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B-2 Unit
'' B-2 Unit '' is the second solo electronic music album by Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, released in 1980. The lead single "Riot in Lagos" was a highly influential cult hit, significant to the development of electro, hip hop and techno music, and considered one of the most important tracks in the history of electronic dance music. It is also one of the first albums to feature the influential Roland TR-808 drum machine, which "Riot in Lagos" is credited for introducing to clubs. Production The then brand new Roland TR-808, prior to the drum machine's official release in 1980, was rented out to Sakamoto's band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). Sakamoto's solo album ''B-2 Unit'' was one of the first albums to use the 808, while its lead single "Riot in Lagos" was one of the first tracks featuring the 808. Sakamoto drew inspiration from Afrobeat music, notably Nigerian musicians such as Fela Kuti and Tony Allen, reinterpreting the genre's rhythmic structures in the context of electr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryuichi Sakamoto
was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his YMO bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres. As a film score composer, Sakamoto won an Academy Awards, Academy Award (Oscar), British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA, Grammy Award, Grammy and two Golden Globe Awards. Sakamoto began his career as a session musician, producer, and arranger while he was at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in the mid 1970s. His first major success came in 1978 as co-founder of YMO. He pursued a solo career at the same time, releasing the Experimental music, experimental electronic Fusion (music), fusion album ''Thousand Knives'' in that year, and the album ''B-2 Unit'' in 1980. ''B-2 Unit'' includes the track "Riot i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfa Records
, originally a publisher known as Alfa Music Ltd. and later succeeded by record company Alfa Music Inc., was established in 1969 by composer and record producer Kunihiko Murai. It was formed into an independent record label known as Alfa Records in 1977. A short-lived American subsidiary operated from 1980 to 1982. History In December 1980, Alfa Records opened a U.S. subsidiary in Los Angeles, planning to specialize in a "global approach to music". The label had some U.S. Top 40 successes in 1981 with Lulu, whose two-year-old recording of " I Could Never Miss You (More Than I Do)" became a Top 20 hit on Alfa, as well as former The Guess Who singer Burton Cummings ("You Saved My Soul") and Billy Vera and the Beaters ("I Can Take Care Of Myself"). Vera's "At This Moment" was also originally released on Alfa and reached No. 79 on the Billboard chart in late 1981, five years before it was re-released on Rhino Records and became a nationwide No. 1 smash. Other U.S. Hot 100 success ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Future Plc
Future plc is a British publishing company. It was started in 1985 by Chris Anderson (entrepreneur), Chris Anderson. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1985–2012 The company was founded by Chris Anderson (entrepreneur), Chris Anderson as Future Publishing in Somerton, Somerset, England, with the sole magazine ''Amstrad Action'' in 1985. An early innovation was the inclusion of free software on magazine covers. It acquired GP Publications and established what would become Future US in 1994. Anderson sold the company to Pearson plc for £52.7m in 1994, but bought it back in 1998, for £142 million. The company was Initial public offering, floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1999. Anderson left the company in 2001. In 2004, the company was accused of corruption when it published positive reviews for the video game ''Driver 3'' in two of its owned magazines, ''Xbox World'' and ''PSM3, PSM2''. 2012–2015 Futu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MusicRadar
Future plc is a British publishing company. It was started in 1985 by Chris Anderson. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1985–2012 The company was founded by Chris Anderson as Future Publishing in Somerton, Somerset, England, with the sole magazine '' Amstrad Action'' in 1985. An early innovation was the inclusion of free software on magazine covers. It acquired GP Publications and established what would become Future US in 1994. Anderson sold the company to Pearson plc for £52.7m in 1994, but bought it back in 1998, for £142 million. The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1999. Anderson left the company in 2001. In 2004, the company was accused of corruption when it published positive reviews for the video game '' Driver 3'' in two of its owned magazines, '' Xbox World'' and '' PSM2''. 2012–2015 Future published the official magazines for the consoles of all three major games conso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It has factories in Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, and the United States. As of December 2022, it employed 2,783 people. In 2014, it was subject to a management buyout by its CEO, Junichi Miki, supported by Taiyo Pacific Partners. Roland has manufactured numerous instruments that have had lasting impacts on music, such as the Juno-106 synthesizer, TB-303 bass synthesizer, and TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines. It was also instrumental in the development of MIDI, a standardized means of synchronizing electronic instruments manufactured by different companies. In 2016, ''Fact'' wrote that Roland had arguably had more influence on electronic music than any other company. History Background Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi had founded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drum Machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A drum machine often has pre-programmed beats and patterns for popular genres and styles, such as pop music, rock music, and dance music. Most modern drum machines made in the 2010s and 2020s also allow users to program their own rhythms and beats. Drum machines may create sounds using Analog synthesizer, analog synthesis or play prerecorded Sampling (music), samples. While a distinction is generally made between drum machines (which can play back pre-programmed or user-programmed beats or patterns) and electronic drums (which have pads that can be struck and played like an acoustic drum kit), there are some drum machines that have buttons or pads that allow the performer to play drum sounds "live", either on top of a programmed drum beat or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roland TR-808
