Michael Brook
   HOME
*





Michael Brook
Michael Brook (born 1951) is a Canadian guitarist, inventor, music producer, and film music composer. He plays in many genres, including rock, electronica, world music, minimalism and film scores. His collaborations with musicians around the world have made him "one of the most sought-after producers in the music industry." Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Brook lives in Los Angeles. He is the creator of the Infinite Guitar. Career Brook studied music and electronics at York University and worked as an engineer at the Grant Avenue studios, then owned by the Lanois brothers. Here he worked with Brian Eno, The Edge, Jon Hassell and Harold Budd. In 1985 he released his first solo album ''Hybrid'', containing instrumental tracks with Indian and African elements. Another notable collaboration was ''Sleeps with the Fishes'' with Clan of Xymox member Pieter Nooten ( 4AD, 1987). He worked on the album ''Set'' by Youssou N'Dour, ''Miss America'' by Mary Margaret O'Hara and collabora ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration of 9,765,188 people (as of 2021) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario, while the Greater Toronto Area proper had a 2021 population of 6,712,341. Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, sports and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world. Indigenous peoples have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years. After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designat ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( pa, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997) was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali — a form of Sufi music, Sufi devotional music. Sometimes called the "Shahenshah-e-Qawwali" (the King of Kings of Qawwali), he is considered by ''The New York Times'' to be the greatest qawwali singer of his generation. He was described as the fourth greatest singer of all time by ''LA Weekly'' in 2016. He was known for his vocal abilities and could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours. Khan is widely credited with introducing qawwali music to international audiences. Born in Faisalabad, Lyallpur (Faisalabad), Khan had his first public performance at the age of 15, at his father's chelum. He became the head of the family qawwali party in 1971, and brought his unique style of Sargam (music), sargam, Khyal, khayal, and rhythm to his family's legacy. He was signed by Orie ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Set (Youssou N'Dour Album)
''Set'' is an album by the Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour, released in 1990. The album in part inspired the Senegalese youth movement ''Set-Setal'', which sought to beautify Dakar. The album peaked at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' World Albums chart. Virgin Records was disappointed by the album's commercial performance, and dropped N'Dour shortly after the album's release. Production The album was made with N'Dour's band, Super Étoile de Dakar. It was recorded live in the studio, in Paris, and was produced by Michael Brooks (with Daniel Lanois working on one track). ''Set'' was originally intended for release only in Senegal; after becoming a hit, it was slightly remixed and distributed internationally. The lyrics are sung in Wolof, with a few phrases in English. Critical reception ''The Washington Post'' praised the "exuberant, universal love songs like 'Fenene' and 'Ay Chono La'." Robert Christgau deemed the album "13 shortish songs replete with catchy intros, skillful bridg ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Pieter Nooten
Pieter Nooten (born 22 January 1961 in Oss) is a Dutch musician and composer best known for his work with Clan of Xymox. Music career Nooten's musical career began in the late 1970s. Starting out as the drummer in a local symphonic rock band, he quickly changed to bass guitar and later keyboards, playing in different bands. At the height of house squatting culture and New wave music, new wave, Nooten met Anka Wolbert and Ronny Moorings who had just formed Clan of Xymox together. During the mid-eighties Clan of Xymox recorded two highly acclaimed albums on 4AD. In 1987, he teamed up with Michael Brook to record ''Sleeps with the Fishes'', released also on 4AD. This album would become Nooten's most acclaimed work. In 1989, Clan of Xymox (by then simply "Xymox") signed to Polygram and released their third album, ''Twist of Shadows''. By 1990, in spite of the band's success, he decided to leave Xymox due to growing internal musical differences. While Xymox clearly wanted to stick t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

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]  


