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in California in 2002. In 2005 The Melodians embarked on a West Coast tour. The death of Tony Brevett in 2013 left McNaughton as the only surviving original member. McNaughton toured as a solo artist in 2014 and subsequently recruited Taurus Alphonso (formerly of the Mellow Tones) and Winston Dias (formerly of The Movers) to form a new Melodians line-up. As of February 2015, the group were recording a new album in Florida with producer Willie Lindo. The Return of the Melodians was released in May 2017 and went on to reach no. 19 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart. In February 2017, the Melodians received an 'Iconic Award' from the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA).
The Meters
The Meters are an American funk band formed in 1965 in New Orleans by Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), George Porter Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar) and Art Neville (keyboards). The band performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977 and played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists, including Lee Dorsey, Robert Palmer, Dr. John, and Allen Toussaint. Their original songs "Cissy Strut" and "Look-Ka Py Py" are considered funk classics. While they rarely enjoyed significant mainstream success, they are considered originators of funk along with artists like James Brown, and their work is influential on many other bands, both their contemporaries and modern musicians. Their sound is defined by a combination of tight melodic grooves and syncopated New Orleans "second line" rhythms under highly charged guitar and keyboard riffing. The band has been nominated four times for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, most recently in 2017. In 2018 the band was presented the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. History 1960s–1970s Art Neville, the group's frontman, launched a solo career around the New Orleans area in the mid-1950s while still in high school. The Meters formed in 1965 with a line-up of keyboardist and vocalist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste. They were later joined by percussionist-vocalist Cyril Neville. The Meters became the house band for Allen Toussaint and his record label, Sansu Enterprises. In 1969 the Meters released "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut", both major R&B chart hits. "Look-Ka Py Py" and "Chicken Strut" were their hits the following year. After a label shift in 1972, the Meters had difficulty returning to the charts, but they worked with Dr. John, Paul McCartney, King Biscuit Boy, Labelle, Robert Palmer and others. In 1975 Paul McCartney invited the Meters to play at the release party for his Venus and Mars album aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones was in attendance at the event and was greatly taken with the Meters and their sound. The Rolling Stones invited the band to open for them on their Tour of the Americas '75 and Tour of Europe '76. That same year, the Meters recorded one of their most successful albums, Fire on the Bayou. From 1976 to 77 they played in The Wild Tchoupitoulas with George and Amos Landry and The Neville Brothers. Art and Cyril Neville left the band in early 1977, but The Meters still appeared on Saturday Night Live on March 19, 1977, during the show's second season. After the Nevilles' departure, David Batiste Sr. took over on keyboards while Willie West joined as the band's lead singer. Porter left the group later that year and by 1980 The Meters had officially broken up. After the break-up, Neville continued his career as part of The Neville Brothers, Modeliste toured with Keith Richards and Ron Wood, while Nocentelli and Porter "became in-demand session players and formed new bands.
The Mother Hips
The Mother Hips is a rock band based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tim Bluhm (vocals/guitar), Greg Loiacono (guitar/vocals), Isaac Parsons (bass) and Mike Wofchuck (drums) met in 1990 while attending California State University-Chico, living off campus in Bradley Hall. They jammed and played some original songs at a few parties (once billed as Pippi Longstocking and the Trunk-of-Funk), but soon Isaac and Mike were lured away by the prospect of playing Led Zeppelin and Jane's Addiction covers at big parties as the rhythm section of the Keystones. Meanwhile, Tim and Greg played acoustic guitars and sang harmonies to songstress Ali Weiss in the mellow trio Ali and the Cats. These bands played throughout 1990, but in early 1991, Tim, Greg, Isaac and Mike got back together and got serious about being a rock band. It didn't take long to step up from parties in Chico, CA to local bars and dance clubs like LaSalles and Juanita's. They began playing original songs rather than covers. The band released Back to the Grotto in February 1993. It was produced by the band with Bay Area-based musician/producer Paul Hoaglin (who would subsequently replace Parsons on bass upon his departure in 2002).
The National
The National is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in 1999. The band consists of Matt Berninger (vocals), Aaron Dessner (guitar, piano, keyboards), Bryce Dessner (guitar), Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). Founded by Berninger, Aaron Dessner, and Scott and Bryan Devendorf, The National released their self-titled debut album, The National (2001), on Brassland Records, an independent record label founded by Dessner and his twin brother, Bryce Dessner. Bryce, who had assisted in recording the album, soon joined the band, participating as a full member in the recording of its follow-up, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (2003). Leaving behind their day jobs, the National signed with Beggars Banquet Records and released their third studio album, Alligator (2005), to widespread critical acclaim. The band's fourth and fifth studio albums, Boxer (2007) and High Violet (2010), increased their exposure significantly. In 2013, the band released its sixth studio album, Trouble Will Find Me, which was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2017 the band released the album Sleep Well Beast, which won the Grammy award for Best Alternative Music Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. Their eighth studio album, I Am Easy to Find, was released on May 17, 2019. Four of the band's albums were included on NME's 2013 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The Olympians
In 2008 while Olympic athletes competed half a world away in Beijing, Toby Pazner (Lee Fields & The Expressions, El Michels Affair) and a group of some of New York City's most sought after musicians were locked in Pazner’s bedroom in Brooklyn with a Tascam 388 tape machine, recording what would be the first 45 by a group he would fatefully call The Olympians. Both this and a follow-up 45 would be released on now defunct Truth & Soul Records. However, it was not until a night years later while on tour with a band in the Greek Islands that Pazner’s true vision would come to him… After playing the famous Acropolis in Athens and swimming in the Aegean Sea, Pazner dreamed he was visited by a toga-clad, curly-haired figure who told him to travel back across the great sea to his home and build a "Temple of Sound". In this temple he was to retell the great tales of Ancient Greece through the immortal language of music. When he awoke, he tried to dismiss the strange dream, but each night the the vision would return to him, and each night he would proclaim his duty more forcefully, until he could no longer deny the calling. Panzer returned to New York City with a singular focus on completing an album he now saw as his destiny. He immediately commenced building his “Temple of Sound” from the floor up, acquiring the best microphones, tape machines and recording equipment he could lay his hands on. As a member of the Daptone Family, it was not difficult for him to call in favors from some of the world’s greatest musicians to help him bring his vision to life. For years they played alongside him as he relentlessly toiled toward his ends, crafting lush arrangements of strings, harp, vibes, guitar and a plethora of keyboards, all laced by blazing horns. Finally in the Spring of 2016, The Olympians was wholly manifested. Pazner shared the the fruit of his long venture with long time friends and co-owners of Daptone Records Gabriel Roth and Neal Sugarman who jumped at the opportunity to release it. From the cascading harps which open the Sirens of Jupiter to the driving horn coda of Sagittarius By Moonlight, The Olympians deliver a new sound all of it’s own: an ancient dream of far away Greece painted out in lush cinematic arrangements over the tough rhythm sounds that have become synonymous with the Daptone Stable of Musicians. Featuring the talents of Aaron Johnson (Antibalas), Dave Guy (Tonight Show Band, The Dap-Kings,) Leon Michels (The Arcs, Lee Fields, El Michels Affair,) Nicholas Movshon (The Arcs, Lee Fields, El Michels Affair,) Homer Steinweiss (The Dap-Kings, The Arcs), Michael Leonhart (Musical Director for Steely Dan), Neal Sugarman (The Dap-Kings, Sugarman 3), Evan Pazner (Lee Fields), and the maniacal wizardry of Toby Pazner.
The Police
The Police were a British rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar), and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz. Considered one of the leaders of the Second British Invasion of the U.S., in 1983 Rolling Stone labelled them "the first British New Wave act to break through in America on a grand scale, and possibly the biggest band in the world." The Police disbanded in 1986, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour that ended in August 2008. Their 1978 debut album, Outlandos d'Amour, reached No. 6 in the UK Albums Chart. Their second album Reggatta de Blanc (1979), became the first of four consecutive No. 1 studio albums in the UK and Australia with its lead single, "Message in a Bottle", their first UK number one. Their next two albums, Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) and Ghost in the Machine (1981), featuring "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", both UK number one singles, saw further critical and commercial success. Their final studio album, Synchronicity (1983), was No. 1 in both the UK and the US, selling over 9 million copies in the US alone. Its lead single, "Every Breath You Take", became their fifth UK number one, and first in the US. The Police have sold over 75 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. They were the world's highest-earning musicians in 2008, due to their reunion tour. The Police won a number of music awards, including six Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards—winning Best British Group once, an MTV Video Music Award, and in 2003 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Four of their five studio albums appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The Police were included among both Rolling Stone's and VH1's lists of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
The Raven & The Writing Desk
Seasonal moulting. We need it - catharsis, change - we try to unstick ourselves to any one moment in time. This band has been many different bands. Who we are now might be completely different from who we will be tomorrow. In the past few years we set an emphasis on co-creation. We found ourselves in the woods writing music from morning to night - nothing but music. No rules - no preconceived ideas. We wanted to go about things with a little more purity in mind. You’ll hear many of these songs as we hit the road again this Spring. We are on to something - gonna follow it to the next scene. Source theravenandthewritingdeskmusic.com
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. The first stable line-up consisted of bandleader Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica, keyboards), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (guitar, vocals), Bill Wyman (bass), Charlie Watts (drums), and Ian Stewart (piano). Stewart was removed from the official line-up in 1963 but continued to work with the band as a contracted musician until his death in 1985. The band's primary songwriters, Jagger and Richards, assumed leadership after Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager. Jones left the band less than a month before his death in 1969, having already been replaced by Mick Taylor, who remained until 1974. After Taylor left the band, Ronnie Wood took his place in 1975 and continues on guitar in tandem with Richards. Since Wyman's departure in 1993, Darryl Jones has served as touring bassist. The Stones have not had an official keyboardist since 1963, but have employed several musicians in that role, including Jack Nitzsche (1965–1971), Nicky Hopkins (1967–1982), Billy Preston (1971–1981), Ian McLagan (1978–1981), and Chuck Leavell (1982–present). The Rolling Stones were at the forefront of the British Invasion of bands that became popular in the United States in 1964 and were identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s. Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the band started out playing covers but found more success with their own material; songs such as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Paint It Black" became international hits. After a short period of experimentation with psychedelic rock in the mid-1960s, the group returned to its "bluesy" roots with Beggars Banquet (1968), which along with its follow-ups Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile on Main St. (1972), is generally considered to be the band's best work and is seen as their "Golden Age." It was during this period they were first introduced on stage as "The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World." The band continued to release commercially successful albums through the 1970s and early 1980s, including Some Girls (1978) and Tattoo You (1981), the two best-sellers in their discography. During the 1980s, the band infighting curtailed their output and they only released two more underperforming albums and did not tour for the rest of the decade. Their fortunes changed at the end of the decade, when they released Steel Wheels (1989), promoted by a large stadium and arena tour, the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour. Since the 1990s, new material has been less frequent. Despite this, the Rolling Stones continue to be a huge attraction on the live circuit. By 2007, the band had four of the top five highest-grossing concert tours of all time: Voodoo Lounge Tour (1994–1995), Bridges to Babylon Tour (1997–1998), Licks Tour (2002–2003) and A Bigger Bang (2005–2007). Musicologist Robert Palmer attributes the endurance of the Rolling Stones to their being "rooted in traditional verities, in rhythm-and-blues and soul music", while "more ephemeral pop fashions have come and gone". The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them fourth on the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list and their estimated record sales are above 250 million. They have released 30 studio albums, 23 live albums and numerous compilations. Let It Bleed (1969) marked the first of five consecutive No. 1 studio and live albums in the UK. Sticky Fingers (1971) was the first of eight consecutive No. 1 studio albums in the US. In 2008, the band ranked 10th on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists chart. In 2012, the band celebrated its 50th anniversary. The band still continues to release albums to brisk sales and critical acclaim; their most recent album Blue & Lonesome was released in December 2016 and reached No. 1 on the UK Album Charts and No. 4 in the U.S. and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. The band also continues to sell out venues, they have been on their No Filter Tour since September, 2017 and will wrap up the tour with a North American leg over Summer 2019.
The Roots
The Roots are an American hip hop band, formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots currently serve as the house band on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, having served in the same role on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009–2014. The Roots are known for a jazzy and eclectic approach to hip-hop featuring live musical instruments and the group's work has consistently been met with critical acclaim. ThoughtCo ranked the band #7 on its list of the 25 Best Hip-Hop Groups of All-Time, calling them "Hip-hop's first legitimate band." Although the band no longer tours extensively due to their Tonight Show obligations, their live shows are frequently regarded as the best in the genre. In addition to the band's music, several members of the Roots are involved in side projects, including record production, acting, and regularly serving as guests on other musician's albums and live shows.
