Cult of Youth is a Neofolk band hailing from Brooklyn, NY. The band delivers their own style of ominous folk with martial industrial flourishes and the vindicative spirit of raw punk to keep the blood pumping.
Founded in Los Angeles in the late 80's as part of the thriving hardcore scene, downset has evolved into an icon of sorts. As the original blenders of rap, funk, hardcore, punk, metal, and socially aware lyrics, they drew influences from Black Flag to Black Sabbath, Public Enemy to Bob Marley. Becoming a huge draw, the industry took notice and they caught the attention of Mercury/PolyGram Records and released their self titled debut in 1994.
Hella began in 2001 in Sacramento, California as a two member band consisting of Zach Hill and Spencer Seim writing technically intricate music of a highly spastic nature. They play a blend of math rock and noise rock. On early albums, the band forged their classic sound, playing minimally arranged, abrasive instrumentals that still retain an idiosyncratic sense of melody. In 2005, the band expanded their live band by adding Dan Elkan on vocals, rhythm guitar, and synth and Jonathan Hischke on bass guitar.
Canadian singer and songwriter Neil Young includes his personal garage band Crazy Horse ("second best backing band in the world") to make raw and unpolished rock. Their gritty style of rock has influenced countless artists and music styles. Crazy Horse is best known for its long association with Young, despite having released five albums of its own over a 19-year span. It has been co-credited with Young as Neil Young and Crazy Horse on 13 albums, "Live at the Fillmore East" from the 1970 tour (2006) being the last.
Internal Bleeding are pioneers of the style of death metal called "slam", based in Long Island, New York. Their sound has paved the way for a whole generation of death metal and death-core bands who put heavy, groove laden riffs in the forefront of their music. Internal Bleeding was formed in 1991 with a short-lived original lineup of guitarist Chris Pervelis, bassist Tom Slobowski, vocalist Brian Richards, drummer Bill Tolley, and guitarist Anthony Miola; Slobowski and Richards were quickly replaced by John Colucco and Eric Wigger, respectively.
Gov't Mule is a southern rock/jam band formed in 1994 as a side project to The Allman Brothers Band, but has taken on a life of its own. Like many jam bands, Gov't Mule does not get much radio airplay but is popular due to constant touring and intense fan loyalty. When the Allman Brothers Band reformed in 1989 in response to the popularity of the Dreams box set, Warren Haynes was added on lead guitar and Allen Woody on bass.
Camper Van Beethoven is an alternative rock band that was founded in 1983 in Redlands, California, though the band soon moved to Santa Cruz, California. Camper Van Beethoven mixed elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk, country, and acid rock into an eclectic, catchy and sometimes mysterious ensemble, years before the so-called alternative rock moniker came to mainstream attention. The group's trademark violin-coated melodies and their ironic take on American culture put them one step away from being a novelty act in the eyes of many critics.
Neon Neon is a collaboration between the artists Boom Bip and Gruff Rhys. They first worked together on Boom Bip's Blue Eyed in the Red Room album, released in 2005. Their debut album, Stainless Style was released on March 18th, 2008 through Lex Records. Their first single Trick for Treat is also out, and can be heard on their myspace page. The album "Stainless Style" was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize.
As the solo project of New York City's DJ Snarf, Cervello Elettronico deftly crosses genre boundaries to create aggressive electronic dance music with a nod to rhythmic noise and classic EBM structures. Influenced by such artists as PowerPussy, This Morn' Omina, Hocico, Synapscape, Asche, Oil 10, and Autechre, Cervello Elettronico has performed live all over North America and Europe and shared the bill with a multitude of well-known industrial and power noise acts.
The Philip Glass Ensemble is a musical group founded by composer Philip Glass in 1968 to serve as a performance outlet for his experimental minimalist music. The Ensemble's instrumentation became a hallmark of Glass' early minimalist style. After Glass wrote his first opera, Einstein on the Beach, for the Ensemble in 1976, he began to compose for other instrumentation more frequently. While the Ensemble's exact instrumentation has varied over the years, it has generally consisted of amplified woodwinds, keyboard synthesizers, and solo soprano voice (singing solfege).