Category Archives: Music

The Noisettes

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Playing ragged but energetic garage-influenced indie rock with the ferocity of punk but with a soulful, bluesy edge, the Noisettes were founded by guitarist Dan Smith and singer/bassist Shingai Shoniwa, who previously worked together in the band Sonarfly. While the pair already had a working relationship, in the spring of 2003 they began getting together to write songs,
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N.E.R.D.

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The acronym N.E.R.D. stands for “No One Ever Really Dies,” but childhood friends Chad Hugo, Pharrell Williams, and Shay most certainly used the group to proudly emphasize the nerdier aspects of their musical personalities. Before this side project took shape,Hugo and Williams — as the Neptunes — had established themselves as giants in the field of pop production, whether they
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Mystery Jets

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The Syd Barrett-worshiping indie outfit Mystery Jets formed in the early ’90s when the group’s shock-headed frontman, Blaine Harrison, was only 12. The band was initially called the Misery Jets, in honor of the Heathrow-bound jets that habitually roared over their native Eel Pie Island, but they changed their name when Blaine (who, again, was very young at
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Muse

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Muse’s fusion of progressive rock, glam, electronica, and Radiohead-influenced experimentation is crafted by guitarist/vocalist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, and drummer Dominic Howard. Bored by the sleepy life provided by their hometown of Teignmouth, Devon, the three British friends began playing music together. They started the first incarnation of their band while only 13 years old, changing the name
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Miss Li

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Linda Carlsson had been a singer her whole life, exploring everything from rock to blues, jazz, Broadway, even opera and metal, and performing in a variety of shows and bands, but it wasn’t until 2006 that the then-24-year-old Swede launched her career in earnest, transforming herself into Miss Li and embarking on a string of
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MGMT

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Finding an unlikely middle point between Suicide‘s hostile, proto-electro punk art noise and the sardonic, pop-friendly sound of the Flaming Lips, MGMT started as electroclash musical terrorists but quickly grew into an eclectic, brainy pop group with psychedelic overtones. MGMT first formed in 2002, during Ben Goldwasser andAndrew Van Wyngarden‘s freshman year as art students at Wesleyan University
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Metric

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Metric are a band who have embraced an eclectic and adventurous outlook — the group’s music encompasses elements of synth pop, new wave, dance rock, and electronic, while the group has collectively been based in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Los Angeles, and London over the course of their existence. Metric‘s story began when vocalist and keyboard
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Mark Ronson

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Mark Ronson is a sought-after turntablist who’s worked with such diverse artists as Macy Gray, Jay-Z, and comedian Jimmy Fallon. The stepson of guitarist Mick Jones of Foreigner, Ronson spent the first eight years of his life growing up in England. Having played guitar and drums from an early age, it wasn’t until moving to New York City with his
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Lykke Li

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The Swedish indie pop artist Lykke Li Zachrisson (better known as Lykke Li) grabbed the attention of international bloggers in the early 2000s with a handful of catchy, retro-chic singles made available on her MySpace profile. Armed with sensuous, barely there vocals and backed up by a quirky, bass-heavy, electro dance sound (courtesy of producer Björn
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Lenny Kravitz

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There may have been other “retro” rock acts before him, but Lenny Kravitz was one of the first to not be pigeonholed to a single style as he touched upon such genres as soul, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk, and ballads over the years. Born in New York on May 26, 1964 (his mother
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LCD Soundsystem

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LCD Soundsystem debuted with Losing My Edge, a single that became one of the most talked-about indie releases of 2002. A self-effacing spoof of the outrageous pissing contests that often occur whenever music geeks cross paths (“I was there at the first Can show in Cologne,” etc.) laid over a puttering electronic beat with the occasional bursts
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LaRoux

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Meaning “red-haired one” in French, La Roux is the synth pop project of flame-haired singer/songwriter Elly Jackson and keyboardist/producer Ben Langmaid. Before they collaborated,Jackson, the daughter of actress Trudie Goodwin, grew up listening to folk artists and singer/songwriters like Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, and drew inspiration from their sounds for her early music. However, Jackson‘s style changed as she got
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