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Chris Xefos
Christopher Xefos (born January 5, 1964) is an American multi-instrumentalist musician/engineer/ producer and former member of band King Missile. He plays various instruments such as accordion, bass, piano, and synthesizer, among others. He began recording/producing various groups in New York City during the 1980s, including indie-rock legends Phantom Tollbooth. In 1989, he joined the New York City avant-garde spoken word/art rock group King Missile. Five years, four albums and a number of alternative rock “hits” (including “ Jesus Was Way Cool” and “Detachable Penis”) later, King Missile disbanded (this version). Xefos also played with the group When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water during this time. Following this period, he relocated to San Francisco. He then went on to work, in various capacities, with a number of local San Francisco singer/songwriters and groups, including Victor Krummenacher, Jonathan Segel, Greg Lisher (Camper Van Beethoven), Alison ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed in a frame), colloquially referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist. The concertina , harmoneon and bandoneón are related. The harmonium and American reed organ are in the same family, but are typically larger than an accordion and sit on a surface or the floor. The accordion is played by compressing or expanding the bellows while pressing buttons or keys, causing ''pallets'' to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel, called '' reeds''. These vibrate to produce sound inside the body. Valves on opposing reeds of each note are used to make the instrument's reeds sound louder without air leaking from each reed block.For the accordion's place among the families of musical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Record Producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as Composer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music'' (Cambridge, MA & London, UK: MIT Press, 2005).Richard James Burgess, ''The History of Music Production'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014)pp 12–13Allan Watson, ''Cultural Production in and Beyond the Recording Studio'' (New York: Routledge, 2015)pp 25–27 The record producer, or simply the producer, is likened to film director and art director. The executive producer, on the other hand, enables the recording project through entrepreneurship, and an audio engineer operates the technology. Varying by project, the producer may or may not choose all of the artists. If employing only synthesized or sampled instrumentation, the producer may be the sole artist. Conversely, some artists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Loud Family
The Loud Family was a San Francisco-based power pop band formed in 1991 by songwriter and guitarist Scott Miller, who previously led the 1980s band Game Theory. The Loud Family released six studio LPs and one live LP from 1991 through 2006. After Miller's death in 2013, three Loud Family members participated in recording sessions for ''Supercalifragile'' (2017), Miller's posthumous Game Theory album. Background Scott Miller, founder of the group, was a singer, songwriter and guitarist. Prior to forming the Loud Family, he was best known as the leader of the band Game Theory. Miller and his bands were often described as cult favorites, finding critical acclaim but little commercial success. In 1977, Miller formed Alternate Learning (also known as ALRN), his first band to release commercial recordings, along with future Loud Family bandmate Jozef Becker. Alternate Learning released a self-titled 7" EP in 1979, and a full-length LP called ''Painted Windows'' in 1981, on Rational ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camper Van Beethoven
Camper Van Beethoven is an American rock band formed in Redlands, California in 1983, later based in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Their style mixes elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk, alternative country, and world music. The band initially polarized audiences within the hardcore punk scene of California's Inland Empire before finding wider acceptance and, eventually, an international audience. Their strong iconoclasm and emphasis on do-it-yourself values proved influential to the burgeoning indie rock movement. The band's first three independent records were released within an 18-month period. Their debut single was "Take the Skinheads Bowling". The group signed to Virgin Records in 1987, released two albums and enjoyed chart success with their 1989 cover of Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men", a number one hit on ''Billboard Magazines Modern Rock Tracks. They disbanded the following year due to internal tensions. Lead singer David Lowery formed Cracker, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Lisher
Greg Lisher (born 29 November 1963) is the lead guitar player for Camper Van Beethoven. He is also one of the founding members of the Camper Van Beethoven spin-off Indy prog rock group Monks of Doom. He has also released three solo records. His first release, ''Handed Down the Wire'' was released in 2001 followed by the release of ''Trains Change'' in 2007. His latest release, the instrumental record ''Songs From the Imperial Garden'' was released in 2020. Discography with Camper Van Beethoven Albums * II & III (1986) * Camper Van Beethoven (1986) * Vampire Can Mating Oven (1987) * Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (1988) * Key Lime Pie (album), Key Lime Pie (1989) * Tusk (Camper Van Beethoven album), Tusk (2002) * New Roman Times (2004) * La Costa Perdida (2013) * Camper Van Beethoven, El Camino Real (2014) = Compilations and Special Releases = * The Virgin Years (1993) (Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker) * Camper Vantiquities (1993) – rarities compilation * Ciga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonathan Segel
