Alt-J
Alt-J | |
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alt-J at the Melt Festival (2013) |
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General information | |
origin | Leeds , England |
Genre (s) | alternative |
founding | 2007 |
Website | www.altjband.com |
Current occupation | |
Joe Newman | |
Gus Unger-Hamilton | |
Thom Green | |
former members | |
Bass, guitar |
Gwil Sainsbury (until 2014) |
Alt-J (proper spelling: alt-J , also Δ) is a British alternative - folk - band from Leeds . Her greatest success so far is winning the English Mercury Prize 2012.
history
The beginnings of the band go back to 2007. It was then that Gwil Sainsbury, Joe Newman, Gus Unger-Hamilton and Thom Green met at Leeds University, where Sainsbury, Newman and Green studied art and Unger-Hamilton studied English literature. In her sophomore year Newman Sainsbury played a few of his songs that were inspired by his guitar-playing father. Then the two decided to start a band. The first recordings were made in her bedrooms at the university. After Green, Unger-Hamilton was the last to join the band, which in the following two years first appeared under the name Daljit Dhaliwal and later as The Films, mainly in Leeds. In order to avoid confusion with the American indie rock band The Films , they then adopted a new band name with alt-J. On November 1, 2012, alt-J won the prestigious Mercury Prize . At the BRIT Awards 2013 the band was nominated in three categories.
On February 11, 2014, alt-J announced on their official Twitter account that Gwil Sainsbury had left the band, but two days later they confirmed on Facebook that the band was still working on their second album. The album This Is All Yours was released on September 22, 2014, the pre-release single Hunger of the Pine was first played on June 18 on the BBC 's program.
Band name
The band name can be traced back to the key combination that is used to represent the ∆ character on English Mac keyboards , which has a deeper meaning for the band. The delta sign is used in math equations to symbolize the difference . The band calls themselves Alt-J.
Music style and reception
According to their own statements, the band plays alternative pop, which is based on folk verses, synthesizer sounds, hip-hop syncopations and close vocal harmonies. The British daily The Guardian , in which alt-J was named "Band of the Day" on May 24, 2012, describes the music as a modern Fairport Convention .
The album This Is All Yours , released in 2014, achieved the first highest rating of 10/10 since 2006 on the e-zine Plattentests.de .
Discography
Studio albums
year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
2012 | An Awesome Wave Infectious |
- | - |
CH39 (11 weeks) CH |
UK13
platinum
(72 weeks)UK |
US80
gold
(61 weeks)US |
First published: May 28, 2012
Sales: + 935,000 |
2014 | This Is All Yours Infectious |
DE8 (5 weeks) DE |
AT7 (5 weeks) AT |
CH3 (11 weeks) CH |
UK1
gold
(37 weeks)UK |
US4th
gold
(28 weeks)US |
First published: September 22nd, 2014
Sales: + 700,000 |
2017 | Relaxer Infectious |
DE13 (4 weeks) DE |
AT4 (7 weeks) AT |
CH3 (6 weeks) CH |
UK6th
silver
(7 weeks)UK |
US14 (2 weeks) US |
First published: June 2, 2017
|
Live albums
- 2016: Live at Red Rocks
Remix albums
year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
2018 | Reduxer Infectious |
- | - | - | - |
US38 (1 week) US |
First published: September 28, 2018
|
EPs
- 2011: ∆
- 2013: iTunes Session
- 2013: Summer
Singles
year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
2012 | Matilda An Awesome Wave |
- | - | - |
UK83 (2 weeks) UK |
- |
First published: January 10, 2012
|
Breezeblocks An Awesome Wave |
- | - | - |
UK75
gold
(1 week)UK |
US-
platinum
US
|
First published: May 18, 2012
Sales: + 1,555,000 |
|
Fitzpleasure An Awesome Wave |
- |
AT47 (3 weeks) AT |
- | - | - |
First published: May 18, 2012
|
|
Something Good An Awesome Wave |
- | - | - |
UK76 (2 weeks) UK |
- |
First published: September 28, 2012
|
|
2014 | Hunger of the Pine This Is All Yours |
- | - | - |
UK59 (7 weeks) UK |
- |
First published: June 19, 2014
|
Left Hand Free This Is All Yours |
- | - | - |
UK85
gold
(3 weeks)UK |
US99
gold
(1 week)US |
First published: July 7, 2014
Sales: + 935,000 |
|
Every Other Freckle This Is All Yours |
- | - | - |
UK58 (4 weeks) UK |
- |
First published: August 14, 2014
|
|
2015 | Warm Foothills This Is All Yours |
- |
AT73 (1 week) AT |
CH51 (1 week) CH |
- | - |
First published: March 2nd, 2015
|
The following songs did not appear as single, but were made available for download and streaming through the album and were thus able to achieve a placement: | |||||||
2014 | The Gospel of John Hurt This Is All Yours |
- |
AT75 (1 week) AT |
CH53 (1 week) CH |
- | - |
Chart entry: September 21, 2014
|
Pusher This Is All Yours |
- | - |
CH54 (1 week) CH |
- | - |
Chart entry: September 21, 2014
|
more publishments
- 2011: Bloodflood / Tessellate
- 2012: Tessellate
- 2012: Something Good
- 2013: Dissolve Me
- 2017: 3WW
- 2017: In Cold Blood
- 2017: Adeline
- 2017: Deadcrush
- 2017: Pleader
Awards for music sales
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Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.
Country / Region | silver | gold | platinum | Sales | swell |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources) |
|||||
Australia (ARIA) | - | 2 × gold2 | 3 × platinum3 | 280,000 | aria.com.au |
Italy (FIMI) | - | gold1 | - | 25,000 | fimi.it |
Canada (MC) | - | 2 × gold2 | - | 80,000 | musiccanada.com |
Netherlands (NVPI) | - | 2 × gold2 | - | 50,000 | nvpi.nl |
United States (RIAA) | - | 3 × gold3 | platinum1 | 2,500,000 | riaa.com |
United Kingdom (BPI) | silver1 | 3 × gold3 | platinum1 | 1,260,000 | bpi.co.uk |
All in all | silver1 | 13 × gold13 | 5 × platinum5 |
swell
- ↑ … met at Leeds University in 2007. In: soundcloud.com/alt-j. Retrieved July 8, 2012 .
- ^ Andy Welch: Alt-J member takes 'personal decision' to leave the band. In: nme.com. January 11, 2014, accessed June 19, 2014 .
- ↑ alt-J (∆) 's name takes a little explaining. In: soundcloud.com/alt-j. Retrieved January 6, 2014 .
- ^ Paul Lester: Alt-J (No 1,275). In: guardian.co.uk. May 24, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2012 .