Crystal Stilts (1) 221 views 0 favorites Crystal Stilts is an American post punk band from Brooklyn, New York City though their founding members, Brad Hargett and JB Townsend, were originally from Florida.
Crystal Stilts was formed in 2003 by Brad Hargett and JB Townsend. After releasing one single and an EP, the pair expanded to five members before signing to Slumberland Records in the US and Angular Recording Corporation in Europe and releasing their debut, Alight of Night, in 2008. After a few bouts of touring and some down-time, the band returned in 2011 with the LP "In Love With Oblivion", in April 2011 and an EP, "Radiant Door" in November 2011. The group currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.
Curve (1) 267 views 0 favorites Curve were an English alternative rock and electronica duo from London, formed in 1990 and split in 2005. The band consisted of Toni Halliday (vocals, occasionally guitar) and Dean Garcia (bass, guitar, drums, programming). Halliday wrote also the lyrics of their songs and they both contributed to songwriting. An important collaborator was the producer Alan Moulder, who helped them to shape their blend of heavy beats and densely layered guitar tracks set against Halliday's vocals.
Curve released five studio albums (Doppelgänger in 1992, Cuckoo in 1993, Come Clean in 1998, Gift in 2001, and The New Adventures of Curve in 2002), five compilation albums (Pubic Fruit in 1992, Radio Sessions in 1993, Open Day at the Hate Fest in 2001, The Way of Curve in 2004, and Rare and Unreleased in 2010), and a string of EPs and singles.
History:
Dean Garcia, half Hawaiian and half Irish, had played in some small bands when he auditioned for Eurythmics. The English Toni Halliday met Dave Stewart of Eurythmics after he had read a rock magazine interview with her in which she praised his pre-Eurythmics band, The Tourists. Halliday and Garcia were introduced to each other by Stewart. Garcia had played bass guitar as part of Eurythmics' live band in 1983-84 and on two of their studio albums, while Halliday was signed to Stewart's Anxious Records label as a solo artist. The pair formed an ill-fated group named State of Play in the mid-1980s before parting ways, embarking on a no less ill-fated solo career (Halliday) and further stints as a backing musician (Garcia), and then reuniting for a more long-term partnership in Curve.
As Curve, Halliday and Garcia released three acclaimed and increasingly successful EPs (Blindfold, Frozen, and Cherry) throughout 1991 on Anxious Records. They also made an impact on the UK album charts in 1992 with their debut studio album Doppelgänger. The group toured extensively during this period, with Halliday and Garcia being supported on stage by two additional guitarists (Debbie Smith, later of Echobelly, and Alex Mitchell) and a drummer (Steve Monti, formerly of Ian Dury and the Blockheads). Highlights of Curve's live career included a performance at the 1992 Glastonbury Festival, and a package tour of the United States with The Jesus and Mary Chain and Spiritualized.
In 1992, the band released the compilation album Pubic Fruit, containing their first three EPs and an extended mix of the single "Faît Accompli". Toni Halliday also featured on two songs ("Edge to Life" and "Bloodline") from Recoil's album, Bloodline. In 1993, Curve issued Radio Sessions, a compilation album of recordings made during their two sessions for John Peel's show on the UK broadcasting station BBC Radio 1.
Curve's second studio album, the harder-edged Cuckoo (1993), did not repeat the UK Top 20 success of the band's debut. That coupled with the stressfulness of the tour in support of the record, may have contributed to Halliday and Garcia's decision to disband the group in 1994. "It got to the point where Dean didn't want to tour," Halliday told Select magazine (August 1996 edition). "We did reach that point of hedonistic head-fuckery: glugging JD, hollering, 'Where's the schnozz?' You finally get that out of your system and think, 'This is sad.' We couldn't have gone on like that."
During their hiatus, Halliday formed the band Scylla and Garcia began a solo project under the name Headcase. Scylla's track "Helen's Face" was featured on the Showgirls soundtrack. Halliday also collaborated with The Future Sound of London for the song "Cerebral" from Lifeforms (1994), with Freaky Chakra for the song "Budded on Earth to Bloom in Heaven" from Lowdown Motivator (1995), and with Leftfield for their #18 UK hit "Original" from Leftism (1995). She also featured on "Original"'s music video.
