Ryan David Orr has been writing and performing originial music since he was about 14 years old, after being involved in musical productions such as the opera Tosca, performed at the Angus Bowmer Theatre in Ashland, Oregon, and in the First Annual Northwest Children's Honor Choir, which performed at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, OR. He has played as a solo act and with bands all across the US. All material on this website was written by Ryan and performed by Ryan and his friends/bandmates. Inspirations are vast, including artists like Radiohead, Mos Def, Tool, Counting Crows, PJ Harvey, Thelonius Monk, Modest Mouse, Pearl Jam, and Tori Amos. He writes and produces many genres of music, but consistently returns to the ...
Founded by three teenagers in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1982, Corrosion of Conformity began as an underground band and went on to transform heavy music, challenging boundaries and serving as what Decibel Magazine called “a crucial stylistic lynchpin in the bridge between metal and punk” that “irrevocably reshaped crossover’s sonic possibilities.”Thirty years and many changes later, COC’s original trio is back with a self-titled release for London-based independent Candlelight Records.“Corrosion of Conformity isn’t a comeback album or an example of diminishing returns,” Invisible Oranges observed. “It’s a testament ...
CoolHead started in Rochester, Ny Creating a wide range of music ever since they were little. They started off with mainly hip hop but as they grew older they decided that they wanted to explore with sound a bit more. CoolHead is a Band Of two: Demo who does the production and some Vocals Every Once in a while, and Leo who handles most of the vocals,They are ages 18 & 19. They got alot of inspiration From Kid Cudi because of how diverse he can be, and we are all about diversity when it comes to sound. We think we have a sound that can not only be huge in our hometown but huge worldwide, there is just more and more music to create. Who knows what the future holds....
I am the C.E.O. of the record label F.O.T.B. Ent. i started it in January of 2006. I started recording music in 2002 then...
Biographies of Leonard Cohen are either too long for the uninitiated, or beside the point for fans, for which his story is as part of the history of art as DaVinci or The Beatles, artists whose stories ought to be known by heart.Born in Montreal in September 21, 1934, Cohen has achieved heights few artists have reached, with all the accolades both artistically (induction into both the Canadian Music and Rock and Roll Hall of Fames, and the Canadian songwriters Hall of Fame) and civic (recipient of the Order of Canada and the National Order of Quebec). But his meaning goes beyond the awards and adulation he has usually accepted with bemused grace at best.Cohen has explored the pain and ecstatic joys of sex, crea...
The Sugarwaves are an electronic duo from Los Angeles whose music incorporates dream pop vocals, lo-fi electronic beats, textured against ambient, shoegazing, audio canvases. Founded in 2011 and based in Los Angeles, CA, the duo consists of friends DC2.0 (guitar, programing) and Mar P (keyboards, vocals). The two came together by a hap-chance meeting via the internet in late 2011 when DC2.0 was looking for a vocalist to collaborate with on an electronic experimental project. Quickly files were exchanged back and forth and the duo began writing and posting youtube videos....
...reverb obsessed hoodlums, hell-bent on destruction!While their claims of being resurrected shine runners from late 50's Alabama is a subject best left for debate among fans, what cannot be disputed is that when Kill, Baby...Kill! first unleashed their reverb-drenched madness to modern audiences in late 2010, the rock scene was never to be the same. Combining equal parts love for the instrumental rock of the early 1960's and the drive-in horror culture of the 1950's, Kill, Baby...Kill! deliver a brand of instrumental mayhem that is unmatched in the current music environment. Their live show is an audio and video assault that blurs the line between live performance and Hollywood horror.2011 saw Kill, Baby...Kill! bring the...
Like the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, and the Jesus and Mary Chain before them, My Bloody Valentine redefined what noise meant within the context of pop songwriting. Led by guitarist Kevin Shields, the group released several EPs in the mid-'80s before recording the era-defining Isn't Anything in 1988, a record that merged lilting, ethereal melodies of the Cocteau Twins with crushingly loud, shimmering distortion. Though My Bloody Valentine rejected rock & roll conventions, they didn't subscribe to the precious tendencies of anti-rock art-pop bands. Instead, they rode crashing waves of white noise to unpredictable conclusions, particularly since their noise wasn't paralyzing like the typical avant-garde noise rock band: it was t...
Umbrella Tree is a trio (recently quartet) from Nashville, TN who banded together in the summer of 2005. Jillian Leigh sings and tickles the keys, Derek Pearson plays drums, Zachary Gresham sings and shreds guitar and newly inducted member Ryan LaFave slaps da bass. They have released three full-length albums along with a digital download of acoustic renditions. Soon they will release their first vinyl record....
