1.
Album
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Album, is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century album sales have mostly focused on compact disc and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used from the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl, an album may be recorded in a recording studio, in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed live, the majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at times while listening to the other parts using headphones. Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of the recording, historically, the term album was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, the LP record, or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. It was adopted by the industry as a standard format for the album. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, the term album had been carried forward from the early nineteenth century when it had been used for collections of short pieces of music. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, as part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some commenters have declared that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs, Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yess Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. There are no rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as albums. These are known as box sets, material is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, normally 11 or 12 tracks. A music track is a song or instrumental recording. The term is associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks. When vinyl records were the medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves
2.
Secret Machines
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Secret Machines were a three-piece American alternative rock band. Originally from Dallas, Texas, before moving to New York City, the original lineup consisted of two brothers, Brandon and Benjamin Curtis, and Josh Garza. In March 2007, Benjamin left the band, and was replaced by Phil Karnats, before forming Secret Machines, the members played in various Dallas bands such as UFOFU, Captain Audio, Comet, When Babies Eat Pennies, and Tripping Daisy. Captain Audio was formed by Garza and vocalist/guitarist/chief songwriter Regina Chellew in the late 1990s as a two-piece noise duo, Brandon — and occasionally Ben — Curtis joined soon after as the original duo began to develop a more standard rock sound. Sonically, Captain Audio and Secret Machines are very similar, much more so than any of the other former bands. In the liner notes for Captain Audios Luxury, all of the musicians who played on the album are credited simply as Secret Machines. The band went to Chicago first, where they recorded their EP, September 000, six weeks after forming, the EP didnt sell well, but remained a hit on indie radio. In 2004, Secret Machines released their first full-length CD - Now Here Is Nowhere, the song Nowhere Again, from their debut album, was used in promotional spots for American during its launch, and appeared in the 2006 videogame Driver, Parallel Lines. Their second EP, The Road Leads Where Its Led, was released on 7 June 2005, the EP includes a re-recording of the song The Road Leads Where Its Led, which originally appeared on the debut full-length. Ten Silver Drops, their album, leaked onto file sharing websites following the release of their lead single Alone, Jealous. The album once again did not sell well but garnered favorable reviews, in 2006, the band did a headlining In-the-Round tour. Following the albums release, the band were interviewed for radio by David Bowie, who was openly a huge fan of the band. Bowie was impressed by the ability to record songs that had not been pre-written. Benjamin Curtis left the band on March 3,2007, to focus full-time on his new band, the news was posted by Brandon Curtis on the Secret Machines message board. After Bens departure from the band, Secret Machines played two shows in New York, one at the Annex, and the other at the newly opened Highline Ballroom, at these shows, the band played mostly new material to be put on their next album. They included two new members, Blasco on guitar, keyboards, and bass, and ex-Tripping Daisy member Phil E. Karnats on guitar, since these shows, Karnats has become the official guitarist of the band, replacing Ben. The band finished recording quickly during May 2007 and released a new, the online release notice features a free download of a non-album B-side titled Dreaming of Dreaming. Phil E. Karnats announced on his MySpace blog that he recorded parts for the album
3.
Progressive rock
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Progressive rock is a broad subgenre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States throughout the mid to late 1960s. Prog is based on fusions of styles, approaches and genres, Prog saw a high level of popularity in the early-to-mid 1970s, but faded soon after. Conventional wisdom holds that the rise of rock caused this. Music critics, who labelled the concepts as pretentious and the sounds as pompous and overblown. Early groups who exhibited progressive features are described as proto-prog. In 1967, progressive rock constituted a diversity of loosely associated style codes, the Canterbury scene, originating in the late 1960s, denoted a subset of prog bands who emphasised the use of wind instruments, complex chord changes and long improvisations. Rock in Opposition, from the late 1970s, was more avant-garde, in the 1980s, a new subgenre, neo-progressive rock, enjoyed some commercial success, although it was also accused of being derivative and lacking in innovation. Post-progressive draws upon newer developments in music and the avant-garde since the mid 1970s. The term progressive rock is synonymous with art rock, classical rock, historically, art rock has been used to describe at least two related, but distinct, types of rock music. Similarities between the two terms are that they describe a mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility. However, art rock is likely to have experimental or avant-garde influences. Prog was devised in the 1990s as a term, but later became a transferable adjective. Although a unidirectional English progressive style emerged in the late 1960s, by 1967, critics of the genre often limit its scope to a stereotype of long solos, overlong albums, fantasy lyrics, grandiose stage sets and costumes, and an obsessive dedication to technical skill. Author Kevin Holm-Hudson believes that rock is a style far more diverse than what is heard from its mainstream groups. They each do so largely unconsciously, academic John S. Cotner contests Macans view that progressive rock cannot exist without the continuous and overt assimilation of classical music into rock. Debate about the criteria and scope of the genre continues in the 2010s. In early references to the music, progressive was partly related to progressive politics, Cotner also says that progressive rock incorporates both formal and eclectic elements, It consists of a combination of factors – some of them intramusical, others extramusical or social. One way of conceptualising rock and roll in relation to music is that progressive music pushed the genre into greater complexity while retracing the roots of romantic
4.
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
5.
