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Mad!
''Mad!'' (stylized as ''MAD!'') is the 28th studio album by American pop duo Sparks, released through Transgressive Records on May 23, 2025. Upon release, the album was met with critical acclaim and continued the group's commercial success in the UK, despite the return to an independent label. ''Mad!'' entered the UK album chart at no. 2, the highest in the band's career. Background and recording During a ceremony at the 2024 AIM Independent Music Awards in which Sparks received the honors of Outstanding Contribution to Music, bandmates Ron and Russell Mael took the opportunity to announce that they had signed to Transgressive Records for a new record. This follows a continuous period of chart success for the Mael brothers, with ''Hippopotamus'' (2017), ''A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip'' (2020), and '' The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte'' (2023) all peaking at no. 7 on the UK albums chart, the highest position since '' Kimono My House'' peaked at no. 4 in 1974. Their first album of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sparks (band)
Sparks is an American pop music, pop and rock music, rock duo formed by brothers Ron Mael, Ron (keyboards) and Russell Mael (vocals) in Los Angeles. The duo is noted for their quirky approach to songwriting; their music is often accompanied by sophisticated and wikt:acerbic, acerbic lyrics—often about women, and sometimes containing literary or cinematic references—and an idiosyncratic, theatrical stage presence, typified by the contrast between Russell's animated, hyperactive frontman antics and Ron's deadpan scowling. Russell Mael has a distinctive wide-ranging voice, while Ron Mael plays keyboards in an intricate and rhythmic style. Their frequently changing styles and visual presentations have kept the band at the forefront of modern, artful pop music. Career highlights include "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1974; the disco hit "The Number One Song in Heaven" in 1979, resulting from a collaboration with Giorgio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Mael
Ronald David Mael (born August 12, 1945) is an American musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is the keyboard player and principal songwriter in the band Sparks (band), Sparks, which he founded with vocalist, occasional songwriter and younger brother Russell Mael in 1971. Mael is known for his quirky and idiosyncratic approach to songwriting, his intricate and rhythmic keyboard playing style and for his deadpan and low key, scowling demeanour onstage often remaining motionless over his keyboard in sharp contrast to Russell's animated and hyperactive frontman antics. Ron Mael is also noted for his conservative clothes and distinctive moustache. The Mael brothers are the founders of Lil' Beethoven Records. Early life Ronald David Mael was born on August 12, 1945, in Culver City, California. The Mael brothers grew up in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisades – an affluent beach neighbourhood of Los Angeles – with their father, Meyer Mael, who was a gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Mael
Russell Craig Mael (born October 5, 1948) is an American singer best known as the lead singer for the band Sparks (band), Sparks, which he formed in 1971 with his elder brother Ron Mael. Mael is known for his wide vocal range, in particular his far-reaching falsetto. He has a flamboyant and hyperactive stage presence which contrasts sharply with Ron Mael's impassive demeanour. The band released an album with British rock band Franz Ferdinand (band), Franz Ferdinand, as the supergroup FFS (band), FFS, titled ''FFS (album), FFS'', released in 2015. The Mael brothers are the founders of Lil' Beethoven Records. Early life Russell Craig Mael was born on October 5, 1948, in Los Angeles, California. The Mael brothers grew up in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisades – a relatively affluent beach neighborhood of Los Angeles – with their father Meyer, who was a graphic designer and caricaturist for the ''Hollywood Citizen-News'', and their mother, Miriam (''née'' Moskowit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annette (soundtracks)
'' Annette'' is the 2021 musical romantic drama film directed by Leos Carax, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. The film featured original music composed by Ron Mael and Russell Mael of Sparks, with lyrics co-written by Carax, and two soundtracks were released for the film. The "Cannes Edition" soundtrack, consisting of 15 songs were released first ahead of the film's Cannes' debut and was preceded by two singles"So May We Start" and "We Love Each Other So Much". The "Ultimate Edition" soundtrack was released in digitally and as a double CD shortly after and contains virtually all of the music from the film as well as demo music produced for the album. Background Ron and Russell initially conceived the script of ''Annette'' as a concept album in late-2010, but wanted it to be adapted into videography–feature film, as "We learned since then that movie people really need the physical, typed-out screenplay. But since the piece is pretty much wall-to-wall singing, we wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beats Per Minute (website)
