AR (1) 276 views 0 favorites
Arcade Fire (1) 218 views 0 favorites Arcade Fire is an indie rock band based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists of the husband and wife duo of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, along with Will Butler, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, Jeremy Gara, and Sarah Neufeld. Win Butler attended McGill and Régine Chassagne attended Concordia University, where he pursued religious studies and she studied jazz. Arcade Fire came to prominence with the release of their debut album, Funeral, in 2004 to critical acclaim. The band plays guitar, drums, bass guitar, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin, and hurdy-gurdy. Most of their instruments are taken on tour, and the multi-instrumentalist band members switch duties throughout shows.
Arcade Fire has won numerous awards, including the 2011 Grammy for Album of the Year, the 2011 Juno Award for Album of the Year, and the 2011 Brit Award for Best International Album for their third studio album, The Suburbs, released in 2010 to critical acclaim and commercial success. In earlier years they won the 2008 Meteor Music Award for Best International Album and the 2008 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year for their second studio album, Neon Bible. They also received nominations for the Best Alternative Music Album Grammy for all three of their studio albums. The band's work has also been twice named as a short list nominee for the Polaris Music Prize in 2007 for Neon Bible and in 2011 for The Suburbs, winning the award for The Suburbs.
Win Butler and Josh Deu began performing in Boston as Arcade Fire before moving to Montreal in 2001, recording the "2001 Demos" prior to their arrival in the city. The earliest Montreal-based incarnation of Arcade Fire began performing in the summer/fall of 2001, almost entirely in lofts and art galleries. One of the earliest shows took place at a Christian music festival, Inside Out Soul Festival, and later at a Montreal battle of the bands (other early shows took place at Concordia University's Faculty of Fine Arts VAV Gallery; later the group played the 2001 Christmas party of that faculty's MFA programme). At that time, the band consisted of future husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, singer, guitarist, collaborator and original band co-founder Josh Deu, bassist Myles Broscoe (later of Les Angles Morts, Crystal Clyffs, and AIDS Wolf), guitarist/drummer Dane Mills (later of Crackpot), and multi-instrumentalist Brendan Reed (later of Les Angles Morts and founding member of Clues), who lived with Butler and Chassagne in Montreal's Mile End neighbourhood at the time and was a collaborator with them on song-writing and arrangement (2001-2003).
The initial Montreal structure of the band began to dissolve in the summer of 2002, when they travelled to Butler's family ranch in Maine to record their self-titled EP. Tension between Butler and Broscoe led the latter to exit the band following the recording session. Richard Reed Parry, who had been enlisted to help the band record, began to collaborate with them during the sessions and would go on to join the band shortly afterwards. In the winter of 2003, the band celebrated the release of its EP with a show at Montreal's Casa del Popolo. Before a crowd packed beyond capacity, the band's set ended (in the middle of an encore) with an argument between Butler and Reed, who quit the band on-stage. Mills told gathered friends in the crowd immediately thereafter that he considered the band to have broken up, as such resigning from the band as well. Following the on-stage implosion, Win's brother William Butler (subject of the early Arcade Fire song "William Pierce Butler") and Tim Kingsbury were brought in to replace Reed and Mills so that the band could continue, and they set out to promote the self-titled EP. The eponymous release (often referred to by fans as the Us Kids Know EP) was sold at early shows. After the band achieved fame, the EP was subsequently remastered and given a full release.
The promise shown by the new band in its early live shows allowed them to land a record contract with the independent record label, Merge Records, before the end of its first year together.
When asked about the rumour that the band's name refers to a fire in an arcade, Win Butler replied: "It's not a rumour, it's based on a story that someone told me. It's not an actual event, but one that I took to be real. I would say that it's probably something that the kid made up, but at the time I believed him."
