1.
Album
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Album, is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century album sales have mostly focused on compact disc and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used from the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl, an album may be recorded in a recording studio, in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed live, the majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at times while listening to the other parts using headphones. Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of the recording, historically, the term album was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, the LP record, or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. It was adopted by the industry as a standard format for the album. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, the term album had been carried forward from the early nineteenth century when it had been used for collections of short pieces of music. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, as part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some commenters have declared that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs, Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yess Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. There are no rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as albums. These are known as box sets, material is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, normally 11 or 12 tracks. A music track is a song or instrumental recording. The term is associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks. When vinyl records were the medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves
2.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
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Black Emperor is a Canadian experimental music collective which originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation, an independent record label located in Montreal. After the release of their album in 1997, the group toured regularly from 1998 to 2002. In 2003, the band announced a hiatus in order for members to pursue other musical interests. In the intervening period, the group was occasionally rumored to have broken up, in October 2012, they released their fourth album, Allelujah. Followed in March 2015 by their album, Asunder, Sweet. The band has gained a cult following and remain very influential in the post-rock genre. Ascend. won the 2013 Polaris Music Prize, Black Emperor was formed in 1994 in Montreal, Quebec, by Efrim Menuck, Mike Moya, and Mauro Pezzente, taking its name from God Speed You. Black Emperor, a 1976 Japanese black-and-white documentary by director Mitsuo Yanagimachi, which follows the exploits of a Japanese biker gang, the band initially assembled after being offered a supporting act for another local band named Steak 72. Thereafter, the trio performed live on a few separate occasions, the cassette, All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling, was self-released in December 1994 and limited to thirty-three copies. After the limited release of the cassette, the band expanded and continued to perform live periodically. According to Menuck, joining the group was quite simple, It was like if anyone knew anybody who played an instrument and seemed like an okay person, in short order, the groups numbers ebbed and flowed. Local musicians would join the band for a handful of performances. The revolving door nature of the groups membership frequently caused it strain before the release of F♯ A♯ ∞, Moya would depart in 1998 to focus on HṚṢṬA, being replaced by Roger Tellier-Craig of Fly Pan Am. In any case, there is a political component to the bands music. For example, the notes to Yanqui U. X. O. Several of its songs also incorporate voice samples which express political sentiments, most notably The Dead Flag Blues and BBF3. Members of the group have formed a number of projects, including Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, Fly Pan Am, HṚṢṬA, Esmerine
3.
Hotel2Tango
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The Hotel2Tango is a 24-track analogue recording studio situated in the Mile End district of Montreal, Quebec. The current facility is the second to bear the name, and was preceded by an operation in the same neighborhood until 2007 when the studio changed locations. Black Emperor, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, member of Jerusalem In My Heart, the Hotel2Tango is often closely associated with Constellation Records, a Montreal-based record label. Before becoming a studio, the original Hotel2Tango acted first as a living space. Black Emperor member Mauro Pezzente and his partner Kiva Stimac first moved into the space later became the Hotel2Tango in 1995. The loft doubled as a space and was dubbed Gallery Quiva. However, after less than a year exhaust fumes and odor from the garage directly below the loft forced Pezzente. Pezzente and Stimac later opened three highly-influential performance spaces on Saint Laurent Boulevard in Montreal, Casa del Popolo, La Sala Rossa, and the now defunct El Salon. By 1998, the Hotel2Tango had become one of the most popular music venues in the city of Montreal. At one point the loft acted as a space for Montreal silk-screeners the Bloodsisters. Black Emperor performed at the Hotel2Tango frequently and used the loft as a practice space along with groups such as Fly Pan Am. Godspeed also recorded the bulk of their first album, F♯A♯∞ in the large main room the previous year. As the bands popularity grew over the several years, so too did the mystery surrounding its secretive members. Many rumours developed about the group and its de facto home base, at one point it was commonly believed by outsiders that all of the band members were squatting illegally in the loft. Eventually word spread about the taking place at the Hotel2Tango. At that time at least two people lived within the walls of the Hotel2Tango, including Godspeed bassist Thierry Amar. Soon after, the three purchased a professional 24-track analogue tape machine, which became the centerpiece of the new Hotel2Tango studio, the studio had a built-in clientele, quickly becoming the studio of choice for most of the Montreal-based artists on the Constellation Records label. In recent years, however, the Hotel2Tango has opened its doors to other bands from Montreal and abroad
4.
Montreal
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Montreal, officially Montréal, is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the 2nd-most populous in Canada as a whole. Originally called Ville-Marie, or City of Mary, it is believed to be named after Mount Royal, the city has a distinct four-season continental climate, with warm-to-hot summers and cold, snowy winters. In 2016, Montreal had a population of 1,704,694, Montreals metropolitan area had a population of 4,098,927 and a population of 1,958,257 in the urban agglomeration, with all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal included. Legally a French-speaking city,60. 5% of Montrealers speak French at home,21. 2% speak English and 19. 8% speak neither, Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 56% of the population able to speak both official languages. Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the world after Paris, historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, culture, tourism, gaming, film, Montreal was also named a UNESCO City of Design. In 2009, Montreal was named North Americas leading host city for international events, according to the 2009 preliminary rankings of the International Congress. According to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, in the 2017 edition of their Best Student Cities ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds ranked Montreal as the worlds best city to study abroad. Also, Montreal has 11 universities with 170,000 students enrolled, the Greater Montréal region has the highest number of university students per capita among all metropolitan areas in North America. It is the only Canadian city to have held the Summer Olympics, currently, the city hosts the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One, the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Just for Laughs festival. In 2012, Montreal was ranked as a Beta+ world city, in Kanien’kéha, or Mohawk language, the island is called Tiohtià, ke Tsi or Ka-wé-no-te. In Anishinaabemowin, or Ojibwe language, the land is called Mooniyaang, though the city was first named by French colonizers Ville Marie, or City of Mary, its current name comes from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The most popular theory is that the name derives from Mont Réal, Cartiers 1535 diary entry, naming the mountain, according to the Commission de toponymie du Québec and the Geographical Names Board of Canada, Canadian place names have only one official form. Thus, Montreal is officially spelled with an accent over the e in both English and French. In practice, this is limited to governmental uses. English-speaking Montrealers, including English-language media, regularly omit the accent when writing in English, archaeological evidence demonstrates that First Nations native people occupied the island of Montreal as early as 4,000 years ago. By the year AD1000, they had started to cultivate maize, within a few hundred years, they had built fortified villages. Archeologists have found evidence of their habitation there and at locations in the valley since at least the 14th century
5.
Post-rock
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As such, the term has been the subject of backlash from listeners and artists alike. Although firmly rooted in the indie or underground scene of the 1980s and early 1990s, the term post-rock is believed to have been coined by critic Simon Reynolds in his review of Bark Psychosis album Hex, published in the March 1994 issue of Mojo magazine. Reynolds expanded upon the later in the May 1994 issue of The Wire. He used the term to music using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs. He further expounded on the term, Perhaps the really provocative area for development lies. In cyborg rock, not the embrace of Technos methodology. Reynolds, in a July 2005 entry in his blog, claimed he had used the term post-rock before using it in Mojo, the term was used by American journalist James Wolcott in a 1975 article about musician Todd Rundgren, although with a different meaning. It was also used in the Rolling Stone Album Guide to name a style corresponding to avant-rock or out-rock. It also bears similarities to drone music, early post-rock groups also often exhibited strong influence from the krautrock of the 1970s, particularly borrowing elements of motorik, the characteristic krautrock rhythm. Post-rock compositions often use of repetition of musical motifs and subtle changes with an extremely wide range of dynamics. In some respects, this is similar to the music of Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Brian Eno, typically, post-rock pieces are lengthy and instrumental, containing repetitive build-ups of timbre, dynamics and texture. Vocals are often omitted from post-rock, however, this not necessarily mean they are absent entirely. When present, post-rock vocals are often soft or droning and are typically infrequent or present in irregular intervals, in lieu of typical rock structures like the verse-chorus form, post-rock groups generally make greater use of soundscapes. Reynolds conclusion defines the sporadic progression from rock, with its field of sound and lyrics to post-rock, wider experimentation and blending of other genres have recently taken hold in the post-rock scene. Cult of Luna, Isis, Russian Circles, Palms, Deftones, the resulting sound has been termed post-metal. More recently, sludge metal has grown and evolved to some elements of post-rock. This second wave of metal has been pioneered by bands such as Giant Squid. This new sound is seen on the label of Neurot Recordings
6.
