{"key":"8372","name":"Crystal Castles","bio":"Crystal Castles were an experimental electronic band which formed in 2003 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and consists of producer Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass. They are named after the lyrics \"The fate of the world is safe in Crystal Castles\" and \"Crystal Castles, the source of all power\" both from the theme song for She-Ra's fortress. They are known for their melancholic lo-fi sound and their explosive live shows. Their debut album was included in NME's \"Top 50 Albums of the Decade\".Initally the band was a solo project started by Ethan Kath in December 2003. Ethan later discovered Alice Glass singing in a noise-punk band, and thought he had found the \"missing ingredient\" to his music. In 2004 Ethan gave Alice 60 instrumental tracks and in April 2005 she recorded vocals over five instrumentals. The band's first single Alice Practice was actually a microphone test by Glass. She was not aware that the recording existed until London UK's Merok Records asked to release the track on vinyl. The limited release sold out in 3 days. In 18 March 2008 they released their debut album entitled Crystal Castles. This album reached #47 on UK Albums Chart, #6 on US Top Electronic Albums, #13 on US Top Heatseekers, and #32 on US Independent Albums. Crystal Castles received great reviews and ranked #39 on NME Magazine \"Top 50 Albums of the Decade\". They issued four singles: Alice Practice (1 June 2006), Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs HEALTH) (13 August 2007), Air War (17 December 2007), and Courtship Dating (31 March 2008).Crystal Castles are known not only for their own efforts as a band, but also for commissioned remixes for number of groups, including Hunting For Witches by Bloc Party, and Atlantis to Interzone by friends and label mates, Klaxons.In mid-2008, Crystal Castles were involved in two controversies related to artwork permissions and samples in their earliest unreleased songs. Crystal Castles used Trevor Brown's artwork (depicting a black-eyed Madonna) without permission. -\tIn one of Kath's earliest, unreleased demos, he incorporated a sample without permission. The track, \"Insectica (CC vs Lo-Bat Version)\", uses clips chopped out of a song by Lo-bat called \"My Little Droid Needs a Hand\", released under a Creative Commons license. Another track called \"Love and Caring\", samples the kick and snare from Covox's \"Sunday\".In 23 April 2010 the duo released their second album Crystal Castles (II). This album reached #48 on UK Singles Chart, #8 on UK Dance Albums Chart, #24 on US Digital Albums, #6 on US Top Electronic Albums, and #3 on US Top Heatseekers. Crystal Castles (II) has been met with mostly positive reviews from critics. To date, three singles were issued: Doe Deer, Celestica and Baptism. In late 2010, the band issued the non-album single Not In Love which featured Robert Smith of The Cure on vocals.The band toured throughout 2010 in the US and abroad and played the Reading and Leeds Festivals and Glastonbury Festival in the UK and Big Day Out in Australia. In February 2011, the band will perform on the NME Awards TourThe band's third album, (III) was released on November 21, 2012. The album contains the singles \"Plague\", \"Wrath of God\", and \"Sad Eyes\".On October 8th 2014 it was announced on Alice Glass' Twitter that she was leaving the band - signalling the end of Crystal Castles.http:\/\/www.crystalcastles.com","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/8372_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"75,000 - 150,000"}

{"key":"277","name":"Tom Waits","bio":"Tom Waits (born Thomas Alan Waits, in Pomona, California, on December 7, 1949) is a prolific American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor.He started his career in the early 1970s as a singer in spit 'n' sawdust bars. Initially, he was deeply influenced by the beat generation, novelists like Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, and poets like Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski. Waits is often compared to Charles Bukowski, being similar both in content and lifestyleWaits was unable to make a living from his music in the 70s because his classical bar music, based in pre-rock, and Americana, blues, and Vaudeville styles were not popular. Waits's voice back then was soft, warm and clear. Waits subsequently developed a devoted cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters, despite having little radio or music video support. In fact, his songs are perhaps best known to the general public in the form of cover versions of more visible artists, such as the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart. Although Waits\u2019s albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries.Lyrically, Waits's