Il Cerchio d'Oro were one of the many symphonic-oriented groups to come out of the initial boom of Italian productivity. They were formed in 1974 by the Terribile brothers (Gino and Guiseppe on drums and bass/guitars, respectively) and Franco Piccolini on keys. They were active on the gigging circuit around Savona but never managed to secure a recording deal, and so the only recordings initially available were a handful of singles from the late '70s following lineup changes (they're not particularly interesting from a progressive rock standpoint, either).
25 years after the band formed, Mellow records came along and dusted off some old recordings, releasing them as the self-titled "Cerchio d'Oro"…

They appeared out of nowhere, as if they were transported from a parallel universe wherein blue-eyed soul was seen as rock & roll's salvation in the late ‘80s. Like-minded groups like Johnny Hates Jazz, Waterfront, Living in a Box, and Curiosity Killed the Cat all debuted and disappeared at the same time. Of the four, Curiosity Killed the Cat leaned more toward the teen girl population that hung "Smash Hits" posters on their bedroom walls…

Eros Walter Luciano Ramazzotti (Italian: [ˈɛːroz ˈvalter luˈtʃaːno ramatˈtsɔtti]; born 28 October 1963) is an Italian musician, singer and songwriter. Ramazzotti is popular in Italy and most European countries, and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, as he has released most of his albums in both Italian and Spanish…

Rational Diet, the group existing since the late 90-s in Belarus proposes an unusual mix of styles and sounds: Chamber music, rock, theatre and improvisation, supported by the amazingly instrumental abilities of their components. It's difficult to define the mood of such music, which goes from dark atmosphere to grotesque, powerful or oniric, sometimes even humoristic. Violin, cello, bassoon, saxes and accordion - besides the traditional rock instruments - chase each other along the dizzy instrumental plots, or sustain the dazed texts by the Russian avant-garde poets Daniil Charms and Alexander Vvedensky.

Nowadays it seems that any music with the slightest hint of a synthesizer is labelled ‘electronic’. It is often a misnomer and cause for consternation amongst disciples of ‘full-fat’ electronic music. There is no doubt, however, that the work of Michael Shipway deserves this moniker. Mister Shipway composes bona fide electronic music and is one half of the much-admired duo, ‘VoLt’. Michael's trio of solo albums - ‘Into Battle’, followed by ‘Beneath Folly’ and then ‘Spirit Of Adventure’ - were released in the nineties to critical acclaim. They conjured-up melodies, rhythms and atmospheric sounds that helped define the zeitgeist of late-twentieth-century electronic music. All three thoroughly deserved their plaudits from the cognoscenti. They were going to be a hard act to follow, even a decade and a half on.

Delerium is from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, formed in 1987, originally as another side project (Intermix being the more techno-sounding project) of the influential industrial music act, Front Line Assembly. Delerium has traditionally been a two-person project, but the only constant member throughout its history has been Bill Leeb. After Michael Balch left both Front Line Assembly and Delerium, Bill Leeb worked with Rhys Fulber, and the two released several albums under the Delerium moniker; these years saw a gradual stylistic change from darker ambient to a more danceable sound. A collaboration with Sarah McLachlan in their Karma album, "Silence", won them a certain amount of popular recognition and spawned a great deal of remixes. Their 2006 effort Nuages du Monde featured singers from around the world, including opera star Isabel Baryakdarian and Punjabi singer Kiran Arwuhalia…

Appearing near the dawn of the 21st century, Atlanta's Mastodon established themselves as one of the most original and influential American metal bands. Their wide-angle progressive approach encompasses stoner and sludge metal, punishing hardcore and metalcore, neo-psych, death metal, and more - sometimes in the span of a single song. The group's playing style incorporates heavy, technically complex guitar riffs, lyric hooks, long, melodic instrumental passages, and intricate, jazz-influenced drumming with syncopated time signatures. Their second album, 2004's Leviathan, was a concept offering based on Moby Dick, Herman Melville's iconic novel of whaling and obsession, and proved the band's commercial and critical breakthrough. Since its release, the record has attained status as one of the most important albums in heavy metal's history…