Cole Powell is an alternative pop/rock singer/song-writer/musician from Jayess, Mississippi....
dead prez is M-1 (left) and stic (right). Revolutionary Hip Hop with a Gangsta Lean. From their debut classic album Let’s Get Free, to their Turn Off the Radio mixtape series, all the way forward to M1′s forthcoming international project AP2P and stic.man’s current ground breaking “fit hop” album The Workout, dead prez’s RBG movement continues to evolve and represent Hip Hop culture authentically in this Age of Information.Never ones to rush their process, dead prez has reemerged from the training, the touring and the activism to release a new studio album. If you’ve been out the loop on what’s happening with DPZ, you’ve come...
Somewhere deep inside each of our souls is a place of extreme longing… a desire for connection, acceptance, hope, joy, forgiveness, and most of all for love. American Singer/Songwriter Littleton Jones captures these emotions, fills them with melody and rhyme, and delivers them to soul searching fans of alternative pop, classic rock, and folk music. Most engaging is the sense of intimacy in his voice, honesty in his lyrics, and the feeling that his son...
“What the hell is that?” is a question pretty familiar to the controversial Brooklyn band Prince Rama. The answer is far from simple; sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson have lived in ashrams, worked for utopian architects, written manifestos, delivered lectures from pools of fake blood, conducted group exorcisms disguised as VHS workouts and have now finished inventing an apocalypse on which to base their new pseudo-compilation album, Top Ten Hits of the End of the World, comprised of ten singles “channeled” from fictional deceased pop bands. Their often unpredictable live shows incorporate elements of psychedelic ceremony, performance art, and dancefloor initiation rite, and when Animal Collect...
Great White Oblivion is a NYC based Alternative Rock / Electronic project, founded in 2009 by Lior Magal. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Magal is the only official member of Great White Oblivion and remains solely responsible for its direction. GWOs unique alternative sound incorporates raw electronic driven rhythm, textural richness, massive distorted guitars, trance-infused ambience, and a distinct peaceful voice, tremendously intimate, which conveys the projects positive message, and defines its singular identity.Influenced by bands like Pink Floyd, The Cure, Radiohead, Thom Yorke, Coldplay, Massive Attack, NIN, The Crystal Method, and Muse. ...
Evanescence filled a niche few knew existed upon their arrival in 2003: the need for operatic goth-pop, soul-baring introspection paired with churning metallic guitars. Singer/pianist Amy Lee cut such a figure fronting the group that it was easy to not think of Evanescence as a band, but rather a support group for her songs. After some lineup shifts, however, including the departure of founding member Ben Moody, the band consolidated and remained one of the most popular post-alternative American bands of the 2000s.Amy Lee met Moody at a youth camp in their native Little Rock, Arkansas in 1994. Lee and Moody worked steadily together, releasing three EPs at the tail-end of the '90s, followed by a full-length a...
Ever since emerging as a member of Black Star in the late 1990s, Talib Kweli is one of the few artists making commercially viable music that matters. The Brooklyn bred rapper's hard-hitting music has been able to educate and entertain simultaneously. So it is no wonder that at the peak of their fame, both Jay-Z and 50 Cent named Talib Kweli as one of their favorite rappers.With Ear Drum, his fir...
By melding punk with reggae, Bad Brains became one of the definitive American hardcore punk groups of the early '80s. Although the group released only a handful of records during its peak, including the legendary cassette-only debut, Bad Brains, they developed a dedicated following, many of whom would later form their own hardcore and alternative bands. As for Bad Brains themselves, they continued to record and tour in varying lineups led by guitarist Dr. Know into the late '90s yet never managed to break out of their cult status.Dr. Know (born Gary Miller), a former jazz fusion guitarist, formed Bad Brains in 1979, inspired by both the amateurish rage of the Sex Pistols and the political reggae of Bob Marle...
The Circle Jerks are an American punk band, formed in late 1978 in Hermosa Beach, California. It was formed by Black Flag's original singer, Keith Morris, and future Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson. They were among the preeminent hardcore punk bands of the L.A. scene in the late 1970s. The band broke up and reformed twice, sometimes with different bass players and/or drummers. They disbanded for the first time after the release of ...
In many ways, Black Flag was the definitive Los Angeles hardcore punk band. Although their music flirted with heavy metal and experimental noise and jazz more than that of most hardcore bands, they defined the image and the aesthetic. Through their ceaseless touring, the band cultivated the American underground punk scene; every year, Black Flag played in every area of the U.S., influencing countless numbers of bands. Although their recording career was hampered by a draining lawsuit, which was followed by a seemingly endless stream of independently released records, the band was unquestionably one of the most influential American post-punk bands. A full decade and a half before the fusion of punk and metal became popular, Black Flag c...
