Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of a cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated locally (such as from a nearby body of water, like a lake or the ocean, or from nearby moist ground or marshes).

Fog is distinguished from mist only by its density, as expressed in the resulting decrease in visibility: Fog reduces visibility to less than 1 km (5/8 statute mile), whereas mist reduces visibility to no less than 1 km (5/8 statute mile). For aviation purposes in the UK, a visibility of less than 2 km but greater than 999 m is considered to be mist if the relative humidity is 95% or greater - below 95% haze is reported.

The foggiest place in the world is the Grand Banks off the island of Newfoundland, the meeting place of the cold Labrador Current from the north and the much warmer Gulf Stream from the south. Some of the foggiest land areas in the world include Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Point Reyes, California, each with over 200 foggy days per year. Even in generally warmer southern Europe, thick fog and localized fog is often found in lowlands and valleys, such as the lower part of the Po Valley and the Arno and Tiber valleys in Italy or Ebro Valley in northeastern Iberia, as well as on the Swiss plateau, especially in the Seeland area, in late autumn and winter. Other notably foggy areas include coastal Chile (in the south), coastal Namibia, and the Severnaya Zemlya islands.

Characteristics

Fog forms when the difference between temperature and dew point is generally less than 2.5 °C or 4 F.

Fog begins to form when water vapor condenses into tiny liquid water droplets in the air. The main ways water vapor is added to the air: wind convergence into areas of upward motion, precipitation or virga falling from above, daytime heating evaporating water from the surface of oceans, water bodies or wet land, transpiration from plants, cool or dry air moving over warmer water, and lifting air over mountains. Water vapor normally begins to condense on condensation nuclei such as dust, ice, and salt in order to form clouds. Fog, like its slightly elevated cousin stratus, is a stable cloud deck which tends to form when a cool, stable air mass is trapped underneath a warm air mass.

Fog normally occurs at a relative humidity near 100%. This can be achieved by either adding moisture to the air or dropping the ambient air temperature. Fog can form at lower humidities, and fog can sometimes not form with relative humidity at 100%. A reading of 100% relative humidity means that the air can hold no additional moisture; the air will become supersaturated if additional moisture is added.

Fog can form suddenly, and can dissipate just as rapidly, depending what side of the dew point the temperature is on. This phenomenon is known as flash fog.

Another common type of formation is associated with sea fog (also known as ''haar'' or ''fret''). This is due to the peculiar effect of salt. Clouds of all types require minute hygroscopic particles upon which water vapor can condense. Over the ocean surface, the most common particles are salt from salt spray produced by breaking waves. Except in areas of storminess, the most common areas of breaking waves are located near coastlines, hence the greatest densities of airborne salt particles are there. Condensation on salt particles has been observed to occur at humidities as low as 70%, thus fog can occur even in relatively dry air in suitable locations such as the California coast. Typically, such lower humidity fog is preceded by a transparent mistiness along the coastline as condensation competes with evaporation, a phenomenon that is typically noticeable by beachgoers in the afternoon. Another recently-discovered source of condensation nuclei for coastal fog is kelp. Researchers have found that under stress (intense sunlight, strong evaporation, etc.), kelp release particles of iodine which in turn become nuclei for condensation of water vapor.

Fog occasionally produces precipitation in the form of drizzle or very light snow. Drizzle occurs when the humidity of fog attains 100% and the minute cloud droplets begin to coalesce into larger droplets. This can occur when the fog layer is lifted and cooled sufficiently, or when it is forcibly compressed from above. Drizzle becomes freezing drizzle when the temperature at the surface drops below the freezing point.

The thickness of fog is largely determined by the altitude of the inversion boundary, which in coastal or oceanic locales is also the top of the marine layer, above which the airmass is warmer and drier. The inversion boundary varies its altitude primarily in response to the weight of the air above it which is measured in terms of atmospheric pressure. The marine layer and any fogbank it may contain will be "squashed" when the pressure is high, and conversely, may expand upwards when the pressure above it is lowering.

Visibility hazard

Shadows

Shadows are cast through fog in three dimensions. The fog is dense enough to be illuminated by light that passes through gaps in a structure or tree, but thin enough to let a large quantity of that light pass through to illuminate points further on. As a result, object shadows appear as "beams" oriented in a direction parallel to the light source. These voluminous shadows are due to the same cause as crepuscular rays, which are the shadows of clouds, but in this case, they are the shadows of solid objects.

Fog can form in a number of ways, depending on how the cooling that caused the condensation occurred:

Radiation fog is formed by the cooling of land after sunset by thermal radiation in calm conditions with clear sky.

The cool ground produces condensation in the nearby air by heat conduction. In perfect calm the fog layer can be less than a meter deep but turbulence can promote a thicker layer. Radiation fogs occur at night, and usually do not last long after sunrise. Radiation fog is common in autumn and early winter. Examples of this phenomenon include the Tule fog.

