Track list, Cuarta emisión viernes 17 de febrero
Tema Central: El Folk rock (1965 – 1970)
1. The Byrds, Mr Tambourine man
2. The Mamas and the Papas, California Dreaming
3. Neil Young, Sugar Mountain
Primer Corte comercial
Eclecticida Nociones básicas de estética musical para los que piensan que las peluquerías no pueden ser unisex.
4. Ed Harcourt, Something to live for, Strangers (2004)
5. Beth Orton, Central Reservation, Central Reservation (1999)
Ed Harcourt
Edward Harcourt-Smith, 14 August 1977, East Sussex, England. This prolific singer-songwriter made his debut in 2000 with the acclaimed six-track mini-album, Maplewood, on which he played every instrument except trumpet. Harcourt, the son of a diplomat father, embarked on his solo music career by ensconcing himself in his grandmother's house in his native Sussex, where he completed over 300 songs. The venture was funded by his work as a restaurant chef, while his mastery of several instruments arose from several years playing in local bands. Maplewood, written, produced and mixed on a four-track by Harcourt, was released in its raw demo form by an impressed Heavenly Records. Harcourt's eclectic style was underpinned by his beguiling melodicism and languid vocals. He subsequently began work on his full-length debut, the excellent Here Be Monsters, with Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips collaborator Dave Fridmann and Tim Holmes of Death In Vegas. The follow-up From Every Sphere was another fine collection, confirming Harcourt as one of the UK's most promising songwriting talents.
DISCOGRAPHY: Maplewood mini-album (Heavenly 2000)***, Here Be Monsters (Heavenly/Capitol 2001)****, From Every Sphere (Heavenly/Astralwerks 2003)***, Strangers (Heavenly 2004)***.
Beth Orton
Singer/songwriter Beth Orton combined the passionate beauty of the acoustic folk tradition with the electronic beats of trip-hop to create a fresh, distinct fusion of roots and rhythm. Born in Norwich, England in December 1970, Orton debuted as one half of the duo Spill, a one-off project with William Orbit which released a cover of John Martyn's "Don't Wanna Know About Evil." She continued working with Orbit on his 1993 LP Strange Cargo 3, co-writing and singing the track "Water From a Vine Leaf" before appearing with the group Red Snapper on their first singles "Snapper" and "In Deep." In 1995 Orton teamed with the Chemical Brothers for "Alive: Alone," the ultimate track on their Exit Planet Dust LP. After assembling a backing band comprised of double bassist Ali Friend, guitarist Ted Barnes, keyboardist Lee Spencer and drummer Wildcat Will, she finally issued her 1996 debut EP She Cries Your Name; her stunning full-length bow Trailer Park, produced in part by Andrew Weatherall, followed later in the year. In 1997, Orton released the superb Best Bit EP, a move towards a more organic, soulful sound highlighted by a pair of duets with folk-jazz legend Terry Callier; the full-length Central Reservation followed in 1999. "Stolen Car" was a moderate hit among college radio and tours across the U.S. were also successful. Three years later, Orton emerged refreshed with her third album Daybreaker. This time around, she collaborated with ex-Whiskeytown frontman Ryan Adams and the Chemical Brothers. In early 2006, Orton released her fourth album, Comfort of Strangers. The 14-song set was recorded in two weeks with producer Jim O'Rourke. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Segundo Corte comercial
Longitud sonora Desiertos concéntricos como límite de la tecnología
6. Jeff Buckley, Hallelujah, Grace (1998)
7. Ryan Adams, Tennessee sucks, Demolition (2002)
Jeff Buckley
Since he was the son of cult songwriter Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley faced more expectations and pre-conceived notions than most singer/songwriters. Perhaps it wasn't surprising that Jeff Buckley's music was related to his father's by only the thinnest of margins. Buckley's voice was grand and sweeping, which fit with the mock-operatic grandeur of his Van Morrison-meets-Led Zeppelin music.
Buckley began playing while in high school. Eventually, he moved to Los Angeles to study music; while he was there, he performed with several jazz and funk bands, as well as playing with Shinehead, a leader in the dancehall reggae movement. A few years later, he moved to New York, forming Gods & Monsters with the experimental guitarist Gary Lucas. The band became a hip name, yet their lifespan was short. Buckley began a solo career playing clubs and coffeehouses, building up a considerable following. Soon, he signed a record deal with Columbia Records, releasing the Live at Sin-e EP in November of 1993. It received good reviews, yet they didn't compare to the raves Buckley's full-length debut, 1994's Grace, received. Unlike the EP, the album was recorded with a full band, which gave the record textures that surprised some of his long-time New York followers. Nevertheless, it made several year-end "Best of 1994" lists and earned him a belated alternative hit, "Last Goodbye," in the spring of 1995.
A long hiatus followed as Buckley worked on material for his follow-up effort, provisionally titled My Sweetheart, the Drunk. Originally slated to be produced by Tom Verlaine, who later dropped out of the project, Buckley finally began work on the record in Memphis during the late spring of 1997. On the night of May 29, he and a friend traveled to the local Mud Island Harbor, where Buckley spontaneously decided to go swimming in the Mississippi River and waded into the water fully clothed. A few minutes later, he disappeared under the waves; authorities were quickly contacted, but to no avail -- on June 4, his body was finally found floating near the city's famed Beale Street area. Buckley was 30 years old. A collection of unreleased recordings, Sketches (For My Sweetheart the Drunk), appeared in 1998, and two live albums arrived during 2000-2001, Mystery White Boy and Live at L'Olympia. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Ryan Adams
Mixing the heartfelt angst of a singer/songwriter with the cocky brashness of a garage rocker, Ryan Adams is at once one of the few artists to emerge from the alt-country scene to achieve mainstream commercial success, and he is the one who most strongly refused to be defined by the genre, leaping from one spot to another stylistically as he follows his increasingly prolific muse.
Ryan Adams was born in Jacksonville, NC, in 1974. While country music was a major part of his family's musical diet when he was young (he's cited Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Cash as particular favorites), in his early teens Adams developed a taste for punk rock and he began playing electric guitar. At 15, Adams started writing songs, and a year later he formed a band called the Patty Duke Syndrome; Adams once described PDS as "an arty noise punk band," with Hüsker Dü frequently cited as a key influence and reference point. The Patty Duke Syndrome developed a following in Jacksonville, and when Adams was 19 the band relocated to the larger town of Raleigh, NC, in hopes of expanding its following. However, Adams became eager to do something more melodic that would give him a platform for his country and pop influences. In 1994, Adams left the Patty Duke Syndrome and formed Whiskeytown with guitarist Phil Wandscher and violinist Caitlin Cary. With bassist Steve Grothman and drummer Eric "Skillet" Gilmore completing the lineup, Whiskeytown (the name came from regional slang for getting drunk) released their first album, Faithless Street, on the local Mood Food label. The album won reams of critical praise in the music press, and more than one writer suggested that Whiskeytown could do for the alt-country or No Depression scene what Nirvana had done for grunge. But by the time the band signed to a major label -- the Geffen-distributed imprint Outpost Records -- the band had undergone the first in a series of major personal shakeups; and in the summer of 1997, when Whiskeytown's Outpost debut, Stranger's Almanac, was ready for release, Adams and Wandscher were the only official members of the band left. Cary soon returned, but Wandscher left shortly afterward, and Whiskeytown had a revolving-door lineup for much of the next two years, with the band's live shows become increasingly erratic, as solid performances were often followed by noisy, audience-baiting disasters. Consequently, as strong as Stranger's Almanac was, Whiskeytown never fulfilled the commercial expectations created for them by others. In 1999, the band -- which was down to Adams, Cary, and a handful of session musicians -- recorded its third and final album, Pneumonia, but when Geffen was absorbed in a merger between PolyGram and Universal, Outpost was phased out, and the album was shelved; shortly afterward, Whiskeytown quietly called it quits.