The Shins
The Shins are an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of James Mercer (vocals, guitar, songwriter), Jon Sortland (drums), Mark Watrous (guitar, keyboards), Casey Foubert (guitar), Yuuki Matthews (bass, keyboards), and Patti King (keyboards). The band is based in Portland, Oregon. The band was formed by Mercer as a side project to Flake Music, who were active from 1992 to 1999. The band released two 7" singles and a full-length album When You Land Here It's Time to Return on Omnibus Records and were touring with Modest Mouse when they were signed to Sub Pop Records. The band's first two records, Oh, Inverted World (2001) and Chutes Too Narrow (2003) performed well commercially and received critical acclaim. The single "New Slang" brought the band mainstream attention when it was featured in the 2004 film Garden State. Consequently, the band's third album, Wincing the Night Away (2007), was a major success for the group, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 and earning a Grammy Award nomination. Following this, the Shins signed to Columbia Records and Mercer parted ways with the entire original lineup, deeming it "an aesthetic decision". Following a near five-year hiatus, Port of Morrow, the band's fourth studio album, was released in 2012. Their fifth album, Heartworms, was released in March 2017.
The Shouting Matches
The Shouting Matches is a three-piece blues band consisting of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Brian Moen of Peter Wolf Crier and Laarks, and Phil Cook of Megafaun, DeYarmond Edison, and Gayngs. The band was started in 2006 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Their album “Grownass Man” was released in 2013.
The Staves
The Staves are an English indie folk trio of sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor from Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Career The Staves began performing together at open-mic nights in Watford hosted by a local pub, The Horns. Originally performing as The Staveley-Taylors, the trio later changed their name to The Staves. The group appeared on the Tom Jones album Praise and Blame, released in July 2010. They supported Mt. Desolation on their UK tour in autumn 2010. Jessica Staveley-Taylor also performed as part of Mt. Desolation and provided vocals for their eponymous album. The Staves released the Live at Cecil Sharp House EP and the Mexico EP in 2011, and appeared on Fionn Regan's third studio album, 100 Acres of Sycamore. The Staves toured in the United States while supporting The Civil Wars in January 2012. They followed these appearances with performances at South by Southwest and a tour in March and April with Bear's Den, Nathaniel Rateliff and Ben Howard. This tour was the subject of the film, "Austin to Boston", a documentary by Marcus Haney. The band supported Bon Iver on their May and June 2012 US and Canadian tour. The band's debut album, Dead & Born & Grown, was released in November 2012 and produced by Glyn Johns and Ethan Johns. An excerpt from their performance of "Facing West" on Later... with Jools Holland was featured on the This is BBC Two promotional programme. The second full-length album, If I Was, was released 23 March 2015 on Atlantic Records in the UK/EU and on 31 March on Nonesuch Records in the US; the record was produced by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. The album debuted at #14 on the Official UK Album Chart. In July 2015, The Staves performed with Bon Iver as guest artists along with Colin Stetson, yMusic, and No BS! Brass for Bon Iver's return to the stage as part of the Eaux Claires Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They have also performed as the warm-up act for Florence and the Machine on Florence's How Big Tour supporting How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. At Glastonbury 2015, the Staves performed a set on The Park Stage on Sunday afternoon. The Staves joined the live line-up of Bon Iver for the latter's Asia tour in late February and early March 2016. On 24 November 2017, The Staves released The Way is Read − a full-length album created in conjunction with NYC-based chamber music ensemble yMusic. This album is available on vinyl, via the streaming service TIDAL in both normal and high quality MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) formats, and as an MP3 download. There is no CD version available yet. The Staves played their first gig in New Zealand when they appeared at the Auckland City Limits music festival on 3 March 2018. In October/November 2018 they supported First Aid Kit on their Rebel Heart tour. In January 2020, The Staves announced that Emily Staveley-Taylor would not take part in touring, following the birth of her daughter. In March 2020, The Staves announced they would be performing at the Glastonbury festival in 2020. But due to concerns over the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, the festival had to be cancelled. The Staves announced their 3rd studio album "Good Woman" to be released 5 February 2021 via Atlantic Records UK and Nonesuch Records. The album was produced by John Congleton.
The Touré-Raichel Collective
The formation and success of The Touré-Raichel Collective, the band led by Israeli keyboardist and songwriter Idan Raichel and Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré—icons in their own countries and abroad—is a reminder of the unique power of music to bridge geographic, ethnic, political and religious differences. Although a collaboration between an Israeli Jew and a Malian Muslim has unavoidable political implications, what inspired Touré and Raichel to work together was not the potential to make a statement; they simply connected as artists and friends seeking to find musical common ground. They met for the first time by chance, in 2008 at the Berlin airport, where they expressed mutual admiration and a desire to get together and play. Touré’s father, the late great Ali Farka Touré, was one of Raichel’s musical heroes and inspirations. Raichel invited Touré to Israel, where they assembled a few musicians and convened an unscripted, improvised jam session. The chemistry between Touré and Raichel was instant and profound. They assumed the name The Touré-Raichel Collective and used the material from that first gathering as the basis for their first album, The Tel Aviv Session, which found poignant, musically beautiful common ground between the artists’ cultures.
The War On Drugs
The War on Drugs is an American indie rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 2005. The band consists of Adam Granduciel (lyrics, lead vocals, guitar), David Hartley (bass guitar), Robbie Bennett (keyboards), Charlie Hall (drums), Jon Natchez (saxophone, keyboards) and Anthony LaMarca (guitar). Founded by close collaborators Granduciel and Kurt Vile, The War on Drugs released their debut studio album, Wagonwheel Blues, in 2008. Vile departed shortly after its release to focus on his solo career. The band's second studio album Slave Ambient was released in 2011 to favorable reviews and a lengthy tour which proceeded. The band's third album, Lost in the Dream, was released in 2014 following extensive touring and a period of loneliness and depression for primary songwriter Granduciel. The album was released to widespread critical acclaim and increased exposure. Previous collaborator Hall joined the band as its full-time drummer during the recording process, with saxophonist Natchez and additional guitarist LaMarca accompanying the band for its world tour. Signing to Atlantic Records, the six-piece band released their fourth album, A Deeper Understanding, in 2017, which won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
The Whitefield Brothers
The Whitefield Brothers are a German funk band. The band, which consists of brothers Jan and Max Weissenfeldt, was previously known as the "'Poets of Rhythm"' beginning in 1991. Under this name, they were signed to the Quannum Projects label after they were discovered by Lyrics Born. As the Whitefield Brothers, they released their debut album In the Raw in 2001 and their second album, Earthology, in 2010. The making of Earthology took 15 years, and the album received generally favorable reviews from music critics.
The Wood Brothers
From early in their childhood in Boulder, Colorado, Chris and Oliver were steeped in American roots music. Their father, a molecular biologist, performed classic songs at camp fires and family gatherings, while their mother, a poet, instilled a passion for storytelling and turn of phrase. The brothers bonded over bluesmen such as Jimmy Reed and Lightnin' Hopkins, but their paths, musical and otherwise, would diverge. Oliver moved to Atlanta, where he played guitar in cover bands before earning a spot in Tinsley Ellis’s touring act. At Ellis’s behest, Oliver began to sing and then founded King Johnson, a hard-touring group that released six albums of blues-inflected R&B, funk and country over the next 12 years. Chris, meanwhile, studied jazz bass at the New England Conservatory of Music, moved to New York City and, in the early 1990s, formed Medeski Martin & Wood (MMW), which over the next two decades would become a cornerstone of contemporary jazz and abstract music. After pursuing separate musical careers for some 15 years, the brothers performed together at a show in North Carolina: Oliver sat in with MMW following King Johnson’s opening set. "I realized we should be playing music together," Chris recalled.
Thievery Corporation
How many highly successful musical artists do you know that have thrived for 20 years without a radio hit, a big budget video, or major label backing? Moreover, have managed to do high-profile TV appearances, own and operate their own independent label since day one, sell several million albums and continue to expand their fan base across the globe each year. They’ve collaborated with such uniquely famed artists David Byrne, Perry Farrell, The Flaming Lips, Anushka Shankar, Femi Kuti, Seu Jorge, Bebel Gilberto, and been featured on major film soundtracks such as Garden State. They’ve headlined top music festivals, such as Coachella and Lollapalooza, and have influenced a whole generation of electronic producers and DJs. If you add these elements together, you can arrive at only one conclusion: Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, aka: Thievery Corporation. Since 1996, Garza and Hilton have released 8 studio LP’s, 2 remix collections, 2 DJ mix albums, and continued to perform live on 5 continents. Along their unique musical journey, they have virtually defined an entire sub-genre of electronic music. And now they’re ready to embark on yet another journey with the release of their new album, “The Temple of I & I.” Longtime fans of Thievery Corporation are keenly aware that the duo has been heavily influenced by Jamaican music. Since their debut LP, “Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi,” the production team has applied a uniquely diverse dub ethos and aesthetic to their music. After paying tribute to bossa nova and easy listening inspirations on their 2014 release, “Saudade,” Hilton and Garza set their sights on the culturally rich and warm musical environs of Port Antonio, Jamaica. There, they dove even deeper into their singular exploration of classic Jamaican sounds for the “The Temple of I & I.” “The innovation, spirit and power of Jamaican music is a constant source of creative manna for us,” explains Hilton. “On the musical map, Jamaica is an entire continent. We could have spent a year there, soaking up the vibes in the air, and constantly being inspired by the strength and resilience of the people.” Their journey began on a cold February morning in 2015 when Garza, Hilton, and their DC-based rhythm section touched down in Kingston and ventured across the Blue Mountains to what Jamaicans call the “real Jamaica” . Port Antonio. Setting up camp at Geejam Studios in San San, they felt immediately connected to their surroundings as they began recording just steps from the turquoise waves crashing below. As the Thieves played through day and night, heads poked through studio doors as curious locals seemed intrigued by such authentic sounds. “People couldn’t believe Robbie Myers, our guitarist, wasn’t Jamaican,” laughs Hilton. “I think they’re used to people coming down from London or LA to record rock or pop records and they were amazed we had such a handle on their sound. It was beyond gratifying, and high-grade ganja and Appleton rum started showing up on the reg.” After a week of ’round-the- clock sessions, Thievery Corporation brought the Geejam session tapes back to their lab at Montserrat House Studios in DC. From there, the mission continued with months of vocal, horn and editing sessions. Familiar voices appear, including Notch Howell, who had performed “The Richest Man in Babylon” and “Amerimacka” on previous records. Hilton calls him, “possibly the best male tenor we know.” Other collaborators included Mr. Lif, Puma Ptah, Lou Lou, Zeebo and Elin, who are all known by the Thievery audience as key members of their ensemble, both from past recordings and their live shows. Also figuring prominently in those sessions was a Thievery Corporation newcomer; Racquel Jones from Kingston, Jamaica. Garza and Hilton had met Racquel on their first trip to Port Antonio, where she played some demos for them at Geejam that used Thievery Corporation as a backing track, and which sounded like a perfect match to them. “We’d been waiting years to find a conscious, brilliant, female Jamaican singer and MC,” Hilton explains. As a model and former Miss Jamaica contestant, one would not expect the pure lyrical fire and tough delivery that comes out of her on tracks like “Letter to the Editor” and “Road Block.” “It’s impressive,” says Hilton. Few musical artists are as diverse as Thievery Corporation, moving from space rock, hip-hop, Indian trip-hop, dub, French torch songs, and shoe-gazer blissfulness with remarkable cohesive ease. Boundaries and following trends have never been part of Garza and Hilton’s agenda. Explains Rob Garza, “We’ve never been concerned with fitting into the ‘music industry.’ We started making music in the liquor room of DC’s Eighteenth Street Lounge with random bits of music gear among boxes of spirits. Approaching our music as a production duo has allowed us to never feel limited to one particular sound and traverse many fascinating musical landscapes.” In great anticipation of this exciting new release, and in reflection of an astonishing two decades together, one may be prompted to ask what has been the magic formula behind Thievery Corporation’s great success and what does the future hold from here? Perhaps the answer can be found in Rob Garza’s concluding thoughts: “What inspires us to continue to create this genre of sound is the broad spectrum of collaborators and audience members it continues to draw. We have been extremely privileged to work with artists of all cultural, social and political backgrounds, and our fans display even greater diversity and age differences. The people who have come together through Thievery Corporation are as much an accomplishment as the music we’ve produced to date and will continue to produce in the coming years.”