Curve returned to the music business in 1996 with the EP Pink Girl With the Blues. In the same year, Curve collaborated with Paul Van Dyk by reworking the mostly instrumental song "Words" from the album Seven Ways and also adding Halliday's vocals.
In 1997, they released "Chinese Burn", the first single to be taken from their third studio album Come Clean (1998). The album is a set of songs displaying a more pronounced influence of electronic music than earlier releases. Come Clean was met with a certain amount of acclaim and commercial success, which encouraged the group to continue their recording career. Curve continued to do small-scale live shows in and around Europe.
The follow-up to Come Clean was an internet-only compilation titled Open Day at the Hate Fest which was released in 2001. Also in the same year, Curve issued Gift, their fourth studio album. Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine also played guitar on the songs "Want More Need Less" and "Perish". The opening song "Hell Above Water" has gained the highest public profile as a result of its use in trailers for the 2002 film Spider-Man and the 2008 film Iron Man.
In 2002, Curve released the internet-only fifth studio album The New Adventures of Curve and various download-only tracks via their official site. In 2003, Toni Halliday collaborated with the industrial rock Japanese band Acid Android on the song "Faults" from the album with the same name.
A two-CD retrospective compilation entitled The Way of Curve summarized the group's output in 2004. The first disc included the band' singles. The second disc contained a selection of B-sides, rarities and remixes. In early 2005, Halliday announced that she had left Curve for good.
In 2010, Curve published some of their most important releases as digital downloads on their Bandcamp page, including a new compilation with 39 songs entitled Rare and Unreleased.
Post-Curve projects:
Toni Halliday:
Toni Halliday featured on The Killers' 2006 Christmas track "A Great Big Sled". This song was later included in the 2011 compilation (RED) Christmas EP.
On 27 February 2008, she introduced on MySpace a new solo project called Chatelaine. A number of tracks could be previewed, and were credited to Halliday/Dowd/Salmon, and its MySpace blog declared that a new album was being worked on.
Chatelaine's debut album Take a Line For a Walk was released in 16 June 2010. It featured nine new tracks: "Broken Bones", "Oh Daddy", "Life Remains", "Stripped Out", "Shifting Sands", "Killing Feeling", "Take a Line For a Walk", "Head To Head" and "Seen and Lost".
In 2012, Halliday contributed vocals to Orbital's soundtrack for remake of the film Pusher.
Dean Garcia:
Dean Garcia is currently a member of the band SPC ECO with his daughter Rose Berlin and Joey Levenson (2007-present). In February 2009, SPC ECO released their first album, 3-D, through their website and via Collide's label Noiseplus Music. 3-D was followed by the albums You Tell Me in 2011 and Dark Notes in 2012.
Garcia is also member of the bands The Black Holes (with Jo Neale; 2007-present), The Chronologic (2006-present), Inkraktare (with Mark Wallbridge aka Vasko The Pig; 2009-present),The Secret Meeting (with kaRIN and Statik of Collide; 2007-present),KGC (with Sascha Konietzko and Lucia Cifarelli of KMFDM; 2006-present) and Morpheme (2010-present).
Garcia's newest project Morpheme is a collaboration with Perry Pelonero (Clenched Fist, Skylight, Bliss City East), and Kim Welsh (Skylight, Bliss City East). On 8 December 2010, Morpheme released their first track, Infection and on 5 May 2011, they released their second track, Stratosphere on their debut single Infection.
Dean Garcia has also released a solo album on 1 January 2011, entitled How Do You Feel?, with special guests Vasko the Pig, Todd Astromass and Jeff Beck.
Music style and influences:
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic described Curve's style as as a "towering monolith of guitar noise, dance tracks, dark goth, and airy melodies". He also regarded the band's music as a combination of "shoegazer atmospherics and techno beats".
