Friday 27 June 2008

Les Baxter

Les Baxter   
Artist: Les Baxter

   Genre(s): 
Easy Listening
   Other
   Vocal
   Soundtrack
   Pop
   



Discography:


Brazil Now   
 Brazil Now

   Year: 2006   
Tracks: 12


The Exotic Moods of Les Baxter CD2   
 The Exotic Moods of Les Baxter CD2

   Year: 1996   
Tracks: 20


The Exotic Moods of Les Baxter CD1   
 The Exotic Moods of Les Baxter CD1

   Year: 1996   
Tracks: 20


Que Mango!   
 Que Mango!

   Year: 1996   
Tracks: 12


Bugaloo In Brazil   
 Bugaloo In Brazil

   Year: 1970   
Tracks: 12


Hell's Belles   
 Hell's Belles

   Year: 1968   
Tracks: 12


Alakazam The Great   
 Alakazam The Great

   Year: 1961   
Tracks: 11


Space Escapade   
 Space Escapade

   Year: 1958   
Tracks: 12


Moog Rock   
 Moog Rock

   Year:    
Tracks: 10


Jewels of the Sea   
 Jewels of the Sea

   Year:    
Tracks: 12




Les Baxter is a pianist world Health Organization composed and arranged for the top swing bands of the '40s and '50s, only he is wagerer known as the founder of exotica, a variation of easy listening that canonised the sounds and styles of Polynesia, Africa, and South America, even as it retained the traditional string-and-horn arrangements of instrumental pop. Exotica became a massively democratic movement in the '50s, with thousands of record buyers hearing to Baxter, Martin Denny, and their imitators. Baxter as well pioneered the use of the electronic legal document the theremin, which has a haunting, howl levelheaded.


Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory and Pepperdine College in Los Angeles. After he completed school, he deserted the piano and became a vocaliser. When he was 23, he coupled Mel Tormé's Mel-Tones. The group american ginseng on Artie Shaw records, including the hit "What Is This Thing Called Love."


In 1950, he became an arranger and conductor for Capitol Records, working on hits by Nat King Cole, including "Mona Lisa." Around the same time, Baxter began recording his own albums. In 1948, he released a triple-78 album called Music out of the Moon, which ushered in space age pop with its use of goods and services of the theremin. Four long time subsequently, he began recording exotica albums with Le Sacre du Sauvage.


On his early-'50s singles Baxter was relatively aboveboard, playacting versions of standards like the number one hits "Unshackled Melody" and "The Poor People of Paris," but on his albums he experimented with all sorts of world musics, adapting them for his orchestra. As he was recording his exotica albums, Baxter was as well the musical film director for the radiocommunication show Halls of Ivy, summation Abbott & Costello radio receiver shows; he also composed over one C pic lots, concentrating on horror movies and adolescent musicals and comedies, though he as well did dramas wish Heavyweight.


Baxter's flower was in the '50s and '60s. Although he continued to compose and record in the '70s, his output signal was sporadic. Nevertheless, a cult following formed about his exotica recordings that persisted into the '90s.






Sunday 22 June 2008

Bombsquad

Bombsquad   
Artist: Bombsquad

   Genre(s): 
Metal
   



Discography:


Backyard Dept.   
 Backyard Dept.

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 18




 






Saturday 14 June 2008

Spice Girls - The Things They Say 8548


"My philosophy is simple: if you're fat and you don't like it - do something about it! If your bum looks big - work out, make a salad, don't waste your life feeling unattractive!" SPICE GIRLS star MELANIE BROWN is full of good advice.





See Also

Sunday 1 June 2008

O'Death leads rebirth of raw, gritty Americana

In our oh-so-American rush to conquer new frontiers in popular music, let us not forget that the dance party, and its belligerent cousin, the mosh pit, are fundamentally identical to their historical equivalent, the hoedown.

Nowhere is this more evident than at an O’Death show, one of which will take place Saturday at the Middle East in Cambridge.

“There’s a dirty, stripped down rawness to old Americana,” drummer David Rogers-Berry explained over the phone during a break while working as an extra in amusic video. “People buy into the gimmick of chains and banjos, but we just want to make good songs. That’s all we care about. These just happen to be the tools we use. At the same time, we’re huge fans of the Misfits. And I love Bad Brains, because that stuff has the same energy: completely guttural, absolutely visceral music that makes you feel alive.”



A series of chance encounters led Rogers-Berry, banjo/ukulele player Gabe Darling and singer/guitarist Greg Jamie to inaugurate O’Death in 2003 while attending Purchase College. After filling out its lineup and graduating, O’Death relocated to New York City.

Lacking an easier way to publicize themselves, they played live shows on a shoestring budget, performing more than 100 shows in 2006. Recent appearances at SXSW indicate that the grind is paying off, as was inevitable. Nothing this cool stays unknown for long.

O’Death songs conjure phantasms of train-hopping desperation, Hooverville ennui and moonshine sing-alongs around the campfire, often while retaining danceability. Jamie’s vocals bounce from delicate, forlorn wails, snarling hollers and livid screeches while the band discharges bluegrass and punk ferocity, occasionally utilizing gas cans and chains.

“Lately I’ve been using more traditional cymbals, but I used to mostly use broken and stacked cymbals,” said Rogers-Berry. “I wanted my drum set to sound more like a tool shed falling down a mountain than a drum set. That’s just part of the style in this world of dark Americana. I buy my instruments at the hardware store. That’s what works for me.”

Although O’Death shares instrumental, sonic and, while performing, visual characteristics with a hell-spawned jug band, it is not one. That doesn’t mean there isn’t such a thing.

“Out west, we’ve come into contact with the gutter-punk scene,” said Rogers-Berry, “which has really embraced hobo culture. They’re playing in jug bands, and really living it.

“That’s awesome, but that’s not what we do. We live in New York City and have to hold down three jobs at a time to make records. But we don’t hop trains. I’m from South Carolina and they don’t do that (stuff) down there anymore either.”

O’Death, with Murder by Death and Kiss Kiss, Saturday at the Middle East, Cambridge. Tickets: $12; 617-864-EAST.




See Also