Showing 1 - 23 of 23
Artist: Fritz Hauser
Hauser recalls being fascinated as a child by the sounds of drum rolls at the circus; in his teens, the percussionist was attracted to the music of rock bands like the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Hauser has collaborated with such new music luminaries as Urs Leimgruber, Marilyn Crispell, and Joelle Leandre, but he is perhaps best known for his... [+] Read More
Artist: Michael Hauser
Artist: Kaspar Hauser
Artist: Tan-Hauser Gate
Artist: Palomar
Indie rock darlings Palomar formed in 1998 with Rachel Warren, Sasha Alcott, and Matt Hauser. They hooked up with Television's Fred Smith to independently issued a self-titled effort in 1999. Christina Prostano, formerly of Warren's old band Trixie Belden, joined the band in time for the CMJ Music Marathon Showcase in fall 2000. Sasha left... [+] Read More
Artist: Marco Cerletti
The first European to release an album of Chapman stick music, Marco Cerletti has continued to blend classical, jazz and rock influences. Accompanied by his band, featuring lead vocalist, acoustic guitarist and saxophonist Roland Frei, flute, tambourine and alto saxophone player and vocalist Andres Grieder and drummer, vibraphonist and... [+] Read More
Artist: Marcus Schmickler
A member of the thriving Cologne experimental music scene associated with Mouse on Mars, Nonplace Urban Field, Air Liquide, Mike Ink, and the A-Music, Electro Bunker, and Karaoke Kalk labels, Markus Schmickler is one of the more "composerly" contributors to that conglomerate's growing renown. A formal student of electronic composition,... [+] Read More
Artist: Four Below Zero
Four Below Zero, a New York-based quartet consisting of Dornell Chavous, Moses McNeil, Cleveland Dickerson, and Harry Watson, had grandiose dreams of stardom that went unfulfilled. Armed with song, they caught the interest of Patrick Adams and signed with the producer/writer/arranger's P&P label in 1974; the song, "Tell Me Why (We Can't Be... [+] Read More
Artist: Eskimo Kisses
Upon their formation in 1998, Shar McLeod (guitar/vocals), Kevin Bybee (drums/vocals), and Kevin Hauser (vocals/guitar) went on to form Eskimo Kisses without the use of a bass guitarist. On top of their inspirations through the likes of Archers of Loaf, Polvo, and Superchunk, the band played out their complex, indie pop stylings to their native... [+] Read More
Artist: Diethelm/Famulari
Highly technical acoustic guitarist Thomas Diethelm joined with imaginative keyboards and piano player Santino Famulari to form the Swiss duo Diethelm/Famulari in 1982. Although they disbanded in 1984, their fluid, jazz-influenced albums -- Diethelm/Famulari, Valleys in My Head, and The Flyer -- continued to inspire a new generation of Swiss... [+] Read More
Artist: The Manhattan Transfer
Riding a wave of nostalgia in the '70s, the Manhattan Transfer resurrected jazz trends from boogie-woogie to bop to vocalese in a slick, slightly commercial setting that sometimes failed to gel with the group's close harmonies. Originally formed in 1969, the quartet recorded several albums of jazz standards as well as much material closer to... [+] Read More
Artist: Urs Leimgruber
Swiss-born saxophonist (he plays virtually all of them) Urs Leimgruber has long been a fixture on the European new music, jazz, and free improvisation scenes. Leimgruber has formal training in both classical music and jazz, and began his tenure as a member of the electric, free improv jazz group Om in the 1970s with drummer Fredy Studer, Christy... [+] Read More
Artist: Wabi Sabi
Though more well-known for his work as Pluramon, German artist Markus Schmickler also released a solo album in 1997 as Wabi Sabi on A-Musik. A member of the thriving Cologne experimental music scene associated with Mouse on Mars, Nonplace Urban Field, Air Liquide, Mike Ink, and the A-Music, Electro Bunker, and Karaoke Kalk labels, Schmickler is... [+] Read More
Artist: Lauren Newton
This American-born vocalist/composer made a name for herself in Germany, first as a singer with Mathias Rüegg's Vienna Art Orchestra, then with a host of European avant-gardists, including Fritz Hauser, Jon Rose, and Vladimir Tarasov. Newton moved to Europe in 1974 after receiving a degree in music from the University of Oregon. She... [+] Read More
Artist: Vetiver
Vetiver are commonly lumped into the nascent "freak folk" movement alongside the likes of Joanna Newsom and Six Organs of Admittance, thanks to leader Andy Cabic's friendship with scene founder Devendra Banhart. (Besides Banhart's musical contributions to Vetiver's first two albums, Cabic co-wrote Banhart's breakout song "At the Hop," from... [+] Read More
Artist: Budapest Quartet
Founded in 1917 in Budapest, Hungary, the Budapest Quartet became the most internationally successful chamber ensemble of modern times. Across 50 years, and a repertory ranging from Mozart to Bartok, the group brought chamber music of these composers to audiences on two continents, and further popularized the music through their recordings.
The... [+] Read More
Artist: Don & the Goodtimes
Don and the Goodtimes were a Pacific Northwest group formed in 1965 by Don Gallucci (keyboards) and Bobby Holden (drums), veterans of the band scene in Portland and the surrounding area. They cut records for Scepter Records' Wand label and for the Jerden label, and had some local success with the latter label. The group didn't find a national... [+] Read More
Artist: Joseph Joachim
Recordings of Joachim's playing in the latter years of his life illustrate lapses in intonation; however, this was not the case throughout most of his life. As a performer Joachim was playing duets with his teachers as early as the age of nine. He learned with Serwaczynski, the leading Pest violinist, as well as Hauser, Hellmesberger and Bohm in... [+] Read More
Artist: Bun-Ching Lam
Composer Bun-Ching Lam was born in 1954 in Macao. First trained as a pianist, she earned a bachelor's degree in performance from the Chinese University in Hong Kong. Upon receiving a scholarship from the University of California, San Diego, in 1976, Lam moved to the U.S. and began composing under the tutelage of Robert Erickson, Pauline... [+] Read More
Artist: Total
London's Total was the largely solo side project of Skullflower and Sunroof! leader Matthew Bower, who generally used it as a vehicle for his multi-instrumental talents and as a free-form, ambient counterpoint to the scabrous noise assault of his other ventures. Oddly, Total actually predated Skullflower by five years, having grown out of... [+] Read More
Artist: Touch
Most fans of progressive rock tend to assume that the genre came into being in the U.K. somewhere around the time that the Nice changed tack from the psychedelia of songs like "Flower King of Flies" and "Diamond Hard Blue Apples of the Moon" in favor of monkeying around with Sibelius and Tchaikovsky. Yet there's an equally strong case to be made... [+] Read More
Artist: Kathy Sledge
Kathy Sledge sang lead on Sister Sledge's hits "He's the Greatest Dancer," "We Are Family," "Lost in Music," "Got to Love Somebody," "Reach Your Peak," "All American Girls," "My Guy," and "B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Baby)."
The Sledge sisters, Debra, Joni, Kim, and Kathy starting singing in church as "Mrs.Williams' Grandchildren" in their native... [+] Read More
Artist: Bob Alcivar
Arranger Bob Alcivar studied piano and composition with Stephen Balough at The Cornish College in Seattle, WA. With jazz promoter and Seattle jazz DJ Norm Bobrow, he formed a vocal group called the Signatures, performing in Bobrow's Sunday Jazz Concerts and with his Little Big Band. Later, Alcivar played piano on a Northwest tour that included... [+] Read More