Metacritic
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Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of media products, music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged, Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source, a color of Green, Yellow or Red summarizes the critics recommendations and therefore the general appeal of the product to reviewers and, to a lesser extent, the public. It is regarded as the game industrys foremost review aggregator. Metacritics scoring converts each review into a percentage, either mathematically from the mark given, before being averaged, the scores are weighted according to the critics fame, stature, and volume of reviews. Metacritic was launched in July 1999 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, rotten Tomatoes was already compiling movie reviews, but Doyle, Roberts, and Dietz saw an opportunity to cover a broader range of media. They sold Metacritic to CNET in 2005, CNET and Metacritic are now owned by the CBS Corporation. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal wrote in September 2004, Mr. Doyle,36, is now a product manager at CNET. Speaking of video games, Doyle said, A site like ours helps people cut through. unobjective promotional language and he added that the review process was not taken as seriously when unconnected magazines and websites provided reviews in isolation. In August 2010, the appearance was revamped, reaction from users was overwhelmingly negative. Certain publications are given more significance because of their stature, games Editor Marc Doyle was interviewed by Keith Stuart of The Guardian to get a look behind the metascoring process. Stuart wrote, the phenomenon, namely Metacritic and GameRankings, have become an enormously important element of online games journalism over the past few years. The ranging of metascores is, Metacritic is regarded as the foremost online review site for the video game industry. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal has written that Metacritic influence the sales of games and he explains its influence as coming from the higher cost of buying video games than music or movie tickets. Many executives say that low scores can hurt the sales potential. He claimed that a number of businesses and financial analysts use Metacritic as an early indicator of a games potential sales and, by extension. In 2004, Jason Hall of Warner Bros. began including quality metrics in contracts with partners licensing its movies for games, if a product does not at least achieve a specific score, some deals require the publisher to pay higher royalties. In 2008, Microsoft began using Metacritic averages to de-list underperforming Xbox Live Arcade games and these are the top 10 individual games with the highest scores on the site as of 2 April 2017
6.
AllMusic
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AllMusic is an online music guide service website. It was launched in 1991 by All Media Guide which later became All Media Network, AllMusic was launched in 1991 by Michael Erlewine of All Media Guide. The aim was to discographic information on every artist whos made a record since Enrico Caruso gave the industry its first big boost and its first reference book was published the following year. When first released onto the Internet, AMG predated the World Wide Web and was first available as a Gopher site, the AMG consumer web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in July 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. All Media Network, LLC. was formed by the founders of SideReel. com. The following are contributors to AllMusic, as of this date, All Media Network also produced the AllMusic guide series that includes the AllMusic Guide to Rock, the All Music Guide to Jazz and the All Music Guide to the Blues. Vladimir Bogdanov is the president of the series, in August 2007, PC Magazine included AllMusic in its Top 100 Classic Websites list. All Media Network AllGame AllMovie SideReel All Music Guide to the Blues All Music Guide to Jazz Stephen Thomas Erlewine Official website
7.
Entertainment Weekly
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Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by Time Inc. that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books and popular culture. Different from celebrity-focused publications like Us Weekly, People, and In Touch Weekly, EW primarily concentrates on entertainment media news, however, unlike Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, which are aimed at industry insiders, EW targets a more general audience. The first issue was published on February 16,1990, the cover price was $1.95 The title word entertainment was not capitalized on the cover until mid-1992 and has remained so since. By 2003, the weekly circulation averaged 1.7 million copies per week. In March 2006, managing editor Rick Tetzeli oversaw an overhaul of EWs graphics, Entertainment Weekly follows a typical magazine format by featuring a letters to the editor and table of contents in the first few pages, while also featuring advertisements. While many advertisements are unrelated to the entertainment industry, the majority of ads are typically related to up-and-coming television and these beginning articles open the magazine and as a rule focus on current events in pop culture. First Look, subtitled An early peek at some of Hollywoods coolest projects, is a spread with behind-the-scenes or publicity stills of upcoming movies. The Hit List, written each week by critic Scott Brown, highlights ten major events, Typically, there will be some continuity to the commentaries. This column was written by Jim Mullen and featured twenty events each week. The Hollywood Insider is a section that reports breaking news in entertainment. It gives details, in the columns, on the most-current news in television, movie. The Style Report is a section devoted to celebrity style. Because its focus is on celebrity fashion or lifestyle, it is rich in nature. Recently, the converted to a new format, five pictures of celebrity fashions for the week. A spin-off section, Style Hunter, which finds reader-requested articles of clothing or accessories that have appeared in pop culture recently, appears frequently. The Monitor is a two-page spread devoted to events in celebrity lives with small paragraphs highlighting events such as weddings, illnesses, arrests, court appearances. Deaths of major celebrities are typically detailed in a one-half- or full-page obituary titled Legacy and this feature is nearly identical to sister publication Peoples Passages feature. Harris column focuses on analyzing current popular-culture events, and is generally the most serious of the columns, harris has written about the writers strike and the 2008 presidential election, among other topics
8.
Pitchfork (website)
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Pitchfork is an American online magazine launched in 1995 by Ryan Schreiber, based in Chicago, Illinois and owned by Condé Nast. The site generally concentrates on new music, but Pitchfork journalists have also reviewed reissues, in late 1995, Ryan Schreiber, a recent high school graduate, created the magazine in Minneapolis. Influenced by local fanzines and KUOM, Schreiber, who had no writing experience. At first being Turntable, the site was updated monthly with interviews and reviews, in May 1996, the site began publishing daily and was renamed Pitchfork, alluding to Tony Montanas tattoo in Scarface. In early 1999, Schreiber relocated Pitchfork to Chicago, Illinois, by then, the site had expanded to four full-length album reviews daily, as well as sporadic interviews, features, and columns. It had also begun garnering a following for its coverage of underground music and its writing style. In October, the added a daily music news section. Pitchfork has launched a variety of subsidiary websites, Pitchfork. tv, a website displaying videos related to many independent music acts, launched in April 2008. It features bands that are found on Pitchfork. In July 2010, Pitchfork announced Altered Zones, a blog devoted to underground. On 21 May 2011, Pitchfork announced a partnership with Kill Screen, Altered Zones was closed on November 30. On December 26,2012, Pitchfork launched Nothing Major, a website that covered visual arts such as fine art, Nothing Major closed in October 2013. On October 13,2015, Condé Nast announced that it had acquired Pitchfork, following the sale, Schreiber remained as editor-in-chief. On March 13,2016, Pitchfork was redesigned, some publications have cited Pitchfork in having played a part in breaking artists such as Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Interpol, The Go. Conversely, Pitchfork has also seen as being a negative influence on some indie artists. A dismissive 0.0 review of former Dismemberment Plan frontman Travis Morrisons Travistan album led to a sales drop. On the other hand, an endorsement from Pitchfork – which dispenses its approval one-tenth of a point at a time, up to a maximum of 10 points – is very valuable, indeed. Examples of Pitchforks impact include, Arcade Fire is among the bands most commonly cited to have benefited from a Pitchfork review
9.
