Showing 1 - 16 of 16
Artist: Rumple-Stilt-Skin
Artist: Giovanni Battista Bassani
It is thought that this Italian composer, lauded violinist, and organist was the teacher of Corelli. His first oratorios were composed while in Ferrara. Bassani composed in genres that included sonatas, opera, oratorio, masses, concertos and cantatas. Extant works include arias from his opera "Gli amori alla moda". Much of Basani's work is... [+] Read More
Artist: Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley may be the single most important figure in American 20th century popular music. Not necessarily the best, and certainly not the most consistent. But no one could argue with the fact that he was the musician most responsible for popularizing rock & roll on an international level. Viewed in cold sales figures, his impact was... [+] Read More
Artist: Shark Quest
Chapel Hill, NC, quintet Shark Quest plays eclectic instrumental rock geared toward the alternative market. Their music draws from atmospheric soundtrack music (Ennio Morricone being one likely overused reference point), folk music, desert twang, and bits of other genres. Although pretty guitar-oriented, they also employ banjo and mandolin... [+] Read More
Artist: Sir Henry Rowley Bishop
This English composer of noted fame during his life-time was thought to be an operatic composer. Given the stilted style of his writing, with few through-composed works, multiple songs and duets from the trivialized opera-like venues demanded by his theatre managers, Bishop cannot be considered an operatic composer. The songs attributed to him... [+] Read More
Artist: Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley
As the son of one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Music, Ouseley had an excellent education including his matriculation and graduation from St. Michael's College. Later he became a professor at Oxford where he made music and musicology a serious subject of study. Ouseley's primary musical legacy was his establishment of the College of... [+] Read More
Artist: Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil revolutionized the circus arts, transcending the traditional big-top approach of the past to spotlight elaborate sets, lavish costumes and original music. Founded in Quebec in 1984 by Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier, the original group comprised local street performers; shunning animal acts to focus exclusively on human... [+] Read More
Artist: Blonde Redhead
Blonde Redhead's noisy, dissonant guitars, alternate tunings, and quiet, stilted lyrics have often been compared to early Sonic Youth. After randomly meeting at an Italian restaurant in New York, Japanese art students Kazu Makino and Maki Takahashi and Italian twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace formed the band in 1993. The name was taken from... [+] Read More
Artist: Fred Fascher
There were only a few non-Beatles to sing the lead vocal on a commercially released Beatles song (not counting instances such as Yoko Ono's brief "not when he looked so fierce" line in "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"). One of them was Tony Sheridan. The other, far more obscure ones also sang lead on recordings made in Germany, which were... [+] Read More
Artist: Easterhouse
A stridently political band that came up in the mid-'80s and failed to follow through on high expectations, Easterhouse's early sound wasn't unlike a cross between the Chameleons and the Smiths. Early on, they won the vocal adoration of the latter group's Morrissey, who no doubt found the left-wing leanings and roaring sound -- featuring... [+] Read More
Artist: Famous Monsters
After separating from their more conventional rock bands (White Zombie and New York Loose respectively) in the mid-'90s, bassist Sean Yseult and guitarist/vocalist Brijette West dawned dual surf guitars and glittery horror outfits, and formed the unlikely joke-band Famous Monsters. After varying degrees of success (much for Yseult, much less for... [+] Read More
Artist: Betty Roché
A singer who performed with Duke Ellington in both the '40s and '50s, Betty Roché was famous for her strong, dramatic way of putting across blues material, a talent that not every vocalist with this big band had. Ellington, who was sometimes prone to hire vocalists with stilted, nearly classical delivery, described Roché with typical grace:... [+] Read More
Artist: Horst Fascher
There were only a few non-Beatles to sing the lead vocal on a commercially released Beatles song (not counting instances such as Yoko Ono's brief "not when he looked so fierce" line in "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"). One of them was Tony Sheridan. The other, far more obscure ones also sang lead on recordings made in Germany, which were... [+] Read More
Artist: Highwoods String Band
Any time the word "revival" pops up in connection with a given style of music, it often seems to be the case that a certain tension develops between those who take an academic, preservationist approach, with recital-style performances, and those who seek to recapture the original spirit of the music as something that was done for the sheer joy... [+] Read More
Artist: Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell is the rare jazz musician who also moves comfortably within the realm of contemporary classical music. It might even be said that Mitchell is a more convincing artist when working in European-influenced forms. When relying on structural and formal jazz conventions, Mitchell can often come off as stilted and unswinging. On the... [+] Read More
Artist: Ernest B. Coycault
Although not the most famous jazz trumpeter from New Orleans, Ernest Coycault spread his influence far and wide. His blasting brass sound was important in California as well as in his hometown, and he also had a huge influence on the development of the Australian jazz scene. And while down under, he became part of a scandal that is enjoyable to... [+] Read More
