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
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.
YouTube
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YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—in February 2005, Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion, YouTube now operates as one of Googles subsidiaries. Unregistered users can watch videos on the site, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos deemed potentially offensive are available only to registered users affirming themselves to be at least 18 years old, YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a program which targets ads according to site content and audience. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service, and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not. YouTube began as a venture capital-funded technology startup, primarily from an $11.5 million investment by Sequoia Capital between November 2005 and April 2006, YouTubes early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. The domain name www. youtube. com was activated on February 14,2005, the first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23,2005, and can still be viewed on the site, YouTube offered the public a beta test of the site in May 2005. The first video to reach one million views was a Nike advertisement featuring Ronaldinho in November 2005. Following a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital in November, the site grew rapidly, and in July 2006 the company announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day, and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day. The site has 800 million unique users a month and it is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. The choice of the name www. youtube. com led to problems for a similarly named website, the sites owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006 after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube has since changed the name of its website to www. utubeonline. com, in October 2006, Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13,2006. In March 2010, YouTube began free streaming of certain content, according to YouTube, this was the first worldwide free online broadcast of a major sporting event. On March 31,2010, the YouTube website launched a new design, with the aim of simplifying the interface, Google product manager Shiva Rajaraman commented, We really felt like we needed to step back and remove the clutter. In May 2010, YouTube videos were watched more than two times per day. This increased to three billion in May 2011, and four billion in January 2012, in February 2017, one billion hours of YouTube was watched every day
10.
Electronic music
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In general, a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound producing devices include the telharmonium, Hammond organ, purely electronic sound production can be achieved using devices such as the theremin, sound synthesizer, and computer. During the 1920s and 1930s, electronic instruments were introduced and the first compositions for instruments were composed. Musique concrète, created in Paris in 1948, was based on editing together recorded fragments of natural and industrial sounds, Music produced solely from electronic generators was first produced in Germany in 1953. Electronic music was created in Japan and the United States beginning in the 1950s. An important new development was the advent of computers for the purpose of composing music, algorithmic composition was first demonstrated in Australia in 1951. In America and Europe, live electronics were pioneered in the early 1960s, during the 1970s to early 1980s, the monophonic Minimoog became once the most widely used synthesizer at that time in both popular and electronic art music. In the 1980s, electronic music became dominant in popular music, with a greater reliance on synthesizers, and the adoption of programmable drum machines. Electronically produced music became prevalent in the domain by the 1990s. Contemporary electronic music includes many varieties and ranges from art music to popular forms such as electronic dance music. Today, pop music is most recognizable in its 4/4 form. At the turn of the 20th century, experimentation with emerging electronics led to the first electronic musical instruments and these initial inventions were not sold, but were instead used in demonstrations and public performances. The audiences were presented with reproductions of existing music instead of new compositions for the instruments, while some were considered novelties and produced simple tones, the Telharmonium accurately synthesized the sound of orchestral instruments. It achieved viable public interest and made progress into streaming music through telephone networks. Critics of musical conventions at the time saw promise in these developments, ferruccio Busoni encouraged the composition of microtonal music allowed for by electronic instruments. He predicted the use of machines in future music, writing the influential Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music, futurists such as Francesco Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo began composing music with acoustic noise to evoke the sound of machinery. They predicted expansions in timbre allowed for by electronics in the influential manifesto The Art of Noises, developments of the vacuum tube led to electronic instruments that were smaller, amplified, and more practical for performance. In particular, the theremin, ondes Martenot and trautonium were commercially produced by the early 1930s, from the late 1920s, the increased practicality of electronic instruments influenced composers such as Joseph Schillinger to adopt them
11.
Vevo
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Vevo hosts music videos from both Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment syndicated on YouTube and its website, with Google and Vevo sharing advertising and similar benefits. EMI also licensed its library of videos for Vevo shortly before its launch, originally, Warner Music Group was reported to be considering hosting its content on the service after it launched, but formed an alliance with rival MTV Networks. The concept for Vevo was described as being a service for music videos. The sites other revenue sources include a store and referral links to purchase viewed songs on Amazon Music. UMG acquired the domain name vevo. com on November 20,2008, SME reached a deal to add its content to the site in June 2009. The site went live on December 8,2009, and that month became the number one most visited music site in the United States. In June 2012, Vevo launched its Certified awards, which honors artists with at least 100 million views on Vevo, on March 12,2013, Vevo launched Vevo TV, an advertising-supported internet television channel running 24 hours a day, featuring blocks of music videos and specials. The channel is available to viewers in North America and Germany. Vevo has planned launches in other countries, after revamping its website, Vevo TV later branched off into three separate networks, Hits, Flow, and Nashville. Vevo shut down the service during the first half of 2016 as part of a site wide redesign, during the run of the service, its schedule and programming was heavily repetitive. Many videos would play twice within an hour and a majority of the videos shown were current, programming shows such as the Top10Now and Vevo Lift would air several times per day. Since the service has been shut down, its apps that havent been updated just play the Top10Now in an infinite loop. Vevo is available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The website was scheduled to go worldwide in 2010, but as of January 1,2017, Vevos official blog cited licensing issues for the delay in the worldwide rollout. Most of Vevos videos on YouTube are viewable by users in other countries, the Vevo service in the United Kingdom and Ireland was launched on April 26,2011. On April 16,2012, Vevo was launched in Australia, on August 14,2012, Brazil became the first Latin American country to have the service. It was expected to be launched in six more European and Latin American countries in 2012, Vevo launched in Spain, Italy, and France on November 15,2012. Vevo launched in the Netherlands on April 3,2013, and on May 17,2013, in September 29,2013, Vevo updated its iOS application that now includes launching in Germany
12.
