1.
Alternative rock
–
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s and 2000s. In this instance, the word refers to the genres distinction from mainstream rock music. The terms original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their debt to either the musical style or simply the independent. Ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music, Alternative rock is a broad umbrella term consisting of music that differs greatly in terms of its sound, its social context, and its regional roots. Most of these subgenres had achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands representing them, such as Hüsker Dü, with the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became successful. By the end of the decade, alternative rocks mainstream prominence declined due to a number of events that caused grunge and Britpop to fade, emo attracted attention in the larger alternative rock world, and the term was applied to a variety of artists, including multi-platinum acts. Post-punk revival artists such as Modest Mouse and The Killers had commercial success in the early, before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sort of music to which it refers was known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about, in 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had a late night new wave show entitled Rock and Roll Alternative. College rock was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the radio circuit. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture, according to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red, NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called Alternative Charts. The first national chart based on distribution called the Indie Chart was published in January 1980, at the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, at first the term referred to intentionally non–mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave and high-energy dance anthems. The use of alternative gained further exposure due to the success of Lollapalooza, for which festival founder, in the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. Defining music as alternative is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word, the name alternative rock essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in clubs, recorded for indie labels. Sounds range from the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitars of indie pop to the dirty guitars of grunge to the 1960s/1970s revivalism of Britpop. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s, by 1984, a majority of groups signed to independent record labels mined from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years
2.
Celtic music
–
Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerably to include everything from music to a wide range of hybrids. Celtic music means two things mainly, first, it is the music of the peoples identifying themselves as Celts. Secondly, it refers to whatever qualities may be unique to the musics of the Celtic Nations, many notable Celtic musicians such as Alan Stivell and Paddy Moloney claim that the different Celtic musics have much in common. These common melodic practices may be used widely across Celtic Music, It is common for the line to move up. There are a number of reasons for this, Melodic variation can be easily introduced. Melodic variation is used in Celtic music, especially by the pipes. The relatively wider tonal intervals in some songs make it possible for stress accents within the line to be more in keeping with the local Celtic accent. By more than one Celtic language population belonging to different Celtic groups and these two latter usage patterns may simply be remnants of formerly widespread melodic practices. The definition is complicated by the fact that Irish independence has allowed Ireland to promote Celtic music as a specifically Irish product. However, these are modern geographical references to a people who share a common Celtic ancestry and consequently, additionally, the musics of ethnically Celtic peoples abroad are vibrant, especially in Canada and the United States. In Canada the provinces of Atlantic Canada are known for being a home of Celtic music, most notably on the islands of Newfoundland, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. The traditional music of Atlantic Canada is heavily influenced by the Irish, Scottish, in some parts of Atlantic Canada, such as Newfoundland, Celtic music is as or more popular than in the old country. Much of the music of this region is Celtic in nature, in Celtic Music, A Complete Guide, June Skinner Sawyers acknowledges six Celtic nationalities divided into two groups according to their linguistic heritage. The Q-Celtic nationalities are the Irish, Scottish and Manx peoples, while the P-Celtic groups are the Cornish, Bretons, there is also tremendous variation between Celtic regions. Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and Wales have living traditions of language and music, and there has been a recent major revival of interest in Celtic heritage in Cornwall, Galicia has a Celtic language revival movement to revive the Q-Celtic Gallaic language used into Roman times. Most of the Iberian Peninsula had a similar Celtic language in pre-Roman times, a Brythonic language was used in parts of Galicia and Asturias into early Medieval times brought by Britons fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasions via Brittany. The Romance language currently spoken in Galicia, Galician is closely related to the Portuguese language used mainly in Brazil, Galician music is claimed to be Celtic
3.
Folk rock
–
It has also been influential in those parts of the world with close cultural connections to Britain and gave rise to the genre of folk punk. By the 1980s the genre was in decline in popularity. When English bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s defined themselves as electric folk they were making a distinction with the existing folk rock. Folk rock was what they had already been producing, American or American style singer-songwriter material played on instruments, as undertaken by Bob Dylan. They drew the distinction because they were focusing on indigenous songs, the result of this hybridisation was an exchange of specific features drawn from Traditional music and Rock music. For example, electric folk groups, while using traditional material as their source for lyrics and tunes. In the same year, The Beatles began incorporating overt folk influences into their music, the Beatles and other British Invasion bands, in turn, influenced the Californian band The Byrds, who began playing folk-influenced material and Bob Dylan compositions with rock instrumentation. The Byrds recording of Dylans Mr Tambourine Man was released in April 1965 and reached #1 on the U. S. and UK singles charts, setting off the mid-1960s folk rock movement. The Beatles late 1965 album, Rubber Soul, contained a number of songs clearly influenced by the American folk rock boom, such as Nowhere Man and If I Needed Someone. Folk rock became an important genre among emerging English bands, particularly those in the London club scene towards the end of the 1960s. Like the American revival, it was often overtly left wing in its politics, most important among their responses were the foundation of folk clubs in major towns, starting with London where MacColl began the Ballads and Blues Club in 1953. These clubs were usually urban in location, but the songs sung in them often hearkened back to a rural pre-industrial past, in many ways this was the adoption of abandoned popular music by the middle classes. This meant that there were, by the later 1960s, a group of performers with musical skill and knowledge of a variety of traditional songs. The result was an interpretation of the song A Sailors Life. The rapid expansion of electric folk that followed in the wake of Liege, five Hand Reel a band formed out of the remnants of Spencers Feat proved to be one of the more successful and influential folk rock bands. Releasing 4 albums with Topic/RCA records they were popular in Europe. He then quit that and eventually formed the Albion Country Band, later the Albion Band, a much smaller group of English bands were formed in emulation of existing electric rock bands. Fiddlers Dram were often dismissed as one hit wonders for their single Day Trip to Bangor, most of their career, from that point until they disbanded in 1979, was one of declining profile and sales
4.
