Blur are an English rock band formed in London in 1988. The band consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bass guitarist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Their debut album, Leisure (1991), incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegaze. Following a stylistic change influenced by English guitar pop groups such as the Kinks, the Beatles and XTC, Blur released the albums Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). As a result, the band helped to popularise the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a widely publicised chart battle with rival band Oasis in 1995 dubbed "The Battle of Britpop".
Oasis are an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. The group initially consisted of Liam Gallagher, Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll (drums), with Liam asking his older brother Noel Gallagher to join as a fifth member a few months later to finalise their formation. Noel became the de facto leader of the group and took over the songwriting duties for the band's first four albums. They are characterised as one of the defining and most globally successful groups of the Britpop genre.
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth by Robin Guthrie and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981. They signed with the record label 4AD in 1982 and released their debut album Garlands. In 1983, Heggie was replaced with multi-instrumentalist Simon Raymonde. The group earned critical praise for their ethereal, effects-laden sound and the soprano vocals of Fraser, whose lyrics often eschew any recognisable language. They pioneered the 1980s alternative subgenre of dream pop and helped define what would become shoegaze.
Muse are an English rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme, and Dominic Howard.
Joseph Arthur is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. He is best known for his solo material, and as a member of Fistful of Mercy and RNDM. Arthur has built his reputation over the years through critically acclaimed releases and constant touring; his unique solo live performances often incorporate the use of a number of distortion and loop pedals, and his shows are recorded live at the soundboard and made available to concertgoers immediately following the show on recordable media.
Mark William Lanegan was an American singer, songwriter and poet. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the Stone Age and The Gutter Twins. He released 12 solo studio albums as well as three collaboration albums with Isobel Campbell and two with Duke Garwood. He was known for his baritone voice, which was described as being "as scratchy as a three-day beard yet as supple and pliable as moccasin leather" and has been compared to Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave.
The Killers are an American rock band formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning. After going through a number of short-term bassists and drummers in their early days, both Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. joined the band in 2002. The band's name is derived from a logo on the bass drum of a fictitious band portrayed in the music video for the New Order song "Crystal".
Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band that formed in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, composed of Simon Neil and twin brothers James and Ben Johnston. Currently signed to 14th Floor Records, they have released nine studio albums, and following their first three albums, the band expanded their following significantly in 2007 with the release of their fourth album Puzzle, which peaked at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart and was awarded a Platinum certification by the BPI.
Edward Henry Richard Harcourt-Smith is an English singer-songwriter. To date, he has released ten studio albums, two EPs, and thirteen singles. His debut album, Here Be Monsters, was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Prize. Since 2007 he has been writing for other artists, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Paloma Faith, and has performed with Marianne Faithfull and the Libertines. His music is influenced by Tom Waits, Nick Cave, and Jeff Buckley, among others.
The Duke Spirit are an English rock band formed in London in 2003 and now based between the UK and Australia. Their sound has been seen as a melding of influences ranging from alternative rock bands such as The Jesus and Mary Chain and Spiritualized, the tremulous rock'n'roll of bands such as The Gun Club and The Patti Smith Group, to distinctive rhythmic Atlantic soul and Motown influences. Singer Liela Moss has released several solo records and also performs together with Toby Butler in the electro-rock duo Roman Remains. Drummer, Olly Betts is also an established record producer.
Troy Van Leeuwen is an American musician and record producer. He is best known as a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist in the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, with whom he has recorded five studio albums. Joining the band in 2002, he is the second-longest-serving member of the band, after founding member Josh Homme. Van Leeuwen is also a member of the supergroup Gone Is Gone and has fronted his own projects, Enemy and Sweethead.
The Kooks are an English pop-rock band formed in 2004 in Brighton. The band consists of Luke Pritchard, Hugh Harris and Alexis Nunez (drums).
Ethereal wave, also called ethereal darkwave, ethereal goth or simply ethereal, is a subgenre of dark wave music that is variously described as "gothic", "romantic", and "otherworldly". Developed in the early 1980s in the UK as an outgrowth of gothic rock, ethereal wave was mainly represented by 4AD bands such as Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, and early guitar-driven Dead Can Dance.
The Gutter Twins was a musical collaboration between rock musicians Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. Dulli and Lanegan had regularly contributed to each other's projects since 2000, most notably in Dulli's Twilight Singers; of the duo's origins, Dulli said "I think Mark told a journalist we were doing it, and then the journalist called me, and I didn't know we were doing it." On Christmas Day 2003, Dulli and Lanegan began work on the collaboration. Their name is a punning homage to the Glimmer Twins, the pseudonym used by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for work producing recordings by the Rolling Stones.
Saturnalia is the only studio album by The Gutter Twins, a collaboration between Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. The album, which was started as far back as 2003, was released on March 4, 2008. Prior to the album's release, the duo began posting songs on their official MySpace page. Joseph Arthur sings backing vocals on "Idle Hands." The song was also the first single, released April 14, 2008.
Hadrien Feraud is a French jazz bassist.
Christopher Taylor is an American multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is best known as the bass guitarist, backing vocalist and producer of the Brooklyn-based indie rock band Grizzly Bear, with whom he has recorded four studio albums. Taylor also records solo material under the moniker CANT, releasing his debut album, Dreams Come True, in 2011.
Via Audio is an American indie pop band from Brooklyn, New York. Their first full-length album Say Something, was released in 2007 by Sidecho Records, to positive reviews from prominent independent music publications such as Pitchfork Media, Alternative Press, Spin Magazine, & Tiny Mix Tapes. The band met while attending college at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, later moving to Brooklyn, New York. They released their second full-length album titled Animalore on Undertow Music on March 9, 2010; it was produced by Spoon's Jim Eno. Their third full-length album titled "Natural Language" was self-released on March 25, 2014. It was produced and recorded by Dan Molad in Brooklyn, NY.
Greg Dulli is an American musician from Hamilton, Ohio. Debuting as a member of the rock band the Afghan Whigs in 1986, Dulli has been a member of the Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins, and in 2020 released his debut solo album, Random Desire. Dulli is known as the voice of John Lennon in the 1994 film Backbeat, and has produced music for musicians such as Afterhours, and is known as a regular collaborator of Mark Lanegan and Joseph Arthur.
Imaginary Johnny is an American indie-rock band, formed in 2003 in Seattle, Washington, by singer-songwriter Stuart Wolferman and later based in Brooklyn, New York.
