Matthew Taylor (born 1968, Miami, Florida, United States) is an American musician and artist.
Taylor was a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there he studied music composition and improvisation under John Corbett.
He is a founding member of the Sicilian American indie rock band Bellini. [1] Taylor is also a member of the band Vertical Scratchers. He has performed in the Glenn Branca 100 Guitars symphony, Don Caballero, Girls Against Boys, Paramount Styles, Rhys Chatham's "A Crimson Grail" for 200 guitars and 16 basses performance at Lincoln Center, "A Crimson Grail" for 100 guitars and 8 basses performance at Liverpool Cathedral as part of the 2012 Liverpool Biennial, [2] and "A Secret Rose" for 100 electric guitars in Richmond, California, Oktober People, backing vocals with A Hawk and a Hacksaw and collaborates in the improv Cobra//group and Death Convention Singers with Raven Chacon.
Taylor also served as producer and music supervisor for the award-winning documentary Torey's Distraction, [3] whose soundtrack was composed by Jimmy LaValle of The Album Leaf.
He has also worked as the art director for the seminal and independent record label Touch and Go Records in the early 1990s, designing album covers for such bands as Slint, the Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Nirvana, Tortoise, Don Caballero, Palace Brothers, Big Black, Laughing Hyenas, Pavement, Didjits, Rodan, Scratch Acid, Big Boys, Negative Approach, Killdozer, and Girls Against Boys.
He currently resides in Dallas, Texas, where he is a casting director and owner of Buffalo Casting.
Glenn Branca was an American avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings, repetition, droning, and the harmonic series, he was a driving force behind the genres of no wave, totalism and noise rock. Branca received a 2009 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.
Anthony Frederick Levin is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (1981–2021) and Peter Gabriel. He is also a member of Liquid Tension Experiment, Bruford Levin Upper Extremities (1998–2000) and HoBoLeMa (2008–2010). He has led his own band, Stick Men, since 2010.
The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the 1960s. While their popularity in the United States waned in the 1970s, the group remains especially revered in Japan, where they have toured regularly. The classic lineup of the band consisted of Wilson, Bogle, Nokie Edwards, and Mel Taylor (drums).
The Necks are an Australian avant-garde jazz trio formed in 1987 by founding mainstays Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond organ, Tony Buck on drums, percussion and electric guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on bass guitar and double bass. They play long improvisational pieces of up to an hour in length that explore the development and demise of repeating musical figures characteristic of the New York School of long-form Minimal Music as practiced by La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Rhys Chatham; and the free improvisation jazz music of Cecil Taylor.
The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas by vocalist David Yow, guitarist Duane Denison and bassist David Wm. Sims. They relocated to Chicago, Illinois, in 1989, where they found kindred spirits in recording engineer Steve Albini and Touch and Go Records. With the addition of drummer Mac McNeilly, they began performing live, eventually attracting an international audience with their powerful live show.
Rhys Chatham is an American composer, guitarist, trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist, primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar orchestra" compositions. He has lived in France since 1987.
Band of Susans was an American alternative rock No Wave band formed in New York City in 1986 and active until 1996. It originally consisted of Robert Poss (guitar/vocals), Susan Stenger (bass/vocals), Ron Spitzer (drums), with Susan Lyall (guitar), Susan Tallman (guitar), and Alva Rogers (vocals). The band would undergo several permutations over the years, usually involving three guitarists. Poss, Stenger, and Spitzer were the band's core members throughout its duration. They originated in the New York No Wave noise rock scene, but due to their layered guitar sound were sometimes seen as the American counterparts to the UK shoegazing bands. Like Sonic Youth, they drew influence from noise music experimental composers for the electric guitar Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca.
Scott Thunes is a bass player, formerly with Frank Zappa, Wayne Kramer, Steve Vai, Andy Prieboy, Mike Keneally, Fear, The Waterboys, Big Bang Beat, and others.
Don Caballero was an American math rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Chris Brokaw is an American musician, best known for his work with the bands Come and Codeine.
The Remo Four were a 1950s–1960s rock band from Liverpool, England. They were contemporaries of The Beatles, and later had the same manager, Brian Epstein. Its members were Colin Manley, Phil Rogers, Don Andrew, Keith Stokes (vocals/guitar) and Roy Dyke (drums). Andrew and Manley were in the same class at school as Paul McCartney.
Bellini is an international indie rock/math rock band, composed of members from Girls Against Boys, Soulside and Uzeda. This band was named after the Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini.
Damon Che is a rock drummer and guitarist. He has contributed to indie rock and progressive rock through his work with math rock pioneers Don Caballero since 1991. His style is heavily influenced by metal, hard rock, punk, jazz, and fusion.
Uzeda is an Italian underground rock group founded in Catania, Sicily, in 1987 by lead singer Giovanna Cacciola, guitarists Agostino Tilotta and Giovanni Nicosia, bassist Raffaele Gulisano and drummer Davide Oliveri.
Deaf School is an English art rock/new wave band, formed in Liverpool, England, in January 1974.
Neil Citron is a Toronto-born Canadian guitarist, Grammy Award-winning recording engineer, and songwriter who has played with Lana Lane, and briefly with heavy metal band Quiet Riot in 2006, among numerous other music industry credits. He has also worked on the films My Big Fat Greek Wedding, That Thing You Do!, and Ricki and the Flash.
Daniel Amalm is an Australian actor and musician, best known for his role in serial Home and Away as foster kid Jack Wilson.
Alabama Shakes are an American rock band formed in Athens, Alabama, in 2009. The band consisted of lead singer and guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, and drummer Steve Johnson.
Cloudland Canyon is an experimental rock/psychedelic rock band originally from New York, USA.
A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer. Another common formation is a vocalist who does not play an instrument, electric guitarist, bass guitarist, and a drummer. Sometimes, in addition to electric guitars, electric bass, and drums, also a keyboardist plays.