Following Whiskeytown's collapse, Adams wasted no time launching a career apart from the band, and after a few solo acoustic tours, Adams went into a Nashville studio with songwriters Gillian Welch and David Rawlings and cut his first album under his own name, Heartbreaker, which was released by pioneering "insurgent country" label Bloodshot Records in 2000. The album received critical raves, respectable sales, and a high-profile endorsement from Elton John, and Adams was signed by Universal's new Americana imprint, Lost Highway Records. Lost Highway gave Whiskeytown's Pneumonia a belated release in early 2001, and later that same year, they released his second solo set, Gold, which displayed less of a country influence in favor of classic pop and rock styles of the 1970s. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the album's opening track, "New York, New York," was embraced by radio as an anthem of resilience (though it actually concerned a busted romance), and Adams once again found himself touted as the "next big thing."
Always a prolific songwriter, in a bit more than a year following Gold's release, Adams had written and recorded enough material for four albums; Adams opted to whittle the 60 tunes down to a 13-song collection called Demolition, which was released in 2002 as Adams went into the studio to record his official follow-up to Gold. A year later, Adams' concept album Rock N Roll was released alongside the double-EP collection Love Is Hell. Tours around the globe kept Adams busy into the next year as he maintained momentum writing songs and keeping his ever-changing presence in the music press. In May 2005, Adams released his first of three albums for Lost Highway, the melancholic double-disc Cold Roses. Jacksonville City Nights, a more classic-sounding honky tonk effort, followed in September, and 29 appeared in late December. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
Tercer Corte comercial
El polígono hipertextual Trayectoria del imaginario y de lo mínimo que hay que saber de literatura
8. Counting crows, Ana Begins, Agust and every thing after, 1993
9. Indigo Girls, Don’t think twice, it’s alright,
Counting crows
With their angst-filled hybrid of Van Morrison, the Band, and R.E.M., Counting Crows became an overnight sensation in 1994. Only a year earlier, the band was a group of unknown musicians, filling in for the absent Van Morrison at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony; they were introduced by an enthusiastic Robbie Robertson. Early in 1993, the band recorded their debut album, August & Everything After, with T-Bone Burnett; it was released in the fall. It was a dark, somber record, driven by the morose lyrics and expressive vocals of Adam Duritz; the only up-tempo song, "Mr. Jones," became their ticket to stardom. What made Counting Crows was how they were able to balance Duritz's tortured lyrics with the sound of the late '60s and early '70s; it made them one of the few alternative bands to appeal to listeners who thought that rock & roll died in 1972. Recovering the Satellites followed in 1996, and in 1998 they issued the two-disc Across a Wire--Live in New York. Counting Crows' third studio album, This Desert Life, appeared in 1999. In the midst of recording and collaborating with Ryan Adams on his sophomore album Gold, Duritz joined his band in the studio as well. The fruit of those sessions was the Steve Lillywhite-produced fourth album Hard Candy. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Indigo Girls
While they came into prominence as part of the late-'80s folky singer/songwriter revival, the Indigo Girls had staying power where other artists from the same era quickly faded. Their two-women-with-guitars formula may not seem very revolutionary on paper, but the combination of two distinct personalities and songwriting styles provided tension and an interesting balance. Emily Saliers, hailing from the more traditional Joni Mitchell school, had a gentler sound, was more complex musically, and leaned toward the abstract and spiritual. Meanwhile, Amy Ray drew heavily from the singer/songwriter aspects of punk rock, citing influences such as the Jam, the Pretenders, and Hüsker Dü for her more abrasive and direct approach. In a decade-plus of recording, they managed to garner respectable mainstream success and keep their rabid core following.
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers first took the name Indigo Girls while living in Atlanta in 1985, although they had been performing together since the early '80s, at times under the name the B-Band. In 1986, they recorded an independent self-titled EP and followed in 1987 with the full-length Strange Fire -- only 7,000 copies were pressed and very little interest was generated. Things changed quickly in 1988 when, in the wake of the success of Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman, and 10,000 Maniacs, they seemed to fit nicely into "the next big thing." Epic Records was quick to sign them.
Indigo Girls, released in 1989, was an excellent national debut. Featuring a guest vocal by R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe ("Kid Fears") gave them initial college radio credibility and the single "Closer to Fine" was a hit -- the album eventually broke the Top 30 and earned a Grammy for Best Folk Recording that year. By the end of 1991, it achieved platinum sales. Strange Fire was reissued in the fall with a cover of "Get Together," replacing one of the original tracks.
The follow-up, 1990's Nomads Indians Saints, didn't fare quite as well. It was nominated for a Grammy and eventually reached gold status, but the material wasn't nearly as strong. A live EP, Back on the Bus, Y'All, was released in 1991 while they regrouped. It was also certified gold and was nominated for a Grammy.
In spring of 1992, they made a comeback with Rites of Passage, which debuted at number 22 and went platinum by the year's end. The album showed an increasing diversity and some of their strongest songs to date. Almost exactly two years later, Swamp Ophelia was released and entered the charts at number nine; it went gold by the end of the year. A double live album, 1200 Curfews, was released in 1995 and the much awaited follow-up to Swamp Ophelia, Shaming of the Sun, followed in 1997. The duo's next effort, Come on Now Social, appeared two years later. 2002's Become You was stripped down in comparison to the orchestration of the Girls' more recent work, and 2004's All That We Let In was generally regarded as their strongest album in years. A rarities set appeared the following year, marking Saliers and Ray's two decades together as Indigo Girls. ~ Chris Woodstra, All Music Guide
Cuarto Corte comercial
Por Dios, ¿qué es lo que dice el mensaje? El cine ante la cuadratura humana y el fotograma de Altamira
10. Simon and Garfunkel, April she will, The graduate, (1968)
11. Nick Dracke, Fly, The royal Tanenbaums, (1999)
The royal Tanenbaums
Wes Anderson's third film, "The Royal Tenenbaums," is nothing short of amazing and was easily the best film of 2001. Why it wasn't nominated for more than Best Original Screenplay at this year's Oscars is beyond me. The same went for his sophomore effort (and what I feel is his best film of the three) "Rushmore."
One of many of Anderson's gifts lies in his appreciation of and ability to identify deadpan humor. My three favorite moments of the film are when Richie suffers a breakdown at his tennis match and tosses his racquet at the returned ball he lightly served over the net in the first place, when Chas holds a mock fire drill and tells his boys that they all would have died, including their dog, because it took them four and a half minutes to get out of the house, and when Raleigh St. Clair replies to the question "Can the boy tell time?" with "Heavens, no."