The Weeknd
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Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known professionally as The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and record producer. In late 2010, Tesfaye anonymously uploaded several songs to YouTube under the name The Weeknd and he released three nine-track mixtapes throughout 2011, House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, which were critically acclaimed. In 2012, he released a compilation album Trilogy, thirty tracks consisting of the remastered mixtapes and it was released under Republic Records and his own label XO. In 2013, he released his studio album Kiss Land. The songs have held the top three spots on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, making him the first artist in history to achieve this. The Weeknd has won two Grammy Awards and nine Juno Awards, in September 2016, the release of the third album Starboy was announced along with the release of the title track single Starboy, which subsequently reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was born on 16 February 1990, in Scarborough, Ontario and he is the only child of Makkonen and Samra Tesfaye, who were Ethiopian migrants to Canada in the 1980s. He was raised in Scarborough, a neighborhood within the city. During his youth, his mother would work several jobs to support the family, often as a nurse and caterer, while also attending night school. His father later abandoned the family, prompting his grandmother to take care for him and his paternal cousin Issam Nazar. This allowed him to become fluent in Amharic, with the Semitic language acting as his first language and she would also take him to services at an Ethiopian Orthodox church. He started smoking marijuana at age 11, and later moved on to hard drugs, describing his teenage years as KIDS without the AIDS, he would shoplift from the local supermarket with his cousin Issam, and began using MDMA, Xanax, cocaine, psilocybin and ketamine. He attended West Hill Collegiate Institute and Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute, the spelling was modified to avoid trademark issues with the Canadian band The Weekend. Tesfaye met producer Jeremy Rose, who had an idea for a dark R&B musical project called The Weeknd. After trying to pitch the idea to musician Curtis Santiago, Rose played one of his instrumentals for Tesfaye, who freestyled over it, and they began working on an album. He produced three songs – What You Need, Loft Music, and The Morning – and others that Tesfaye rapped on, Rose let Tesfaye keep the tracks he had produced under the condition that he would ultimately be credited for them. However, in December 2010, Tesfaye uploaded What You Need, Loft Music and The Morning to YouTube under the name The Weeknd, though his identity was initially unknown. The songs drew attention online through word of mouth, including a blog featuring the songs posted by rapper Drake and they subsequently received coverage from outlets such as Pitchfork Media and The New York Times
13.
A-Trak
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Alain Macklovitch, known by his stage name A-Trak, is a Canadian DJ, turntablist, record producer, and music label executive. He is the owner of the record label Fools Gold, which was founded in 2007, and is credited for developing the careers of such as Kid Cudi, Danny Brown. A-Traks career has spanned two decades, leading Rolling Stone to name him one of the 50 Most Important People in EDM. A-Trak is also part of the DJ duo Duck Sauce with Armand Van Helden, A-Trak was featured on the covers of Billboard and Complex and recently appeared in campaigns for Adidas, Grey Goose, Converse and Cadillac. A-Trak has also penned a number of articles for the The Huffington Post, after residing in Brooklyn for many years, he now calls Los Angeles home. Macklovitch was born to Jewish parents in Montréal, Quebec, and is of Moroccan and Russian descent and his older brother, David Macklovitch, is one-half of the electro-funk duo Chromeo. A-Trak was the first DJ to win all three major DJ competition titles, as well as being the first DJ to win five World Championships. He won the DMC World DJ Championship in 1997 at the age of 15 and he was an honorary member of the now defunct DJ crew Invisibl Skratch Piklz, and a member of The Allies alongside frequent collaborator DJ Craze. In the late 90s A-Trak developed a system for scratching. He gave a lecture about it at the Skratchcon 2000 conference and he has also appeared on the cover of multiple magazines including Billboard, URB, BPM and Status. A-Trak and his brother Dave ran the record label Audio Research from 1997–2007, after moving to Williamsburg, he founded the label Fools Gold Records with Nick Catchdubs in 2007. A-Trak had been booked to play a show, in 2004 at a record shop in London. Kanye West came to support John Legend who was playing in the same show. A-Trak also recorded scratches on Kanye West’s second and third studio albums Late Registration and Graduation and was an influence on the sound of the latter. Over the years he has endorsed brands including Serato Scratch Live. However, some of his production displays a separation of his electronic and hip hop identities, with such as Piss Test featuring Juicy J. Another hip hop production, Ray Ban Vision, was used in the 2012 movie Project X, in 2009, A-Trak collaborated with Armand Van Helden to form a disco house production duo under the name Duck Sauce. They released the song aNYway in October on Ministry of Sound, Duck Sauce has achieved success worldwide including reaching the top chart position in twelve countries and attaining the #1 spot on the US Dance Billboard charts
14.
Kiss Land
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Kiss Land is the debut studio album by Canadian singer The Weeknd. The album was released in the United States on September 10,2013, by XO, Kiss Land was supported by six singles, Kiss Land, Belong to the World, Love in the Sky, Live For, Pretty and Wanderlust. The albums sole guest appearance comes from frequent collaborator Drake, the albums production was primarily handled by DannyBoyStyles, The Weeknd and Jason DaHeala Quenneville. Kiss Land received generally positive reviews from critics, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 95,000 copies in its first week. As of August 2015, the album has sold 273,000 copies in the US, on March 17,2013, The Weeknd announced his debut album would be titled Kiss Land. In July 2013, Amazon. com revealed that the album would be released on August 27,2013, on July 22,2013, it was announced that the album would be pushed back from August 27,2013, until September 10,2013. In July 2013, during an interview with Complex, The Weeknd described the album, saying, Kiss Land symbolizes the tour life, just like House of Balloons symbolizes Toronto and my experiences there, but its a world that I created. When I think about Kiss Land, I think about a terrifying place and its a place Ive never been to before that Im very unfamiliar with. A lot of it is inspired by filmmakers like John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, Thats what Kiss Land is to me, an environment thats just honest fear. I dont know who I am right now and Im doing all these things in these settings that Im not familiar with. To me, its the most terrifying thing ever, so when you hear the screams in the record and you hear all these horror references and you feel scared, listen to the music because I want you to feel what Im feeling. Kiss Land is like a horror movie and he also explained the albums second single Belong to the World, saying, Belong to the World is about falling in love with the wrong person. There are some songs where I talk about the same person, whatever that situation was, I spent the whole album focusing on that situation. He also explained where the title Kiss Land came from, saying, the title came from a conversation that I overheard and those words stuck out. Someone said, Kiss Land and I thought, Thats going to be the title of my album, when I put out everyone was like, What the hell. This is going to be corny and its going to be all lovey-dovey. On July 21,2013, the cover was released. On September 1,2013, the album was made available for streaming on NPR Music
15.