Architekt (1) 445 views 0 favorites 1). Am 26.12.1980 erblickte der kleine Architekt das Licht der Welt, verging sich an der Geburtshelferin, verprügelte den zuständigen Arzt und zwang seine Mutter ihm Süßigkeiten zu kaufen. Nachdem er 12 Jahre ziellos in Bielefeld umher geirrt war, stand er vor einer schwierigen Entscheidung; Drogen oder Rapkarriere? Als dann sein bester Freund mit seiner Jugendliebe durchbrannte, entschied er sich zunächst für die Drogenkarriere. Eine gesunde Mischung aus Paranoia, Selbstverwirklichungsdrang und seine unerschütterlichen Liebe zur Rapmusik konnten ihn jedoch vor dem Schlimmsten bewahren. Nachdem er erkannt hatte, dass das Mikrophon nicht nur dazu da ist, es anderen auf den Kopf zu schlagen, machte er sich in Bielefeld einen Namen und mutierte vom Rapper zum MC. Er betrieb nebenbei das Beatboxing so exzessiv, dass seine Mutter ihn einweisen lassen wollte, was sein Vater aber zu verhindern wusste. Anschließend tourte er mit Flaps und Rasputin durch sämtliche Altenheime in NRW und lehrte anderen MCs das Fürchten. Kurze Zeit später lernte er zwei schwererziehbare Kinder namens Tackmann und DJ Johnson kennen, die auf seiner Wellenlänge waren. Gemeinsam produzierten sie in etwa 1000 Tracks. Nachdem sie in Bielefeld in sämtlichen Diskotheken Hausverbot erteilt bekommen hatten, reisten sie nach Hamburg, um sich ihren Platz auf dem Kiez zu erkämpfen. Durch Architekts knackige Rechte wurde Thorsten B. von den Hells Angels auf sie aufmerksam, nahm Sie unter Vertrag und veröffentlichte in Zusammenarbeit mit Royal Bunker ihr Debütalbum. Als die Albaner dann den Kiez übernahmen, flüchtete Architekt ins Exil nach Göttingen. Eine unbeschreibliche innere Unruhe veranlasste ihn jedoch mit Lord Scan deutschlandweit in sämtlichen Karaokebars aufzutreten, wodurch selbst Atze Schröder auf sie aufmerksam wurde und sie in seinem Club spielen lies. Architekt lernte massenhaft wahnsinnige Leute wie Mosaik kennen und featurte die deutsche Rapelite für die bald erscheinende Klatsche, an der er zusammen mit Johnson schraubte. Christoph von 667 hörte davon, nahm Architekt auf einer Party in den Schwitzkasten, während Tom ununterbrochen auf ihn einredete und zwangen ihn einen Plattenvertrag zu unterschreiben. Haltet euch die Ohren zu, es wird laut! 2). Architekt is an electronic music producer from the Philadelphia area. Most of his releases are independent, however he does work with various vocalists and hip hop artists. He focus heavily on powerful rhythms and vivid soundscapes to craft his sound. His genres include trip hop,acid jazz, dub step, drum and bass, hip hop, electronica, new wave, break beat,minimalist techno, electro, house, noise, soundtrack, experimental rock,dub reggae, and ambient. Websites: http://www.architektmusic.bandcamp.com http://soundcloud.com/architektmusic1 http://architektmusic1.tumblr.com/
Arctic Monkeys (2) 395 views 0 favorites Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, lead/rhythm guitar), Jamie Cook (rhythm/lead guitar), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Matt Helders (drums, backing vocals). Former members include Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Glyn Jones (lead vocals, rhythm guitar).
The band have released four studio albums: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007), Humbug (2009) and Suck It and See (2011), as well as one live album At the Apollo (2008). The band's debut album became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, surpassing Oasis' Definitely Maybe and remains the fastest-selling debut album for a band in the UK.
Arctic Monkeys were heralded as one of the first group of acts to come to the public attention via the Internet (fan-based sites rather than from the band), with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed. The band are also regarded as one of the most prominent bands to be part of the post-punk revival in the UK, after achieving commercial success and spawning two number one singles with their debut album.
The band began rehearsing at Yellow Arch Studios in Neepsend, and played their first gig on 13 June 2003 at The Grapes in Sheffield city-centre. After a few performances in 2003, the band began to record demos at 2fly studios in Sheffield. 17 songs were demoed in all and the collection, now known as Beneath the Boardwalk, was burned on to CDs to give away at gigs, which were promptly file-shared amongst fans. The name Beneath the Boardwalk originated when the first batch of demos were sent around. The first sender, wanting to classify the demos, named them after where he received them, the Boardwalk. Slowly, as more demos were spread, they were all classified under this name. This has led to many people falsely believing that Beneath the Boardwalk was an early album, or that the early demos were all released under this heading. The group did not mind the distribution, saying "we never made those demos to make money or anything. We were giving them away free anyway - that was a better way for people to hear them.", admitting that they did not even know how to get their songs onto the Internet. When asked about the popularity of the band's MySpace site in an interview with Prefix Magazine, the band said that they were unaware what it was, and that the site had originally been created by their fans.