Rolling Stone
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Rolling Stone is an American biweekly magazine that focuses on popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner, who is still the publisher. It was first known for its coverage and for political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine shifted focus to a readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors. In recent years, it has resumed its traditional mix of content, Rolling Stone magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason. To get it off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his own family and from the parents of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. The first issue carried a date of November 9,1967. Some authors have attributed the name solely to Dylans hit single, At Gleasons suggestion, Rolling Stone initially identified with and reported the hippie counterculture of the era. In the very first edition, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone is not just about the music, in the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark with its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson writing for the magazines political section. Thompson first published his most famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas within the pages of Rolling Stone, where he remained a contributing editor until his death in 2005. In the 1970s, the magazine also helped launch the careers of prominent authors, including Cameron Crowe, Lester Bangs, Joe Klein, Joe Eszterhas, Patti Smith. It was at point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories. One interviewer, speaking for a number of his peers, said that he bought his first copy of the magazine upon initial arrival on his college campus. In 1977, the magazine moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City, editor Jann Wenner said San Francisco had become a cultural backwater. During the 1980s, the magazine began to shift towards being an entertainment magazine. Music was still a dominant topic, but there was increasing coverage of celebrities in television, films, the magazine also initiated its annual Hot Issue during this time. Rolling Stone was initially known for its coverage and for Thompsons political reporting. In the 1990s, the changed its format to appeal to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors
10.
Q (magazine)
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Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Q was first published by the EMAP media group in October 1986, setting apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled The modern guide to music, originally it was to be called Cue, but the name was changed so that it wouldnt be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Qs 200th edition, is that a title would be more prominent on newsstands. In January 2008 EMAP sold its consumer titles, including Q. The magazine has a review section, featuring, new releases, reissues, music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio. It uses a system from one to five stars, indeed. While its content is non-free they host an archive of all of their magazine covers, much of the magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artists. It is well known for compiling lists and it has created many, ranging from The 100 Greatest albums to the 100 Greatest 100 Greatest Lists. Every other month, Q — and its magazine, Mojo — have a special edition. These have been about musical times, genres, or a very important/influential musician, often, promotional gifts are given away, such as cover-mounted CDs or books. The January 2006 issue included a copy of The Greatest Rock. Every issue of Q has a different message on the spine, readers then try to work out what the message has to do with the contents of the mag. This practice — known as the spine line — has since become commonplace among British lifestyle magazines, including Qs sister publication, Empire, on 4 March 2007, Q named Elvis Presley the greatest singer of all time. The magazine has a relationship with the Glastonbury Festival, producing both a free daily newspaper on site during the festival and a review magazine available at the end of the festival. In late 2008 Q revamped its image, with an amount of text. This Rolling Stone-isation has led to criticism from much of the traditional Q readership, in 2006, Q published a readers survey, the 100 Greatest Songs Ever, won by Oasis Live Forever. Q has a history of associating with charitable organisations, and in 2006 the British anti-poverty charity War on Want was named its official charity, in the April 2007 issue, Q published an article containing the 100 Greatest Singers, won by Elvis Presley
11.
Band (rock and pop)
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A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble which performs rock music, pop music or a related genre. The four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music, before the development of the electronic keyboard, the configuration was typically two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer. Another common formation is a vocalist who does not play an instrument, electric guitarist, bass guitarist, instrumentally, these bands can be considered as trios. The smallest ensemble that is used in rock music is the trio format. Two-member rock and pop bands are relatively rare, because of the difficulty in providing all of the elements which are part of the rock or pop sound. Some well-known power trios with the guitarist on lead vocals are The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Nirvana, The Jam, and ZZ Top. Two-member rock and pop bands are relatively rare, because of the difficulty in providing all of the elements which are part of the rock or pop sound. Two-member rock and pop bands typically omit one of musical elements. In many cases, two-member bands will omit a drummer, since guitars, bass guitars, honeyblood, Diet Cig and Royal Blood. When electronic sequencers became widely available in the 1980s, this made it easier for bands to add in musical elements that the two band members were not able to perform. Sequencers allowed bands to pre-program some elements of their performance, such as a drum part. Two-member pop music such as Soft Cell, Blancmange and Yazoo used pre-programmed sequencers. Other pop bands from the 1980s which were fronted by two performers, such as Wham. Eurythmics and Tears for Fears, were not actually two-piece ensembles, two-piece bands in rock music are quite rare. However, starting in the 2000s, blues-influenced rock bands such as The White Stripes and The Black Keys utilized a guitar, however, this is predated by the Flat Duo Jets and House of Freaks from the 1980s. Death from Above 1979 featured a drummer and bass guitarist, tenacious D is a two-guitar band, One Day as a Lion and The Dresden Dolls both feature a keyboardist and a drummer. The band Welk consists of a two-man psychedelic flute band, with the occasional synthesizer, two-person bands have grown in popularity in experimental rock music. Ratatat are a band that utilize a drum machine for beats
12.
ITunes Store
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ITunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28,2003, and has been the largest music vendor in the United States since April 2008, and the largest music vendor in the world since February 2010. It offers over 35 -40 million songs,2.2 million apps,25,000 TV shows, iTunes Stores revenues in the first quarter of 2011 totaled nearly US$1.4 billion, by May 28,2014, the store had sold 35 billion songs worldwide. On January 6,2009, Apple announced that DRM had been removed from 80% of its catalog in the US. As of June 2013, iTunes Store possesses 575 million active user accounts, before iTunes Store, most of the online music was download through websites like Napster. Steve Jobs expressed concern that people were illegally obtaining music because it was the option they had. In 2002, Steve Jobs made an agreement with the five major record labels to offer their content through iTunes, iTunes Store was introduced by Steve Jobs at a Worldwide Developers Conference to give music listeners a legal alternative to peer-to-peer file sharing networks. When it opened, it was the only legal digital catalog of music to songs from all five major record labels. At first, it was available on Mac OS X. Following the introduction of iTunes Store, individual songs were all sold for the same price, Music in the store is in the Advanced Audio Coding format, which is the MPEG-4-specified successor to MP3. Originally, songs were available with DRM and were encoded at 128 kbit/s. At the January 2009 Macworld Expo, Apple announced that all music would be made available without DRM. Previously, this model, known as iTunes Plus, had available only for music from EMI. Users can sample songs by listening to previews, ninety seconds in length, some Apps cost money and some are free. Developers can decide which prices they want to charge for apps, from a pre-set list of pricing tiers, when someone downloads an App,70 percent of the purchase goes to the developer, and 30 percent goes to Apple. At the Macworld 2008 keynote, Steve Jobs, who was Apples CEO at the time, movies are available for rent in iTunes Store on the same day they are released on DVD, though iTunes Store also offers for rental some movies that are still in theaters. Movie rentals are only viewable for 24 hours or 48 hours after users begin viewing them, iTunes Store also offers one low-priced movie rental a week, in the United States, this rental costs 99 cents. Movie rentals are not yet available in all countries but it is available in the United States, Mexico, there is a weekly promotion in which one to three songs are available to download for free to logged-in users
13.
