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Knifeworld
Knifeworld is a British-based psychedelic rock band led by Kavus Torabi. Originally a Torabi solo project, it became a full band in summer 2009. Knifeworld has connections with various English musical projects both inside and outside the rock world, having shared members with Cardiacs, Chrome Hoof, North Sea Radio Orchestra and Sidi Bou Said (London-based oud player Khyam Allami also served as the band's original drummer). History Born in Tehran before moving to England while still a baby, Torabi had previously played with a succession of bands. Beginning his career in Die Laughing and Squid Squad in Plymouth, he moved to London and came to public attention as one of the two singing guitarists in The Monsoon Bassoon. Playing what Torabi described as " lysergic funk" and various reviewers described as psychedelia and math rock, The Monsoon Bassoon scored three Singles of the Week in a row in ''New Musical Express'' in 1997 and 1998 and released a single album, ''I Dig Your Voo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Cawood
Charlie Cawood is an English multi-instrumental musician, composer and music journalist, known for his cross-disciplinary musical skills as well as his work with a wide variety of projects and artists. An active member of Knifeworld, Mediaeval Baebes, My Tricksy Spirit and Tonochrome, Cawood has worked in art rock, pop, folk and early music as well as Indian, Chinese and Balinese music and a variety of other forms. His first solo album, ''The Divine Abstract'', was released in 2017. Biography Background and influences Cawood is a native Londoner who began playing guitar at the age of eleven and soon developed a strong interest in experimental rock music. Educated at Loxford School of Science and Technology and training with Redbridge Music Services, he took classical exams up to ABRSM Grade 8, also playing in the RMS guitar ensemble and the Redbridge Youth Jazz Orchestra (winning the Jack Petchey Achievement award as well as the guitar prize at the Stratford & East London Mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kavus Torabi
Kavus Torabi ( fa, كاووس تورابى; born 5 December 1971) is a British-Iranian musician and composer, record label owner and broadcaster. A multi-instrumentalist, he is known for his work in the psychedelic, avant-garde rock field (primarily as a guitarist). Torabi was one of the founding members of the Monsoon Bassoon (as singer, guitarist and one of the two primary composers), was a member of cult psychedelic rock group Cardiacs, and fronts and plays guitar for the current lineup of legendary psychedelic band Gong. Torabi also leads his own group Knifeworld and is a member of Guapo and the Utopia Strong. He sometimes tours and records with Mediæval Bæbes and Rob Crow, and frequently collaborates with other notable artists working in left-field music. Early life Torabi was born in Iran to an Iranian father and an English mother. His family moved to Plymouth, UK, when he was eighteen months old; originally planning to return once his father had made sufficient money ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Monsoon Bassoon
The Monsoon Bassoon were an English independent rock band active between 1995 and 2001, notable for their exceptionally complex and energetic music. During their lifespan, the band won the NME's Single Of The Week award three times (for three consecutive single releases). They were an integral part of the "London math-rock" scene of the late 1990s and had a passionate underground following, particularly inspiring other bands. Sound The Monsoon Bassoon's music (largely created by guitarists Kavus Torabi and Dan Chudley) can be described as psychedelic rock or math rock (the band themselves sometimes used the tongue-in-cheek term " lysergic funk"). Their music drew on a variety of other sources including British and American art rock, heavy metal, folk music, avant-garde music, New York minimalism and progressive rock. Although the results sounded chaotic or confusing to some ears, the music was in fact carefully planned. Bass player Laurie Osbourne has commented "every not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khyam Allami
Khyam Allami (born 1981 in Damascus, Syria)Khyam Allami, official biography (from homepage) is a British-based musician and musicologist of Iraqi descent. He is best known as a contemporary player of the Arabic lute (working both with traditional Arabic repertoire and with contemporary compositions and cross-disciplinary music) and has also written about and lectured on . Allami has studied and composition with a variety of musicians ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Craig Fortnam
Craig Edward Fortnam (born September 1967) is an English composer, conductor and musician. Fortnam is a skilled guitarist and bass guitarist, specialising in nylon-string acoustic guitar (which he plays in a style drawing on classical and African techniques and the work of Nick Drake) and also sings. He is best known as the leader, conductor and principal composer of the North Sea Radio Orchestra, but also leads the smaller band Arch Garrison and was previously a key member of several other bands, most notably the Shrubbies and Lake of Puppies. Career Musical education and early years in rock bands Fortnam trained in composition and guitar at Dartington College, England before moving back to London in the early 1990s to seek work as a musician. During this time, he played with several rock and folk bands connected with the cult English rock band Cardiacs, striking up a long-lasting relationship with several of the band members. Among the bands Fortnam played in was Lake Of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardiacs
Cardiacs are an English rock band formed in Kingston upon Thames by Tim Smith (lead guitar and vocals) and his brother Jim (bass, backing vocals) in 1977 under the name Cardiac Arrest. The band's sound fused circus, baroque pop and medieval music with progressive rock and post-punk, adding other elements like nursery rhymes and sea shanties. Tim Smith was the primary lyricist, noted for his complex and innovative compositional style. He and his brother were the only constant members in the band's regularly changing lineup. The band created their own indie label, the Alphabet Business Concern, in 1984 and found mainstream exposure with the single " Is This the Life?" from their debut album ''A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window'' (1988). Their second album, ''On Land and in the Sea'' (1989), was followed by '' Heaven Born and Ever Bright'' (1992), which displayed a harder edged, metal-leaning sound retained in the subsequent albums ''Sing to God'' (1996) and ''Gu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Sea Radio Orchestra
