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The Vanity Set
The Vanity Set is an indie rock group of mostly second-generation Greek-Americans formed in New York City in 2000. Led by Jim Sclavunos, the drummer/percussionist with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, they describe their music as a blend of "low art, high sass and raw bluster." Their music includes the sounds of rebetiko, " psycho-billy guitar, creepy keys, raucous tuba, mellifluous theremin." By 2022, Sclavunos told an interviewer for NME that the project was done. He also said in 2021 that he had a set of unfinished Vanity Set material that he was working on releasing. Current members * Jim Sclavunos - lead vocals * Peter Mavrogeorgis - guitar, bouzouki * David Morton - keyboards, clarinet * Tam Ui - drums * Sasha Kazachkov - bass * Jennifer Carey - tuba & dead-bird-in-bag wrangler * Jaiko Suzuki - percussion Previous members * Meredith Yayanos - violin, theremin * David Berger - drums, percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by ...
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New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a respective county. The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics, and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy. With an estimated population in 2024 of 8,478,072 distributed over , the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city.
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New York (state)
New York, also called New York State, is a U.S. state, state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. New York is the List of U.S. states and territories by population, fourth-most populous state in the United States, with nearly 20 million residents, and the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 27th-largest state by area, with a total area of . New York has Geography of New York (state), a varied geography. The southeastern part of the state, known as Downstate New York, Downstate, encompasses New York City, the List of U.S. cities by population, most populous city in the United States; Long Island, with approximately 40% of the state's population, the nation's most populous island; and the cities, suburbs, and wealthy enclaves of the lower Hudson Valley. These areas are the center of the expansive New ...
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Indie (music)
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties afforded by independent record labels. Indie music describes a number of related styles, but generally describes guitar-oriented music straying away from mainstream conventions. There are a number of subgenres of independent music which combine its characteristics with other genres, such as indie pop, indie rock, indie folk, and indie electronic. Additionally, in certain circles, the term indie has taken a definition entirely defined by the "typical" sound of independent music in the 1980s, losing the meaning connected with the style of production. The origins of independent music lie in British independent record labels, such as Rough Trade and Mute. In the 1970s, these labels contributed to the emergence of a distinct sound, influenced by post-p ...
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Jim Sclavunos
James Sclavunos is an American multi-instrumentalist, record producer and writer. He is best known for his work as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and 8 Eyed Spy, both alongside Lydia Lunch. He is also noted for stints in Sonic Youth and the Cramps, and has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994. Sclavunos has led his own group the Vanity Set since 2000 and was a founding member of the Bad Seeds spinoff band Grinderman. Biography Sclavunos, a half-Greek and half-Italian from Brooklyn, New York (known for his exceptional height at 6'7"), was memorably described in the pages of ''The Wire'' as an "infamous elegant degenerate". He has long been a prime mover in New York City's vibrant underground music scene, helping to kick-start the vital no wave movement in the late 1970s with Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and 8 Eyed Spy (both with Lydia Lunch), before playing with Sonic Youth and the Cra ...
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Uncut (magazine)
''Uncut'' is a monthly magazine based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections. A DVD magazine under the ''Uncut'' brand was published quarterly from 2005 to 2006. The magazine was acquired in 2019 by Singaporean music company BandLab Technologies, and was published by NME Networks from December 2021 to August 2023, when the brand was sold to Kelsey Media. ''Uncut'' (main magazine) ''Uncut'' was launched in May 1997 by IPC as "a monthly magazine aimed at 25- to 45-year-old men that focuses on music and movies", edited by Allan Jones (former editor of '' Melody Maker''). Jones has stated that " e idea for Uncut came from my own disenchantment about what I was doing with ''Melody Maker''. There was a publishing initiative to make the audience younger; I was getting older and they wanted to take the readers further away from me", specifically referring to the then dominant Britpop genre. Accordi ...
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Greek-Americans
Greek Americans ( ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greeks, Greek ancestry. There is an estimate of 1.2 million Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. According to the US census, 264,066 people older than 5 years old spoke Greek language, Greek at home in 2019. Greek Americans have the highest concentrations in the New York City metropolitan area, New York City, Boston metropolitan area, Boston, and Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago regions, but have settled in major metropolitan areas across the United States. In 2000, Tarpon Springs, Florida, was home to the highest per capita representation of Greek Americans in the country (just over 10%). The United States is home to the largest number of Greeks outside of Greece, followed by Cyprus and Greek Australians, Australia. Within the New York City region, Astoria, Queens contains an abundant Greek community and an official Greektown. Officially city-designated Greektowns ex ...