Compact disc
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Compact disc is a digital optical disc data storage format released in 1982 and co-developed by Philips and Sony. The format was developed to store and play only sound recordings but was later adapted for storage of data. The first commercially available Audio CD player, the Sony CDP-101, was released October 1982 in Japan, standard CDs have a diameter of 120 millimetres and can hold up to about 80 minutes of uncompressed audio or about 700 MiB of data. The Mini CD has various diameters ranging from 60 to 80 millimetres, they are used for CD singles, storing up to 24 minutes of audio. At the time of the introduction in 1982, a CD could store much more data than a personal computer hard drive. By 2010, hard drives commonly offered as much space as a thousand CDs. In 2004, worldwide sales of audio CDs, CD-ROMs and CD-Rs reached about 30 billion discs, by 2007,200 billion CDs had been sold worldwide. In 2014, revenues from digital music services matched those from physical format sales for the first time. American inventor James T. Russell has been credited with inventing the first system to record information on an optical transparent foil that is lit from behind by a high-power halogen lamp. Russells patent application was first filed in 1966, and he was granted a patent in 1970, following litigation, Sony and Philips licensed Russells patents in the 1980s. The compact disc is an evolution of LaserDisc technology, where a laser beam is used that enables the high information density required for high-quality digital audio signals. Prototypes were developed by Philips and Sony independently in the late 1970s, although originally dismissed by Philips Research management as a trivial pursuit, the CD became the primary focus for Philips as the LaserDisc format struggled. In 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new audio disc. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the Red Book CD-DA standard was published in 1980, after their commercial release in 1982, compact discs and their players were extremely popular. Despite costing up to $1,000, over 400,000 CD players were sold in the United States between 1983 and 1984, by 1988 CD sales in the United States surpassed those of vinyl LPs, and by 1992 CD sales surpassed those of prerecorded music cassette tapes. The success of the disc has been credited to the cooperation between Philips and Sony, who came together to agree upon and develop compatible hardware. The unified design of the disc allowed consumers to purchase any disc or player from any company. In 1974, L. However, due to the performance of the analog format
14.
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
15.
UK Albums Chart
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The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts Company on Fridays and it is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and published in Music Week magazine, and on the OCC website. To qualify for the Official Albums Chart the album must be the correct length and it must be more than three tracks or 20 minutes long and not be classed as a budget album. A budget album costs between £0.50 and £3.75, additionally, various artist compilations – which until January 1989 were included in the main album listing – are now listed separately in a compilations chart. Full details of the rules can be found on the OCC website. In the 1970s the new chart was revealed at 12,45 pm on Thursdays on BBC Radio 1. Since October 1993 it has included in The Official Chart show from 4,00 –5,45 pm on Fridays. A weekly Album Chart show was licensed out to BBC Radio 2 and presented by Simon Mayo,2005 saw a record number of artist album sales with 126.2 million sold in the UK. In February 2015, it was announced that, due to the sales of albums and rise in popularity of audio streaming. Under the revised methodology, the Official Charts Company takes the 12 most streamed tracks from one album, the total of these streams is divided by 1000 and added to the pure sales of the album. This calculation was designed to ensure that the chart continues to reflect the popularity of the albums themselves. The final number one album on the UK Albums Chart to be based purely on sales alone was Smoke + Mirrors by Imagine Dragons, on 1 March 2015, In the Lonely Hour by Sam Smith became the first album to top the new streaming-incorporated Official Albums Chart. The most successful artists in the charts depends on the criteria used, as of February 2016, Queen albums have spent more time on the British album charts than any other musical act, followed by The Beatles, Elvis Presley, U2 and ABBA. By most weeks at one, however, The Beatles lead with a total of 174 weeks. The male solo artist with the most weeks at one is Presley with a total of 66 weeks. Presley also holds the record for the most number one albums by a solo artist and most top ten albums by any artist. Madonna has the most number one albums by a female artist in the UK, though this includes the Evita film soundtrack which was a cast recording, Adele is the female solo artist with the most weeks at number one, with a total of 37 weeks. Queens Greatest Hits is the album in UK chart history with 6 million copies sold as of February 2014
16.