Ground fog is fog that obscures less than 60% of the sky and does not extend to the base of any overhead clouds. However, the term is sometimes used to refer to radiation fog.

Advection fog occurs when moist air passes over a cool surface by advection (wind) and is cooled. It is common as a warm front passes over an area with significant snowpack. It is most common at sea when tropical air encounters cooler waters, including areas of cold water upwelling, such as along the California coast. The advection of fog along the California coastline is propelled onto land by one of several processes. A cold front can push the marine layer coastward, an occurrence most typical in the spring or late fall. During the summer months, a low pressure trough produced by intense heating inland creates a strong pressure gradient, drawing in the dense marine layer. Also during the summer, strong high pressure aloft over the desert southwest, usually in connection with the summer monsoon, produces a south to southeasterly flow which can drive the offshore marine layer up the coastline; a phenomenon known as a "southerly surge", typically following a coastal heat spell. However, if the monsoonal flow is sufficiently turbulent, it might instead break up the marine layer and any fog it may contain. Moderate turbulence will typically transform a fog bank, lifting it and breaking it up into shallow convective clouds called stratocumulus.

Sea smoke, also called steam fog or evaporation fog, is the most localized form and is created by cold air passing over warmer water or moist land. It often causes freezing fog, or sometimes hoar frost.

Arctic sea smoke is similar to sea smoke, but occurs when the air is very cold. Instead of condensing into water droplets, the evaporating water sublimates into ice crystals.

Precipitation fog (or ''frontal fog'') forms as precipitation falls into drier air below the cloud, the liquid droplets evaporate into water vapor. The water vapor cools and at the dewpoint it condenses and fog forms.

Upslope fog or hill fog forms when winds blow air up a slope (called orographic lift), adiabatically cooling it as it rises, and causing the moisture in it to condense. This often causes freezing fog on mountaintops, where the cloud ceiling would not otherwise be low enough.

Valley fog forms in mountain valleys, often during winter. It is the result of a temperature inversion caused by heavier cold air settling into a valley, with warmer air passing over the mountains above. It is essentially radiation fog confined by local topography, and can last for several days in calm conditions. In California's Central Valley, valley fog is often referred to as Tule fog.

occurs when liquid fog droplets freeze to surfaces, forming white soft or hard rime. This is very common on mountain tops which are exposed to low clouds. It is equivalent to freezing rain, and essentially the same as the ice that forms inside a freezer which is not of the "frostless" or "frost-free" type. The term "freezing fog" may also refer to fog where water vapor is super-cooled, filling the air with small ice crystals similar to very light snow. It seems to make the fog "tangible", as if one could "grab a handful".

Frozen fog (also known as ice fog) is any kind of fog where the droplets have frozen into extremely tiny crystals of ice in midair. Generally this requires temperatures at or below −35 °C (−30 °F), making it common only in and near the Arctic and Antarctic regions. It is most often seen in urban areas where it is created by the freezing of water vapor present in automobile exhaust and combustion products from heating and power generation. Urban ice fog can become extremely dense and will persist day and night until the temperature rises. Extremely small amounts of ice fog falling from the sky form a type of precipitation called ice crystals, often reported in Barrow, Alaska. Ice fog often leads to the visual phenomenon of light pillars.

The phenomenon is also extremely common in the inland areas of the Pacific Northwest that, with temperatures in the 10 to 30°F range. The Columbia Plateau experiences this phenomenon most years due to temperature inversions, sometimes lasting for as long as three weeks. The fog typically begins forming around the area of the Columbia River and expands, sometimes covering the land to distances as far away as LaPine, Oregon, almost 150 miles due south of the River and into south central Washington.

Artificial fog is artificially generated fog that is usually created by vaporizing a water and glycol-based or glycerine-based fluid. The fluid is injected into a heated block, and evaporates quickly. The resulting pressure forces the vapor out of the exit. Upon coming into contact with cool outside air the vapor condenses and appears as fog.

Garua fog is a type of fog which happens to occur by the coast of Chile and Peru. The normal fog produced by the sea travels inland, but suddenly meets an area of hot air. This causes the water particles of fog to shrink by evaporation, producing a transparent mist. Garua fog is nearly invisible, yet it still forces drivers to use windshield wipers.

Hail fog sometimes occurs in the vicinity of significant hail accumulations due to decreased temperature and increased moisture leading to saturation in a very shallow layer near the surface. It most often occurs when there is a warm, humid layer atop the hail and when wind is light. This ground fog tends to be localized but can be extremely dense and abrupt. It may form shortly after the hail falls; when the hail has had time to cool the air and as it absorbs heat when melting and evaporating.

