|
Crammed
Crammed Discs is an independent record label whose output blends world music, rock, pop, and electronica. Based in Brussels, Belgium, Crammed was founded in 1980 by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and has since released around 375 albums and 275 singles, working with artists from all over the world (from Western Europe and the US to the Balkans and North & Central Africa, from South America to the Middle East and Japan). Crammed Discs is run by Marc Hollander (A&R) with Hanna Gorjaczkowska (artist development, marketing, distribution & art direction) and Vincent Kenis (producer, director of the Congotronics Series). Marc Hollander and Crammed Discs received the WOMEX award in 2004 at the World Music Expo international music trade fair, for being "one of the seminal players on the world music field". However, the label has always systematically worked with electronic music, indie pop and rock artists, and "doesn't see itself as a ''world music label'': it just happens to enjoy w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aksak Maboul
Aksak Maboul are a Belgian avant-rock band founded in 1977 by Marc Hollander with Vincent Kenis, and now revolving around Hollander and Véronique Vincent. Aksak Maboul hasn't stopped changing shape and form throughout its existence (the only permanent member being its initiator), exploring diverse musical styles with their own aesthetic approach. Aksak Maboul started out with two studio albums, '' Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine'' (1977) and '' Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits'' (1980), the latter with ex-Henry Cow members Chris Cutler and Fred Frith. They were also active in the Rock in Opposition movement in 1979. Around the mid-1980s, Aksak Maboul went into a 30-year hiatus, during which Marc Hollander fully devoted himself to his Crammed Discs label, before resuming his activities as a musician in 2014 by working on the unfinished third Aksak Maboul album, ''Ex-Futur Album'' (by Véronique Vincent & Aksak Maboul), that had been written and recorded between 1980 and 1983. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marc Hollander
Marc Hollander is a Belgian musician, producer and creator of the independent record label, Crammed Discs. Hollander is the leader of the Belgian avant-rock group Aksak Maboul, which he founded in 1977 with Vincent Kenis. Aksak Maboul first released two albums, ''Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine'' (1977) and ''Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits'' (1980), went on a long hiatus, and was revived in 2015. Hollander joined Art Bears for their European tour in 1979, and was a member of The Honeymoon Killers (Belgian band), The Honeymoon Killers and Cos (band), Cos. Hollander has also collaborated with a number of musicians, including Fred Frith and Chris Cutler. In 1980 Hollander founded Crammed Discs, which he still actively runs, while acting as the label's artistic director. With Crammed, he has discovered, launched and/or developed the careers of artists such as Bebel Gilberto, Zap Mama, Konono Nº1, Kasai Allstars, Cibelle, Taraf de Haïdouks, Tuxedomoon, Bel Canto (band), Bel Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kasai Allstars
Kasai Allstars are a 25-piece musical collective based in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The musicians originally come from the Kasai region, but originating from five different ethnic groups: the Songye, Lulua, Tetela, Luba, and Luntu. Some of these groups have endured conflicting relationships over the centuries, and they each have their own culture, their own language, and their own musical traditions. These were always thought to be incompatible until the musicians decided to pool their resources and form a collective at the instigation of Belgian producer Vincent Kenis. Career In 2008, Kasai Allstars released an album on Crammed Discs entitled '' In the 7th Moon, the Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of His Enemy by Magic''. It was the third release in the label's Congotronics series. The album was well received by Western music critics. In 2010, Crammed Discs released ''Tradi-Mods vs. Rockers: Alternative Takes on Congotronics'', a multi-arti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Staff Benda Bilili
Staff Benda Bilili are a group of street musicians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They used to live around the grounds of the zoo in the country's capital city, Kinshasa, and play music which is rooted in soukous, with elements of old-school rhythm and blues and reggae. The core of the band consists of four senior singers/guitarists, who are paraplegic (they had poliomyelitis when they were young) and move around in spectacularly customized tricycles. They are backed by a younger rhythm section consisting of abandoned street children who were taken under the protection of the older members of the band. The soloist is an 18-year-old boy (2009) who plays guitar-like solos on an electrified one-stringed lute he designed and built himself out of a tin can. The group's name translates roughly from Lingala as "look beyond appearances". Staff Benda Bilili earned the 2009 Artist Award at Womex (World Music Expo). The group has sought to raise awareness about crimes against human ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lonely Drifter Karen
Lonely Drifter Karen are a multi-national pop band, based in Brussels, Belgium. The band consists of Austrian singer Tanja Frinta, keyboarder and producer Marc Melià Sobrevias from Spain and the two Frenchmen Maxime Malon on drums and Clément Marion on guitar, who joined the band in 2012. Biography Started as a solo project by Viennese-born Tanja Frinta while she was living in Sweden, Lonely Drifter Karen became a band when Frinta moved to Barcelona and met Italian drummer Giorgio Menossi and Majorcan keyboard player and arranger Marc Meliá Sobrevias. From December 2006 until January 2008 Frinta and Melià recorded the debut album, ''Grass is Singing'', which was released by Crammed Discs in May 2008 in Europe, June 2008 in the United States and September 2008 in Canada. The Canadian release of the album is in collaboration with Montreal-based Semprini Records, who also released Lonely Drifter Karen's 7-inch "The Owl Moans Low" in July 2008. The ''Grass Is Singing'' album wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Congotronics Vs Rockers