Billboard 200
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The Billboard 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists, often, a recording act will be remembered by its number ones, those of their albums that outperformed all others during at least one week. The chart is based mostly on sales of albums in the United States, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, tracking week begins on Friday and ends on Thursday. A new chart is published the following Tuesday with an issue post-dated to the Saturday of the following week, the charts streaming schedule is also tracked from Friday to Thursday. Example, Friday January 1 – sales tracking week begins Thursday January 7 – sales tracking week ends Tuesday January 12 – new chart published, New product is released to the American market on Fridays. Digital downloads of albums are included in Billboard 200 tabulation. Albums that are not licensed for sale in the United States are not eligible to chart. As of the issue dated April 15,2017, the album on the Billboard 200 is More Life by Drake. Billboard began an album chart in 1945, initially only five positions long, the album chart was not published on a weekly basis, sometimes three to seven weeks passing before it was updated. A biweekly, 15-position Best-Selling Popular Albums chart appeared in 1955, the position count varied anywhere from 10 to 30 albums. The first number-one album on the new weekly list was Belafonte by Harry Belafonte, the chart was renamed to Best-Selling Pop Albums later in 1956, and then to Best-Selling Pop LPs in 1957. Beginning on May 25,1959, Billboard split the ranking into two charts Best-Selling Stereophonic LPs for stereo albums and Best-Selling Monophonic LPs for mono albums and these were renamed to Stereo Action Charts and Mono Action Charts in 1960. In January 1961, they became Action Albums—Stereophonic and Action Albums—Monophonic, three months later, they became Top LPs—Stereo and Top LPs—Monaural. On August 17,1963 the stereo and mono charts were combined into a 150-position chart called Top LPs, on April 1,1967, the chart was expanded to 175 positions, then finally to 200 positions on May 13,1967. In 1960, Billboard began concurrently publishing album charts which ranked sales of older or mid-priced titles and these Essential Inventory charts were divided by stereo and mono albums, and featured titles that had already appeared on the main stereo and mono album charts. In January 1961, the Action Charts became Action Albums—Monophonic, Albums appeared on either chart for up to nine weeks, then were moved to an Essential Inventory list of approximately 200 titles, with no numerical ranking. This list continued to be published until the consolidated Top LPs chart debuted in 1963, in 1982, Billboard began publishing a Midline Albums chart which ranked older or mid-priced titles. The chart held 50 positions and was published on a bi-weekly basis, on May 25,1991, Billboard premiered the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart
17.
Brandon Curtis
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Brandon Curtis is the vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the rock band The Secret Machines. Originally from Norman, Oklahoma, he was friends with Tim, Mark, Brandon and his brother Benjamin moved to Dallas and formed The Secret Machines with drummer Josh Garza. The trio later moved to New York City where Benjamin eventually left the band to pursue a career in School of Seven Bells, previously his side project. Brandons atmospheric keyboards show signs of influence from 1970s Krautrock bands like Can as well as rock artists such as Pink Floyd, Hawkwind. Curtis performed lead vocals on Dont Fall Softly, a track by UK synthpop band Filthy Dukes which appears on their 2009 release Nonsense In the Dark and he mixed/produced two records by South African rock band BLK JKS. In June 2010, Curtis joined the lineup of Interpol, on keyboards. In 2012, Brandon joined Interpol front man Paul Banks live band and he contributed to Banks 2012 EP entitled Julian Plenti Lives. Curtis contributed to the production, recording, and mixing of EmptyMansions debut album snakes/vultures/sulfate, EmptyMansions is the side project of Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino. Curtis toured with EmptyMansions in Spring 2013, on bass/vocals, Curtis has produced three albums for the American post-metal band Russian Circles, Geneva, Empros and Memorial. On October 30,2013, Curtis new band Cosmicide released a new song entitled Talos Corpse, Talos Corpse was written/produced by Brandon Curtis and mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer, who has previously worked with Paul Banks, Johnny Marr, Kaiser Chiefs, and more. His brother Benjamin died at the end of 2013, in addition to Brandon, the band consisted of drums, a second keyboardist, who also provided backing vocals, and a guitarist. Secret Machines Are Tired Of Talking About Their Impressive Friends
18.
Singing
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Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist, Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists, Singers may perform as soloists, or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Singing can be formal or informal, arranged or improvised and it may be done as a form of religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual, as part of music education, or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication, instruction, and regular practice, if practice is done on a regular basis then the sounds can become more clear and strong. Professional singers usually build their careers around one specific genre, such as classical or rock. They typically take voice training provided by teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers. Though these four mechanisms function independently, they are coordinated in the establishment of a vocal technique and are made to interact upon one another. During passive breathing, air is inhaled with the diaphragm while exhalation occurs without any effort, exhalation may be aided by the abdominal, internal intercostal and lower pelvis/pelvic muscles. Inhalation is aided by use of external intercostals, scalenes and sternocleidomastoid muscles, the pitch is altered with the vocal cords. With the lips closed, this is called humming, humans have vocal folds which can loosen, tighten, or change their thickness, and over which breath can be transferred at varying pressures. The shape of the chest and neck, the position of the tongue, any one of these actions results in a change in pitch, volume, timbre, or tone of the sound produced. Sound also resonates within different parts of the body and an individuals size, Singers can also learn to project sound in certain ways so that it resonates better within their vocal tract. This is known as vocal resonation, another major influence on vocal sound and production is the function of the larynx which people can manipulate in different ways to produce different sounds. These different kinds of function are described as different kinds of vocal registers. The primary method for singers to accomplish this is through the use of the Singers Formant and it has also been shown that a more powerful voice may be achieved with a fatter and fluid-like vocal fold mucosa. The more pliable the mucosa, the more efficient the transfer of energy from the airflow to the vocal folds, Vocal registration refers to the system of vocal registers within the voice. A register in the voice is a series of tones, produced in the same vibratory pattern of the vocal folds
19.
Bass guitar
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The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb, by plucking, slapping, popping, strumming, tapping, thumping, or picking with a plectrum, often known as a pick. The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to a guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length. The four-string bass, by far the most common, is tuned the same as the double bass. The bass guitar is an instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds to avoid excessive ledger lines. Like the electric guitar, the guitar has pickups and it is plugged into an amplifier and speaker on stage, or into a larger PA system using a DI unit. Since the 1960s, the guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the bass instrument in the rhythm section. While types of basslines vary widely from one style of music to another, many styles of music utilise the bass guitar, including rock, heavy metal, pop, punk rock, country, reggae, gospel, blues, symphonic rock, and jazz. It is often a solo instrument in jazz, jazz fusion, Latin, funk, progressive rock and other rock, the adoption of a guitar form made the instrument easier to hold and transport than any of the existing stringed bass instruments. The addition of frets enabled bassists to play in more easily than on acoustic or electric upright basses. Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period, around 1947, Tutmarcs son, Bud, began marketing a similar bass under the Serenader brand name, prominently advertised in the nationally distributed L. D. Heater Music Company wholesale jobber catalogue of 1948, however, the Tutmarc family inventions did not achieve market success. In the 1950s, Leo Fender, with the help of his employee George Fullerton and his Fender Precision Bass, which began production in October 1951, became a widely copied industry standard. This split pickup, introduced in 1957, appears to have been two mandolin pickups, the pole pieces and leads of the coils were reversed with respect to each other, producing a humbucking effect. Humbucking is a design that electrically cancels the effect of any AC hum, the Fender Bass was a revolutionary new instrument, which could be easily transported, and which was less prone to feedback when amplified than acoustic bass instruments. Monk Montgomery was the first bass player to tour with the Fender bass guitar, roy Johnson, and Shifty Henry with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, were other early Fender bass pioneers. Bill Black, playing with Elvis Presley, switched from bass to the Fender Precision Bass around 1957. The bass guitar was intended to appeal to guitarists as well as upright bass players, following Fenders lead, in 1953, Gibson released the first short scale violin-shaped electric bass with extendable end pin, allowing it to be played upright or horizontally. In 1959 these were followed by the more conventional-looking EB-0 Bass, the EB-0 was very similar to a Gibson SG in appearance
20.