This Is the Kit
This Is the Kit is the alias of British musician Kate Stables, as well as the band she fronts. Critical attention This Is The Kit were a long-time favourite among various BBC Radio 6 Music DJs, which is where the musician and presenter Guy Garvey discovered them, playing their music frequently. Fellow 6 Music DJs Lauren Laverne, Radcliffe & Maconie, Cerys Matthews, and Mary Anne Hobbs have also been major supporters; DJ Marc Riley has hosted the band for three BBC live sessions to date. BBC Radio 1 has offered the band spot plays via DJs Huw Stephens, Jen & Ally, and Phil Taggart. As the band prepared to release their third album Bashed Out in late 2014 and early 2015, they began to receive more attention from online and print critics. Uncut, Drowned in Sound, The Line of Best Fit and The 405 awarded the album 8/10 ratings. The Mancunion rated a live show a 9/10. Finally, the American blog Stereogum wrote that "Kate Stables has been recording music as This Is The Kit for years now, but this is probably one of the first times you’re reading about her. "Bashed Out" will be her third full-length album, and…it will also likely be her breakout." The band received a boost in attention in August 2015 when BBC iPlayer debuted an episode of the documentary series Music Box devoted to This Is The Kit's music and influences. The show was hosted by Garvey, who argued that their second album, Wriggle Out the Restless, deserved a Mercury Prize nomination. The band also appeared in the BBC One television series Wanderlust, playing in a night club that Toni Colette's character Joy attended. Recording history In 2006, record label Sunday Best Recordings included the band's song "Two Wooden Spoons" in its Folk Off compilation album alongside artists including Animal Collective, Tunng and Vashti Bunyan. Their song was noted as a standout with Drowned in Sound stating: "its personal touch is largely what makes This Is The Kit the British highlight, not to mention that of the compilation as a whole". Following that, Sunday Best went on to release "Two Wooden Spoons" as a 7" single with the B side "Come a Cropper" in 2006. This Is The Kit's first album, Krülle Bol (2008), was produced in Bristol by John Parish, a musician best known as PJ Harvey's longtime producer. It was originally released on the French label Microbe but has since been reissued on the band's own imprint. The band's second album, Wriggle Out the Restless, was originally released by Dreamboat Records in 2010 and later reissued by the band's own Disco-ordination Records. In 2013 distribution began migrating to Brassland Records. The recording sessions drew on the talents of the Stables' extended musical community including Rozi Plain, Jim Barr, Francois & the Atlas Mountains and The Liftmen. The album was produced by longtime collaborator and partner Jesse D. Vernon. In 2014, the band began work on their third studio LP Bashed Out with Aaron Dessner of The National. The band's usual members contributed to the recording as did studio musicians recruited by Aaron Dessner, including his brother Bryce Dessner, Benjamin Lanz, Thomas Bartlett, and Matt Barrick, amongst others. Brassland released the album in April 2015. It received attention as the band's "breakthrough" recording, and as one of the best British recordings of 2015. July 2017 brought the release of the band's fourth LP Moonshine Freeze. The record was well received and chosen as the Rough Trade Album of the Month for July. In October 2020, the band released their fifth LP Off Off On, again with Rough Trade.
This Lonesome Paradise
Reverb-soaked retribution, lounge lust and the enigmatic echoes of western noir. Welcome to This Lonesome Paradise.
Thomas Mapfumo
Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo (born July 3, 1945) is a musician nicknamed "The Lion of Zimbabwe" and "Mukanya" (the praise name of his clan in the Shona language) for his immense popularity and for the political influence he wields through his music, including his sharp criticism of the government of President Robert Mugabe. He both created and made popular Chimurenga music, and his slow-moving style and distinctive voice is instantly recognisable to Zimbabweans. Mapfumo was imprisoned without charges under the white-dominated regime of Rhodesia, and he was hounded by the Mugabe government of Zimbabwe that succeeded it. He lived in exile in the United States for two decades, and in April 2018, returned to Zimbabwe for the first time since 2005 to perform a concert. Mapfumo was born in 1945 in Marondera, Mashonaland East, a town southeast of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, though at the time the capital was called Salisbury and the country was a colony of Great Britain called Southern Rhodesia (becoming Rhodesia in ordinary usage after Northern Rhodesia gained independence as Zambia). He lived a traditional, rural Shona lifestyle until the age of ten, when his family moved to the Harare township of Mbare. It was during these early years that he was exposed to the traditional music of the Shona, the influence of which would drive his later music to incorporate and/or reflect the sounds of the ngoma drum and the mbira, a metal-pronged instrument with spiritual importance.
Tiana Major9 & Earthgang
Tiana Major9 & Earthgang Deliver Enchanting 'Collide' Performance at 2019 Billboard Women in Music Tiana Major9 is one to watch in 2020, and she made that clear with a breathtaking performance at Billboard's 2019 Women in Music ceremony. She was introduced by President of Motown Records Ethiopia Habtemariam, who remembered when Queen & Slim director Melina Matsoukas approached her, asking for an "incredible soundtrack" for the film. The soundtrack, and Major9's contribution, Habtemariam noted are "an accompaniment to a triggering and provoking film that allows you see us, love us, understand us." Tiana Major9 and her collaborator Earthgang wrote "Collide" specifically for Queen & Slim, and the duo delivered a smooth, intimate performance of the tune. Their chemistry was flowing strong, holding hands and looking into each other's eyes as they sang the touching chorus. It was a beautiful representation of the "black love story" Habtemariam praised Queen & Slim for being. by Rania Aniftos
Timber Timbre
Timber Timbre is a Canadian music group, featuring Taylor Kirk, Simon Trottier, Mathieu Charbonneau and Mark Wheaton. The moniker refers to an early series of recordings made in a timber-framed cabin set in the wooded outskirts of Bobcaygeon, Ontario. Timber Timbre released two albums independently before releasing their self-titled album on Out of This Spark in January 2009. They were subsequently signed to Arts & Crafts, who re-released the album on June 30 in Canada and July 28 internationally. The album was named as a longlist nominee for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize on June 15, 2009, and was deemed album of the year by Eye Weekly. The band's song "Magic Arrow" was featured in the television show Breaking Bad, in the episode "Caballo Sin Nombre", as well as in the TV series The Good Wife, in the episode "Bitcoin for Dummies". "Black Water" features on the soundtrack for the 2012 comedy, For a Good Time, Call..., as well Bottom of the World (2017). Their song "Demon Host" was featured in the end credits to the 2013 film The Last Exorcism Part II, and in the movie The Gambler (2014). The band's fourth album, Creep On Creepin' On, was released in April 2011. It was named as one of ten shortlisted nominees for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize, losing to Arcade Fire's The Suburbs. In 2012, the band supported British folk singer Laura Marling on her UK tour and Canadian singer Feist on her tour of America. The band's fifth record, Hot Dreams, was released April 1, 2014. It was a shortlisted nominee for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize, but lost to Tanya Tagaq's Animism. The song "Run From Me" is featured in the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country, and in the sixth season of Netflix TV series Orange is the New Black. Timber Timbre's sixth album, Sincerely, Future Pollution, was released on April 7, 2017, on City Slang Records. The album's first single, "Sewer Blues", was released in January 2017. The second single, "Velvet Gloves & Spit", was released on February 15, 2017.
Tinariwen
Tinariwen, pronounced tinariwen "deserts", plural of ténéré "desert" is a group of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band was formed in 1979 in Tamanrasset, Algeria, but returned to Mali after a cease-fire in the 1990s. The group first started to gain a following outside the Sahara region in 2001 with the release of The Radio Tisdas Sessions, and with performances at Festival au Désert in Mali and the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Their popularity rose internationally with the release of the critically acclaimed Aman Iman in 2007. NPR calls the group "music's true rebels", AllMusic deems the group's music "a grassroots voice of rebellion", and Slate calls the group "rock 'n' roll rebels whose rebellion, for once, wasn't just metaphorical"
Tindersticks
Tindersticks are an English alternative rock band formed in Nottingham in 1991. They released six albums before singer Stuart A. Staples embarked on a solo career. The band reunited briefly in 2006 and more permanently the following year. The band recorded several film soundtracks, and have a long-standing relationship collaborating with French director Claire Denis. History Staples, Boulter, Fraser, Macauley and Hinchliffe, all former members of Asphalt Ribbons, formed the band in 1991. The final line-up for the Old Horse mini-LP (1991) was: Stuart Staples (vocals), Dave Boulter (organ and accordion), Neil Fraser (guitar), Dickon Hinchliffe (guitar and strings), Al Macauley (percussion and drums), and John Thompson (bass). Mark Colwill was recruited when Thompson left the Asphalt Ribbons, but it is not known if he played any gigs under the Asphalt Ribbons name. They then changed their name to Tindersticks after Staples discovered a box of German matches on a Greek beach. Tindersticks started recording demo tapes in 1992, and formed their own label Tippy Toe Records to release their first single, "Patchwork", in the same year. Their self-titled first and second albums established their signature sound and received widespread critical acclaim. Their live performances, often augmented by large string sections and even, on occasion, a full orchestra, were well received. The live album The Bloomsbury Theatre 12.3.95 is a recording of one such concert. By the time of the third album, Curtains, however, it was clear that a change of direction was called for. The fourth album, Simple Pleasure, lived up to its title with a series of snappy, direct songs influenced by soul music. The female backing vocals on several tracks, and the respectful cover of Odyssey's "If You're Looking for a Way Out", signalled the band's wish to move towards lighter, more soulful material. However, the inner sleeve's documentation of the number of takes each track went through was evidence that the band continued to adopt a painstaking approach to recording. The fifth album, Can Our Love..., continued the band's soulful direction, in particular evidence on the tender "Sweet Release" and in the nod to The Chi-Lites in the title of "Chilitetime". The sixth album, Waiting for the Moon, was more stripped down and introspective in nature, particularly on the harrowing "4.48 Psychosis" (based on the play of the same name by the British playwright Sarah Kane) and "Sometimes It Hurts". Only the bouncy "Just a Dog" lightened the otherwise melancholy mood of the album. In 2005, Staples embarked on a solo career and there was resultant speculation that the band had split. Staples has so far produced two solo albums, Lucky Dog Recordings 03-04 and Leaving Songs. The title of the second album, and Staples' notes on it, indicated that change was in the air: "These are songs written on the verge of leaving the things I loved and stepping into a new unknown life, both musically and personally. I was always aware that these songs were the end of something, a kind of closing a circle of a way of writing that I started so long ago and I knew I had to move on from." In September 2006, the band played a one-off concert at London's Barbican Centre, performing their second album in full with a nine-member string section and two brass players, including former collaborator Terry Edwards on trumpet. Staples later acknowledged that this show, while being a happy triumph, was also "tinged with sadness of the knowledge that the six of us had made all the new music we were going to make together." However, it also rekindled his determination to make a new album. In 2007, a stripped-down line-up of three of the original band, Staples, Boulter and Fraser, spent time writing and recording in a newly equipped studio in Limousin, France. They were joined by Thomas Belhom on drums and Dan McKinna on bass, with Ian Caple engineering. The resulting album, The Hungry Saw, was released on Beggars Banquet in April 2008. Tindersticks played a number of other European dates during the summer festival season and also announced a winter 2008 European tour. In 2010, the eighth studio album Falling Down a Mountain was released on 4AD/Constellation Records with a changed band line-up, with Earl Harvin replacing Belhom on drums and David Kitt, a solo artist in his own right, joining the band on guitar and vocals. The group's ninth studio album The Something Rain was released in February 2012. The following tours in spring, summer (festival concerts) and autumn, showed the band now touring in their again reduced 5-member core line-up (Stuart Staples, David Boulter, Neil Fraser, Dan McKinna and Earl Harvin), supported at selected gigs by Terry Edwards on horns. In October 2013, after missing the band's 20th anniversary the years before, the band released their tenth studio album, the retrospective Across Six Leap Years, containing ten re-recorded songs from their back-catalog and from Stuart A. Staples solo album period. In the autumn of 2013 they toured several European capital cities in their Across Six Leap Years anniversary tour, supported by Terry Edwards on saxophone and horns and Gina Foster on backing vocals. In 2016 they released their eleventh studio album The Waiting Room, followed by an extensive tour in February to May 2016. Their 12th studio album, No Treasure But Hope, was released in later 2019 to positive reviews, with a tour planned for 2020. Ahead of these tour dates, the band released the four-song See My Girls EP along with a video for the title track. U.S. and European tour dates were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why the core band focused on working on a new album during 2020. In January 2021, the band announced their thirteenth regular album Distractions, which was released on February 19th and charted at number 15 in the Offizielle Deutsche Charts' Album Top 100 in Germany.
