Showing 101 - 125 of 198
Artist: Pat Thomas
Pat Thomas began playing music at the age of eight. He studied classical music and reggae was an early interest. Thomas was inspired to take up jazz after seeing legendary pianist Oscar Peterson on television. By 1979, Thomas was performing seriously as an improviser. His experimental leanings manifested themselves in the form of electronics --... [+] Read More
Artist: Adam West
Named after the actor who will always be know as "that guy who played Batman on that campy '60s show," Adam West wanted to bring back the old-school punk sounds of the Misfits and the Stooges to their hometown of Washington, DC. Starting out in late 1991, it wasn't long before they started gigging around the East Coast with the original lineup... [+] Read More
Artist: Asha Vida
Almost immediately after their formation in 1993, avant-space trio Asha Vida became the epitome of the American underground band. Despite the fact they have never had a proper tour, have played only a handful of high-profile shows, and have relatively little recorded output, Asha Vida have managed to mass a small international cult following, as... [+] Read More
Artist: Flare
Deceptive, bittersweet love songs pervade the Flare sound -- a mixture of L.D. Beghtol's classically trained voice, his ukulele, and a collection of musical toys, as well as a small army of musicians including Jon DeRosa of Dead Leaves Rising and Aarktica, Mother West studio's owner Charles Newman, and Mark Gunderman on violin. The group is... [+] Read More
Artist: Seeds of Time
Cut from the same unwashed, slightly sinister cloth as the Shadows Of Knight and other Mom-terrors of the late '60's, Vancouver, BC's "Legendary" Seeds Of Time were the Canadian Northwest's punks-par-excellence. The group included Jeff Edington (vocals); Lindsay Mitchell (lead guitar); Steve Whalley (bass); and Rocket Norton (drums); with... [+] Read More
Artist: Ken Brown
Ken Brown was briefly a member of the Quarry Men, and although his short tenure ended acrimoniously, it did its part to help the group evolve into the Beatles. In August 1959, the Quarry Men were in limbo, not doing many gigs and on the verge of scattering as John Lennon went to art college and Paul McCartney prepared for his A and O level... [+] Read More
Artist: Elderberry Jak
Elderberry Jak was and is arguably the finest rock band to come out West Virginia. It is certainly an arguable case if its single album is an accurate indicator, as the recording reveals a quartet as strong as any number of its more well-known, more commercially successful hard rock contemporaries -- bands such as Free, the James Gang, the Guess... [+] Read More
Artist: Perry Como
One of the most popular vocalists between the end of World War II and the rise of rock & roll in the mid-'50s, Perry Como perfected the post-big band approach to pop music by lending his own irresistible laidback singing -- influenced by Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo -- to the popular hits of the day on radio, TV, and LP. Both his early... [+] Read More
Artist: Marcus Miller
Primarily a bassist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, Marcus Miller has worked on hundreds of sessions -- crossing jazz, R&B, and rock -- and has released several solo recordings since his late '70s beginnings with Bobbi Humphrey and Lonnie Liston Smith. Despite the many hats he has worn -- improviser, interpreter, arranger, songwriter,... [+] Read More
Artist: The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats are one of the more unusual bands to find shelter under the ever-expanding umbrella term of indie rock. Hyper-prolific and militantly lo-fi, there are over a hundred Mountain Goats songs scattered across compilations and label samplers, most of them recorded (by choice) on a department-store boom box. Although many musicians... [+] Read More
Artist: Billie Holiday
The first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever. Almost fifty years after her death, it's difficult to believe that prior to her emergence, jazz and pop singers were tied to the Tin Pan Alley tradition and rarely personalized their... [+] Read More
Artist: The Tornados
One of the saddest stories in rock & roll history surrounds the Tornados, an instrumental group from Britain. Although there were other groups with the same name (see listing for their surf-band American counterparts), this batch of Tornados were the creation of British producer Joe Meek. Meek was England's first independent producer, being... [+] Read More
Artist: Living Colour