''Congotronics'' is the official debut album by Konono Nº1. It was released in 2004. by Crammed Discs. It has won the band massive favour in the dance and alternative rock scenes as well as in world music circles and in the North American and European media. Konono Nº1's ''Congotronics'' was also released on vinyl by Canadian label Ache Records, who issued three vinyl pressings of the album: the first included 546 on black and 548 on dark green; the next two were each 1,000 copies on black vinyl. ''Congotronics'' will now also be released on vinyl as part of Crammed Discs Congotronics Vinyl Box Set, a limited-edition box containing 5 albums from the Congotronics Series as well as assorted bonuses. Reception Initial critical response to ''Congotronics'' was positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 87, based on 11 reviews. The album placed 31st in webzine Pitchfork Me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Congotronics Series
''Congotronics'' is the official debut album by Konono Nº1. It was released in 2004. by Crammed Discs. It has won the band massive favour in the dance and alternative rock scenes as well as in world music circles and in the North American and European media. Konono Nº1's ''Congotronics'' was also released on vinyl by Canadian label Ache Records, who issued three vinyl pressings of the album: the first included 546 on black and 548 on dark green; the next two were each 1,000 copies on black vinyl. ''Congotronics'' will now also be released on vinyl as part of Crammed Discs Congotronics Vinyl Box Set, a limited-edition box containing 5 albums from the Congotronics Series as well as assorted bonuses. Reception Initial critical response to ''Congotronics'' was positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 87, based on 11 reviews. The album placed 31st in webzine Pitchfork M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maïa Vidal
Maïa Vidal (born February 20, 1988) is an American-born composer, songwriter, musician, and visual artist. Currently based in Europe (primarily Barcelona and Paris), she has toured in Europe, Canada, Japan, and the United States. Biography Vidal was born in Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara, California, moved at an early age to Brooklyn, New York, and then to Ithaca, New York where she began studying violin. She started her first band, an all-girl punk group, while a student at Ithaca High School (Ithaca, New York), Ithaca High School. Her band, Kiev (later changed to Kievan Rus to avoid name conflicts with a California band of the same name), played in two Warped Tour events, and toured briefly with Bad Religion, Anti-Flag, and Gogol Bordello. Bad Religion's Greg Graffin took an early interest in the band, and produced their EP ''Kievan Rus.'' The band was cast in a series of Coca-Cola commercial called "Girl Band" directed by cinematographer Lance Acord that aired i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincent Kenis
Vincent Kenis is a Belgian musician and record producer. He was a member of the avant-garde group Aksak Maboul ( Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine, 1977) and of The Honeymoon Killers, an experimental rock band (Les Tueurs de la Lune de Miel, 1982). As a musician, he also collaborated with Congolese artists such as OK Jazz's Franco Luambo Makiadi (La Réponse de Mario, 1988) and Papa Wemba (La Vie est belle, 1989). Closely associated with Belgian label Crammed Discs since its inception, both as an in-house producer and an A&R, he co-produced the semina''Noir et Blanc''album by Zazou Bikaye (with Hector Zazou and Bony Bikaye, 1983), one of the first albums which blended electronic and African music. He produced the first album by a cappella band Zap Mama, and several albums by Balkan Gypsy bands Taraf de Haïdouks and Kocani Orkestar, while also being involved in the sonic design of many Crammed releases, including albums by Tuxedomoon, Cibelle, Zuco 103, as well as the label ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mocky
Mocky (born October 7, 1974) is a Canadian singer, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer. Biography Mocky was born Dominic Salole in Saskatchewan, Canada. He later moved to Ottawa and Toronto, and then to London, Amsterdam and Berlin. He currently lives in Los Angeles. His father is of Somali descent, but was born in present-day Yemen. His mother is English. Musical work Mocky has released eight albums under his own name: ''In Mesopotamia'', ''Are + Be'', ''Navy Brown Blues'', ''Saskamodie'', ''Key Change'', ''Music Save Me (One More Time)'', ''A Day At United'' and ''Overtones For The Omniverse'' . He released them first on his own label Mockyrecordings and the Japanese label Saidera, then on the German labels Gomma and Four Music, as well as on V2 Records in France, and ''Saskamodie'' on Crammed Discs. As a producer and songwriter he has worked with artists as diverse as Jamie Lidell, Feist, Kelela, Matt Corby, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Vulfpeck, Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allá
Allá is a rock band formed by three young Chicanos (Mexican-Americans) from Chicago: Jorge Ledezma (guitars, keyboards, vibraphone, composer & producer), his brother Angel Ledezma (drums) and Lupe Martinez (vocals, guitar and keyboards). As inspired by German krautrock ( Can, Faust), '60s pop productions (from Phil Spector to Tamla Motown) and electronica as by Mexican trio music and Brazilian Tropicalia, they aim at producing a kind of psychedelic Latin pop/rock. The band members previously collaborated in an instrumental band called Defender, and the Ledezma brothers have played with former Can singer Damo Suzuki. Allá's debut album was produced over a four-year period by Jorge Ledezma with sound engineer Colin Studybaker (Iron and Wine, National Trust). Recordings took place in and around Chicago, at Clava Studios, Engine Music, (Tortoise's) John McEntire's Soma Electronic Studios and others, as well as at Tambourine Studios in Sweden, where Jorge laid down the string and ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juana Molina
Juana Rosario Molina (; born 1 October 1961) is an Argentine singer, songwriter and actress, based in Buenos Aires. She is known for her distinctive sound, considered an exponent of folktronica, although it has also been described as ambient, experimental, neofolk, chill-out, indietronica, psychedelic, indie pop, and progressive folk. The daughter of tango singer Horacio Molina and actress Chunchuna Villafañe, she achieved fame as a sketch comedy actress in the 1990s, first as a guest in various shows and in 1991 with her own show, ''Juana y sus hermanas''. At the height of her popularity, she quit her job as an actress to pursue a career in music. Her debut album, ''Rara'', was subsequently released in 1996, and panned by local critics who resented her departure from television. Dejected from the criticism, she moved to Los Angeles, where her music had been better received, and she familiarized herself with electronic instruments. She then returned to Buenos Aires to produce h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
