Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Composers". The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as "populist" and which the composer labeled his "vernacular" style. Works in this vein include the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo, his Fanfare for the Common Man and Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores.
Anti-Flag is an American punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The band is well known for its left-wing political activism. The line-up includes singer/guitarist Justin Sane and drummer Pat Thetic, who founded the band together; later members are guitarist Chris Head, and singer/bassist Chris Barker (#2) who replaced Jamie "Cock" Towns, who had replaced original bassist Andy Flag in 1997 following his departure one year prior. Anti-Flag is known also for their advocacy of progressive political action groups such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International. Most recently, the band has declared solidarity with the global Occupy Together movement.
Paul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator. He became associated with Tangier, where he settled in 1947 and lived for 52 years to the end of his life.
"We Shall Overcome" is a gospel song which became a protest song and a key anthem of the American civil rights movement. The song is most commonly attributed as being lyrically descended from "I'll Overcome Some Day", a hymn by Charles Albert Tindley that was first published in 1901.
Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1 is a Rock Against Bush compilation album released on the Fat Wreck Chords record label. It contains a collection of songs, both released and unreleased, by various punk rock artists and includes a bonus DVD with political facts, commentary regarding the U.S. presidential election, 2004, footage from a David Cross stand-up comedy performance, as well as a few music videos. It was released on 20 April 2004.
The World/Inferno Friendship Society is an American band from Brooklyn, New York. Its style merges punk, soul, klezmer and jazz, while its collective membership features horns, piano and guitar and has a membership of about 40 players, of whom only about seven to ten active members usually perform at a time. The group was led by singer Jack Terricloth, who was the only constant during the group's history. Terricloth was known for his pointed commentary during shows; his monologues touched on politics and his transformation from the "old school".
Brian Viglione is an American drummer best known for his work with The Dresden Dolls and Violent Femmes. He was also a prominent member of New York City's cabaret punk orchestra, The World/Inferno Friendship Society.
Kingdom songs are the hymns sung by Jehovah's Witnesses at their religious meetings. Since 1879, the Watch Tower Society has published hymnal lyrics; by the 1920s they had published hundreds of adapted and original songs, and by the 1930s they referred to these as "Kingdom songs" in reference to God's Kingdom.
John Laird Abercrombie was an American jazz guitarist. His work explored jazz fusion, free jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Abercrombie studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for his understated style and his work with organ trios.
The Creative Music Studio (CMS) was a premier study center for contemporary creative music during the 1970s and 1980s, based in Woodstock, New York. Founded in 1971 by Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, and Ornette Coleman, it brought together leading innovators in the jazz and world music communities. Unprecedented in its range and diversity, CMS providing participants with a rare opportunity to interact personally with musical giants of improvisation and musical thought on a daily basis.
Franz Nicolay is an American musician and writer. He is best known for playing the accordion and piano in The World/Inferno Friendship Society and keyboards in The Hold Steady from 2005 to 2010 and again from 2016 onwards. He is also notable for founding Anti-Social Music, a composer/performer collective based in New York City, and for performing in the Balkan jazz quartet Guignol.
Mischief Brew was an American folk punk band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania consisting of vocalist and guitarist Erik Petersen, bassist Shawn St. Clair, and drummers Christopher Petersen and Christopher Kulp. The band played DIY folk punk and anarcho-punk music; it incorporated styles including American folk, Celtic folk, Gypsy-punk, and swing with lyrics influenced by the labour movement, protest music, and punk culture.
The Best Thing Ever is a punk band/performance art group formed by singer/songwriter Noah Britton with autism in the summer of 2003. The label "punk" is adequate to describe the band's influences and ethics, but the sound that they exhibited changed drastically from show to show.
Judy Dunaway is a conceptual sound artist, avant-garde composer, free improvisor and creator of sound installations who is primarily known for her sound works for latex balloons. Since 1990 she has created over thirty works for balloons as sound conduits and has also made this her main instrument for improvisation.
Victor Edward Jurusz Jr., known professionally as Vic Juris, was an American jazz guitarist.
The Debutante Hour are a trio, based in New York City, consisting of multi-instrumentalists Susan Hwang, Mia Pixley, and Maria Sonevytsky. Typically, Sonevytsky and Hwang trade off accordion and primary vocal duties, and Pixley plays cello, as well as providing additional vocals. Hwang and Sonevytsky also alternate playing "hobo drum kit", consisting of a mini bass drum and firecracker snare, while standing. The group's approach spans a variety of styles, and includes elements of close harmony, vaudeville, cabaret, and Americana.
Riding a Black Unicorn Down the Side of an Erupting Volcano While Drinking from a Chalice Filled with the Laughter of Small Children is the eighth studio album by dark cabaret singer Aurelio Voltaire, released on September 2, 2011. Beginning with this album, Voltaire would start releasing his material under the moniker Aurelio Voltaire, in order to avoid confusion with other acts also called "Voltaire".
Yotam Haber is a composer based in Kansas City. He is a 2005 Guggenheim fellow and a 2007 Rome Prize winner in Music Composition.
Emma's Revolution is an American folk music and social justice activist duo, consisting of songwriters Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow. Named after activist Emma Goldman, the group has performed at protests for peace, women's rights, labor rights, environmental protection, and other progressive causes. Their songs are also covered by various choral groups, including church choirs and labor choruses.
Elizabeth Brown is an American contemporary composer and performer, known for music described as otherworldly, which employs microtonal expression, unique instrumentation and a morphing, freewheeling language. Her work is frequently commissioned for specific ensembles and has been performed internationally in solo, chamber and orchestral contexts at venues including Carnegie Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music. She has written extensively for flute, unconventional instruments such as the Partch complement and theremin, and the traditional Asian shakuhachi and đàn bầu; she combines them in original ways that mix Western and Eastern, ancient and modern, and experimental and conventionally melodic sensibilities. Composer and critic Robert Carl calls Brown a "gentle maverick" whose avant-gardism bends and subverts traditional tropes with an unironic, unpretentious manner "that is fresh and imaginative, but never afraid of beauty, nor of humane warmth."