Keyboard instrument
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A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various keyboards, including synthesizers. Other keyboard instruments include celestas, which are struck idiophones operated by a keyboard, and carillons, today, the term keyboard often refers to keyboard-style synthesizers. Another important use of the keyboard is in historical musicology. Particularly in the 18th century, the harpsichord, the clavichord, and the piano were in competition. Hence in a phrase like Mozart excelled as a player the word keyboard is usefully noncommittal. The earliest known keyboard instrument was the Ancient Greek hydraulis, a type of pipe organ, the keys were likely balanced and could be played with a light touch, as is clear from the reference in a Latin poem by Claudian, who says magna levi detrudens murmura tactu. Intent, that is “let him thunder forth as he presses out mighty roarings with a light touch”, from its invention until the fourteenth century, the organ remained the only keyboard instrument. Often, the organ did not feature a keyboard at all, almost every keyboard until the fifteenth century had seven naturals to each octave. The clavichord and the harpsichord appeared during the 14th century—the clavichord probably being earlier, the harpsichord and clavichord were both common until widespread adoption of the piano in the 18th century, after which their popularity decreased. The piano was revolutionary, because a pianist could vary the volume of the sound by varying the vigor with which each key was struck. The pianos full name is gravicèmbalo con piano e forte meaning harpsichord with soft and loud but can be shortened to piano-forte, which means soft-loud in Italian. In its current form, the piano is a product of the late 19th century, in fact, the modern piano is significantly different from even the 19th-century pianos used by Liszt, Chopin, and Brahms. See Piano history and musical performance, keyboard instruments were further developed in the early twentieth century. Early electromechanical instruments, such as the Ondes Martenot, appeared early in the century and this was a very important contribution to the keyboards history. Much effort has gone into creating an instrument that sounds like the piano but lacks its size, the electric piano and electronic piano were early efforts that, while useful instruments in their own right, did not convincingly reproduce the timbre of the piano. Electric and electronic organs were developed during the same period, more recent electronic keyboard designs strive to emulate the sound of specific make and model pianos using digital samples and computer models. Concerns celebrated keyboard players and the various instruments used over the centuries
21.
Benjamin Curtis (musician)
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Benjamin Curtis was an American guitarist, drummer, and songwriter. He was a member of the bands Secret Machines, School of Seven Bells. He was also drummer for the band Tripping Daisy from 1997 to 1999, Curtis was born in Lawton, Oklahoma and lived in Frederick and Norman until moving to the Dallas, Texas area in junior high school. Curtis was a member of School of Seven Bells, in which he sang, before the Secret Machines, he was the drummer for the Dallas alternative rock band Tripping Daisy, from 1997 to their disbandment in 1999. Prior to that, he was the drummer for UFOFU from 1993 to 1997, with his brother Brandon Curtis, Curtis cited guitarists such as Michael Rother, Yoshimi P-We, and The Edge of U2 as some of his primary influences on guitar. He played a heavily effects-laden spacy style of guitar, reminiscent of late 1960s, Curtis was in a relationship with his School of Seven Bells bandmate Alejandra Deheza from 2005 until 2010. The pair remained friends and bandmates until Curtis death. In the liner notes for School of Seven Bells final album SVIIB, Deheza refers to Curtis as her best friend, Curtis announced in late February 2013 that he had been diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. A benefit concert was held in New York in August 2013 and included performances by members of the Strokes, Curtis died on December 29,2013 at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center in New York. Secret Machines official website School of Seven Bells Official website - archived on November 5,2012
22.
Guitar
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The guitar is a musical instrument classified as a fretted string instrument with anywhere from four to 18 strings, usually having six. The sound is projected either acoustically, using a wooden or plastic and wood box, or through electrical amplifier. It is typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers, the guitar is a type of chordophone, traditionally constructed from wood and strung with either gut, nylon or steel strings and distinguished from other chordophones by its construction and tuning. There are three types of modern acoustic guitar, the classical guitar, the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the archtop guitar. The tone of a guitar is produced by the strings vibration, amplified by the hollow body of the guitar. The term finger-picking can also refer to a tradition of folk, blues, bluegrass. The acoustic bass guitar is an instrument that is one octave below a regular guitar. Early amplified guitars employed a body, but a solid wood body was eventually found more suitable during the 1960s and 1970s. As with acoustic guitars, there are a number of types of guitars, including hollowbody guitars, archtop guitars and solid-body guitars. The electric guitar has had a influence on popular culture. The guitar is used in a variety of musical genres worldwide. It is recognized as an instrument in genres such as blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, folk, jazz, jota, mariachi, metal, punk, reggae, rock, soul. The term is used to refer to a number of chordophones that were developed and used across Europe, beginning in the 12th century and, later, in the Americas. The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, has applied to a wide variety of chordophones since classical times. Many influences are cited as antecedents to the modern guitar, at least two instruments called guitars were in use in Spain by 1200, the guitarra latina and the so-called guitarra morisca. The guitarra morisca had a back, wide fingerboard. The guitarra Latina had a sound hole and a narrower neck. By the 14th century the qualifiers moresca or morisca and latina had been dropped, and it had six courses, lute-like tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although early representations reveal an instrument with a sharply cut waist
23.
