Arthur Loves Plastic or ALP is the performing name of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

–based

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 ...

recording artist Beverley Joy "Bev" Stanton.

Biography

Stanton was born in

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

in 1966 and raised near

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...

. She recorded ALP's first project, '' Sperm Warfare'', in her basement, and it was released in Europe by Britain's T.E.Q. Music?. After T.E.Q. folded, Stanton has independently released most of her twenty one studio albums. Her early efforts at internet promotion prompted ''

Keyboard Magazine ''Keyboard'' is a magazine that originally covered electronic keyboard instruments and keyboardists, though with the advent of computer-based recording and audio technology, they have added digital music technology to their regular coverage, in ...

'' to feature her in a cover story on indie-music promotion. Stanton also plays bass in the Baltimore band The Window Shoppers and is an honorary Space Dot. ALP's part-time vocalist, Lisa Moscatiello, featured three ALP tracks on her latest solo CD '' Trouble from the Start''.

Machine Heart Records

Stanton is in charge Machine Heart Records, which is an independent record label run out

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Band name

Stanton's performing name is taken from her cat Arthur's fondness for plastic grocery bags. Arthur Loves Plastic is regularly included in internet lists of weird/funny/worst band names.

Remixer

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

has referred to Stanton as a "

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

master" for her work with artists such as

Basehead Basehead, also known as dc Basehead and Basehead 2.0, is an American alternative hip hop and rock group formed by Michael Ivey in 1992. Ivey serves as the group's songwriter and leader, performing vocals and various instruments. Basehead's 199 ...

, Emmet Swimming, Lisa Moscatiello,

Nebulae A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in th ...

, Sounds of Mass Production, Techno Squirrels and

Trisomie 21 Trisomie 21 is a French cold wave (music), cold wave group, formed in Lille, France, Lille, France, in 1980 by brothers Philippe and Hervé Lomprez. History Throughout the 1980s and '90s, Trisomie 21 was signed to PIAS Recordings, Play It ...

DJ

Since 2002, Stanton has performed as a

Beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

club DJ – initially as a member of the First Ladies DJ Collective. She describes her style as "

downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

progressive house Progressive house is a subgenre of house music that emerged in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. It is characterized by its evolving, melodic Musical form, structures, subtle Transition (music), transitions, and layered sound design.Gerard, ...

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

with original ALP tracks thrown in".

Awards

Stanton and ALP have won over twenty Wammies (Washington Area Music Awards) in the Electronica category, including the 2008 Electronica Recording Wammie for the album '' Brief Episodes of Joy''. In addition, ALP has been awarded the Electronica Emeritus Award (2008 Wammies) and Emeritus Standing in the Electronica Performing Artist (live) category (2006 Wammies), while Stanton has been awarded Emeritus Standing in the Electronica DJ category (2006 Wammies) – an honour handed out to a select few artists which acknowledges their continuing success in these fields.

Music in other media

Advertising

"Feel the Love", "Boogie Bonnie Bell", " Ravish" and a brief biography for ALP feature in the

GEICO Cavemen The GEICO Cavemen are trademarked characters of the auto insurance company GEICO, used in a series of television advertisements that aired beginning in 2004. The campaign was created by Joe Lawson and Noel Ritter while working at The Martin Agenc ...

campaign's virtual website Caveman's Crib. The track "I Can Dream" was featured on Pumawomen.com.

Dance

Stanton produced the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

piece "Fragile" for use in performances at The Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington D.C.

Film

"Ooh Baby" and "If I Fell Off This Earth Tonight" feature on the soundtrack of the Canadian

TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrest ...

''Apartment Story'', while "Revolution (Reprise)" appears on the soundtrack of film short ''Paradise Attempted''. The track "Afterglow" is featured in its entirety in the film-poem ''To Suffer Is to Slip Unnoticed'', while "Klondyke 5" appears in the film-poem ''To Mock the Purists in Their Rabidity'' and "Falling" appears in the film-poem ''Purple Ganymede''.

Television

ALP tracks have appeared on ''

Access Hollywood ''Access Hollywood'', briefly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was create ...

'', ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'', ''

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Entertainment#Fox Alternative Entertainment, Fox Alternative Entertain ...

'', '' Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations'', ''

Extra Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

'', '' Lesbian Sex & Sexuality'', ''

Mind of Mencia ''Mind of Mencia'' is an American comedy television series on the cable channel Comedy Central. Hosted by comedian Carlos Mencia, it aired over the course of four seasons from July 6, 2005 to July 23, 2008. History The first season of ''Min ...

'', ''

MTV Cribs ''MTV Cribs'' (also known as ''Cribs'') is an American documentary television show that originated on MTV and features tours of the private homes of celebrities. It originally aired from 2000 to 2010. In 2017, MTV produced short-form episodes of ...

'', '' Sexy Girls Next Door'', ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

'' and ''

Undressed ''Undressed'' is an American anthology series that aired on MTV from July 26, 1999, to September 5, 2002. The series was created and executive produced by British director Roland Joffé. Synopsis The series follows the relationships (both rom ...

''.

Theatre

Eleven ALP tracks feature in the Solocat Productions

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

premiere of David Hare's play The Blue Room, and are included on The Blue Room soundtrack album. In the Rogue Machine production of Diana Son's play '' Stop Kiss'', the track "Yeah Baby" is featured in a scene at a lesbian club.

Personal life

Openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

, Stanton is a regular performer at Queering Sound, an annual festival staged in Washington, D.C. which focuses on alternative artists from the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''The Zero State'' (1995) * ''Professor Fate'' (1996) * '' Teflon Diva!'' (1997) * ''Slice'' (1998) * ''Klondyke 5'' (1999) * ''Second Avenue Detour'' (2000) * ''

Fixed Star In astronomy, the fixed stars () are the luminary points, mainly stars, that appear not to move relative to one another against the darkness of the night sky in the background. This is in contrast to those lights visible to the naked eye, name ...

'' (2001) * '' No Nations, No Peoples'' (2002) * ''

Nadir The nadir is the direction pointing directly ''below'' a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface. The direction opposite of the nadir is the zenith. Et ...

'' (2003) * '' Higher Fruit'' (2003) * '' Savage Bliss'' (2004) * '' Love or Perish'' (2005) * '' Pursuit of Happiness'' (2006) * ''Troubled'' (2006) * '' Beneath the Watchful Eyes'' (2007) * '' Brief Episodes of Joy'' (2008) * ''King Shag'' (2008) * '' Give It'' (2009) * ''Deeper'' (2010) * ''Special When Lit'' (2012) * ''Strings'' (2013)

References

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arthur Loves Plastic Living people 1966 births Ambient musicians Electronica musicians American DJs American electronic musicians American dance musicians American techno musicians Musicians from Washington, D.C. Songwriters from Washington, D.C. American lesbian musicians American women in electronic music Downtempo musicians Electronic dance music DJs Bahamian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American women musicians