Experimental music
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The practice became prominent in the mid-20th century, particularly in North America. John Cage was one of the earliest composers to use the term and one of experimental musics primary innovators, utilizing indeterminacy techniques and seeking unknown outcomes. Also, in America, a distinct sense of the term was used in the late 1950s to describe computer-controlled composition associated with composers such as Lejaren Hiller. Harry Partch as well as Ivor Darreg worked with other tuning scales based on the laws for harmonic music. For this music they developed a group of experimental musical instruments. Musique concrète, is a form of music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. Elements of experimental music include indeterminate music, in which the composer introduces the elements of chance or unpredictability with regard to either the composition or its performance. The Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète, under the leadership of Pierre Schaeffer, publication of Schaeffers manifesto was delayed by four years, by which time Schaeffer was favoring the term recherche musicale, though he never wholly abandoned musique expérimentale. John Cage was also using the term as early as 1955, according to Cages definition, an experimental action is one the outcome of which is not foreseen, and he was specifically interested in completed works that performed an unpredictable action. Rebners lecture extended the concept back in time to include Charles Ives, Edgard Varèse, nyman opposes experimental music to the European avant-garde of the time, for whom The identity of a composition is of paramount importance. David Cope also distinguishes between experimental and avant garde, describing music as that which represents a refusal to accept the status quo. That is, for the most part, experimental music studies describes a category without really explaining it and this was an attempt to marginalize, and thereby dismiss various kinds of music that did not conform to established conventions. In 1955, Pierre Boulez identified it as a new definition makes it possible to restrict to a laboratory. He concludes, There is no such thing as experimental music … and it is therefore not a genre, but an open category, because any attempt to classify a phenomenon as unclassifiable and elusive as experimental music must be partial. Furthermore, the indeterminacy in performance guarantees that two versions of the same piece will have virtually no perceptible musical facts in common. The term experimental music was used contemporaneously for electronic music, particularly in the early musique concrète work of Schaeffer, a number of early 20th-century American composers, seen as precedents to and influences on John Cage, are sometimes referred to as the American Experimental School. These include Charles Ives, Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger, Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles, for this music they both developed custom-built musical instruments often characterized as experimental instruments. La Monte Young is known for using this technique when he began working on his minimal drone pieces which consisted of layers of sounds in different pitches
7.
Constellation Records (Canada)
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Constellation Records is a Canadian independent record label based in Montreal, Quebec. It has released albums by many bands, including Godspeed You. Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, the package of the Godspeed You. The band later apologized for some extensions of the chart, conceding that some of their research had been inaccurate, audio Interview with Don Wilkie, co-founder of Constellation Records Chart from Yanqui U. X. O. Packaging Archived from the original on 2008-10-22
8.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
9.
Efrim Menuck
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Efrim Manuel Menuck is a Canadian musician involved with a number of Montreal-based bands, most notably Godspeed You. Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Menuck is also a frequent record producer, working with musicians from Montreal and abroad. In 1994, Mauro Pezzente, Mike Moya, and Menuck founded Godspeed You, Black Emperor, an influential instrumental rock ensemble. Their first album, All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling, is the earliest recorded document of Godspeed You, self-released in December 1994, the cassette was dubbed only 33 times. It was not until the release of their debut album, F♯ A♯ ∞. Menuck is also responsible for the creation of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, Black Emperor alumni Sophie Trudeau and Thierry Amar. Originally conceived as an aid to Menuck in learning how to score music, when He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms. Debuted, it was notable in that it included vocals by Menuck and his band mates, while the music of Godspeed You. Black Emperor was marked by its sampling and symphonic development, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band more regularly incorporated lyrics as well. Menuck confessed to being at odds with the role of the singer in bands and he also felt uncomfortable with his own singing, but has since overcome that feeling. Menuck often shares vocal duty with all the members of A Silver Mt. Zion. The lyrical style of Menuck is best described as poetic, the topics of his lyrics range from the fear and loneliness experienced while driving alone on an American highway at night to urban decay, and even a tribute to a deceased pet dog. As such, references to anarchism and anti-war viewpoints are often expressed, with the title of Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward, the band references the Book of Job Ch.5,7. Menuck has been a critic of the Israeli government, the liner notes for Yanqui U. X. O. Criticize Ariel Sharons 2000 visit to the Temple Mount, the studio was originally confined to the recordings of friends and the bands of the people who own it, but has of late opened its doors to a multitude of other bands. In 2006, Menuck, with Sophie Trudeau and Thierry Amar, assisted in the recording of Carla Bozulichs first release for Constellation Records, on August 5,2009, Silver Mt. Zion violinist Jessica Moss gave birth to her and Menucks baby. The couple took him on tour with Vic Chesnutt, Menucks first official solo project was released via Constellation Records on May 24,2011. The album is entitled Plays High Gospel, the following is a list of musical equipment used by Efrim Menuck
10.
Mike Moya
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Mike Moya is a Canadian rock musician, who is one of the founding members of Godspeed You. He left the band in 1998 to concentrate on his other bands Molasses, Set Fire to Flames, but rejoined the band during their reunion in 2010. He was part of the band of labelmate Elizabeth Anka Vajagic. He currently lives between Berlin and Montreal with his partner Maria Hinze and their family, together with Efrim Menuck and Mauro Pezzente, Moya formed Godspeed You. Black Emperor in the early 1990s and he contributed guitar to the bands 1997 debut album F♯A♯∞ and their follow-up EP Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada, but left the group in 1998, before the EP was released. Additionally, his vocals can be heard in the moments of the song Antennas to Heaven. Moya has been participating in the bands reunion, after leaving Godspeed, Moya performed with a variety of other ensembles, including Molasses and Set Fire to Flames. He currently fronts the group HṚṢṬA, all Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling demo F♯ A♯ ∞ aMAZEzine. 7 Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada EP Allelujah
11.
Yanqui U.X.O.
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Yanqui U. X. O. is the third studio album by the Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You. It was produced and recorded by musician Steve Albini at the Electrical Audio in Chicago, the recording was published by the Montreal-based label Constellation on 11 November 2002, in Europe on both Compact Disc and vinyl record and one week later worldwide. This album marks the first release by the group after slightly altering their name, shortly after the records publication in 2002, the group announced an indefinite hiatus so band members could pursue differing musical interests. Yanqui is the Spanish word for Yankee, the liner notes also refer to Yanqui as a multinational corporate oligarchy, while U. X. O. The packaging of the album contains an arrow diagram purporting to represent the links between four major labels and various arms manufacturers. This chart accompanied a photograph of falling bombs, the band later admitted that a particular extension of the chart was incorrect, conceding that some of their research had been inaccurate. The album was released as a CD and a double vinyl LP, one is the compounding of the two-part composition 09-15-00 into one. Another is the addition of a hidden track after some silence. Finally, the section of the two-part track Motherfucker=Redeemer is about five minutes longer on the LP due to an extended ambient opening. Common alternate titles for certain pieces used by the band on setlists include 12-28-99, Tazer Floyd, the album was recorded at Electrical Audio by Steve Albini. The record was mixed by the band and Howard Bilerman at the Hotel2Tango in Montreal, Yanqui U. X. O is the bands most divided record critically. While some, such as Thom Jurek of Allmusic, praised the release as the groups finest album yet, others, like Pitchfork Media, derided it for its sluggishness and a lack of invention. Black Emperor – mixing John Loder – mastering Steve Rooke – mastering Yanqui U. X. O. at Constellation Records
12.
Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
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Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress is the fifth studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You. Black Emperor, released on 31 March 2015, the album was recorded with Electrical Audio engineer Greg Norman in studios in North Carolina and Montreal. The album is the first to completely new material since the band re-formed in 2010. It is also, with the exception of the version of F♯ A♯ ∞. The album was announced on 24 February 2015, the group shared an excerpt of Peasantry or Light. On 24 March 2015, Constellation Records streamed the album on their SoundCloud, at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album has received an average score of 84, indicating universal acclaim. Nilan Perera called the record a beautiful, concise blast that conveys this bands musical essence, the albums four tracks are based on Behemoth, played live numerous times since 2012 and previously recorded onstage for the concert series We Have Signal
13.
Boston
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Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Boston is also the seat of Suffolk County, although the county government was disbanded on July 1,1999. The city proper covers 48 square miles with a population of 667,137 in 2015, making it the largest city in New England. Alternately, as a Combined Statistical Area, this wider commuting region is home to some 8.1 million people, One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Upon U. S. independence from Great Britain, it continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub as well as a center for education, through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the original peninsula. Its rich history attracts many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone drawing over 20 million visitors per year, Bostons many firsts include the United States first public school, Boston Latin School, first subway system, the Tremont Street Subway, and first public park, Boston Common. Bostons economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, biotechnology, information technology, the city has one of the highest costs of living in the United States as it has undergone gentrification, though it remains high on world livability rankings. Bostons early European settlers had first called the area Trimountaine but later renamed it Boston after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, the renaming on September 7,1630 was by Puritan colonists from England who had moved over from Charlestown earlier that year in quest of fresh water. Their settlement was limited to the Shawmut Peninsula, at that time surrounded by the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River. The peninsula is thought to have been inhabited as early as 5000 BC, in 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colonys first governor John Winthrop led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, a key founding document of the city. Puritan ethics and their focus on education influenced its early history, over the next 130 years, the city participated in four French and Indian Wars, until the British defeated the French and their Indian allies in North America. Boston was the largest town in British America until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid-18th century, Bostons harbor activity was significantly curtailed by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812. Foreign trade returned after these hostilities, but Bostons merchants had found alternatives for their investments in the interim. Manufacturing became an important component of the economy, and the citys industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance by the mid-19th century. Boston remained one of the nations largest manufacturing centers until the early 20th century, a network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region facilitated shipment of goods and led to a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a network of railroads furthered the regions industry. Boston was a port of the Atlantic triangular slave trade in the New England colonies
14.