songs are known for atmospheric portrayals of seedy characters and places; he sings about the losers on the streets: alcoholics, junkies, prostitutes and social outcasts, although he also includes more conventional and touching ballads in his repertoire. While opening for Frank Zappa, the audience catcalled and refused to listen to him; he was an unsuitable match with Zappa's avantgarde style. Countless cigarettes, gallons of alcohol and many all night parties eventually left their trace in his face and voice.His more recent gravelly voice can be first heard on Small Change. This distinctive voice turned out to be his trademark. It is described by the Music Hound Rock Album Guide as sounding \"like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months and then taken outside and run over with a car\". Small Change with its sentimental ballads, its bar-jazz attitude and Film Noir-oriented stories turned out to be his biggest commercial success in the 1970s. Waits subsequently developed a more unique style. His songs have grown more abrasive since then, and the arrangements have turned more surreal and experimental with every new record. His life brings him to new visions, as indicated by the direction taken in his \"Alice\" release.While composing the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's One From The Heart Waits met Kathleen Brennan, his bride-to-be. They married in 1980 and she helped him quit drinking and smoking. Since their marriage they have been working together on his albums as co-producers and co-writers. It is hard to say which part belongs to her and which to him, but it's easy to see that they make a perfect team. Additionally, his eldest son Casey can be heard on turntables and percussion on Waits's album \"Real Gone\".One of Waits's greatest successes was the album \"Swordfishtrombones\", released in 1983. It struck with his critics and fans alike. He achieved a new level of song writing and left former conventions (and his earlier career) behind. All songs, whether ballads, jive or jazz are played in a completely different way. It seems that Waits had taken the musical archetypes of these styles and made them his own. All tracks are in the quintessential Waits style. They have a striking rawness and listenability and they set the stage for his success and his future career. The Bad As Me Songfacts reports that 36 years after the release of Waits' first album, Closing Time in 1973, Bad As Me became Waits's first ever top 10 album in the US when it debuted at #6 with 63,000 sales. In the late 1980s Waits discovered an outlet for his creativity in composing musicals. His first Musical was named \"The Black Rider\", and is based on \"Der Freisch\u00fctz\" by Carl Maria von Weber. It was co-produced by Robert Wilson and the lyrics come from William S. Burroughs. The story is slightly reminiscent of Kurt Weil's and Berthold Brecht's \"Three Penny Opera\" and the 1930s. The debut performance of the play was in 1990 at the Thalia Theater, Hamburg and has been played by various theatre groups since then.Waits was also responsible for two other musicals, which later became albums released simultaneously in 2002. One was the musical \"Blood Money,\" which covers the \"Woyczek\" theme of Georg B\u00fcchner. This one is one of the darkest works from Waits. The other musical is based on Lewis Carroll's classic children's novel, \"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland\". \"Alice\" is very romantic, dreamy and soft, and contains one of Waits most romantic songs. Even though they were released at the same time, the bootlegs of the \"Alice\" musical were long before traded between fans and were just rearranged and re-mastered for the official release.Besides many film contributions as composer \u2013 the Internet Movie Database imdb.com lists 47 appearances of Waits as composer and 38 soundtracks containing songs by Waits - he also is an actor with a total of 25 appearances, ranging from some mini-roles as a trumpeter in \"Heart of Saturday Night\" and the R. M. Renfield in \"Bram Stoker's Dracula\" to the major role of Zack in Jim Jarmusch's \"Down by Law\". He recently appeared in Roberto Benigni's \"The Tiger and the Snow\", playing You Can Never Hold Back Spring at Benigni's wedding dream. Even more recently, Waits played Mr.Nick (the Devil) in Terry Gilliam's \"The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnussuss\".In addition to a number of concert videos, he also appeared in the critically-acclaimed concert feature film \"Big Time\" (1990).Waits has always refused to allow the use of his songs in commercials. He has filed several lawsuits against advertisers for using his material without permission. Waits also successfully sued an advertiser for using a work that was stylistically similar to his work, after he had declined to sell them the rights to his song. He has been quoted as saying, \"Apparently the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad \u2014 ideally naked and purring on the hood of a new car. I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honor.