The Associates were a Scottish post-punk and pop band, formed in Dundee in 1979 by singer Billy Mackenzie and guitarist Alan Rankine. The group first gained recognition after releasing an unauthorized cover of David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging" as their debut single in 1979, which landed them a contract with Fiction Records. They followed with their debut album The Affectionate Punch in 1980 and the singles collection Fourth Drawer Down in 1981, both to critical praise.
In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download, or video release. In other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album.
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company intends to be the initial focus of promotional efforts and radio airplay and hopefully become a hit record. The B-side is a secondary recording that typically receives less attention, although some B-sides have been as successful as, or more so than, their A-sides.
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. Contemporary EPs generally contain four or five tracks, and are considered "less expensive and time-consuming" for an artist to produce than an album. An EP originally referred to specific types of records other than 78 rpm standard play (SP) and LP, but it is now applied to mid-length CDs and downloads as well.
Worldwide, the English rock band the Beatles released 21 studio albums, five live albums, 54 compilation albums, 36 extended play singles, 63 singles, 17 box sets, 22 video albums and 68 music videos. The early albums and singles released from 1962 to 1967 were originally on Parlophone, and their albums from 1968 to 1970 were on their subsidiary label Apple. In their native United Kingdom, they released 12 studio albums, 13 extended plays (EPs), including one double EP, and 22 singles. Their output also includes vault items, remixed mash-ups and anniversary box-sets.
Sarah Records was a British independent record label active in Bristol between 1987 and 1995, best known for its recordings of indie pop, which it released mostly on 7" singles. On reaching the catalogue number SARAH 100 the label celebrated its centenary by throwing a party and shutting itself down. In March 2015, NME declared Sarah to be the second greatest indie label of all time.
Bis are a Scottish indie pop band composed of Steven Clark, John Clark, and Amanda MacKinnon, formed in 1994. The band's name, rhyming with 'this', derives from "black iron skyline", a lyric from the song "Twilight of a Champion" by The The. The band broke up in 2003, but re-formed briefly in 2007 for a series of concerts. In 2009 they re-formed again this time with a bass player and a drummer, and released a fourth album in 2014. Their fifth album, Slight Disconnects, was released in February 2019.
"Fake Plastic Trees" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on their second album, The Bends (1995). It was the third single from the album in the UK, and the first in the US. It charted on the UK Singles Chart, the New Zealand Singles Chart, the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, and the Canadian Rock/Alternative chart.
This is Teen-C Power! is the first release for Bis on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label as a preview for American audiences, collecting material from the Disco Nation 45 (1995), The Secret Vampire Soundtrack (1996) and Bis vs. the D.I.Y. Corps (1996) Extended Plays.
"Subhuman" is a 1995 song written, recorded and produced by alternative rock band Garbage, and was originally released as an international b-side on "Vow", Garbage's debut single. That song had earlier been pressed as a limited edition 7" vinyl in the United Kingdom for the purposes of launching the band; when it came to re-releasing "Vow", Mushroom Records felt that "Subhuman" was strong enough to be issued as an A-side to follow up "Vow". A last-minute decision was made to switch the songs. "Vow" was relegated to bonus track on the CD single.
A maxi single or maxi-single is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song.
"This Is a Call" is the lead single from the Foo Fighters self-titled debut album. It was released in 1995.
Kenny Anderson, known primarily by his stage name King Creosote, is an independent singer-songwriter from Fife, Scotland. To date, Anderson has released over forty albums, with his latest full length, Astronaut Meets Appleman, released in 2016. Anderson is also a member of Scottish-Canadian band The Burns Unit. In 2011, Anderson's collaborative album with Jon Hopkins, Diamond Mine, was nominated for the Mercury Prize and the Scottish Album of the Year Award. Astronaut Meets Appleman was also longlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year Award.
The Wannadies are an alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Skellefteå, northern Sweden. The band's initial line-up featured Pär Wiksten, Christina Bergmark, Stefan Schönfeldt (guitars) and his younger brother Fredrik Schönfeldt (bass) with Gunnar Karlsson (drums) and Björn Malmquist (violin).
Crystal Castles was a Canadian electronic music group formed in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, formed by songwriter-producer Ethan Kath and singer-songwriter Alice Glass, who later left and was replaced by Edith Frances. Crystal Castles were known for their chaotic live shows and lo-fi melancholic homemade productions. They released many limited vinyl singles between 2006 and 2007 before releasing four studio albums between 2008 and 2016.
"Toca's Miracle" is a remix by German vocal trance group Fragma featuring vocals from British singer Coco. Taken as the second single off Fragma's debut studio album, Toca (2001), the song is a mashup of Coco's "I Need a Miracle" (1996) and Fragma's own "Toca Me". The instrumental was written by Dirk Duderstadt, Marco Duderstadt, Ramon Zenker and the lyrics were written by Rob Davis and Victor Imbres, while some of the song's production was by Zenker, the vocals were produced many years earlier by Imbres and Tim Orford.
Blood Red Shoes are an English alternative rock duo from Brighton consisting of Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell. They have released five full-length albums, Box of Secrets (2008), Fire Like This (2010), In Time to Voices (2012), Blood Red Shoes (2014) and Get Tragic (2019) as well as several EPs and a number of singles. In 2014, they founded their own label, Jazz Life.
Uncle B is the debut studio album released by British hip hop group N-Dubz. The album is dedicated to former N-Dubz manager and father of Dappy, Byron Contostavlos, who died shortly before the band were signed to their second record label All Around the World. It entered the official UK Albums Chart at number 11. On 6 January 2009 it was announced on the official All Around the World website that the album had gone platinum. Seven singles have been released from the album, with the first three being released by LRC, and the last four being released by All Around the World. The album was not released until in 2008, despite recording starting in 2006. This was due to the group changing record label from LRC to All Around the World.
Nicholas James Murphy, known professionally as Chet Faker, is an Australian singer and songwriter. In 2012, as Chet Faker, he issued an extended play, Thinking in Textures, and signed to Downtown Records in the United States. In October 2012, he won Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Thinking in Textures won Best Independent Single/EP at the Australian Independent Records Awards. In January 2013, the work won Best Independent Release at the Rolling Stone Australia Awards for 2012.
An independent record label is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented by trade associations in their country or region, which in turn are represented by the international trade body, the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN).
