Joseph Lee Williams, billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams,
was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable
for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over
four decades, he recorded such songs as "Baby Please Don't Go",
"Crawlin' King Snake" and "Peach Orchard Mama" for a variety of record
labels, including Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige and Vocalion.
Williams was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame on October 4, 1992.
Grammy award-winning guitarist, songwriter, and bandleader Ben Harper enjoyed cult status on the jam band scene in the 1990s largely due to the success of his debut album, Welcome to the Cruel World, and its follow-up, Fight for Your Mind, before gaining wider attention near the decade's end. During the 21st century, he transcended the genre to become a wildly diverse performer, collaborator, and sideman who has worked with artists ranging from the Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite to John Mayer. Harper drew his influences from classic singer/songwriters, blues revivalists, guitar slingers, and jam bands like Blues Traveler and Phish, which meant he was embraced by critics and college kids alike. Despite finding commercial success with the radio single "Steal My Kisses" in 2000, Harper continued to explore different (and often challenging) musical textures during the early 21st century, enjoying a solid fan base at home and a considerable amount of fame in Europe, where he was named 2003's Artist of the Year by the French branch of Rolling Stone.
A native of California, Harper grew up listening to blues, folk, soul, R&B, and reggae. He started playing guitar as a child and began to perform regularly as a preteen. During his adolescence, he focused heavily on the acoustic slide guitar, which eventually became his signature instrument. Harper scored a deal with Virgin Records in 1992 after maintaining a steady schedule of shows in the L.A. area; two years later, he released his debut album, Welcome to the Cruel World, to positive reviews.
Released in 1995, the politically heavy Fight for Your Mind made for a strong sophomore effort, an obvious growth in musical experimentation and individual declamation. It was also the songwriter's first record to later reach gold status. Harper's third album, 1997's The Will to Live, pushed his blues-oriented alternative folk into the middle mainstream, becoming a mainstay at college radio and making inroads at adult alternative radio. Recorded over two years of touring in support of Fight for Your Mind, The Will to Live also introduced the Innocent Criminals, Harper's longstanding backup band. The Innocent Criminals -- bassist Juan Nelson, drummer Dean Butterworth, and percussionist David Leach -- helped solidify Harper's musical rhythms and emotional diversity over the years to come.
Harper's career gained momentum during 1998 and 1999. One of his most successful albums to date, 1999's Burn to Shine, blended his fondness of '20s jazz compositions with urban beatboxing, resulting in a clever and passionate collection of songs. "Steal My Kisses" and "Suzie Blue" were radio favorites, landing him two headlining world tours and an opening spot on the Dave Matthews Band's annual summer trek in 2000. The following spring, Harper issued Live from Mars, a double disc of live electric and acoustic material spanning the previous year's tour and including covers of material by Led Zeppelin, the Verve, and Marvin Gaye.
Harper dove into worldbeat on his fifth studio effort, Diamonds on the Inside, which appeared in March 2003. He toured through Europe the following year with the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the two acts entered Capitol Records' basement studios after the tour's commencement to lay down ten tracks together. The resulting collaborative album (issued under the names of both Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama), There Will Be a Light, was released in September 2004, followed by the concert CD/DVD package Live at the Apollo in 2005.
Eager to release more material, Harper reconvened the Innocent Criminals and issued the double album Both Sides of the Gun in March 2006. The album reached number seven on the Billboard album charts and rose to number one in Australia. While touring in support of the record, Harper and company began playing a new slew of songs during their evening soundchecks, eventually decamping to Paris and recording the new material within one week. This resulted in two records -- Lifeline and Live at Twist and Shout Records -- both of which were issued in 2007.
