Born in 1986, Ólafur hails from the suburban Icelandic town, Mosfellsbær, just a few kilometres outside of Reykjavík. He has immersed himself completely in a world of delicate symphonic compositions generating near weightless orchestral pieces. Arnalds explores the crossover from classical to pop by mixing chamber strings and piano with discreet electronics which makes him a perfect fit for cinematic pop label Erased Tapes.
The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1983 by tuba player Philip Frazier, his brother Keith Frazier and trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, along with other musicians with them at the Joseph S. Clark Sr. High School in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans. Rebirth is known for combining traditional New Orleans brass band music, including the New Orleans tradition of second line with funk, jazz, and soul influences. In 1992, Ruffins and Rebirth split amicably after Ruffins decided not to accompany the band on a trip to Africa.
The Triumphs, an instrumental precursor group to Booker T & The MGswere assembled in 1961 by producer/songwriter Chips Moman in Memphis TN. He recorded recorded them at Stax headquarters in the old Capitol Theater on McLemore Avenue. They were the first release for the Volt label. and they were also apparently the first inter-racial group in the then segregated city. Joining Moman on guitar duties was Booker T Jones on Hammond organ, Lewie Steinberg on bass and drummer Howard 'Bulldog' Grimes, who later would go on to anchor Hi-Records rhythm section.
Jo Bartlett and Danny Hagan of 'It's Jo and Danny' having reunited with their erstwhile collaborators Rudy Carroll - having emerged in 2006 from a 10 year retreat in the high Himalaya - and Mathew Priest drummer of Dodgy have been acclaimed as producing the most exciting prog/psychedelic rock in the UK. Their debut album 'Travels into several remote nations of the world' is released in November 2008
Memory Drawings is the beguiling, drum-less project of Minneapolis raised, Morocco-based hammered dulcimer player Joel Hanson, erstwhile Hood guitarist/multi-instrumentalist and sometime Declining Winter main-man Richard Adams, and Lanterns on the Lake/Brave Timbers violinist Sarah Kemp.
Delicate Steve is a moniker for songwriter/producer Steve Marion, who is part of the Smallboypants collective. His album Wondervisions was released in late 2009 and has garnered critical acclaim from the local music scene and beyond.
Richard Beddow is an Ivor Novello Award nominated composer and sound designer, actively working in the entertainment industry since 1998. Classically trained as a musician, fused with a sound engineering background, Richard not only turns his hand to sound or music projects with fluency but leads audio projects to deliver the bigger picture. Richard’s journey into the world of Sound & Music began at an early age inspired and fascinated by the films, TV and video games that dominated the early to mid-1980’s.
The Supremes were a very successful motown all-female singing group active from 1959 until 1977, performing at various times doo-wop, pop, soul, broadway showtunes, psychedelia, and disco. One of Motown's signature acts, The Supremes were the most successful African-American musical act of the 1960s, recording twelve #1 hits between 1964 and 1969, many of them written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland.
Charalambides are a musical group originally from Houston, Texas, USA and lately of Austin, Texas. Formed in 1991 by Tom Carter and Christina Carter, adding Jason Bill and Heather Leigh Murray, they have followed in the footsteps of other Texas psychedelic music artists such as The 13th Floor Elevators, The Red Krayola, and Jandek. Their music contains elements typical of psychedelic music such as reverb, extended instrumental jamming and the use of found sounds, as well as elements of noise, avant garde, folk, and drone music.
The Bad Plus are a jazz piano trio consisting of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King. The three musicians first played together in 1989, but didn't come together as an established act until 2000. Perhaps to make up for lost time, they proceeded to record their first album, a self-titled effort released on Fresh Sound, after playing only three gigs together. In 2002, after playing a show at the Village Vanguard which was heard by Columbia Records representative Yves Beauvais, the band was signed to Columbia.