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Ali Farka Toure

Ali Ibrahim “Farka” Touré (October 31, 1939 – March 7, 2006) was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent’s most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues. The belief that the latter is historically derived from the former is reflected in Martin Scorsese’s often quoted characterization of Touré’s tradition as constituting "the DNA of the blues". Touré was ranked number 76 on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”.

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The Lovetones

The Lovetones is led by Matthew J. Tow (acoustic & electric guitars / sitar / autoharp / vocals), formerly of Drop City, Colorsound and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, along with Matt Sigley (bass / keyboards / vocals) and Chris Cobb (drums / percussion). The Lovetones released their debut album, Be What You Want in 2002 through Bomp! Records, creating a palpable buzz amongst critics from the likes of Creem and Rolling Stone magazine. The latter hailed mainman Matthew J Tow's songwriting worthy of Ray Davies, Bowie, Lennon and McCartney: a bold statement, yet in his case, completely justified.

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James Blood Ulmer

James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 2, 1942 in St. Matthews, South Carolina) is an American avant-garde and and . Ulmer's distinctive guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging." His singing has been called "raggedly soulful." Ulmer began his career playing with various ensembles, and first recorded with organist John Patton in 1969. After moving to New York in 1971, Ulmer played with Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Joe Henderson, Paul Bley, Rashied Ali and Larry Young.

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Nina Hagen

Catharina Hagen (born on March 11, 1955) is a singer from East Berlin, Germany. She's a daughter of well-known East German actress Eva-Maria Hagen and writer Hans Oliva-Hagen. They divorced 5 years later due to the rising success of Eva-Maria (called "East Germany's Brigitte Bardot") as an actress on stage and in films. When Catharina (Nina) was 10 years old Eva-Maria had a partnership with dissident song-writer Wolf Biermann (see links at the end).

Read more about Nina Hagen on Last.fm.

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MUTEMATH

MUTEMATH is an band which formed in New Orleans, LA, United States in 2003. They consist of Paul Meany (vocals, keytar, keyboards, samples), Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas (bass, percussion), Darren King (drums, samples), and Todd Gummerman (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals). Since MUTEMATH released its first EP in late 2004 and hit the road in 2005, their inherent nature has challenged limitations and expanded parameters.

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Blue Orchids

Martin Bramah teamed up with Una Baines to form The Blue Orchids late in 1979, in Manchester, England. Bramah’s voice whether wailing, shouting, or calling is always looking for a different angle, another way of being. Una’s strung-out keyboard playing, flowing and soaring, weaving around Martin’s inventive, discordant guitar patterns. The overall effect created a madcap cathedral of sound.

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Ornithologist

Formed in Wellington, New Zealand in 2007, Ornithologist was initially conceived in jest as one of the 2 fellow Akaname members' many hypothetical side-projects (most of which would usually get lost among the "what-if's" of hazy late night bong-theory). The crux: instrumental interpretations of birdsong - composed of the silliest imaginable guitar gymnastics played in tandem over cheesy retro drum-machine programmes; with a kink somewhere between 80's electro-pop, 90's trip-hop and all metal sub-genres conceivable; all to be performed live while adorning silly bird masks.

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Pig

In his past lives, PIG was Lord Raymond Watts, known variously as Raymond Scaballero in Foetus, an icy addition to Psychic TV, a savage PA destroyer in Einstürzende Neubauten, and a founding catalyst of KMFDM. Watts began his arrest record in London where he was most likely pissed off about something and doing sound manipulations, loops and live sound for Psychic TV. He soon crashed into Einstürzende Neubauten (probably in a strip bar) and escaped the smug complacency of the English music scene by moving to Hamburg...

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