Da Lata was originally founded by musician/producer Chris Franck and DJ Patrick Forge in the summer of 1996. The idea for the project was to blend Afro-Brazilian influences with modern dance sensibility incorporating both acoustic and electronic elements in the music.

Early experimentation came in the form of remixes rather than original material which proved to be a great way of honing the sound and at the same time gave exposure to the name.

Hooking up with Lee Hamblin (a man who had all the right technical skills and studio experience), Da Lata recorded their first original track – ‘Deep Water’ for UFO’s Brownswood label in Japan. This was followed by a string of remixes for artists as diverse as Ruby, Sly And Robbie, Galliano and Carlinhos Brown.

Jay-Z, real name Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York), is an American rapper and former president and CEO of Roc A Fella Records. He is more commonly known by a variety of stage names including Jay-Z, S. Carter, Jigga, Hova, J-Hova, Hov, and Young Hov. He is regarded as one of the most prolific and successful American blend artists of the mid-90s and early 2000s and is known for his use of metaphors, freestyling abilities, word play, flow, and blending of street and popular hip hop. He is one of the most respected rappers in the music industry, and is admired for his ability to craft songs from memory without the use of pen and paper. He married his long time girlfriend Beyonce in April 2008 after dating for over seven years. He is one of the founders of Roc-A-Fella Records, a hip-hop record label which also launched the careers of artists such as Beanie Sigel, Kanye West, Memphis Bleek, Young Gunz, Freeway, and Teairra Mari.

Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981 in Hell’s Kitchen, New York), better known as Alicia Keys, is a Grammy award winning American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, composer, pianist, poet and actress. Keys is a world renowned artist who has sold over 35 million albums worldwide and won numerous awards, including twelve Grammy Awards, seventeen Billboard Music Awards, and five American Music Awards since releasing her debut album, Songs in A Minor, in 2001. Since then she has released 2003’s The Diary of Alicia Keys, 2007’s As I Am and 2009’s The Element of Freedom. She is currently in a relationship with famed producer and rapper Swizz Beatz.

She grew up in Harlem, New York City, New York and started playing piano aged seven. After leaving Columbia Records, Keys met Clive Davis who headed Arista at the time (2000). When he established his new label J Records, Alicia was signed. Her big break came after appearing on Oprah Winfrey and in June 2001 her debut album, Songs in A Minor, charted at #1.

She has sinced released the albums The Diary Of Alicia Keys in 2003 and As I Am in 2007. Her fourth studio album The Element of Freedom was released December 2009.

Gorillaz is a virtual band created in 1998 by Damon Albarn of Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl. The band is composed of four animated band members: 2-D (vocals, keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass), Noodle (guitar, vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums). These characters are fictional and are not alter-egos of real people, as is often mistakenly assumed. The autobiographical story behind these characters and the band as a whole can be found in their book Rise Of The Ogre. Their style is broad, with a large number of influences.

They have released three studio albums Gorillaz (2001) , Demon Days (2005) and Plastic Beach (2010), two b-sides collections G-Sides (2001) and D-Sides (2007) and a reggae remix of the Gorillaz album called Laika Come Home (2002). They have also released three DVDs, “Phase One: Celebrity Takedown”, “Demon Days Live at Manchester Opera House” and “Phase Two: Slow Boat To Hades”.

The band’s first album, 2001’s Gorillaz, sold over 6.5 million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize, but the nomination was later withdrawn at the band’s request. Their second studio album, Demon Days, was released in 2005 and included the hit singles “Feel Good Inc.”, “DARE”, “Dirty Harry” and “Kids With Guns / El Mañana”. Demon Days went five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the United States, and earned five Grammy award nominations for 2006 and won one of them in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category. Gorillaz also made a series of short films called Gorillabitez which can be found on the Phase One and Two DVDs.

Unusual band leaded by Manuel João Vieira – vocals (aka Lello Vilarinho, aka Lello Marmelo, aka Lello Minsk, aka Lello Universal, aka Conégo Lello, aka Lello Orgasmo Carlos) former Presidencial and Mayor of Lisbon candidate.

Being around for more than two decades, the most «sui-generis» portuguese band not only for their unique lyrics (with very particular semantic games) but also for their quality as musicians, they found their place on the portuguese music panorama, mainly through college partys.

They are best known for some hits as “Marilu” or “És cruel”.

Travis is a Scottish indie/britpop band founded in Glasgow in 1990, composed of:
Fran Healy (vocals, guitar), Dougie Payne (bass, vocals), Andy Dunlop (guitar, piano) and Neil Primrose (drums).

They have had a number of very successful albums to date:Good Feeling (1997), The Man Who (1999), The Invisible Band (2001), 12 Memories (2003), The Boy With No Name (2007), as well as a compilation album titled Singles (2004). Their most recent album is Ode To J. Smith, released on September 29th, 2008.

Travis have recently finished recording their 6th studio album Ode To J. Smith and have completed the mixing of the album in New York and mastering in Portland, Maine. Tracks included are Chinese Blues, J. Smith, Something Anything, Long Way Down, Broken Mirror, Friends, Get Up, Last Words, Quite Free, Song To Self and Before You Were Young. The album was previewed in full at small UK gigs during February 2008, and was released on the 29th of September in UK.