Electro house
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Electro house is a form of house music. Electro house is characterized by a prominent bassline and/or kick drum and its origins were influenced by electro, electroclash, electropop, synthpop, and tech house. The term has been used to describe the music of many DJ Mag Top 100 DJs, including Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Hardwell, Skrillex, electro-house is typified by its heavy bass. This is often in the form of buzzing basslines, such as those created with sawtooth waves and it is also often in the form of large bass drum sounds in a four-on-the-floor pattern. The tempo of electro house is usually around 130 beats per minute, electro house sometimes resembles tech house, but it can contain melodic elements and electro-influenced samples and synths. The genre has been described as a genre of house and electro, either in its original form or as fused with electropop and techno in its late-1990s revival. The word electro is now used as an adjective, such as electro-house. Early songs that have been labelled retroactively as electro-house include Dark Invader by Arrivers in 1996, mr. Oizos 1999 hit Flat Beat has also been considered an early example of the genre. Benny Benassi, with his track Satisfaction released in 2002, is seen as the forerunner of electro-house who brought it to the mainstream, by the mid 2000s, electro-house saw an increase in popularity. Since then, electro-house producers such as Feed Me, Knife Party, The M Machine, Porter Robinson, in the early 2010s, a type of electro-house known as big room began to develop, particularly gaining popularity through EDM-oriented events and festivals such as Tomorrowland. Big room now is beginning to subside from the classification of a subgenre of electro house, big room songs resemble Dutch house, often incorporating drops, minimalist percussion, regular beats, sub-bass layered kicks, simple melodies, and synth-driven breakdowns. The layout of a big room track is similar to the layout of a typical electro-house song. Big room is thought of as a subgenre of electro-house, complextro is typified by glitchy, intricate basslines and textures created by sharply cutting between instruments in quick succession. The term, a portmanteau of the complex and electro, was coined by Porter Robinson to describe the sound of the music he was making in 2010. He has cited video game sounds, or chiptunes, as an influence on his style of music along with 1980s analog synth music and it is primarily defined by complex rhythms made from Latin-influenced drum kits, a lower emphasis on basslines, and squeaky, high-pitched lead synths. Influences on the subgenre include Detroit techno, hip hop and other styles of music. It contains influences from Chicago house, Detroit techno, Baltimore club, Kuduro, Pimba, bassline, bouncy techno, dubstep, techstep, hip hop easy listening and world music. Purveyors of the genre include The Bloody Beetroots, AC Slater, Danger, Hervé, Sinden, Jack Beats, the term fidget house was coined by DJs/producers Jesse Rose and Switch, as a joke, which has now gone a little too far
16.
Techno
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Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan, in the United States during the mid-to-late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno in reference to a genre of music was in 1988. Many styles of techno now exist, but Detroit techno is seen as the foundation upon which a number of subgenres have been built. Added to this is the influence of futuristic and fictional themes relevant to life in American late capitalist society, pioneering producer Juan Atkins cites Tofflers phrase techno rebels as inspiring him to use the word techno to describe the musical style he helped to create. This unique blend of influences aligns techno with the referred to as afrofuturism. To producers such as Derrick May, the transference of spirit from the body to the machine is often a central preoccupation, in this manner, techno dance music defeats what Adorno saw as the alienating effect of mechanisation on the modern consciousness. Stylistically, techno is generally repetitive instrumental music, oftentimes produced for use in a continuous DJ set, the tempo tends to vary between approximately 120 to 150 beats per minute, depending on the style of techno. The creative use of production technology, such as drum machines, synthesizers. Many producers use retro electronic musical devices to create what they consider to be an authentic techno sound, drum machines from the 1980s such as Rolands TR-808 and TR-909 are highly prized, and software emulations of such retro technology are popular among techno producers. The Electrifying Mojo was the first radio DJ to play music by the Detroit techno producers Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Mojo refused to follow pre-established radio formats or playlists, and he promoted social and cultural awareness of the African American community. In exploring technos origins writer Kodwo Eshun maintains that Kraftwerk are to Techno what Muddy Waters is to the Rolling Stones, the authentic, the origin, the real. Juan Atkins has acknowledged that he had an enthusiasm for Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, particularly Moroders work with Donna Summer. Atkins also mentions that around 1980 I had a tape of nothing but Kraftwerk, Telex, Devo, Giorgio Moroder and Gary Numan, and Id ride around in my car playing it. Regarding his initial impression of Kraftwerk, Atkins notes that they were clean, Derrick May identified the influence of Kraftwerk and other European synthesizer music in commenting that it was just classy and clean, and to us it was beautiful, like outer space. Living around Detroit, there was so little beauty, everything is an ugly mess in Detroit, and so we were attracted to this music. May has commented that he considered his music a direct continuation of the European synthesizer tradition and he also identified Japanese synthpop act Yellow Magic Orchestra, particularly member Ryuichi Sakamoto, and British band Ultravox, as influences, along with Kraftwerk. In 1980 or 1981 they met with Mojo and proposed that they provide mixes for his show, which they did end up doing the following year. These young promoters developed and nurtured the local music scene by both catering to the tastes of the local audience of young people and by marketing parties with new DJs
17.