The band began to grow in popularity across the north of England, receiving attention from BBC Radio and the British tabloid press. A local amateur photographer, Mark Bull, filmed the band's performances and made the music video "Fake Tales of San Francisco", releasing it on his website, alongside the contents of Beneath the Boardwalk - a collection of the band's songs which he named after a local music venue. In May 2005, Arctic Monkeys released their first single, Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys on their own 'Bang Bang' label, featuring the songs "Fake Tales of San Francisco" and "From the Ritz to the Rubble". This release was limited to 500 CDs and 1,000 7" records, but was also available to download from the iTunes Music Store. Soon after, the band played at the Carling Stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals, reserved for less known or unsigned bands. Their appearance was hyped by much of the music press and the band was watched by an unusually large crowd.
Aretha Franklin (1) 317 views 0 favorites Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and pianist. In a recording career that has spanned over half a century, Franklin's repertoire has included gospel, jazz, blues, R&B, pop, rock and funk. Franklin is known as one of the most important popularizers of the soul music genre and is referred to as the Queen of Soul, a title she was given early in her career. Franklin, the daughter of prominent Baptist minister and activist C. L. Franklin, began her singing career singing in her father's church at the age of ten and started recording four years later. After several years in the gospel circuit and with her father's blessing, she formed a secular pop music career at the age of eighteen, signing with Columbia Records, where she was branded by its CEO John Hammond as his most important act since Billie Holiday. Franklin's Columbia period wasn't as successful as hoped and in late 1966, Franklin switched over to Atlantic Records, where she began recording a string of popular hits including "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Think", "Chain of Fools" and what later became her signature song, "Respect".
After a brief lull in 1969, Franklin continued to record a string of popular singles throughout the early 1970s, reaching her peak as an albums artist with 1970's Spirit in the Dark, 1971's Young, Gifted & Black and the 1972 gospel record, Amazing Grace, which later became one of the best-selling gospel albums of all time and was the biggest-selling album in gospel music for over 25 years. Franklin's success in Atlantic peaked after the release of the singles, "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)", "I'm in Love" and "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" and the 1976 soundtrack to the movie, Sparkle and Franklin left the label in 1980 to sign with Clive Davis' Arista Records label where she switched over from soul and funk music to a more conservative urban adult contemporary sound in the albums, Aretha and Love All the Hurt Away, before regaining commercial success with the 1982 album, Jump to It, produced by R&B hitmaker Luther Vandross. In 1984, Franklin added modern day pop rock and dance elements to her sound, which was integral to the success of her 1985 album, Who's Zoomin' Who?, which spawned the hits "Freeway of Love", "Who's Zoomin' Who" and the Eurythmics featured "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves". The 1986 release of Aretha featured her last number-one hit single with the George Michael duet "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me". Afterwards Franklin returned to a lull in her career until the release of 1998's A Rose Is Still a Rose, which incorporated modern day contemporary R&B and which the title track returned Franklin to the top 40 of the pop charts.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" list, as well as the ninth greatest artist of all time. She has won 18 Grammys and received two honorary Grammys. In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Franklin is planned to be inducted to the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame in August 2012.
Arhard (1) 221 views 0 favorites
Ariana Grande (8) 866 views 0 favorites Ariana Grande-Butera (born June 26, 1993), known professionally as Ariana Grande (/ˌɑriːˈɑːnə ˈɡrɑːndeɪ/), is an American singer and actress. She began her career in the Broadway musical 13, before landing the role of Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television series Victorious in 2009. After four seasons, the show ended, and Grande starred on the spinoff, Sam & Cat, which ended in 2014. She has also appeared in other theatre, television and film roles and lent her voice to animated television and films.
Grande's music career began with the soundtrack Music from Victorious (2011). She signed a recording contract with Republic Records and released her debut studio album Yours Truly in 2013, which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. The album's lead single, "The Way", reached the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100, with critics comparing her wide vocal range to Mariah Carey's.
