1.
The Open Door
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The Open Door is the second studio album by American rock band Evanescence. It was released on September 25,2006, through Wind-up Records, the writing process for the album took over 18 months to complete, most of the songs were written by Amy Lee and Terry Balsamo, while production was handled by Dave Fortman. The Open Door received mixed to positive reviews music critics, who generally praised its lyrical content. Some critics gave negative reviews regarding the sound, which differs from that of the bands last album. The record was nominated at the 50th Grammy Awards for Best Hard Rock Performance for Sweet Sacrifice, the band also won in the category of Album of the Year at the 2007 MTV Australia Video Music Awards. The Open Door debuted at one on the Billboard 200. It topped the charts in Australia, Europe, Germany, Greece and Switzerland, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America just over a month after its release, and has since been certified double Platinum. The record has more than five million copies worldwide. Call Me When Youre Sober was digitally made available for purchase as the first single from the album on September 14,2006 and it peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and charted in the top 20 of several charts internationally. Lithium was released as the single on January 1,2007. Good Enough was released as the single from the album. The Open Door was supported by two tours, The Open Door Tour and Evanescence Tour. During an interview with MTV News, Lee revealed that Evanescence would being writing material for their record in March 2004 after finishing their tour in support of Fallen. She further explained it was impossible to write on tour and that going to go to their house. While saying the group would assemble to record new material, Lee announced the release of The Open Door to her fans during a post on an unofficial Evanescence website, EvBoard. com. Lee said on an internet forum the new recording would be completed in March 2006. Wanted to make a few changes to the upcoming single Call Me When Youre Sober, talking about the development and inspiration of the album, the singer stated, All the things that happened were really inspiring, because it was frustrating. But for me at least, every time we get really frustrated and youre hitting a wall and everything is chaos, it just makes the music that much better, rather than wallowing in the hard stuff, the records theme reflects on looking for solutions and happiness
2.
Alternative rock
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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
3.
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
4.
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
5.
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
6.
Death Cab for Cutie
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Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band, formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band comprises Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmer, Dave Depper, Zac Rae, in 2014, founding guitarist and producer Chris Walla announced that he would be departing from the band after recording their eighth studio album, Kintsugi. The band was originally a project by Ben Gibbard, when he released the demo album You Can Play These Songs with Chords to positive reception. This led to a deal with Barsuk Records. The band released their sixth album Narrow Stairs in 2008, which served as a departure for the group. Their seventh album, 2011s Codes and Keys, featured the bands first number one single and their eighth studio album Kintsugi, the last to feature Walla, was released on March 31,2015. Death Cab for Cuties music has been labeled as indie rock, indie pop and it is noted for its use of unconventional instrumentation, as well as Gibbards distinctive voice and unique lyrical style. Since their formation, the band has released eight studio albums, four EPs. Death Cab for Cutie began as a project of Ben Gibbard in 1997, while he was the guitar player for the band Pinwheel. As Death Cab for Cutie, Gibbard released a cassette titled You Can Play These Songs with Chords the same year, many of the early songs were recorded in the basement of an Ellis Street home Gibbard lived in with several roommates in Bellingham. The four released their debut studio album, Something About Airplanes. The album was reviewed in the independent music scene. In 1998 the band met their long-term manager Jordan Kurland. Kurland had heard good things about them, and after an attempt to see them play at South By Southwest finally hooked up with them when touring with his then client. The band released their second album, We Have the Facts and Were Voting Yes. Nathan Good left the band at some point during this albums production, Gibbard played drums on the majority of the album, with Goods playing on “The Employment Pages” and “Company Calls Epilogue” being kept on the final release. Tolzdorf-Larson was later replaced by Michael Schorr, who would first appear on The Forbidden Love EP, in 2001, Death Cab for Cutie released their third album, The Photo Album. Limited editions of this album contained three tracks, which were later released separately as The Stability EP. C
7.
