7L & Esoteric

7L & Esoteric (7LES) are an underground hip-hop duo from Boston, Massachusetts, known for battle rhymes and boom bap production. 7L is the duo's DJ/producer and Esoteric is the MC. 7L & Esoteric are both prominent members of underground hip-hop collectives Army of the Pharaohs and Demigodz, as well as being 2/3 of CZARFACE along with Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck.

History

Early Career (1993-1996)

The duo formed in 1993 when Esoteric DJed a hip hop show at a college radio station north of Boston. 7L, a DJ and producer who listened to the show, contacted Esoteric in the interest of collaborating. The two found they shared a common love of the golden age of hip-hop and decided to form a group.

After performing for some time in the Boston/Cambridge underground, the duo released their first single in 1996 as God Complex with MC Karma. The B-side, "Secret Wars", gained a lot of attention as Esoteric paid tribute to the heroes of Marvel Comics in rhyme form. This led to the release of the Rebel Alliance LP, featuring acts such as Virtuoso, Mr. Lif, and Force Five. Also at this time, the two dropped the God Complex moniker and became known as simply 7L & Esoteric.

Come Sail Away – The Styx Anthology

Come Sail Away – The Styx Anthology is a musical album by Styx, released on May 4, 2004. It is a compilation consisting of two compact discs and contains a thorough history of the band. The album encompasses many of the band's most popular and significant songs, ranging from the band's first single from their self-titled album, "Best Thing," through the song "One with Everything," a track included on Styx's most recent album at the time of release, Cyclorama.

The most notable omission from the compilation is "Don't Let It End," Dennis DeYoung's top-ten single from their 1983 album, Kilroy Was Here.

This is the only Styx compilation album to date to combine the original versions of songs from the band's early Wooden Nickel albums with their later material. Their Wooden Nickel breakout hit "Lady" was included on the 1995 Greatest Hits collection, but as a note-for-note re-recording, labelled "Lady '95." As such, this is the first truly career-spanning collection for the band ever compiled.

Sir Sly

Sir Sly is an American indie pop band, formerly known as "The Royal Sons", formed and based in Los Angeles, California, United States. The band is fronted by vocalist Landon Jacobs with instrumentalists Jason Suwito and Hayden Coplen accompanying him. While they originally operated together under the band name "The Royal Sons", the trio gradually built a steady following and managed to top The Hype Machine chart, eventually revealing their identities. Their original band gathered over $13,000 in a Kickstarter campaign, released an album, and then split up. Now they have come together under the new band name of "Sir Sly"

Their debut single, "Ghost", was released on March 4, 2013, on the National Anthem and Neon Gold labels followed by the single "Gold" on May 21, 2013. "Gold" peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and No. 45 on the Rock Airplay chart. "Gold" is also featured in the video game, MLB 14: The Show.

They gained international fame after the Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag accolade trailer was released in which their song "Gold" was used.

Gold (2015 film)

Gold. is a German experimental short documentary film directed by Alexander Tuschinski. It intercuts abandoned 19th century gold-mining towns in the desert with sequoia trees in a forest. The film had its world premiere at Mykonos Biennale on July 3, 2015, where it was screened in competition and received the Biennale's Golden Pelican Award by Lydia Venieri. It had its German premiere at Berlin Short Film Festival on July 4, 2015.

Production

The film is set to the fourth movement of Beethoven's seventh symphony, which has been called "Apotheosis of Dance" by Richard Wagner. The director's intention was to intercut nature and human structures to show nature overtaking. It was filmed with a tight schedule and the crew travelled long distances in a short amount of time to get many different shots needed. Tuschinski edited the film from six hours of material from "countless camera-angles", as most shots are shown only very briefly due to the often rapid editing. Planning the film, he was inspired by the early works of his friend and mentor Hugo Niebeling that connect cinematoraphy and music in a very direct way.