He also has the uncanny ability of accompanying his films with the perfect music (though he has been ostracized for not including certain songs that appear in his films on the actual soundtrack.) He did it in "Rushmore" with British Invasion songs and he doesn't falter here. The absolute best moment of the film (in a depressing, psychotic kind of way) is when Richie attempts to kill himself by slicing his wrists. The reason for this wholly rests on the fact that the entire montage was accompanied by Elliot Smith's haunting song "Needle in the Hay."
The other reason Anderson gets good marks is because of the fabulous ensemble cast. Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bill Murray, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson are all at their best here.
Kudos to everyone involved in this film; it is sure to gain classic status years from now. A worthy addition to anyone's DVD collection.
Actors: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, See more
Directors: Wes Anderson
Quinto Corte comercial
Download Reptiles digitales en las redes de Jonás
12. John Cougar Mellencamp, Jack and Dianne, Scare Crow
13. Eddie Brickell, Circle,
John Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951 in Seymour, Indiana) is an American singer and songwriter, known for a long and successful recording and performing career highlighted by a series of 1980s hits, including "Jack and Diane", and by his role in the Farm Aid charity event. Mellencamp lives in in Monroe County, Indiana, and is married to former supermodel Elaine Irwin Mellencamp. Mellencamp, who has a mild form of spina bifida, had a troubled childhood marked by several brushes with the law. He eloped with his pregnant girlfriend at seventeen and began performing with a band the following year.
At age 24, Mellencamp, determined to break into the music business, moved to New York City and signed on with agent Tony DeFries (at the time well-known for representing David Bowie). DeFries insisted that Mellencamp's first album, Chestnut Street Incident, a collection of covers and derivative originals, be released under the stage name Johnny Cougar, a move Mellencamp claims was made without his knowledge and against his will. The album was a failure, and Mellencamp lost his contract with MCA Records.
He signed to the tiny Riva Records label and recorded 1978's A Biography, unreleased in the US, but which yielded a hit in Australia ("I Need A Lover"). Riva added this song to the next album, John Cougar (1979) to minor success. Female rocker Pat Benatar recorded "I Need a Lover" and released the song as a single from her debut album In the Heat of the Night.
After one more album with Riva, Mellencamp signed with Mercury Records and released his breakthrough album, American Fool, in 1982 (see 1982 in music). The hit singles "Hurt So Good" and "Jack and Diane" sent the album to the top of the charts (the former being an unlikely radio hit with its lyrics referring to S&M).
With a major hit under his belt, Mellencamp insisted on changing his billing to John Cougar Mellencamp (compromising by keeping the stage name as well as his true last name) for the 1983 follow-up, Uh-Huh, which was another top-10 hit and spawned several hit singles, including the vivid Americana of "Pink Houses". Despite his popular success, Mellencamp fared less well with critics who tended to view him as a derivative heartland rocker in the mold of Bob Seger.
He rectified this in some quarters with the release of Scarecrow in 1985. The album's lyrics were socially aware, with several songs focusing on the plight of the American family farmer, and Mellencamp soon helped organize Farm Aid with Willie Nelson. Mellencamp, now fully asserting his power as a hitmaker, changed his billing to simply John Mellencamp and made waves by refusing to allow alcohol or tobacco companies to sponsor his tours.
His following LP, 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee was departure from his earlier material; it incorporated country and folk influences. It generated several more hit singles, including "Paper in Fire" and "Cherry Bomb". By 1993's Human Wheels, Mellencamp's critical reception was solid and Dance Naked (1994) spawned his biggest hit in years, "Wild Night" (a cover of Van Morrison's song, in the form of a duet with Me'Shell NdegeOcello).
After a 1994 heart attack, Mellencamp returned with Mr. Happy Go Lucky which blended heavier dance rhythms with his now signature folk-rock style with the aid of dance producer Junior Vasquez. Mellencamp left Mercury after the 1996 disc. Issued a day before his 47th birthday in 1998, his self-titled debut for Columbia Records included the songs "Your Life is Now" and "I'm Not Running Anymore".
In 1999 Mellencamp covered his own tunes as well as those by Bob Dylan and the Drifters for his album Rough Harvest, one of two albums he owed Mercury Records to fulfill his contract (the other was The Best That I Could Do, a best-of collection).
The early 21st century found Mellencamp teaming up with artists such as Chuck D and India.Arie to deliver a more laid back record with Cuttin' Heads, spawning the single "Peaceful World". Audiences would associate this song with the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, although it had been written beforehand.
Trouble No More followed in mid-2003 (see 2003 in music), a quickly-recorded collection of rootsy bluesy covers of artists such as Robert Johnson, Son House, and Lucinda Williams.
Mellencamp's sound is cited as a major influence by fellow midwesterners Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks, Joan Osborne, and Kid Rock.
Mellencamp, a self-proclaimed liberal, participated in the "Vote for Change" tour leading up to the 2004 U.S. Presidential election.
Sexto Corte comercial
Homo signis Antropología molecular y arqueología sonora
14. Ben Harper, Beloved One,
15. Grant Lee Bufallo, Fuzzy, Fuzzy, (1993)
16. My morning Jacket, Golden, It still moves (2003)
17. The Coral, Pass it on, Pass it on CDS (2003)
18. William Shatner, Mr. Tambourine, Golden throats: The great celebration
19. Turin Brakes, Pain killer, Ether songs, (2003)
Ben Harper
Combining shuddering, groove-laden funky soul and folky, handcrafted acoustics, singer/songwriter Ben Harper cultivated a cult following during the course of the '90s that
gained full fruition toward the end of the decade. Harper combined elements of classic singer/songwriters, blues revivalists, Jimi Hendrix, and '90s jam bands like Blues Traveler, Hootie & the Blowfish, and Phish, which meant that he was embraced by critics and college kids alike. Though he never had a hit album, his body of work sold consistently and he toured constantly, building a solid, dedicated fan base.
A native of California, Harper grew up listening to blues, folk, soul, R&B, and reggae. As a child, he started playing guitar, and began to perform regularly as a preteen. During his adolescence, he began playing acoustic slide guitar, which would eventually become his signature instrument. After steady gigging in the Los Angeles area, Harper scored a deal with Virgin Records in 1992. He released his debut album, Welcome to the Cruel World, two years later to positive reviews.
Released in 1995, the politically-heavy Fight for Your Mind made for a strong sophomore effort, an obvious growth in musical experimentation and individual declamation. Harper's third album, 1997's The Will to Live, pushed his blues-oriented alternative folk into the middle mainstream, becoming a mainstay at college radio and making inroads at adult alternative radio. Recorded over two years of touring in support of Fight for Your Mind, The Will to Live introduced the Innocent Criminals, Harper's supporting band. The Innocent Criminals -- who are bassist Juan Nelson, drummer Dean Butterworth, and percussionist David Leach -- solidified Harper's musical rhythms and emotional diversity.