\" Here is an archive of some of Tom's best quotes: http:\/\/www.intercom.net\/local\/shore_journal\/yas11015.html","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/277_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"88059","name":"Clean Bandit","bio":"Clean Bandit are a British electronic group formed in 2009 . The band consists of Jack Patterson (bass guitar, keyboard), Luke Patterson (drums), Grace Chatto (cello) & Milan Neil Amin-Smith (violin). Their sound can be described as a \"fusion\" between classical and electronial music. They produce their own music whilst inviting guest singers on their tracks.To date they have found their biggest hits include Mozart's House and the massive UK number one single, \"Rather Be\" with singer Jess Glynne which won the 2015 Grammy for Best Dance Recording","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/88059_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"75,000 - 150,000"}

{"key":"8417","name":"Flying Lotus","bio":"Los Angeles resident Steven Ellison, better known as Flying Lotus, is a producer of electronic music and hip-hop beats, known for his abstract and sometimes jazz-tinted style. Flying Lotus, often abbreviated to FlyLo, is the founder and leader of the Brainfeeder collective, which includes such artists as Samiyam, Teebs and Daedelus. He is also often seen as being at the forefront of the new wave of beatmakers and musicians who fuse IDM and electronica with hip-hop and trip-hop. Flying Lotus released his first album, 1983 on Plug Research Records in 2006. His June 2008 release, Los Angeles, released on Warp with cover art designed by Build & Timothy Saccenti, was released to positive critical reviews. His third album, Cosmogramma, was released on Warp in 2010 to further critical acclaim. His fourth album, Until the Quiet Comes, has been released through Warp in October 2012.As well as serious album work, remixes and production for artists such as Blu, Hodgy Beats, Gonjasufi, Oddisee and John Robinson, FlyLo is also responsible for many of the musical loops heard during the \u2018bumps\u2019 on Adult Swim, as well as being a casual filmmaker.Being the great-nephew of Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane\u2019s wife, Ellison comes from a musical heritage about which he says: \u201cMy greatest influences are my family, I\u2019m lucky to have been around so many accomplished musicians.\u201d When discussing the sources of his imagination and inspiration, he explains that : \u201cI see these tracks as little short films that play in my head\u2026 I have this beautiful lemon tree in my backyard, and on a sunny day the light shines through. Little things like that inspire me.\u201d","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/8417_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"98486","name":"Majid Jordan","bio":"Majid Jordan is a Canadian R&B duo, composed of singer Majid Al Maskati and producer Jordan Ullman. They are the latest member of the OVO Sound. Working between Ullman's dorm room and his parents' basement, they launched their first joint EP titled Afterhours on SoundCloud under the pseudonym Good People. In 2013, Majid Jordan co-produced and were credited to be featured on Drake's track \"Hold On, We're Going Home\", and then become his most successful single-charting. In February, 2016, the duo released its self-titled debut by OVO Sound, featuring a song with Drake, called \"My Love\".","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/98486_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"12482","name":"John Frusciante","bio":"John Anthony Frusciante (born in New York on March 5th 1970) though probably best known for his time as guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is a respected, acclaimed and prolific solo artist in his own right. Joining the Chili Peppers in 1988 after the death of Hillel Slovak, the band's original guitarist, Frusciante was featured on both Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik. However, John's rise was short lived. On May 7th, 1992, John quit the band just before the Chili Peppers were due on stage. (He did however play the show). His departure was considered a result of dissatisfaction with the level of rapid fame the band was achieving, as well as heavy fatigue from touring. In 1994, John released Niandra Lades & Usually Just A T-Shirt, his first solo album. Some of the material had already been recorded whilst he was on tour. Many fans consider this album to be his best solo album which included