Essential Sounds

Women just love men with guitars - well, men who can play them well, at least. And while John Mayer’s reputation as a ladies’ man (Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Love Hewitt Jennifer Anniston, to name a few [he does seem to like them 'Js' doesn't he?]) doesn’t exactly fit in with the songs that he writes, it nevertheless is a fact that he makes good music.

Mayer started out after dropping out of the Berklee College of Music, and was a part of the LoFi Masters, a two man band he shared with friend Clay Cook. They went their separate ways when John started pursuing a more pop-acoustic musical direction and went solo, spawning hits like “Back to You”, “No Such Thing” and “Your Body is a Wonderland”. Mayer slowly gained popularity and in 2003, won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for the song “Your Body Is a Wonderland”.

One of the most successful Irish bands ever to stem from the conflict torn land that was Ireland, at a time when it was still hoping for full autonomy from the British who have ruled and enforced rule on its people for years. The band started out as remnants of Limerick, the two brothers Noel Anthony and Michael Gerard Hogan teamed up with Fergal Lawler a drummer to form the group with Niall Quin as lead vocals. The band placed an add for a female lead which Dolores O’Riordan took up and when she brought a rough version of “Linger” in, she was hired immediately setting of the band as one of the most successful alternative bands ever. Their first album “Everybody else is doing it , So why can’t we?” was released in 1993 followed by the single “Dreams” further established their place on the charts.
Their fame brought initiative to get into their own acts with the band last performing as a group in 2003. There have been a lot of rumors as to when and if the band will be re-grouping and once again work together but they have all shown signs that the time has not yet come for they are still enjoying their individual careers, as of the moment. The band’s music is a diverse mix of Alternative, Indie and Celtic styles which has helped them gain popularity all over the world. Time will come when the band might decide to re-group and grace the world of music which eagerly awaits their return.

The RIAA has been saying it a lot these past couple of years, though ineffective the flow of free music has ballooned so much that even high-rollers are giving it away (well, not all of them a few teasers do the trick). The story goes with an artist known as Corey Smith who was a school teacher that loved music so much, he did weekend gigs for added income. Having succeeded in getting his music and name out, his manager started to do the craziest thing on earth, he started giving his music away for free. With that in mind, everybody in the industry expected him to lose a lot but as it turns out he brings in $US 4.2 million this year for even if the music was free, people still had to buy it off iTunes which gave him that amount. Counter intuitive you may say, well get this, his free music gets him so famous he now has a full time music career and does concerts (so cheap anyone can afford it $5). Corey loves music, music fans love him back, bam! 4.2 mil, end of story, apparently not for the free giveaway stuff doesn’t always work. Call it luck or call it pure unadulterated talent, he had a dream and he had the passion for his music it saw him through. Nice going and more power.

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Solas is an Irish group that started in the 90s as a project band, a supergroup that would consist of a number of musicians who have other bands touring already. The first time the band took the audience’s notice was their performance on A Prairie Home Companion last 1996. Since that time, Solas became one of the most popular Irish group in the globe today. Solas music is bets described as the perfect fusion of traditional Irish Songs with their own brand of Irish tradition based compositions. Often resembling a pop or a country song. There’s this one song that they covered from Ricky Lee Jones called the Sailor Song which they released in 2008 album, For Love and Laughter.

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After 15 years, Tom Jones will finally release his newest album called, 24 Hours on November 25. He has managed to come up with the studio album amidst the busy schedule he has every year. In a year, he performs more than 200 shows. Not at all bad for the veteran singer. He had been wanting to record the album for a long time. He admits that his success worldwide were never from the albums that were released in the US. His last release was Reload which sold 5 million copies in Europe alone. Tom Jone’s comeback album promises to be a splashy boombastic experience.

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House music definitively changed over the years. It has evolved into a much more tasteful sound. Very straight forward. Followers increase by thousands. The end of the millennium saw progress due to the fact that music can be excellently done with just a simple pc. Well, not so simple. It still requires high specs to be able to support the softwares. The great thing about house music is that it is upfront and rare. You can create your own style, you feel the beat, you tweak some more… there you have it. HOuse music generally has a shelf life of around 2 months, after that, you should be able to produce another creative piece of music that people can dance to.

image source: www.kenphillipsgroup.com

After their new success with the Appetite for Construction Tour, the band Switchfoot has yet again gone on board on another tour, Up in Arms Tour. The band has decided to go back to their preferred venue demographic following their mainly arena / small stadium tours for Appetite, the venues being college campuses, small amphitheatres, and small rock clubs. The trip will be a one month long concert tour and will see the band teaming up with philantrophic organization To Write Love on Her Arms. The UK pop rock outfit, Athlete, will be the opening act for every show. Throughout the tour, other rock bands such as Sparky’s Flow, The Myriad, etc. are usual to open for Switchfoot.

Switchfoot has been actively concerned in a number of humanitarian causes, as well as DATA, the ONE Campaign, the Keep A Breast Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Invisible Children, and To Write Love on Her Arms. On top to supporting those causes Switchfoot has fronted the Switchfoot Bro-Am Surf Contest and the online magazine lowercase people.

2007年12月7日　管理者による投稿

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The 1990s was a decade of good music. Disco music and new wave of the 80s was taken over by alternative rock, in particular, grunge. With its heavily distorted guitar sound and voice quality so dense, grunge music embodied emotional and taboo topics and made it heard.

Often known as the Sound of Seattle�, the top 5 grunge bands of all time are all natives of Seattle.
In enumerating the best bands of the grunge music scene then, (and justifying the choices in the process,) the following five of the biggest band names of the movement definitely made their mark in half-decade run highlighted by bands quick rise to fame and success but marred by problems such as drug abuse and a short period of fame for rock bands.

5. Soundgarden
Formed in 1984, Soundgarden did not actually gain recognition until the 1990s, the same time that Nirvana and Pearl Jam made grunge music sell�. Soundgarden most important and most successful album was Superunknown, which was released in 1994. It was nominated for the Best Rock Album in the 1995 Grammy Awards and ranked first place in the Billboard Top 200. Their singles Black Hole Sun and Spoonman from the said album each earned a Grammy award.

TO BE CONTINUED

A musical instrument is defined as a device created or modified for the purpose of making or creating music. In principle, any object that can produce sound can be called a musical instrument.

There are classifications of musical instruments base on their musical range in comparison with other instruments in the same family or category. The terms used in classifying musical instruments are named after singing voice classifications:
* Soprano instruments: flute, clarinet, recorder, violin, trumpet
* Alto instruments: oboe, alto flute, viola, horn
* Tenor instruments: trombone
* Baritone Bassoon English Horn Baritone Saxophone Baritone Horn Bass Clarinet Cello Bass
Clarinet
* Bass instruments: Contrabassoon, double bass, tuba

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