December 8, 2010

DJ Premier

by DJ Premier

DJ Premier
Genre- Hip Hop
Location- Brooklyn, NY
Other Works- Way too many to list...but one major one is the group Gang Starr.
More Info- Born on March 21st, 1966 in Houston, TX.  His name is Christopher Edward Martin, but is known by DJ Premier or Primo to name a couple.  DJ Premier has been making music since 1984, and is arguable hip hop's greatest producer.  One main project of his was Gang Starr in which he did the producing and instrumentals along with MC GURU.  See my post on Gang Starr as well.
DJ Premier  

The Knife

by The Knife
 Genre- electronic, indie pop, synth pop, electro pop
Location- Stockholm, Sweden
Other Works- Silent Shout, 2006
The Knife, 2006
More Info- The Knife is a brother sister duo from Sweden.  Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson make up the band and run their own label Rabid Records.  The Knife has won many Swedish Grammis, but the two refuse to accept them and even go as far as boycotting the award ceremonies.  They once sent two people in gorilla suits to the ceremonies in boycott, angered that the awards favor male musicians.  They often wear masks of bird's beaks as well.  Karin has a side project named Fever Ray.  And Olof has other works under the names DJ Coolof and Oni Ayhun.
Links- Allmusic
Wikipedia
Pitchfork
Amazon
Olof Dreijer & Karin Dreijer Andersson

Common

by Common
 Genre- hip hop
Location- Chicago, Illinois
Other Works- many...see Common on allmusic.com, or wikipedia
More Info- Born on March 13th, 1972 in the South Side of Chicago.  Common was previously Common Sense.  He had his debut album, Can I Borrow a Dollar? in 1992.  He is an artist and an actor and has won many Grammis.  He used to be a vegan, and is a supporter of animal rights.
Common
 Links- Allmusic
Wikipedia
Pitchfork
Amazon 

ESG

by ESG
 Genre- electronic, R&B, dance, electro
Location- South Bronx, NY
Other Works- ESG, 1991
Step Off, 2002
Keep on Moving, 2006
More Info- ESG stands for Emerald, Sapphire, and Gold.  The band consists of the 4 Scroggins sisters...Deborah (bass, vocals), Marie (congas, vocals), Renee (guitar, vocals), Valerie (drums).  ESG formed when the girls were just teenagers with the help of their mother, buying them all instruments originally to keep them busy and out of trouble.  They based their sound out of their love for James Brown, Motown, and Latin music.  ESG was very influential on the following genres of music: post punk, no wave, hip hop, house, and disco.
Links- Allmusic

Kanye West

by Kanye West
Genre- hip hop
Location- Chicago, Illinois
Other Works- The College Dropout, 2004
Late Registration, 2005
Late Orchestration: Live at Abbey Road Studios, 2006
Graduation, 2007
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, 2010
More Info- Born on June 8th, 1977 as Kanye Omari West in Atlanta Georgia.  At the age of three he and his mother moved to Chicago, IL.  His mother, Dr. Donda West was an English professor, and his father was a former Black Panther and photojournalist.  His mother passed away on November 10th, 2007 after complications of surgery.  
Kanye has won many awards and Grammys for his work.  He runs his own record label, GOOD Music, which host such artists as Common and Kid Cudi.
Links- Allmusic
Wikipedia
Pitchfork
Amazon

The Skygreen Leopards

by The Skygreen Leopards

Donovan Quinn & Glenn Donaldson
Genre- folk-pop, alternative, indie pop, indie rock
Location- San Fransisco, California
Other Works- I Dreamt She Rode on a Pink Gazelle & Other Dreams, 2001
The Story of the Green Lamb & the Jerusalem Priestess of Leaves, 2002
One Thousand Bird Ceremony, 2004
Child God in the Garden of Idols, 2005
Life & Love in Sparrow's Meadow, 2005
Disciples of California, 2006
More Info- The band formed in 2001 in San Fransisco.  The members are Donovan Quinn and Glenn Donaldson who is the founder of the Bay Area experimental folk label, Jewelled Antler.

Links- Allmusic
Amazon

Takako Minekawa

by Takako Minekawa
Takako Minekawa
 Genre- electronic, electro pop, j-pop, shibuya-kei
Location-Japan
Other Works- Chat Chat, 1995
Roomic Cube, 1997
Cloudy Cloud Calculator, 1998
Fun 9, 1999
More Info- Minekawa is from Fukuoka, Japan and was born on June 3rd, 1969.  She is a Japanese musician, composer, writer, and child movie star.  She is married to musician Cornelius.  Minekawa is a fan of Krautrock, especially the German band Kraftwerk.  She forms her music around cats, keyboards, french pop, her girlish voice, as well as other things.
 Links- Allmusic
Wikipedia
Amazon

Ducktails

by Ducktails
Genre- psychedelic pop, indie pop, indie
Location- Ridgewood, New Jersey
Other Works- Ducktails, 2009,
Landscapes, 2009
Ducktails/Dracula Lewis Split LP, 2010
More Info- Ducktails is Matthew Mondanile from the popular band Real Estate (see Real Estate Post).  Other side projects of Mondanile include Predator Vision and Parasails.
Links- Allmusic
Pitchfork
Amazon
Matthew Mondanile