The North Sea Radio Orchestra (NSRO) is an English contemporary music ensemble and cross-disciplinary chamber orchestra (plus chorus). Formed in 2002, the NSRO was set up mainly as a vehicle for the compositions of its musical director, Craig Fortnam, but has also performed works by William D. Drake and James Larcombe. The ensemble is notable for its post-modern fusion of Romantic music and later twentieth-century forms, and for its bridging of the worlds of contemporary classical music, British folk music, London art rock and poetry (setting music to poems by W.B. Yeats, Thomas Hardy, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Daniel Dundas Maitland). Sound and presentation The North Sea Radio Orchestra is an ensemble of varying size, drawing on a pool of up to twenty members. It performs compositions which range from single-instrument solos and voice-and-guitar duos up to full chamber-orchestra-and-choir pieces (and all points in between, including assorted trios, quartets, quintets etc.). T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inside Out Music
Inside Out Music is a German independent record label originally based in Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles. In 2009, it formed a partnership with Century Media Records and moved its base of operations to Dortmund, also in North Rhine-Westphalia. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music and became its premier label for progressive music. History The label was founded in 1993 by Thomas Waber and Michael Schmitz and started its publications re-issuing albums of new American prog metal acts like Symphony X and Shadow Gallery for the European market and then signing important prog artists like Steve Hackett. Inside Out signed a worldwide distribution contract with the German music company SPV and branched out with the American division InsideOut US, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2009 SPV had to file for bankruptcy, and Inside Out partnered up with Century Media Records, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guapo (band)
Guapo is a British experimental rock/art rock band formed in the mid-1990s by drummer/percussionist Dave Smith and guitarist/vocalist Matt Thompson, though the band gained a wider audience with the contribution of multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan. The current lineup consists of Smith, guitarist Kavus Torabi, bassist James Sedwards and keyboardist Emmett Elvin of Chrome Hoof. Music Guapo have affiliations with the Rock in Opposition movement, after performing with bands such as Magma and Present at the Rock in Opposition Festival at Carmaux, France in 2007. The Trilogy The Guapo album ''Elixirs'' concludes a recondite trilogy of recordings initiated by ''Five Suns'' (2003) and ''Black Oni'' (2004), which has been referred to as theEmpire Strikes Back record. Every record takes on new musical hues and offers disparate ideas and perspectives. However, an upheaval in the line-up, which of recent years had been anchored by the trio of Daniel O'Sullivan, Matthew Thompson, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chrome Hoof
Chrome Hoof are an experimental chamber rock orchestra based in London, England. The group was formed in 2000 by Cathedral bassist Leo Smee and his brother Milo Smee. Initially performing as a duo, their music was mostly electronic. Since the start, however, the group have continuously recruited new members playing various instruments. As of 2007, the group had about ten members and instruments such as saxophone, trumpet, bassoon, violin, guitars, bass and drums. Being a large orchestra, Chrome Hoof's music spans several diverse music genres such as , [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Smith (Cardiacs)
Timothy Charles Smith (3 July 196121 July 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and music video director. Smith rose to prominence as the frontman of the rock band Cardiacs, which he co-founded with his brother Jim. Besides the Cardiacs discography, Smith also produced several records including The Sea Nymphs' debut album, his first solo LP '' Tim Smith's Extra Special OceanLandWorld'', and the album ''Pony'' with Spratleys Japs. After having a cardiac arrest and multiple strokes in 2008, Smith was diagnosed with dystonia, putting Cardiacs on an indefinite hiatus. He slowly recovered with help of a JustGiving fundraising campaign, and in 2016 he released the Sea Nymphs' ''On the Dry Land''. In 2018, Smith was honoured with the Doctor of Music degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, two years before his death in 2020. Early years: 1961–1977 Smith was born on 3 July 1961 in Carshalton, Surrey, England. Eventually, 1000 c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediæval Bæbes
The Mediæval Bæbes are a British musical ensemble founded in 1996 by Dorothy Carter and Katharine Blake. It included some of Blake's colleagues from the band Miranda Sex Garden, as well as other friends who shared her love of medieval music. The lineup often rotates from album to album, and ranges from six to twelve members. As of 2010, the group had sold some 500,000 records worldwide, their most successful being ''Worldes Blysse'' with 250,000 copies purchased. Music The Bæbes' first album, '' Salva Nos'' (1997), reached number two on the UK specialist classical charts, and was certified silver on 15 May 1998. Subsequent albums include ''Worldes Blysse'' (which went to No. 1), ''Undrentide'', (co-produced by John Cale), ''The Rose'', (produced by Toby Wood), and the Christmas-themed album ''Mistletoe and Wine''. ''Mirabilis'' (2005) was launched at a concert and party in London, August 2005. A self-titled DVD was released in July 2006. The first 300 preorders were autograp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