many bizarre and aptly named songs such as \"My Smile is a Rifle\" and \"Running Away Into You\".After his departure from the Chili Peppers, John slipped further into the world of drugs. In 1997, his second solo album, Smile From The Streets You Hold, was released. According to Frusciante, this album was released solely to raise money for his drug habit. It was later withdrawn from sale in 1999. He would later state on multiple occasions that 1997 was the worst year of his life.John's heavy drug usage had brought him close to death on multiple occasions. It was with suggestion from his band mate Flea, who kept contact with John still, that he checked himself into rehab to overcome his habits. In 1998, he was asked to re-join the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He said yes, and in 1999, Californication was released with John back on guitar. His reappearance in the public eye was greeted with some shock, as there were many tales of his terrible descent into addiction, but it was clear to everyone who listened to Californication that Frusciante was truly back. The album, featuring the guitar skills of Frusciante, was a sonic celebration of life and rebirth (\"Scar Tissue\"), and also an exploration of Hollywood superficiality (\"Californication\").Over the time spent touring and recording Californication, John created a set of his own songs that would come forth on his next solo album, To Record Only Water for Ten Days. Retaining his lyrical style, John pursued a different direction, and spewed a heavily synthesized album.From the Sounds Inside was an internet-only release that made its debut on his official website. The album, which stretches over 21 songs, is comprised mainly of unfinished and unmastered demos from his Record Only Water era.The highly anticipated follow-up to Californication, which was to be titled By The Way, was released in 2002. By The Way was applauded by critics as a departure from the band's previous styles, and is recognized for the melodic and subdued emotions given by the Chili Peppers. Frusciante is credited with writing most of the album's melodies, bass lines, and guitar progressions, therefore changing the direction of the recording dramatically: \"his warm, understated guitar work and his doo-wop style vocal harmonies are king this time around.\" Frusciante has stated that writing \"By the Way one of the happiest times in my life.\" During the tour break of By The Way, Frusciante proceeded to record seven solo albums in as little time as it took to create By The Way. In February 2004 John released the positively-received Shadows Collide With People. A well-produced and orchestrated album, it pulled together the will power and the resolve that John held after his struggle with drugs and mental illness, and features band mates Flea and Chad Smith on several tracks. In May of that year, rumors circulated that another album would be soon released. Indeed it was, as John planned to release a total of six albums in six months through the Record Collection label. The first album appeared at the end of June 2004. Named The Will to Death, it lacked the studio mixing and sharpness of Shadows Collide. Instead, it was a raw and unedited release that still retained a high quality. It also exemplified John's love of imperfection.The second in the series would be titled Automatic Writing. Composed mainly of extended jams, it was not to be released under John's name but instead that of Ataxia. The project featured John Frusciante on guitar, Josh Klinghoffer on drums and Joe Lally on bass (Fugazi). The album was released in late August of 2004 and featured all three band members on vocals.His next solo album to be released was the DC EP. On this production, Frusciante was accompanied by Jerry Busher on drums. Musically, the songs were very similar to the Will to Death, but were different in tone and genre. With this album John worked with yet another former member of the DC Hardcore band Fugazi. Lead guitarist, and vocalist for Fugazi, Ian Mackaye helped John record and master the album at Ian's Dischord Records studio in Washington DC. Mackaye even loaned Frusciante his guitar and amps to record on. Frusciante remarked that he was relieved that he still sounded like himself even on someone else's equipment. DC EP also marked the first album in five years that Frusciante had NOT used a synthesizer of any kind.Two more solo albums on the Record Collection label would follow within the original six month time span, Inside of Emptiness (based around a rock sound, with synthesizers playing only a minor role throughout) and A Sphere in the Heart of Silence (composed mainly of electronica-based material). Both of these albums done in collaboration with Josh Klinghoffer. In 2005, the last in the planned-six album series was released. Curtains (an