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and actor. His music is characterized by his distinctive deep, gravelly voice and lyrics focusing on the underside of society. During the 1970s, he worked primarily in jazz, but since the 1980s his music has reflected greater influence from blues, vaudeville, and experimental genres. Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in California. He was inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation as a teenager, so he began singing on the San Diego folk music circuit, relocating to Los Angeles in 1972. He worked there as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums were the jazz-oriented Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), which reflected his lyrical interest in nightlife, poverty, and criminality. He has repeatedly toured the U.S., Europe, and Japan and has attracted greater critical recognition and commercial success with Small Change (1976), which he followed with Blue Valentine (1978) and Heartattack and Vine (1980). He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's 1981 film One from the Heart and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films. In 1980, Waits married Kathleen Brennan, broke from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City. Under his wife's encouragement, he pursued a new, more experimental and eclectic musical aesthetic influenced by the work of Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart. This was reflected in a series of albums released by Island Records, including Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), and Franks Wild Years (1987). He continued appearing in film, taking a leading role in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986). In the 1990s, his albums Bone Machine (1992), The Black Rider (1993), and Mule Variations (1999) earned him increasing critical acclaim and various Grammy Awards. In the late 1990s, he switched to the record label Anti-, which released Blood Money (2002), Alice (2002), Real Gone (2004), and Bad as Me (2011). Waits' albums have met with mixed commercial success in the U.S., while they have occasionally achieved gold status in other countries. He has a cult following and has influenced many singer-songwriters, despite having little radio or music video support. In 2011, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was included among the 2010 list of Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers, as well as the 2015 Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.
Tómas R. Einarsson
Tómas R. Einarsson (born 1953) is an Icelandic composer and double bass player who has been prominent in the Icelandic jazz scene since the early nineties. Much of his later work is influenced by Cuban jazz music. In 2014 he was granted the Order of the Falcon by the President of Iceland for his contribution to jazz and culture. Life and career Tómas was born in the town Blönduós in the north of Iceland and grew up in Dalabyggð. He studied at Hamrahlid College in Reykjavík and was at the time a radical socialist who often took part in demonstrations. He began playing the double bass during his time studying history and Spanish at the University of Iceland. His first composition on record appeared in 1982 with the jazz group Nýja kompaníið on the album Þegar kvölda tekur. In 1992 he formed the band Reykjavík Jazz Quartet with the saxophonist Sigurður Flosason. The group was popular in the nineties and performed around Europe. He also toured and made albums with the Ólafur Stephensen Trio. He won the Icelandic Music Awards in 2003 for the jazz record of the year and jazz composition of the year, in 2004 for the jazz composition of the year for his song with Ólafía Hrönn, and then again in 2012 for the jazz composition of the year. In 2015 he released an album with Sigríður Thorlacius, the singer from the pop group Hjaltalín. The majority of Tómas' compositions have appeared on his own records, but they may be found on over 20 albums by other artists. He has been a sideman on recordings with several well-known Icelandic artists, including folk singer Megas, rock artist Bubbi Morthens, and indie artist Mugison.
Tommy Guerrero
Tommy Guerrero may be better known in the world of skateboarding than music. Born in San Francisco, Guerrero joined the skate company Powell Peralta in 1984 and became one of the original members of the legendary "Bones Brigade" team. TG has been playing music since the late 70's with his brother Tony -both raised on a steady diet of DIY punk music/ethos and skateboarding-which informed and shaped the person he is today. Since then, Guerrero has become an accomplished bassist and guitarist with influences as diverse as John Coltrane, Bad brains, Joy division Gabor Szabo and on and on...
Tommy McCook & The Supersonics
Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s. Biography McCook was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to Jamaica in 1933. He took up the tenor saxophone at the age of eleven, when he was a pupil at the Alpha School, and eventually joined Eric Dean’s Orchestra. In 1954 he left for an engagement in Nassau, Bahamas, after which he ended up in Miami, Florida, and it was here that McCook first heard John Coltrane and fell in love with jazz. McCook returned to Jamaica in early 1962, where he was approached by a few local producers to do some recordings. Eventually he consented to record a jazz session for Clement "Coxson" Dodd, which was issued on the album as "Jazz Jamaica". His first ska recording was an adaptation of Ernest Gold’s "Exodus", recorded in November 1963 with musicians who would soon make up the Skatalites. During the 1960s and 1970s McCook recorded with the majority of prominent reggae artists of the era, working particularly with producer Bunny Lee and his house band, The Aggrovators, as well as being featured prominently in the recordings of Yabby You and the Prophets (most notably on version sides and extended disco mixes), all while still performing and recording with the variety of line ups under the Skatalites name. When McCook was bandleader for The Supersonics, the band included bassist Jackie Jackson and drummer Paul Douglas, who became the rhythm section for Toots and the Maytals when the era of reggae emerged from rocksteady. McCook died of pneumonia and heart failure, aged 71, on 5 May 1998.
Tony Holiday
There are many young players on the current international blues scene and Tony Holiday is one that stands out amongst the finest! Tony Holiday, a Vocalist and Harmonica player hailing from Memphis TN has been recognized by peers such as Charlie Musselwhite and James Harman as a rising star in the community and Holiday included both, amongst many others, on his latest release of field recordings Tony Holiday’s Porch Sessions where Holiday and Partner Landon Stone have criss-crossed the country recording famous blues musicians and playing with them on their front porches, out with the Vizztone Label January 2019. Tony, on vocals and harp, brings out that old school voice that is sometimes missing from the Blues scene today. It harkens back to when the Blues were just finding their way in the new electric age. In that transition, the sounds that were coming out of the local independent record labels in Memphis and that you might of heard from the King Biscuit Hour in its later years or on one of the other many stations that spotted the value of the Blues. His passion and vocal strength with a soulman’s heart and wicked sense of impish humor blend to let you enjoy those deep blues and then chuckle when you might not otherwise have done so at the sometimes dark current of Blues. He has the ability to make you laugh in the face of pain so that you can take that next step by turning on your heel and walking into the light where he’s got a tune for you there for you to meet your next ex-wife on the dance floor and make some memories. With him on guitar is Landon Stone. Tall and lean with the brooding face of so many guitarists who have melded with the instrument, he places a perfect counterpoint to Tony’s harp. When the two play off of one another, well… frankly… you forget your damp and tired and hungry after a long rainy day of festival music, and you just have fun! Holiday fearlessly crosses the line between traditional Blues and Soul and modern day Americana with brilliant writing expressing Holiday’s poetic side, humor and touching on issues like Love, Heartache and Stories from Holiday’s traveling lifestyle. A combination of a family man and a road dog, Holiday finds the balance in his life as well as his music.Keeping a tight leash on his vocal control and harmonica tone Holiday has been named in the top 10 young harmonica players in the country via Rick Estrin and Blues Harmonica Player Forum. Tony Holiday’s Porch Sessions out with the Vizztone Label is reminiscent of Alan Lomax’s landmark field recordings and the live recordings that have surfaced from Chicago’s famed Maxwell St era.
Toots & The Maytals
Toots and the Maytals, originally called The Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group and one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. Frontman Toots Hibbert's soulful vocal style has been compared to Otis Redding, and led him to be named one of the 100 Greatest Singers by Rolling Stone. Their 1968 single "Do the Reggay", was the first song to use the word "reggae", naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. As Island Records founder Chris Blackwell says, "The Maytals were unlike anything else ... sensational, raw and dynamic."
Tower of Power
Oakland, California music legends Tower of Power - the most dynamic and distinctive band of survivors in Soul Music – is roaring into its unprecedented 50th anniversary with a dynamic new disc of all new material that finds them as energized and inspired as ever. A labor of love, definitively titled Soul Side of Town, this package is charged with 14 filler-free songs. In the spirit of their enduring theme song “Oakland Stroke” – the bookending intro and outro “East Bay” shine a light on elemental instrumental ingredients within the band’s signature sound. This astounding and historical release (available June 1, 2018 in digital, vinyl, streaming & CD configurations) inaugurates Tower of Power’s fresh affiliation with Mack Avenue Records, a Detroit-based company renowned for its award-winning dedication to top-tier Jazz that is now extending its support to Soul and Funk giants, Tower of Power: a band so one-of-a-kind, it’s an institution. As always, the songs on Tower of Power’s Soul Side of Town were primarily composed by the hitmaking team of founding members Emilio Castillo (Detroit-born on 2nd tenor sax) and Stephen “Doc” Kupka (Los Angeles-born on baritone sax) who also hold down the world famous 5-man Tower of Power Horns. For the special occasion of Tower of Power’s 50th anniversary, leader Emilio Castillo brought in a most-astute choice in co-producer, Joe Vannelli: an all-around production/engineering/keyboard master best known for the jazz-tinged Soul-Rock Grammy-winning work he performed behind the scenes with his international superstar brother, Gino Vannelli. Also insuring that the sound blasts powerful and clear from your speakers is the presence of mastering engineer Bernie Grundman in the mix. Along with the legendary rhythm section drums and bass lock of David Garibaldi and Francis Rocco Prestia, respectively, these decorated veterans have custom-crafted a hair-raising audio experience that longtime fans, music connoisseurs and a new generation of listeners will groove to for years to come. In keeping with Tower of Power’s golden canon of classics, the new material picks up the torch in all of the time-tested styles fans respect and love. In line with hiply intricate, cranial-crushing funk classics such as “Down to the Nightclub” and “Soul Vaccination” are new jams “Do You Like That” and “On the Soul Side of Town.” In the tradition of heart-stopping balladry like their biggest chart hits “You’re Still a Young Man” and “So Very Hard to Go” are new love songs like “Let it Go” (Bruno Mars will want to cover this one) and “Can’t Stop Thinking About You.” Along the firing-on-all-cylinders line of instrumental anomalies such as “Squib Cakes,” “Walking Up Hip Street” and “Ebony Jam” are burnin’ offerings “Butter-Fried” and “After Hours.” Following up positivity primers such as “Knock Yourself Out,” “You’ve Got to Funkifize” and “Credit” are new spirit lifters “Selah,” “Love Must Be Patient and Kind” and “Do it With Soul,” along with T.O.P.’s singular approach to Pop-Rock on “When Love Takes Control.” Along with veteran members Castillo, Kupka, Garibaldi and Prestia, T.O.P. consists of guitarist Jerry Cortez, Hammond B3 organist/keyboardist Roger Smith, 1st tenor saxophonist Tom Politzer, and trumpeters Adolfo Acosta and Sal Cracchiolo. Soul Side of Town is also blessed with not one but two lead singers: outgoing Ray Greene (now in Santana) and incoming Marcus Scott (boldly introduced on several selections, including “Hanging with My Baby”). The 10-piece Tower of Power band is prepared to throw down next year with a celebratory tour that will include sweet spots around the globe. Since its formation in Oakland, California in 1968, Tower of Power has forged a reputation as a crack band of high achieving musicians fluent in all realms of Soul, Rock and Pop music with a sophistication and punch like that of a Jazz big band. From their first album East Bay Grease (1970) on Rock impresario Bill Graham’s San Francisco Records label (distributed by Atlantic), the interracial band became pillars and signatures of The Bay Area Music Scene that included pioneering like-minded bands such as Sly & The Family Stone, Cold Blood, Graham Central Station, The Pointer Sisters and The Sons of Champlin plus rock-oriented outfits such as Santana, Betty Davis and Journey. Beginning with their sophomore release, Tower of Power came to prominence with a string of acclaimed albums on Warner Bros. Records: Bump City (1972), Tower of Power (1973), Back to Oakland (1974), Urban Renewal (1974), In the Slot (1975) and Live and in Living Color (1976). A move to Columbia Records resulted in three more major label releases and their last top-charting hit, “You Ought To Be Havin’ Fun.” Including all studio albums, live albums and rarities anthologies, T.O.P. has 24 previous releases in its burgeoning catalog. Along with T.O.P.’s classic recordings, the 5-piece Tower of Power Horns – known for its power packed punch and fullness with two trumpets, two tenor saxophones plus a baritone sax on the bottom – became much in demand for studio sessions and live gigs. Among the hundreds of artists they have blessed with their presence are Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Graham Central Station, Elton John, Little Feat, Billy Preston, John Lee Hooker, Coke Escovedo, Jose Feliciano, Al Kooper, Sammy Hagar, Rod Stewart, Peter Frampton, Jermaine Jackson, Harvey Mason, Lenny White, The Brothers Johnson, The Meters, Lee Oskar, Dionne Warwick, Melissa Manchester, Bobby Caldwell, Heart, Rick James, Santana, Smokey Robinson, Huey Lewis & The News, Toto, Paul Shaffer, Bonnie Raitt, Aaron Neville, Spyro Gyra, Terence Trent D’Arby, Luther Vandross, Candy Dulfer, Aerosmith, Phish, John Hiatt, Neil Diamond, P.Diddy, Bill Wyman, Eiko Shuri…and TV’s The Simpsons (Sing The Blues).