2013 Polaris Music Prize
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The 2013 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 23,2013 at The Carlu event theatre in Toronto, Ontario. The award was won by Godspeed You, black Emperor for their album Allelujah. Maybe the next celebration should happen in a hall, without the corporate banners. Despite their criticism the band accepted the award, but donated the money to a Quebec-based program of music education in prisons. The prizes 10-album shortlist was announced on July 16, the prizes preliminary 40-album longlist was announced on June 13
15.
Metacritic
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Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of media products, music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged, Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source, a color of Green, Yellow or Red summarizes the critics recommendations and therefore the general appeal of the product to reviewers and, to a lesser extent, the public. It is regarded as the game industrys foremost review aggregator. Metacritics scoring converts each review into a percentage, either mathematically from the mark given, before being averaged, the scores are weighted according to the critics fame, stature, and volume of reviews. Metacritic was launched in July 1999 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, rotten Tomatoes was already compiling movie reviews, but Doyle, Roberts, and Dietz saw an opportunity to cover a broader range of media. They sold Metacritic to CNET in 2005, CNET and Metacritic are now owned by the CBS Corporation. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal wrote in September 2004, Mr. Doyle,36, is now a product manager at CNET. Speaking of video games, Doyle said, A site like ours helps people cut through. unobjective promotional language and he added that the review process was not taken as seriously when unconnected magazines and websites provided reviews in isolation. In August 2010, the appearance was revamped, reaction from users was overwhelmingly negative. Certain publications are given more significance because of their stature, games Editor Marc Doyle was interviewed by Keith Stuart of The Guardian to get a look behind the metascoring process. Stuart wrote, the phenomenon, namely Metacritic and GameRankings, have become an enormously important element of online games journalism over the past few years. The ranging of metascores is, Metacritic is regarded as the foremost online review site for the video game industry. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal has written that Metacritic influence the sales of games and he explains its influence as coming from the higher cost of buying video games than music or movie tickets. Many executives say that low scores can hurt the sales potential. He claimed that a number of businesses and financial analysts use Metacritic as an early indicator of a games potential sales and, by extension. In 2004, Jason Hall of Warner Bros. began including quality metrics in contracts with partners licensing its movies for games, if a product does not at least achieve a specific score, some deals require the publisher to pay higher royalties. In 2008, Microsoft began using Metacritic averages to de-list underperforming Xbox Live Arcade games and these are the top 10 individual games with the highest scores on the site as of 2 April 2017
16.
AllMusic
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AllMusic is an online music guide service website. It was launched in 1991 by All Media Guide which later became All Media Network, AllMusic was launched in 1991 by Michael Erlewine of All Media Guide. The aim was to discographic information on every artist whos made a record since Enrico Caruso gave the industry its first big boost and its first reference book was published the following year. When first released onto the Internet, AMG predated the World Wide Web and was first available as a Gopher site, the AMG consumer web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in July 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. All Media Network, LLC. was formed by the founders of SideReel. com. The following are contributors to AllMusic, as of this date, All Media Network also produced the AllMusic guide series that includes the AllMusic Guide to Rock, the All Music Guide to Jazz and the All Music Guide to the Blues. Vladimir Bogdanov is the president of the series, in August 2007, PC Magazine included AllMusic in its Top 100 Classic Websites list. All Media Network AllGame AllMovie SideReel All Music Guide to the Blues All Music Guide to Jazz Stephen Thomas Erlewine Official website
17.
The A.V. Club
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Club was initially created in 1993 as a supplemental part of The Onion and had a minimal presence on The Onion’s website in its early years. However, a 2005 website redesign placed The A. V, Club in a more prominent position, allowing its online identity to grow. Unlike its parent publication, The A. V, the publication’s name is a reference to school audiovisual clubs, composed of a bunch of geeks who actually knew how to run the film strip and film projectors. In 1993, five years after the founding of The Onion at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UWM student Stephen Thompson launched an entertainment section, Club, as part of the newspapers 1995 redesign. Both The Onion and The A. V, Club made their Internet debut in 1996. Club acquired its own Internet domain name in December 1999, in December 2004, Stephen Thompson left his position as founding editor of The A. V. Club website was redesigned in 2005 to incorporate blogs and reader comments, in 2006, concurrent with another redesign, the website shifted its model to begin adding content on a daily, rather than weekly, basis. According to Sean Mills, then-president of The Onion, the A. V, Club website received more than 1 million unique visitors for the first time in October 2007. In late 2009, the website was reported as receiving over 1.4 million unique visitors and 75,000 comments per month, the offending review was removed from The A. V. Club, and then-editor Keith Phipps posted an apology on the website, leonard Pierce, the author of the review, was terminated from his freelance role with the website. At its peak, the print version of The A. V, Club was available in 17 different cities. Localized sections of the website were also maintained, with reviews and news relevant to specific cities, the print version and localized websites were gradually discontinued alongside the print version of The Onion, and in December 2013, publication ceased in the final three markets. On 13 December,2012, long-time writer and editor Keith Phipps and he stated, Onion, Inc. and I have come to a mutual parting of the ways. On 2 April,2013, longtime editor and critic Scott Tobias stepped down from his role as film editor of The A. V. Club stating via Twitter, After 15 great years @theavclub, I step down as Film Editor next Friday. In the comments section of the announcing the departures, writer Noel Murray announced he would also be joining their project. On 30 May,2013, it was announced that the six writers would be a part of the staff of The Dissolve. In April and June 2014, senior staff writers Kyle Ryan, Sonia Saraiya and Todd VanDerWerff left the website for positions at Entertainment Weekly, Salon and Vox Media, in 2015, Ryan returned to Onion, Inc. for a position in development
18.
The Guardian
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The Guardian is a British daily newspaper, known from 1821 until 1959 as the Manchester Guardian. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, the Scott Trust became a limited company in 2008, with a constitution to maintain the same protections for The Guardian. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than to the benefit of an owner or shareholders, the Guardian is edited by Katharine Viner, who succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. In 2016, The Guardians print edition had a daily circulation of roughly 162,000 copies in the country, behind The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper has an online UK edition as well as two international websites, Guardian Australia and Guardian US, the newspapers online edition was the fifth most widely read in the world in October 2014, with over 42.6 million readers. Its combined print and online editions reach nearly 9 million British readers, notable scoops include the 2011 News International phone hacking scandal, in particular the hacking of murdered English teenager Milly Dowlers phone. The investigation led to the closure of the UKs biggest selling Sunday newspaper, and one of the highest circulation newspapers in the world, in 2016, it led the investigation into the Panama Papers, exposing the then British Prime Minister David Camerons links to offshore bank accounts. The Guardian has been named Newspaper of the Year four times at the annual British Press Awards, the paper is still occasionally referred to by its nickname of The Grauniad, given originally for the purported frequency of its typographical errors. The Manchester Guardian was founded in Manchester in 1821 by cotton merchant John Edward Taylor with backing from the Little Circle and they launched their paper after the police closure of the more radical Manchester Observer, a paper that had championed the cause of the Peterloo Massacre protesters. They do not toil, neither do they spin, but they better than those that do. When the government closed down the Manchester Observer, the champions had the upper hand. The influential journalist Jeremiah Garnett joined Taylor during the establishment of the paper, the prospectus announcing the new publication proclaimed that it would zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty. Warmly advocate the cause of Reform, endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy and. Support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, in 1825 the paper merged with the British Volunteer and was known as The Manchester Guardian and British Volunteer until 1828. The working-class Manchester and Salford Advertiser called the Manchester Guardian the foul prostitute, the Manchester Guardian was generally hostile to labours claims. The Manchester Guardian dismissed strikes as the work of outside agitators –, if an accommodation can be effected, the occupation of the agents of the Union is gone. CP Scott made the newspaper nationally recognised and he was editor for 57 years from 1872, and became its owner when he bought the paper from the estate of Taylors son in 1907. Under Scott, the moderate editorial line became more radical, supporting William Gladstone when the Liberals split in 1886
19.
The Independent
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The Independent is a British online newspaper. The printed edition of the paper ceased in March 2016, nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet newspaper, but changed to tabloid format in 2003. Until September 2011, the paper described itself on the banner at the top of every newspaper as free from party political bias and it tends to take a pro-market stance on economic issues. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. In June 2015, it had a daily circulation of just below 58,000,85 per cent down from its 1990 peak. On 12 February 2016, it was announced that The Independent, the last print edition of The Independent on Sunday was published on 20 March 2016, with the main paper ceasing print publication the following Saturday. Launched in 1986, the first issue of The Independent was published on 7 October in broadsheet format and it was produced by Newspaper Publishing plc and created by Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds. All three partners were former journalists at The Daily Telegraph who had left the paper towards the end of Lord Hartwells ownership, marcus Sieff was the first chairman of Newspaper Publishing, and Whittam Smith took control of the paper. The paper was created at a time of a change in British newspaper publishing. Rupert Murdoch was challenging long-accepted practices of the print unions and ultimately defeated them in the Wapping dispute, consequently, production costs could be reduced which, it was said at the time, created openings for more competition. As a result of controversy around Murdochs move to Wapping, the plant was effectively having to function under siege from sacked print workers picketing outside, the Independent attracted some of the staff from the two Murdoch broadsheets who had chosen not to move to his companys new headquarters. Launched with the advertising slogan It is, and challenging both The Guardian for centre-left readers and The Times as the newspaper of record, The Independent reached a circulation of over 400,000 by 1989. Competing in a market, The Independent sparked a general freshening of newspaper design as well as, within a few years. Some aspects of production merged with the paper, although the Sunday paper retained a largely distinct editorial staff. It featured spoofs of the other papers mastheads with the words The Rupert Murdoch or The Conrad Black, a number of other media companies were interested in the paper. Tony OReillys media group and Mirror Group Newspapers had bought a stake of about a third each by mid-1994, in March 1995, Newspaper Publishing was restructured with a rights issue, splitting the shareholding into OReillys Independent News & Media, MGN, and Prisa. In April 1996, there was another refinancing, and in March 1998, OReilly bought the other 54% of the company for £30 million, brendan Hopkins headed Independent News, Andrew Marr was appointed editor of The Independent, and Rosie Boycott became editor of The Independent on Sunday. Marr introduced a dramatic if short-lived redesign which won critical favour but was a commercial failure, Marr admitted his changes had been a mistake in his book, My Trade
20.