Aside from working on his own material, Ben Harper has built a strong rapport with other artists, playing guest spots on records by Beth Orton, John Lee Hooker, and Government Mule. He played 1997's and 1999's Tibetan Freedom Concerts, and opened for R.E.M., Radiohead, Metallica, Pearl Jam, and the Fugees. Harper's career gained momentum throughout 1998-1999. His most successful album thus far, 1999's Burn to Shine blended Harper's fondness of '20s jazz compositions and urban beatboxing, resulting in a clever and passionate collection of songs. "Steal My Kisses" and "Suzie Blue" were radio favorites, landing him two headlining world tours and an opening spot on the Dave Matthews Band's summer trek of 2000. In spring 2001, Harper issued Live from Mars, a double disc of live electric and acoustic material spanning the previous year's tour and including covers of material by Led Zeppelin, the Verve, and Marvin Gaye.
When it came to recording his fifth studio effort, Harper went back to his drawing board. He'd circled the world countless times and naturally, he brashly sang about it on the worldbeat-inspired Diamonds on the Inside, which appeared in March 2003. After a European tour with the Blind Boys of Alabama in 2004, the two acts entered the studio together and laid down ten tracks in two different sessions at Capitol Records basement studios. The resulting collaborative album issued under both names, There WiIl Be a Light, was released in September of 2004. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
Grant Lee Bufallo
Although heralded by the critics and championed by their musical peers, the '90s alternative/roots rock trio Grant Lee Buffalo failed to break through to the
mainstream, despite strong songwriting and an original style. The band's leader was singer/guitarist/songwriter Grant Lee Phillips -- born in 1963 and raised in Stockton, CA, Phillips was equally influenced by rock music early on (David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Kiss) as well as country icons (Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, etc.). By the dawn of his teenage years, Phillips began playing guitar and penning his own original compositions, as he sought to combine his both preferred styles of music together as one -- leading to the formation of his first real band, Bloody Holly.
Prior to his 20th birthday, Phillips relocated to Los Angeles, where he roofed houses with hot tar during the day, attended film school at night, and reserved the weekends for music. By the end of the '80s, Phillips had formed the neo-psychedelic outfit Shiva Burlesque, issuing a pair of critically acclaimed but commercially overlooked releases, 1987's self-titled debut and 1990's Mercury Blues, before splitting up. Phillips then recruited Shiva's drummer Joey Peters and multi-instrumentalist Paul Kimble (the latter of which doubled on bass and keyboards and, later on, production duties) for a new project. Utilizing a backlog of songs unused by Shiva, the new group first went under several different names (including the Machine Elves and Mouth of Rasputin) before settling on Grant Lee Buffalo.
The newly named outfit landed a weekly residence at West Hollywood's Cafe Largo in the early '90s, as they honed their songs and live show, while building up a substantial following in the process. The trio sent a demo tape to the Singles Only label (headed by Hüsker Dü/Sugar frontman Bob Mould), who in turn issued the song "Fuzzy" as a single in 1992. By this time, the buzz surrounding Grant Lee Buffalo had spread to other record labels, as Slash Records signed the trio and issued their full-length debut, also titled Fuzzy, in 1993.
Grant Lee Buffalo supported the release with nearly a year of solid touring -- opening for the likes of Cracker, ex-Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg, and Pearl Jam. Instead of taking some much-needed time off from their grueling schedule, the trio went directly back into the studio to work on their sophomore effort, 1994's Mighty Joe Moon, which spawned their first single/video to attract the attention of MTV and radio (albeit mildly), the gentle ballad "Mockingbirds." Despite landing a prestigious gig opening for R.E.M. (the group's first arena tour in five years) and Phillips being recognized as Male Vocalist of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine, the album failed to break the band commercially. Further fine releases followed, 1996's Copperopolis and 1998's Jubilee, which, again, were critically acclaimed yet commercial underachievers. Fed up, the trio quietly disbanded in 1999.
Phillips immediately launched a solo career, issuing a pair of albums, 2000's Ladies' Love Oracle and 2001's Mobilize, both of which were completely penned and performed by the ex-Grant Lee Buffalo frontman (Phillips has also guested on albums by such other artists as the Eels, Neil Finn, Harvey Danger, Robyn Hitchcock, and Michael Penn, while producing Eenie Meenie's self-titled 1997 EP). In 2001, a 30-track Grant Lee Buffalo overview was issued in England (where the group had enjoyed more substantial success than in their homeland), entitled Storm Hymnal: Gems From the Vault of Grant Lee Buffalo. Rhino released it stateside three years later. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
My morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket is a four-piece band from Louisville, KY, built solidly around the vocal and songwriting talent of group leader Jim James. Their sound is lonesome, haunting, almost classic country at times, and that voice -- Jim James' voice
shares the same section of that old country highway with the familiar sounds of Neil Young, yet sounds right at home here in the world of independent American pop music, alongside contemporary singers like the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Galaxie 500's Dean Wareham. Like Galaxie 500, My Morning Jacket weaves songs and sounds together perfectly -- underneath the big open sky filled with bright stars of course -- never allowing the heavy reverb (and the reverb is definitely heavy) to subtract anything from the visual lyrics, or from the simple beauty of the songs themselves.
Along with singer Jim James, My Morning Jacket was founded with his cousin Johnny Quaid (guitar), Two-Tone Tommy (bass), and J. Glenn (drums). The band released their debut on Darla Records in 1999, the critically acclaimed The Tennessee Fire, and found themselves gaining popularity not only in the United States, but in Europe as well, the Benelux countries being particularly fond of My Morning Jacket. They were later featured in a Dutch documentary film after constant praise from the Dutch music press.
The band's second album, At Dawn, found My Morning Jacket virtually unchanged (but with two new members: Danny Cash riding keyboards and KC Guetig on the drums) with more of the same high-quality writing: hauntingly beautiful melodies all drenched with that (by now) familiar reverb and featuring that unique and emotive voice. Upon its release in America, James' best friend from childhood, Patrick Hallahan stepped in to play drums.
My Morning Jacket lives in a world of wide-open spaces covered with a velvet sky, not alt-country, not indie rock, just beautify classic Americana music. By 2003, the band had toured with the likes of Guided By Voices, Doves, Foo Fighters, and Burning Brides. However, by the time their major label release for RCA/ATO, It Still Moves was release in September, touring began to take its toll on Quaid and Cash. Critics and fans hailed It Still Moves as the band's best, but Quaid and Cash decided to leave it all behind when they announced their departure in January 2004. Bo Koster (keyboards) and Carl Broemel (guitar) joined My Morning Jacket on the road shortly thereafter to make the band a unified five-piece once again. John Leckie produced My Morning Jacket's fourth album, Z, which was released in fall 2005. ~ Terrance Miles, All Music Guide
The Coral
They're not like Echo & the Bunnymen and they claim they're not seaside scousers of their hometown of Hoylake, for the Coral are crazy geezers, Happy Mondays-style. Comprised of six neighborhood mates James Skelly (guitar/vocals), Ian Skelly (drums), Nick Power (organ), Bill Ryder-Jones (guitar/trumpet), Lee Southall (guitar/vocals) and Paul Duffy (bass/sax), the Coral formed in their early teens in 1996. NME was quick to jump on them in fall 2001, proclaiming the Coral as the best new band in England thanks to the popularity of "Shadows Fall." The next summer, the Coral was still a buzz -- their self-titled debut album appeared on Sony Music UK in July. The Coral made their way to America in early 2003 with their self-titled debut release for Columbia. The Invisible Invasion followed two years later. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
1. The Byrds, Mr Tambourine man
2. The Mamas and the Papas, California Dreaming
3. Neil Young, Sugar Mountain
Primer Corte comercial
Eclecticida Nociones básicas de estética musical para los que piensan que las peluquerías no pueden ser unisex.
