Niccko (4) 76 views 0 favorites
Firebeatz (1) 67 views 0 favorites They stormed into the music scene in 2008 and now the Holland based duo Firebeatz have swiftly merited a reputable and solid name for themselves. Ever since their club smashing records "Funky Shit", "Where's Your Head At", "Miniman" and their most recent Beatport Top 10 hits "Dear New York" (which reached #2) and "Here We F*cking Go" were released, Firebeatz' schedule has been filled with top notch remix jobs and a huge increase in worldwide bookings. They have produced numerous official remixes for artists like Pitbull, James Blunt, Ian Carey, Snoop Dogg, Freestylers, Flo Rida, Timbaland, Fatman Scoop, Alex Gaudino, Wynter Gordon, Bingo Players and Sean Paul. The latter two reached Beatport's Main Top15. The summer of 2012 marked the release of the Chocolate Puma and Firebeatz collaboration "Just One More Time Baby", which was hammered by BBC Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong and received brilliant critiques. One of their recent hits is the collaboration with rising star Schella called "Dear New York". Incorporating a classic sample in a bass heavy production, "Dear New York" enjoyed massive DJ support and skyrocketed up the Beatport chart reaching the #2 spot in the Main Top 100. In 2013, Firebeatz managed to release several new club bangers such as "Gangster" and their track with Bobby Burns "Ding Dong", released by Tiësto's famous Musical Freedom label. Another great tune, called "Yeahhhh", came out on Calvin Harris's Fly Eye Records and Firebeatz were asked to make an exclusive remix of Calvin Harris' "Thinking About You". Upcoming release "Wonderful", will be released by Spinnin' Records in June and is set to be you summer anthem of 2013
Kenny Loggins (1) 70 views 0 favorites Kenneth Clark "Kenny" Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for soft rock music beginning during the 1970s, and later for writing and performing for movie soundtracks in the 1980s. Originally a part of the duo Loggins and Messina, he became a solo artist and has written songs for other artists.
Loggins (born in Everett, Washington) is the youngest of three brothers. His mother was Lina (nee Massie), a homemaker, and his father, Robert George Loggins, was a salesman. They lived in Detroit and Seattle before settling in Alhambra, California. Loggins attended San Gabriel Mission High School, graduating in 1966. He formed a band called the Second Helping, that released three singles during 1968 and 1969 on Viva Records. Greg Shaw described the efforts as "excellent punky folk-pop records" that were written by Loggins who was likely to be the bandleader and singer as well; Shaw included "Let Me In" on both Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 2 and the Pebbles, Volume 9 CD. Loggins had a short gig playing guitar for the "The New Improved" Electric Prunes in 1969 before writing four songs for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which were included in their Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy album. During his early twenties, he was part of the band Gator Creek with Mike Deasy. An early version of "Danny's Song" (later recorded by Loggins and Messina) was included in a record on Mercury Records.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC) is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, now based in Los Angeles. BRMC is known for their garage rock, blues, folk revival, neo-psychedelia sound. They are influenced by bands such as: The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Verve, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, T. Rex, The Velvet Underground and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club formed in 1998, taking its name from Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang in the 1953 film The Wild One. Bassist Robert Levon Been and guitarist Peter Hayes met at high school in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Lafayette and quickly formed a band; Hayes having recently left The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Looking for a drummer, they met Nick Jago, from Devon, England, who had moved to California to be with his parents after spending some time at Winchester School of Art, where he was studying fine art.The band was originally called The Elements, but after discovering that another band had the same name, they changed the name to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The vocals are shared between Been and Peter Hayes.
The band's first two records were indebted to classic hard rock influenced by Led Zeppelin and also encompassed slower paced psychedelic rock, space rock, and noise pop influences from bands such as The Verve, Loop, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Their second album Take Them On, On Your Own (recorded with Coldplay/Kasabian producer Rik Simpson) has several songs such as "Generation" and "US Government" that are critical of the United States government.
Been used the pseudonym 'Robert Turner' on the first two records, in an attempt not to be linked to his father (Michael Been of The Call.) He later dropped this identity when promoting Howl. The senior Been later toured with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club as part of their sound crew.
In 2003, a concert in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England had to be cancelled half way through the set, after Leeds City Council officials suspected the 150 year old floor of Leeds Town Hall might collapse. This led to the band sometimes being referred to as 'the band who broke the floor'. Problems with drummer Nick Jago began surfacing publicly at the 2003 NME Awards, when Jago remained on stage for nine minutes, completely silent, while accepting an award.