Curve has been inspired by My Bloody Valentine,Cocteau Twins,Killing Joke, Eurythmics,Colourbox,The Cure, and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Toni Halliday has occasionally commented on the comparisons between Curve and Garbage, stating in an 1996 interview with Volume magazine, that she could "see bits of Garbage in what we've done, just like we see bits of Sonic Youth or the Valentines or really any band that was doing something supposedly outside the norm. In a way it's very flattering to be tied in with (Garbage drummer and co-producer) Butch Vig, not just because he's a brilliant human being, but because he's a brilliant producer, and he's worked on some of our favourite records. But eventually Garbage are a pop band, and Curve were never a pop band".
Halliday has, on other occasions, also offered contrasting opinions. Interviewed by Cosmik Debris Magazine in 2001, she reminisced on how "Curve had put records out and we always thought they were nice little pop albums full of nice little pop songs. I've always thought that Curve have made great pop. It might come in a different guise to what people presume is pop, you know, like... it doesn't sound like Backstreet Boys pop, but still, there's melody there, and there are hooks, and we've done that on every record we've ever made. ... We've been called 'goth' in England, and we've been called 'noise merchants' and the whole gamut of labels, but not once have we been called a pop band, and I'd really like to be called that".
Band members:
Official members:
Toni Halliday (born 5 July 1964 in Parsons Green, Fulham, England) - vocals, occasionally guitar,
Dean Garcia (born 3 May 1958) - bass, guitar, drums, programming,
Touring members:
Debbie Smith - guitar (from 1991 until 1994),
Alex Mitchell - guitar (from 1991 until 1994),
Rob Holliday - guitar (Come Clean era),
Steve Monti - drums,
Stephen Spring - drums,
Equipment:
A detailed gear diagram of Dean Garcia's 2002 Curve bass rig is well-documented.,
A detailed gear diagram of Rob Holliday's 2002 Curve guitar rig is well-documented.,
On YouTube, there's a video available with Alan Moulder working in Curve' recording studio.,
An in-depth interview with Dean Garcia and Toni Halliday from 2002 that covers their live gear as well as their recording methods at their studio, Todal Studios.
Cygnus X (1) 214 views 0 favorites Cygnus X was a trance music project from Germany named after the famous X-ray binary star Cygnus X-1. It began as a collaboration between Matthias Hoffmann and Ralf Hildenbeutel, who later left. Other projects of the pair include A.C. Boutsen, Brainchild and Dee.FX. Their sound extends from hard to ambient trance.
Cyndi Lauper (1) 292 views 0 favorites Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper (born June 22, 1953, in Queens, New York) is an American singer, songwriter and actress.
She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the debut solo album She's So Unusual in 1983, which included four Billboard Hot 100 top-five songs-"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop" and "All Through the Night"-She's So Unusual was the first album in history to have four top five singles by a female. The album earned Lauper Best New Artist at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985.
Her success continued with the follow-up, True Colors in 1986, which included two Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs-"True Colors" and "Change of Heart", and earned two nominations at the 29th Grammy Awards.
Since 1989, she has released nine studio albums to critical acclaim, including A Night to Remember (1989), Hat Full of Stars (1993), Sisters of Avalon (1996), Merry Christmas... Have a Nice Life (1998), Shine (2001), At Last (2003), The Body Acoustic (2005), Bring Ya to the Brink (2008).
In 2010, her eleventh studio album, Memphis Blues, topped the Billboard Blues Albums chart for thirteen consecutive weeks at number one, and included five Billboard Digital Blues Songs top-five songs-"Just Your Fool", "Crossroads", "How Blue Can You Get?", "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Early in the Mornin'", became her most successful album on the charts since She's So Unusual and True Colors.
Lauper has also released over 40 singles, and as of 2011 had sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and 1 million DVDs and 20 million singles, which makes her one of the best selling artists of all time.
Throughout her career, Lauper has won numerous awards, including Grammy, Emmy, MTV VMA, Billboard and AMA. In 1999, Lauper ranked #58 of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll by VH1.