Biological and human uses

Redwood forests in California receive approximately 30 to 40 percent of their moisture from coastal fog. Change in climate patterns could result in relative drought in these areas. Some coastal communities use fog nets to extract moisture from the atmosphere where groundwater pumping and rainwater collection are insufficient.

See also

''Thank You, Fog: last poems by W. H. Auden''

Technology

Anti-fog

Automotive lighting

Decontamination foam

FIDO

Fog machine

Fogging (photography)

Fog lamp

Runway visual range

Transmissometer

Weather

Fog season

Haboob (sandstorm)

Mist

Smog

Whiteout (weather)

Notes

References

Ahrens, C. (1991). ''Meteorology today: an introduction to weather, climate, and the environment.'' West Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0314809056.

Allred, Lance (2009). ''Enchanted Rock: A Natural and Human History.'' University of Texas Press.

Cowling, R. M., Richardson, D. M., Pierce, S. M. (2004). ''Vegetation of Southern Africa''. Cambridge University Press.

Filonczuk, Maria K., Cayan, Daniel R., Riddle, Laurence G. (1995). ''Variability of marine fog along the California coast.'' SIO-Reference, No 95-2, Climate Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.

Frost, H. (2004). ''Fog.'' Capstone Press. ISBN 978-0736820936.

Gleissman, Stephe (2007). ''Agroecology: the ecology of sustainable food systems.'' CRC Press.

Karukstis, K. K., Van Hecke, G. R. (2003). ''Chemistry connections: the basis of everyday phonemena.'' Academic Press.

Marshall, T., Hoadley, D. (1995). ''Storm Talk''. Tim Marshall.

External links

Map of the United States showing days of heavy fog in each location

United States' current dense fog advisories from NOAA

Current Western US fog satellite pictures from NOAA

Lake Ontario Evaporative-Steam Fog Video

Social & Economic Costs of Fog from "NOAA Socioeconomics" website initiative

Category:Aviation risks Category:Weather Category:Weather hazards Category:Accidents involving fog Category:Snow or ice weather phenomena Fog Category:Psychrometrics

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name	Nosaj Thing
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
born	c. 1985Los Angeles, California, United States
origin	Los Angeles, California, USA
genre	Electronica, experimental music, hip hop
years active	1999–present
label	Alpha Pup Records
website	nosajthing.com }}

Jason Chung, better known as Nosaj Thing, is an American electronic musician based in Los Angeles County, California. He self-released his first EP ''Views/Octopus'' in 2006 and released his debut LP, ''Drift'', on Alpha Pup Records on June 9, 2009.

History

Nosaj Thing was raised in Los Angeles.

He was involved in music at a young age and Hip-hop has had a profound influence on his music. At the age of 12, he learned the basics of DJing and began to produce on the computer shortly after. Nosaj Thing has since played at various shows and festivals including Sonar Festival and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California.

Music

Chung's track "Aquarium" from the EP ''Views/Octopus'' was used by rapper Kid Cudi in "Man on the Moon (The Anthem)", from his mixtape ''A Kid Named Cudi''.

Discography

Full albums

Drift (2009, Alpha Pup Records)

Drift Remixed (2010, Alpha Pup Records)

EPs

Views/Octopus (2006)

Remixes

Health ("Tabloid Sores") (2008)

Flying Lotus ("Camel") (2008)

Boris ("Buzz In") (2009)

Charlotte Gainsbourg featuring Beck ("Heaven Can Wait") (2009)

The xx ("Islands")

Radiohead ("Reckoner")

Drake ("Forever")

Malachai ("Let 'Em Fall")

Portishead ("Wandering Star")

References

External links

Nosaj Thing website

MySpace

Category:American people of Korean descent Category:American musicians of Korean descent Category:Electronica musicians Category:Experimental musicians Category:Living people

fr:Nosaj Thing

name	Thom Yorke
background	solo_singer
birth name	Thomas Edward Yorke
Alias	Tchock, Tchocky, Dr. Tchock
born	October 07, 1968Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England
Alma mater	University of Exeter
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, bass guitar, sampler, programming, laptop, percussion, organ, drums
genre	Alternative rock, electronic music
occupation	Musician, singer, songwriter
years active	1985–present
label	XL
associated acts	Radiohead, Atoms for Peace, Unkle, Björk, Flying Lotus, PJ Harvey, Drugstore
notable instruments	Fender TelecasterGibson ES-335Gibson SGFender JazzmasterEpiphone CasinoRickenbacker 330Gibson HummingbirdTaylor Big BabyRhodes piano }}

Thomas Edward "Thom" Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar (notably during the ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac'' sessions). In July 2006, he released his debut solo album, ''The Eraser''.