Grande's second studio album, My Everything (2014), also reached number one in the United States. With the singles "Problem", "Break Free", "Bang Bang" and "Love Me Harder" from that album, she spent 34 continuous weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and had the most top 10 singles of any artist in 2014. In 2015, she promoted My Everything with her first world tour titled The Honeymoon Tour and guest-starred in Fox comedy-horror TV series Scream Queens. In 2015, Grande released the lead single "Focus" from her upcoming third album Moonlight, released a holiday EP album, Christmas & Chill, and she was heard on several collaborative projects.
Grande's accolades include two American Music Awards, Music Business Association's Breakthrough Artist of the Year, an MTV Video Music Award, an MTV Europe Music Award and two Grammy Award nominations.
Ariana Grande-Butera was born in Boca Raton, Florida, to Joan Grande, chief executive officer of telephone and alarm system company Hose-McCann Communications, and Edward Butera, who owns a graphic design firm in Boca Raton. Her name was originally inspired by Princess Oriana from Felix the Cat (1959). Grande is of Italian descent, half Sicilian and half Abruzzese. She has experienced hypoglycemia. She has an older half-brother, Frankie Grande, who is an actor, dancer, and producer. Grande's mother moved with her father from New York to Florida when she was pregnant with her. She has stated that her parents separated when she was around 8 or 9 years old.
As a child, Grande performed with the Fort Lauderdale Children's Theater, playing her first role as Annie, as well as performing in the musicals The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast. At the age of 8, she performed at a karaoke lounge on a cruise ship, in various orchestras such as South Florida's Philharmonic, Florida Sunshine Pops and Symphonic Orchestras, and made her national television debut singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the Florida Panthers. She attended Pine Crest School and North Broward Preparatory School.
By age 13, she became serious about pursuing a music career, though she still concentrated on theater. When she first arrived in Los Angeles to meet with her managers, she expressed a desire to record an R&B album when she was 14: "I was like, 'I want to make an R&B album,' They were like 'Um, that's a helluva goal! Who is going to buy a 14-year-old's R&B album?!'" In 2008, Grande was cast in the supporting role of cheerleader Charlotte in the musical 13 on Broadway, for which she won a National Youth Theatre Association Award. When she joined the musical, Grande left her high school, North Broward Preparatory School, but continued to be enrolled. The school sent materials to her so she could study with tutors. She also sang various times at the New York City Jazz club Birdland.
Arjans (1) 183 views 1 favorites
Armin Van Buuren (12) 1026 views 0 favorites Armin van Buuren(born 25 December 1976 in Leiden, Netherlands) is a Dutch trance producer and DJ. Between 2007 and 2010, he was voted number one in DJ Magazine's annual top 100 list of the most popular DJs. In the 2011 list, he ranked in second place. Since 2001, Van Buuren has hosted a weekly radio show called A State of Trance, which claims to have around 15 million weekly listeners in 26 countries, which would make it one of the most listened-to radio shows in the world. His 2008 studio album, Imagine, entered the Dutch album chart at #1, a first for a dance music artist in Dutch music history.
Armin van Buuren was born in Leiden, Netherlands on 25 December 1976, but grew up in Koudekerk aan den Rijn. Van Buuren started making music when he was 14. He was inspired by French electronic music composer, Jean Michel Jarre, and wished to become a great electronic music composer like Jarre.
He finished high school at the Stedelijk Gymnasium Leiden in 1995, and left for college to study law at Leiden University. While studying law, Van Buuren's interest for making music blossomed, and he began working as a DJ in a local club called Nexus. As his musical career began to take off, he put his law degree on hold, although he did return to finish law school in 2003.
On 18 September 2009, Van Buuren married Erika van Thiel in Wassenaar, Netherlands. They met during a vacation on Crete, and had been together for nine years prior to the marriage.
Arston (1) 327 views 0 favorites
Art Brut (1) 315 views 0 favorites Art Brut is an indie rock band which formed in London, England in 2003. The current line-up consists of Eddie Argos (vocals), Ian Catskilkin (guitar), Friederike “Freddy” Feedback (bass), Jasper Future (guitar) and Mikey Breyer (drums).