album comprised of mostly acoustic guitar).2006 brought the release of Stadium Arcadium, the Chili Peppers' ninth studio album and so far only double album. The album was praised for integrating musical styles from several aspects of the band's career and won the band seven Grammy Award nominations in 2007 including an award for Best Rock Album.Frusciante has also found time in between dates on touring and producing solo albums to finalize and produce the remainder of the much-anticipated Ataxia sessions with Joe Lally and Josh Klinghoffer. Automatic Writing II was released in 2007. Shortly after, the group disbanded.On January 20, 2009, John released his latest solo album, The Empyrean. Josh Klinghoffer was of course there to help as well as an array of other musicians including Johnny Marr, formerly of The Smiths and Modest Mouse, and his Chili Pepper band mate, Flea. In December 2009, John announced he was departing the Red Hot Chili Peppers for a second time. Writing on his blog, he stated:\"When I quit the band, over a year ago, we were on an indefinite hiatus. There was no drama or anger involved, and the other guys were very understanding. They are supportive of my doing whatever makes me happy and that goes both ways.To put it simply, my musical interests have led me in a different direction. Upon rejoining, and throughout my time in the band, I was very excited about exploring the musical possibilities inherent in a rock band, and doing so with those people in particular. A couple of years ago, I began to feel that same excitement again, but this time it was about making a different kind of music, alone, and being my own engineer.I really love the band and what we did. I understand and value that my work with them means a lot to many people, but I have to follow my interests. For me, art has never been something done out of a sense of duty. It is something I do because it is really fun, exciting, and interesting. Over the last 12 years, I have changed, as a person and artist, to such a degree that to do further work along the lines I did with the band would be to go against my own nature. There was no choice involved in this decision. I simply have to be what I am, and have to do what I must do.Sending love and gratitude to you all.\"","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/12482_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"1973","name":"Deerhunter","bio":"Deerhunter is a band which formed in 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The band consists of Bradford Cox (vocals, guitar, piano), Moses Archuleta (drums, synths), Lockett Pundt (guitar, organ, vocals), Josh McKay (bass, vocals) and Frankie Broyles (guitar, vocals).The group began with the ambition of fusing the lulling hypnotic states induced by ambient and minimalist music with the klang and propulsion of garage rock. The band has weathered chaotic line-up changes and the death of a member. Cryptograms was the second full-length offering from Deerhunter, and their first for Kranky. The album took almost two years to finish and was the product of emotional, physical, and financial strain on the group. The result is an album that finds the band shifting from discordant catharsis, and forming a sonic identity that completely expresses the place from which they have arrived. The first half of the album was recorded first unsuccessfully in 2005. These recordings were a blur at best, wordless and bordering on psychological atrophy. The sessions failed to provide anything tangible, and were racked with technical and personal problems, including out-of-tune pianos, panic attacks, and a tape machine that seemed to fail to capture the full spectrum of ambience the band was exploring. The band returned home, having failed, and considered giving up. The idea arose to give it one last shot and exactly one year from the date of the recording of their first self-titled LP at a small studio in rural Georgia, they returned to that same studio and plugged in. The session resulted in the first half of the record which was recorded in one day and completely filled the reel of tape they brought with them. Cryptograms\u2019 first side begins with an introduction leading to the title track, and ends with the tape literally spinning off the end of the reel in the middle of a drone layered with bells and accordion (Red Ink). The second half of the record, also recorded in one day, in November of 2005, represents the band in an entirely different state. Spring Hall Convert opens with the line, \u201c\u2026so I woke up\u2026\u201d and introduces a set of focused psych-pop songs fixating on adolescence, illness, and failing connections.On May 8, 2007, the group released the Fluorescent Grey EP, which was recorded in July 2006. This EP also garnered the title of \"Best New Music\" from