4. Ed Harcourt, Something to live for, Strangers (2004)
5. Beth Orton, Central Reservation, Central Reservation (1999)
Ed Harcourt
Edward Harcourt-Smith, 14 August 1977, East Sussex, England. This prolific singer-songwriter made his debut in 2000 with the acclaimed six-track mini-album, Maplewood, on which he played every instrument except trumpet. Harcourt, the son of a diplomat father, embarked on his solo music career by ensconcing himself in his grandmother's house in his native Sussex, where he completed over 300 songs. The venture was funded by his work as a restaurant chef, while his mastery of several instruments arose from several years playing in local bands. Maplewood, written, produced and mixed on a four-track by Harcourt, was released in its raw demo form by an impressed Heavenly Records. Harcourt's eclectic style was underpinned by his beguiling melodicism and languid vocals. He subsequently began work on his full-length debut, the excellent Here Be Monsters, with Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips collaborator Dave Fridmann and Tim Holmes of Death In Vegas. The follow-up From Every Sphere was another fine collection, confirming Harcourt as one of the UK's most promising songwriting talents.
DISCOGRAPHY: Maplewood mini-album (Heavenly 2000)***, Here Be Monsters (Heavenly/Capitol 2001)****, From Every Sphere (Heavenly/Astralwerks 2003)***, Strangers (Heavenly 2004)***.
Beth Orton
Singer/songwriter Beth Orton combined the passionate beauty of the acoustic folk tradition with the electronic beats of trip-hop to create a fresh, distinct fusion of roots and rhythm. Born in Norwich, England in December 1970, Orton debuted as one half of the duo Spill, a one-off project with William Orbit which released a cover of John Martyn's "Don't Wanna Know About Evil." She continued working with Orbit on his 1993 LP Strange Cargo 3, co-writing and singing the track "Water From a Vine Leaf" before appearing with the group Red Snapper on their first singles "Snapper" and "In Deep." In 1995 Orton teamed with the Chemical Brothers for "Alive: Alone," the ultimate track on their Exit Planet Dust LP. After assembling a backing band comprised of double bassist Ali Friend, guitarist Ted Barnes, keyboardist Lee Spencer and drummer Wildcat Will, she finally issued her 1996 debut EP She Cries Your Name; her stunning full-length bow Trailer Park, produced in part by Andrew Weatherall, followed later in the year. In 1997, Orton released the superb Best Bit EP, a move towards a more organic, soulful sound highlighted by a pair of duets with folk-jazz legend Terry Callier; the full-length Central Reservation followed in 1999. "Stolen Car" was a moderate hit among college radio and tours across the U.S. were also successful. Three years later, Orton emerged refreshed with her third album Daybreaker. This time around, she collaborated with ex-Whiskeytown frontman Ryan Adams and the Chemical Brothers. In early 2006, Orton released her fourth album, Comfort of Strangers. The 14-song set was recorded in two weeks with producer Jim O'Rourke. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Segundo Corte comercial
Longitud sonora Desiertos concéntricos como límite de la tecnología
6. Jeff Buckley, Hallelujah, Grace (1998)
7. Ryan Adams, Tennessee sucks, Demolition (2002)
Jeff Buckley
Since he was the son of cult songwriter Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley faced more expectations and pre-conceived notions than most singer/songwriters. Perhaps it wasn't surprising that Jeff Buckley's music was related to his father's by only the thinnest of margins. Buckley's voice was grand and sweeping, which fit with the mock-operatic grandeur of his Van Morrison-meets-Led Zeppelin music.
Buckley began playing while in high school. Eventually, he moved to Los Angeles to study music; while he was there, he performed with several jazz and funk bands, as well as playing with Shinehead, a leader in the dancehall reggae movement. A few years later, he moved to New York, forming Gods & Monsters with the experimental guitarist Gary Lucas. The band became a hip name, yet their lifespan was short. Buckley began a solo career playing clubs and coffeehouses, building up a considerable following. Soon, he signed a record deal with Columbia Records, releasing the Live at Sin-e EP in November of 1993. It received good reviews, yet they didn't compare to the raves Buckley's full-length debut, 1994's Grace, received. Unlike the EP, the album was recorded with a full band, which gave the record textures that surprised some of his long-time New York followers. Nevertheless, it made several year-end "Best of 1994" lists and earned him a belated alternative hit, "Last Goodbye," in the spring of 1995.
A long hiatus followed as Buckley worked on material for his follow-up effort, provisionally titled My Sweetheart, the Drunk. Originally slated to be produced by Tom Verlaine, who later dropped out of the project, Buckley finally began work on the record in Memphis during the late spring of 1997. On the night of May 29, he and a friend traveled to the local Mud Island Harbor, where Buckley spontaneously decided to go swimming in the Mississippi River and waded into the water fully clothed. A few minutes later, he disappeared under the waves; authorities were quickly contacted, but to no avail -- on June 4, his body was finally found floating near the city's famed Beale Street area. Buckley was 30 years old. A collection of unreleased recordings, Sketches (For My Sweetheart the Drunk), appeared in 1998, and two live albums arrived during 2000-2001, Mystery White Boy and Live at L'Olympia. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Ryan Adams
Mixing the heartfelt angst of a singer/songwriter with the cocky brashness of a garage rocker, Ryan Adams is at once one of the few artists to emerge from the alt-country scene to achieve mainstream commercial success, and he is the one who most strongly refused to be defined by the genre, leaping from one spot to another stylistically as he follows his increasingly prolific muse.
Ryan Adams was born in Jacksonville, NC, in 1974. While country music was a major part of his family's musical diet when he was young (he's cited Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Cash as particular favorites), in his early teens Adams developed a taste for punk rock and he began playing electric guitar. At 15, Adams started writing songs, and a year later he formed a band called the Patty Duke Syndrome; Adams once described PDS as "an arty noise punk band," with Hüsker Dü frequently cited as a key influence and reference point. The Patty Duke Syndrome developed a following in Jacksonville, and when Adams was 19 the band relocated to the larger town of Raleigh, NC, in hopes of expanding its following. However, Adams became eager to do something more melodic that would give him a platform for his country and pop influences. In 1994, Adams left the Patty Duke Syndrome and formed Whiskeytown with guitarist Phil Wandscher and violinist Caitlin Cary. With bassist Steve Grothman and drummer Eric "Skillet" Gilmore completing the lineup, Whiskeytown (the name came from regional slang for getting drunk) released their first album, Faithless Street, on the local Mood Food label. The album won reams of critical praise in the music press, and more than one writer suggested that Whiskeytown could do for the alt-country or No Depression scene what Nirvana had done for grunge. But by the time the band signed to a major label -- the Geffen-distributed imprint Outpost Records -- the band had undergone the first in a series of major personal shakeups; and in the summer of 1997, when Whiskeytown's Outpost debut, Stranger's Almanac, was ready for release, Adams and Wandscher were the only official members of the band left. Cary soon returned, but Wandscher left shortly afterward, and Whiskeytown had a revolving-door lineup for much of the next two years, with the band's live shows become increasingly erratic, as solid performances were often followed by noisy, audience-baiting disasters. Consequently, as strong as Stranger's Almanac was, Whiskeytown never fulfilled the commercial expectations created for them by others. In 1999, the band -- which was down to Adams, Cary, and a handful of session musicians -- recorded its third and final album, Pneumonia, but when Geffen was absorbed in a merger between PolyGram and Universal, Outpost was phased out, and the album was shelved; shortly afterward, Whiskeytown quietly called it quits.