For his 2009 album White Lies for Dark Times, Harper recorded with the band Relentless7, whose members had previously worked with Harper on the track "Serve Your Soul" from Both Sides of the Gun. Harper & the Relentless7 recorded Live from the Montreal International Jazz Festival in July 2009 and released the album early the following year. Afterwards, Harper began working on his first solo album in years, using Jackson Browne's basement as a recording studio and collaborating with Ringo Starr on two tracks. The album's first single, "Rock n' Roll Is Free," was released during the early spring of 2011, followed two months later by the full-length Give Till It's Gone, and in 2012 by the career retrospective By My Side. Harper then moved over to Stax and teamed with blues legend Charlie Musselwhite for 2013's collaboratively released Get Up! It won the 2014 Grammy for Best Blues Album.
Harper went back to his roots on his next offering. He teamed with his mother, Ellen Harper, a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist in her own right, and the director of The Folk Music Center and Museum in Claremont, California -- which his grandparents founded -- for the recording Childhood Home. Ellen wrote four tunes on the set while Ben wrote six, and they performed together throughout. The album was issued by Concord in May 2014. Next, Harper reunited with his band the Innocent Criminals for 2016's Call It What It Is, the group's first studio album since 2007's Lifeline. Harper and Musselwhite announced a second collaborative album in January 2018 by issuing the title track single to No Mercy in This Land. A second single, "The Bottle Wins Again," was released in March followed by the album on the 30th. The next year saw Harper write and produce gospel legend Mavis Staples' 14th studio LP, the acclaimed We Get By, and in 2020 he released Winter Is for Lovers, an all-instrumental lap steel album.
Steve Aiden just released this song to raise awareness and funds for the Ukrainian Humanitarian Fund GoFundMe Campaign.
The donate button on Spotify takes you directly to the charity fundraiser, nothing comes to https://open.spotify.com/track/1NOD5NneJ3BaKAz2D06blQ?si=7Ks6m66KQ5CqR3FJu6nymw
I Forget Myself is a professional recording artist with over two decades of experience: from playing in touring bands for over a decade and being signed to a major label in his native South Africa through to writing, recording, producing and mixing his own music. He has just released his fourth full-length album Sing, to commemorate a friend who passed away; collaborating with a longtime session drummer friend and mixing engineer, respectively, to produce his second 11 song Alternative Rock album of note in 2022, which is now available on all major digital distribution platforms.
Liamkins started as the act of Yury (stage name George) Lyamkin, a Moscow based musician and songwriter. He originally formed a band called The Plane in Moscow in 2002 afterwhich NME (New Musical Express, Russian edition) released on its CD his song "One Diamond". Yury then when on to perform in trend-setting Moscow clubs and achieved more fame when Play magazine chose his song "No one can play" for its CD in 2005.
Yury then changed the name of his band to Updiverss, and recorded his first album 'I Am Happy With My Jacket' at the Woodhouse Studio (Hagen, Westfalen) with the producers Siggi Bemm and Dan Diamond.
Updiverss' songs are played by European radio stations (Krass Radio-Germany, Pulse Rated-UK, Radio Netherland, Belarus Radio Stations). Their song "Treasure" peaked at number one in the top 50 of Midnight Special Blues Radio (Paris, 2009). The band took part in many festivals, for example Linz fest (Austria, 2005) and the biggest rock-fest in Russia 'Nashestviye' (2009).
In 2010 Yury formed his current band, Liamkins which regularly performs in Moscow arenas and the internet radio Poptastic Radio.
In May 2012, Liamkins musicians teeamed up with Michael Ponkratyev (drums) and the producers, Andrey Sinyaev and Timur Dolotkazin at MMS Records to create their album "Reason Softly Speaks Or Just Make It Louder".
"Time Rules" is LIAMKINS new original album, recorded back in the
fall of 2021, but the work (mixing) on which was completed by the spring
of 2022.
During this period, another LIAMKINS album "Myth Seller"
was recorded and released, which was ahead of the release time of the
album "Time Rules". This often happens in the practice of some musical
groups.
The genre of the presented album is classic pop with elements of soul music and rock and roll. It included 11 songs.
Focus tracks (in the author's definition):
What She Told Me, Happiness Sleeping, Crumb, Let It Begin, Lonesome, My World.