''Beats Per Minute'' (formerly ''One Thirty BPM'') is a New York City– and Los Angeles–based online publication providing reviews, news, media, interviews and feature articles about the music world. ''Beats Per Minute'' covers a variety of genres and specializes in rock, hip hop, and electronic music. History ''Beats Per Minute'' was founded in late 2008 as a five-man operation and named as a reference to the Of Montreal song "Suffer for Fashion". As of 2011, ''Beats Per Minute'' had expanded to a staff of about 50 contributors based in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand, Germany, Australia, and Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count .... The site changed its name from ''One Thirty BPM'' to ''Beats Per Minute'' in January 2012. Ratings It issues music ratings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weyes Blood
Natalie Laura Mering (born June 11, 1988), known professionally as Weyes Blood (pronounced , like "wise blood"), is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She was primarily raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She has been performing her own material under variations of the name Weyes Blood since 2003. Mering's career began with her early involvement in the underground noise music scene and tenure as a member bassist of the Portland, Oregon-based experimental rock group Jackie-O Motherfucker and singer for the band Satanized. As Weyes Bluhd she released three self-released solo albums exploring softer pop music, pop and folk music, folk sounds before adopting the alternate moniker Weyes Blood to release ''The Outside Room'' (2011) on micro-label Not Not Fun Records. She then signed a recording contract with independent label Mexican Summer, releasing ''The Innocents (Weyes Blood album), The Innocents'' (2014) and ''Front Row Seat to Earth'' (2016). She released her fourth ... [...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] |
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is generally recognized as a master of the horror genre. At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the French Directors' Guild gave him the Golden Coach Award and lauded him as "a creative genius of raw, fantastic, and spectacular emotions". On April 3, 2025, he received a List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Carpenter's early films included critical and commercial successes such as ''Halloween (1978 film), Halloween'' (1978), ''The Fog'' (1980), ''Escape from New York'' (1981), and ''Starman (film), Starman'' (1984). Though he has been acknowledged as an influential filmmaker, his other productions from the 1970s and the 1980s only later came to be considered Cult film, cult classics; these include ''Dark ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WECB (Emerson College)
Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," the college offers more than three dozen degree and professional training programs specializing in the fields of arts and communication with a foundation in liberal arts studies. The college is one of the founding members of the ProArts Consortium, an association of six neighboring institutions in Boston dedicated to arts education at the collegiate level. Emerson is also notable for the college's namesake public opinion poll, Emerson College Polling. Originally based in Boston's Pemberton Square, the college moved neighborhoods several times, and is now located in the Theater District along the south side of the Boston Common. Emerson owns and operates the historic Colonial, Paramount, and Cutler Majestic theaters, as well as several smalle ... [...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] |
Official Charts Company
The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation that compiles various official record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts include ones for singles, albums and films, with the data compiled from a mixture of downloads, purchases (of physical media) and streaming. The OCC produces its charts by gathering and combining sales data from retailers through market researchers Kantar, and claims to cover 99% of the singles market and 95% of the album market, and aims to collect data from any retailer who sells more than 100 chart items per week. The OCC is operated jointly by the British Phonographic Industry and the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) (formerly the British Association of Record Dealers (BARD)) and is incorporated as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts in 1999, and was acquired by Fandom, Inc. in 2022. Metacritic turns each critic and user review into respective percentage score. This can be done either by calculating the score from the rating given or by making a subjective decision based on the review's quality. Before averaging the scores, they are adjusted based on the critic's popularity, reputation, and the number of reviews they have written. The site also includes a summary from each review and links to the original source, using colors like green, yellow, or red to indicate the overall sentiment of the critics. Metacritic won two Webby Awards for excellence as an aggregation website. It is regarded as the foremost online rev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