Jonathan Segel (born September 3, 1963) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has played with Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, and Dieselhed. Early life and education Segel was born in Marseille, France, and grew up in Davis, California and Tucson, Arizona. His parents, both professors at University of California, Davis, were biochemist Irwin H. Segel and microbiologist Wiltraud Pfeiffer. Segel went to college at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he studied under Peter Elsea and experimental music pioneer Gordon Mumma. He later obtained a master's degree in music composition at Mills College, studying with Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran and Joëlle Léandre. Musical career Segel joined the indie rock group Camper Van Beethoven in 1984, while in college at Santa Cruz. His contributions as violinist became the band's hallmark, creating a distinctive identity and sound. Personality conflicts with frontman David Lower ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Krummenacher
Victor Krummenacher is an American bass guitarist and guitarist. He is a founding member of alternative rock band Camper Van Beethoven. Career In addition to co-founding Camper Van Beethoven, Krummenacher is also a co-founder of CVB offshoot Monks of Doom, and The Third Mind (with Dave Alvin, David Immerglück, Michael Jerome and Jesse Sykes). He has also worked as a member of the Portland based band Eyelids, Two Heads (with John Moremen, Willie Aron and DJ Bonebrake of X), and Camper Van Chadbourne. As a recording artist, Krummenacher has been active for more than 30 years and has appeared live and in the studio with numerous projects including Cracker, M. Ward, The Illustrious Ancestors (with John Kruth), Pat Thomas' Mushroom and McCabe and Mrs. Miller, a duo formed in 2008 with Alison Faith Levy of The Loud Family. Krummenacher has pursued a solo career as a singer-songwriter since 1994. His tenth solo album excluding compilations is, ''Silver Smoke of Dreams'', released o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of California cities by population, fourth most populous in California and List of United States cities by population, 17th most populous in the United States, with 815,201 residents as of 2021. It covers a land area of , at the end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second most densely populated large U.S. city after New York City, and the County statistics of the United States, fifth most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. Among the 91 U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco was ranked first by per capita income (at $160,749) and sixth by aggregate income as of 2021. Colloquial nicknames for San Francisco include ''SF'', ''San Fran'', ''The '', ''Frisco'', and '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detachable Penis
"Detachable Penis" is a song by avant-garde band King Missile. It was the first single from the band's 1992 album'' Happy Hour,'' and became a modest hit, reaching number 25 on the '' Billboard'' Modern Rock Tracks chart. Lyrical content In "Detachable Penis," frontman John S. Hall recites a deadpan monologue in which he portrays the owner of the titular penis. After a night of heavy drinking, the narrator awakens to find his penis is missing, which has happened on similar occasions. He looks for it in his apartment, calls the place where the party was to see if they had found it, and asks some people that were also at the party. Despite his best efforts, he is unable to recover his penis. Depressed, he goes to Kiev Restaurant for breakfast. He then encounters a street vendor who is in possession of the missing penis. He negotiates the price and buys his penis back for $17. He cleans and reattaches it at home. Musical content The music of "Detachable Penis" consists largely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jesus Was Way Cool
"Jesus Was Way Cool" is a song by avant-garde band King Missile. It appears on the band's 1990 album ''Mystical Shit.'' Content In "Jesus Was Way Cool," frontman John S. Hall, over a mellow and drawn out piano figure, delivers an enthusiastic deadpan monologue in which he declares Jesus "way cool" for such skills as healing, walking on water, and turning water into wine. Hall states that Jesus did "anything he wanted to do," and, anachronistically, could have surpassed the achievements of Jimi Hendrix, Wayne Gretzky, and Mikhail Baryshnikov in their respective fields. Hall then postulates that the crucifixion of Jesus was in fact motivated by jealousy of his coolness, and that the subsequent resurrection of Jesus is further evidence of said coolness. To further deadpan effect, Hall concludes, "No wonder there are so many Christians." In the liner notes of the compilation ''Fluting on the Hump,'' Hall described "Jesus Was Way Cool" as a reflection on Catholicism and poetry: Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alternative Rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstream or commercial rock or pop music. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to musicians influenced by the musical style or independent, DIY ethic, DIY ethos of late-1970s punk rock.di Perna, Alan. "Brave Noise—The History of Alternative Rock Guitar". ''Guitar World''. December 1995. Traditionally, alternative rock varied in terms of its sound, social context, and regional roots. Throughout the 1980s, magazines and zines, college radio airplay, and word of mouth had increased the prominence and highlighted the diversity of alternative rock's distinct styles (and music scenes), such as noise pop, indie rock, grunge, and shoegaze. In September 1988, Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' introduced "alternative" into their charting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Experimental Music
Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, institutionalized compositional, performing, and aesthetic conventions in music. Elements of experimental music include Indeterminacy in music, indeterminate music, in which the composer introduces the elements of chance or unpredictability with regard to either the composition or its performance. Artists may also approach a hybrid of disparate styles or incorporate unorthodox and unique elements. The practice became prominent in the mid-20th century, particularly in Europe and North America. John Cage was one of the earliest composers to use the term and one of experimental music's primary innovators, utilizing Indeterminacy (music), indeterminacy techniques and seeking unknown outcomes. In France, as early as 1953, Pierre Schaeffer had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