The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patterns. Unlike its nearest competitor at the time, the more expensive Linn LM-1, the 808 generates sounds using analog synthesis rather than by playing samples. The 808 was a commercial failure, as electronic music had yet to become mainstream and many producers wanted more realistic drum sounds. After building approximately 12,000 units, Roland discontinued the 808 after its semiconductors became impossible to restock. It was succeeded by the TR-909 in 1983. Over the course of the 1980s, the 808 attracted a cult following among underground musicians for its affordability on the used market, ease of use and idiosyncratic sounds, particularly its deep, booming bass drum. It became a cornerstone of the emerging electronic, dance and hip-hop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronic Dance Music
Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally produced for gapless playback, playback by DJs who create seamless selections of tracks, called a DJ mix, by segueing from one recording to another. EDM producers also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting in what is sometimes called a live PA. Since its inception EDM has expanded to include a wide range of subgenres. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, following the emergence of Rave music, raving, pirate radio, Party crews, underground festivals, and an upsurge of interest in club culture, EDM achieved mainstream popularity in Europe. However, rave culture was not as broadly popular in the United States; it was not typically seen outside of the regional scenes in New York City, Florida, the Midwest, and California. Alt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hip Hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip-hop includes rapping often enough that the terms can be used synonymously. However, "hip-hop" more properly denotes an entire subculture. Other key markers of the genre are the disc jockey, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks. Cultural interchange has always been central to the hip-hop genre. It simultaneously borrows from its social environment while commenting on it. The hip-hop genre and culture emerged from block parties in ethnic minority neighborhoods of New York City, particularly Bronx. DJs began expanding the instrumental breaks of popular records when they noticed how excited it would make the crowds. The extended instrumental breaks provided a platform for break dancers and rappers. These breakbeats ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cult Hit
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, book, musical artist, television series, or video game, among other things, is said to have a cult following when it has a very passionate fanbase. A common component of cult followings is the emotional attachment the fans have to the object of the cult following, often identifying themselves and other fans as members of a community. Cult followings are also commonly associated with niche markets. Cult media are often associated with underground culture, and are considered too eccentric or anti-establishment to be appreciated by the general public or to be widely commercially successful. Many cult fans express their devotion with a level of irony when describing such entertainment. Fans may become involved in a subculture of fandom, either ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronic Music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means (electroacoustic music). Pure electronic instruments depend entirely on circuitry-based sound generation, for instance using devices such as an electronic oscillator, theremin, or synthesizer: no acoustic waves need to be previously generated by mechanical means and then converted into electrical signals. On the other hand, electromechanical instruments have mechanical parts such as strings or hammers that generate the sound waves, together with electric elements including pickup (music technology), magnetic pickups, power amplifiers and loudspeakers that convert the acoustic waves into electrical signals, process them and convert them back into sound waves. Such electromechanical devices in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BGM (album)
''BGM'' is the fourth studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra, released on March 21, 1981. The electronic music album, whose title stands for "Background music", was produced by Haruomi Hosono. Recording started on January 15, 1981, in an effort to release the album by March 21, 1981. It was one of the first albums to feature the Roland TR-808, the most influential early programmable drum machine, along with YMO member Ryuichi Sakamoto's solo album '' B-2 Unit'' (1980). YMO was the first band to use the device, featuring it on stage in 1980. In addition to the TR-808, this was also their first studio album recorded with the Roland MC-4 Microcomposer music sequencer. The album, particularly its use of the TR-808, was influential on the development of electronic, hip hop and dance music. Overview The title stands for "Background music". However, Japanese TV and press advertising alternately used "Beautiful Grotesque Music". Alfa Records, YMO's record company, had installed a 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