Mojo (magazine)
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Mojo is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the burgeoning interest in rock music. Mojo was first published on 15 October 1993, in keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, noted for its in-depth coverage of both popular and cult acts, it acted as the inspiration for Blender and Uncut. Many noted music critics have written for it including Charles Shaar Murray, Greil Marcus, Nick Kent, the launch editor of Mojo was Paul Du Noyer and his successors have included Mat Snow, Paul Trynka and Pat Gilbert. While some criticise it for its frequent coverage of rock acts such as the Beatles and Bob Dylan, it has nevertheless featured many newer. It was the first mainstream magazine in the UK to focus on the White Stripes, Mojo regularly includes a covermount CD that ties in with a current magazine article or theme. In 2004 it introduced the Mojo Honours list, a ceremony that is a mixture of readers. Two hundred photographers and writers from Mojo and Bauers other music magazines, more recently, the magazine has taken to publishing many Top 100 lists, including the subjects of drug songs, rock epics, protest songs and even the most miserable songs of all time. To celebrate 150 issues, the published an Top 100 Albums of Mojos Lifetime list. The list was compiled and voted on by a panel of superstars, including Björk, Tori Amos, Tom Waits, Brian Wilson, Pete Wentz. Little Richards 1955 hit Tutti Frutti took the one spot. Richards record, dubbed a torrent of filth wailed by an alien, beat the Beatles I Want to Hold Your Hand. The magazines editors claimed that the 100 albums, singles and 78s that made up the list make up the most influential and inspirational recordings ever made. Hailing Tutti Frutti as the sound of the birth of rock n roll, three of the most successful were the series telling the story of the Beatles – one thousand days at a time. Other special editions have focused on Pink Floyd, Psychedelia, Punk, the company behind the magazine, Bauer, also produced a digital radio station. This station was called Mojo Radio, and was transmitted on the television networks in the UK. The output of the station was based on that of the magazine and it was announced on 5 November 2008 that Mojo Radio would cease broadcasting on 30 November 2008 in order to save Bauer the financial outlay. The magazines current editor-in-chief, Phil Alexander, has a show on the UK digital radio station Planet Rock entitled Mojo Rocks where he follows a Mojo-inspired playlist
21.
The Observer
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The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the worlds oldest Sunday newspaper, the first issue, published on 4 December 1791 by W. S. Bourne, was the worlds first Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600, though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bournes brother made an offer to the government, as a result, the paper soon took a strong line against radicals such as Thomas Paine, Francis Burdett and Joseph Priestley. In 1807, the decided to relinquish editorial control, naming Lewis Doxat as the new editor. Seven years later, the brothers sold The Observer to William Innell Clement, the woodcut pictures published of the stable and hayloft where the conspirators were arrested reflected a new stage of illustrated journalism that the newspaper pioneered during this time. Clement maintained ownership of The Observer until his death in 1852, during that time, the paper supported parliamentary reform, but opposed a broader franchise and the Chartist leadership. After Doxat retired in 1857, Clements heirs sold the paper to Joseph Snowe, under Snowe, the paper adopted a more liberal political stance, supporting the North during the American Civil War and endorsing universal manhood suffrage in 1866. These positions contributed to a decline in circulation during this time, in 1870, wealthy businessman Julius Beer bought the paper and appointed Edward Dicey as editor, whose efforts succeeded in reviving circulation. Though Beers son Frederick became the owner upon Juliuss death in 1880, henry Duff Traill took over the editorship after Diceys departure, only to be replaced in 1891 by Fredericks wife, Rachel Beer, of the Sassoon family. Though circulation declined during her tenure, she remained as editor for thirteen years, combining it in 1893 with the editorship of The Sunday Times, upon Fredericks death in 1901, the paper was purchased by the newspaper magnate Lord Northcliffe. After maintaining the editorial leadership for a couple of years. Garvin quickly turned the paper into an organ of political influence, yet the revival in the papers fortunes masked growing political disagreements between Garvin and Northcliffe. These disagreements ultimately led Northcliffe to sell the paper to William Waldorf Astor in 1911, during this period, the Astors were content to leave the control of the paper in Garvins hands. Under his editorship circulation reached 200,000 during the interwar years, politically the paper pursued an independent Tory stance, which eventually brought Garvin into conflict with Waldorfs more liberal son, David. Their conflict contributed to Garvins departure as editor in 1942, after which the paper took the step of declaring itself non-partisan. Ownership passed to Waldorfs sons in 1948, with David taking over as editor and he remained in the position for 27 years, during which time he turned it into a trust-owned newspaper employing, among others, George Orwell, Paul Jennings and C. A. Lejeune. Under Astors editorship The Observer became the first national newspaper to oppose the governments 1956 invasion of Suez, in 1977, the Astors sold the ailing newspaper to US oil giant Atlantic Richfield who sold it to Lonrho plc in 1981
22.
Pitchfork (website)
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Pitchfork is an American online magazine launched in 1995 by Ryan Schreiber, based in Chicago, Illinois and owned by Condé Nast. The site generally concentrates on new music, but Pitchfork journalists have also reviewed reissues, in late 1995, Ryan Schreiber, a recent high school graduate, created the magazine in Minneapolis. Influenced by local fanzines and KUOM, Schreiber, who had no writing experience. At first being Turntable, the site was updated monthly with interviews and reviews, in May 1996, the site began publishing daily and was renamed Pitchfork, alluding to Tony Montanas tattoo in Scarface. In early 1999, Schreiber relocated Pitchfork to Chicago, Illinois, by then, the site had expanded to four full-length album reviews daily, as well as sporadic interviews, features, and columns. It had also begun garnering a following for its coverage of underground music and its writing style. In October, the added a daily music news section. Pitchfork has launched a variety of subsidiary websites, Pitchfork. tv, a website displaying videos related to many independent music acts, launched in April 2008. It features bands that are found on Pitchfork. In July 2010, Pitchfork announced Altered Zones, a blog devoted to underground. On 21 May 2011, Pitchfork announced a partnership with Kill Screen, Altered Zones was closed on November 30. On December 26,2012, Pitchfork launched Nothing Major, a website that covered visual arts such as fine art, Nothing Major closed in October 2013. On October 13,2015, Condé Nast announced that it had acquired Pitchfork, following the sale, Schreiber remained as editor-in-chief. On March 13,2016, Pitchfork was redesigned, some publications have cited Pitchfork in having played a part in breaking artists such as Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Interpol, The Go. Conversely, Pitchfork has also seen as being a negative influence on some indie artists. A dismissive 0.0 review of former Dismemberment Plan frontman Travis Morrisons Travistan album led to a sales drop. On the other hand, an endorsement from Pitchfork – which dispenses its approval one-tenth of a point at a time, up to a maximum of 10 points – is very valuable, indeed. Examples of Pitchforks impact include, Arcade Fire is among the bands most commonly cited to have benefited from a Pitchfork review
23.
Q (magazine)
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Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Q was first published by the EMAP media group in October 1986, setting apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled The modern guide to music, originally it was to be called Cue, but the name was changed so that it wouldnt be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Qs 200th edition, is that a title would be more prominent on newsstands. In January 2008 EMAP sold its consumer titles, including Q. The magazine has a review section, featuring, new releases, reissues, music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio. It uses a system from one to five stars, indeed. While its content is non-free they host an archive of all of their magazine covers, much of the magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artists. It is well known for compiling lists and it has created many, ranging from The 100 Greatest albums to the 100 Greatest 100 Greatest Lists. Every other month, Q — and its magazine, Mojo — have a special edition. These have been about musical times, genres, or a very important/influential musician, often, promotional gifts are given away, such as cover-mounted CDs or books. The January 2006 issue included a copy of The Greatest Rock. Every issue of Q has a different message on the spine, readers then try to work out what the message has to do with the contents of the mag. This practice — known as the spine line — has since become commonplace among British lifestyle magazines, including Qs sister publication, Empire, on 4 March 2007, Q named Elvis Presley the greatest singer of all time. The magazine has a relationship with the Glastonbury Festival, producing both a free daily newspaper on site during the festival and a review magazine available at the end of the festival. In late 2008 Q revamped its image, with an amount of text. This Rolling Stone-isation has led to criticism from much of the traditional Q readership, in 2006, Q published a readers survey, the 100 Greatest Songs Ever, won by Oasis Live Forever. Q has a history of associating with charitable organisations, and in 2006 the British anti-poverty charity War on Want was named its official charity, in the April 2007 issue, Q published an article containing the 100 Greatest Singers, won by Elvis Presley
24.
