1.
Extended play
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An extended play is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single, but is usually unqualified as an album or LP. EPs generally do not contain as many tracks as albums, and are considered less expensive, an EP originally referred to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play and LP, but it is now applied to mid-length CDs and downloads as well. Ricardo Baca of The Denver Post said, EPs—originally extended-play single releases that are shorter than traditional albums—have long been popular with punk, in the United Kingdom, the Official Chart Company defines a boundary between EP and album classification at 25 minutes of length or four tracks. EPs were released in various sizes in different eras, the earliest multi-track records, issued around 1919 by Grey Gull Records, were vertically cut 78 rpm discs known as 2-in-1 records. These had finer than usual grooves, like Edison Disc Records, by 1949, when the 45 rpm single and 33 1⁄3 rpm LP were competing formats, seven-inch 45 rpm singles had a maximum playing time of only about four minutes per side. Partly as an attempt to compete with the LP introduced in 1948 by rival Columbia, RCA Victor introduced Extended Play 45s during 1952. Their narrower grooves, achieved by lowering the levels and sound compression optionally. These were usually 10-inch LPs split onto two seven-inch EPs or 12-inch LPs split onto three seven-inch EPs, either separately or together in gatefold covers. This practice became less common with the advent of triple-speed-available phonographs. Some classical music albums released at the beginning of the LP era were distributed as EP albums—notably the seven operas that Arturo Toscanini conducted on radio between 1944 and 1954. These opera EPs, originally broadcast on the NBC Radio network and manufactured by RCA, in the 1990s, they began appearing on compact discs. During the 1950s, RCA published several EP albums of Walt Disney movies and these usually featured the original casts of actors and actresses. Each album contained two seven-inch records, plus an illustrated booklet containing the text of the recording, so that children could follow along by reading. Some of the titles included Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and what was then a recent release, because of the popularity of 7 and other formats, SP records became less popular and the production of SPs in Japan was suspended in 1963. In the 1950s and 1960s, EPs were usually compilations of singles or album samplers and were played at 45 rpm on seven-inch discs. Record Retailer printed the first EP chart in 1960, the New Musical Express, Melody Maker, Disc and Music Echo and the Record Mirror continued to list EPs on their respective singles charts. The Beatles Twist and Shout outsold most singles for some weeks in 1963, when the BBC and Record Retailer commissioned the British Market Research Bureau to compile a chart it was restricted to singles and EPs disappeared from the listings. In the Philippines, seven-inch EPs marketed as mini-LPs were introduced in 1970, with tracks selected from an album and this mini-LP format also became popular in America in the early 1970s for promotional releases, and also for use in jukeboxes
2.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
3.
Kavinsky
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Vincent Pierre Claude Belorgey, known as Kavinsky, is a French house artist whose production style is very reminiscent of the electropop film soundtracks of the 1980s. Kavinsky claimed that his music is inspired by thousands of movies he watched as a young boy, Kavinsky has been compared to many similar French house artists including Daft Punk and Danger. He achieved greater recognition after his track Nightcall was featured in the 2011 film Drive. During this period Kavinsky produced his first single Testarossa Autodrive which was inspired by the Testarossa model of Ferrari. Kavinsky presented the single to Quentin, who in turn presented it to a label he had access to because of his filming career. Subsequently Kavinsky went on to release three EPs on the Record Makers label, Teddy Boy in 2006,1986 a year later, during this period, Kavinskys fellow producer Surkin jokingly claimed in an interview that Kavinsky was his father. Kavinsky has since toured alongside Daft Punk, The Rapture, Justice and he has also been remixed by SebastiAn and other notable electro artists. The SebastiAn remix of Testarossa Autodrive off the 1986 EP is featured in the video games Grand Theft Auto IV, Kavinskys single Nightcall was featured in the opening credits of the film Drive, and became a major hit soon after. In December 2012 he released ProtoVision and on 25 February 2013 released the studio album OutRun, after a brief hiatus lasting for 9 months, Kavinsky reappeared with the single Sovereign, released in November 2014, and has since as of 2016 released no new singles to date. Kavinsky is a made by Vincent Belorgey that has a striking resemblance to Vincent himself. Kavinskys story is that after crashing his Testarossa in 1986, he reappeared as a zombie in 2006 to make his own electronic music. In interview, Kavinsky stated that the entirety of Teddy Boy was written and recorded on a Yamaha DX7, Kavinsky originally started making music on an old Apple computer given to him by his friend Mr. Oizo. * Did not appear in the official Belgian Wallonia Ultratop 50 chart, Kavinsky on Facebook Kavinsky on SoundCloud Kavinsky on Twitter Kavinsky on Bandcamp Kavinsky at Record Makers Fools Gold, Interview with Kavinsky
4.
