Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 08/7/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Ximena Sarinana
Ximena Sariñana Rivera (born October 29, 1985) is a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy nominated Mexican singer-songwriter and actress. Sariñana’s musical career was launched in 2008 with the release of her first studio album Mediocre, an adult contemporary pop-rock/vocal jazz album that has been critically acclaimed and nominated for various awards, including two nominations in the Latin Grammy Awards of 2008.
Ximena Sariñana Rivera was born in Guadalajara, Mexico to producer/director Fernando Sariñana and screenwriter Carolina Rivera. She is niece of Mexican actress Angélica Rivera and producer José Alberto Castro, brother of Verónica Castro. When she was 2 years old, Sariñana attended an Ella Fitzgerald concert, claiming to be the beginning of her interest in music and one of her biggest influences. She soon started listening to other artists such …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 07/17/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Angus & Julia Stone
Have you ever perused the music charts and seen someone have tremendous success in another country and wonder why they never made it big here? I just had one of those moments with Angus & Julia Stone, a duo that have topped the charts in Australia, but never quite found a toehold in the American scene despite their extremely mature and fresh sound (an interesting dichotomy)
Angus & Julia Stone are a brother-sister duo from Newport, New South Wales on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia. Their mother and father were both musical – they learned many songs from their father’s cover band “Backbeat”. At very young ages, they were introduced to music by their father who made them join his school band. Julia played the trumpet, Angus the trombone …
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Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Sophie Rae on 07/13/2011
Party Whipped: The Trials of a Teenage Feminist Rocker
I think I’ve always been somewhat of a feminist, even if I didn’t know it.
When I started playing in bands when I was 9, I didn’t have any idea that my gender would be an issue. Music was what I loved, and to my Trash and Vaudeville size 00 jeans-wearing self, playing super-distorted covers of Clash songs seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
But as we kept playing and as my nievaté began to dwindle (I had reached the age of 12 and my peak of intellectual maturity), I started to notice something weird. In interviews, I was asked to talk not about my music but about my favorite lip gloss flavor or my latest boy-band crush (which all young girls presumably have, I mean, why …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 06/26/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Gossip
Danielle B’s post earlier this week reminded me how awesome Beth Ditto and Gossip are. Enjoy!
Gossip (formerly The Gossip) is a three-piece American indie rock band formed in 1999. The band consists of singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control (2006). A follow-up, Music for Men, was released in 2009. The band plays a mix of post punk indie rock and dance-punk.
Gossip was formed in 1999 in Olympia, Washington with vocalist Beth Ditto, guitarist Nathan “Brace Paine” Howdeshell and drummer Kathy Mendonca. All three were originally from Arkansas; Mendonca moved to Olympia to attend Evergreen State College and Howdeshell and Ditto followed. Howdeshell and Mendonca had …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 06/19/2011
Support Women Artist Sundays: India.Arie
India.Arie (born India Marie Simpson; October 3, 1975) is a Grammy Award-winning American soul, R&B, and neo soul musician, songwriter, and producer. She has sold over 3.3 million records on U.S. and 10 million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards and received 18 nominations, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist.
Simpson was born in Denver, Colorado. She absorbed musical skills early in life as she was encouraged by both parents. Her mother Joyce is a former singer (she was signed to Motown as a teenager and opened for Stevie Wonder and Al Green) and is now her stylist. She has an older brother named J’On. After her parents divorced, Simpson’s mother moved the family to Atlanta, Georgia when she …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 06/12/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Amanda Palmer
Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer (born 30 April 1976) is an American performer who first rose to prominence as the lead singer, pianist, and lyricist/composer of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She has since started a successful solo career, and is also one half of the Evelyn Evelyn duo.
Palmer was born in New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital, and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. She attended Lexington High School, where she was involved in the drama department, and attended Wesleyan University where she was a member of the Eclectic Society. She staged performances based on work by the Legendary Pink Dots, an early influence. She then formed the Shadowbox Collective, devoted to street theatre and putting on theatrical shows. Palmer is married to writer Neil Gaiman.
At a Halloween party …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 06/5/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: Agnes Obel
Agnes Caroline Thaarup Obel (born 1981) is a Danish singer-songwriter. Her first album, Philharmonics, was released by PIAS Recordings on 4 October 2010 in Denmark, Norway, Germany and other European countries. Since February 2011, Philharmonics is certified gold.
Agnes Obel was born Agnes Caroline Thaarup Obel in 1981. Living in Copenhagen, and coming from a musician family, Agnes Obel learned piano at a very young age. Her mother used to play Bartók and Chopin at the piano. During her childhood, Agnes Obel found inspiration in Jan Johansson’s work. Johansson’s songs, European folk tunes done in a jazzy style, have influenced the young musician a lot.
She attended high school at Det frie Gymnasium and university at Roskilde University.
At the age of seven, Agnes Thaarup worked in a little band …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 05/29/2011
Support Women Artists Sunday: The Ettes
Ever wonder what Heart wouid sound like had it been a punk band? Welcome to The Ettes.
The Ettes are a rock band consisting of Lindsay “Coco” Hames, Maria “Poni” Silver, and Jeremy “Jem” Cohen. The Ettes are currently based in Nashville, Tennessee and formed in 2004 in Los Angeles, California.The Ettes released their first album Shake The Dust on Sympathy For The Record Industry in the USA and 2Fer Records in Spain in 2006. Shake The Dust was produced/mixed by Liam Watson and recorded at Toe Rag Studios in London, UK.The Ettes’ second album Look At Life Again Soon released by Take Root Records in the USA, 2Fer Records in Spain and KNTRST in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 2008. Look At Life Again Soon was also produced and …
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