Rolling Stone
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Rolling Stone is an American biweekly magazine that focuses on popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner, who is still the publisher. It was first known for its coverage and for political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine shifted focus to a readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors. In recent years, it has resumed its traditional mix of content, Rolling Stone magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason. To get it off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his own family and from the parents of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. The first issue carried a date of November 9,1967. Some authors have attributed the name solely to Dylans hit single, At Gleasons suggestion, Rolling Stone initially identified with and reported the hippie counterculture of the era. In the very first edition, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone is not just about the music, in the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark with its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson writing for the magazines political section. Thompson first published his most famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas within the pages of Rolling Stone, where he remained a contributing editor until his death in 2005. In the 1970s, the magazine also helped launch the careers of prominent authors, including Cameron Crowe, Lester Bangs, Joe Klein, Joe Eszterhas, Patti Smith. It was at point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories. One interviewer, speaking for a number of his peers, said that he bought his first copy of the magazine upon initial arrival on his college campus. In 1977, the magazine moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City, editor Jann Wenner said San Francisco had become a cultural backwater. During the 1980s, the magazine began to shift towards being an entertainment magazine. Music was still a dominant topic, but there was increasing coverage of celebrities in television, films, the magazine also initiated its annual Hot Issue during this time. Rolling Stone was initially known for its coverage and for Thompsons political reporting. In the 1990s, the changed its format to appeal to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors
25.
Spin (magazine)
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Spin is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. The magazine stopped running in print in 2012 and currently runs as a webzine, in its early years, the magazine was known for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college rock, grunge, indie rock, and the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard and it pointedly provided a national alternative to Rolling Stones more establishment-oriented style. Spin prominently placed newer artists such as R. E. M, Spins extensive coverage of hip-hop music and culture, especially that of contributing editor John Leland, was notable at the time. Editorial contributions by musical and cultural figures included Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins, David Lee Roth, the magazine also reported on cities such as Austin, Texas, or Glasgow, Scotland, as cultural incubators in the independent music scene. A1990 article on the country blues scene brought R. L. Burnside to national attention for the first time. During this time, it was published by Camouflage Associates, in 1997, Guccione sold Spin to Miller Publishing. In February 2006, Miller Publishing sold the magazine to a San Francisco-based company called the McEvoy Group LLC and that company formed Spin Media LLC as a holding company. The new owners replaced editor-in-chief Sia Michel with Andy Pemberton, an editor at Blender. The first issue to be published under his command was the July 2006 issue—sent to the printer in May 2006—which featured Beyoncé on the cover. Pemberton and Spin parted ways the next month, in June 2006, the following editor, Doug Brod, was executive editor during Michels tenure. For Spins 20th anniversary, it published a book chronicling the prior two decades in music. The book has essays on grunge, Britpop, and emo, among other genres of music, as well as pieces on musical acts including Marilyn Manson, Tupac Shakur, nirvana, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Limp Bizkit, and the Smashing Pumpkins. In July 2012, Spin was sold to Buzzmedia, which renamed itself SpinMedia. The September/October 2012 issue of Spin was the magazines last print edition, in December 2016, Eldridge Industries acquired SpinMedia via the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group for an undisclosed amount. In 1995, Spin produced its first book, entitled Spin Alternative Record Guide, although the book was not a sales success, it inspired a disproportionate number of young readers to pursue music criticism. Notable contributors to Spin have included, SPIN began compiling year-end lists in 1990, note, The 2000 album of the year was awarded to your hard drive, acknowledging the impact that filesharing had on the music listening experience in 2000. Kid A was listed as number 2, the highest ranking given to an actual album,1994 roadside attack on Spin magazine journalists Anon
26.
Sputnikmusic
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Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. Over time, the site has come to be established as a source, becoming a featured reviewer on Metacritic. As a general rule, the writers tend to focus on new releases, however. In June 2006, following claims made by the MPA about the illegality of music tabs, MXTabs was closed. At this time, Sputnikmusic became its own entity, with MusicianForums renamed as the SputnikMusic Forums. It was at point that the focus of Sputnik began to shift toward providing professional content, with a news page added. As part of this shift, several features have also sporadically been provided by the staff writers, including live reviews, interviews, exclusive MP3 streams. Currently on Sputnikmusic, four classes of reviewer exist that demarcate whether content should be considered professional or not, staff Writers are the writers who contribute the professional-standard content, which includes featured articles in addition to reviews. There are currently 25 staff reviewers, three of whom act as moderators and administrators for the site. Contributing Reviewers can contribute features, but are not eligible for inclusion by either Metacritic or Wikipedia, there are currently 23 contributing reviewers. Emeritus is a given to former staff writers who no longer contribute to the site. Reviews by these users are acknowledged as professional, users includes everybody who has not yet been promoted to any of the higher levels. Despite this, they can contribute new reviews, artists, and albums to the database, edit data already present. Sputnikmusic operates a simple 5-point rating system, starting at 1, as a guide to new reviewers, each of these values is assigned a word, ranging from Awful to Classic. However, certain albums have a rating system, where users cannot rate the album lower than a 2.0. This is the case with Kendrick Lamars To Pimp a Butterfly, the staff of Sputnik have not commented on this, despite being asked. As well as showing the score a reviewer has given to the album, a page will also show the scores given by other individual reviewers. A bar chart will also show how many votes each rating has once it has received at least two and a review
27.
Paste (magazine)
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Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgangs Vault. Its tagline is Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture, the magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publication from 2002 to 2010 before converting to online-only, the magazine, headquartered in Avondale Estates, Georgia. It was founded as a quarterly in July 2002 by Josh Jackson, Nick Purdy and it later switched to a bimonthly format. In 2005, Paste fulfilled remaining subscriptions for the competing magazine Tracks, Paste became a monthly with its August 2006 issue. For two years in the mid-2000s, Paste had a segment on CNN Headline News called Paste Picks. In October 2007, the magazine tried the Radiohead experiment, offering new, amidst an economic downturn, Paste began to suffer from lagging ad revenue, as did other magazine publishers in 2008 and 2009. On May 14,2009, Paste editors announced a plan to save the magazine, by pleading to its readers, musicians, cost-cutting by the magazine did not stem the losses. The main crux cited for the financial troubles is the lack of advertiser spending, in 2009, Paste launched an hour-long TV pilot for Halogen TV called Pop Goes the Culture. On August 31,2010, Paste suspended the print magazine, on May 28,2011, Paste announced it was bringing back its weekly subscription services in a digital layout. The digital magazine now covers music, movies, TV, comedy, books, video games, design, tech, food, each issue also includes a digital version of the Paste Sampler with seven new songs each week. Although Pastes focus was music, covering a variety of genres with an emphasis on adult alternative, Americana and indie rock. Each issue originally included a CD music sampler but was dropped in favor of digital downloading as a Going-Green initiative, many of these artists also contributed to the Campaign to Save Paste. In 2005, Paste was listed at #21 on the Chicago Tribunes list of 50 Best Magazines, Paste was also named Magazine of the Year by the PLUG Independent Music Awards in 2006,2007 and 2008. In 2008,2009 and 2010, Paste was nominated for a National Magazine Award in the category of General Excellence, and in 2010, associate editor Rachael Maddux writings were nominated for Best Reviews
28.
LP record
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The LP is an analog sound storage medium, a vinyl record format characterized by a speed of 33 1⁄3 rpm, a 12 or 10 inch diameter, and use of the microgroove groove specification. Introduced by Columbia in 1948, it was adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry. Apart from a few relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound, the new product was a 12- or 10-inch fine-grooved disc made of vinyl and played with a smaller-tipped microgroove stylus at a speed of 33 1⁄3 rpm. Each side of a 12-inch LP could play for more than 20 minutes, although the LP was suited to classical music because of its extended continuous playing time, it also allowed a collection of ten or more pop music recordings to be put on a single disc. The use of the word album persisted for the one-disc LP equivalent, the prototype of the LP was the soundtrack disc used by the Vitaphone motion picture sound system, developed by Western Electric and introduced in 1926. For soundtrack purposes, the less than five minutes of playing time of side of a conventional 12-inch 78 rpm disc was not acceptable. The sound had to play continuously for at least 11 minutes, long enough to accompany a full 1, the disc diameter was increased to 16 inches and the speed was reduced to 33 1⁄3 revolutions per minute. Unlike their smaller LP descendants, they were made with the same large standard groove used by 78s, unlike conventional records, the groove started at the inside of the recorded area near the label and proceeded outward toward the edge. Like 78s, early soundtrack discs were pressed in an abrasive shellac compound, syndicated radio programming was distributed on 78 rpm discs beginning in 1928. The desirability of a longer continuous playing time soon led to the adoption of the Vitaphone soundtrack disc format, 16-inch 33 1⁄3 rpm discs playing about 15 minutes per side were used for most of these electrical transcriptions beginning about 1930. Transcriptions were variously recorded inside out like soundtrack discs or with an outside start, some transcriptions were recorded with a vertically modulated hill and dale groove. This was found to allow deeper bass and also an extension of the frequency response. Neither of these was necessarily an advantage in practice because of the limitations of AM broadcasting. Today we can enjoy the benefits of those higher-fidelity recordings, even if the radio audiences could not. Initially, transcription discs were pressed only in shellac, but by 1932 pressings in RCA Victors vinyl-based Victrolac were appearing, by the late 1930s, vinyl was standard for nearly all kinds of pressed discs except ordinary commercial 78s, which continued to be made of shellac. Use of the LPs microgroove standard began in the late 1950s, the King Biscuit Flower Hour is a late example, as are Westwood Ones The Beatle Years and Doctor Demento programs, which were sent to stations on LP at least through 1992. RCA Victor introduced a version of a long-playing record for home use in September 1931. These Program Transcription discs, as Victor called them, played at 33 1⁄3 rpm and used a somewhat finer and they were to be played with a special Chromium Orange chrome-plated steel needle
29.
