Modà

Modà is an Italian pop band from Milan. Formed in 2002, the band currently consists of lead singer Kekko Silvestre, guitarists Diego Arrigoni and Enrico Zapparoli, bass guitarist Stefano Forcella and drummer Claudio Dirani.

History

2000–2003: Early years

In the early 2000s, Kekko Silvestre met musicians Tino Alberti and Enrico Palmosi. Later joined by Silvestre's childhood friend Paolo Bovi, they formed a band, Pop Doc, which performed in local clubs in Northern Italy. Silvestre later decided to rename tha band after a discothèque in Erba, Lombardy. In 2001, Modà recorded their first demos, but during the summer of the same year, Palmosi left the group, later becoming the arranger of most of Modà's songs.

The following year, Silvestre met Diego Arrigoni, who became the band's guitarist. Shortly after, Stefano Forcella and Manuel Signoretto became Modà's bass guitarist and drummer, respectively.

2003–2005: Debut album and Sanremo Music Festival

In May 2003, Modà released their first self-produced EP, titled Via d'uscita. During one of their concerts, Modà were noted by Marco Sfratato, who was interested in their music and introduced the band to Pippo Landro, director of the independent record label New Music International. That way, Modà obtained their first recording contract. The band's debut album was released in October of the following year. Titled Ti amo veramente, the album was preceded by the single with the same title, which became a minor hit in Italy. The album also spawned the singles "Dimmi che non hai paura", released on 10 September 2004, and "Nuvole di rock".

MOD (file format)

MOD is a computer file format used primarily to represent music, and was the first module file format. MOD files use the “.MOD” file extension, except on the Amiga where the original trackers instead use a “mod.” prefix scheme, e.g. “mod.echoing”. A MOD file contains a set of instruments in the form of samples, a number of patterns indicating how and when the samples are to be played, and a list of what patterns to play in what order.

History

The first version of the format was created by Karsten Obarski for use in the Ultimate Soundtracker; tracker software released for the Amiga computer in 1987. The format has since been supported by hundreds of playback programs and dozens of other trackers.

The original version of the MOD format featured four channels of simultaneous audio playback, corresponding to the capabilities of the original Amiga chipset, and up to 15 instruments.

Later variations of the format have extended this to up to 32 channels and 31 instruments.

The format was designed to be directly playable on the Amiga without additional processing: for example, samples are stored in 8-bit PCM format ready to be played on the Amiga DACs, and pattern data is not packed. Playback required very little CPU time on an Amiga, and many games used MOD files for their background music.

Mod (subculture)

Mod is a subculture that began in 1960s Britain and spread, in varying degrees, to other countries and continues today on a smaller scale. Focused on music and fashion, the subculture has its roots in a small group of London-based stylish young men in the late 1950s who were termed modernists because they listened to modern jazz, although the subculture expanded to include women.

Significant elements of the mod subculture include fashion (often tailor-made suits); music (including soul, ska, and R&B); and motor scooters (usually Lambretta or Vespa). The original mod scene was associated with amphetamine-fuelled all-night dancing at clubs.

In England during the early to mid 1960s, mods often engaged in brawls with rockers, which led to many news articles. The mods and rockers conflict led sociologist Stanley Cohen to coin the term moral panic in his study about the two youth subcultures, which examined media coverage of the mod and rocker riots in the 1960s. In the mid-to-late 1960s, the conflicts between mods and rockers subsided, as several rock bands, including The Who and the Small Faces adopted a mod style. London became synonymous with fashion, music, and pop culture in these years, a period often referred to as "Swinging London." In turn, mod influence spread to the United States and around the world.