With an origin going back to their time spent living in a “Students of Color for Social Justice”-themed dorm, Das Racist’s meeting seems like destiny. While MCs Victor Vazquez and Himanshu Suri met years earlier, 2008 would be the year that they would come to the attention of the music world after their strangely catchy song “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” became a YouTube hit. Teamed up with their hype man, Dap (aka Ashok Kondabolu), the Brooklyn group has a style that both satirizes and reveres hip-hop, combining druggy nonsense, social commentary, and obscure pop culture references into one boldly self-aware package. In 2010, the group self-released two mixtapes, Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man, w...
Cinema Novo began as a recording project of Christopher Richardson. Later, after several years of writing and recording arrangements for a large band proved unfruitful, drummer Shawn Moeckly was enlisted to aid in stripping down an original collection of songs to be recorded and performed as a duo, pairing high energy and bombastic drums with frantic and latin-tinged guitar. The songs on their self-titled EP were almost 5 years in the making, and according to Moeckly were very close to never leaving the confines of a hard drive.Being significantly influenced by film, the band's name is borrowed from the 1960s Brazilian film movement of the same name, which with its common themes of populism, violence, exploi...
Inspired by the sounds of modern New York City Post Punk, Aways Away was formed in 2009 by Evan de Augustinis. With a desire to combine melodic vocal elements with a driving rock sound, Evan placed an ad for a lead guitarist on Craigslist, which was answered by Joe Micalizzi. They worked out a dueling guitar sound and early incarnations of Evan's songs began to take on a new life. In need of a drummer, Joe met Michael Lyon at a party and recruited him for an audition. Mike's dynamic drumming was a great addition to their layered, textured, guitar sound. The band began to incorporate the sounds of NYC Pre-Punk bands i...
"Paper Bags is not a real band." That's the joke, anyway.It is the pseudonym of Geoffrey Hornby and the music he has created in his solo musical endeavors since 2010 - he is an independent alternative-folk artist based out of the Detroit Metro area....
Erykah Badu, best known for her eccentric style and cerebral music, is a Grammy- award winning American soul singer and songwriter. Regarded as the Queen of Neo Soul, Badu’s sound -- a concoction of soul, hip-hop and jazz -- cannot be contained to a single genre. Self-described as a “mother first”, Badu is a touring artist, dj, teacher, community activist, holistic healer, vegan, recycler, and conscious spirit. Baduizm, Badu's highly acclaimed debut album, was released in early 1997 went triple platinum and, along with "On & On," won Grammy Awards at the 1998 ceremony. This spring, Badu released her fifth studio album, and second installment of a two-part New Amerykah series. New Amerykah, Part 1: Fourth...
Countess is a Dutch band that has been unleashing metal music upon the world since 1992. Countess' unique and harsh style of metal, characterized by an uncompromising loyalty to the old Heavy Metal and Black Metal traditions but by no means unoriginal, has certainly gone through changes over the years, but its essence has always remained the same. The most important influences of Countess are the old Black Metal legends like Venom, Bathory and Hellhammer and traditional Heavy Metal bands like Manowar and Manilla Road. Since 1993, Countess has released thirteen full-length albums. The most recent record, 'On Wings Of Defiance', was released in 2011....
Although its name suggests the presence of a full band, Sparklehorse was essentially the work of singer/songwriter Mark Linkous, an alumnus of the mid-'80s indie band the Dancing Hoods. A tenure in the Johnson Family (later known as Salt Chuck Mary) followed, as did stints sweeping chimneys and painting houses. He began working as Sparklehorse in 1995, honing his spooky, lo-fi roots pop in the studio located on his farm in Bremo Bluff, VA. After a demo made its way to the offices of Capitol Records, Linkous signed to the label and issued Sparklehorse's acclaimed debut, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, scoring an alternative radio hit with the single "Someday I Will Treat You Good."In early 1996,...
As much a concept as a band, the Olivia Tremor Control was one of the most visible and innovative members of the Elephant 6 collective, a coterie of like-minded, lo-fi indie groups -- including the Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Secret Square -- who shared musicians, ideas, and sensibilities. the Olivia Tremor Control was led by singers/songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss, natives of the small, isolated town of Ruston, Louisiana, where they struck up friendships with fellow outsiders Robert Schneider (who went on to front the Apples) and Jeff Mangum (the auteur behind Neutral Milk Hotel).Throughout high school, the aspiring musicians -- all influenced by the likes of ...
