Music Bank
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Thomas Dolby
Thomas Dolby became one of the most recognizable figures of the synth pop movement of early-’80s new wave. This was largely due to his skillful marketing. Dolby promoted himself as a kind of mad scientist, an egghead who had successfully harnessed the power of synthesizers and samplers and used them to make catchy pop and light electro-funk. Before he launched a solo career, Dolby had worked as a studio musician, technician, and songwriter; his most notable work as a songwriter was “New Toy,” which he wrote for Lene Lovich, and Whodini’s “Magic’s Wand”…
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The Kane Gang
Vocalist and songwriter Martin Brammer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Brewis met at school in the northeast town of Seaham, County Durham. Teaming up with Paul Woods, the trio developed a liking for 60s/70s soul, funk and R&B which led them through several bands before forming the Kane Gang in late 1982. ‘Brother Brother’ was planned as their first single on Candle Records, a joint venture with friend Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout, but both bands were soon signed to new Newcastle label, Kitchenware…
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Go West
Go West is an English pop duo, formed in 1982 by lead vocalist Peter Cox and rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Richard Drummie. At the Brit Awards 1986, they received the award for British Breakthrough Act. The duo enjoyed popularity between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s and are best known for the international top 10 hits “We Close Our Eyes”, “Call Me”, “Faithful”, and “King of Wishful Thinking”; the last was featured in the American romantic comedy film Pretty Woman (1990)…
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The Fatima Mansions
Named in honor of a crumbling Dublin housing estate, the edgy, assaultive Fatima Mansions formed in London in 1989. The group was led by the acerbic Cathal Coughlan, who first emerged with Microdisney, and completed by guitarist Andrias O’Gruama, bassist Hugh Bunker, drummer Nick Allum, and keyboardist Zac Woolhouse. Almost immediately upon forming, Fatima Mansions signed to Kitchenware Records and entered the studio, soon issuing their 1989 debut Against Nature, a raw, blistering album featuring the single Only Losers Take the Bus…
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World Party
World Party was the longtime musical project of Welsh-born musician and songwriter Karl Wallinger. A prodigiously talented multi-instrumentalist with a fondness for writing thoughtful, Beatlesque pop, Wallinger released five World Party albums, garnering critical acclaim and yielding a small clutch of hits without ever really lodging himself firmly into the mainstream…
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The Janitors
Stockholm outfit The Janitors have been a formidable presence on the European underground since they formed back in 2004. Channeling the freewheeling spirit of Hawkwind with equal smatterings of Sabbath and Spacemen 3, the band are masters of taking hold of a gnarly fuzzed out groove and beating it within an inch of its life. Probably not for the faint of heart, their druggy wig-outs are totally relentless and unforgiving…
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The Vernons Girls
The Vernons Girls were an English musical ensemble of female vocalists. They were formed at the Vernons football pools company in the 1950s in Liverpool, settling down to a sixteen strong choir and recording an album of standards. As a 16-piece vocal group, the Vernons Girls appeared on the ITV show ‘Oh Boy!’ with the house band between 1958 and 1959, and made a series of relatively successful singles for the label Parlophone between 1958 and 1961…
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Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
Sounding like a bizarrely sweet and whimsical cross between progressive rock, psychedelia, and pure pop, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci were one of the most original and distinctive bands to emerge from the vital post-Brit-pop Welsh scene of the mid-’90s. Gorky’s music followed unconventional time signatures and structures, as well as instrumentation (boasting everything from droning moog synthesizers to slurring trombones and steel guitars) and melodic patterns…
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Justin Currie
Singer/songwriter Justin Currie was born in Scotland on December 11, 1964. As the bassist/vocalist/chief songwriter for Scottish folk-pop outfit Del Amitri, the Glasgow native released six full-length records between 1982 and 2002 before embarking on a solo career. Currie’s proven gift for infectious melodies paired with wry, earnest, and occasionally barbed lyrics carried over to his solo work as well…
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Robert Forster
Although commonly considered the darker, artier half of the creative force of the Go-Betweens — the Lennon to Grant McLennan’s McCartney, as it were — singer, songwriter, and guitarist Robert Forster has a knack for crafty pop songs along with the brooding ballads he contributed to the Go-Betweens’ albums, while his solo career — that began with 1990’s Danger in the Past — blended a healthy mix of both styles…
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