Yorke has been cited among the most influential figures in the music industry: in 2002, ''Q Magazine'' named Yorke the most powerful British musician and in 2005, Radiohead was ranked #73 in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list. Yorke has also been cited among the greatest singers in the history of popular music: in 2005, a poll organised by ''Blender'' and MTV2 saw Yorke voted the 18th greatest singer of all time, and in 2008, he was ranked 66th in ''Rolling Stone's'' "100 Greatest Singers of all Time". Allmusic wrote: "Few rock singers of the '90s were as original and instantly unforgettable as Thom Yorke."

Life and career

Early years

Yorke was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. At birth, his left eye was fixed shut; his doctors believed that the eye was paralyzed, and that the condition would be permanent. Yorke's parents took him to an eye specialist, who suggested a muscle graft. Yorke underwent five eye operations before he was six years old. Yorke's father, a chemical equipment salesman, was hired by a firm in Scotland shortly after his son's birth and the family lived there until Yorke was seven. During this time Yorke had to wear a patch over his eye. He has stated that the last surgery was "botched", leaving him with a drooping eyelid.

Yorke's family moved frequently; Yorke would move from school to school, where classmates teased him because of his eye problems. The family finally settled in Oxfordshire in 1978. He attended the all boys public school Abingdon where he met future band members Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway, Colin Greenwood and Colin's younger brother, Jonny. Yorke and his friends formed a band named On A Friday, as Friday was the only day on which the members were allowed to rehearse. Yorke, in this early line up, played guitar and provided vocals because "Nobody else would do it", and was already developing his songwriting and lyrical skills. Yorke, speaking about music's influence on him as a schoolboy, said, "School was bearable for me because the music department was separate from the rest of the school. It had pianos in tiny booths, and I used to spend a lot of time hanging around there after school."

After leaving school, Yorke postponed going to university for a year. During that time he worked in a few jobs and was involved in a car accident that made him wary of any kind of mechanised transport. Yorke left Oxford to study at the University of Exeter in late 1988, which as a result put On a Friday on hiatus aside from holiday break rehearsals. While at Exeter, Yorke worked as a DJ at Guild nights in the Lemon Grove and played briefly with the band Headless Chickens. Yorke also met Rachel Owen, whom he began dating.

Radiohead

On A Friday resumed activity in 1991 as the members were finishing their degree courses. Now relocated to Oxford, they signed to Parlophone and changed their name to Radiohead. Around this time, Yorke said he "hit the self-destruct button pretty quickly"; he drank heavily, which resulted in him randomly cutting his hair off and being too drunk to perform onstage.

Radiohead first gained notice with the worldwide hit single "Creep", which later appeared on the band's 1993 debut album ''Pablo Honey''. Yorke admitted later that the success had fed his ego; he tried to project himself as a rock star, which included bleaching his hair and wearing extensions. He said, "When I got back to Oxford I was unbearable . . . [A]s soon as you get any success you disappear up your own arse and lost it forever."

By the time of their second album, ''The Bends'' (1995), the band, through frequent touring and greater attention to detail in the recording studio, had picked up a large cult fan base and had begun to receive wider critical acclaim. After the album's release, the American group R.E.M. picked Radiohead as its opening act for the European leg of their tour. While on tour Yorke and R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe became close friends; in particular, Stipe gave him advice on how to deal with the demands of being in a rock band. During the production of the band's third album, ''OK Computer'' (1997), all five members had differing opinions and equal production roles, with Yorke having "the loudest voice", according to guitarist Ed O'Brien. After the album was finished, Yorke and Jonny Greenwood contributed to the ''Velvet Goldmine'' soundtrack along with other musicians under the moniker Venus in Furs. Upon release, ''OK Computer'' was heralded as a landmark album by nearly every publication that reviewed it, establishing Radiohead as one of the leading alternative rock acts of the 1990s. But Yorke was ambivalent about this success. Some of these concerns were voiced in the documentary film ''Meeting People Is Easy'', which focused on the period. Yorke has explained in various interviews that he dislikes the "mythology" within the rock genre, and hates the media's obsession with celebrities.

Yorke and the band adopted a more radical approach on 2000's ''Kid A'' and 2001's ''Amnesiac'', processing vocals, obscuring lyrics, and departing from rock for a more varied musical landscape including electronic, jazz and avant-garde classical influences. The albums expanded Radiohead's sales while earning acclaim for experimentation, but also divided fans and critics. In 2003, Radiohead released their sixth album, ''Hail to the Thief'', a blend of rock and electronica that Yorke described as a reaction to the events of the early 2000s and newfound fears for his children's future, though he denied a specific political intent. The band continued to tour, and in 2005 they undertook recording sessions for a seventh album, ''In Rainbows'', released as a DRM-free download in October 2007. In February 2011, the band released their eighth studio album, ''The King of Limbs'', via digital download.