Marilyn Manson (1) 97 views 0 favorites Marilyn Manson is an American rock band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Marilyn Manson and Daisy Berkowitz, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early 1990s. This attention subsequently developed into a worldwide fanbase. The band's lineup has changed between many of their album releases. The current members of Marilyn Manson are the eponymous lead singer, guitarist Twiggy Ramirez (who previously played bass), bassist Fred Sablan and touring drummer Jason Sutter.
Although grounded in industrial metal, the band has come to be known for altering both its image and its musical trappings frequently; the group's sound incorporating, at various stages, elements of spoken word poetry, glam rock, vaudeville and burlesque. Up until 1996, the name of each member was originally created by combining the first name of an iconic female sex symbol and the last name of an iconic serial killer (Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson), doing so to demonstrate the odd dichotomy of American society as a critical and, simultaneously, laudatory appraisal of the US and its peculiar culture. The members of the band dress in outlandish makeup and costumes, and have engaged in intentionally shocking behavior both onstage and off. In the past, their lyrics often received criticism for their anti-religious sentiment and references to sex, violence and drugs. Their performances have frequently been called offensive and obscene, and, on several occasions, protests and petitions have led to the group being banned from performing.
As this controversy began to wane throughout the 2000s, so did the band's mainstream popularity. Despite this, Jon Wiederhorn of MTV.com, in June 2003, referred to Marilyn Manson as "the only true artist today". Marilyn Manson has garnered much success: four of the band's albums have been multi-platinum, and 2 more have been gold, and the band has seen five of its releases debut in the top ten, including two number-one albums. VH1 has ranked Marilyn Manson as the seventy-eighth best rock band on their 100 Great Artists of Hard Rock. Aggregate site AcclaimedMusic.net lists Marilyn Manson number 723 in their artist rank for greatest of all time. Marilyn Manson has sold over 50 million records.
Antonio Carlos Jobim (1) 40 views 0 favorites Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (January 25, 1927 – December 8, 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈtõ ʒoˈbĩ]), was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within Brazil and internationally.
Widely known as the composer of "The Girl from Ipanema" (Garota de Ipanema), one of the most recorded songs of all time, Jobim has left a large number of songs that are today included in the standard Jazz and Pop repertoires.
Antônio Carlos Jobim was born in the middle-class district of Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro. His father Jorge de Oliveira Jobim (São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, April 23, 1889 - July 19, 1935) was a writer, diplomat, professor and journalist. He came from a prominent family, being the great-grand nephew of José Martins da Cruz Jobim, senator, privy councillor and physician of Emperor Dom Pedro II. While studying medicine in Europe, José Martins added Jobim to his last name, paying homage to the village where his family came from in Portugal, the parish of Santa Cruz de Jovim, Porto.
When Antônio was still an infant, his parents separated and his mother, Nilza Brasileiro de Almeida (c. 1910 - November 17, 1989), moved with her children (Antônio Carlos and his sister Helena Isaura, born February 23, 1931) to Ipanema, the beachside neighborhood the composer would later celebrate in his songs. In 1935, when the elder Jobim died, Nilza married Celso da Frota Pessoa (died February 2, 1979), who would encourage his stepson's career. He was the one that gave Jobim his first piano. As a young man of limited means, Jobim earned his living by playing in nightclubs and bars and later as an arranger for a recording label, before starting to achieve success as a composer.
Jobim's musical roots were planted firmly in the work of Pixinguinha, the legendary musician and composer who began modern Brazilian music in the 1930s. Among his teachers were Lúcia Branco, and, from 1941 on, Hans-Joachim Koellreutter. Jobim was also influenced by the French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, and by jazz. Among many themes, his lyrics talked about love, self-discovery, betrayal, joy and especially about the birds and natural wonders of Brazil, like the "Mata Atlântica" forest, characters of Brazilian folklore like Matitaperê (Saci Pererê), and his home city of Rio de Janeiro.
Rammstein (1) 47 views 0 favorites Rammstein is an industrial metal band from Berlin, Germany. The band was formed in 1994 and consists of Till Lindemann (lead vocals), Richard Z. Kruspe (guitar and backing vocals), Paul H. Landers (guitar, backing vocals), Oliver "Ollie" Riedel (bass guitar), Christoph "Doom" Schneider (drums and electronic percussion) and Christian "Flake" Lorenz (keyboards). They are widely accepted as part of the Neue Deutsche Härte scene (alongside others such as Oomph!, Eisbrecher, and Die Krupps) and they are the genre's most successful band, achieving worldwide fame.
Their songs are usually in German, but they have also performed songs entirely or partially in other languages such as English, Spanish, French and Russian. As of 2009, they have sold over 15 million records worldwide. Rammstein's live shows are famous for their pyrotechnic performance and theatrics, earning them awards from many countries, including The United States of America. Rammstein's entire catalogue is published by Universal Music Group. Since their formation in 1994, Rammstein has had no changes in their band line-up nor have any members left the band. The band have stated they were named after the Ramstein air show disaster. The extra "m" in the band's name makes it translate literally as "ramming stone".