The Unnatural History series puts obscure, collectable, and out of print singles, compilation tracks, and soundtracks on CD, making those ultra-limited works available all in one place.
Unnatural History (1990). The tracks were recorded during the 1983-86 timeline and include not only the classic Balance / Christopherson mind bending electronic surreality as Coil but also include three tracks with Boyd Rice when they were known as Sickness of Snakes which released one EP titled "Nightmare Culture"…

Limp Bizkit is an American rap rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of Fred Durst (lead vocals), Sam Rivers (bass, backing vocals), John Otto (drums, percussion), DJ Lethal (turntables), and Wes Borland (guitars, vocals). The band's music is marked by Durst's angry vocal delivery and Borland's sonic experimentation. Borland's elaborate visual appearance, which includes face and body paint, masks and uniforms, also plays a large role in Limp Bizkit's live shows…

The Russian band Roz Vitalis (from Saint Petersburg) exists since 2001 as a studio project, since 2005 as an electroacoustic chamber ensemble and since 2008 as a full-blown rock-band. Style of Roz Vitalis music can be described as the "Unclassifiable Branch of Prog Rock", Avant Prog, Sympho Prog, Instumental. The "metaphysical" goals of Roz Vitalis are "per musica ad lucem" and "to overcome chaos by means of making music". The main influences are Gentle Giant, Univers Zero, King Crimson, Le Orme, Yes.

Front Line Assembly (FLA) is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. FLA has developed its own sound incorporating elements of electronic body music (EBM) and electro-industrial. The band's membership has rotated through the years, including Michael Balch, Rhys Fulber, and Chris Peterson, all of whom are associated with several other acts…

If you have an idea of Northern regions of the world or if you have travelled around Scandinavia then you already know something about Joel Tammik’s works. There’s a lot of space, small fragments and crispness, easily found in first chilly winter days or warm summer nights.
Joel Tammik began his musical journey at the beginning of the 90s playing bass guitar in different school bands. After Estonia’s emancipation and the collision of the iron curtain several cultures of western electronic music appeared on the local world of music and different raves took place in abandoned factory buildings. Around 1996 Joel met with the members of local jungle duo LU:K where he at first played the bass but some years later began also to compose tracks…

Post-modern ironists cloaked behind a veil of buoyantly melodic and lushly romantic synth pop confections, Pet Shop Boys offer wry yet strangely affecting cultural commentary communicated by the Morse code of synth washes and drum machine rhythms. After first emerging in the mid-'80s with "West End Girls" and "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe quickly established themselves as hitmaking singles artists who were also able to craft emotionally resonant albums, like 1988's Introspective and 1990's Behaviour. The duo navigated the constantly shifting landscape of modern dance-pop with grace and intelligence, moving easily from disco to house music to thoughtful synth pop without losing their distinctive style in the process…

Born to Ghanaian parents, Kofi became interested in music and in his teens taught himself to play the alto saxophone. Seeing an advertisement for a series of free jazz workshops being run by Leicester-based drummer Nick Hislam sparked his interest in jazz. Kofi studied intensively, eventually winning a full-time scholarship to the Berklee College Of Music, which he attended from 1988-90 and where his tutors included Billy Pierce, Donald Byrd, Ernie Watts, and Ralph Moore. Back in the UK in 1991, Kofi played with the Jazz Warriors and Gary Crosby’s Nu-troup. Through the rest of the 90s Kofi played with numerous jazz luminaries, including Julian Argüelles, Claude Deppa, Billy Higgins, Andrew Hill, Branford Marsalis, David Murray, Courtney Pine, Tim Richards, Lonnie Smith and Us3. In addition to alto, Kofi became proficient on baritone and soprano saxophones…