Calvin Harris

standing near an original synthesizer 

Calvin Harris (born Adam Richard Wiles on 17 January 1984) is a scottish singer-song writer, record producer and DJ.
He released his debut album 'I created Disco' which was released in 2007 and included hit singles 'Acceptable in the 80s' and 'The Girls'.
He has also written and produced records for recording artists such as Kylie Minogue and her song 'X' and his number-one collaboration with rapper Dizzee Rascal, 'Dance Wiv Me'.
I have chosen Calvin Harris because he is well known in the music industry and i  have always liked his music.His videos are always interesting and thought his music had a good beat and sound.
I feel the target audience is aimed more at the younger generation because of the beats and tempo. However the elder generation could also like this because of the older synth-pop type music like Kraftwerk and Human League.

posing picture of calvin Harris

picture from the music video - Acceptable in the 80s

History of sythpop

Synth-pop stated in in Germany as a genre of popular music which the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. Is was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by synthesizer in progressive rock i.e bands like Pink Floyd.
In 1974 a band called Kraftwerk were making music more rhythmical and easier to understand.They released their international debut album 'Autobahn' which was a breakthrough.
Its a twenty minutes long car drive accompanied by synthesizers and sound effects. They were style-forming for the synth-pop.
By the end of the 1970s there appeared many artists, especially in England who used synthesizer as their main instrument.
For example Gary Newman, Ultravox, OMD and Human League. These artists were very much inspired by Kraftwerk.
Todays synth-pop genre of music include artists like Calvin Harris, La Roux and Owl City who still use the traditions of the music genre and have kept synth-pop music going strong and worldly known by many.

an original synthesizer 

image from an Kraftwerk album

all the instruments used in creating synth-pop type music

Synthpop aka electropop or technopop

Conventions of the genre

Origins - Germany, Japan, England
Typical instruments - syntheizer, keyboard, vocoder, sampler, vocals, sequencer, drums, guitar, drum machine, bass guitar, tape loop.
bands/male artists

Iconography of the genre

Bold, bright ,simple, futuristic

Key artists of the genre

Depeche mode, Soft Cell, Kraftwork, Erasure, Petshop Boys, The Eurythmics, Tears for Fears,
La Roux, Calvin Harris, Owl City, LMAFO, Lady Gaga.

Key songs of the genre


Gary Newman - Cars
The Buggles - Video Killed the radio Star
Human league - Dont you want me baby

Project - Music Video

Our music video we have chosen to do is Calvin Harris - Feel So Close,
who is electropop, electrohouse, nu-disco, synth-pop.
We choose this because its a well known artist and this was his latest song which we
all liked and thought we could do a good music video for.




Theories


Ideology - the beliefs and ideals of a particular group of society
Roland Barhes - Denotation - what we literally see
                        - Connotation - what it means
                        - Myth/Ideology - overall values/ significance
Richard Dyer - four notations of representation - ideology
                                                                       - conventions
                                                                       - gender
                                                                       - audience
             

Digipaks

The picture on this cover not only reflects the title Intimacy, with two people being intimate by kissing but also represents how the music will bring people closer together.

Digipaks

A simple black background, with the name and title in the top left corner, coloured white and red.

The icicle in the middle represents the uniqueness of the band and the lager icicle with light connecting it to the previous one show’s how the band has come for but reminds the same unchanged band they were at the start.

Digipaks

The cover of this album shows a high starchier with the artists name on either side in a vertical way. Also an enlarged face in the centre and blinged up glasses, and the title saying ‘I created disco’ showing that his he is birth of the new generation of dance music.