Sebastian (French musician)
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Sebastian Akchoté-Bozovic, better known as just Sebastian, is a French musician and DJ affiliated with Ed Banger Records. He has worked as an electronic musician and as a remixer for bands and singers such as Charlotte Gainsbourg, Daft Punk, Beastie Boys, Bloc Party. He has also produced songs for Frank Ocean, Katerine, Kavinsky, Noël Akchoté, Uffie, and Woodkid, many of his tracks have been used on television and in video games. Akchoté is of Serbian-French heritage, he was born in Paris and raised in Paris and he is the younger brother of popular independent guitarist Noël Akchoté. His early musical history included both jazz and experimental influences from his brother as well as hip hop influences from artists like DJ Premier. He first started producing music around the age of fifteen, while working with a hip-hop band in 2005, Sebastian was given the phone number for Ed Banger Records by one of the bands members, who had found it in a newspaper. After a cold call to label owner Pedro Winter, Sebastian was signed,2005 also saw his remixes for Annie, Benjamin Theves, and Daft Punk, whose Human After All remix by Sebastian is said to be the duos all-time favourite remix of their own work. In the summer of 2006, Ed Banger Records released the EP Ross Ross Ross and that year also saw more remixes by Sebastian than any other. In 2007, Sebastian composed the soundtrack for label-mate Mr. Oizos feature film Steak alongside Sebastien Tellier, also that year, as well producing numerous remixes and releasing his Walkman 2 EP, Sebastian joined Kavinsky to open with DJ sets for Daft Punk on their Alive 2007 tour. An original song called Greel was also released in 2007 on Ed Rec Vol.2, there were two Sebastian releases in 2008, Motor, an EP with three original tracks, and Remixes, a 17-track compilation featuring various remixes produced by Sebastian. His track Dog was also included on that years Ed Rec Vol.3, in 2009, Sebastian played his first live set as an exclusive performance at the Sónar Festival in Barcelona. Sebastian produced the single Difficult for label-mate Uffie in 2010 on her debut album Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans and provided a remix and he also had his experimental track Threnody released that year on an Ed Banger Records Christmas compilation. In early 2011, Sebastian provided the track Enio for the Ed Banger compilation album Let the Children Techno, later, his debut album Total was announced, followed by the release of a video for the title track featuring a series of violent and sexual images. A video for Sebastians new song Embody was also released, along with the release as a single. The album Total itself was released on May 30 in Europe. It was followed by releases of singles C. T. F. O.2011 was also the year of Sebastians Primary Tour, a tour visually themed as a political campaign and spanning Europe, Australasia, and North America from August to December. Three remixes done by him were released that year, including his remix for the Beastie Boys. 2012 saw Sebastians remixes for bands Nero, The Shoes, Van She and that year also saw the release of The EP Collection, a box set of vinyl Total singles along with tracks Organia and previously unreleased Holloback
5.
OutRun (album)
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OutRun is the debut studio album by French electronic musician Kavinsky, released on 22 February 2013. Production for the album was handled primarily by Kavinskys close friend, the album is named after Segas 1986 arcade game of the same name, which featured the Ferrari Testarossa. The concept behind OutRun follows Kavinskys backstory of a man who crashed his Testarossa in 1986. Kavinsky cites influences from 1980s video games, television cop shows such as Miami Vice, protoVision was released on 10 December 2012 as the albums official lead single. The music video, directed by Marcus Herring, was released on 7 December 2012 on Vimeo. A one-minute snippet of the song Odd Look was used in a 2012 French commercial for BMW i, nightcall plays during the opening credits of the 2011 film Drive. Roadgame has been used by Mercedes-Benz in a 2012 French commercial, OutRun received positive reviews from most music critics, with many praising the albums retro sound and concept. Sampling credits Grand Canyon contains a sample of Ikeya-Seki by Kano, credits for OutRun adapted from liner notes
6.
Synthpop
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Synth-pop is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic, art rock, disco, and particularly the Krautrock of bands like Kraftwerk. It arose as a genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post-punk era as part of the new wave movement of the late-1970s to the mid-1980s. In Japan, Yellow Magic Orchestras success opened the way for bands such as P-Model, Plastics. The development of polyphonic synthesizers, the definition of MIDI. This, its adoption by the acts from the New Romantic movement, together with the rise of MTV. Synth-pop is sometimes deployed interchangeably with electropop, but electropop may also denote a variant of synth-pop that places emphasis on a harder. In the late 1980s duos such as Erasure and Pet Shop Boys adopted a style that was successful on the US dance-charts. Some artists and bands were criticised for gender bending, Synth-pop was defined by its primary use of synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers, sometimes using them to replace all other instruments. Borthwick and Moy have described the genre as diverse but, many synth-pop musicians had limited musical skills, relying on the technology to produce or reproduce the music. The result was often minimalist, with grooves that were woven together from simple repeated riffs often with no harmonic progression to speak of. Early synth-pop has been described as eerie, sterile, and vaguely menacing, using droning electronics with little change in inflection, common lyrical themes of synth-pop songs were isolation, urban anomie, and feelings of being emotionally cold and hollow. Synthesizers were increasingly used to imitate the conventional and clichéd sound of orchestras, thin, treble-dominant, synthesized melodies and simple drum programmes gave way to thick, and compressed production, and a more conventional drum sound. Lyrics were generally optimistic, dealing with more traditional subject matter for pop music such as romance, escapism. According to music writer Simon Reynolds, the hallmark of 1980s synth-pop was its emotional, at times operatic singers such as Marc Almond, Alison Moyet and Annie Lennox. Because synthesizers removed the need for groups of musicians, these singers were often part of a duo where their partner played all the instrumentation. Later synth-pop saw a shift to a style influenced by other genres. Electronic musical synthesizers that could be used practically in a recording studio became available in the mid-1960s, the portable Minimoog, which allowed much easier use, particularly in live performance was widely adopted by progressive rock musicians such as Richard Wright of Pink Floyd and Rick Wakeman of Yes
7.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