During the 1980s, rock had become completely segregated and predictable; the opposite of the late '60s/early '70s, when such musically and ethnically varied artists as Jimi Hendrix, Sly & the Family Stone, and Santana ruled the Earth. But bands such as New York's Living Colour helped break down the doors by the end of the '80s, leading to a much... [+] Read More
Artist: Faust
"There is no group more mythical than Faust," wrote Julian Cope in his book Krautrocksampler, which detailed the pivotal influence the German band exerted over the development of ambient and industrial textures. Producer/overseer Uwe Nettelbeck, a onetime music journalist, formed Faust in Wumme, Germany, in 1971 with founding members Hans... [+] Read More
Artist: Duane Eddy
If Duane Eddy's instrumental hits from the late '50s can sound unduly basic and repetitive (especially when taken all at once), he was vastly influential. Perhaps the most successful instrumental rocker of his time, he may have also been the man most responsible (along with Chuck Berry) for popularizing the electric rock guitar. His... [+] Read More
Artist: Chronic Future
Chronic Future was formed by four teenaged musicians in Phoenix in the mid-'90s. After building up a strong local following, the group released their independent eponymous debut in 1996 and had a local radio hit with their odd homage to the valley of the sun, "Scottsdale." Averaging 13 years of age, the members of Chronic Future (vocalist Mike... [+] Read More
Artist: Azita
A longtime fixture of the Chicago underground music scene, singer and multi-instrumentalist Azita Youssefi (sometimes credited as simply AZ) was born in the U.S. in 1971 but spent the better part of her formative years in her parents' native Iran. The family permanently settled in Bethesda, MD, in early 1979 in the wake of the Iranian... [+] Read More
Artist: The Jesus and Mary Chain
Like the Velvet Underground, their most obvious influence, the chart success of the Jesus and Mary Chain was virtually nonexistent, but their artistic impact was incalculable; quite simply, the British group made the world safe for white noise, orchestrating a sound dense in squalling feedback which served as an inspiration to everyone from My... [+] Read More
Artist: Gary & the Knight Lites
A Chicago band that began as a soul band with Charles Colbert on lead, they changed names and became contemporary rockers before another name and personnel change, and many hit records added up to soul legend status. The personnel consisted of Al Ciner (guitar), Chuck Colbert (bass), Lee Graziano (drums), and Gary Loizzo (vocals, guitar).... [+] Read More
Artist: Robert Bynum
Overturn a plank that has been lying outside all summer, and a horde of crickets will scatter in every direction. Keeping track of each insect, and where it winds up going to, is an impossible task. Thus the scholars researching the early days of rock and roll and rhythm and blues should feel proud that all Crickets are present and accounted... [+] Read More
Artist: Frank Hunter
That this early bluegrass artist hailed from the tropical panhandle state is somewhat unusual for the early bluegrass crowd of the '50s, most of whom came from musical families who had lived for generations scattered around various Appalachian strongholds. This is the same area where Hunter eventually drifted to, by the early '50s, establishing... [+] Read More
Artist: Frank Andriello
As far as musicians are concerned, especially the ones that lug lots of equipment around, the harmonica player tends to be an envied fellow or gal, the assumption being that such a player will still be going strong when many drummers, bassists or whatever have long since collapsed from tendanitis, bad backs, hernias or other physical problems... [+] Read More
Artist: Bobby Gregory
"The Sunny Side of the Mountain" certainly turned out to be a popular location for country and bluegrass performers; it's one of the best-known co-writing ventures of Bobby Gregory, a performer and bandleader as well as songwriter whose career in the '20s, '30s and '40s spanned the genres of Tin Pan Alley and country & western. The man is... [+] Read More
Artist: Jimmy Rushing
He was known as "Mister Five-By-Five" -- an affectionate reference to his height and girth -- a blues shouter who defined and then transcended the form. The owner of a booming voice that radiated sheer joy in whatever material he sang, Jimmy Rushing could swing with anyone and dominate even the loudest of big bands. Rushing achieved his greatest... [+] Read More
Artist: Mortal Sin
Mortal Sin were one of the first Australian thrash metal bands to achieve widespread recognition outside of the land down under. Inspired by the genre's earliest champions (especially Metallica and Anthrax), vocalist Mat Maurer, guitarists Paul Carwana and Steve Krstin, bassist Andy Eftichiou, and drummer Wayne Campbell caused quite a stir with... [+] Read More