The X-Files
–
The X-Files is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter, which originally aired from September 10,1993 to May 19,2002 on Fox. The program spanned nine seasons, included 202 episodes, and a film of the same name. Later in 2008, a film was made and preceded a tenth season revival. The series revolves around FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files, early in the series, both agents become pawns in a larger conflict and come to trust only each other and a very few select people. The agents also discover an agenda of the government to keep the existence of life a secret. They develop a relationship which begins as a platonic friendship. In addition to the story arc, Monster-of-the-Week episodes form roughly two-thirds of all episodes. When creating the characters, Carter sought to reverse gender stereotypes by making Mulder a believer. The first seven seasons featured Duchovny and Anderson equally, in the last two seasons, Anderson took precedence while Duchovny appeared intermittently. New main characters were introduced, FBI agents John Doggett and Monica Reyes, Mulder and Scullys boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner, also became a main character. The first five seasons of The X-Files were filmed and produced in Vancouver, British Columbia, the series later returned to Vancouver to film The X-Files, I Want to Believe as well as the tenth season of the series. The X-Files was a hit for the Fox network and received positive reviews. Initially considered a series, it turned into a pop culture touchstone that tapped into public mistrust of governments and large institutions and embraced conspiracy theories. Both the series itself and lead actors Duchovny and Anderson received multiple awards and nominations, the series also spawned a franchise which includes The Lone Gunmen spin-off, two theatrical films and accompanying merchandise. The revival premiered on January 24,2016, the X-Files follows the careers and personal lives of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Mulder is a profiler and strong believer in the supernatural. He is also adamant about the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life and this set of beliefs earns him the nickname Spooky Mulder and an assignment to a little-known department that deals with unsolved cases, known as the X-Files. His belief in the springs from the claimed abduction of his sister Samantha Mulder by extraterrestrials when Mulder was 12
5.
Single (music)
–
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
6.
Hotel Alexandria
–
The Hotel Alexandria is an historic building constructed as a luxury hotel at the beginning of the 20th century in what was then the heart of downtown Los Angeles. As the area was revitalized in the first decade of the 21st century, the Hotel Alexandria, designed by architect John B. Parkinson of the firm of Parkinson & Bergstrom and constructed by developers Albert C, bilicke and Robert A. Rowan, opened on February 12,1906 as an 8-story luxury hotel at the southwest corner of Spring and 5th Streets in downtown Los Angeles. Its popularity resulted in Parkinson & Bergstrom designing a twelve-story addition, bilicke died in 1915 when he went down with the ocean liner RMS Lusitania. Their widows sold the hotel in 1919 to the builders of the nearby Ambassador Hotel, the hotel was the most luxurious in Los Angeles for a number of years until the construction of the Biltmore Hotel three blocks west in 1923. The Ambassador Hotels System sold the hotel in 1927, and it was again in 1930, before going bankrupt. The hotels gold leaf ceilings, furniture, chandeliers and other fittings were sold in 1934 to pay off debts, the hotel was sold again in 1937, to film producer Phil Goldstone, who renovated and reopened it. At this point, the original lobby was cut into two rooms, a mezzanine ballroom with the decorative ceiling from the original lobby and a modern art deco lobby below. The hotel changed hands multiple times after World War II and it was acquired by real estate developer S. Jon Kreedman in 1961, who renovated it in 1970 in a faux-Victorian style. The Palm Court, by the early 1970s, was in good shape. By this time, there had been a westward movement of the entire downtown business district. The old heart of Los Angeles along Broadway was abandoned and a new downtown grew up west of the Biltmore along Figueroa, the hotel was gradually transformed into a Single Room Occupancy or SRO hotel, housing long-term low-income residents. Its location near Los Angeless Skid Row meant that it had long ceased to attract overnight guests. During this period the building became notorious for crime and its generally dangerous character. Remodeling was conducted gradually, as tenants moved out. The building today contains a mix of market rate and subsidized housing and its elegant ballrooms are frequently rented for events, filming and weddings. From 2010-2014, its lobby featured The Gorbals, a restaurant run by Top Chef winner Ilan Hall, the Hotel Alexandria has an additional wing, on the 5th Street side, that is no longer part of the hotel. It was built by local businessman William Chick, who owned the land and it mirrors the main hotels design