Alternative R&B
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Alternative R&B is a term used by music journalists to describe a stylistic alternative to contemporary R&B. Alternative R&B was once used by the industry during the late 1990s to market neo soul artists, such as DAngelo, Erykah Badu. There has been a variety of discussion about the differing genre terms, the term hipster R&B has been commonly used, as has the term PBR&B—a combination of PBR and R&B. The first use of PBR&B was on Twitter by Sound of the City writer Eric Harvey on a March 22,2011 post, three years later, amazed and distressed at how far the term—meant as a joke—had traveled, Harvey wrote an extensive essay about it for Pitchfork. The genre has sometimes been called noir&B, however, the terms are often criticized for pigeonholing artists into hipster subculture and being used in a derisive manner. Brandon Neasman of The Grio observes a changing of the guard in R&B, from the smooth, cool heartthrobs to these vulnerable, additionally, for the most part, it doesnt feel as if these artists are selling sex as their main entrée. Granted, they sing about the topic, and in explicit detail. You don’t get that same diversity in subject matter from the majority of modern R&B singers, hermione Hoby of The Guardian writes that the music is quietly radical and observes an ongoing, mutually enriching dialogue between indie and electronic musicians and R&B artists. Gerrick D. Kennedy of the Los Angeles Times feels that the new movement feels like the most significant stylistic change in R&B since neo soul rolled around in the 1990s, janet Jacksons sixth studio album The Velvet Rope is cited as one the genres stylistic origins. Frank Ocean states that he does not like being called an R&B musician, how to Dress Well was not offended by the term PBR&B, but found it tacky. Miguel has said that he is comfortable with the term indie R&B because it insinuates a higher art, or a deeper or somehow more artistic delivery of rhythm and blues music. It suggests theres more artistry within a genre that has more of a cliche of itself. Eric Harvey, the writer who coined the term, wrote a response to its proliferation. FKA Twigs does not like the term, she told The Guardian Fuck alternative R&B. She finds the term racially charged, When I first released music and no one knew what I looked like, I would read comments like, Ive never heard anything like this before, and then my picture came out six months later, now shes an R&B singer. Stereogum described the genre as a fad that reached its point in early 2014. List of alternative R&B artists Hipster hop Neo soul Abebe, Nitsuh, PBR&B – A subgenre is born. Love vs. Money, The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, and R&Bs Future Shock
18.
Republic Records
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Republic Records is an American record company that operates as a division of Universal Music Group. The label was endowed by Monte Lipman and Avery Lipman in 1995, the labels main offices are located in New York City, New York, United States, other offices of the record label are located at the Interscope Center in Santa Monica, California, U. S. According to Mediabase, Republic Records was 2012s top charting U. S. label, according to Avery Lipman, he and his brother Monte Lipman first conceived of Republic Records at the kitchen table of their apartment, My brother and I had been working at record companies. He was in between jobs and we started putting out as a hobby. We had an approach to the business. The first record we put out happened to work really well, frustrated by the limitations of being an independent with a very small staff, the Lipman brothers accepted an offer from Universal. One of several labels that comprise Universal Motown Republic Group, the newly named Republic Records was formed in 1995 as a sub-label of MCAs Geffen Records, Avery Lipman told HitQuarters that the pairing was a complete disaster, saying, Our ideas and vision didn’t fit with the label. We didn’t trust our own instincts and we let others decide what was right for the project. As of 2006, Universal Republic has adopted an A&R and partnership-based growth strategy, in an era of music industry transition they have proven effective, as Universal Republic has continued to grow in the industrys declining years. In mid-2012, Universal Republic Records changed its name to its former name Republic Records, all Universal Republic Records roster were moved to Republic Records. The label has released albums by Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi. The new Republic became the one label in soundtrack production. On March 31,2014, it was announced that Big Machine and Republic Records revived Dot Records, vH1 and Republic has both used Social media in this campaign. In 2015 Republic Records had songs in six of the spots in the top 10 of the Mediabase Top 40 Chart, in the earlier days, Republic Records released the Bloodhound Gangs EP, Dingleberry Haze, as well as their first LP, Use Your Fingers. Universal Republic has created strategic partnerships and co-ventures, singer Jay Sean and producer Kevin Rudolf of Cash Money Records. Rudolfs single, Let It Rock was certified 3x Platinum and licensed by multiple television networks for sports, Jay Seans debut single Down sold 3 million copies in the United States and 6 million worldwide. Seans follow-up single Do You Remember also sold over a million copies, American singer Taylor Swift with Nashville-based Big Machine Records. Swift today is a Diamond artist with 10 Grammys and 40 million records sold worldwide, jack Johnson on Brushfire Records who has achieved multi-Platinum certifications twice and is estimated to have sold about 8 million albums worldwide
19.