Tricky
Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws (born 27 January 1968), better known by his stage name Tricky, is an English record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Bristol, he began his career as an early collaborator of Massive Attack before embarking on a solo career with his debut album, Maxinquaye, in 1995. The release won Tricky popular acclaim and marked the beginning of a lengthy collaborative partnership with vocalist Martina Topley-Bird. He released four more studio albums before the end of the decade, including Pre-Millennium Tension and the pseudonymous Nearly God, both in 1996. He has gone on to release eight studio albums since 2000, most recently Ununiform (2017). Tricky is a pioneer of trip hop music, and his work is noted for its dark, layered musical style that blends disparate cultural influences and genres, including hip hop, alternative rock and ragga. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists over the course of his career, including Terry Hall, Björk, Gravediggaz, Grace Jones, and PJ Harvey.
Triggers & Slips
Not being down with the Utah scene, I hung out in cyberspace with ‘Triggers and Slips’ a while and first stop was the Small Lake City Concert Series and a version of Alice in Chains’ ‘Rooster’. Mormon descendent Morgan Snow takes a pinch of that grungy flavour and the ‘Slips’ sneeze dirty country vibes all over it, resulting in kind of a cross between Son Volt and Pearl Jam. It’s a virus that one can only imagine is going to spread rapidly as the rest of the album hits our shelves, venues and, yes, online platforms of choice. To dig further into the ethos of ‘Triggers and Slips’ reveals that in fact the band leadership, songwriting and roots are very much intertwined with John Davies. Davies is vocal wingman, multi-instrumentalist and owner of a delightfully simple name considering his trade. Here is a band that carry themselves like men and play their music with redoubtable authority. Don’t let that fool you that it’s not fun though. Good production can sound very spontaneous when done right. The title track is all the proof you need of that, as a slow distorted intro gives way to honky-tonk piano, Hammond organ and duelling guitars, fading in and out over an outlaw country shuffle while Snow, for all the world a 21st Century Waylon, holds court as master of ceremonies. “We’ve been pushing our luck/We’re bound to fuck up…” his voice is a finely tuned country music weapon in peak condition. There are elements of border country in ‘Natchez Trace’, the dusty desert fandango style strongly vying with the rock n roll of Uncle Sam for prominence. ‘Old Friends’, which first appeared on the band’s 2012 self-titled EP is a bromance reunion epic, replete with spectacular fiddle and toe-tapping piano solo work by the band’s honky tonkin’ electro dj, the ‘Time Chimp’ – Greg Midgley. It’s been dragged from the gutter, polished to a shining star of a song and given centre stage on ‘The Stranger’. The combination of country and slow bluesy Jeff Beck overtones on ‘I’m Not Your Baby’ hints at the broad horizons that ‘Triggers And Slips’ have embraced while Snow clings to his love of grunge with that overhaul of ‘Rooster’. Morgan Snow was a drug and alcohol therapist when he stumbled on the name for his band, Triggers and Slips was the heading of some notes on a group session one of his co-workers was leading. Much of this album concentrates, in the great traditions, on matters of the heart and of the soul. Described as songs that will “hit you in the gut” the blend of skilful delivery, first-class production and songcraft of the highest standard makes ‘The Stranger’ a game-changer for these men of Utah. Written by Tim Merricks
TV On The Radio
TV on the Radio is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2001. The bands core members include Tunde Adebimpe (vocals, loops), David Andrew Sitek (guitars, keyboards, loops), Kyp Malone (vocals, guitars, bass, loops) Jaleel Bunton (drums, vocals, loops, guitars) and Gerard Smith (bass, keyboards, loops) until his death in 2011. Other contributors have included David Bowie, Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead, Martin Perna of Antibalas, Colin Stetson, and Katrina Ford of Celebration. The group has released several EPs including their debut Young Liars (2003), and five studio albums: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004), Return to Cookie Mountain (2006), Dear Science (2008), Nine Types of Light (2011), and Seeds (2014). The first release from TV on the Radio (initially just founding members Adebimpe and Sitek) was the self-released OK Calculator (the title being a reference to Radiohead's album OK Computer). They were later joined by Kyp Malone, and released the Young Liars EP in 2003. This was followed by the full-length Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes which earned the band the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize. They released a second EP, New Health Rock, later that year. Their second album, Return to Cookie Mountain, leaked in early 2006 and garnered pre-release praise from Pitchfork Media before its official release in July overseas. U.S. and Canadian release was in September on Interscope. Spin magazine named Return to Cookie Mountain its Album of the Year for 2006. The album features guest appearances from David Bowie, Omega Moon, Celebration, Dragons of Zynth, Martin Perna and Stuart D. Bogie of Antibalas, Blonde Redhead, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner. Bowie contributed back-up vocals on the song "Province". In promotion of the album, the band performed " Wolf Like Me" on the Late Show with David Letterman, which has garnered over 2 million views on YouTube. During the U.S. tour, the band performed a few covers with Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. The band's third album, Dear Science, was released September 23, 2008 on Interscope. It was made available for streaming on their Myspace page and subsequently leaked onto the internet on September 6, 2008. The album was named the best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Spin magazine, The A.V. Club, MTV, Entertainment Weekly, the Pitchfork Media's readers poll as well as the Pazz and Jop critic's poll. It was also named the second best album of 2008 by NME and the fourth best album of 2008 by Planet Sound.
Twain
Twain is the singer/songwriter project of multi-instrumentalist Mat Davidson, onetime member of the Low Anthem and Spirit Family Reunion. Consistently melodic and brittle, Twain's material has spanned experimental lo-fi and intimate indie folk. Smart FleshHailing from Franklin County, Virginia, Davidson began recording as Twain in the mid-2000s. He self-released the albums Sleeping Tree and Almanack before joining indie folk group the Low Anthem in 2009 as bassist/multi-instrumentalist. Still making time for Twain, he put out Love Is All Around in July 2010, then appeared on the Low Anthem's 2011 LP, Smart Flesh, before leaving the group later that year. While with the Low Anthem, he also joined Americana outfit Spirit Family Reunion on fiddle, leaving that band in early 2014 to refocus on Twain. Recorded straight to tape and mastered in analog, 2014's Life Labors in the Choir channeled blues-like rawness into wounded folk. Also released in 2014, Twain-Tone Rally-Race: Collected Recordings 2005-2008 repackaged Sleeping Tree and Almanack. Intended as a full-length in progress with demos and live performances, the Sir Kitchen Boy EP followed in 2015, and the Alternator EP, released in 2016, featured all new songs. Rare FeelingIn 2017, Twain signed with Austin, Texas-based Keeled Scales and toured in support of acts such as Big Thief, Langhorne Slim, and the Deslondes. With bassist Ken Woodward and drummer Peter Pezzimenti credited as bandmembers, their label debut, Rare Feeling, arrived that October.
Ugly Valley Boys
I first met upright bassist Braxton Brandenburg from the two-piece Ugly Valley Boys when he was touring with JB Beverley through Texas in December, and then saw him again with JB at The Muddy Roots Festival, when he handed me this CD from his “other band.” Yeah, everyone is in a band these days, and most have “other bands” as well, and they all have well-intentioned, but not always good CD’s to peddle. Braxton seemed like a great guy, but when I looked at this album, with yet another standup bass, yet another guitar player who sits down at a bass drum in a band that has “Valley” and “Boys” in the name I thought, “Yep, I’ve heard this before.” And then when the album started off with a track about running moonshine, the pigeon-holing was just about complete. That’s when the song “Raven” hit my ears, and the genius behind the Ugly Valley Boys revealed itself, separating them far from the herd. From Salt Lake City, The Ugly Valley Boys evoke the lonesome sound of the desert, the classic soul of country, and the open space of the West in original songs that are wickedly engaging and smartly crafted. So many bands try to imbibe their music with a vintage feel and Western space by using copious amounts of chorus or reverb, or blowing wads of cash on vintage gear. Ugly Valley’s guitar player, singer, and songwriter Ryan Eastlyn takes the road less traveled with the use of moaning, melodic chorus lines that are so excellent, they vault this band from a relative unknown to one responsible for one of the better albums put out so far in 2011. The melodic chorus-driven songs with punk undertones are counterbalanced by dark and gritty deep roots songs that could be considered just as much blues as country. As impressed as I am by Eateryn’s ear in crafting the vocals in these songs, without any message or meaning behind the lyrics, the experience would be shallow. The Ugly Valley Boys pull you in with Braxton’s engaging rhythm and Ryan’s voice, but what keeps you engaged is the soul embedded in the songwriting. I could break down each song on this album, but I don’t see the point. There’s not a bad song here. At the moment, the track that most impresses me is “Alota Guns”, but this album shows all the earmarks of one whose best track changes by week, until every song has filled that slot and after a couple of months you look down and this CD is still stuck in the player. The instrumentation is great as well, from Ryan and Braxton, and also from Mike Sasich and Brad Wheeler who they brought in to play some tasteful lead lines on various tracks. If I had a suggestion for the Ugly Valley Boys, it would be that there could be more breadth to the music. The stripped down approach is appreciated, but this music is just too good to be devoid of maybe another layer or two of instrumentation, at least in the recorded setting. The lead instruments in Double Down, though great, seem to be add-ons at times instead of intermixed with the rest of the music. But the thing about great songwriting is that it trumps all. Any concerns about instrumentation or lineups or names of bands are all put to rest simply by songs that speak to the heart in universal themes, and that is exactly what The Ugly Valley Boys do. I was going to give this album 1 3/4 of the maximum 2 guns that I have the authority to afford an album, because I do think Double Down leaves some room for improvement, but in the end this album is just too good, has too many good individual songs to call it anything but great. Two guns up!
Underworld
Underworld are a British electronic music group formed in 1980 in Cardiff, Wales and the principal name of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith recording together. Prominent former members include Darren Emerson, from 1991 to 2001, and Darren Price, as part of the live band from 2005 to 2016. After briefly performing as a funk and synth-pop outfit, resulting in two albums between 1988 and 1989, Underworld gained prominence after reshaping into a trance and techno band, releasing albums including Dubnobasswithmyheadman (1994), Second Toughest in the Infants (1996) and Beaucoup Fish (1998), as well as singles "Born Slippy .NUXX" and "Dark & Long (Dark Train)". Known for their atmospheric, progressive compositions, Hyde's cryptic lyrics, and dynamic live performances, Underworld have influenced a wide range of artists and have been featured in soundtracks and scores for films, television, and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan Morrison OBE (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and record producer. His professional career began as a teenager in the late 1950s playing a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands, covering the popular hits of that time. Van Morrison rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". His solo career began under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. After Berns's death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks (1968). Though this album gradually garnered high praise, it was initially a poor seller. Moondance (1970) established Morrison as a major artist, and he built on his reputation throughout the 1970s with a series of acclaimed albums and live performances. He continues to record and tour, producing albums and live performances that sell well and are generally warmly received, sometimes collaborating with other artists, such as Georgie Fame and The Chieftains. Much of Morrison's music is structured around the conventions of soul music and R&B, such as the popular singles "Brown Eyed Girl", "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)", "Domino" and "Wild Night". An equal part of his catalogue consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz and stream-of-consciousness narrative, such as the album Astral Weeks and the lesser known Veedon Fleece and Common One. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as "Celtic soul". He has received two Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, the 2017 Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was knighted for services to the music industry and to tourism in Northern Ireland. He is known by the nickname Van the Man to his fans.