Phonograph record
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The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. The phonograph disc record was the medium used for music reproduction until late in the 20th century. It had co-existed with the cylinder from the late 1880s. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as compact cassette were mass-marketed, by the late 1980s, digital media, in the form of the compact disc, had gained a larger market share, and the vinyl record left the mainstream in 1991. The phonograph record has made a resurgence in the early 21st century –9.2 million records were sold in the U. S. in 2014. Likewise, in the UK sales have increased five-fold from 2009 to 2014, as of 2017,48 record pressing facilities remain worldwide,18 in the United States and 30 in other countries. The increased popularity of vinyl has led to the investment in new, only two producers of lacquers remains, Apollo Masters in California, USA, and MDC in Japan. Vinyl records may be scratched or warped if stored incorrectly but if they are not exposed to heat or broken. The large cover are valued by collectors and artists for the space given for visual expression, in the 2000s, these tracings were first scanned by audio engineers and digitally converted into audible sound. Phonautograms of singing and speech made by Scott in 1860 were played back as sound for the first time in 2008, along with a tuning fork tone and unintelligible snippets recorded as early as 1857, these are the earliest known recordings of sound. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, unlike the phonautograph, it was capable of both recording and reproducing sound. Despite the similarity of name, there is no evidence that Edisons phonograph was based on Scotts phonautograph. Edison first tried recording sound on a paper tape, with the idea of creating a telephone repeater analogous to the telegraph repeater he had been working on. The tinfoil was wrapped around a metal cylinder and a sound-vibrated stylus indented the tinfoil while the cylinder was rotated. The recording could be played back immediately, Edison also invented variations of the phonograph that used tape and disc formats. A decade later, Edison developed a greatly improved phonograph that used a wax cylinder instead of a foil sheet. This proved to be both a better-sounding and far more useful and durable device, the wax phonograph cylinder created the recorded sound market at the end of the 1880s and dominated it through the early years of the 20th century. Berliners earliest discs, first marketed in 1889, but only in Europe, were 12.5 cm in diameter, both the records and the machine were adequate only for use as a toy or curiosity, due to the limited sound quality
30.
Bass guitar
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The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb, by plucking, slapping, popping, strumming, tapping, thumping, or picking with a plectrum, often known as a pick. The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to a guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length. The four-string bass, by far the most common, is tuned the same as the double bass. The bass guitar is an instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds to avoid excessive ledger lines. Like the electric guitar, the guitar has pickups and it is plugged into an amplifier and speaker on stage, or into a larger PA system using a DI unit. Since the 1960s, the guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the bass instrument in the rhythm section. While types of basslines vary widely from one style of music to another, many styles of music utilise the bass guitar, including rock, heavy metal, pop, punk rock, country, reggae, gospel, blues, symphonic rock, and jazz. It is often a solo instrument in jazz, jazz fusion, Latin, funk, progressive rock and other rock, the adoption of a guitar form made the instrument easier to hold and transport than any of the existing stringed bass instruments. The addition of frets enabled bassists to play in more easily than on acoustic or electric upright basses. Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period, around 1947, Tutmarcs son, Bud, began marketing a similar bass under the Serenader brand name, prominently advertised in the nationally distributed L. D. Heater Music Company wholesale jobber catalogue of 1948, however, the Tutmarc family inventions did not achieve market success. In the 1950s, Leo Fender, with the help of his employee George Fullerton and his Fender Precision Bass, which began production in October 1951, became a widely copied industry standard. This split pickup, introduced in 1957, appears to have been two mandolin pickups, the pole pieces and leads of the coils were reversed with respect to each other, producing a humbucking effect. Humbucking is a design that electrically cancels the effect of any AC hum, the Fender Bass was a revolutionary new instrument, which could be easily transported, and which was less prone to feedback when amplified than acoustic bass instruments. Monk Montgomery was the first bass player to tour with the Fender bass guitar, roy Johnson, and Shifty Henry with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, were other early Fender bass pioneers. Bill Black, playing with Elvis Presley, switched from bass to the Fender Precision Bass around 1957. The bass guitar was intended to appeal to guitarists as well as upright bass players, following Fenders lead, in 1953, Gibson released the first short scale violin-shaped electric bass with extendable end pin, allowing it to be played upright or horizontally. In 1959 these were followed by the more conventional-looking EB-0 Bass, the EB-0 was very similar to a Gibson SG in appearance
31.
Double bass
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The double bass, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. It is an instrument and is typically notated one octave higher than sounding to avoid excessive ledger lines below the staff. The double bass is the modern bowed string instrument that is tuned in fourths, rather than fifths, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2. The instruments exact lineage is still a matter of some debate, the double bass is a standard member of the orchestras string section, as well as the concert band, and is featured in concertos, solo and chamber music in Western classical music. The bass is used in a range of genres, such as jazz, 1950s-style blues and rock and roll, rockabilly, psychobilly, traditional country music, bluegrass, tango. The double bass is played either with a bow or by plucking the strings, in orchestral repertoire and tango music, both arco and pizzicato are employed. In jazz, blues, and rockabilly, pizzicato is the norm, Classical music uses just the natural sound produced acoustically by the instrument, so does traditional bluegrass. In jazz, blues, and related genres, the bass is typically amplified with an amplifier and speaker, the double bass stands around 180 cm from scroll to endpin. However, other sizes are available, such as a 1⁄2 or 3⁄4 and these sizes do not reflect the size relative to a full size, or 4⁄4 bass, a 1⁄2 bass is not half the size of a bass but is only slightly smaller. It is typically constructed from several types of wood, including maple for the back, spruce for the top and it is uncertain whether the instrument is a descendant of the viola da gamba or of the violin, but it is traditionally aligned with the violin family. While the double bass is nearly identical in construction to other violin family instruments, like other violin and viol-family string instruments, the double bass is played either with a bow or by plucking the strings. In orchestral repertoire and tango music, both arco and pizzicato are employed, in jazz, blues, and rockabilly, pizzicato is the norm, except for some solos and also occasional written parts in modern jazz that call for bowing. In classical pedagogy, almost all of the focus is on performing with the bow and producing a good bowed tone, some of these articulations can be combined, for example, the combination of sul ponticello and tremolo can produce eerie, ghostly sounds. Classical bass players do play pizzicato parts in orchestra, but these parts generally require simple notes, vibrato is used to add expression to string playing. In general, very loud, low-register passages are played with little or no vibrato, mid- and higher-register melodies are typically played with more vibrato. The speed and intensity of the vibrato is varied by the performer for an emotional and musical effect, in jazz, rockabilly and other related genres, much or all of the focus is on playing pizzicato. In jazz and jump blues, bassists are required to play extremely rapid pizzicato walking basslines for extended periods, as well, jazz and rockabilly bassists develop virtuoso pizzicato techniques that enable them to play rapid solos that incorporate fast-moving triplet and sixteenth note figures. In jazz and related styles, bassists often add semi-percussive ghost notes into basslines, to add to the rhythmic feel and to add fills to a bassline
32.