Belong to the World
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Kiss Land is the debut studio album by Canadian singer The Weeknd. The album was released in the United States on September 10,2013, by XO, Kiss Land was supported by six singles, Kiss Land, Belong to the World, Love in the Sky, Live For, Pretty and Wanderlust. The albums sole guest appearance comes from frequent collaborator Drake, the albums production was primarily handled by DannyBoyStyles, The Weeknd and Jason DaHeala Quenneville. Kiss Land received generally positive reviews from critics, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 95,000 copies in its first week. As of August 2015, the album has sold 273,000 copies in the US, on March 17,2013, The Weeknd announced his debut album would be titled Kiss Land. In July 2013, Amazon. com revealed that the album would be released on August 27,2013, on July 22,2013, it was announced that the album would be pushed back from August 27,2013, until September 10,2013. In July 2013, during an interview with Complex, The Weeknd described the album, saying, Kiss Land symbolizes the tour life, just like House of Balloons symbolizes Toronto and my experiences there, but its a world that I created. When I think about Kiss Land, I think about a terrifying place and its a place Ive never been to before that Im very unfamiliar with. A lot of it is inspired by filmmakers like John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, Thats what Kiss Land is to me, an environment thats just honest fear. I dont know who I am right now and Im doing all these things in these settings that Im not familiar with. To me, its the most terrifying thing ever, so when you hear the screams in the record and you hear all these horror references and you feel scared, listen to the music because I want you to feel what Im feeling. Kiss Land is like a horror movie and he also explained the albums second single Belong to the World, saying, Belong to the World is about falling in love with the wrong person. There are some songs where I talk about the same person, whatever that situation was, I spent the whole album focusing on that situation. He also explained where the title Kiss Land came from, saying, the title came from a conversation that I overheard and those words stuck out. Someone said, Kiss Land and I thought, Thats going to be the title of my album, when I put out everyone was like, What the hell. This is going to be corny and its going to be all lovey-dovey. On July 21,2013, the cover was released. On September 1,2013, the album was made available for streaming on NPR Music
20.
ITunes
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ITunes is a media player, media library, online radio broadcaster, and mobile device management application developed by Apple Inc. It is used to play, download, and organize digital downloads of music and video on personal computers running the macOS, the iTunes Store is also available on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Application software for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch can be downloaded from the App Store. ITunes 12.5 is the most recent major version of iTunes, available for Mac OS X v10.9.5 or later and Windows 7 or later, it was released on September 13,2016. ITunes 12.2 added Apple Music to the application, along with the Beats 1 radio station, soundJam MP, developed by Bill Kincaid and released by Casady & Greene in 1998, was renamed iTunes when Apple purchased it in 2000. Jeff Robbin, Kincaid, and Dave Heller moved to Apple as part of the acquisition and they simplified SoundJams user interface, added the ability to burn CDs, and removed its recording feature and skin support. On January 9,2001, iTunes 1.0 was released at Macworld San Francisco, originally a Mac OS 9-only application, iTunes began to support Mac OS X when version 2.0 was released nine months later, which also added support for the original iPod. Version 3 dropped Mac OS9 support but added smart playlists, in April 2003, version 4.0 introduced the iTunes Store, in October, version 4.1 added support for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Introduced at Macworld 2005 with the new iPod Shuffle, Version 4.7, Version 7.0 introduced gapless playback and Cover Flow in September 2006. In March 2007, iTunes 7.1 added support for Windows Vista, iTunes lacked support for 64-bit versions of Windows until the 7.6 update on January 16,2008. ITunes is supported under any 64-bit version of Windows Vista, although the iTunes executable is still 32-bit, the 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are not supported by Apple, but a workaround has been devised for both operating systems. Version 8.0 added Genius playlists, grid view, iTunes 9 added Homeshare, enabling automatic updating of purchased items across other computers on the same subnet and offers a new iTunes Store UI. Genius Mixes were added, as well as improved app synchronization abilities and it also adds iTunes LPs to the store, which provides additional media with an album. Apple added iTunes Extras as well to the store, which adds content usually reserved for films on DVD, both iTunes LPs and Extras use web-standards HTML, JavaScript and CSS. iTunes acts as a front end for Apples QuickTime media framework. Officially, it is required in order to manage the data of an iPod, iPhone, or iPad. In addition, users are able to add PDF files to their library, the PDFs can be synchronized with and read on several devices except the regular iPod. iTunes 8.0 saw the removal of several options in the Preferences window. For example, iTunes once gave users the option to display arrows beside the selected songs title, artist, album and these arrows are no longer removable, except through the direct editing of a preferences file. ITunes keeps track of songs by creating a library, allowing users to access
21.
Billboard (magazine)
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
22.
Nightcall (song)
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Nightcall is a song by French electro house artist Kavinsky, released in 2010. It was produced with Daft Punks Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and mixed by electronic artist SebastiAn and it features Lovefoxxx, lead singer of Brazilian band CSS, on vocals and includes remixes by Dustin NGuyen, Jackson and his Computer Band and Breakbot. The track was used in the sequence for the film Drive, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling. Nightcall was included on Kavinskys debut studio album, OutRun, the song was also used in the soundtrack for the film The Lincoln Lawyer, directed by Brad Furman and starring Matthew McConaughey. It was sampled by Lupe Fiasco for his single American Terrorist III, in addition to Vinny Cha$e & Kid Art for their 2012 song Drive as a bonus track on Golden Army. It was also sampled by Childish Gambino for his song R. I. P on his mixtape Royalty, Nightcall was covered by English band London Grammar for their debut album, If You Wait. It was also covered by former Bluetones frontman Mark Morriss on his solo album, A Flash of Darkness. The track was released as the fourth single on 8 December 2013. The cover received positive reviews critics, with one writer from Fortitude Magazine saying that London Grammar’s take on the already-brilliant track is laced with sheer elegance. Digital download Nightcall –3,38 Digital EP Nightcall –3,39 Nightcall –7,34 Nightcall –4,57 Nightcall –4,45 Everywhere You Go –3,42 UK limited edition 7 single A. Nightcall –4,30 B. Everywhere You Go –3,42 Nightcall plays in the background of a scene in the film The Lincoln Lawyer. It also plays during the credits of the 2011 film Drive. The song is used in a commercial for the Sony Xperia phone promoting its low-light camera features. The wolf sound sample in Nightcall appears to be the same as in the 1994 film Clerks, at 1,19,00, the Kanye West song Wolves and the Paul Simon song The Werewolf
23.