Solo work

Yorke released his solo album, ''The Eraser'', in 2006. Produced by Nigel Godrich and featuring cover art by Stanley Donwood, it was released on the independent label XL Recordings. Yorke described the album as "more beats and electronics" and denied that it meant he was leaving Radiohead, saying, "I want no crap about me being a traitor or whatever splitting up blah blah... this was all done with their blessing." ''The Eraser'' reached number 3 in the UK in its first week and number 2 in the United States, Canada and Australia, as well as number 9 on the Irish charts. The album was on the prestigious Mercury Prize shortlist and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

Yorke rarely plays as a solo act, having never embarked on a solo tour. He has sometimes played short acoustic sets of Radiohead songs in the band's webcasts and television appearances, and occasionally on his own at rallies. However, he did play solo sets at the 2002 Bridge School Benefit concerts organised by Neil Young. In 2006, he performed stripped-down versions of several songs from ''The Eraser'' ("Analyse", "The Clock", "Skip Divided" and "Cymbal Rush") on radio and TV programmes, and since then he has played and sung "Cymbal Rush" as an encore at some Radiohead concerts. In July 2009, Yorke played a rare solo performance at the Latitude Festival in England. In February 2010, Yorke played a solo show for the Green Party at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, where he played select Radiohead songs and songs from ''The Eraser'', as well as five entirely new songs: "The Daily Mail", "Lotus Flower", "Give Up The Ghost", "I Froze Up", and "Mouse, Dog, Bird".

On 21 September 2009 Yorke released a new double-A side single, "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses / The Hollow Earth". It was later announced that he has established an unnamed band with Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joey Waronker of R.E.M. and Beck, Mauro Refosco of Forro in the Dark and producer Nigel Godrich. They played two sold out shows at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on 4 and 5 October 2009. Two days before, Yorke also played a "warm-up" show at the Echoplex in Los Angeles. On 25 February 2010, Yorke officially gave the band the name Atoms for Peace.

In June 2010, Yorke attracted some notoriety when he stated in an interview that "It will be only a matter of time - months rather than years - before the music business establishment completely folds" and that such an event will be of "no great loss to the world". Yorke's quote quickly caused a stir of buzz on the blogosphere, with critics both praising and criticising his frankness.

Collaborations

Aside from his own solo work, Yorke has collaborated with several artists. He sang backing vocals on PJ Harvey's Mercury Prize-winning 2000 album ''Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea'' and sung a duet with Harvey on one of her songs, "This Mess We're In". In the same year, he also appeared on Björk's soundtrack album ''Selmasongs'', singing "I've Seen It All" with her. The Oscar-nominated song was written for ''Dancer in the Dark'', a film starring Björk, and Yorke's part is sung in the film by actor Peter Stormare; due to time constraints, Björk performed it alone at the 2001 Academy Awards. The two worked together again in 2008 on a charity single called "Náttúra".

Yorke also sang covers of the Roxy Music songs "2HB", "Ladytron" and "Bitter-Sweet" for the 1998 film ''Velvet Goldmine'', as part of Venus in Furs. The band existed solely for the film's soundtrack and also consisted of Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, Suede's Bernard Butler, and Roxy Music's Andy Mackay. Yorke was duplicating Bryan Ferry's original vocals. Two other cover songs were performed by Venus in Furs, with vocals by actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the film; Yorke never appeared onscreen.

Examples of Yorke's other collaborations are the 1998 single "Rabbit in Your Headlights", which he sang and co-wrote with DJ Shadow and which closes ''Psyence Fiction'', the debut album by the group UNKLE; "El President", a 1998 duet with Isabel Monteiro of the band Drugstore, which was also released as a single; and vocals on the 2007 track "The White Flash", by the electronic music group Modeselektor, from their album ''Happy Birthday''. Yorke has also collaborated with Stanley Donwood on a picture book entitled ''Dead Children Playing''. Yorke also covered lead vocal duties on "...And the World Laughs with You" from the 2010 Flying Lotus album ''Cosmogramma''.

In 2010, Yorke worked with Bryan Ferry, Mark Ronson, Bob Hoskins, Andy Murray, and David Cameron to release the charity single "2 Minute Silence"—a track composed entirely of silence—to raise money for the families of British troops released on Remembrance Day, 7 November. The song peaked in the UK Singles Chart at number 20.

In 2011, Yorke lent vocals to two tracks, "Ego" and "Mirror", created through a collaboration between Burial and Four Tet. The songs were debuted on the radio station, Rinse FM, before being released on vinyl.

