In the United Kingdom, many brass bands were started by colliery owners, and funded in part by the coal miners themselves.
Some of those bands live on, after the coal pits have been closed for years. These bands are facing hard times, with limited funding and waning interest in the music, but
some youth join bands to continue family traditions, and the government provides some funding to numerous bands. If you'd like to know more about brass bands in the UK and around the world,
Internet Bandsman's Everything Within (IBEW) has tons of material,
links to bands in the UK and elsewhere as well as
a list of extinct bands and
vintage brass band pictures,
local events and radio shows,
recordings, and plenty more.
posted by filthy light thief
on Mar 10, 2013 -
22 comments
The Way They Were (SLYT... 1:07:45 'The tape fails there!')... an old Granada / Channel 4 program that was a compilation of Tony Wilson's
So It Goes a show that featured performances from some of the best British Punk and New Wave bands of the time.
posted by fearfulsymmetry
on Aug 29, 2012 -
12 comments
In the wake of their grunge-y breakout hit
"Creep" and the success of sophomore record
The Bends, Thom Yorke and the rest of
Radiohead were under pressure to deliver once more.
So they shut themselves away inside the echoing halls of
a secluded 16th century manor and got to work.
What emerged from that crumbling Elizabethan castle fifteen years ago today was a shockingly ambitious masterpiece of progressive rock, a visionary concept album that explored
the "fridge buzz" of modernity -- alienation, social disconnection, existential dread,
the impersonal hum of technology -- through a mosaic of
challenging,
innovative,
eerily beautiful music unlike anything else at the time.
Tentatively called
Ones and Zeroes, then
Your Home May Be at Risk If You Do Not Keep Up Payments, the band finally settled on
OK Computer, an appropriately enigmatic title for this
acclaimed harbinger of millennial angst. For more, you can watch the retrospective
OK Computer: A Classic Album Under Review for a track-by-track rundown, or the unsettling documentary
Meeting People is Easy for a look at how the album's whirlwind tour nearly gave Yorke
a nervous breakdown. Or look inside for more details and cool interpretations of all the tracks -- including
an upcoming MeFi Music Challenge! [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jun 16, 2012 -
66 comments
For the first few minutes I'm not even sure this interview should be taking place at all. The greeting is an awkward shuffle of hunched shoulders and downcast eyes; he can't look at me, and I can't hear him. His gaze averted, hands stuffed into pockets, he mumbles in haltingly reluctant whispers, as if words can cause him physical pain. The man should be talking to a doctor, I worry, not a nosy journalist. We try some small talk, but it's almost impossible to make out what he's saying – until I ask what he prefers to be called. "Adam," he says firmly, glancing up for the first time. "Adam Ant."
posted by fearfulsymmetry
on Feb 20, 2012 -
49 comments
Smash Hits! was a UK music magazine, first published at the end of 1978. It charted the progress of pop styles, including
the rise of 2-Tone, and
included a number of freebie discs, first as
flexi discs, and later on CDs. The magazine faltered in the 1990s, and
closed shop in 2006. Since then there have been a few one-off "special editions," first
a 2009 tribute to Michael Jackson, and then
a Lady Gaga special in 2010. 30 years after the first issue went on sale,
a fan posted the first issue online. So far,
new scans have been posted fort-nightly, following the original release schedule. 73 issues are online to date, each three decades after they first were sold. (
via MetaChat)
posted by filthy light thief
on Jun 14, 2011 -
20 comments
Benjamin Darvill, a.k.a.
Son of Dave, is a one-man band of sorts, combining harmonica, vocals, beat-boxing, a rattle and foot-stomping to create his own infectious form of blues. Darvill, a Canadian formerly with Crash Test Dummies, has released four albums to date as Son of Dave, his latest and best being 'Shake A Bone', recorded and mixed by Steve Albini in Chicago, the title track used briefly in an episode of Breaking Bad.
[more inside]
posted by bwg
on Apr 14, 2011 -
3 comments
Music! - A 1968 documentary by the National Music Council of Great Britain, featuring folk singing, The Beatles, and even early electronic music produced by tape splicing.
Part 1,
part 2,
part 3,
part 4,
part 5.
posted by Artw
on Mar 7, 2010 -
8 comments
The Works of
Swede Mason: "
Jeremy Clarkson," "
Get in the Back of the Van," "
Jungle All The Way," "
Bill Wyman's Metal Detector," "
Put the Lotion in the Basket, *" "
Got The Sucka," "
The Gobshite, *" "
Squashed Thingy," "
Spare Me The Madness," and the pair of tracks based on
Neighbors deaths "
Coffee And Croissants" and "
Todd....Dead."
[more inside]
posted by flatluigi
on Oct 13, 2009 -
14 comments
"I was listening to the radio and it’s one of those moments where you have to stop what you’re doing and pay full attention.”
Dory Previn, met composer
Andre' Previn while working in MGM's music dept. in the 1960s. They collaborated on movie music such as
"A Second Chance" and
"Valley Of The Dolls". Andre' divorced Dory in 1969 to marry Mia Farrow. Following this, Dory Previn recorded six original
albums known for their
wit and
confessional tone. Dory Previn unofficially retired in 1976 and has been reluctant to give interviews. However, she released a free online album,
Planet Blue in 2002. She gave a
rare interview to the Times in February. She talked about her influences and meeting Howard Hughes with
Bernadette Cahill in 2005.
posted by The Whelk
on Dec 3, 2008 -
6 comments
