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4AD
4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of the label's first four singles. Later that year, Watts-Russell and Kent purchased the label from Beggars Banquet to become an independent record label, and Kent sold his share to Watts-Russell a year later. The label gained prominence in the 1980s for releasing albums from alternative rock, post-punk, gothic rock, and dream pop artists, such as Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins, Modern English, Dead Can Dance, Clan of Xymox, Pixies, Throwing Muses, Belly and Watts-Russell's own musical project This Mortal Coil. In 1987, the label scored an international hit with the dance music single " Pump Up the Volume" by the one-off project MARRS. 4AD continued to have success in the 1990s and 2000s, with releases from The Breeders, Lush, Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lush (band)
Lush were an English rock band formed in London in 1987. The original line-up consisted of Miki Berenyi (vocals, guitar), Emma Anderson (vocals, guitar), Steve Rippon (bass guitar) and Chris Acland (drums). Phil King replaced Rippon in 1991. They were one of the first bands to have been described with the "shoegazing" label. Following the death of Acland, the group disbanded in 1996. The group reunited for a short time between 2015 and 2016 with Berenyi, Anderson, King and Justin Welch. They toured and recorded an EP of new material. History Formation and early sound (1987–1988) The band was formed in 1987 in London, initially named the Baby Machines (after a line in the Siouxsie and the Banshees song " Arabian Knights"), with a line-up of Meriel Barham (vocals), Anderson (guitar, vocals), Berenyi (guitar, vocals), Steve Rippon (bass guitar) and Chris Acland (drums).Thompson, Dave (2000) ''Alternative Rock'', Miller Freeman, , p. 478-9 Their influences were diverse; they w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clan Of Xymox
Clan of Xymox, also known as simply Xymox, are a Dutch rock band from Nijmegen formed in 1981 best known as pioneers of darkwave music. Clan of Xymox featured a trio of singers and songwriters – Ronny Moorings, Anka Wolbert, and Pieter Nooten – and gained success in the 1980s, releasing their first two albums on 4AD, before releasing their third and fourth albums on Wing Records and scoring a hit single in the United States. Their 1980s releases included synthpop/ electronic dance music. The band is still active, continuing to tour and release records with Moorings as the sole remaining original songwriter and singer. History 4AD and the Peel Sessions (1983–1988) Clan of Xymox were formed in Nijmegen, Netherlands, in 1983 by Ronny Moorings (vocals, guitar) and Anka Wolbert (bass, vocals). A year later, Moorings and Wolbert moved to Amsterdam, releasing the mini-album ''Subsequent Pleasures'' as ''Xymox''. The album was limited to 500 copies. "Ronny and I met as stu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrumentalist Simon Raymonde in 1983. The group earned critical praise for their ethereal, effects-laden sound and the soprano vocals of Fraser, whose lyrics often eschew any recognisable language. They pioneered the 1980s alternative subgenre of dream pop. After signing with the British record label 4AD in 1982, they released their debut album '' Garlands'' later that year. The addition of Raymonde in 1983 solidified their final lineup, which produced their biggest hit in the UK, "Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops", peaking at No. 29 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1988, Cocteau Twins signed with Capitol Records in the United States, distributing their fifth album, ''Blue Bell Knoll'', through a major label in the country. After the 1990 release of their m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camera Obscura (band)
Camera Obscura is a Scottish indie pop band from Glasgow. The group formed in 1996, and have released five albums to date – the most recent of which, ''Desire Lines'', was released in 2013. The current members of the band are vocalist Tracyanne Campbell, guitarist Kenny McKeeve, bassist Gavin Dunbar, and drummer Lee Thomson. The band undertook an extended hiatus in 2015, following the death of long-serving keyboardist Carey Lander. The surviving members later reconvened in 2018. The band's bright take on indie pop has been frequently described as "twee pop," and garnered comparisons to fellow Scottish band Belle & Sebastian. The band have also been praised for their "honest, wide, and adult approach to heartbreak, romantic liaisons, and escapism." History Camera Obscura were formed in 1996 by Tracyanne Campbell, John Henderson and Gavin Dunbar. Several other members performed with the band before David Skirving joined as a permanent guitarist. Their first releases were the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
This Mortal Coil
This Mortal Coil were a British music collective led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating cast of supporting artists, many of whom were otherwise associated with 4AD, including members of Cocteau Twins, Pixies and Dead Can Dance. The project became known for its gothic, dream pop sound, and released three full albums, beginning in 1984 with ''It'll End in Tears''. Background Watts-Russell had founded 4AD in 1980, and the label established itself as one of the key labels in the British post-punk movement. Following several releases, Watts-Russell developed the idea of collaborating under the name This Mortal Coil. The name is taken from lyrics to the song Dream Within A Dream by Spirit ("...Stepping off this mortal coil will be my pleasure..."), which in turn is a quote from Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' ("... what dreams may come, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Breeders
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherson (drums). The earliest incarnation of the band was formed by Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly in 1989 as a side-project alongside their full-time bands Pixies and Throwing Muses respectively. To record their debut album, 1990's '' Pod'', Deal and Donelly recruited bassist Josephine Wiggs of The Perfect Disaster and drummer Britt Walford of Slint. Kim's sister Kelley was brought into the band as a third guitarist (though at the time, Kelley famously had never played guitar before joining the band) in 1992 to record the '' Safari'' EP, and shortly thereafter Tanya Donelly left to concentrate full-time on her own new band, Belly, leaving Kelley Deal as the sole lead guitarist, while Britt Walford left as well around the same time. While the band ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pixies (band)