Chris Walla
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Christopher Ryan Walla is an American musician, producer, and film music composer, best known for being a former guitarist and songwriter for the band Death Cab for Cutie. Walla is a producer in the indie rock community, having earned production credits on dozens of albums. Walla regularly performed at shows, as well as serving as MC. One performance by Chris included a song by PJ Harvey and these early Open Microphone shows proved popular and continued for over twenty years, moving from Bothell High School to Inglemoor High School when teacher Drumheller transferred there. Walla was in a band called The Wallflowers. Later, in 2001, he was an member of the Seattle band The Long Winters. Walla joined Death Cab for Cutie in 1997, while attending Western Washington University in Bellingham, eventually releasing seven albums, four EPs and two live EPs with band, he co-wrote many of their hit songs, including Title and Registration and I Will Possess Your Heart. Wallas last performance with the band occurred on September 13,2014 at the Rifflandia Music Festival in Victoria, Walla has recorded a variety of solo material and released his debut solo album, Field Manual, in 2008 on Barsuk Records. The song Sing Again became available for download from Barsuks website. Before the release of Field Manual, it was reported that two tracks recorded for Death Cab for Cuties 2005 album, Plans, would be featured, but this is unconfirmed. Some of Wallas solo work has been released using the name Martin Youth Auxiliary, for example, one cassette was recorded and released in 1999 on Elsinor Records. In the past, Walla has stated plans to release a Martin Youth Auxiliary record, much of the solo material consists of quick, low-quality recordings, which have never been intended for release. A new solo album, titled Tape Loops, was released on October 16,2015. In addition to being a musician Walla has a career as producer, earning production, engineering. His first credit was as the producer for Death Cab for Cuties debut album, Something About Airplanes, released in 1998. Walla has produced all releases by Death Cab for Cutie to date, with the exception of the 1997s You Can Play These Songs with Chords EP. However, Walla earned production credits on the 2002 re-release of You Can Play These Songs with Chords and it was announced via Kelly Porters Facebook Page Walla would be doing guitar work for her upcoming recording work. Walla founded his own recording studio, located within his home in Portland, Oregon, in 2012, Walla began rebuilding the Hall of Justice after moving back to Seattle
8.
Atlantic Records
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Atlantic Recording Corporation is an American major record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. In 2004, Atlantic Records and its sister label Elektra Records merged into Atlantic Records Group, craig Kallman is currently the chairman of Atlantic Records. Ahmet Ertegün served as founding chairman until his death on December 14,2006, the brothers had become ardent fans of jazz and rhythm & blues music, amassing a collection of over 15,00078 RPM records. He convinced the family dentist, Dr Vahdi Sabit, to invest $10,000 and recruited Herb Abramson, Abramson had worked as a part-time A&R manager/producer for the jazz label National Records, signing Big Joe Turner and Billy Eckstine. He founded Jubilee Records in 1946, but had no interest in its most successful artists, so, in September 1947, he sold his share in Jubilee to his partner, Jerry Blaine, and invested $2500 in the new Atlantic label. When interviewed in 2009 she attributed her reputation to the companys chronic cash-flow shortage, most of the problems we had with artists were that they wanted advances, and that was very difficult for us. We were undercapitalized for a long time, the labels original office in the Ritz Hotel, Manhattan proved too expensive so they relocated to an $85 per month room in the Hotel Jefferson. In its early years Atlantic focused principally on modern jazz although it released some country and western and spoken word recordings. The union action forced Atlantic to use almost all its capital to cut and stockpile enough recordings to last through the ban, Ertegun and Abramson spent much of the late 1940s and early 1950s scouring nightclubs in search of talent. Ertegun composed many songs under the alias A, in early 1949 a New Orleans distributor phoned Ertegun trying to obtain Stick McGhees Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee, which was unavailable due to the closure of McGhees previous label. Ertegun knew Sticks younger brother Brownie McGhee, with whom Stick happened to be staying, so he contacted the McGhee brothers, Ertegun asked about artists royalties, which he paid, which surprised Columbia executives, who did not, which scuttled the deal. On the recommendation of broadcaster Willis Conover, Ertegun and Abramson went to see Ruth Brown at the Crystal Caverns club in Washington and she was badly injured in a car accident en route to New York but Atlantic supported her for nine months and then signed her. Her first release for the label So Long, cut at her second Atlantic session on May 25,1949 with the Eddie Condon band, was a major hit, reaching #6 on the R&B chart. Brown went on to more than eighty songs for the label, becoming the most prolific. So significant was Browns success to Atlantics fortunes that the label became known colloquially as The House That Ruth Built. The Clovers Dont You Know I Love You became the labels first R&B #1 in September 1951 and she hit #1 again in March–April 1952 with 5-10-15 Hours. After she left the label in 1961 Browns fortunes declined rapidly - within a few years was reduced to working as a cleaner and bus-driver to support her children. Brown eventually received a payment of $20,000 and founded a charity
9.