Following Whiskeytown's collapse, Adams wasted no time launching a career apart from the band, and after a few solo acoustic tours, Adams went into a Nashville studio with songwriters Gillian Welch and David Rawlings and cut his first album under his own name, Heartbreaker, which was released by pioneering "insurgent country" label Bloodshot Records in 2000. The album received critical raves, respectable sales, and a high-profile endorsement from Elton John, and Adams was signed by Universal's new Americana imprint, Lost Highway Records. Lost Highway gave Whiskeytown's Pneumonia a belated release in early 2001, and later that same year, they released his second solo set, Gold, which displayed less of a country influence in favor of classic pop and rock styles of the 1970s. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the album's opening track, "New York, New York," was embraced by radio as an anthem of resilience (though it actually concerned a busted romance), and Adams once again found himself touted as the "next big thing."
Always a prolific songwriter, in a bit more than a year following Gold's release, Adams had written and recorded enough material for four albums; Adams opted to whittle the 60 tunes down to a 13-song collection called Demolition, which was released in 2002 as Adams went into the studio to record his official follow-up to Gold. A year later, Adams' concept album Rock N Roll was released alongside the double-EP collection Love Is Hell. Tours around the globe kept Adams busy into the next year as he maintained momentum writing songs and keeping his ever-changing presence in the music press. In May 2005, Adams released his first of three albums for Lost Highway, the melancholic double-disc Cold Roses. Jacksonville City Nights, a more classic-sounding honky tonk effort, followed in September, and 29 appeared in late December. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
Tercer Corte comercial
El polígono hipertextual Trayectoria del imaginario y de lo mínimo que hay que saber de literatura
8. Counting crows, Ana Begins, Agust and every thing after, 1993
9. Indigo Girls, Don’t think twice, it’s alright,
Counting crows
With their angst-filled hybrid of Van Morrison, the Band, and R.E.M., Counting Crows became an overnight sensation in 1994. Only a year earlier, the band was a group of unknown musicians, filling in for the absent Van Morrison at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony; they were introduced by an enthusiastic Robbie Robertson. Early in 1993, the band recorded their debut album, August & Everything After, with T-Bone Burnett; it was released in the fall. It was a dark, somber record, driven by the morose lyrics and expressive vocals of Adam Duritz; the only up-tempo song, "Mr. Jones," became their ticket to stardom. What made Counting Crows was how they were able to balance Duritz's tortured lyrics with the sound of the late '60s and early '70s; it made them one of the few alternative bands to appeal to listeners who thought that rock & roll died in 1972. Recovering the Satellites followed in 1996, and in 1998 they issued the two-disc Across a Wire--Live in New York. Counting Crows' third studio album, This Desert Life, appeared in 1999. In the midst of recording and collaborating with Ryan Adams on his sophomore album Gold, Duritz joined his band in the studio as well. The fruit of those sessions was the Steve Lillywhite-produced fourth album Hard Candy. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Indigo Girls
While they came into prominence as part of the late-'80s folky singer/songwriter revival, the Indigo Girls had staying power where other artists from the same era quickly faded. Their two-women-with-guitars formula may not seem very revolutionary on paper, but the combination of two distinct personalities and songwriting styles provided tension and an interesting balance. Emily Saliers, hailing from the more traditional Joni Mitchell school, had a gentler sound, was more complex musically, and leaned toward the abstract and spiritual. Meanwhile, Amy Ray drew heavily from the singer/songwriter aspects of punk rock, citing influences such as the Jam, the Pretenders, and Hüsker Dü for her more abrasive and direct approach. In a decade-plus of recording, they managed to garner respectable mainstream success and keep their rabid core following.
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers first took the name Indigo Girls while living in Atlanta in 1985, although they had been performing together since the early '80s, at times under the name the B-Band. In 1986, they recorded an independent self-titled EP and followed in 1987 with the full-length Strange Fire -- only 7,000 copies were pressed and very little interest was generated. Things changed quickly in 1988 when, in the wake of the success of Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman, and 10,000 Maniacs, they seemed to fit nicely into "the next big thing." Epic Records was quick to sign them.
Indigo Girls, released in 1989, was an excellent national debut. Featuring a guest vocal by R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe ("Kid Fears") gave them initial college radio credibility and the single "Closer to Fine" was a hit -- the album eventually broke the Top 30 and earned a Grammy for Best Folk Recording that year. By the end of 1991, it achieved platinum sales. Strange Fire was reissued in the fall with a cover of "Get Together," replacing one of the original tracks.
The follow-up, 1990's Nomads Indians Saints, didn't fare quite as well. It was nominated for a Grammy and eventually reached gold status, but the material wasn't nearly as strong. A live EP, Back on the Bus, Y'All, was released in 1991 while they regrouped. It was also certified gold and was nominated for a Grammy.
In spring of 1992, they made a comeback with Rites of Passage, which debuted at number 22 and went platinum by the year's end. The album showed an increasing diversity and some of their strongest songs to date. Almost exactly two years later, Swamp Ophelia was released and entered the charts at number nine; it went gold by the end of the year. A double live album, 1200 Curfews, was released in 1995 and the much awaited follow-up to Swamp Ophelia, Shaming of the Sun, followed in 1997. The duo's next effort, Come on Now Social, appeared two years later. 2002's Become You was stripped down in comparison to the orchestration of the Girls' more recent work, and 2004's All That We Let In was generally regarded as their strongest album in years. A rarities set appeared the following year, marking Saliers and Ray's two decades together as Indigo Girls. ~ Chris Woodstra, All Music Guide
Cuarto Corte comercial
Por Dios, ¿qué es lo que dice el mensaje? El cine ante la cuadratura humana y el fotograma de Altamira
10. Simon and Garfunkel, April she will, The graduate, (1968)
11. Nick Dracke, Fly, The royal Tanenbaums, (1999)
The royal Tanenbaums
Wes Anderson's third film, "The Royal Tenenbaums," is nothing short of amazing and was easily the best film of 2001. Why it wasn't nominated for more than Best Original Screenplay at this year's Oscars is beyond me. The same went for his sophomore effort (and what I feel is his best film of the three) "Rushmore."
One of many of Anderson's gifts lies in his appreciation of and ability to identify deadpan humor. My three favorite moments of the film are when Richie suffers a breakdown at his tennis match and tosses his racquet at the returned ball he lightly served over the net in the first place, when Chas holds a mock fire drill and tells his boys that they all would have died, including their dog, because it took them four and a half minutes to get out of the house, and when Raleigh St. Clair replies to the question "Can the boy tell time?" with "Heavens, no."