Cello
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The cello or violoncello is a bowed or plucked string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. The strings from low to high are generally tuned to C2, G2, D3 and A3 and it is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin and viola and the double bass. The cello is used as a musical instrument, as well as in chamber music ensembles, string orchestras, as a member of the string section of symphony orchestras. It is the second-largest and second lowest bowed string instrument in the symphony orchestra. Cello parts are written in the bass clef, but both tenor clef and treble clefs are used for higher-range parts, both in orchestral/chamber music parts and in solo cello works. A person who plays the cello is called a cellist or violoncellist, in a small Classical ensemble, such as a string quartet, the cello typically plays the bass part, the lowest-pitched musical line of the piece. In orchestra, in Baroque era and Classical music period, the cello plays the bass part. In Baroque era music, the cello is used to play the basso continuo bassline, in a Baroque performance, the cello player might be joined by other bass instruments, playing double bass, viol or other low-register instruments. The name cello is a contraction of the Italian violoncello, which means little violone, in modern symphony orchestras, it is the second largest stringed instrument. Thus, the name contained both the augmentative -one and the diminutive -cello. By the turn of the 20th century, it had become common to shorten the name to cello and it is now customary to use cello without apostrophe as the full designation. Viol is derived from the viola, which was derived from Medieval Latin vitula. Cellos are tuned in fifths, starting with C2, followed by G2, D3 and it is tuned in the same intervals as the viola, but an octave lower. Unlike the violin or viola but similar to the double bass, the cello is most closely associated with European classical music, and has been described as the closest sounding instrument to the human voice. The instrument is a part of the orchestra, as part of the string section. A large number of concertos and sonatas have been written for the cello, among the most well-known Baroque works for the cello are Johann Sebastian Bachs six unaccompanied Suites. The Prelude from the First Suite is particularly famous, romantic era repertoire includes the Robert Schumann Concerto, the Antonín Dvořák Concerto as well as the two sonatas and the Double Concerto by Johannes Brahms. The cello is increasingly common in traditional music, especially Scottish fiddle music
33.
Audio mixing (recorded music)
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The track may be mixed in mono, stereo, or surround sound. There are numerous approaches, methods and techniques involved in Audio mixing, some of these practices include levels setting, equalization, stereo panning, Audio mixing techniques and approaches can vary widely, and these can greatly affect the qualities of the sound recording. Audio mixing techniques largely depend on music genres and the quality of sound recordings involved, the process is generally carried out by a mixing engineer, though sometimes the musical producer or music artist may assist. After mixing, a mastering engineer prepares the final product for production, Audio mixing may be transferred onto a mixing console or digital audio workstation. Jay bala ji In the late century, Thomas Edison. The recording and reproduction process itself was completely mechanical with little or no electrical parts, Emile Berliners gramophone system recorded music by inscribing spiraling lateral cuts onto a vinyl disc. Electronic recording became widely used during the 1920s. It was based on the principles of electromagnetic transduction, the possibility for a microphone to be connected remotely to a recording machine meant that microphones could be positioned in more suitable places. Even more useful was the fact that the outputs of the microphones could be mixed before being fed to the disc cutter, before the introduction of multitrack recording, all sounds and effects that were to be part of a record were mixed at one time during a live performance. If the recorded blend wasnt satisfactory, or if one made a mistake. Modern mixing emerged with the introduction of commercial multi-track tape machines, the ability to record sounds into a multitude of channels meant that treating these sounds could be postponed to a later stage– the mixing stage. In the 1980s, home recording and mixing became much easier, the 4-track Portastudio was introduced in 1979. Bruce Springsteen released the album Nebraska in 1982 using one, the Eurythmics topped the charts in 1983 with the song Sweet Dreams, recorded by band member Dave Stewart on a makeshift 8-track recorder. In the mid-to-late 1990s, computers replaced tape-based recording for most home studios, at the same time, digital audio workstations, first used in the mid-1980s, began to replace tape in many professional recording studios. A mixer is the heart of the mixing process. Mixers offer a multitude of inputs, each fed by a track from a multitrack recorder, mixers typically have 2 main outputs or 8. Mixers offer three main functionalities, Mixing – summing signals together, which is normally done by a dedicated summing amplifier or in the case of digital by a simple algorithm, routing – allows the routing of source signals to internal buses or external processing units and effects. Processing – many mixers also offer on-board processors, like equalizers and compressors, Mixing consoles used for dubbing can often be seen as large and intimidating, due to the exceptional amount of controls
34.
Electric guitar
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The vibrations of the strings are sensed by a pickup, of which the most common type is the magnetic pickup, which uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction. The signal generated by a guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is plugged into a guitar amplifier before being sent to a loudspeaker. The output of a guitar is an electric signal. Invented in 1931, the electric guitar was adopted by jazz guitarists. Early proponents of the guitar on record included Les Paul, Lonnie Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, T-Bone Walker. During the 1950s and 1960s, the guitar became the most important instrument in pop music. It has evolved into an instrument that is capable of a multitude of sounds and styles in genres ranging from pop and rock to country music, blues and jazz. It served as a component in the development of electric blues, rock and roll, rock music, heavy metal music. Electric guitar design and construction vary greatly in the shape of the body and the configuration of the neck, bridge, Guitars may have a fixed bridge or a spring-loaded hinged bridge that lets players bend the pitch of notes or chords up or down or perform vibrato effects. The sound of a guitar can be modified by new playing techniques such as string bending, tapping, hammering on, using audio feedback, in a small group, such as a power trio, one guitarist switches between both roles. In larger rock and metal bands, there is often a rhythm guitarist, many experiments at electrically amplifying the vibrations of a string instrument were made dating back to the early part of the 20th century. Patents from the 1910s show telephone transmitters were adapted and placed inside violins, hobbyists in the 1920s used carbon button microphones attached to the bridge, however, these detected vibration from the bridge on top of the instrument, resulting in a weak signal. With numerous people experimenting with electrical instruments in the 1920s and early 1930s, Electric guitars were originally designed by acoustic guitar makers and instrument manufacturers. Some of the earliest electric guitars adapted hollow-bodied acoustic instruments and used tungsten pickups, the first electrically amplified guitar was designed in 1931 by George Beauchamp, the general manager of the National Guitar Corporation, with Paul Barth, who was vice president. The maple body prototype for the one-piece cast aluminum frying pan was built by Harry Watson, commercial production began in late summer of 1932 by the Ro-Pat-In Corporation, in Los Angeles, a partnership of Beauchamp, Adolph Rickenbacker, and Paul Barth. In 1934, the company was renamed the Rickenbacker Electro Stringed Instrument Company, in that year Beauchamp applied for a United States patent for an Electrical Stringed Musical Instrument and the patent was issued in 1937. The Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts provided players a full 25 scale, with 17 frets free of the fretboard and it is estimated that fewer than 50 Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts were constructed between 1933 and 1937, fewer than 10 are known to survive today. The need for the guitar became apparent during the big band era as orchestras increased in size, particularly when acoustic guitars had to compete with large
35.
Guitar
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The guitar is a musical instrument classified as a fretted string instrument with anywhere from four to 18 strings, usually having six. The sound is projected either acoustically, using a wooden or plastic and wood box, or through electrical amplifier. It is typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers, the guitar is a type of chordophone, traditionally constructed from wood and strung with either gut, nylon or steel strings and distinguished from other chordophones by its construction and tuning. There are three types of modern acoustic guitar, the classical guitar, the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the archtop guitar. The tone of a guitar is produced by the strings vibration, amplified by the hollow body of the guitar. The term finger-picking can also refer to a tradition of folk, blues, bluegrass. The acoustic bass guitar is an instrument that is one octave below a regular guitar. Early amplified guitars employed a body, but a solid wood body was eventually found more suitable during the 1960s and 1970s. As with acoustic guitars, there are a number of types of guitars, including hollowbody guitars, archtop guitars and solid-body guitars. The electric guitar has had a influence on popular culture. The guitar is used in a variety of musical genres worldwide. It is recognized as an instrument in genres such as blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, folk, jazz, jota, mariachi, metal, punk, reggae, rock, soul. The term is used to refer to a number of chordophones that were developed and used across Europe, beginning in the 12th century and, later, in the Americas. The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, has applied to a wide variety of chordophones since classical times. Many influences are cited as antecedents to the modern guitar, at least two instruments called guitars were in use in Spain by 1200, the guitarra latina and the so-called guitarra morisca. The guitarra morisca had a back, wide fingerboard. The guitarra Latina had a sound hole and a narrower neck. By the 14th century the qualifiers moresca or morisca and latina had been dropped, and it had six courses, lute-like tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although early representations reveal an instrument with a sharply cut waist
36.
Hammered dulcimer
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The hammered dulcimer is a percussion instrument and stringed instrument with the strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who may sit cross legged on the floor or on a stool at a stand on legs. The player holds a small spoon shaped mallet hammer in hand to strike the strings. The Graeco-Roman dulcimer derives from the Latin dulcis and the Greek melos, the dulcimer, in which the strings are beaten with small hammers, originated from the psaltery, in which the strings are plucked. Various types of hammered dulcimers are traditionally played in Iraq, India, Iran, Southwest Asia, China, and parts of Southeast Asia, Central Europe, the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The instrument is played in the United Kingdom and the U. S. where its traditional use in folk music saw a notable revival in the late 20th century. A dulcimer usually has two bridges, a bridge near the right and a treble bridge on the left side. The bass bridge holds up bass strings, which are played to the left of the bridge, the treble strings can be played on either side of the treble bridge. In the usual construction, playing them on the side gives a note a fifth higher than playing them on the right of the bridge. The dulcimer comes in sizes, identified by the number of strings that cross each of the bridges. A 15/14, for example, has 15 strings crossing the bridge and 14 crossing the bass bridge. The strings of a hammered dulcimer are usually found in pairs, each set of strings is tuned in unison and is called a course. A hammered dulcimer, like an autoharp, harp, or piano, requires a tuning wrench for tuning, the strings of the hammered dulcimer are often tuned according to a circle of fifths pattern. Typically, the lowest note is struck at the lower right-hand of the instrument, as a player strikes the courses above in sequence, they ascend following a repeating sequence of two whole steps and a half step. With this tuning, a scale is broken into two tetrachords, or groups of four notes. For example, on an instrument with D as the lowest note and this is the lower tetrachord of the D major scale. At this point the player returns to the bottom of the instrument and shifts to the strings to the right of the treble bridge to play the higher tetrachord. See the drawing on the left above, in which DO would correspond to D, the shift from the bass bridge to the treble bridge is required because the bass bridges fourth string G is the start of the lower tetrachord of the G scale
37.