Vetiver
Vetiver is an American folk band headed by songwriter Andy Cabic. History Vetiver was formed in San Francisco in 2002. The band released their self-titled debut album in 2004 on the small indie folk label DiCristina. Since the album's release, Vetiver has toured extensively, opening for and collaborating with Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. Vetiver released another album, To Find Me Gone, on DiCristina in 2006. Banhart and Cabic also launched their own label, Gnomonsong Recordings, releasing Jana Hunter's Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom in 2005 and There's No Home in 2007. The label also released in 2008 Vetiver's Thing of the Past, a collection of cover songs that have influenced Cabic's aesthetic. Sub Pop Records (US) and Bella Union (UK) released Vetiver's Tight Knit (2009) The Errant Charm (2011), and Complete Strangers (2015). The band shared the bill with Vashti Bunyan on her US tour in early 2007. Over the years, the band has toured with artists like Fleet Foxes, The Shins, Fruit Bats and Wilco. Cabic's music has also been featured in numerous TV commercials, including an original song for Birds Eye. He also works as a composer, including the documentary The Family Jams and the film Smashed, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012.
Vieux Diop
Vieux Diop (pronounced "Via Jo") is a master of the kora, a 21-stringed instrument indigenous to West Africa. A former member of Youssou N'Dour's band, Diop has toured with African percussionist Babatunde Olatunji and jazz musicians Jean Paul Borelli and Roy Brooks. Since emigrating to the U.S. in 1984, Diop has lectured and performed at colleges and universities including the Julliard School of Music in New York, which was the site of a weekly series, West African Journey, that he hosted in 1996. Diop serves as host of a biweekly radio show on world music, Musical Conversations, broadcast by New York radio station, WBAI-FM. While his music remains rooted in the traditions of West Africa, Diop has increasingly incorporated contemporary roots music influences. Cash Box observed that Diop "...serves up bobbing, weaving, grooves that are undeniable to the human pulse." In addition to creating heartfelt melodies on the kora, Diop plays the dissunguni (bass kora) and djembe, and sings in a mixture of traditional African languages (Wolof, Mandigo and Bambara), French and English. He has released albums to the US, starting with his self-titled 1995 debut and continuing into the next decade.
Vieux Farka Touré
Often referred to as “The Hendrix of the Sahara”, Vieux Farka Touré was born in Niafunké, Mali in 1981. He is the son of legendary Malian guitar player Ali Farka Touré, who died in 2006. Ali Farka Touré came from a historical tribe of soldiers, and defied his parents in becoming a musician. When Vieux was in his teens, he declared that he also wanted to be a musician. His father disapproved due to the pressures he had experienced being a musician. Rather, he wanted Vieux to become a soldier. But with help from family friend the kora maestro Toumani Diabaté, Vieux eventually convinced his father to give him his blessing to become a musician shortly before Ali passed. Vieux was initially a drummer / calabash player at Mali’s Institut National des Arts, but secretly began playing guitar in 2001. Ali Farka Touré was weakened with cancer when Vieux announced that he was going to record an album. Ali recorded a couple of tracks with him, and these recordings, which can be heard on Vieux’s debut CD, were amongst his final ones. It has been said that the senior Touré played rough mixes of these songs when people visited him in his final days, at peace with, and proud of, his son’s talent as a musician. In 2005, Eric Herman (still Vieux’s manager today) of Modiba Productions expressed an interest in producing an album for Vieux; this led to Vieux’s self-titled debut album, released by World Village in 2007. Ali Farka Touré’s work to tackle the problem of malaria is continued as 10% of proceeds are donated to Modiba’s “Fight Malaria” campaign in Niafunké through which over 3000 mosquito nets have been delivered to children and pregnant women in the Timbuktu region of Mali. On this first album, Vieux pays homage to his father and follows Ali’s musical tradition, giving new versions of the West African music that is echoed in the American blues. The album features Toumani Diabaté, as well as his late father. One of the tracks, ‘Courage’, is on the soundtrack of the film The First Grader (2010). On his second record, Fondo on Six Degrees (2009), Vieux branched out and presented his own sound: while remaining true to the roots of his father’s music he uses elements of rock, Latin music, and other African influences. The album received a great deal of critical acclaim from across the globe, and Vieux was clearly moving out of his father’s shadow. By June 2010, Vieux was performing at the opening concert for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. That month Vieux also released his first live album, LIVE. His live performances are highly energized and Vieux is known for dazzling crowds with his speed and dexterity on the guitar, as well as his palpable charisma and luminous smile, both of which captivate audiences from all audiences in spite of any language barriers (though Vieux does speak 8 languages). In 2011 Vieux released his 3rd studio album, The Secret, so named because the listener will hear the secret of the blues with a blend of generations from father to son. It was produced by guitarist Eric Krasno (of the Soulive trio) and features South African-born vocalist Dave Matthews, Derek Trucks on electric slide guitar and jazz guitarist John Scofield. The title track is the last collaboration between Vieux and his late father. With the heralded release of The Secret, Vieux Farka Touré has clearly established himself as one of the world’s rare musical talents and guitar virtuosos with a distinct style that always pays homage to the past while looking towards the future. Vieux released The Tel Aviv Session (Cumbancha) in April 2012, a collaborative project with Israeli superstar Idan Raichel dubbed ‘The Touré-Raichel Collective’ that has been hailed by fans and critics alike as a masterpiece and one of the best collaborative albums in the history of international music, drawing comparisons to Ali Farka Touré and Ry Cooder’s legendary Talking Timbuktu album. In 2013, Vieux Farka Touré’s beautiful and critically acclaimed latest album Mon Pays was released as an homage to his homeland. Being that his native Mali had recently been splintered by territorial fighting between Tuareg and Islamic rebels since January 2012, Mon Pays was devoted to reminding the world about the beauty and culture of his native Mali. Translated as ‘My Country,’ this predominantly acoustic undertaking transformed into an artifact of cultural preservation. Two songs on the project -Future’ and ‘Peace’ feature Sidiki Diabate’s kora leading an emotional charge complemented by Touré’s spectacular guitar work. Both tracks represent an important generational “passing of the torch” as Sidiki’s father, Toumani is considered one of the greatest living kora masters and was a close friend of Vieux’s father Ali. Mon Pays has been widely hailed as the most mature and lovely record yet from one of this generation’s most exciting artists to come out of Mali and one of world music’s true rising stars. Vieux reunited with Idan Raichel in Paris to record, release and subsequently tour their 2nd collaborative album as The Touré-Raichel Collective in 2014. The result was yet another musical and critical triumph, titled 'The Paris Session' (Cumbancha) revered by many as not just a musical gem for the ages but a powerful testimonial to the power of art and fraternity to transcend vast cultural and political divides. In 2015, Vieux released another unexpected, genre-bending collaborative album, this time with New York-based singer Julia Easterlin, aptly titled 'Touristes'. The album shot to the top of the iTunes World chart and earned critical acclaim, including that of John Schaefer (NPR) who called it "brilliant." On April 7, 2017, Vieux released his latest album 'Samba', recorded live in front of a small audience at Applehead Studio in Woodstock, NY. The album was being hailed by critics as Vieux's finest, most well-rounded and mature album to date. With each new project, Vieux expands his horizons, embraces new challenges and further entrenches his reputation as one of the world’s most talented and innovative musicians.
War
War (originally called Eric Burdon and War) is an American funk/rock/soul band from Long Beach, California, known for several hit songs (including "Spill the Wine", "The World Is a Ghetto", "The Cisco Kid", "Why Can't We Be Friends?", "Low Rider", and "Summer"). Formed in 1969, War is a musical crossover band that fuses elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, psychedelia, and reggae. According to music writer Colin Larkin, their "potent fusion of funk, R&B, rock and Latin styles produced a progressive soul sound", while Martin C. Strong calls them "one of the fiercest progressive soul combos of the '70s". Their album The World Is a Ghetto was Billboard's best-selling album of 1973. The band transcended racial and cultural barriers with a multi-ethnic line-up. War was subject to many line-up changes over the course of its existence, leaving member Leroy "Lonnie" Jordan as the only original member in the current line-up; four other members created a new group called the Lowrider Band.
Warhaus
Maarten Devoldere (born in 1988) is a Belgian singer-songwriter and music producer. He began his career as a 22-year-old in the band Balthazar. In 2016, he started his solo project Warhaus. The music he played with Balthazar band he described as simply pop music. They had recorded three albums and one single and after the break they took, they intended to come back and record the fourth album to be released in early 2018. Maarten Devoldere took up on the solo project - Warhaus. His style there is described as a continuation of Leonard Cohen style but more dense with influences of Tom Waits' style and Serge Gainsbourg ballad songs. Some of the Warhaus-period songs and albums had been recorded with Devoldere's girlfriend Sylvie Kreusch, a Belgian musician who released her solo debut in 2018.
Wax Machine
Surfing on a sun-drenched wave of psychedelia comes Brighton’s very own Merry Pranksters, Wax Machine. Primarily recorded and mixed in a closet room directly above a mortuary, their self-produced album Hermit’s Grove is a heady trip through progressive psychedelia, kitsch Italian library music and Brazilian tropicalia. Led off by the single Guardians of Eden, the album is set for release on 1st July via Batov Records (Şatellites, Sababa 5). Wax Machine is the project of Brazilian-born, Italian/English-raised Lau Ro, who takes a deep dive into their Brazilian heritage on this LP, taking inspiration from 60s tropicalia music and movement and the likes of Os Mutantes, Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa. “Brazil is where I was born and grew up until I was 8 years old, and it's where my family is from. We then immigrated to Europe and I was never able to visit Brazil after that as it's a very expensive flight. Instead I've opted for the next best thing which is connecting with the spirit and culture of Brazil via the medium of music.” The album features a version of Canto De Iemanja from Vinicius De Moraes and Baden Powell's seminal 1966 Brazilian album Os Afro sambas. Canto De Iemanja is about the goddess of the sea Iemanja, a chant Lau has often found themselves singing to the sea in their hometown of Brighton. “The ocean is a muse of mine. I go to the sea whenever I can, her presence enlivens, refreshes and brings me deeper awareness. This version is a homage both to my motherland and the great big blue that separates us.” The first single and album opener Guardians of Eden is carried in on a cloud of flutes and birdsong. The first half celebrates the light and beauty of this world, while the second half is a reflection on the shadow of our existence here. The three minute, psychedelic explosion of Springtime is a "meditation on the cycles of nature, the dance of duality, the swinging of the cosmic pendulum.” Two EPs in 2018 preceded their debut album Earthsong of Silence in 2020, with Clash Magazine declaring that Wax Machine “occupy a space somewhere in the gaps where English psych-folk, sun drenched West Coast sounds, Brazilian Tropicália and spiritual jazz overlap.” That year they also had a track featured on the Mr. Bongo Record Club 4 compilation. Although there is constantly evolving line up both in studio and on stage, long time collaborators Toma Sapir (drums, percussions, samples/synths), Isobel Jones (Flute/Vocals) and Ella Russell (vocals in Canto De lemanja) all appear on both albums. A tour de force live, the group have shared the stage with the likes of the Babe Rainbow, Kikagaku Moyo and Vanishing Twin. The band are currently in the midst of a UK and European tour, ending with a homecoming show in Brighton on 27th May. On the album Isobel Jones plays Flute/Vocals, Toma Sapir - drums, percussions and samples/synths, Freddie Willatt – sax, Ella Russell vocals in “Canto De lemanja”, Kate Mager - bass in “...Iemanja”, Adam Campbell - electric piano, Marja Burchard(from Embryo/Karl Hector) - vibraphones on “Gaian Dream”.
Wax Tailor
Jean-Christophe Le Saoût (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ kʁistɔf lə sut]; born July 19, 1975 in Vernon, Normandy), better known by the stage name Wax Tailor, is a French trip hop/hip hop producer. He has released six studio albums collaborating with a great number of artists. After being a host on a French radio in the Paris suburb of Mantes-La-Jolie, Le Saoût started the French Rap band La Formule in the 1990s. He created his label Lab'Oratoire in 1998 and produced records from La Formule as well as Break Beat compilations and a collaboration with the Swedish band Looptroop. He began work on the Wax Tailor project in 2001, first appearing on a remix of Looptroop & La Formule's "Deep Under Water".
Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb which granted him a distinctive sound. He often worked with his brothers Buddy and Monk and with organist Jimmy Smith. Montgomery's recordings up to 1965 were oriented towards hard bop, soul jazz, and post bop, but around 1965 he began recording more pop-oriented instrumental albums that found mainstream success. His later guitar style influenced jazz fusion and smooth jazz. His grandson is actor Anthony Montgomery, who was Travis Mayweather on Star Trek: Enterprise. Montgomery was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. According to NPR, the nickname "Wes" was a child's abbreviation of his middle name, Leslie. The family was large, and the parents split up early in the lives of the children. Montgomery and his brothers moved to Columbus, Ohio, with their father and attended Champion High School. His older brother Monk dropped out of school to sell coal and ice, gradually saving enough money to buy his brother Wes a four-string tenor guitar from a pawn shop in 1935. Although Montgomery spent many hours with the guitar, he discounted this time later in life, saying he had to start over when he got his first six-string several years later.
Weyes Blood
Natalie Laura Mering (born June 11, 1988), known professionally as Weyes Blood (pronounced /waɪzblʌd/), is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She was primarily raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She has been performing her own material under variations of the name Weyes Blood since 2003. Her music has undergone significant changes throughout her career. She has been involved in the underground noise music scene and was briefly bassist of the Portland, Oregon-based group Jackie-O Motherfucker and was singer for the band Satanized. As Weyes Bluhd she made two self-released albums, changing to Weyes Blood to release The Outside Room (2011) on microlabel Not Not Fun Records. She then signed with independent label Mexican Summer, releasing The Innocents (2014) and Front Row Seat to Earth (2016). She released her latest studio album, Titanic Rising (2019) on Sub Pop, to critical acclaim. Natalie Laura Mering was born on June 11, 1988 in Santa Monica, California, into a deeply religious born again Pentecostal Christian family. Commenting on her upbringing, Mering said: "I was raised in a real spiritual, Bible Belt household. So I developed my own cynicism because there are always things in the Bible that really bum me out.... I became really obsessed with the Kids in the Hall as a kid, and they had Scott Thompson, who's like the one gay member. I remember having this feeling that 'Oh, Scott Thompson isn't going to heaven? How could that be?' That was my first big tipoff that something wasn't quite right with dogmatic Christianity. And then I was just trying to undo it at the age of 12." Mering's family moved several times throughout her childhood; she spent her early life in Scotts Valley, California before they settled in Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1999, where she attended high school. Both her older brothers and parents are musicians and music played an important part in her upbringing. Her father, Sumner Mering, is a musician and guitarist who was in a Los Angeles new wave band entitled Sumner in the late 1970s.
Whitney
Whitney is an American band from Chicago, which formed in 2015 and is signed to Secretly Canadian. The band was formed shortly after the breakup of members Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich's band Smith Westerns in late 2014. They released their debut album, Light Upon the Lake, in June 2016 and have toured internationally. Career After the breakup of Smith Westerns in 2014, guitarist Kakacek joined with drummer Julien Ehrlich, who also played drums for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, to form Whitney. As roommates, the duo shared songwriting duties while Ehrlich became the main vocalist. Initially the band featured members of the Touching Voids, Ehrlich's previous band. In June 2015, the band made the song "No Matter Where We Go" available digitally through the Lead Riders label. It included former Smith Westerns member Ziyad Asrar on rhythm guitar, Malcolm Brown on keyboards, bassist Josiah Marshall and brass player Will Miller. During 2015, the band played around thirty shows, mostly in support of other artists. This included Tobias Jesso Jr. who got the band in contact with Jonathan Rado, the producer of the album. In September of that year, they joined Rado at his Los Angeles home studio to record. In January 2016 the band released the single "No Woman" supported by a video and toured Europe in anticipation of the new album. They also featured on the 2016 edition of the SXSW festival. On June 3, 2016 the album Light Upon the Lake was released. In support they embarked on their first headlining European tour. In 2017, the band announced a new demos album with a previously unreleased song, "You and Me". In March 2017 Whitney released two new songs, "You've Got a Woman" and "Gonna Hurry (As Slow as I Can)". Both are covers. In an interview published in April 2019 the band mentioned their second album, due in 2019, will deal with "fear, confusion, and substance abuse". They shared a song titled "FTA" from the album in June 2019 and released the lead single “Giving Up” on June 6. The album "Forever Turned Around" was released on August 30, 2019. Style Ehrlich outlined the approach to songwriting as "when we were writing for Whitney, we were doing what we wanted to do, the music was really freeing". Paul Lester in the Guardian described the band as "think Bon Iver, with elements of folk and country, only given a Chicago soul makeover". They cite Levon Helm and Allen Toussaint as inspiration.
Wild Child
Wild Child is an American indie pop band from Austin, Texas formed in 2010. The band consists of Kelsey Wilson (lead vocals and violin), Alexander Beggins (lead vocals and baritone ukulele), Sadie Wolfe (cello), Tyler Osmond (bass), Matt Bradshaw (keyboard and trumpet), Cody Ackors (guitar and trombone), and Tom Myers (drums). Wilson and Beggins met while touring as back-up musicians for a Danish indie act called The Migrant. They began writing songs together in the backseat of the tour van and found they worked very well as a songwriting team. Both had just been through the end of relationships, which provided both common ground and writing material. Beggins had brought a ukulele from his father's instrument collection simply because it was small enough to comfortably pass around in a van (Beggins played accordion with The Migrant). By the end of the tour the two had written several songs and began recording their first album upon their return to Austin. To complete the sound they were seeking, they called in other local musicians and friends to help record, which eventually became the full Wild Child band. Their self-recorded first album, the 15-track Pillow Talk, was released on October 25, 2011 (with help from San Francisco producers Evan Magers and Alex Peterson, and mastered by Erik Wofford). The album was received positively on many blogs and yielded a number one single on the music promotion site The Hype Machine. Their second album, The Runaround, was released on October 8, 2013 via The Noise Company and produced by Ben Kweller. Kweller liked the band's debut album and sought out the band seeking to produce their sophomore effort. The album was funded in part through a successful Kickstarter campaign which raised over $40,000. It was recorded in January 2013. The first single from the album, "Crazy Bird", was received extremely positively, reaching number one on the music promotion site The Hype Machine, debuting number one the FMBQ SubModern/Specialty charts, and being featured on World Cafe. Reviews for the album were positive, including a rating of 8/10 from PopMatters. The song "Living Tree" was named in the 'Top Ten Songs of 2013' by NPR.
William Tyler
William Armistead Tyler (born December 25, 1979, in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American musician and guitarist who plays folk, indie folk, and pop rock. His debut studio album, Behold the Spirit, was released on November 22, 2010. Adam Bednarik produced the album with Tyler on Tompkins Square Records. He has since released three additional solo albums. Background Tyler was born to Daniel E. "Dan" Tyler and Adele B. Tyler on December 25, 1979, in Nashville, Tennessee. His father is a noted songwriter in his own right who wrote "The Light in Your Eyes" by LeAnn Rimes, co-wrote "Baby's Got a New Baby" by S-K-O, and co-wrote "Modern Day Romance" by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; in addition, both of his parents co-wrote "Bobbie Sue" by The Oak Ridge Boys. Tyler has a younger sister named Elise. William and Elise Tyler were the owners and founders of The Stone Fox in Nashville, Tennessee, which was a music restaurant/café/bar that opened on September 20, 2012 and held its final live show on January 31, 2016. William is a 1998 graduate and his sister Elise is a 2002 graduate of University School of Nashville.
Willie Bobo
William Correa (February 28, 1934 – September 15, 1983), better known by his stage name Willie Bobo, a Latin and jazz percussionist of Puerto Rican ancestry. Career Correa became a noted timbales performer in Latin Jazz, specifically Afro-Cuban jazz, in the 1960s and 1970s. He met Mongo Santamaría shortly after his arrival in New York and studied with him while acting as his translator, and later at the age of 19 joined Tito Puente for four years. The nickname Bobo is said to have been originated by the jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams in the early 1950s. Correa joined George Shearing's band on the album The Shearing Spell. After leaving Shearing, Cal Tjader asked Bobo and Santamaría to become part of the Cal Tjader Modern Mambo Quintet, who released several albums as the mambo craze reached fever pitch in the late 1950s. Reuniting with his mentor Santamaría in 1960, the pair released the album Sabroso! for the Fantasy label. Bobo later formed his own group, releasing Do That Thing/Guajira with Tico and Bobo's Beat and Let's Go Bobo for Roulette, without achieving huge penetration. After the success of Tjader's Soul Sauce, in which he was heavily involved, Correa formed a new band with the backing of Verve Records, releasing Spanish Grease, the title track being perhaps his most well known tune. Highly successful at this attempt, Correa released a further six albums with Verve. In the early 1970s, he moved to Los Angeles. He again met up with his longtime friend Richard Sanchez Sr. and his son Richard Jr. and began recording in the studio. Bobo then worked as a session musician for Carlos Santana among others, as well as being a regular in the band for Bill Cosby's variety show Cos. Santana covered Willie Bobo's Latin song "Evil Ways" in 1969 on their debut album. In the late 1970s, Bobo recorded albums for Blue Note and Columbia Records. Personal life His youngest son, Eric Bobo (Eric Correa), is a percussionist with crew Cypress Hill. He also performed on the Beastie Boys' 1994 album Ill Communication,. His grandson, William Valen Correa, is co-founder of the music-based non-profit organization HNDP Los Angeles. After a period of ill health, he died at the age of 49, succumbing to cancer.
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American musician, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana. Born during the Great Depression and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music. During this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in honky-tonks. Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he wrote "Family Bible" and recorded the song "Lumberjack" in 1956. He also worked as a disc jockey at various radio stations in Vancouver and nearby Portland, Oregon. In 1958, he moved to Houston, Texas, after signing a contract with D Records. He sang at the Esquire Ballroom weekly and he worked as a disk jockey. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1960 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and later signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. In 1962, he recorded his first album, ...And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart hits in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Nelson retired in 1972 and moved to Austin, Texas. The ongoing music scene of Austin motivated Nelson to return from retirement, performing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters. In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages. In 1975, he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed album Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he recorded another outlaw country album, Wanted! The Outlaws, along with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. During the mid-1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording hit songs like "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho and Lefty", he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. In 1990, Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, which claimed that he owed $32 million. The difficulty of paying his outstanding debt was aggravated by weak investments he had made during the 1980s. In 1992, Nelson released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?; the profits of the double album—destined to the IRS—and the auction of Nelson's assets cleared his debt. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, and released albums every year. Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. He explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, and folk. Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television. Nelson is a major liberal activist and the co-chair of the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which is in favor of marijuana legalization. On the environmental front, Nelson owns the bio-diesel brand Willie Nelson Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil. Nelson is also the honorary chairman of the advisory board of the Texas Music Project, the official music charity of the state of Texas.
Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100. Among his best-known hits are "In the Midnight Hour" (which he co-wrote), "Land of 1,000 Dances", "Mustang Sally", and "Funky Broadway". Pickett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, in recognition of his impact on songwriting and recording. Pickett's forceful, passionate style of singing was developed in the church and on the streets of Detroit, under the influence of recording stars such as Little Richard, whom he referred to as "the architect of rock and roll." In 1955, Pickett joined the Violinaires, a gospel group. The Violinaires played with another gospel group on concert tour in America. After singing for four years in the popular gospel-harmony group, Pickett, lured by the success of gospel singers who had moved to the lucrative secular music market, joined the Falcons in 1959. By 1959, Pickett recorded the song "Let Me Be Your Boy" with the Primettes as background singers. The song is the B-side of his 1963 single "My Heart Belongs to You". The Falcons were an early vocal group bringing gospel into a popular context, thus paving the way for soul music. The group featured notable members who became major solo artists; when Pickett joined the group, Eddie Floyd and Sir Mack Rice were members. Pickett's biggest success with the Falcons was "I Found a Love", co-written by Pickett and featuring his lead vocals. While only a minor hit for the Falcons, it paved the way for Pickett to embark on a solo career. Pickett later had a solo hit with a re-recorded two-part version of the song, included on his 1967 album The Sound of Wilson Pickett. Soon after recording "I Found a Love", Pickett cut his first solo recordings, including "I'm Gonna Cry", in collaboration with Don Covay. Pickett also recorded a demo for a song he co-wrote, "If You Need Me", a slow-burning soul ballad featuring a spoken sermon. Pickett sent the demo to Jerry Wexler, a producer at Atlantic Records. Wexler gave it to the label's recording artist Solomon Burke, Atlantic's biggest star at the time. Burke admired Pickett's performance of the song, but his own recording of "If You Need Me" became one of his biggest hits (#2 R&B, No. 37 pop) and is considered a soul standard. Pickett was crushed when he discovered that Atlantic had given away his song. When Pickett—with a demo tape under his arm—returned to Wexler's studio, Wexler asked whether he was angry about this loss, but denied it saying "It's over". Pickett's version was released on Double L Records and was a moderate hit, peaking at No. 30 R&B and No. 64 pop. Pickett's first significant success as a solo artist came with "It's Too Late," an original composition (not to be confused with the Chuck Willis standard of the same name). Entering the charts on July 27, 1963, it peaked at No. 7 on the R&B chart (#49 pop); the same title was used for Pickett's debut album, released in the same year. Compiling several of Pickett's single releases for Double L, It's Too Late showcased a raw soulful sound that foreshadowed the singer's performances throughout the coming decade. The single's success persuaded Wexler and Atlantic to buy Pickett's recording contract from Double L in 1964.