He also has the uncanny ability of accompanying his films with the perfect music (though he has been ostracized for not including certain songs that appear in his films on the actual soundtrack.) He did it in "Rushmore" with British Invasion songs and he doesn't falter here. The absolute best moment of the film (in a depressing, psychotic kind of way) is when Richie attempts to kill himself by slicing his wrists. The reason for this wholly rests on the fact that the entire montage was accompanied by Elliot Smith's haunting song "Needle in the Hay."
The other reason Anderson gets good marks is because of the fabulous ensemble cast. Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bill Murray, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson are all at their best here.
Kudos to everyone involved in this film; it is sure to gain classic status years from now. A worthy addition to anyone's DVD collection.
Actors: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, See more
Directors: Wes Anderson
Quinto Corte comercial
Download Reptiles digitales en las redes de Jonás
12. John Cougar Mellencamp, Jack and Dianne, Scare Crow
13. Eddie Brickell, Circle,
John Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951 in Seymour, Indiana) is an American singer and songwriter, known for a long and successful recording and performing career highlighted by a series of 1980s hits, including "Jack and Diane", and by his role in the Farm Aid charity event. Mellencamp lives in in Monroe County, Indiana, and is married to former supermodel Elaine Irwin Mellencamp. Mellencamp, who has a mild form of spina bifida, had a troubled childhood marked by several brushes with the law. He eloped with his pregnant girlfriend at seventeen and began performing with a band the following year.
At age 24, Mellencamp, determined to break into the music business, moved to New York City and signed on with agent Tony DeFries (at the time well-known for representing David Bowie). DeFries insisted that Mellencamp's first album, Chestnut Street Incident, a collection of covers and derivative originals, be released under the stage name Johnny Cougar, a move Mellencamp claims was made without his knowledge and against his will. The album was a failure, and Mellencamp lost his contract with MCA Records.
He signed to the tiny Riva Records label and recorded 1978's A Biography, unreleased in the US, but which yielded a hit in Australia ("I Need A Lover"). Riva added this song to the next album, John Cougar (1979) to minor success. Female rocker Pat Benatar recorded "I Need a Lover" and released the song as a single from her debut album In the Heat of the Night.
After one more album with Riva, Mellencamp signed with Mercury Records and released his breakthrough album, American Fool, in 1982 (see 1982 in music). The hit singles "Hurt So Good" and "Jack and Diane" sent the album to the top of the charts (the former being an unlikely radio hit with its lyrics referring to S&M).
With a major hit under his belt, Mellencamp insisted on changing his billing to John Cougar Mellencamp (compromising by keeping the stage name as well as his true last name) for the 1983 follow-up, Uh-Huh, which was another top-10 hit and spawned several hit singles, including the vivid Americana of "Pink Houses". Despite his popular success, Mellencamp fared less well with critics who tended to view him as a derivative heartland rocker in the mold of Bob Seger.
He rectified this in some quarters with the release of Scarecrow in 1985. The album's lyrics were socially aware, with several songs focusing on the plight of the American family farmer, and Mellencamp soon helped organize Farm Aid with Willie Nelson. Mellencamp, now fully asserting his power as a hitmaker, changed his billing to simply John Mellencamp and made waves by refusing to allow alcohol or tobacco companies to sponsor his tours.
His following LP, 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee was departure from his earlier material; it incorporated country and folk influences. It generated several more hit singles, including "Paper in Fire" and "Cherry Bomb". By 1993's Human Wheels, Mellencamp's critical reception was solid and Dance Naked (1994) spawned his biggest hit in years, "Wild Night" (a cover of Van Morrison's song, in the form of a duet with Me'Shell NdegeOcello).
After a 1994 heart attack, Mellencamp returned with Mr. Happy Go Lucky which blended heavier dance rhythms with his now signature folk-rock style with the aid of dance producer Junior Vasquez. Mellencamp left Mercury after the 1996 disc. Issued a day before his 47th birthday in 1998, his self-titled debut for Columbia Records included the songs "Your Life is Now" and "I'm Not Running Anymore".
In 1999 Mellencamp covered his own tunes as well as those by Bob Dylan and the Drifters for his album Rough Harvest, one of two albums he owed Mercury Records to fulfill his contract (the other was The Best That I Could Do, a best-of collection).
The early 21st century found Mellencamp teaming up with artists such as Chuck D and India.Arie to deliver a more laid back record with Cuttin' Heads, spawning the single "Peaceful World". Audiences would associate this song with the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, although it had been written beforehand.
Trouble No More followed in mid-2003 (see 2003 in music), a quickly-recorded collection of rootsy bluesy covers of artists such as Robert Johnson, Son House, and Lucinda Williams.
Mellencamp's sound is cited as a major influence by fellow midwesterners Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks, Joan Osborne, and Kid Rock.
Mellencamp, a self-proclaimed liberal, participated in the "Vote for Change" tour leading up to the 2004 U.S. Presidential election.
Sexto Corte comercial
Homo signis Antropología molecular y arqueología sonora
14. Ben Harper, Beloved One,
15. Grant Lee Bufallo, Fuzzy, Fuzzy, (1993)
16. My morning Jacket, Golden, It still moves (2003)
17. The Coral, Pass it on, Pass it on CDS (2003)
18. William Shatner, Mr. Tambourine, Golden throats: The great celebration
19. Turin Brakes, Pain killer, Ether songs, (2003)
Ben Harper
Combining shuddering, groove-laden funky soul and folky, handcrafted acoustics, singer/songwriter Ben Harper cultivated a cult following during the course of the '90s that
gained full fruition toward the end of the decade. Harper combined elements of classic singer/songwriters, blues revivalists, Jimi Hendrix, and '90s jam bands like Blues Traveler, Hootie & the Blowfish, and Phish, which meant that he was embraced by critics and college kids alike. Though he never had a hit album, his body of work sold consistently and he toured constantly, building a solid, dedicated fan base.
A native of California, Harper grew up listening to blues, folk, soul, R&B, and reggae. As a child, he started playing guitar, and began to perform regularly as a preteen. During his adolescence, he began playing acoustic slide guitar, which would eventually become his signature instrument. After steady gigging in the Los Angeles area, Harper scored a deal with Virgin Records in 1992. He released his debut album, Welcome to the Cruel World, two years later to positive reviews.
Released in 1995, the politically-heavy Fight for Your Mind made for a strong sophomore effort, an obvious growth in musical experimentation and individual declamation. Harper's third album, 1997's The Will to Live, pushed his blues-oriented alternative folk into the middle mainstream, becoming a mainstay at college radio and making inroads at adult alternative radio. Recorded over two years of touring in support of Fight for Your Mind, The Will to Live introduced the Innocent Criminals, Harper's supporting band. The Innocent Criminals -- who are bassist Juan Nelson, drummer Dean Butterworth, and percussionist David Leach -- solidified Harper's musical rhythms and emotional diversity.
