|
Downward Is Heavenward
''Downward Is Heavenward'' is the fourth studio album by the Champaign, Illinois alternative rock band Hum. Release ''Downward Is Heavenward'' was recorded in 1997, and first released on January 27, 1998, by RCA Records. Some websites such as AllMusic list it as being a 1997 album rather than a 1998 album, presumably because all versions of the album bear a 1997 copyright date. The title of the album appears as a lyric in "Afternoon with the Axolotls". Reception Despite selling fewer copies than its predecessor '' You'd Prefer an Astronaut'', the album was critically acclaimed. Brent DiCrescenzo from Pitchfork Media praised the abrasive but graceful nature of the album, writing, "A listen to ''Downward Is Heavenward'' actually scrubs off a layer of skin, yet Hum still manage to infuse grace and control into their skyward swirl." Ned Raggett from Allmusic wrote, "Having scored their fluke hit with 'Stars', Hum hunkered down and created a follow-up album that went nowhere, leadin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hum (band)
Hum was an American alternative rock band from Champaign, Illinois, United States. They are best known for their 1995 radio hit "Stars". After initially disbanding in 2000, Hum was largely inactive (save for sporadic performances) until reuniting in 2015 for a series of short tours. On June 23, 2020, the band announced and released ''Inlet'', their first album of new material in over twenty-two years. History Founding and early recordings The initial lineup of the band formed in 1989, with guitarist Andy Switzky, guitarist Matt Talbott, bass guitarist Akis Boyatzis and drummer Jeff Kropp. Talbott and Switzky met at a cafe named Treno's, in Urbana, Illinois, where Switzky worked. Discussions about music led to the two forming the nucleus of Hum. Talbott had previously played in the local group We Ate Plato and was presently a member of Honcho Overload; Switzky had performed in the semi-serious live band Obvious Man and had studio experience with Designer Mustard Gas. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitchfork (website)
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres including pop, hip-hop, jazz and metal. ''Pitchfork'' is one of the most influential music publications to have emerged in the internet age. In the 2000s, ''Pitchfork'' distinguished itself from print media through its unusual editorial style, frequent updates and coverage of emerging acts. It was praised as passionate, authentic and unique, but criticized as pretentious, mean-spirited and elitist, playing into stereotypes of the cynical hipster. It is credited with popularizing acts such as Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens. ''Pitchfork'' relocated to Chicago in 1999 and Brooklyn, New York, in 2011. It expanded with projects including the annual Pitchfork Music Festival (launched in Chicago in 2006), the video site ''Pitchf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1998 Albums
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles. * January 11 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria. * January 12 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning. * January 17 – The '' Drudge Report'' breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which will lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him. February * February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying EA-6B Prowler severs the cable of a cable-car. * February 4 – The 5.9 Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very strong''). Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Record Producer
A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensuring artists deliver acceptable and quality performances, supervising the technical engineering of the recording, and coordinating the production team and process. The producer's involvement in a musical project can vary in depth and scope. Sometimes in popular genres the producer may create the recording's entire sound and structure. However, in classical music recording, for example, the producer serves as more of a liaison between the conductor and the engineering team. The role is often likened to that of a film director, though there are important differences. It is distinct from the role of an executive producer, who is mostly involved in the recording project on an administrative level, and from the audio engineer who operates the re ... [...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] |
Drum Kit
A drum kit or drum set (also known as a trap set, or simply drums in popular music and jazz contexts) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The drummer typically holds a pair of matching Drum stick, drumsticks or special wire or nylon brushes; and uses their feet to operate hi-hat and bass drum pedals. A standard kit usually consists of: * A snare drum, mounted on a snare drum stand, stand * A bass drum, played with a percussion mallet, beater moved by one or more foot-operated pedals * One or more Tom drum, tom-toms, including Rack tom, rack toms or floor tom, floor toms * One or more Cymbal, cymbals, including a ride cymbal and crash cymbal * Hi-hat cymbals, a pair of cymbals that can be played with a foot-operated pedal The drum kit is a part of the standard rhythm section and is used in many types of popular and traditional music styles, ranging from rock 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] |
Stars (Hum Song)
"Stars" is the second single from Hum's 1995 album '' You'd Prefer an Astronaut''. The single was moderately successful in the United States, peaking at number eleven on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, and at number twenty-eight on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. Composition "Stars"which was written by Hum band members Matt Talbott, Jeff Dimpsey, Tim Lash, and Bryan St. Perehad been penned by the band years prior to their signing with RCA Records. The single was produced by the band and Keith Cleversley. In terms of style, "Stars" is predicated on "quiet-loud dynamics" akin to those used by Pixies. According to the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', "Stars" (along with the other Hum tracks "The Pod" and "I'd Like Your Hair Long") features a "fuzzed-out barrage of guitars hatsuggest a mixture of the pummeling sound of Dinosaur Jr. and the more dreamy soundscapes of Irish or British bands like My Bloody Valentine or Lush." '' Vox'' magazine wrote, "Tracks like 'Stars' ... are achingly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Musical ensemble, bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All-Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar, and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as compact discs (CDs) replaced LP record, LPs and cassette (format), cassettes as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it, he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres including pop, hip-hop, jazz and metal. ''Pitchfork'' is one of the most influential Music magazine, music publications to have emerged in the internet age. In the 2000s, ''Pitchfork'' distinguished itself from print media through its unusual editorial style, frequent updates and coverage of emerging acts. It was praised as passionate, authentic and unique, but criticized as pretentious, mean-spirited and elitist, playing into stereotypes of the cynical Hipster (contemporary subculture), hipster. It is credited with popularizing acts such as Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens. ''Pitchfork'' relocated to Chicago in 1999 and Brooklyn, New York, in 2011. It expanded with projects including the annual Pitchfork Music Festiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in the state outside the Chicago metropolitan area. It is a principal city of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, which had 236,000 residents in 2020. Champaign shares the main campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois with its twin city of Urbana, Illinois, Urbana, and is also home to Parkland College (United States), Parkland College, which gives the city a large student population during the academic year. Due to the university and a number of technology startup company, startup companies, it is often referred to as a hub of the Illinois Silicon Prairie. Champaign houses offices for the Fortune 500 companies Abbott Laboratories, Abbott, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Caterpillar Inc., Caterpillar, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
