(Vocal/instrumental group, 1988–present) Taking their name from the famed John Milton poem, it was only fitting that Nick Holmes (vocals), Gregor Mackintosh (guitar), Aaron Aedy (guitar), Stephen Edmonson (bass) and Matthew Archer (drums) delivered a slower brand of dark thrash metal. Early EPs and albums enjoyed a noisy cult success although by Shades Of God (1992) and Icon (1993) ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1997–present) Four boys from the Welsh valleys, led by vocalist Ian Watkins, who became one of the UK’s biggest rock bands of the decade. Emerging with a nu metal sound with debut LP Thefakesoundofprogress in 2001, they evolved to a more melodic yet punky style and were rewarded when Liberation Transmission topped the UK charts ...
(Fränts Yo’-sef Hi’-dan) 1732–1809 Austrian composer Joseph Haydn was the most celebrated musician of the late-eighteenth century and the first of the great triumvirate (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven) of Viennese classical composers. A tireless explorer and innovator, he did more than anyone to develop the dramatic potential of the sonata style. When he composed his cheerful F major Missa brevis ...
b. 1933, Polish Violin virtuoso Penderecki attended the Kraków Academy until 1959, when he entered a composers’ competition several times and collected a first prize and two second prizes. Initially attracted to the avant-garde movement, Penderecki found international fame with Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960), written for 52 stringed instruments. This used tone clusters to convey ...
(Vocal group, 1965–71) This London outfit reached No. 6 in Britain with funereal ‘From The Underworld’. Its soundalike follow-up ‘Paradise Lost’ was a lesser UK smash, but singing guitarist Peter Frampton was to be Rave! magazine’s ‘Face Of ‘68’. While ‘I Don’t Want Our Loving To Die’ returned them to the Top 10, that was that for ...
(Electronic group, 1989–present) The main fountainhead of creativity was the highly collaborative Dr. Alex Patterson. The Orb redefined ambient music taking listeners on journeys irrespective of genre-fusing elements of dub and even progressive music into long extended pieces. Singles ‘A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld’ (sampling Minnie Riperton’s ‘Loving You’) and ‘Little ...
Inspired largely by heavy metal founders Black Sabbath, the doom metal bands based their sound on the slower and more ‘sludgy’ elements of Sabbath’s sound, as can be heard on ‘Planet Caravan’ from Paranoid (1970) and ‘Sweet Leaf’ from Master Of Reality (1971), rather than the faster and more brutal elements of their music. As the name suggests, ...
The very name, ‘Classical Era’, speaks for itself: it proclaims a period that is regarded as ‘Standard, first-class, of allowed excellence’, with manifestations that are ‘simple, harmonious, proportioned, finished’, to quote a dictionary definition. The period from 1750 to roughly 1820 is widely recognized as one of exceptional achievement in music – it is the ...
The late Baroque era (1700–50) was a time of major political change throughout Europe, involving a shift in the balance of power between sovereign states. Across the continent it was a period of almost continuous warfare, the effects of which were later felt in other parts of the world as a result of conflicting ambitions among the various trading ...
There is no escaping the crucial importance of World War I (1914–18) in the formation of the Modern Age (as the first half of the twentieth century has come to be known). The war changed irrevocably the development and directions of almost all pre-war innovations in politics, society, the arts and ideas in general. Declining economic conditions also altered ...
Literary clubs that were established in seventeenth-century Italy were commonly known as ‘academies’, taking their name from the Athenian garden where Plato was thought to have met with his followers. One of the most important such groups in the early eighteenth century was the Roman ‘Arcadian Academy’. It was formally established in 1690 to honour the late Queen Christina of Sweden ...
Almost no Texan musicians have ever herded cattle, but most like to think of themselves as cowboys nonetheless. They imagine themselves pulling out an acoustic guitar after dinner and singing a song about the adventures and frustrations they have known. And not just any old song – it has to be one they wrote and it has to be more ...
The early part of the nineteenth century was a rich period for the development of instruments; many designs dating from this period are now established as the standard forms. The brass world was no exception. Adolphe Sax A man with business acumen and a fascination with design, Adolphe Sax was quick to seize on these developments. Having found major success ...
Acoustic Guitar Throughout its history, the guitar has – perhaps more than any other instrument – managed to bridge the gap between the often disconnected worlds of classical, folk and popular music. Its roots go back to Babylonian times; by the 1500s it was prevalent in Spain, and is still sometimes called the Spanish guitar. Medieval versions – ...
In the twentieth century, some musicians became interested in inventing new acoustic instruments that could take music beyond the tuning systems, scales and harmonic language inherent in the instruments commonly played in western classical music. Creating new instruments created a revolutionary new sound world. New instruments were often promoted outside the normal scope of the bourgeois concert audience, ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
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Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.