D Mad (1) 324 views 0 favorites
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Dada Life (4) 534 views 0 favorites Dada Life is a prominent Swedish electro house duo, consisting of Olle Corneer and Stefan Engblom. In 2010, Dada Life was voted #89 in DJ Magazine's annual Top 100 list of the most popular DJ's. Dada Life's popularity escalated significantly over the next year and in October 2011, they were voted #38 in DJ Mag's Top 100. Some of Dada's biggest hits to date include: "Happy Violence", "Kick Out The Epic Motherf*cker", "Unleash the F*cking Dada", "White Noise / Red Meat", "Feed The Dada", and their remixes of "Dynasty" by Kaskade (feat Haley) and "Big Bad Wolf" by Duck Sauce. Dada Life frequently headlines at North America's two largest electronic dance festivals, at the Electric Daisy Carnival and Ultra Music Festival.
Daddy Yankee (1) 292 views 0 favorites Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (born February 3, 1977), known by his stage name Daddy Yankee, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, and record producer. Ayala was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, and was raised in the neighborhood of Villa Kennedy Housing Projects. Daddy Yankee is the artist who coined the word Reggaeton in 1994 to describe the new music genre that was emerging from Puerto Rico. According to the New York Times, he is known as the "King of Reggaetón" by music critics and fans alike.
Ayala aspired to be a professional baseball player, and tried out for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball. Before he could be officially signed, he was hit by a stray round from an AK-47 rifle while taking a break from a studio recording session with reggaeton mix tape icon DJ Playero. Ayala spent roughly one and a half years recovering from the wound; the bullet was never removed from his hip, and he credits the shooting incident with allowing him to focus entirely on a music career. In 2004, Daddy Yankee released his internationally acclaimed single "Gasolina", which is credited with introducing reggaeton to audiences worldwide, and making the music genre a global phenomenon. Since then, he has sold around 20 million records. Daddy Yankee's album Barrio Fino made history when it became the top-selling Latin music album of the decade between 2000–2009. In 2017, Daddy Yankee, in collaboration with Latin pop singer Luis Fonsi, released the hit single "Despacito". It became the first Spanish-language song to hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since "Macarena" in 1996. The single gained global success. The official video for "Despacito" on YouTube received its billionth view on April 20, 2017 after 97 days, becoming the second-fastest video on the site to reach the milestone behind Adele's "Hello". Its success led Daddy Yankee to become the most listened artist worldwide on the streaming service Spotify in June 2017, being the first Latin artist to do so.
Daddy Yankee has received various awards and nominations throughout his career. As of 2017, he has won 82 awards from 270 nominations since his rise to international fame in 2004. He has won 5 Latin Grammy Award, 2 Billboard Music Awards, 14 Billboard Latin Music Awards, 2 Latin American Music Awards, 8 Lo Nuestro Awards, an MTV Video Music Award and 6 ASCAP Awards. He also received a Puerto Rican Walk of Fame Star, special awards by People en Español magazine, and the Presencia Latina at Harvard University. He was named by CNN as the "Most Influential Hispanic Artist" of 2009, and included in Time 100 in 2006.
Daft Punk (4) 608 views 0 favorites Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The duo achieved significant popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement and were met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house music with funk, techno, disco, rock, and synthpop. The are also known for their visual stylization and disguises associated with their music; specifically, the duo have worn ornate helmets and gloves to assume robot personas in most of their public appearances since 2001. They rarely grant interviews or appear on television.
Bangalter and de Homem-Christo were originally in a rock band called Darlin' together, which disbanded after a short period of time, leaving the two to experiment musically with drum machines and synthesizers. The duo became Daft Punk, releasing their debut album Homework on Virgin Records in 1997 to highly-positive reviews. They were managed from 1996 to 2008 by Pedro Winter (Busy P), the head of Ed Banger Records. The 2001 release of Discovery was even more successful, driven by the club singles "One More Time", "Digital Love", and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". In March 2005, the duo released the album Human After All to mixed reviews. However, the singles "Robot Rock" and "Technologic" achieved success in the United Kingdom.