Pixies is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986, in Boston, Massachusetts. Until 2013, the band consisted of Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, vocals) and David Lovering (drums). They disbanded acrimoniously in 1993 but reunited in 2004. After Deal left in 2013, Pixies hired Kim Shattuck as a touring bassist; she was replaced that year by Paz Lenchantin, who became a permanent member in 2016. Pixies is associated with the 1990s alternative rock boom, and draws on elements including punk rock and surf music, surf rock. Their music is known for dynamic "loud-quiet-loud" shifts and song structures. Francis is Pixies' primary songwriter; his often surreal lyrics cover offbeat subjects such as extraterrestrials, incest, and biblical violence. The band achieved modest popularity in the US but was more successful in Europe. Their jarring pop sound influenced acts such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Radiohead, the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pump Up The Volume (song)
"Pump Up the Volume" is the only single by British recording act MARRS. Recorded and released in 1987, it was a number-one hit in many countries and is regarded as a significant milestone in the development of British acid house music and music sampling. The song derives its title directly from a lyrical sample from " I Know You Got Soul", a hit single by labelmates Eric B. & Rakim, released months prior in that same year. The single was the product of an uneasy collaboration between electronic group Colourbox and alternative rock band A.R. Kane, two groups signed to the independent label 4AD. The link-up was suggested by label founder Ivo Watts-Russell after the two groups had independently sounded him out about the possibility of releasing a commercially oriented dance record, inspired by the American house music that was starting to make an impact on the UK chart. When the M, A, R, R, S project was first released early in 1987, the popularity of the style of the song had alr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Throwing Muses
Throwing Muses are an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects. The group was originally fronted by two stepsisters, Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, who both wrote the group's songs. Throwing Muses are known for performing music with shifting tempos, creative chord progressions, unorthodox song structures, and surreal lyrics. The group was set apart from other contemporary acts by Hersh's stark, candid writing style; Donelly's pop stylings and vocal harmonies; and David Narcizo's unusual drumming techniques eschewing use of cymbals. Hersh's hallucinatory, feverish lyrics occasionally touch on the subject of mental illness, more often drawing portraits of characters from daily life or addressing relationships. History 1983–1986: Formation, first EP and ''The Doghouse Cassette'', debut album Throwing Muses were formed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivo Watts-Russell
Ivo Watts-Russell (born 1954) is a British music producer and record label executive. He was joint-founder with Peter Kent of the indie record label 4AD. He has produced several records, although he prefers to use the term "musical director". Early years Watts-Russell was born in Edinburgh, the youngest of eight children of Major David Watts-Russell and Gina Spinola (née Baker); he "never related emotionally" to either of his parents, and grew up "on a dilapidated Northamptonshire estate in an atmosphere of almost Victorian froideur". His paternal grandfather, Captain Arthur Egerton Birch, of the Coldstream Guards (son of the colonial administrator Sir Arthur Nonus Birch), took his mother's surname at the age of 21, she being of the Watts-Russell gentry family formerly of Ilam Hall, Staffordshire.Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th edition, vol. 2, ed. Peter Townend, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1969, pp. 543-544 Captain Arthur Egerton Watts-Russell married Sylvia Grenfell, of the family of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bauhaus (band)
Bauhaus are an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. Known for their dark image and gloomy sound, Bauhaus are best known as one of the pioneers of gothic rock, although they mixed many genres, including dub, glam rock, psychedelia, and funk. The group consists of Daniel Ash (guitar, saxophone), Peter Murphy (vocals, occasional instruments), Kevin Haskins (drums) and David J (bass). The band formed under the name Bauhaus 1919, in reference to the first operating year of the German art school Bauhaus, but they shortened this name within a year of formation. Their 1979 debut single " Bela Lugosi's Dead" is considered one of the harbingers of gothic rock music and has been influential on contemporary goth culture. Their debut album, ''In the Flat Field'', is regarded as one of the first gothic rock records. Their 1981 second album ''Mask'' expanded their sound by incorporating a wider variety of instruments—such as keyboards, saxophone and acoustic guitar&mdash ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beggars Group
Beggars Group is a British record company that owns or distributes several other labels, including 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Matador Records, XL Recordings and Young. History The companies’ roots stem from the Beggars Banquet record shops, which first opened in 1973 with a shop in Earls Court, London. In 1977, spurred by the prevailing DIY aesthetics of the British punk rock movement (then at the height of its popularity), the shop founders decided to join the fray as an independent label and release records as Beggars Banquet Records, which became the group's flagship label and namesake. The first band on the label was English punk group The Lurkers; the first ever release on the label was The Lurkers' punk classic "Shadow"/"Love Story" 7" single. Later in the decade and into the early 1980s, hits with Tubeway Army and Gary Numan secured the label's future. Beggars Banquet then went on to release music by Bauhaus, Biffy Clyro, Buffalo Tom, The Charlatans, The Cult, The Go-Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