Drum kit
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A drum kit consists of a mix of drums and idiophones most significantly cymbals but also including the woodblock and cowbell. In the 2000s, some also include electronic instruments and both hybrid and entirely electronic kits are used. If some or all of them are replaced by electronic drums, the drum kit is usually played while seated on a drum stool or throne. The drum kit differs from instruments that can be used to produce pitched melodies or chords, even though drums are often placed musically alongside others that do, such as the piano or guitar. The drum kit is part of the rhythm section used in many types of popular and traditional music styles ranging from rock and pop to blues. Other standard instruments used in the section include the electric bass, electric guitar. Many drummers extend their kits from this pattern, adding more drums, more cymbals. Some performers, such as some rockabilly drummers, use small kits that omit elements from the basic setup, some drum kit players may have other roles in the band, such as providing backup vocals, or less commonly, lead vocals. Thus, in an early 1800s orchestra piece, if the called for bass drum, triangle and cymbals. In the 1840s, percussionists began to experiment with foot pedals as a way to them to play more than one instrument. In the 1860s, percussionists started combining multiple drums into a set, the bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, and other percussion instruments were all played using hand-held drum sticks. Double-drumming was developed to one person to play the bass and snare with sticks. With this approach, the drum was usually played on beats one. This resulted in a swing and dance feel. The drum set was referred to as a trap set. By the 1870s, drummers were using an overhang pedal, most drummers in the 1870s preferred to do double drumming without any pedal to play multiple drums, rather than use an overhang pedal. Companies patented their pedal systems such as Dee Dee Chandler of New Orleans 1904–05, liberating the hands for the first time, this evolution saw the bass drum played with the foot of a standing percussionist. The bass drum became the central piece around which every other percussion instrument would later revolve and it was the golden age of drum building for many famous drum companies, with Ludwig introducing
38.
Vibraphone
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The vibraphone is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family. The vibraphone resembles the xylophone, marimba, and glockenspiel, each bar is paired with a resonator tube that has a motor-driven butterfly valve at its upper end. The valves are mounted on a shaft, which produces a tremolo or vibrato effect while spinning. The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to that on a piano, with the pedal up, the bars are all damped and produce a shortened sound. With the pedal down, they sound for several seconds, the vibraphone is commonly used in jazz music, in which it often plays a featured role and was a defining element of the sound of mid-20th-century Tiki lounge exotica, as popularized by Arthur Lyman. It is the second most popular solo keyboard percussion instrument in music, after the marimba. It is an instrument in the modern percussion section for orchestras. The first musical instrument called vibraphone was marketed by the Leedy Manufacturing Company in the United States in 1921, however, this instrument differed in significant details from the instrument now called the vibraphone. The Leedy vibraphone achieved a degree of popularity after it was used in the novelty recordings of Aloha Oe and this popularity led J. C. Deagan, Inc. in 1927 to ask its Chief Tuner, Henry Schluter, to develop a similar instrument. Schluters design was more popular than the Leedy design, and has become the template for all instruments now called vibraphone, however, when Deagan began marketing Schluters instrument in 1928, they called it the vibraharp. The name derived from similar aluminum bars that were mounted vertically, since Deagan trademarked the name, others were obliged to use the earlier vibraphone for their instruments incorporating the newer design. The name confusion continues, even to the present, but over time vibraphone became significantly more popular than vibraharp, by 1974, the Directory of the D. C. Federation of Musicians listed 39 vibraphone players and 3 vibraharp players, the initial purpose of the vibraphone was to add to the large arsenal of percussion sounds used by vaudeville orchestras for novelty effects. This use was quickly overwhelmed in the 1930s by its development as a jazz instrument, the use of the vibraphone in jazz was pioneered by Paul Barbarin, the drummer with Luis Russells band. Bergerault, of Ligueil, France also began manufacturing vibraphones in the 1930s, Deagan struck endorsement deals with many of the leading players, including Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson. The Deagan company went out of business in the 1980s, its trademark, Yamaha continues to make percussion instruments based on Deagan designs. In 1948, the Musser Mallet Company was founded by Clair Omar Musser, the Musser company continues to manufacture vibraphones as part of the Ludwig Drum Company. The standard modern instrument has a range of three octaves, from the F below middle C, larger three-and-a-half or four octave models from the C below middle C are also becoming more common
39.
Marimba
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The marimba is a percussion instrument consisting of a set of wooden bars struck with mallets to produce musical tones. Resonators suspended underneath the bars amplify their sound and this instrument is a type of idiophone, but with a more resonant and lower-pitched tessitura than the xylophone. The marimba was developed in Central America by African slaves, and descended from its ancestral balafon instrument, Marimba is now the national instrument of Guatemala and Costa Rica. Modern uses of the marimba include solo performances, woodwind and brass ensembles, marimba concertos, jazz ensembles, marching band, drum and bugle corps, contemporary composers have used the unique sound of the marimba more and more in recent years. A player of the marimba can be called a marimbist or a marimba player, xylophones are widely used in music of west and central Africa. The name marimba stems from Bantu marimba or malimba, xylophone, the instrument itself is present, but is called balafon or heri in Mali and/or Guinea, while its known as gyil among the Akan peoples in and around Ghana. The word marimba and derivative words is used widely in East, other sources credit the creation of the marimba and the kalimba to Queen Marimba of the Wakambi people, who live south of Lake Victoria. In the Swahili language imba means song, Marimba, is said to be the mother of song and the creator of all the instruments, including the marimba. Mama means mother in Kiswahili, so it makes sense that the word mother would be combined with the word for song. The karimba is also said to have created by Queen Marimba. In much of East & Central Africa the karimba is seen as a version of the marimba. Diatonic xylophones were introduced to Central America in the 16th or 17th century, the first historical record of Mayan musicians using gourd resonator marimbas in Guatemala was made in 1680, by the historian Domingo Juarros. It became more widespread during the 18th and 19th centuries, as Mayan, in 1821, the marimba was proclaimed the national instrument of Guatemala in its independence proclamation. The gourd resonators were later replaced by harmonic wooden boxes, variants with slats made of steel, glass or bamboo instead of wood appeared during the 19th century. In 1892, Corazón de Jesús Borras Moreno, a musician from Chiapas, expanded marimba to include the chromatic scale by adding another row of sound bars, the name marimba was later applied to the orchestra instrument inspired by the Latin American model. In the United States, companies like Deagan and Leedy company adapted the Latino American instruments for use in western music, metal tubes were used as resonators, fine-tuned by rotating metal discs at the bottom, lowest note tubes were U-shaped. The marimbas were first used for music and dance, such as Vaudeville theater. Clair Omar Musser was a proponent of marimba in the United States at the time
40.
Glockenspiel
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A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone, however, the glockenspiel, moreover, is usually smaller and higher in pitch. In German, a carillon is also called a Glockenspiel, while in French, in music scores the glockenspiel is sometimes designated by the Italian term campanelli. When used in a marching or military band, the bars are mounted in a portable case and held vertically. However, sometimes the bars are held using a harness similar to a marching snare harness. In orchestral use, the bars are mounted horizontally, a pair of hard, unwrapped mallets, generally with heads made of plastic or metal, are used to strike the bars, although mallet heads can also be made of rubber. If laid out horizontally, a keyboard glockenspiel may be contrived by adding a keyboard to the instrument to facilitate playing chords, another method of playing chords is to use four mallets, two per hand. The glockenspiel is limited to the register, and usually covers about two and a half to three octaves, but can also reach up to three and a half octaves. The glockenspiel is an instrument, its parts are written two octaves below the sounding notes. When struck, the give an very pure, bell-like sound. Glockenspiels are quite popular and appear in almost all genres of music ranging from hip-hop to jazz. A keyboard-operated glockenspiel, as played by Danny Federici on such hit songs as Born to Run and Hungry Heart, is considered part of Bruce Springsteen, john Lennon also plays it on Only a Northern Song. Panic. at the Disco have used glockenspiel in several of their songs, including their hits I Write Sins Not Tragedies and Build God, Then Well Talk. Radiohead have used glockenspiel on their single No Surprises as well as on The Tourist, Lull, Morning Bell/Amnesiac, Sit Down/Stand Up, songs From the Wood, Heavy Horses and Stormwatch. Solo glockenspiel can be heard briefly, but notably at the beginning of Shostakovichs 15th Symphony, a modern example of the glockenspiel can be heard in Steve Reichs 1970–71 composition Drumming, in which the glockenspiel plays a major role in the third and fourth movements. Other instruments that work on the same principle as the glockenspiel include the marimba. The Dulcitone has a sound to the glockenspiel since its sound is made by hammers striking tuning forks. The dulcitone uses soft hammers which damp the forks, compared to the hammers of the glockenspiel
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