Vocalist Eddie Argos (an ex-goth obsessed with Jonathan Richman and Vincent Van Gogh) had previously been in a band, The Art Goblins, in his hometown of Bournemouth. Their stage show would see him “playing a vacuum cleaner” and escaping from a sack. They sounded not unlike cult Glaswegians The Yummy Fur and had songs such as I Wanna Be Johnny Dean and Disco.
Another ‘project’ was The Welsh Elephant, who penned the should-be-classic Fuck The MSP (which contains the catchy refrain “Nicky Wire can suck my cock!”). Having moved to London, UK and determined to be in another band, Argos found himself at a party in Mornington Crescent and set about hassling everyone there to join him. A webzine-editor and guitarist called Chris Chinchilla (a ska fanatic) thought this sounded like a good idea – after all, it was a good way to impress girls. Argos was more concerned about getting on ‘Top Of The Pops’. Chinchilla talked his German flatmate Freiderike Feedback (grunge fan) into playing bass, and thus they got a bass guitar for her off eBay. Argos had a friend from Bournemouth who’d also just moved to London. Ian Catskilkin (thinks he’s in Led Zeppelin, but with better hair) used to be in a heavy rock band called Orco and he agreed to join the new band. Another friend then overheard a German man (who NME would later say looks like “he should be in Interpol”) on a bus telling someone how he played drums and worked in Merc, the shop on Carnaby Street selling cut-price mod clothing.
Art Of Trance (2) 51 views 0 favorites Simon Paul Berry, known by his alias Art of Trance, is a trance music artist from England. Berry is also known as Poltergeist or Vicious Circles, and has been a member of the trance groups Clanger, Conscious and Union Jack. He has been producing and remixing music since 1993. In addition to his work as an artist, Berry was the founder and head of Platipus Records, based in London. Initially his label only released his own tracks. His work was first distributed on vinyl and compact disc and then digital only from 2011.
On 15 June 2002, his track "Madagascar" reached number one on the UK Dance Singles Chart. His work has charted in United Kingdom eight times as Art of Trance and the first time with "Vicious Circles" under the alias Poltergeist in 1996. Berry has remixed a number of tracks for other electronic musicians, including Quietman, Moogwai, Indiana, Matt Darey, Steve Jablonsky and Anthony Pappa. A remix of Yello's "Vicious Games" from the 1985 Stella album, charted in 1999. In 2003, he re-recorded a new version of Jan Johnston's "Calling your name" that charted at #80. His tracks appear on mixed compilations such as Tranceport 2, Global Underground 017: London, Upfront Trance, Magik Three: Far from Earth, Oakenfold Anthems, Beyond Euphoria, Ibiza Euphoria and Classic Euphoria.
Berry's music has been remixed by artists including Ferry Corsten, Cygnus X, Perfect Stranger, Mike Dierickx, Michael Woods, Telefon Tel Aviv and Gai Barone. Art of Trance performs at various international music festivals and parties. He was credited for the release to a wider audience of the single "Children" by Robert Miles after its initial release failed to chart.
Berry's music has been described variously as progressive trance, psychedelic trance, acid trance and techno. During the 1990s, Berry's music production was focused on his wide array of analog synthesizers. From 2005 on-wards, his work space shifted to the computer. His current hardware includes an Analogue Solutions Nyborg 12, Modal 008, Alesis Andromeda A6, Abstrakt Instruments Avalon and a Moog Sub 37. He uses Logic Pro and Reaktor with a range of plugins.
Art of Trance is well known for the usage of samples of natural sounds (or electronically produced imitations of natural sounds) in his tracks, like bird singing (e.g. "Easter Island", "Kaleidoscope" and "Madagascar"). The songs "Stealth" and "Blue Owl" were featured on the video game Midnight Club II. Various remixes have appeared on the SongBird and Black Hole Recordings music labels. Berry's work is currently distributed through Platipus Music.
Berry has described his style as deep trance, explaining his preference for "techno-based hypnotic progressive house with depth, and occasional psychedelic and melodic elements". He cites Depeche Mode, Vangelis, Tomita, Orbital, 808 State, Jean Michel Jarre, Walter Wendy Carlos, Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Jeff Mills as his musical influences.
Artiks (1) 250 views 0 favorites