The Brooklyn-based orchestral pop band THE SILENT LEAGUE originated as the solo identity of singer Justin Russo in the late nineties. While a keyboardist with Mercury Rev in support of the critically acclaimed albums "Deserter's Songs" (V2) and "All Is Dream" (V2), Russo secretly stole each available moment in a busy tour schedule to write and record his own fragile and epic LP, "The Orchestra, Sadly, Has Refused".
George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885-1916) was an English composer, best known for his settings of A.E. Housman's poems. Born on 12th July 1885, he studied at Trinity College, Oxford, with fellow composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, going on to become a music critic for The Times while composing and teaching at Radley College, a public school in Oxfordshire. Between 1911 and 1912, he composed two of the most enduring cycles of British song: Bredon Hill and Other Songs and Six Songs from "A Shropshire Lad", both settings of Housman poems.
Born George Sainton Kaye Butterworth in 1885. He was, through a shared love of English folk music and his attendance at Trinity College Oxford, a friend of Vaughan Williams. His two most famous works A Shropshire Lad and The Banks of the Green River are both idealistically English and harken back to a pastoral ideal. Regrettably he died in World War One resulting in very few completed works and, arguably, the loss of one of England's greatest upcoming composers.
Men Without Hats is a Canadian alternative / Synthpop group from Montreal, Quebec, Canada formed in 1977 who were popular in the 80s. They were characterized by the deep, expressive vocals of their lead singer Ivan and their elaborate use of synthesizers and electronic processing. Men Without Hats were always, at the core, Ivan Doroschuk (also released solo as Ivan) and his brother Stefan Doroschuk, with various other members, including a third brother, Colin Doroschuk, as well as Jeremy Arrobas, tracy howe, Roman Martyn and Allan McCarthy.
Menswe@r were a short-lived Britpop band in the mid 1990s from Camden in London. They signed their record deal after their fifth gig, appearing on the cover of Melody Maker (in an article about Camden club night Blow Up) before they had recorded a note. They were featured in a Select article about the mod revival when the project was still purely in the imaginations of Chris Gentry and Johnny Dean. Their dress sense was Mod (tight fitting suits etc) whilst their music was influenced by both Blur's second album Modern Life Is Rubbish and Elastica.