Drum kit
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A drum kit consists of a mix of drums and idiophones most significantly cymbals but also including the woodblock and cowbell. In the 2000s, some also include electronic instruments and both hybrid and entirely electronic kits are used. If some or all of them are replaced by electronic drums, the drum kit is usually played while seated on a drum stool or throne. The drum kit differs from instruments that can be used to produce pitched melodies or chords, even though drums are often placed musically alongside others that do, such as the piano or guitar. The drum kit is part of the rhythm section used in many types of popular and traditional music styles ranging from rock and pop to blues. Other standard instruments used in the section include the electric bass, electric guitar. Many drummers extend their kits from this pattern, adding more drums, more cymbals. Some performers, such as some rockabilly drummers, use small kits that omit elements from the basic setup, some drum kit players may have other roles in the band, such as providing backup vocals, or less commonly, lead vocals. Thus, in an early 1800s orchestra piece, if the called for bass drum, triangle and cymbals. In the 1840s, percussionists began to experiment with foot pedals as a way to them to play more than one instrument. In the 1860s, percussionists started combining multiple drums into a set, the bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, and other percussion instruments were all played using hand-held drum sticks. Double-drumming was developed to one person to play the bass and snare with sticks. With this approach, the drum was usually played on beats one. This resulted in a swing and dance feel. The drum set was referred to as a trap set. By the 1870s, drummers were using an overhang pedal, most drummers in the 1870s preferred to do double drumming without any pedal to play multiple drums, rather than use an overhang pedal. Companies patented their pedal systems such as Dee Dee Chandler of New Orleans 1904–05, liberating the hands for the first time, this evolution saw the bass drum played with the foot of a standing percussionist. The bass drum became the central piece around which every other percussion instrument would later revolve and it was the golden age of drum building for many famous drum companies, with Ludwig introducing
24.
Garth Hudson
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Eric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist, keyboardist and saxophonist for Canadian-American rock group the Band, Hudson has been called the most brilliant organist in the rock world by Keyboard magazine. As of 2017, Hudson and fellow musician Robbie Robertson are the last original members of The Band who are still alive, a master of the Lowrey organ, Hudsons orchestral tone sense and style anticipated many of the sonic advances of the polyphonic synthesizer. His other primary instruments are piano, electronic keyboards, saxophone and he has been a much-in-demand and respected session musician, performing with dozens of artists and earning the accolades of many, including Elton John, who has cited him as an early influence. Hudson was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and his parents, Fred James Hudson and Olive Louella Pentland, were musicians. His mother played piano and accordion and sang and his father, a farm inspector who had fought as a fighter pilot in World War I, played drums, C melody saxophone, clarinet, flute and piano. Hudson moved with his family to London, Ontario, around 1940, classically trained in piano, music theory, harmony and counterpoint, Hudson wrote his first song at the age of eleven and first played professionally with dance bands in 1949 at the age of twelve. In 1958, he joined a rock and roll band, the Capers and he was reported to have said that he also gained some performance experience from playing at his uncles funeral parlor. They were doing the greatest healing work and they knew how to punch through music that would cure and make people feel good. Upon joining the Hawks, Hudson took the opportunity to negotiate a new Lowrey organ as part of his package and this is significant as he was one of the few organ players in rock and roll and in rhythm and blues to eschew the Hammond organ. Under the strict supervision of Hawkins, the Hawks became an accomplished band and they split from Hawkins in 1963, recorded two singles and toured almost continually, playing in bars and clubs, usually billed as Levon and the Hawks. Hudson started work as a musician in 1965, playing on John Hammond, Jr. s So Many Roads along with Robertson. In August 1965, they were introduced to Bob Dylan by manager Albert Grossmans assistant, Mary Martin. In October, Dylan and the Hawks recorded the single Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window. Dylan recruited the band to accompany him on his controversial 1966 electric tour of the United States, Australia and Europe. Subsequent to Bob Dylans motorcycle accident in July 1966, the group settled in a house in West Saugerties, New York. Dylan was a frequent visitor, and Hudsons recordings of their collaborations resulted in The Basement Tapes, by 1968, the group recorded its debut album, Music from Big Pink. The album was recorded in Los Angeles and New York, capitol originally announced that the group would be called the Crackers, but when Music From Big Pink was released they were officially named the Band. An example can be heard on the live album Rock of Ages and his saxophone solo work can be heard on such songs as Tears of Rage and Unfaithful Servant
25.
Accordion
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Accordions are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type, colloquially referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist, the concertina and bandoneón are related, the harmonium and American reed organ are in the same family. The instrument is played by compressing or expanding the bellows while pressing buttons or keys, causing pallets to open and these vibrate to produce sound inside the body. Valves on opposing reeds of each note are used to make the instruments reeds sound louder without air leaking from each reed block. The performer normally plays the melody on buttons or keys on the manual. The accordion is widely spread across the world, nevertheless, in Europe and North America, some popular music acts also make use of the instrument. Additionally, the accordion is used in cajun, zydeco, jazz music. The piano accordion is the official city instrument of San Francisco, the oldest name for this group of instruments is harmonika, from the Greek harmonikos, meaning harmonic, musical. Today, native versions of the accordion are more common. These names refer to the type of accordion patented by Cyrill Demian, accordions have many configurations and types. Similar to a bow, the production of sound in an accordion is in direct proportion to the motion of the player. The bellows is located between the right- and left-hand manuals, and is made from pleated layers of cloth and cardboard, with added leather and metal. It is used to pressure and vacuum, driving air across the internal reeds and producing sound by their vibration. These boxes house reed chambers for the right- and left-hand manuals, each side has grilles in order to facilitate the transmission of air in and out of the instrument, and to allow the sound to better project. The grille for the manual is usually larger and is often shaped for decorative purposes. The right-hand manual is used for playing the melody and the left-hand manual for playing the accompaniment. The manual mechanism of the instrument either enables the air flow, or disables it, the different types have varying components. All instruments have reed ranks of some format, the most typical accordion is the piano accordion, which is used for many musical genres
26.