IGN
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The website was the brainchild of media entrepreneur Chris Anderson and launched on September 29,1996. It focuses on games, films, television, comics, technology, the company is located in San Franciscos SOMA district in California, United States. Originally a network of websites, IGN is now distributed on mobile platforms, console programs on the Xbox and PlayStation, FireTV, Roku, and via YouTube, Twitch, Hulu. IGN was sold to publishing company Ziff Davis in February 2013 and now operates as a J2 Global subsidiary. com, PSXPower, Saturnworld, Next-Generation. com and Ultra Game Players Online. Imagine expanded on its owned-and-operated websites by creating a network that included a number of independent fansites such as PSX Nation. com, Sega-Saturn. com, Game Sages. In 1998, the network launched a new homepage that consolidated the individual sites as system channels under the IGN brand, the homepage exposed content from more than 30 different channels. Next-Generation and Ultra Game Players Online were not part of this consolidation, dissolved with the cancellation of the magazine, and Next-Generation was put on hold when Imagine decided to concentrate on launching the short-lived Daily Radar brand. In February 1999, Imagine Media incorporated a spin-off that included IGN and its channels as Affiliation Networks. In September, the newly spun-out standalone internet media company, changed its name to Snowball. com, at the same time, small entertainment website The Den merged into IGN and added non-gaming content to the growing network. Snowball held an IPO in 2000, but shed most of its properties during the dot-com bubble. In June 2005, IGN reported having 24,000,000 unique visitors per month, with 4.8 million registered users through all departments of the site, IGN is ranked among the top 200 most-visited websites according to Alexa. In September 2005, IGN was acquired by Rupert Murdochs multi-media business empire, News Corporation, IGN celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 12,2008. IGN was headquartered in the Marina Point Parkway office park in Brisbane, California, on May 25,2011, IGN sold its Direct2Drive division to Gamefly for an undisclosed amount. In 2011, IGN Entertainment acquired its rival UGO Entertainment from Hearst Corporation, ultimately, News Corp. planned to spin off IGN Entertainment as a publicly traded company, continuing a string of divestitures for digital properties it had previously acquired. Financial details regarding the purchase were not revealed, prior to its acquisition by UGO, 1UP. com had previously been owned by Ziff Davis. Soon after the acquisition, IGN announced that it would be laying off staff and closing GameSpy, 1UP. com, the role-playing video game interest website Vault Network was acquired by IGN in 1999. GameStats, a review website, was founded by IGN in 2004. GameStats includes a GPM rating system incorporates an average press score and average gamer score
10.
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
11.
Narrow Stairs
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Four singles were released for the album, I Will Possess Your Heart, Cath. I Will Possess Your Heart reached number six on the U. S, Alternative Songs chart, was named iTunes UK song of the year 2008, and was nominated for the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. Cath. and Grapevine Fires, also reached ten and number twenty-one on the U. S. Narrow Stairs reached number one on the Billboard 200, making it Death Cab for Cuties highest charting album to-date, in October 2007, producer and guitarist Chris Walla said that Death Cab for Cuties new album is in full swing, were six songs in. He went on to say, thus far its pretty weird and pretty spectacular, weve got a ten minute long Can jam, and had you suggested that possibility to me in 1998, Id have eaten your puppys brain with a spoon. In a Billboard piece, Walla described the album, Its really weird and its really, really good, I think, but its totally a curve ball, and I think its gonna be a really polarizing record. But Im really excited about it, the landscape of the thing is way, way more lunar than the urban meadow sort of thing that has been happening for the last couple of records. Walla went on to say, louder and more dissonant and I think abrasive would be a word to use. Heavy, sludgy, slow metal synth-punk band Brainiac, ben Gibbard, lead singer and writer, commented, I just dont feel like we really have anything to prove of it other than to ourselves and to making a record we really enjoy. In 2011 Walla stated, the plan for Narrow Stairs was to be as invisible. I was really interested in seeing what would happen, when we started that record, we had been on tour for the better part of two years. All we could remember was being on stage and playing, so the whole idea was, what happens if we’re just on stage and we play, except we’re in the studio and we’re recording. Walla added Narrow Stairs was very much a commitment to just crashing through the songs as we recorded them, like four people in a room. While promoting the bands subsequent album, Codes and Keys, Benjamin Gibbard reflected upon Narrow Stairs lyrical content, stating, so much of the negativity in my life got funneled into it. I realized after that I didnt want to go any darker, I wanted it to be the bottom for this band and my own emotional spectrum in terms of writing. I had no plans to turn my life around. Several of the songs have literary or cultural themes, for example Grapevine Fires appears to be centered on the wildfires that raged in California during the summer, pity and Fear features an abrupt ending where the song finishes without warning during an instrumental. In an interview, the stated that the tape machine they were using broke toward the end
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