Lou Reed (1) 35 views 0 favorites Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed (2 March 1942, Brooklyn, New York, USA - 27 October 2013, Southampton, New York, USA) was an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He was best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his solo career, which spanned several decades. Though the Velvet Underground were a commercial failure in the late 1960s, the group gained a considerable cult following in the years since its demise and has gone on to become one of the most widely cited and influential bands of the era. As the Velvet Underground's principal songwriter, Reed wrote about subjects of personal experience that rarely had been examined so openly in rock and roll, including sexuality and drug culture.
After his departure from the group, Reed began a solo career in 1971. He had a hit the following year with "Walk on the Wild Side", although he subsequently lacked the mainstream commercial success its chart status seemed to indicate. Reed's work as a solo artist frustrated critics wishing for a return of the Velvet Underground. In 1975, Reed released a double album of feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which he later commented, "No one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive."
In 2008, Reed married performance artist Laurie Anderson.
Barry Adamson (1) 63 views 0 favorites Audio artist Barry Adamson started out as bass player for British punk band Magazine, however, he's since carved more of a name for himself equally for being a founding member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and also for composing a large chunk of the score of David Lynch's Lost Highway. Adamson's solo work varies heavily between Film Noir and classic to industrial rock, whilst taking in everything in between, making him almost impossible to pigeonhole. Adamson left school and shifted into graphic design attending Stockport Art College but quit shortly after, favouring to venture into the exploding punk rock scene of the late 1970s. He joined ex-Buzzcocks singer Howard Devoto's band Magazine, playing bass guitar, scoring one chart single, "Shot by Both Sides"; in late 1977, he also joined Buzzcocks, as a short-time replacement of Garth Smith. He played on all of Magazine's albums, and contributed to Devoto's solo album and his next band, Luxuria. He also contributed to the studio-based band Visage, playing on the ensemble's first two albums, Visage and The Anvil. After Magazine broke up, Adamson worked with another ex-Buzzcock, Pete Shelley, before joining Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He appeared on five of that band's albums: From Her to Eternity; The Firstborn Is Dead; Kicking Against the Pricks; Your Funeral, My Trial; and Tender Prey. After his stint in the band, he went solo, releasing an EP, The Man with the Golden Arm in 1988, and his first solo album, Moss Side Story, the following year, the soundtrack to a non-existent film noir. The album incorporated newscasts and sampled sound effects and featured guest musicians Marcia Schofield (of The Fall), Diamanda Galas, Roland S. Howard, and former colleagues from the Bad Seeds. Adamson's second solo album was the soundtrack to a real film this time - Carl Colpaert's Delusion, and he would go on to provide sountracks for several other films. Adamson's third album, Soul Murder, was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize in 1992. His solo work is influenced by John Barry, Elmer Bernstein and Ennio Morricone. Later works have included jazz, electronica, soul, funk, and dub styles. In 2002, Adamson left his long-term label, Mute Records, and started his own 'production home', Central Control International. In 2006, he released Stranger on the Sofa, first for his Central Control International imprint, to critical acclaim. Back To The Cat, his second album for the label, was released in March 2008. In 2007 it was announced that Magazine would reform for concerts in 2008. Adamson will be part of this and the same line up that recorded Secondhand Daylight will reform, with the exception of the late John McGeoch. McGeoch will be replaced by Luxuria/Apollo 440 member Noko.
Angelo Badalamenti (1) 88 views 0 favorites Angelo Badalamenti (born March 22, 1937) is an American composer, known for his movie soundtrack work for director David Lynch, notably Blue Velvet, the Twin Peaks saga (1990-1992) and Mulholland Drive. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Soundtrack Awards in 2008.
Badalamenti was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Italian family; his mother was from Sicily and his father was a fish market owner. Badalamenti spent much of his childhood listening to opera and classical music. He studied at the Eastman School of Music and at Manhattan School of Music where he earned a master's degree in music.
Trent Reznor (1) 55 views 0 favorites Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. As both a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Reznor has led the industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails since 1988; he left Interscope Records in 2007 and is now an independent recording artist. As of 2010, he and his wife Mariqueen Maandig are members of the post-industrial trio How to Destroy Angels with Reznor's fellow composer Atticus Ross, with whom Reznor scored the David Fincher films The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Reznor was previously associated with the bands Option 30, The Innocent, and Exotic Birds in the mid-80s. He gained employment at Right Track Studios in Cleveland and began creating his own music during the studio's closing hours under the name of Nine Inch Nails. Reznor's first release as Nine Inch Nails, the 1989 album Pretty Hate Machine, was a commercial and critical success and Reznor has since released seven major studio albums. Outside of Nine Inch Nails, he has contributed to the albums of artists such as Marilyn Manson and Saul Williams. In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time magazine's list of the year's most influential people and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music".