December 6, 2010

The Notorious B.I.G.

by The Notorious B.I.G.
 Genre- hip hop
Location- Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Other Works- Life After Death, 1997
More Info- Biggie was born as Christopher George Latore Wallace in Brooklyn on May 21st, 1972.  He was murdered on March 9th, 1997 by gunshot wounds in Los Angeles, California.
Links- Allmusic

Shout Out Louds

by Shout Out Louds
Genre- indie pop, indie rock, indie, Swedish pop
Location- Stockholm, Sweden
Other Works- Our Ill Wills, 2007
Work, 2010
More Info- Band members include:
Adam Olenius-vocals, guitar
Ted Malmros-bass, percussion, backing vocals
Carl von Arbin- guitar, backing vocals
Eric Edman- drums
Bebban Stenborg- keyboard, accordion, glockenspiel, moog, backing vocals
All members have been friends since childhood.  

Spoon

by Spoon
Britt Daniel
Genre- rock, indie pop, indie rock
Location- Austin, Texas
Other Works-Telephono, 1996
Girls Can Tell, 2001
Kill the Moonlight, 2002
Gimme Fiction, 2005
Transference, 2010
More Info- Formed in 1993 in Austin, TX.  
Band members are:
Britt Daniel-vocals, guitar
Jim Eno-drums
Rob Pope-bass, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Eric Harvey-keyboard, guitar, percussion, backing vocals
 A Series of Sneaks was first released under the major record label, Elektra.  Elektra failed to promote the album, so the band left the label and joined Merge Records.
Jim Eno







































Bachelorette

by Bachelorette
Genre- electronic, indie, indie pop, indie rock
Location- Christchurch, New Zealand
Other Works- The End Of Things, 2005
Isolation Loops, 2006
More Info- Annabel Alpers, who is Bachelorette is from Christchurch, a city in New Zealand that produces many a musician.  Alpers enrolled in the University of Auckland's post-graduate music studies program.  For the album showcased here, she upgraded to have a full band adding Andrea Holmes and Mick Elborado.
Links- allmusic

Nas

by Nas

CSS

by CSS
Genre- electronic, indie pop, indie rock, new rave, baile funk
Location- Sao Paulo, Brazil
Other Works- Donkey, 2008
More Info- CSS is an abbreviation for cansei de ser sexy meaning "tired of being sexy" in Portuguese.  The band formed in 2003 and consists of Lovefoxxx- lead singer, Iracema Trevisan- bass, Luiza Sa- guitar/drums/keyboard, Ana Rezende- guitar, Carolina Parra- guitar/drums, and Adriano Cintra- vocals/producer.  Their song, "Music is my hot, hot sex" was featured in an apple ipod commercial.

Ladytron

by Ladytron
Genre- electronic, electroclash, electro pop, synth pop, indie pop, indie rock, new wave
Location- Liverpool, England
Other Works-Light & Magic, 2002
Evil, 2003
Softcore Jukebox, 2003
Witching Hour, 2005
Velocifero, 2008
More Info- The band is two DJ's from Liverpool who play keyboards (Reuben Wu and Daniel Hunt), as well as singers Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo (who met the two DJ's on a train trip in Bulgaria, where Mira was born).  The band gets the name 'ladytron' from a Roxy Music song.

Santigold

by Santigold
Genre- electronic, dub, new wave, dance, indie pop, indie rock
Location- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Other Works- no other full albums
More Info- Santigold is the solo project of songwriter, producer, and singer Santi White.  Originally she went by Santogold, but an infomercial with the name Santo Gold threatened to sue so she changed it to Santigold.  The name originates from a nickname Santi White was given by her friends.  White was formerly the singer for the Philly punk-rock band called Stiffed.  Co-band member, John Hill from Stiffed co-produced the Santogold album.  White attended Wesleyan University where she majored in African American Studies as well as Music.  Santigold is featured in many hip hop songs as well.
Links- allmusic

Jay-Z

by Jay-Z
Genre- hip hop
Location- Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, in the Marcy Houses housing project originally
Other Works- too many to list, see allmusic
More Info- Jay-Z is the most successful hip hop artist out there, his net worth in 2010 was over $450 million.  He is married to Beyonce.  Born on December 4th, 1969.  His full name is Shawn Corey Carter.  He was raised in the Marcy housing projects of Brooklyn, NYC.  The name Jay-Z comes from the name Jazzy, which he was known by in his childhood neighborhood.  Also, the J/Z subway lines had a stop at Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn.  If you want to know more about Jay-Z or his life, just listen to his music...he will tell you it all.

December 5, 2010

Hercules & Love Affair

by Hercules & Love Affair

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Ratatat

by Ratatat

Broadcast

by Broadcast

Phoenix

by Phoenix

ceo

by ceo

Dead Man's Bones

by Dead Man's Bones

Modest Mouse

by Modest Mouse

The Cinematic Orchestra

The Cinematic Orchestra

MGMT

by MGMT

Handsome Furs

by Handsome Furs

Wilco

by Wilco

Daft Punk

by Daft Punk

Junior Boys

by Junior Boys

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

Justice

by Justice

Arcade Fire

by Arcade Fire

OutKast

by OutKast