Guano Apes is an alternative rock quartet from Germany. Their energetic rock mix (mostly described as crossover) going from rap over funky, from melodic singing to hardcore screaming of their leadsinger Sandra Nasic made them one of the most successful German rock bands ever.

Guano Apes were formed in 1994 in Göttingen, Germany, by guitarist Henning Rümenapp, bassist Stefan Ude and drummer Dennis Poschwatta. Croatian vocalist Sandra Nasic joined the band as lead singer later that year.

They recorded 3 demo tapes, but their career really began in 1996 after winning the Local Hero contest for unsigned bands. They used the prize money for recording their 1st hit “Open Your Eyes” and shot a video for that song. The song also became their first single and was followed by their debut album Proud Like a God in 1997.

The next two albums, Don’t Give Me Names and Walking on a Thin Line, followed in 2000 and 2003. After the very long promo tour to the WOATL album, the band decided to take a rest for a while. One year later, in February of 2005, they announced a farewell tour and the end of Guano Apes.

Wolfmother is a Grammy Award-winning hard rock band formed in Sydney, New South Wales in 2000. The band originally consisted of Andrew Stockdale (guitar, vocals), Chris Ross (bass, keyboards), and Myles Heskett (drums), though Ross and Heskett left the band in August 2008. With the original line up Wolfmother released one album, Wolfmother, and six singles, the highest-charting of which was “Joker And the Thief” which reached #8 in Australia.

In 2004,
Wolfmother began appearing at several high profile music events, such as Homebake and the Big Day Out. They also released their debut self-titled EP through Modular Recordings.

In 2005, the band made their way to LA, working alongside producer Dave Sardy (of Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Marilyn Manson and Oasis fame) to record their much-hyped self-titled debut album, released in October 2005.

In 2006, Wolfmother played at the Roskilde Festival, quart festival, as well as T in The Park, Reading and Leeds festivals and Rock Werchter. In august of 2006, Wolfmother also played at the German Hurricane and Southside festivals, the Dutch Lowlands festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago and the Rock en Seine festival in Paris. And in the Azkena Rock Festival ‘06 in Vitoria (Spain).
They also played together with Pearl Jam

Also in 2006, Wolfmother dominated the Australian Recording Industry Association awards (ARIAs), taking out Best Breakthrough Album, Best Rock Album, and Best Group.

In August 2008, after headlining the Splendour in the Grass festival in Byron Bay, Australia, bass/keyboard player Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett resigned, leaving just singer/guitarist Andrew Stockdale. Andrew planned to find new musicians before recording another album.

Liquido was a rock band formed in Germany in 1996 by the four friends Wolle Maier (drums), Wolfgang Schrödl (vocals, guitar, piano), Stefan Schulte-Holthaus (bass) and Tim Eiermann (vocals, guitar).

Their only notable international hit, “Narcotic”, was first released on a demo in 1996 and sold over 700.000 units when Virgin Records re-released it in 1998. Since then, Liquido hasn’t been able to repeat this success, which led to a split from Virgin after two unsuccessful albums in 2004 and finally to the breakup of the band in 2009.

Mr. Bungle was a rock/metal group from Eureka, California, United States. The band was formed in 1985 while the members were still in high school and was named after a children educational film. Mr. Bungle released four demo tapes in the mid to late 1980s before being signed to Warner Bros. Records and releasing three full-length studio albums between 1991 and 1999. The band toured in 2000 to support their last album but as of 2004 is considered disbanded. Although Mr. Bungle went through several line up changes early in their career, the longest serving members were vocalist Mike Patton, guitarist Trey Spruance, bassist Trevor Dunn, drummer Danny Heifetz, and Clinton McKinnon on saxophone and woodwinds.

Mr. Bungle was known for its distinctive musical traits, often cycling through several musical genres within the course of a single song. Many of its songs had an unconventional structure and utilized a wide array of instruments and samples. Live shows often featured members dressing up and an array of cover songs. An ongoing feud with Red Hot Chili Peppers front man Anthony Kiedis escalated in the late 1990s, with Kiedis removing Mr. Bungle from a number of large music festivals in Europe and Australasia.

Despite the fact that it was signed to a major record label, the band never experienced significant commercial success during its lifetime and only released one music video. Nevertheless, Mr. Bungle was critically acclaimed with All music referring to them as “among the most talented rock instrumentalists”. They achieved a degree of worldwide popularity due to a large cult following.

Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990. Since its inception, the band’s line-up has included Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and drummer Matt Cameron, who has been with the band since 1998.
Formed after the demise of Ament and Gossard’s previous band Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with its debut album Ten. One of the key bands of the grunge movement in the early 1990s, Pearl Jam was criticized early on—most notably by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain—as being a corporate cash-in on the alternative rock explosion. However, over the course of the band’s career its members became noted for their refusal to adhere to traditional music industry practices, including refusing to make music videos and engaging in a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having “spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame.”
The band has sold 30 million records in the U.S., and an estimated 60 million albums worldwide. Pearl Jam has outlasted many of its contemporaries from the alternative rock breakthrough of the early 1990s and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade. Allmusic calls it “the most popular American rock & roll band of the ’90s”.