progressive pop

Franco Battiato (born 1945 in Sicily, Italy) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and painter.
He is considered one of the most original personalities in italian music from the 1970s to now. Battiato's songs are dreamy, controversial collages of images and sensations, very experimental and convoluted, rich of esoteric, philosophical and East Asian religious themes. His collaborations (from 1994 onward) with the nihilistic-cynical philosopher Manlio Sgalambro have added further depth to his apparently nonsensical lyrics...

Brian was born November 12, 1943, in Brooklyn/Queens, New York City, where his first musical experience ranged from church choir at nine, to clarinet and guitar, to his first local harmony group, the Delfis. In 1959, they cut a demo record and made the rounds of New York City record labels. Finally, with much persistence, after many closed doors, Brian was signed as a solo artist to a management contract, where he cut demos for band leader Sammy Kaye's publishing company. Kapp Records heard a demo and signed Brian at age 16.

The Weeknd is a Toronto-based R&B singer named Abel Tesfaye. Abel started uploading songs to YouTube in 2010 and in March of 2011 he dropped his first mixtape, House of Balloons. In August of 2011, he dropped his second mixtape, Thursday. His third mixtape, Echoes of Silence, was released on December 21 2011. The Weeknd takes his ambivalent emotional tenor and stretches it out, building a whole worldview from it. He has sampled artists such as Beach House and Siouxsie and the Banshees. http://the-weeknd.com/

Nits, formerly The Nits (and sometimes labeled as such today in some releases), are a dutch art rock group, founded in 1974 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Their musical style has varied considerably over the years, as has their line-up with the core of Henk Hofstede (the group's lead singer and lyricist), Rob Kloet, drummer, Robert Jan Stips (Supersister, Gruppo Sportivo, Golden Earring), keyboards.

Read more about Nits on Last.fm.