Pitchfork Media. In the same month, the band released the Whirlyball 7\" single, which was available at only one store in Atlanta, Georgia: Criminal Records. The single also acted as a ticket to a show, which featured the band along with The Carbonas, Selmanaires and The Coathangers. The single was available online for a limited time after the show due to popular demand, but only 200 copies were pressed, with 100 on black vinyl and 100 on clear vinyl.The quartet's third album, Microcastle, came out in October of 2008 after being leaked accidentally in May. The physical release was accompanied by an album entitled Weird Era Cont.. They were both well-received, scoring a 9.2 and \"best new music\" on Pitchfork and taking the #1 slot for Tiny Mix Tapes' annual favorite albums list for 2008. The band added guitarist Whitney Petty, a former sailor and high school friend of Cox's, to replace the departing Colin Mee in May 2008. She in turn left the band in February 2009.The band followed up the critically acclaimed Microcastle\/Weird Era Cont. set in May 2009 with an EP - Rainwater Cassette Exchange.In September 2010, Deerhunter released Halcyon Digest on the label 4AD. The album received broad critical acclaim, including being rated #20 on the NME \"50 Best Albums of 2010.\" Deerhunter made their US broadcast television debut on Conan, December 2, 2010, where they performed Helicopter. Deerhunter are set to release their sixth album, Monomania, in May 2013. It will be their first album without bassist Josh Fauver, with Frankie Broyles and Josh McKay being added to the group. The Black Lips described the album as the \"most punk album of the last 30 years\".http:\/\/deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/1973_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"98386","name":"Lapalux","bio":"Sounds move with curious steps in the music of Lapalux, the solo project of Essex's Stuart Howard. His IDM and hip-hop influenced beat collages unfold like individual short stories, their layered tones playing into your emotions. The thud of bass pulses throughout his tracks, a steady stream of heartbeats that rise in and fall reaction to the excitement, the trepidation and the moments of calm reflection set by the marriage of vocal samples and experimental beatmaking. Listened to in succession, Howard\u2019s material is a collection of individual moods, bound into a volume that could easily be titled, What It Feels Like To Be A Human.*In a world in which upstart DiY talent is flooding the gates of electronic music, a few recent voices have been so strong as to be startling. Lapalux - AKA 25-year-old Stuart Howard - is certainly one such. As singular as a brilliant artist always should be, his instinctive understanding of the atmospheric power of texture grips the ear immediately on listening. 'Nostalchic' is his debut album, mission statement, and the climax of many years of studying his craft. The amalgam of words that make the title is aptly, and perhaps knowingly chosen. The album evokes nostalgia without ever sounding nostalgic, and Howard may have had his tongue in his chic when he added the second half of the title. The album is his most focused document to date, adding his beloved R&B and soul into elements of house and hip hop, all with the trademark Lapalux finish; infectious, lopsided swing and achingly deep texture.*12\/19\/2013 update","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/98386_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"8424","name":"James Blake","bio":"James Blake is a Grammy Award-winning alternative electronic musician and singer-songwriter from London. Blake is primarily considered a dubstep producer and is frequently heralded as a leading figure in the \"post-dubstep\" community, but he is also noted for his prominent soul influences. He first received recognition for a series of 2010 EPs including CMYK and Klavierwerke, and he released his self-titled debut album in 2011 to critical praise. His second album Overgrown was released in 2013 and awarded the Mercury Prize. He released his third album The Colour in Anything in 2016. In 2019, his fourth album Assume Form was released and he won his first Grammy Award with \"King's Dead\" winning in the category Best Rap Performance. In November of that same year, it was announced that Assume Form was nominated for the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in the 62nd Grammy Awards. During his career, he has collaborated with artists including Mount Kimbie and Bon Iver and has contributed production work to artists including Kendrick Lamar, Beyonc\u00e9, Vince Staples, Frank Ocean, and Travis Scott. Blake has also released remix work under the alias Harmonimix.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/8424_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}