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Astra (band)
Astra is a rock band from San Diego, California. Their sound is in the style of the 1970s progressive rock and psychedelic rock, and includes a variety of synthesizers, mellotron and long jams. History Astra was formed in San Diego in 2001 by Richard Vaughan (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Conor Riley (vocals, guitars, keyboards), and brothers Iain (drums, percussion) and Stuart Sclater (bass guitar) under the name 'Silver Sunshine'. Following the departure of Iain Sclater and the subsequent recruitment of guitarist Brian Ellis and drummer David Hurley to the line-up, the band underwent its name change to Astra. This line-up of the band went on to produce the band's first two albums, 2009's ''The Weirding'' and 2012's ''The Black Chord'', both of which were released on Rise Above Records in the UK and on Metal Blade Records in the USA. A further line-up change occurred in 2013 with David Hurley departing to be replaced on drums by Radio Moscow drummer Paul Marrone. Due to some memb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Progressive Rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the style emerged from psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop or rock traditions in favour of instrumental and compositional techniques more commonly associated with jazz, folk, or classical music, while retaining the instrumentation typical of rock music. Additional elements contributed to its " progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of " art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening rather than dancing. Progressive rock includes a fusion of styles, approaches and genres, and tends to be diverse and eclectic. Progressive rock is often associated with long solos, exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keyboard (instrument)
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers that are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital pianos. Other keyboard instruments include celestas, which are struck idiophones operated by a keyboard, and carillons, which are usually housed in bell towers or belfries of churches or municipal buildings. Today, the term ''keyboard'' often refers to keyboard-style synthesizers and arrangers as well as work-stations. These keyboards typically work by translating the physical act of pressing keys into electrical signals that produce sound. Under the fingers of a sensitive performer, the keyboard may also be used to control dynamics, phrasing, shading, articulation, and other elements of expression—depending on the design and inherent capabilities of the instrument. Modern keyboards, especially digital ones, can simulate a wide range of sound ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Progressive Rock Musical Groups From California
Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context ** Progressivism in South Korea, the political philosophy in the South Korean context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy paradigm focused on producing measurable results in pursuit of widely supported goals Political organizations * Congressional Progressive Caucus, members within the Democratic Party in the United States Congress dedicated to the advancement of progressive issues and positions * Progressive Alliance (other) * Progressive Conservative (other) * Progressive Party (other) * Progressive Unionist (other) Other uses in politics * Progressive Era, a period of reform in the United States (c. 1890–1930) * Progressive tax, a type of tax rate structure Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Progressive music, a type of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Black Chord
''The Black Chord'' is an album by American progressive rock band Astra. It is their second album, released in the United States on March 27, 2012 on Metal Blade Records, and on April 16 in the United Kingdom on the independent label Rise Above Records. Reception The album inspired positive reviews upon release, and was praised for its even more psychedelic and space rock feel as well as higher production values compared to their debut '' The Weirding''. The heavy metal review at ''About.com'' stated "San Diego maestros Astra craft expansive suites that hearken back to the original root of mind-expanding, unrestrained and genuinely progressive rock. Rich with hallucinogenic and hypnotic promise, and slathered in layers of vintage, billowing instrumentation, the band's stunning sophomore album, ''The Black Chord'', expertly evokes the spirit, tone and vision of '70s cosmic prog." ''Ytsejam.com'' described the album as "combining the dark grooves of Sabbath, with the improvisati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Weirding
''The Weirding'' is an album by American progressive rock band Astra. It was their debut album, released in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2009, and on June 23 of that year in the United States. It was released on the independent label Rise Above Records. The album was released and received overall positive reviews, noting that the music was very similar to that of 1970s progressive rock bands like Pink Floyd and Yes, along with the space-rock outfit Hawkwind. ''Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...'' said "The quintet's lengthy gestation period has resulted in a sublime debut that evokes various '70s colossi - panoramic Pink Floyd, mellotron-era King Crimson, Black Sabbath in philosophical mode - without ever stooping to pastiche". The album was released as bot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excluding Zoomusicology, zoomusicological instruments and the human voice, the percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments.''The Oxford Companion to Music'', 10th edition, p.775, In spite of being a very common term to designate instruments, and to relate them to their players, the percussionists, percussion is not a systematic classificatory category of instruments, as described by the scientific field of organology. It is shown below that percussion instruments may belong to the organological classes of idiophone, membranophone, aerophone and String instrument, chordophone. The percussion section of an orchestra most commonly contains instruments such as the timpani, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a percussion mallet, to produce sound. There is usually a resonant head on the underside of the drum. Other techniques have been used to cause drums to make sound, such as the thumb roll. Drums are the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years. Drums may be played individually, with the player using a single drum, and some drums such as the djembe are almost always played in this way. Others are normally played in a set of two or more, all played by one player, such as bongo drums and timpani. A number of different drums together with cymbals form the basic modern drum kit. Many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flute
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, flutes are edge-blown aerophones. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist or flutist. Paleolithic flutes with hand-bored holes are the earliest known identifiable musical instruments. A number of flutes dating to about 53,000 to 45,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany, indicating a developed musical tradition from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe.. Citation on p. 248. * While the oldest flutes currently known were found in Europe, Asia also has a long history with the instrument. A playable bone flute discovered in China is dated to about 9,000 years ago. The Americas also had an ancient flute culture, with instrumen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moog Synthesizer
The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer and established the analog synthesizer concept. The Moog synthesizer consists of separate modules which create and shape sounds, which are connected via patch cords. Modules include voltage-controlled oscillators, amplifiers, filters, envelope generators, noise generators, ring modulators, triggers and mixers. The synthesizer can be played using controllers including keyboards, joysticks, pedals and ribbon controllers, or controlled with sequencers. Its oscillators produce waveforms, which can be modulated and filtered to shape their sounds ( subtractive synthesis) or used to control other modules ( low-frequency oscillation). Moog developed the synthesizer in response to demand for more practical and affordable electronic music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or Plucked string instrument, plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand. A guitar pick may also be used to strike the strings. The sound of the guitar is projected either Acoustics, acoustically, by means of a resonant hollow chamber on the guitar, or Amplified music, amplified by an electronic Pickup (music technology), pickup and an guitar amplifier, amplifier. The guitar is classified as a chordophone, meaning the sound is produced by a vibrating string stretched between two fixed points. Historically, a guitar was constructed from wood, with its strings made of catgut. Steel guitar strings were introduced near the end of the nineteen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass Guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer neck (music), neck and scale length (string instruments), scale length. The electric bass guitar most commonly has four strings, though five- and six-stringed models are also built. Since the mid-1950s, the bass guitar has replaced the double bass in popular music due to its lighter weight, smaller size, most models' inclusion of Fret, frets for easier Intonation_(music), intonation, and electromagnetic pickups for amplification. Another reason the bass guitar replaced the double bass is because the double bass is "acoustically imperfect" like the viola. For a double bass to be acoustically perfect, its body size would have to be twice as that of a cello rendering it unplayable, so the double bass is made smaller to make it playable. The elect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Singing
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singing as the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. Other common definitions include "the utterance of words or sounds in tuneful succession" or "the production of musical tones by means of the human voice". A person whose profession is singing is called a singer or a vocalist (in jazz or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung accompaniment, with or a cappella, without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble (music), ensemble of musicians, such as a choir. Singers may perform as Soloist (music), soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument (as in art songs or some Jazz, jazz styles) up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Many styles o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