David Bowie (0) 39 views 0 favorites David Robert Jones (8 January 1947, Brixton, London, England – 10 January 2016, New York, USA), better known by his stage name David Bowie (/ˈboʊi/), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. He was a figure in popular music for over five decades, regarded by critics and musicians as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, his music and stagecraft significantly influencing popular music. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million worldwide, made him one of the world's best-selling music artists. In the UK, he was awarded nine platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, releasing eleven number-one albums. In the US, he received five platinum and seven gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
Born and raised in 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 began a sporadic acting career, starring in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth. The following year, he further confounded musical expectations with the electronic-inflected album Low (1977), the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that would come 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 then reached his commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, with its title track topping both UK and US charts. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including industrial and jungle. Bowie also continued acting; his roles included Major Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), the Goblin King Jareth 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 concert 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 release of The Next Day and remained musically active until he died of liver cancer two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar (2016).
Above The Law (1) 52 views 0 favorites Above the Law is a rap group from Pomona, California, founded in 1989 by Cold 187um, KMG the Illustrator, Go Mack, and DJ Total K-Oss. In 1989, the group signed to Eazy-E's Ruthless Records. There they became close associates of the pioneering gangsta rap group N.W.A. Their first album on Ruthless, 1990's Livin' Like Hustlers, featured guest appearances from N.W.A. members and some production from Dr. Dre. Above the Law member Cold187um worked closely with Dre on production and the two had great influence on each other. The songs "Untouchable" and "Murder Rap" became minor hits from the album. "Murder Rap" appeared in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the West Coast fictional radio station, Radio Los Santos as well as the 2008 film Pineapple Express. The song "Freedom of Speech" appeared in the 1990 movie Pump Up the Volume and was also featured on the movie soundtrack album. In September 1990, members of hip hop act Above the Law clashed with Ice Cube and his posse Da Lench Mob during the annual New Music Seminar conference.
The group's First full length album Livin' Like Hustlers came out in 1990. This album, released before Dr. Dre's The Chronic, featured a similar G-Funk sound to that album. Cold187um has claimed that he was the first to pioneer the G-Funk style and Dr. Dre's new sound was largely inspired by his own sound on that album. Dre by this point had left Ruthless Records for Death Row Records. Two years later in 1994 the group released Uncle Sam's Curse, which was their last album on Ruthless Records. It contained the minor hit "Black Superman".
Shortly after Eazy-E's death, the group signed to Tommy Boy Records in 1996. There they released Time Will Reveal in 1996 and Legends In 1999, the group signed to Suge Knight's Death Row Records but left in 2002. The group was a part of the West Coast Rap All-Stars, contributing to "We're All in the Same Gang", a 1990 collaboration of West Coast hip-hop artists that assembled for this song to promote an anti-violence message.
On the morning of July 7, 2012, it was confirmed by multiple sources that emcee KMG the Illustrator had passed away. Longtime Above the Law affiliate Kokane confirmed the passing of the rapper on his Twitter account on the same day. The cause of his death is unknown at this time. He was 43 years old.
Linda Perry (1) 59 views 0 favorites Linda Perry (born April 15, 1965) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and record producer. Once best known as the lead singer and primary songwriter of 4 Non Blondes, Perry has founded two record labels and has become a major songwriter and producer. She has written and produced hit songs for several successful female singers, including Pink (who had a number 1 hit with Perry's "Get the Party Started"), Christina Aguilera (who had a number 1 hit with Perry's "Beautiful"), and Gwen Stefani ("What You Waiting For?" from her album Love. Angel. Music. Baby.). Perry has also contributed heavily to albums by Courtney Love and Kelly Osbourne as well as signing and distributing James Blunt in the United States. Linda Perry was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the daughter of Portuguese-American Alfred Xavier Perry (1928-2005), an engineer and a musician and Brazilian-born Marluce Perry. Her mother has worked as a model, designer, and private detective. Linda has six siblings; five brothers (Jay, Solomon, Mark, Marcel, and John) and a sister (Sally). Perry spent her youth struggling with kidney disease and then addiction, before focusing on music. Growing up in an artistic and musical household, the young Perry displayed musical talent and interest from an early age. Her first song was "Pity Girls", at the age of 15 (according to an interview from ASCAP in the middle of 2003).