Everything is Interesting
Duck Sauce is an American-Canadian DJ duo consisting of Armand Van Helden and A-Trak. The duo are signed to Fool’s Gold Records.
In the summer of 2010, Duck Sauce released a track ‘Barbra Streisand,’ named for the singer of the same name. The track heavily samples Gotta Go Home by Boney M, which is based upon the original tune Hallo Bimmelbahn by the German band Nighttrain.
Birdy Nam Nam is a French DJ crew, originally formed to compete in the DMC World DJ Championship. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006 on Uncivilized World Records and was created entirely on turntables.
In 2009 they released ‘Manual for Successful Rioting,’ an album that found the four programming and playing synths along with their turntables. The group’s name is taken from the 1968 Peter Sellers film ‘The Party,’ directed by Blake Edwards.
Blockhead (real name Tony Simon) is an American Hip hop producer based in Manhattan, New York. Aside from his solo efforts released on the Ninja Tune label, he is most associated with producing for Aesop Rock, a rapper for the Definitive Jux independent hip hop label. He is also a member of the hip hop/comedy group Party Fun Action Committee. His father, the late Sidney Simon, was a well known sculptor in New York City.
Dan Deacon (b. 1981) is an American electronic musician. Dan was born and raised in suburban Long Island, New York. After high school he attended the Conservatory of Music at State University of New York where, in addition to performing his solo material, he played in many bands, including tuba for Langhorne Slim and guitar in the improvisational grindcore band Rated R. He completed his graduate studies in electro-acoustic and computer music composition.
In 2004 he moved to Baltimore, Maryland and moved into the Copycat Building and, along with friends from SUNY Purchase, formed Wham City, an arts and music collective.
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Thomas Wesley Pentz (b. 1978) better known by his stage name Diplo, is a Philadelphia-based American DJ, producer, and songwriter. Together with DJ Low Budget, he runs Hollertronix, a club and music collective. He also founded and manages record company Mad Decent, as well as the not for profit organization Heaps Decent. Among other jobs, Pentz has worked as a school teacher in Philadelphia.
During his rise to notability, Diplo worked with and dated British musician M.I.A., an artist who is credited with helping expose him in his early career. Later, Pentz and fellow M.I.A. producer Switch created a Jamaican dancehall project titled Major Lazer. Since then, Diplo has worked on production and mixtape projects with many other notable pop artists. Pentz’s alias, short for Diplodocus, derives from his childhood fascination with dinosaurs.
Dub FX (real name Benjamin Stanford) is a worldwide street performer and studio recording artist from Australia. His trademark is creating live music using only his own voice, Live looping, and effects pedals.
His music is based on hip hop, reggae and drum and bass rhythms. Stanford travels and performs with his fiancée, Flower Fairy (real name Shoshana Sadia).
Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem is the name of a Muppet rock band. Dr. Teeth was designed by Jim Henson, while the rest of the original band members were designed by Michael K. Frith. The band consists of Dr. Teeth on vocals and keyboards, Janice on guitar, Sgt. Floyd Pepper on bass guitar, Zoot on saxophone, and Animal on drums. In season five of ‘The Muppet Show,’ Lips joined the band on trumpet. The original pilot episode featured ‘Jim,’ a Muppet caricature of Jim Henson on banjo.
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The Hood Internet is a Chicago-based duo specializing in mashups of hip-hop (from the mainstream to the underground) with indie rock. They also run a blog of the same name through which they release their music, a venture that helped them earn notability as a minor internet phenomenon. The Hood Internet is composed of Aaron Brink (aka ABX) and Steve Reidell (aka STV SLV).
Cymande [sah-mahn-day] were an electric funk band who released several albums throughout the early 1970s. The group was formed in 1971 in London, England by musicians from Guyana and Jamaica. The name Cymande is derived from a Calypso word for Dove, which symbolizes peace and love. The group developed a subtle and complex, deep funk style influenced by calypso rhythms, jazz, African music, American soul and UK rock of the time. Cymande can now be seen as one of the most sophisticated of the funk acts that evolved in the early 1970s.
By the mid-70s the band members were going their separate ways and the group was disbanded in 1974. It wasn’t until 20 years later that they reaped any financial rewards, as their music became a popular source for samplers. Cymande’s original albums are still widely sought-after by DJs and funk aficionados. Perhaps the band’s best known recording is the soulful dancefloor filler called ‘Bra,’ which was later sampled by the American hip-hop group De La Soul and used as a breakbeat record by the godfathers of hip-hop Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash.
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