Atoms for Peace

On 25 February 2010 Yorke revealed the name of his new band—"Atoms for Peace"—and announced a series of U.S. tour dates. Yorke first introduced the band late in 2009. It includes Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on bass, R.E.M. all-round session drummer Joey Waronker, percussionist Mauro Refosco of the musical collective Forro in the Dark and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich on keyboards and treatments. When the band officially debuted in Los Angeles last October, it was billed with question marks due to it being unnamed. In a note on Radiohead's website, Yorke wrote; "It has been decided that we call ourselves Atoms For Peace. hope you like the name. it seemed bleedin' obvious." Atoms for Peace is a track on Yorke's 2006 solo album ''The Eraser''. Yorke said the band would play eight dates starting in New York on 5 April before hitting the three-day 2010 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California on 18 April. Radiohead recently took a break from recording, but performed a Haiti relief fund-raising concert in Los Angeles in January.

Personal life

Yorke currently lives in Oxford with his long-time girlfriend, Rachel Owen, who obtained a Ph.D. from the University of London for research on the illustrations to Dante's ''Divine Comedy'', having previously studied fine art printmaking at the University of Exeter and painted at the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Florence. They have two children, Noah, born in 2001, and Agnes, born 2004. He has one brother, Andy, ex-vocalist of the band Unbelievable Truth.

In 2005, Yorke became a spokesman for Friends of the Earth and their campaign to reduce carbon emissions, The Big Ask.

Yorke often pays tribute to his children while performing live; during songs at the 2006 Bonnaroo Festival, Yorke played with guitar picks imprinted with Agnes' fingerprints.

Musical approach

Vocal characteristics

As a singer, Yorke is recognisable by his distinctive tenor voice, vibrato, frequent use of falsetto, and ability to reach and sustain notes over a wide vocal range. During the recording sessions for ''The Bends'' in 1994, Radiohead watched Jeff Buckley in concert; Yorke later said the concert directly influenced his vocal delivery on "Fake Plastic Trees". However, Yorke has said, "It annoys me how pretty my voice is... how polite it can sound when perhaps what I'm singing is deeply acidic." He has explored other styles of singing, such as the aggressive shouting in "Paranoid Android" and semi-spoken vocals in "Myxomatosis" and "A Wolf at the Door".

Musicianship

Aside from vocal duties and writing lyrics, Yorke's musical contributions to Radiohead include guitar and piano. He also plays bass guitar on occasion (the bass line for "The National Anthem" was recorded by him) as well as drums; during the 2006 and 2008–2009 tours he performed percussion on stage in tandem with drummer Phil Selway on the track "Bangers & Mash".

Yorke, unlike the other members of Radiohead, has never learned how to read music. He said, "If someone lays the notes on a page in front of me, it's meaningless... because to me you can't express the rhythms properly like that. It's a very ineffective way of doing it, so I've never really bothered picking it up."

Since ''Kid A,'' Radiohead, and in particular Yorke, have incorporated elements of electronic music into their work. As a result, Yorke has taken an increased role in programming beats and samples and has been credited with playing "laptop" on recent albums. On a radio show in 2003 to publicise the release of ''Hail to the Thief'', Yorke remarked that he would rather make a record just with a computer than with only an acoustic guitar. His solo effort ''The Eraser'' featured piano, bass and guitar, but was built primarily around electronics.

In interviews Yorke has cited a variety of personal musical heroes and influences, including jazz composer and bassist Charles Mingus, Neil Young, Miracle Legion, singer Scott Walker, electronic acts Aphex Twin and Autechre, and Krautrock band Can. Talking Heads, Queen, Joy Division, Magazine, Elvis Costello, The Smiths and Sonic Youth were early influences on Radiohead and Yorke. In 2004, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Yorke mentioned to the crowd, "When I was in college, the Pixies and R.E.M. changed my life.".

Activism

Yorke has spoken out on various political and social issues. Radiohead had read ''No Logo'' by Naomi Klein during the ''Kid A'' sessions ("No Logo" was also briefly considered as the album title) and all the members were reportedly heavily influenced by it, though Yorke said it "didn't teach him anything he didn't already know". Yorke's activism in support of fair trade practices, with an anti-WTO and anti-globalisation stance, garnered significant attention in the early 2000s. Yorke had previously referenced maquiladoras in the title of a Radiohead B-side in 1995, and decried the IMF in 1997's "Electioneering". Yorke is also a professed fan of Noam Chomsky's political writings, and is a vegan.

Yorke is also notable as a political activist on behalf of other causes, including human rights and anti-war movements such as Jubilee 2000, Amnesty International and CND, and Friends of the Earth's Big Ask campaign. Radiohead played at the Free Tibet concert in both 1998 and 1999, and at an Amnesty International concert in 1998. In 2005, Yorke performed at an all-night vigil for the Trade Justice Movement. In 2006, Jonny Greenwood and Yorke performed a special benefit concert for Friends of the Earth. Yorke made headlines the same year for refusing Prime Minister Tony Blair's request to meet with him to discuss climate change, declaring Blair had "no environmental credentials". Yorke has subsequently been critical of his own energy use. He has said the music industry's use of air transport is dangerous and unsustainable, and that he would consider not touring if new carbon emissions standards do not force the situation to improve. Radiohead commissioned a study by the group ''Best Foot Forward'' which the band claims helped them choose venues and transport methods that will greatly reduce the carbon expended on their 2008 tour. The band also made use of a new low-energy LED lighting system and encouraged festivals to offer reusable plastics.