Sleeps With The Fishes
''Sleeps with the Fishes'' is the lone collaborative album from Clan of Xymox founding member Pieter Nooten and Canadian guitarist/ producer Michael Brook, released by 4AD on 12 October 1987. Intended as Nooten's debut solo album after a brief split from Clan of Xymox, the record turned into a collaboration with Brook after a suggestion from 4AD label founder and boss Ivo Watts-Russell. Though not a huge commercial success, ''Sleeps with the Fishes'' was described by AllMusic as "essential listening for fans of 4AD, ambient music, minimalism, experimental electronic music, and morose themes alike... an overlooked masterpiece." Background According to Martin Aston's 2013 book ''Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD'', the genesis of the album formed after Pieter Nooten left Clan of Xymox in 1987 (leader Ronny Moorings subsequently restored the band's name to simply 'Xymox').Aston, pg.256 "For me, Pieter was the heart of Xymox, and taking him out, they became much more like their i ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Harold Budd
Harold Montgomory Budd (May 24, 1936December 8, 2020) was an American composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave Desert, he became a respected composer in the minimalist and avant-garde scene of Southern California in the late 1960s, and later became better known for his work with figures such as Brian Eno and Robin Guthrie. Budd developed what he called a "soft pedal" technique for playing piano, with use of slow playing and prominent sustain. Early life Budd was born in Los Angeles, California, and spent his childhood in Victorville, California on the southwestern edge of the Mojave Desert. Harold was only 13 when his father died, and soon his family fell out of their comfortable middle class existence. He was sent up to the desert to live with friends and relatives as often as possible, but the reality in Los Angeles was growing up in a tough neighborhood, and as the oldest son, being the man of the house. During this time Black culture had an enormous ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Jon Hassell
Jon Hassell (March 22, 1937 – June 26, 2021) was an American trumpet player and composer. He was best known for developing the concept of "Fourth World" music, which describes a "unified primitive/futurist sound" combining elements of various world ethnic traditions with modern electronic techniques. The concept was first articulated on '' Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics'', his 1980 collaboration with Brian Eno. Born in Tennessee, Hassell studied contemporary classical music in New York and later in Germany under composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. He subsequently worked with minimalist composers Terry Riley (on a 1968 recording of ''In C'') and La Monte Young (as part of his Theatre of Eternal Music group), and studied under Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath. His association with Brian Eno in the early 1980s would introduce Hassell to a larger audience. He subsequently worked with musical artists such as Talking Heads, David Sylvian, Farafina, Peter Gabriel, Tears for Fears ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Daniel Lanois
Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Spoons, and Brandon Flowers. He collaborated with Brian Eno to produce several albums for U2, including ''The Joshua Tree'' (1987) and ''Achtung Baby'' (1991). Three albums produced or co-produced by Lanois have won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Four other albums received Grammy nominations. Lanois has released several solo albums. He wrote and performed the music for the 1996 film ''Sling Blade.'' Biography Early life and career Lanois was born in Hull, Quebec. Lanois started his production career when he was 17, recording local artists including Simply Saucer with his brother Bob Lanois in a studio in the basement of their mother's home in Ancaster, Ontario. Later, Lanois started Grant Avenue Studios in an old hou ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, and over 325,000 alumni worldwide. It has 11 faculties, including the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, Faculty of Science, Lassonde School of Engineering, Schulich School of Business, Osgoode Hall Law School, Glendon College, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Health, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, Faculty of Graduate Studies, School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design, and 28 research centres. York University was established in 1959 as a non-denominational institution by the ''York University Act'', which received royal assent in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on 26 March of that year. Its first class was held in September 1960 in Falconer Hall on the University of Toronto campu ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Minimalism
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt and Frank Stella. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction against abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary postminimal art practices, which extend or reflect on minimalism's original objectives. Minimalism in music often features repetition and gradual variation, such as the works of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Julius Eastman and John Adams. The term ''minimalist'' often colloquially refers to anything or anyone that is spare or stripped to its essentials. It has accordingly been used to describe the plays and novels of Samuel Beckett, the films of Robert Bresson, the stories of Raymond Carver, an ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn (born December 13, 1960) is an American musician, known for his membership in the progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick. Biography A native Texan who now resides in Seattle, Washington, Gunn began his musical life at the age of seven playing classical piano. His interest in music grew through various instruments: electric bass, electric and acoustic guitar, keyboards, and the touch guitar. He moved to Eugene, Oregon, and played in punk bands while he completed a degree in classical music composition at the University of Oregon. He then moved to New York City, where his professional career began. He spent some time as a student of Guitar Craft with founder Robert Fripp and appeared on several Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists recordings. From 1988 to 1991, he toured playing Chapman Stick in the UK and Europe, with Toyah Willcox, Robert Fripp and Paul Beavis, at first under the band project name "Fripp ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]