Aside from working on his own material, Ben Harper has built a strong rapport with other artists, playing guest spots on records by Beth Orton, John Lee Hooker, and Government Mule. He played 1997's and 1999's Tibetan Freedom Concerts, and opened for R.E.M., Radiohead, Metallica, Pearl Jam, and the Fugees. Harper's career gained momentum throughout 1998-1999. His most successful album thus far, 1999's Burn to Shine blended Harper's fondness of '20s jazz compositions and urban beatboxing, resulting in a clever and passionate collection of songs. "Steal My Kisses" and "Suzie Blue" were radio favorites, landing him two headlining world tours and an opening spot on the Dave Matthews Band's summer trek of 2000. In spring 2001, Harper issued Live from Mars, a double disc of live electric and acoustic material spanning the previous year's tour and including covers of material by Led Zeppelin, the Verve, and Marvin Gaye.
When it came to recording his fifth studio effort, Harper went back to his drawing board. He'd circled the world countless times and naturally, he brashly sang about it on the worldbeat-inspired Diamonds on the Inside, which appeared in March 2003. After a European tour with the Blind Boys of Alabama in 2004, the two acts entered the studio together and laid down ten tracks in two different sessions at Capitol Records basement studios. The resulting collaborative album issued under both names, There WiIl Be a Light, was released in September of 2004. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
Grant Lee Bufallo
Although heralded by the critics and championed by their musical peers, the '90s alternative/roots rock trio Grant Lee Buffalo failed to break through to the
mainstream, despite strong songwriting and an original style. The band's leader was singer/guitarist/songwriter Grant Lee Phillips -- born in 1963 and raised in Stockton, CA, Phillips was equally influenced by rock music early on (David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Kiss) as well as country icons (Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, etc.). By the dawn of his teenage years, Phillips began playing guitar and penning his own original compositions, as he sought to combine his both preferred styles of music together as one -- leading to the formation of his first real band, Bloody Holly.
Prior to his 20th birthday, Phillips relocated to Los Angeles, where he roofed houses with hot tar during the day, attended film school at night, and reserved the weekends for music. By the end of the '80s, Phillips had formed the neo-psychedelic outfit Shiva Burlesque, issuing a pair of critically acclaimed but commercially overlooked releases, 1987's self-titled debut and 1990's Mercury Blues, before splitting up. Phillips then recruited Shiva's drummer Joey Peters and multi-instrumentalist Paul Kimble (the latter of which doubled on bass and keyboards and, later on, production duties) for a new project. Utilizing a backlog of songs unused by Shiva, the new group first went under several different names (including the Machine Elves and Mouth of Rasputin) before settling on Grant Lee Buffalo.
The newly named outfit landed a weekly residence at West Hollywood's Cafe Largo in the early '90s, as they honed their songs and live show, while building up a substantial following in the process. The trio sent a demo tape to the Singles Only label (headed by Hüsker Dü/Sugar frontman Bob Mould), who in turn issued the song "Fuzzy" as a single in 1992. By this time, the buzz surrounding Grant Lee Buffalo had spread to other record labels, as Slash Records signed the trio and issued their full-length debut, also titled Fuzzy, in 1993.
Grant Lee Buffalo supported the release with nearly a year of solid touring -- opening for the likes of Cracker, ex-Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg, and Pearl Jam. Instead of taking some much-needed time off from their grueling schedule, the trio went directly back into the studio to work on their sophomore effort, 1994's Mighty Joe Moon, which spawned their first single/video to attract the attention of MTV and radio (albeit mildly), the gentle ballad "Mockingbirds." Despite landing a prestigious gig opening for R.E.M. (the group's first arena tour in five years) and Phillips being recognized as Male Vocalist of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine, the album failed to break the band commercially. Further fine releases followed, 1996's Copperopolis and 1998's Jubilee, which, again, were critically acclaimed yet commercial underachievers. Fed up, the trio quietly disbanded in 1999.
Phillips immediately launched a solo career, issuing a pair of albums, 2000's Ladies' Love Oracle and 2001's Mobilize, both of which were completely penned and performed by the ex-Grant Lee Buffalo frontman (Phillips has also guested on albums by such other artists as the Eels, Neil Finn, Harvey Danger, Robyn Hitchcock, and Michael Penn, while producing Eenie Meenie's self-titled 1997 EP). In 2001, a 30-track Grant Lee Buffalo overview was issued in England (where the group had enjoyed more substantial success than in their homeland), entitled Storm Hymnal: Gems From the Vault of Grant Lee Buffalo. Rhino released it stateside three years later. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
My morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket is a four-piece band from Louisville, KY, built solidly around the vocal and songwriting talent of group leader Jim James. Their sound is lonesome, haunting, almost classic country at times, and that voice -- Jim James' voice
shares the same section of that old country highway with the familiar sounds of Neil Young, yet sounds right at home here in the world of independent American pop music, alongside contemporary singers like the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Galaxie 500's Dean Wareham. Like Galaxie 500, My Morning Jacket weaves songs and sounds together perfectly -- underneath the big open sky filled with bright stars of course -- never allowing the heavy reverb (and the reverb is definitely heavy) to subtract anything from the visual lyrics, or from the simple beauty of the songs themselves.
Along with singer Jim James, My Morning Jacket was founded with his cousin Johnny Quaid (guitar), Two-Tone Tommy (bass), and J. Glenn (drums). The band released their debut on Darla Records in 1999, the critically acclaimed The Tennessee Fire, and found themselves gaining popularity not only in the United States, but in Europe as well, the Benelux countries being particularly fond of My Morning Jacket. They were later featured in a Dutch documentary film after constant praise from the Dutch music press.
The band's second album, At Dawn, found My Morning Jacket virtually unchanged (but with two new members: Danny Cash riding keyboards and KC Guetig on the drums) with more of the same high-quality writing: hauntingly beautiful melodies all drenched with that (by now) familiar reverb and featuring that unique and emotive voice. Upon its release in America, James' best friend from childhood, Patrick Hallahan stepped in to play drums.
My Morning Jacket lives in a world of wide-open spaces covered with a velvet sky, not alt-country, not indie rock, just beautify classic Americana music. By 2003, the band had toured with the likes of Guided By Voices, Doves, Foo Fighters, and Burning Brides. However, by the time their major label release for RCA/ATO, It Still Moves was release in September, touring began to take its toll on Quaid and Cash. Critics and fans hailed It Still Moves as the band's best, but Quaid and Cash decided to leave it all behind when they announced their departure in January 2004. Bo Koster (keyboards) and Carl Broemel (guitar) joined My Morning Jacket on the road shortly thereafter to make the band a unified five-piece once again. John Leckie produced My Morning Jacket's fourth album, Z, which was released in fall 2005. ~ Terrance Miles, All Music Guide
The Coral
They're not like Echo & the Bunnymen and they claim they're not seaside scousers of their hometown of Hoylake, for the Coral are crazy geezers, Happy Mondays-style. Comprised of six neighborhood mates James Skelly (guitar/vocals), Ian Skelly (drums), Nick Power (organ), Bill Ryder-Jones (guitar/trumpet), Lee Southall (guitar/vocals) and Paul Duffy (bass/sax), the Coral formed in their early teens in 1996. NME was quick to jump on them in fall 2001, proclaiming the Coral as the best new band in England thanks to the popularity of "Shadows Fall." The next summer, the Coral was still a buzz -- their self-titled debut album appeared on Sony Music UK in July. The Coral made their way to America in early 2003 with their self-titled debut release for Columbia. The Invisible Invasion followed two years later. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
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