Thom Yorke supported the climate change documentary, The Age of Stupid. He donated Radiohead's song "Reckoner" for the end credits of the film and performed the track live via satellite linkup for The Age of Stupid's Global Premiere. During the live satellite linkup, Yorke spoke out about the problems of economic growth, saying, "I think Ed Miliband probably knows this but won't admit it, as most politicians won't: that the concept of limitless economic growth is now dead."

In December 2009, Yorke gained access to the COP 15 climate change talks in Copenhagen, posing as a member of the media. Whilst at the conference he took part in Spanner Films 'Stupid Show' - short films shot at the conference each day with the aim of making the talks comprehensible for ordinary people. He appeared alongside Tony Juniper, debating the barriers to a global deal on emissions reduction and the issue of media representation of the climate change debate - he called the BBC a "bunch of monkeys"

Relationship with celebrities and the media

Yorke has had an uneasy relationship with other celebrities and the media. Following Radiohead's 1993 ''Pablo Honey'' tour of America, Yorke became disenchanted at being "right at the sharp end of the sexy, sassy, MTV eye-candy lifestyle" he felt he was helping to sell to the world. The 1998 documentary film ''Meeting People is Easy'' portrays Yorke's disaffection with the music industry and press during the 1997-8 "Against Demons" world tour.

A number of celebrities have been upset by Yorke's public persona. In 2001, Kelly Jones, the lead singer of the Welsh band Stereophonics, referred to Thom Yorke as a "miserable twat" (a comment he later retracted). In 2002, Jack Black claimed to have approached Yorke to congratulate him on his solo show at the Bridge School Benefit concert in San Francisco, only for Yorke to ignore him and walk away. Referring to the incident, Black stated in an interview: "I heard later that he's famously cold, and it wasn't just me that he despises, but the whole world." After completing a trek of Kilimanjaro in 2009, Ronan Keating was asked by an interviewer which celebrity he would most like to throw off a mountain. Keating named Yorke, and referred to him as a "muppet", stating that Yorke was once rude to him. In the same year, Miley Cyrus and Kanye West also complained about Yorke's alleged rudeness. In a response to these complaints, Yorke wrote on Radiohead's Dead Air Space website, "wish us all a safe journey if you still like us and you're not one of those people I have managed to offend by doing nothing."

Discography

Notes

References

External links

The Eraser: Official website for Yorke's solo album release

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1968 births Category:English activists Category:English environmentalists Category:Anti-globalization activists Category:English male singers Category:English rock singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English tenors Category:English vegans Category:Friends of the Earth Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Wellingborough Category:Radiohead members Category:Alumni of the University of Exeter Category:Music from Oxford Category:Old Abingdonians Category:Rhythm guitarists Category:XL Recordings artists

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Name	Tim Hecker
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Alias	Jetone
Born	1974Vancouver, British Columbia
Origin	Montreal, Quebec
Genre	DroneMicrosoundAmbient music
Years active	1996–present
Label	Mille PlateauxAlien8Force IncStaalplaatFat CatKranky
Website	Alien8 Page
Past members	}}

Tim Hecker is an electronic musician and sound artist based in Montreal, Canada. Hecker previously recorded under the moniker Jetone, but has become better known internationally for his ambient recordings released through Kranky, Mille Plateaux, Alien8, Force Inc, Staalplaat, and Fat Cat under his own name.

Background

Hecker is an acclaimed producer of electronica, having toured and produced under the name Jetone. His work has included commissions for contemporary dance, sound-art installations, and various writings. Tim has performed extensively including festivals such as Sónar (Barcelona), MUTEK (Montreal), Impakt Festival (Utrecht), Victoriaville in (Quebec), IDEAL (Nantes), Vancouver New Music Festival (Vancouver), and club transmediale (Berlin).

In addition to touring with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and recording with the likes of Fly Pan Am, Hecker has also collaborated with Christof Migone, Martin Tétreault, and Aidan Baker. He has also contributed remixes to other artists, including Isis. His works have been described as “structured ambient”, “tectonic color plates” and “cathedral electronic music”, however for the most part, have focused on exploring the intersections of noise, dissonance and melody, fostering an approach to song craft which is both physical and emotive. The New York Times has described his work as “foreboding, abstract pieces in which static and sub-bass rumbles open up around slow moving notes and chords, like fissures in the earth waiting to swallow them whole”. His ''Radio Amor'' was considered to be a key recording in 2003 by The Wire.