Drive (2011 film)
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Drive is a 2011 American neo-noir crime film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and written by Hossein Amini, based on the 2005 novel by James Sallis. It stars Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, the film is about an unnamed Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. After he becomes attracted to a neighbor whose husband owes money to local gangsters. Reviews from critics were positive, and many comparisons to work from previous eras. The film was nominated for Best Film and Best Direction at the 65th British Academy Film Awards, the unnamed Driver works as a mechanic, a movie double, and a stunt driver, as well as a criminal-for-hire getaway driver. He is managed in all jobs by auto shop owner Shannon, the Driver meets his new neighbor, Irene, and becomes close to her and her young son, Benicio. Irenes husband, Standard Gabriel, is in prison, after Standard is released, Irene still asks the Driver to visit them. Standard owes protection money from his time in prison and is beaten up by Albanian gangster Cook, Cook gives Benicio a bullet as a symbol that he and his mother are in danger. The Driver, concerned for the safety of Irene and Benicio, the job goes awry when Standard is shot and killed by the pawnshop owner while the Driver is waiting for him and Cooks accomplice, Blanche. The Driver and Blanche escape after a car chase with a mysterious adversary. The Driver hides with Blanche in a motel, where he learns that the bag contains a million dollars, two of Cooks men ambush them in the motel room, killing Blanche before the Driver manages to kill them both. At the auto shop, Shannon offers to hide the money and he hunts down Cook in a strip club, smashes his fingers with a hammer, threatens to kill him, and force-feeds him the bullet that was given to Benicio. Cook reveals that Nino was behind the robbery, the Driver decides to return the money, but Nino dismisses the offer and instead sends a hitman to the Drivers apartment building. Entering the elevator with Irene, the Driver encounters the hitman and he then kisses Irene and brutally beats the hitman to death. Afterwards, Irene exits the elevator stunned and horrified, Bernie warns Nino that nobody steals from the Italian Mob. Nino is angry because the Italian Mob has marginalized and insulted him due to his Jewish heritage and he convinces Bernie to follow his plan. Bernie then murders Cook, as he is the witness to their agreement. After Shannon refuses to divulge the whereabouts of the driver, Bernie kills him at the shop with a straight razor
24.
Beauty Behind the Madness
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Beauty Behind the Madness is the second studio album by Canadian singer The Weeknd. It was released on August 28,2015, by XO, the album was supported by five singles, Often, The Hills, Cant Feel My Face, In the Night and Acquainted. The Hills and Cant Feel My Face both reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Beauty Behind the Madness also includes the Academy Award-nominated song Earned It, which was released as a single from the soundtrack to Fifty Shades of Grey. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, it became the tenth best-selling album of 2015, to date, the album has sold over two million units in the United States. On September 10,2013, The Weeknd released his debut album Kiss Land and it was promoted by three singles, Kiss Land, Belong to the World, Live For featuring Drake, and The Weeknds The Fall tour beginning during September 2013. Kiss Land received generally positive reviews from critics, Kiss Land debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 96,000 copies, just two thousand copies short of Keith Urbans Fuse, which took the number one spot on the week. In 2013, in an interview with MTV, following the release of his album, The Weeknd spoke of his compilation album Trilogy, as the first chapter of his life. On June 26,2014, The Weeknd announced that he would be headlining the King of the Fall tour, schoolboy Q and Jhené Aiko were confirmed as support acts. The announcement came on the day after The Weeknd released his new song Often on SoundCloud, on December 23,2014, Earned It was released as a single from the soundtrack of the film Fifty Shades of Grey. The song peaked at three on the Billboard Hot 100. On July 5,2015, Ed Sheeran revealed on Beats 1 that he had worked with The Weeknd on his forthcoming album, Sheeran also said that Kanye West would feature in this collaboration on the album. On July 9,2015, The Weeknd announced that his studio album would be titled Beauty Behind the Madness. The first single, Often was released on July 31,2014, the song peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 69 on the Canadian Hot 100. The albums second single, The Hills was released on May 27,2015, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 20 for the chart dated on June 13,2015, it was the weeks highest debut. On the following week, the single declined by one position, as of January 2016, The Hills has sold 2,662,000 copies in the US. The albums lead single, Cant Feel My Face was released on June 8,2015, the song debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100. It produced first-week digital sales of 93,000 units and garnered additionally 4.2 million US streams and 38 million airplay audiences. In its third week on the chart, the reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100, making it his third top 10 hit
25.
Trilogy (The Weeknd album)
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Trilogy is a compilation album by Canadian singer The Weeknd, released on 13 November 2012, by XO and Republic Records. It is composed of re-mixed and remastered versions of his 2011 mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, Trilogy received generally positive reviews from critics, who reinforced the previous acclaim of the mixtapes, although some found it indulgent. It was promoted with three singles and The Weeknds concert tour during September to November 2012, the album charted at number five and number four in Canada and the United States, respectively. During 2011, The Weeknd released a series of mixtapes—House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence—, the mixtapes were principally recorded with producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo, at Dream House and Site Sound Studios in Toronto, additional sessions took place at Sterling Road Studios. The Weeknd released the mixtapes online as free digital downloads, in September 2012, The Weeknd signed with Republic Records in a joint venture with his own imprint label XO. The mixtapes were subsequently remastered and compiled for Trilogy, along with three previously unreleased songs, which were recorded at Liberty Studios in Toronto, Twenty Eight, Valerie, and Til Dawn were included as bonus tracks at the end of each of the compilations discs. A video accompanying the track Rolling Stone was released on 3 October 2012, the Weeknd previewed the album at a listening party in New York City on 24 October. It was his first major media event, I usually dont like to spoon feed my audience because I grew up idolising story tellers who tell stories using symbolism, so it was in my nature to do the same. The Rolling Stone video takes place in a dimly lit studio which represents the two worlds I have been stuck in, the gloomy side represents the mainstream world while the other side represents the underground. The girl holding on represents you, the video for his first official single from Trilogy, a revamped version of Wicked Games, was released just weeks later on 18 October 2012, again through his website. This time, the shot opens on a dancing, purse-lipped model type, but her shadow soon vamps away from her body, the albums lead single Wicked Games was released on 22 October 2012. It charted at number 43 on the Canadian Hot 100, and in the United States, it reached number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 and his fourth video release, and third to promote Trilogy, is a collaboration with fellow Toronto musician, rapper Drake. This video had been rumoured for months and was a popular track given the collaboration of OVOXO, J. Abrams jealous, a woman dancing in lace lingerie, and Drake. Its a fitting video – its film noir, Twin Peaks-y vibe perfectly matches the tracks subtle sexy-creepy energy, the second single Twenty Eight was released on 13 November. The Weeknd toured in support of Trilogy during September to November 2012, the Zone was released as the albums third and final single three days later. With Trilogy now on iTunes and in-stores, The Weeknd turned to his fifth official video, dropped on 13 February 2013, and directed by up-and-coming visionary Nabil Elderkin. Hes under surveillance—the crew is watching, hologram girl is watching, the line between whats real and whats imagined is blurred, but one thing is clear—this video is definitely NSFW. Trilogy received generally positive reviews from critics, at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 79, based on 19 reviews
26.