Yellow Days
Yes
Yes are an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Peter Banks, keyboardist Tony Kaye, and drummer Bill Bruford. The band has undergone numerous formations throughout its history; nineteen musicians have been full-time members. Since June 2015, it has consisted of guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Geoff Downes, singer Jon Davison, and bassist Billy Sherwood, with no remaining founding members. Yes have explored several musical styles over the years, and are most notably regarded as progressive rock pioneers. Yes began in 1968, performing original songs and rearranged covers of rock, pop, blues and jazz songs, as evident on their first two albums. A change of direction in 1970 led to a series of successful progressive rock albums until their disbanding in 1981, their most successful being The Yes Album (1971), Fragile (1971) and Close to the Edge (1972). Yes toured as a major rock act that earned the band a reputation for their elaborate stage sets, light displays, and album covers designed by Roger Dean. The success of "Roundabout", the single from Fragile, cemented their popularity across the decade and beyond. In 1983, Yes reformed with a new line-up that included Trevor Rabin and a more commercial and pop-oriented musical direction. The result was 90125 (1983), their highest-selling album, which contained the U.S. number-one single, "Owner of a Lonely Heart". From 1990 to 1992, Yes were an eight-member formation after they merged with Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe for Union (1991) and its tour. Since 1994, Yes have released albums with varied levels of success and completed tours from 1994 to 2004. After a four-year hiatus, they resumed touring in 2009 and continue to release albums; their most recent is Heaven & Earth (2014). In 2016, a new group of former Yes members began touring and named themselves Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman. Yes are one of the most successful, influential, and longest-lasting progressive rock bands. They have sold 13.5 million RIAA-certified albums in the US. In 1985, they won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance with "Cinema", and received five Grammy nominations between 1985 and 1992. They were ranked No. 94 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. Yes have headlined annual progressive rock-themed cruises since 2013 named Cruise to the Edge. Their discography spans 21 studio albums. In April 2017, Yes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which chose specifically to bestow the honour upon current and former members Anderson, Squire, Bruford, Kaye, Howe, Rick Wakeman, White and Rabin.
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo (Spanish for "I've got it"; also abbreviated as YLT) is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and James McNew (bass, vocals). In 2015, original guitarist Dave Schramm rejoined the band and appears on their fourteenth album, Stuff Like That There. Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential critics' band" and maintains a strong cult following. Though they mostly play original material, the band performs a wide repertoire of cover songs both in live performance and on record. History Formation and early history, 1984–1985 Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley formed the band as a couple in 1984. They chose the name Yo La Tengo, Spanish for "I have it". The name came from a baseball anecdote that occurred during the 1962 season, when New York Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn and shortstop Elio Chacón found themselves colliding in the outfield. When Ashburn went for a catch, he would scream, "I got it! I got it!" only to run into Chacón, a Venezuelan who spoke only Spanish. Ashburn learned to yell, "Yo la tengo! Yo la tengo!" instead. In a later game, Ashburn happily saw Chacón backing off. He relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was instead run over by left fielder Frank Thomas, who understood no Spanish and had missed a team meeting that proposed using the words "Yo la tengo!" as a way to avoid outfield collisions. After getting up, Thomas asked Ashburn, "What the hell is a yellow tango?" Kaplan and Hubley placed an advertisement to recruit other musicians who shared their love for bands such as the Soft Boys, Mission of Burma, and Arthur Lee's Love. The group's debut recording was a 7" single entitled "The River of Water" backed with a cover of Lee's "A House Is Not a Motel", released in late 1985 with Dave Schramm on lead guitar and Dave Rick on bass. After recording "Private Doberman" for inclusion on a Coyote Records compilation entitled Luxury Condos Coming to Your Neighborhood Soon, Rick left the band and was replaced by Mike Lewis, the founding bass player of Boston garage-punk bands DMZ and Lyres, who was also a member of Brooklyn garage rock band the A-Bones throughout his tenure in YLT.
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his enduring belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, collaborating with communities and institutions to explore culture’s role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity. Yo-Yo maintains a balance between engagements as a soloist with orchestras, recital and chamber music activities, and collaborations with a wide circle of artists and institutions. With partners from around the world and across disciplines, Yo-Yo creates programs that stretch the boundaries of genre and tradition to explore music-making as a means not only to share and express meaning, but also as a model for the cultural collaboration he considers essential to a strong society. Expanding upon this belief, in 1998 Yo-Yo established Silkroad, a collective of artists from around the world who create music that engages their many traditions. In addition to presenting performances in venues from Suntory Hall to the Hollywood Bowl, Silkroad collaborates with museums and universities to develop training programs for teachers, musicians, and learners of all ages. Silkroad has commissioned more than 100 new works from composers and arrangers around the globe, and released seven albums, most recently a collection of music recorded for The Vietnam War, a documentary film from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Through his work with Silkroad, as well as throughout his career, Yo-Yo Ma seeks to expand the classical cello repertoire, frequently performing lesser-known music of the 20th century and commissions of new concertos and recital pieces. He has premiered works by a diverse group of composers, among them Osvaldo Golijov, Leon Kirchner, Zhao Lin, Christopher Rouse, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Giovanni Sollima, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, and John Williams. In addition to his work as a performing artist, Yo-Yo partners with communities and institutions from Chicago to Guangzhou to develop programs that champion culture’s power to transform lives and forge a more connected world. Among his many roles, he is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, artistic director of the annual Youth Music Culture Guangdong festival, and UN Messenger of Peace. He is the first artist ever appointed to the World Economic Forum’s board of trustees. Yo-Yo’s discography of over 100 albums (including 19 Grammy Award winners) reflects his wide-ranging interests. In addition to his many iconic renditions of the Western classical canon, he has made several recordings that defy categorization, among them “Appalachia Waltz” and “Appalachian Journey” with Mark O’Connor and Edgar Meyer, and two Grammy-winning tributes to the music of Brazil, “Obrigado Brazil” and “Obrigado Brazil – Live in Concert.” Yo-Yo’s recent recordings include: “Songs from the Arc of Life,” with pianist Kathryn Stott; “Sing Me Home,” with the Silkroad Ensemble, which won the 2016 Grammy for Best World Music Album; “Bach Trios,” with Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile; “Brahms: The Piano Trios,” with Emanuel Ax and Leonidas Kavakos; and “Six Evolutions – Bach: Cello Suites.” In August 2018, Yo-Yo began a new journey, setting out to perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s six suites for solo cello in one sitting in 36 locations around the world, iconic venues that encompass our cultural heritage, our current creativity, and the challenges of peace and understanding that will shape our future. Each concert will be an example of culture’s power to create moments of shared understanding, as well as an invitation to a larger conversation about culture, society, and the themes that connect us all. Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age four and three years later moved with his family to New York City, where he continued his cello studies with Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School. After his conservatory training, he sought out a liberal arts education, graduating from Harvard University with a degree in anthropology in 1976. He has received numerous awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the Glenn Gould Prize (1999), the National Medal of the Arts (2001), the Dan David Prize (2006), the Leonie Sonning Music Prize (2006), the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award (2008), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010), Kennedy Center Honors (2011), the Polar Music Prize (2012), the Vilcek Prize in Contemporary Music (2013), and the J. Paul Getty Medal Award (2016). He has performed for eight American presidents, most recently at the invitation of President Obama on the occasion of the 56th Inaugural Ceremony. Yo-Yo and his wife have two children. He plays three instruments, a 2003 Moes & Moes cello, made in the United States, a 1733 Montagnana cello from Venice, and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius.
Your Friend
Taryn Blake Miller (born in 1991 on April 10) who performs as Your Friend, is a Lawrence, Kansas-based musician. Miller was born in Winfield, Kansas. She studied music at Cowley Community College for two years before moving to Lawrence to pursue a degree in linguistics at the University of Kansas. Miller produced her first album, Jekyll/Hyde, using $1,000 in prize money from a KJHK-hosted battle of the bands. She signed with Domino Recording Company in February 2014.
Yves Tumor
Sean Lee Bowie, best known by the recording alias Yves Tumor, is an American musician and producer of experimental music, born in Miami, Florida and currently based in Turin, Italy. To date, they have released five studio albums: When Man Fails You (2015), Serpent Music (2016), Safe in the Hands of Love (2018), Heaven to a Tortured Mind (2020), and Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (2023). Life and career Raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tumor started making music at age 16 as an outlet away from "dull, conservative surroundings." They taught themself to play drums, bass, guitar, and keyboards. Describing their experience growing up in Tennessee as unpleasant, Yves moved at age 20 to San Diego, and then after college, to Los Angeles. They met Mykki Blanco in 2012, later touring for two and a half years throughout Europe and Asia. In the early 2010s, Tumor recorded as Teams, and made music which AllMusic described as "post-chillwave". They debuted the Yves Tumor project in 2015 with an EP for Berlin's experimental club label Janus, and another one for Blanco's label, Dogfood MG. That same year, they released their first album, When Man Fails You (which would later be re-released by Apothecary Compositions on April 29, 2016). In September 2016, Tumor signed with PAN Records and released their label debut, Serpent Music. Yves had worked on the album for three years after moving to Leipzig, Germany. The album was recorded between Miami, Leipzig, Los Angeles and Berlin. In Pitchfork's review of the album, critic Andy Beta compared Tumor's musical style to James Ferraro and Dean Blunt, and noted their use of "unsettling percussive loops and field recordings to create a mood as if lost in a strange urban landscape." In September 2017, Tumor released a compilation album titled Experiencing the Deposit of Faith for free. Later that week, it was revealed through a tour announcement that Tumor had signed to Warp Records. Following the announcement, the artist embarked on a tour with a new audiovisual show. In September 2018, Tumor released their Warp debut, Safe in the Hands of Love, with no prior announcement. It was preceded by the singles "Noid" on July 24, "Licking an Orchid" featuring James K on August 29, and "Lifetime" on September 3. The album received universal acclaim from music critics. Pitchfork's Jayson Greene stated in the review that the album "dwarfs everything the artist has released by several orders of magnitude. The leap is so audacious it's disorienting." Tumor's fourth album, Heaven to a Tortured Mind, was released on April 3, 2020, preceded on March 3 by the single "Kerosene" featuring Diana Gordon. Alexis Petridis, reviewing the album for The Guardian, awarded it Album of the Week, describing it as "extraordinary: experimental, capable of any genre, with an internal logic powering its shifts in mood. There’s real skill involved in coming up with something that sounds coherent while shifting through so many styles.” In October 2020, Tumor said in an interview with Michèle Lamy " I have another EP and a whole album basically not finished, but ready to start finishing. I’ve been very busy during the quarantine." In December 2020, Tumor released the single "let all the poisons that lurk in the mud seep out" in collaboration with Kelsey Lu, featuring Kelly Moran and Moses Boyd. In July 2021, they released the EP The Asymptotical World, recorded in collaboration with their bandmates, Chris Greatti and Yves Rothman. In February 2023, Tumor was interviewed by Courtney Love for Interview magazine, in which they briefly hinted at an upcoming album. Shortly after, in March 2023, Tumor released their fifth album, "Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)", critically acclaimed as an ambitious, "ecstatic fusion of alt-rock and R&B", "spellbinding art rock", and a "Romantic, corporeal, gothy" offering that disrupts "hierarchies of gender, race, desire...and performance" via its "intense magnification and worship of life, death and spirituality." Tumor was part of the Coachella 2023 lineup.