Discography

Tim Hecker

Albums

''Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again'' (2001)

''Radio Amor'' (2003)

''Mirages (2004)

''Harmony in Ultraviolet'' (2006)

''An Imaginary Country'' (2009)

''Ravedeath, 1972'' (2011)

Collaborations

with Aidan Baker (Nadja)

''Fantasma Parastasie'' (2008)

EPs & Other

''Trade Winds, White Noise'' (2002)

''My Love Is Rotten To The Core'' (2002)

''Radio Marti / Radio Havana (2004)

''Mort Aux Vaches'' (2005)

''Pareidolia (2006)

''Norberg (2007)

''Atlas'' (2007)

''Apondalifa (2010)

Jetone

Albums

''Autumnumonia'' (2000)

''Ultramarin'' (2001)

''Sundown'' (2006)

External links

Official website

Tim Hecker at Alien8 Recordings

Tim Hecker at Groovesmag.com

Interviews

Hampson, Simon. “Tim Hecker Interview.” ''Cyclic Defrost'', 3 March 2007.

Henderson, Lee. “Tim Hecker: Resisting the Technophilia.” ''Splendid eZine'', 2003.

Schepper, Ron. “An Interview with Tim Hecker.” ''Junkmedia'', 27 September 2004.

Nguyen, Mac. “Interview: Tim Hecker.” ''The Silent Ballet'', 28 March 2010.

Unknown author. “Two and a Half Questions with Tim Hecker.” ''Headphone Commute'', 28 April 2010.

Unknown author. “Interview with Tim Hecker.” ''Headphone Commute'', 18 February 2011.

Further reading

Bergmann, Brett. “Global Movement, Local Detail: The Music of Tim Hecker.” ''eContact! 11.2 — Figures canadiennes (2) / Canadian Figures (2)'' (July 2009). Montréal: CEC.

Hecker, Tim. “Guest List Top 10.” ''Pitchfork''. 27 October 2006.

Richardson, Mark. “Tim Hecker: Harmony in Ultraviolet.” ''Pitchfork''. CD Review. 16 October 2006.

Category:Ambient musicians Category:Canadian electronic musicians Category:Living people Category:1974 births Category:Noise musicians Category:Musicians from Quebec Category:Musicians from British Columbia

pl:Tim Hecker

name	Jamie xx
landscape	yes
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Jamie Smith
origin	London, UK
instrument	Sampler, drums, steel drums, turntable, personal computer, percussion
genre	Indie pop, electronic music, post-dubstep
occupation	Producer, remix artist, DJ
years active	2005–present
label	XL Recordings, Young Turks
associated acts	The xx, Gil Scott-Heron, Drake, Noah "40" Shebib, Rihanna
website	}}

Jamie Smith (known by the stage name Jamie xx) is an English music producer and remix artist, who gained fame both as solo act and as a member of the London-based band The xx. Jamie did not attend Bousfield Primary School, the school fellow bandmembers Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim attended. Smith's musical career began in 2007 when he joined The xx accompanying old school friends Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, Baria Qureshi of the Elliott School in London, notable for alumni including Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet. He first used the stage name Jamie xx in July 2009 in a promotional mix for the band's début album ''xx'' released on the FACT mix series of the FACT Magazine. The mixtape was compiled by Jamie Smith and featured amongst others four tracks credited to Jamie xx - one own production and three remixes. The xx album went on to become platinum in the UK. and Jamie Smith went on to do more remix work for artists like Florence + The Machine, Adele, Jack Peñate and Glasser.

In late 2010 a Jamie xx remix of the song "NY Is Killing Me" from Gil Scott-Heron's last album ''I'm New Here'' aired on radio stations across the UK and Europe. The remix of "I'll Take Care Of U" followed in January 2011. Both singles drew the attention of the general public and the critics. They set the way for a 13-track remix album entitled ''We're New Here'', produced entirely by Jamie xx and credited to ''"Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx"''. The album was released on February 21, 2011 on the XL Records label, but a full album preview could be streamed on the website of The Guardian as early as February 14. ''We're New Here'' received very positive critical acclaim and was named ''"masterpiece in its own right"'' by BBC's Ele Beattie.

On June 6, 2011 the two-track self-produced single "Far Nearer"/"Beat For" was released. The song "Far Nearer" was selected Best New Track by Pitchfork Media, and the double A-side single charted at #128 in the UK singles chart.

Later the same year Smith produced the title track off Drake's second album, ''Take Care'', which features pop singer Rihanna. In addition, Smith helped create several reworks for Radiohead's song "Bloom" which were released on a remix album entitled ''TKOL RMX 1234567''.

References

Category:English record producers Category:Post-dubstep musicians

fr:Jamie xx ru:Jamie xx sv:Jamie xx