House of Balloons
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House of Balloons is the debut mixtape by Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd. It was released as a download on March 21,2011. The mixtape was released on his official website. Its music incorporates electronic and urban genres, including R&B and soul, along with hop, indie rock. The contributions to the production came from Canadian record producers such as Doc McKinney, Zodiac and Illangelo. In September 2013, The Weeknd revealed that the House of Balloons is a real place, the albums eclectic music uses samples of songs by Beach House and Aaliyahs 2001 song Rock the Boat. The title track heavily samples Siouxsie and the Banshees 1980 single Happy House, the track The Knowing samples Cherry-Coloured Funk by Cocteau Twins. Pitchfork Medias Eric Grandy writes that the track has The Weeknd emoting in an androgynous falsetto one minute. Paul Lewster of The Guardian views that, although more than half of the mixtape features samples, the song High for This was featured in the promo for the final season of the HBO show Entourage in July 2011. On November 24,2011, The Weeknd’s first official video, for his song The Knowing. The song was first released on House of Balloons and the video was directed by French filmmaker Mikael Colombu, preceded by a string of low-profile buzz single releases throughout 2010, the mixtape attracted significant interest due to the then-anonymous identity of the individual behind The Weeknd. Metacritic, which assigns a rating based on reviews by industry professionals, gave House of Balloons a rating of 87. Stated that House of Balloons easily stands as one of the years best debuts so far, hipster, sputnikmusics Tyler Fisher said that despite being a free album, House of Balloons feels like a true album, a true labor of love. In December 2011, Metacritic determined that House of Balloons was the third best-reviewed project of the year, additionally, the mixtape was featured on several music critics and publications end-of-year albums lists. Complex called it the best album of 2011, Stereogum ranked it number 5, The Guardian ranked it number 8, club ranked it number 6, SPIN ranked it number 13, while Pitchfork ranked it number 10. As a whole, House of Balloons was the seventh most frequently mentioned album in music publications year-end top ten lists, the mixtape was named as one of the longlisted of nominees for the 2011s Polaris Music Prize. The mixtapes title track, House of Balloons was placed on Pitchforks list of top 100 songs of 2011 at number 57, sample credits What You Need contains excerpts of Rock the Boat performed by Aaliyah. House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls samples Happy House performed by Siouxsie, the Party & The After Party samples Master of None performed by Beach House
27.
Thursday (album)
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Thursday is the second mixtape by Canadian singer The Weeknd, independently released on August 19,2011. It follows his critically acclaimed, Polaris Music Prize-nominated debut mixtape House of Balloons and its music incorporates downtempo, dubstep, dream pop, hip hop, rock and reggae styles. As with his previous works, Canadian record producers Doc McKinney, Young Money artist Drake contributes guest vocals to the track The Zone. Thursday received generally positive reviews critics, who drew comparisons to House of Balloons. Rolling Stone and The Birds Part 1 were released as singles to precede the mixtapes release. Thursday was later remastered and packaged with The Weeknds compilation album Trilogy, Thursday received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications. Club said, Its a rare songwriter who can craft music thats so repellent yet also so irresistible, alex Young of Consequence of Sound said, Despite the ridiculously high highs of this album, it fails to maintain a great pace throughout. It struggles back and forth between good and great, whereas its foregoer grabbed great by the balls on the first track and never let go. Benjamin Boles of Now said, Its not quite perfect, his voice is the star of the show but is buried under the clever beats. But thats a small complaint about someone whos looking more and more one of the most exciting artists to emerge this year. Brandon Soderberg of Pitchfork said, Though theres less breathing space on Thursday, BBC Musics Mike Diver made a positive review, saying, File him beside Frank Ocean as an R&B star set to climb to new heights in 2012. Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine wrote, The Weeknd is in command of his craft. Hes earned my trust, as would any other artist who had released two of the years best albums. Tyler Fisher of Sputnikmusic said, Listening to something like Thursday is the form of escapism that so many of us flock to music for. Thats a quality that should be celebrated, not criticized for its lack of immediate pleasure, jody Rosen of Rolling Stone gave a mixed review, commenting, While its refreshing to hear an R&B singer emphasizing the psychic toll of libertinism, his angst sex grows tiresome. Once in a while, cant this dude just get laid, all songs were produced by Doc McKinney and Illangelo. Sample credits The Birds Part 2 samples Sandpaper Kisses performed by Martina Topley-Bird
28.
