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The Staves

The Staves feature romantic yet impish lyrics, haunting vocal lines and virtuoso violin and cello performances. Inspired by composers ranging from Björk to Bach, The Staves whip up a lush and quirkily original concoction of string-heavy chamber music and melodious pop in service of a slightly arch sensibility. "Simple, yet intellectually challenging. Gloomy, yet beautiful. Artistically sophisticated, yet starkly presented...." (Indie-music.com)

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Ken Nordine

Ken Nordine ( January 1920) is an American voiceover and recording artist. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Ken Nordine is the son of an architect. He attended Lane Technical College Prep High School (Chicago) and the University of Chicago. He has three sons with his wife Beryl whom he married in 1946. Nordine's deep, resonant voice has been featured on many commercial advertisements. One critic wrote that "you may not know Ken Nordine by name or face, but you'll almost certainly recognize his voice."

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Emperor X

Emperor X is a pop/noise/folk music project headed by American musician C. R. Matheny. The project often performs and records with little more than Matheny on an acoustic guitar and a dynamic microphone, but sometimes also employs large groups of musicians on percussion instruments, various electronic noisemakers, brass/woodwind/string ensembles, and traditional rock instruments. The lyrics of Emperor X songs have been described as simultaneously "hallucinatory" and "precise," and discuss subjects ranging from plate tectonics ("A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp")...

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Lupe Fiasco

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982 in Chicago, Illinois), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco, is a Grammy Award-winning American hip-hop artist and producer. He first became known to the mainstream hip-hop community in 2005 when he appeared on Kanye West's album Late Registration on the track "Touch the Sky." In 2006 Lupe released his debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor on Atlantic Records, and in December 2007 he released his second full length album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool.

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Kyrie Kristmanson

Kyrie Kristmanson, a bilingual singer-songwriter was born in Canada. She started playing guitar at the age of nine, and has studied classical guitar and trumpet. In 2007 Kyrie was awarded the Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Young Performer. Kyrie is currently based in Lyon, France, where she is studying Medieval musicology and singing in choirs. Invited to play at the Festival Le Printemps de Bourges, France, Kyrie has also been on tour with Emily Loizeau. She is scheduled to open for fellow Canadian Hawskley Workman in London and in Paris early May.

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Hypothesis

1) Hypothesis is a jazz-rap collaboration band from beautiful Durham, North Carolina. Lead by rapper Zach G and lead producer Seth Rose, the band strives to make thoughtful, creative music by channeling their lives and their city in the form of jazz, hip hop and poetry. 2) Hypothesis is a melodic death metal group from Kouvola, Finland. More information and music samples on their MySpace-site www.myspace.com/hypothesisband

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Arto Lindsay

Arto Lindsay (born May 28, 1953, Richmond, Virginia) is an American , , record and . He's probably best known as a founding member of the influential band DNA, though his work after DNA has been quite prolific. He has a distinctive soft voice and an often noisy, self-taught guitar style comprised almost entirely of extended techniques, described by Brian Olewnick "studiedly naïve ... sounding like the bastard child of Derek Bailey"; his guitar work is contrasted frequently with gentler, sensuous Brazilian music themes.

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Jamie Hutchings

Enigmatic songwriter and front man for Bluebottle Kiss, Jamie Hutchings is also a solo artist and producer. The son of professional jazz musician, Jamie was born, grew up and continues to live in Sydney, Australia. Fifteen years of leading one of Australia's most consistently creative and critically acclaimed rock bands, Bluebottle Kiss, saw Jamie Hutchings write and release over 130 songs. During that time the band relentlessly toured the country, the US and Europe playing with bands as diverse as Beck, Midnight Oil and Dinosaur Jr .

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The Hotknives

Ska legends The Hotknives were originally formed in 1982 in England by a group of friends interested in ska, dub, reggae and Northern Soul. They recorded two live albums, "Live at the boatman" and "Live and Skanking" before recording their first studio album, "The Way Things Are" in 1989. Having reached the top of the 3rd Wave ska scene and been banned from Radio in the UK, the band decided to call it a day in 1993.

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