Daft Punk toured throughout 2006 and 2007 and released the live album Alive 2007, which won a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album. The duo composed the score of the film Tron: Legacy in 2010 and released its soundtrack album. In January 2013, Daft Punk left Virgin Records for Sony Music Entertainment's subsidiary label Columbia, and released Random Access Memories in 2013 to worldwide critical acclaim. The album's lead single "Get Lucky" became an international success, peaking in the top 10 in 32 countries. Random Access Memories led to five Grammy wins in 2014, including Album of the Year as well as Record of the Year for "Get Lucky".
Damn Yankees (1) 393 views 0 favorites Damn Yankees was an American hard rock supergroup. The band was formed in 1989, consisting of Tommy Shaw of Styx, Jack Blades of Night Ranger, Ted Nugent of The Amboy Dukes and a successful solo career, and Michael Cartellone (then an unknown drummer, but one who would later join Lynyrd Skynyrd). Produced by rock producer Ron Nevison, the new band’s self-titled debut album went double-platinum in 1990. Jack Blades’s leading single "Coming of Age," hit No. 60 on the U.S. Hot 100, and No. 1 on the AOR charts, while Tommy Shaw’s "Come Again" received extensive AOR airplay. 1990's rock ballad "High Enough" rose to No. 3 on U.S. Hot 100, and No. 2 on AOR charts. Despite Ted Nugent's career being built on his "Motor City Madman" image, "High Enough" was his first mainstream top ten single.
After the release of their debut, the Damn Yankees went on a year-and-a-half world tour with the likes of a revamped Bad Company, Poison and Jackyl. In 1992, Damn Yankees went gold with their follow-up album Don’t Tread. The title song, sung by Blades, enjoyed extensive coverage at the Barcelona Olympic Games. Although the second release was not as successful as the first album, it contained a few minor hits, such as "Mister Please," "Where You Goin' Now", and "The Silence Is Broken," a power ballad featured in the 1993 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Nowhere to Run. In 1994 Ted Nugent revived his solo career leaving Tommy Shaw & Jack Blades to record their own album as the duo Shaw Blades. Released in 1995, Hallucination received very little support from its label as a personnel change brought industry executives more sympathetic to alternative and grunge bands. Ultimately, the Shaw Blades album came out to some critical praise, but it vanished without major single support or a national tour (which had been cancelled by Warner Bros.). "I’ll Always Be With You" did garner some AOR airplay, and the title track was heard in the hit movie Tommy Boy, but after a brief West Coast tour, both Shaw and Blades went back to their respective original bands, Styx & Night Ranger.
During a hiatus in both Night Ranger and Styx, Shaw and Blades met with Ted Nugent to record a new Damn Yankees album in 1999. However, the album, provisionally titled Bravo, failed to please either the band members or the prospective record labels. Some of this unused material may have surfaced on Shaw’s 7 Deadly Zens solo album, which featured sessions from both Jack Blades and Ted Nugent, as well as Michael Cartellone. Other songs originally prepared for a 3rd Damn Yankees album were included on Nugent’s 2002 release Craveman and Blades’ 2004 self-titled solo effort.
On January 15, 2010 at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA, the original members of Damn Yankees made a surprise appearance at the Taylor Guitars exhibit. Jack Blades, Tommy Shaw, Ted Nugent, and Michael Cartellone performed an acoustic set on the Taylor Stage including hits such as "Coming of Age", "High Enough", and the Ted Nugent anthem "Cat Scratch Fever". It was their first performance together since 2002.
Dance 2 Trance (1) 281 views 0 favorites Dance 2 Trance is the name used by Rolf Ellmer (one half of famous electronic music duo Jam & Spoon) and Dag Lerner also known as Dj Dag. They have also released tracks that became classics of genre under aliases Peyote and The Odd Company. Dance 2 Trance's most famous singles include "We Came in Peace", "Hello San Francisco", "Take A Free Fall", and "P.ower Of A.merican N.atives".