Echoes of Silence
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Echoes of Silence is the third mixtape by Canadian singer The Weeknd, released December 21,2011, by his official website. The release follows his Polaris Music Prize-nominated debut release House of Balloons and his second mixtape Thursday, the project is the final installment in the trilogy of free albums released by The Weeknd in 2011. The album was preceded by the release of the single, Initiation, long-time collaborator Carlo Illangelo Montagnese returned to produce the bulk of the project, with other production contributions coming from Clams Casino and DropxLife of the XO crew. Rapper Juicy J contributes a short interlude at the end of Same Old Song. Echoes of Silence received widespread acclaim from critics, at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the mixtape received an average score of 82, based on 17 reviews. Club said, Its Tesfayes total commitment to his persona that makes Echoes Of Silence so entrancingly chilling. Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune said, Its an impressive consolidation of his strengths, kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly said, Tesfayes velvety melodies infuse his trippy minimalism like incense smoke, getting lost only on the too-woozy title track. Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone said, The Weeknd has helped make R&B a creepier place, crooning too-honest come-ons over cavernous, ballad-slow tracks that balance leering sensuality with vague menace. Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine said, Disappointing as Echoes of Silence may be as a collection of songs, brandon Soderberg of Spin said, Echoes is a profound listen that, despite its veneer of cynicism, oozes pain and crisis. The album was named as a nominee for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize on June 14,2012. This marks the second consecutive year The Weeknd has been nominated for the award
29.
Wicked Games
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Wicked Games is the debut single by Canadian singer The Weeknd. It was recorded at Site Sound Studios and mixed at Liberty Studios in Toronto, producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo co-wrote the song and performed all instrumentation. Originally recorded for The Weeknds 2011 mixtape House of Balloons, the song was remastered and released as the single for his 2012 album Trilogy. It was released as a single on October 22,2012, by XO. Upon release, the single received acclaim from music critics. On May 9,2013, Wicked Games was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The music video for Wicked Games premiered on October 18,2012 on The Weeknds YouTube account on Vevo, since its release, the music video has received over 90 million views on YouTube. Credits adapted from liner notes for Trilogy
30.
Twenty Eight (song)
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Twenty Eight is a song by Canadian singer The Weeknd. It was recorded at Site Sound Studios and mixed at Liberty Studios in Toronto, producer Doc McKinney and Illangelo co-wrote the song and performed all instrumentation. The song was one of three tracks included at the end of each of the compilations discs from The Weeknds 2012 album Trilogy. The song was released as the single for the album, released as a digital single on December 10,2012, by XO. Credits adapted from liner notes for Trilogy, the Weeknd – composer, primary artist Doc McKinney – composer, instrumentation, producer Carlo Illangelo Montagnese – composer, instrumentation, mixing, producer
31.
The Zone (The Weeknd song)
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Thursday is the second mixtape by Canadian singer The Weeknd, independently released on August 19,2011. It follows his critically acclaimed, Polaris Music Prize-nominated debut mixtape House of Balloons and its music incorporates downtempo, dubstep, dream pop, hip hop, rock and reggae styles. As with his previous works, Canadian record producers Doc McKinney, Young Money artist Drake contributes guest vocals to the track The Zone. Thursday received generally positive reviews critics, who drew comparisons to House of Balloons. Rolling Stone and The Birds Part 1 were released as singles to precede the mixtapes release. Thursday was later remastered and packaged with The Weeknds compilation album Trilogy, Thursday received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications. Club said, Its a rare songwriter who can craft music thats so repellent yet also so irresistible, alex Young of Consequence of Sound said, Despite the ridiculously high highs of this album, it fails to maintain a great pace throughout. It struggles back and forth between good and great, whereas its foregoer grabbed great by the balls on the first track and never let go. Benjamin Boles of Now said, Its not quite perfect, his voice is the star of the show but is buried under the clever beats. But thats a small complaint about someone whos looking more and more one of the most exciting artists to emerge this year. Brandon Soderberg of Pitchfork said, Though theres less breathing space on Thursday, BBC Musics Mike Diver made a positive review, saying, File him beside Frank Ocean as an R&B star set to climb to new heights in 2012. Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine wrote, The Weeknd is in command of his craft. Hes earned my trust, as would any other artist who had released two of the years best albums. Tyler Fisher of Sputnikmusic said, Listening to something like Thursday is the form of escapism that so many of us flock to music for. Thats a quality that should be celebrated, not criticized for its lack of immediate pleasure, jody Rosen of Rolling Stone gave a mixed review, commenting, While its refreshing to hear an R&B singer emphasizing the psychic toll of libertinism, his angst sex grows tiresome. Once in a while, cant this dude just get laid, all songs were produced by Doc McKinney and Illangelo. Sample credits The Birds Part 2 samples Sandpaper Kisses performed by Martina Topley-Bird
32.
Kiss Land (song)
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Kiss Land is a song by Canadian singer The Weeknd, from his debut studio album Kiss Land. It was released on May 17,2013 by XO and Republic Records, upon its release, it received critical acclaim from music critics, who appreciated the progression from his earlier works. Although it was assumed to have been the lead single. On June 25,2013, a month later the video was released, featuring adult actresses London Keyes, Asphyxia Noir. It is considered NSFW due to the explicit content, but a censored version was released as well. In 2011, The Weeknd released the mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday, the following year, he released the compilation album Trilogy, which contained his earlier projects with three newly recorded tracks. The Weeknd began work on his studio album Kiss Land in 2013, he revealed the title. The song was co-produced by DannyBoyStyles, The Weeknd himself and Jason DaHeala Quenneville and it is divided into two musical portions, the first section discusses themes of sex, while the latter half addresses the topics of alcoholism. Upon its release, Kiss Land was met with acclaim from music critics, lauren Nostro from Complex complimented The Weeknds growth as an artist, noting that he continually refines his defined aesthetic, and noted that the track boasts a bridge. Global Grinds Brittany Lewis described the song as hypnotic, while Carl Williott of Idolator thought that the use of a womans scream brought a sinister lothario thing to absurd new heights