Official Charts Company
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The OCC is operated jointly by the British Phonographic Industry and the Entertainment Retailers Association. Since 1 July 1997, CIN and then the OCC have compiled the official charts, prior to this date, the charts were produced by a succession of market research companies, beginning with the British Market Research Bureau in 1969, and later by Gallup. All of the OCCs charts are published weekly on Friday nights, from 3 August 1969 until 5 July 2015, the chart week ran from Sunday to Saturday. Genre-specific charts include UK Dance Chart, UK Indie Chart, UK R&B Chart, UK Rock Chart, the Scottish Singles and Albums Charts ― and the former Welsh Singles and Albums Chart ― appears in listings within the Official Charts Company. It is a regional listing reflecting how sales towards the UK Singles Chart, the Welsh Singles and Album Chart served the same purpose in Wales. It also charts the UK DVD Chart and UK Budget Album Chart, while their music charts are now Friday to Thursday, their video charts remain Sunday to Saturday. On 5 September 2008, the Official UK Charts Company rebranded itself as the Official Charts Company and it later dropped the word Company and became just Official Charts. From May 2012, a new chart was launched – the Official Streaming Chart and this counts audio streams from streaming services Spotify, Deezer, Blinkbox Music, Napster, amongst others. In April 2015, the UKs first vinyl record chart was launched by the Official Charts Company due to the surge of interest in the sector. The chart was launched following the growth of the sector in the UK for the year in a row. Beginning in 2017 the Official Charts Company changed its methodology for calculating the Top 40, prior to January 2017,100 streams counted as one sale of a song. From January onward, the ratio became 150,1, UK Albums Chart UK Singles Chart UK Video Charts UK Singles Downloads Chart UK Album Downloads Chart British Phonographic Industry Official Charts Company website
27.
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
28.
School of Seven Bells
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School of Seven Bells was an American indie rock band from New York City, formed in 2007. It originally consisted of Alejandra Deheza, her sister Claudia Deheza, Claudia Deheza left the group in 2010, and Curtis died of lymphoma in 2013. Using demos of songs Curtis had written prior to and during his illness, the band was named after a mythical South American pickpocket training academy of the same name. Benjamin Curtis met identical twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza while opening on an Interpol tour, the three decided to end their commitments to their old bands, move into a shared space and create a home recording studio together. The band had a songwriting process that began with lyrics. Curtis said that process was the most important part of the band. A before-and-after example was hosted by NPRs program Day to Day, debut single My Cabal was released in May 2007 on the UK label Sonic Cathedral. They then toured with Blonde Redhead as well as with Prefuse 73, school of Seven Bells debut album, Alpinisms, was released one year later in 2008. They then went on tour with Bat for Lashes on her UK Two Suns tour, the Alpinisms track Chain was featured on an Adult Swim and Ghostly International compilation album, Ghostly Swim, promoted by Adult Swim and available for free download. The bands second album, Disconnect from Desire was released in July 2010 and it was hailed by Pitchfork Media. During the accompanying tour, they covered the Siouxsie and the Banshees song Kiss Them for Me, the band was awarded International Bet of the Year at the 2010 MTV Video Music Brasil, and in October, Claudia Deheza left the band for personal reasons. On February 28,2012, they released Ghostory, their studio album. It included the singles The Night, Lafaye and Scavenger, on November 13,2012, the EP Put Your Sad Down was released. In February 2013, Curtis was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma after several weeks of displaying symptoms, Curtis did not recover and died on December 29,2013 at Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The last piece of music produced by Curtis before his death, the groups final album, SVIIB, completed after Curtiss death, was released in February 2016, preceded by a single, Open Your Eyes. School of Seven Bells music was described as indie rock, dream pop, shoegaze. Their sound was described as dreamy and ethereal, and the lyrics as abstract, were huge fans of pop, too, mainly because were huge fans of smart songwriting. When touring, SVIIB utilized additional members including James Elliott on bass, Joe Stickney on drums, Allie Alvarado on keyboards/backing vocals and Christopher Colley on drums
29.
Interpol (band)
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Interpol is an American rock band from New York City. Formed in 1997, the bands original line-up consisted of Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler, Carlos Dengler, Drudy left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Sam Fogarino. In 2010, shortly after recording finished for the fourth album. The bands sound is generally a mix of staccato bass and rhythmic, harmonized guitar, with a mix, drawing comparisons to post-punk bands such as Joy Division. Aside from the lyrics, each member contributes to songwriting. Interpols debut album Turn on the Bright Lights was critically acclaimed, making it to position on the NMEs list of top albums in 2002. Subsequent records Antics and Our Love to Admire brought greater critical and commercial success, the band released its fourth, self-titled album on September 7,2010. They went on hiatus from 2011 through 2012 while they focused on other projects and their fifth studio album El Pintor was released on September 9,2014. The band was formed by Kessler and Drudy, Kessler had been looking to put a band together for a while when he met Drudy. Kessler had a hard time finding musicians to play with—musicians at all. Kessler met Dengler in a class at New York University. Later, Kessler ran into Banks in New York Citys East Village, Banks admitted that he and Dengler butted heads early on in the bands history, but told Spin that now the two are really tight, in a spiritual way. The band had trouble choosing a name at first, I got to the point where I was like, Guys, were getting decent crowds, but like. We dont have a name so no one knows who to go see again, furthermore, the band considered Las Armas and The French Letters as names before adopting Interpol. In 2000, after releasing the Fukd ID No.3 extended-play album, Drudy left the band to focus on Hot Cross, Kessler recruited Fogarino, who worked at a local vintage clothing store and at the time considered retiring from music, to replace Drudy. While a member of Interpol, Drudy was also a member of seminal first-wave screamo act Saetia, after self-releasing several EPs between 1998 and 2001, the band signed with Matador Records, a member of the independent Beggars Group, in early 2002. The first release, a self-titled EP containing re-recorded versions of PDA, Turn On the Bright Lights was released on August 19,2002. The record was a success, selling 300,000 copies by 2004