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Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are a Rock music, rock band formed in Melbourne in 1983 by lead vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and German guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its career and presently consists of Cave, violinist and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis (musician), Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn P. Casey (all from Australia), guitarist George Vjestica (United Kingdom), touring keyboardist/percussionist Larry Mullins (musician), Larry Mullins, also known as Toby Dammit (United States), and drummers Thomas Wydler (Switzerland) and Jim Sclavunos (United States). Described as "one of the most original and celebrated bands of the post-punk and alternative rock eras in the '80s and onward", they have released eighteen studio albums and completed numerous international tours. The band was founded following the demise of Cave and Harvey's former group The Birthday Party (band), the Birthday Party, the m ...
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Rebetiko
Rebetiko (, ), plural rebetika ( ), occasionally transliterated as rembetiko or rebetico, is a term used to designate previously disparate kinds of urban Greek music which in the 1930s went through a process of musical syncretism and developed into a more distinctive musical genre. Rebetiko can be described briefly as the urban popular song of the Greeks, especially the poorest, from the late 19th century to the 1950s, and served as the basis for further developments in popular Greek music. The music, which was partly forgotten, was rediscovered during the so-called rebetika revival, which started in the 1960s and developed further from the early 1970s. In 2017 rebetiko was added in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. Definition and etymology The word (plural ) is an adjectival form derived from the Greek word (, ), which is construed to mean a person who embodies aspects of character, dress, behavior, morals and ethics associated with a particular subculture ...
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Psychobilly
Psychobilly (or punkabilly) is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It has been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional country rock, countrified rock style known as rockabilly, ramp[ing] up its speed to a sweaty pace, and combin[ing] it with punk rock and imagery lifted from horror films and late-night sci-fi schlock,... [creating a] gritty honky tonk punk rock." Psychobilly is often characterized by lyrical references to science fiction, horror (leading to lyrical similarities to horror punk) and exploitation films, violence, lurid human sexuality, sexuality, and other topics generally considered taboo, though often presented in a comedic or tongue-in-cheek fashion. Psychobilly bands and lyrics usually take an politics, apolitical stance, a reaction to the right- and left wing political attitudes which divided other British youth cultures. It is often played with an upright double bass ...
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Bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat and a long neck with a fretted fingerboard. It has steel strings and is played with a plectrum producing a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but pitched lower. It is the precursor to the Irish bouzouki, an instrument derived from the Greek bouzouki that is popular in Celtic, English, and North American folk music. There are 3 main types of Greek bouzouki: the ''trichordo'' (''three-course'') has three pairs of strings (known as courses) the ''tetrachordo'' (''four-course'') has four pairs of strings, & then the ''pentachordo'' (''five-course'') with 5 pairs of strings. The instrument was brought to Greece in the early 1900s by Greek refugees from Anatolia, and quickly became the central ...
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Meredith Yayanos
Meredith Anne Yayanos is a California-based violinist, vocalist and thereminist. Her work has been featured on tracks with artists including The Dresden Dolls, The Vanity Set, Revue Noir, David Garland (musician), David Garland and The Walkmen. Since 2021, Yayanos is a member of the feminist black metal band Feminazgûl. Yayanos was a contributing artist to the comic book project ''9-11: Emergency Relief'', created to benefit the American Red Cross in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. She is also the inspiration for a comic book character named Melanctha, appearing in the 21st issue of ''Planetary (comics), Planetary'' by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. She is also a photographer with a portfolio on flickr featuring fellow artists, New York scenery, and personal photos. She is a founding member of the alternative magazine ''Coilhouse''. Discography The following is a partial list of albums featuring Yayanos: *2001 – Raz Mesinai: ''Before the Law'' *2002 – Kings C ...
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Theremin
The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named after its inventor, Leon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928. The instrument's controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which function not as radio antennas but rather as position sensors. Each antenna forms one half of a capacitor with each of the thereminist's hands as the other half of the capacitor. These antennas capacitively sense the relative position of the hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (volume) with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker. The sound of the instrument is often associated with eerie situations. The theremin has been used in movie soundtracks such as Miklós Rózsa's '' Spellbound'' and '' Th ...
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