Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke, brothers Jonny Greenwood and Colin Greenwood (bass), Ed O'Brien and Philip Selway. They have worked with producer Nigel Godrich and cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. Radiohead's experimental approach is credited with advancing the sound of alternative rock.
Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1996. Vocalist, rhythm guitarist and pianist Chris Martin, lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion met at University College London and began playing music together from 1996 to 1998, first calling themselves Pectoralz and then Starfish before finally changing their name to Coldplay. Their creative director and former manager Phil Harvey is often referred to as the fifth member by the band.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian experimental music collective which originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation, an independent record label also located in Montreal. After the release of their debut album in 1997, the group toured regularly from 1998 to 2003. Their second album, 2000's Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, received great critical acclaim and has been named as one of the best albums of the decade. In 2003, the band announced an indefinite hiatus in order for members to pursue other musical interests. In the intervening period, the group was occasionally rumored to have broken up, but finally reconvened for a tour which began in late 2010. Since reforming, they have released three more albums, the most recent being Luciferian Towers in September 2017.
Thomas Edward Yorke is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards, and is known for his falsetto.
Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. The pair got their name from the regular night club they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first rose to popularity in the mid 1990s. As the British Hit Singles & Albums book duly noted "they surfaced from the underground house scene, are regular transatlantic club chart-toppers and won the BRIT Award for Best Dance Act in 2002 and 2004".
Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band, formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band is composed of Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper, Zac Rae, and Jason McGerr (drums).
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven is the second studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, released as a double album on 9 October 2000 on vinyl by Constellation and 8 November 2000 on CD by Kranky.
F♯ A♯ ∞ is the debut studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It was first released on August 14, 1997 by Constellation Records on vinyl and on June 8, 1998 by Kranky on CD. Recorded at the Hotel2Tango in the Mile End of Montreal, the album is devoid of traditional lyrics and mostly instrumental, featuring lengthy songs segmented into movements and wide dynamics. It was initially released in very limited quantities, and distributed through live performances and advertised by word of mouth.
Electric Warrior is a 1971 album by Marc Bolan's band T. Rex, their sixth since their debut as Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1968, and their second under the name T. Rex. The album marked a turning point in the band's sound, moving away from the folk-oriented music of the group's previous albums and pioneering a flamboyant, pop-friendly take on electric rock & roll known as glam rock.
Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O'Malley, and Matt Helders. Former band member Andy Nicholson left the band in 2006 shortly after their debut album was released.
Kranky is an American independent record label in Chicago, Illinois. It was started in 1993 by Bruce Adams and Joel Leoschke. It houses predominantly experimental music artists, often branching into or inspired by ambient, rock, electronic or psychedelic music. Their first release was Labradford's 1993 debut album Prazision. Adams left the label in 2006, after which Leoschke continued running it, with the help of Brian Foote of Kranky band Nudge.
Jessamine was an American post-rock band, that recorded three albums for Kranky records between 1994 and 1998, and a number of singles for other record labels. These singles were later collected by the band on a self-released compilation album in 1997 entitled Another Fictionalized History.
Beach House is an American dream pop duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. The band consists of vocalist and keyboardist Victoria Legrand and guitarist, keyboardist, and backup vocalist Alex Scally.
Cryptograms is the second album from Atlanta, Georgia-based indie rock group Deerhunter, released through Kranky on January 29, 2007 on CD and vinyl. Following the 2005 release of its first full-length album Turn It Up Faggot, Deerhunter began recording material for its next record at Rare Book Room studio in New York. This initial recording session failed, due to the physical and mental state of lead singer Bradford Cox, as well as malfunctioning equipment in the studio. The band returned to Atlanta, only giving recording a second try after encouragement from members of the band Liars. The final version of Cryptograms was recorded in two separate day-long sessions, months apart, resulting in two musically distinct parts—the first includes more ambient music while the second contains more pop music elements. Cox sang most of the record's lyrics in a stream-of-consciousness manner; they include themes of death, companionship, and Cox's experiences with his genetic disorder Marfan syndrome. Cryptograms was generally well received by critics, and several publications placed the album on their lists of the top albums of 2007.
Fluorescent Grey is an extended play accompaniment to Cryptograms, the second studio release by Atlanta-based band Deerhunter. The EP was released on CD by Kranky on May 8, 2007, and later as a vinyl bundle with Cryptograms. A music video for the track "Strange Lights" is included with the CD release. The album's cover is a photograph of Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt as a seventh-grader. Its lyrical themes touch on death and the decomposition of the human body—"Fluorescent Grey" is the name lead singer Bradford Cox gives to the color of dead flesh. Fluorescent Grey received a number of positive reviews upon its release. Cox later released a free series of demos over the internet, being early versions of tracks on Fluorescent Grey and other material.
Microcastle is the third album by Deerhunter. After the album had been leaked on the internet, it became available on iTunes on August 19, 2008, while physical copies were released on October 27, 2008. In the U.S. the album was released on Kranky and on 4AD in Europe. The album was recorded over the course of one week in April 2008 by Nicolas Vernhes at Rare Book Room Studios in Brooklyn, NY. In the U.S., the album has managed to sell over 50,000 units.
Florence and the Machine are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, harpist Tom Monger, and a collaboration of other musicians. The band's music received praise across the media, especially from the BBC, which played a large part in their rise to prominence by promoting Florence and the Machine as part of BBC Introducing. At the 2009 Brit Awards they received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award. The band's music is renowned for its dramatic and eccentric production, as well as Welch's powerful vocal performances.
The discography of Atlanta, Georgia-based ambient and psychedelic band Deerhunter includes six studio albums, two extended plays, five vinyl singles, three split albums, and four music videos. The band has also made appearances on a number of compilation albums. Deerhunter was formed in 2001 by vocalist Bradford Cox and drummer Moses Archuleta. Members to later join were guitarists Colin Mee and Lockett Pundt, and bassists Justin Bosworth and Josh Fauver. Bosworth was killed in a skateboarding accident early in the band's career, leading to his replacement by Fauver. Mee left Deerhunter in 2007 after scheduling conflicts preventing him from performing at a number of shows.
Ravedeath, 1972 is the sixth studio album by Canadian electronic music musician Tim Hecker, released on February 14, 2011 by Kranky. The album was recorded primarily in Frikirkjan Church, Reykjavík, by Ben Frost. It makes prominent use of pipe organ, and was described by Hecker as "a hybrid of a studio and a live record." It received universal acclaim from critics, with many reviewers acknowledging the album as Hecker's finest.
Disappears is an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, United States, which formed in 2008. The band played a mixture of shoegaze, krautrock and garage rock.
