Genre Mashup: Along with Genre Roulette and New Sound Alb...

From the centrifugal assault of Sugababes' 'Round, Round', to the magpie euphoria of the first two classic Girls Aloud singles, to the very human whistling on 'Looking for a Place' - the demonically catchy current debut by upsurgent pop duo Mania - Brian Higgins's Xenomania production house has acquired a reputation for packing more avant-garde surprises into three chart-topping minutes than you'd find in a stack of Sonic Youth or Tortoise albums.

This is music that makes little money, that’s noisy and exploratory in sound and that’s largely independent from both the market and from traditional high art institutions. It sometimes exists at the fringes of these commercial and cultural institutions, as for example with experimental metal or improv, but for the most part it’s removed from the mainstream, “underground,” as we see with noise artists such as Werewolf Jerusalem or Ramleh, obscure black metal artists such as Lord Foul, and improvisers such as Maggie Nicols.

In the liner essay for the 20th ... of the Underground, Kimberley Walsh wrote, "I was just glad [the song] wasn't an insipid ballad or something really cheesy – it was definitely a song with a cooler vibe." Nicola Roberts admitted that she was initially anxious about the drum and bass sound of the track, which made ...

These four tracks, alongside an altered mix of "Life Got Cold", would eventually surface on a reissued version of Sound of the Underground, which was released on 17 November 2003. Sound of the Underground takes influence from a number of 1980s genres, such as synthpop, power pop, and new wave, and 1990s styles like big beat, drum and bass...

Of Higgins and Xenomania, Girls Aloud's former manager Louis Walsh says, "He just makes great songs for radio. They just jump out at you and stay in your brain." There are wide influences present in their productions, including electronic, glam rock, Motown soul, punk, and more traditional ...

In basements, dingy backrooms, warehouses, and other neglected places around the world music is being made that doesn't fit neatly into popular or classica...

This is music that makes little money, that's noisy and exploratory in sound and that's largely independent from both the market and from traditional high art institutions. It sometimes exists at the fringes of these commercial and cultural institutions, as for example with experimental metal or improv, but for the most part it's removed from the mainstream, "underground," as we see with noise artists such as Werewolf Jerusalem or Ramleh, obscure black metal artists such as Lord Foul, and improvisers such as Maggie Nicols.

"Sound of the Underground" is the ... production team Xenomania, the track is an energetic pop song fusing drum and bass beats, synth-pop elements, and distinctive surf guitar riffs, clocking in at 3:41.[3][4][5] It debuted at ...