It does not have "samples", "feats".
Without the use of vocal tuning programs and other artificial post-production techniques.
Velvet Starlings is a 60s infused garage rock ‘n’ roll band hailing from Los Angeles and the beach cities of Southern California. Velvet Starlings is becoming a staple in the blossoming neo psychedelic garage rock scene on the West Coast, with several tours under their belt, internationally and across the country. The band was founded by young lead singer, guitarist & organ player Christian Gisborne who is known for his dynamic live stage performance, concert attendance record and impressive Lego collection. Velvet Starlings is rounded out by brother’s drummer Foster Poling and bassist Hudson Poling.
AudioValley Group, the Belgian company that owns the audio ad tech provider Targetspot, is changing its name to take on the branding of its largest division. AudioValley’s board has approved switching its name to Targetspot. It also plans to sell off the Winamp audio player business as part of what the company says is a “refocusing” on the digital audio monetization business, where it sees strong momentum.
“Our name change reflects our decision to accelerate growth in digital audio monetization,” said chairman and founder Alexandre Saboundjian. “Podcasts, streaming, gaming: in all of these fast-growing markets we are ready to make a difference by capitalizing on our proprietary technologies, a portfolio of massive, international audiences and the trust of leading advertisers. By bearing the Targetspot flag, we are also clarifying our positioning to our customers and shareholders.”
Targetspot makes up nearly all of AudioValley’s business – last year 92% of its revenue came from the ad tech unit. Targetspot has also been growing at a rapid pace. During the first quarter of this year its revenue jumped 34.6% following full-year 2021 results that saw Targetspot revenue grow 50% for the full year.
AudioValley says the gains have been driven by expansion of its business in both the U.S. and Europe. It says that momentum, as well as new opportunities offered by the digital audio market, are at the heart of its refocusing decision. The company says the changes should enable it to focus more resources on developing Targetspot’s capabilities. Launched in 2007 as one of the original online audio advertising platforms, Targetspot currently works with audio publishers to provide end-to-end integration between advertisers and publishers through both direct and programmatic buying.
“The next step in this refocusing process will be the sale of our Winamp platform, a project justified by the significant investments and recruitment required for its development, which are now incompatible with our new roadmap,” said Saboundjian.
AudioValley says Winamp currently has 80 million monthly active users worldwide with a mix of podcasts, radio streams, audiobooks and other audio content. Winamp was first developed for Microsoft Windows by Nullsoft, which later sold the technology to AOL in 1999 for $80 million. AudioValley – which was then called Radionomy – bought Winamp and Shoutcast from AOL in 2014 in a deal said to have been valued in the $5 to $10 million range. It announced in 2019 that it planned to release Winamp 6 in 2019 but three years later, no update has materialized.
AudioValley’s name change to Targetspot will mean that as of today (June 24) the company will adopt a new stock symbol in Paris and Brussel where its shares trade on the Euronext Growth exchanges. It will become “ALTGS.” The company also announced it plans to release its mid-year revenue report on July 26.
JoyCut are Italy's underground music pioneers, stalwarts of the DIY underground music scene, who have been making mesmerising, mostly instrumental music for decades. Connecting with audiences worldwide, through live performances across three continents, 74 countries and 216 cities. The last album, ‘PiecesOfUsWereLeftOnTheGround’ took the band to new heights, with a never-ending tour of over 300 dates across North America, Asia and Europe, with the digital mantra #JoyCutNeverStops the band touched more than 60 countries, culminating in a Top 5 European Talent Exchange Programme [ETEP] position. Following a successful TEDx performance in Verona and inspired by their recent vivid travels to the East, JoyCut played a sold-out Venice Biennale show debuting their six-act “Opera” ‘K O M O R E B I’, a soundtrack tribute to Japan: a combination of their dramatic music with visual art chapters that created a world to get lost in. JoyCut have brought their haunting sonic tapestries to Robert Smith’s Meltdown Festival.
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