Angus & Julia Stone are an Australian brother-sister folk and indie pop group that formed in 2006 by Angus Stone and Julia Stone. Their parents played as a folk duo before Julia and Angus were born. Angus & Julia Stone have released three studio albums, A Book Like This (2007), Down the Way (2010) and their self-titled album (2014). At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 they won five awards from nine nominations: winning Album of the Year, Best Adult Alternative Album, Best Cover Art and Producer of the Year for Down the Way and Single of the Year for "Big Jet Plane". The siblings have each issued two solo albums, with Angus releasing Smoking Gun (under the pseudonym Lady of the Sunshine) in 2009 and Broken Brights in 2012; Julia's albums are The Memory Machine (2010) and By the Horns (2012).
Angus & Julia Stone are a brother-sister folk-blues duo who formed in Sydney in early 2006. Their parents, Kim Stone (marine biologist, singer and high school teacher who then spent 20 years in institutional funds management, now Kim Jones - a Non Executive Board Director) and John Stone (rock band, builder and high school teacher), were a folk duo before Angus and Julia's older sister, Catherine, was born (October 1982). Catherine, Julia (born 13 April 1984) and Angus (born 27 April 1986) grew up in the suburb of Newport on Sydney's Northern Beaches. They attended Newport Primary School and then Barrenjoey High School – they were all taught by their father with their mother singing to them and helping them to develop their musicality. At family gatherings, when the children performed, Catherine was on saxophone, Julia on trumpet and Angus on trombone, Kim singing and John on keyboards or guitar.
Angus & Julia Stone is the self-titled, third full-length album by Australian singer-songwriter duo Angus & Julia Stone. It was released on 1 August 2014 in Australia through EMI Music Australia, and on the same day in the United States through American Recordings. Its release was preceded by the singles "Heart Beats Slow", which peaked at #37 in Australia, and "A Heartbreak". The videos for both songs as well as a video for "Get Home" were directed by Jessie Hill.
American producer Rick Rubin helped reunite the duo and co-produced the album. Rubin said of the experience: "This album is extraordinary; Angus and Julia are truly unique musicians. They are authentic and pure people who do things from the heart. I've never worked with anyone like them before." The album has been said to contain "blended harmonies [...] and more experimental guitar textures".
The album is the highest-charting by the duo to date, reaching the top 10 in several countries including France, Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand. With an average of 67 based on 7 reviews on review aggregator Metacritic, Angus & Julia Stone received generally favorable critical reception.
Julia Natasha Stone (born 13 April 1984) is an Australian folk-blues singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She is the sister half of Angus & Julia Stone and is also a solo musician. Her debut solo album, The Memory Machine, was issued in 2010. Her second solo album, By the Horns, appeared in May 2012, which peaked at No. 11 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
Julia Natasha Stone was born on 13 April 1984 and grew up in Sydney. Her parents, Kim and John Stone, were both folk musicians. John was a builder and later became a music teacher, who also performs in a covers band, Backbeat. Kim has an Honours degree in Science, worked as a marine biologist, high school teacher and singer, spent 20 years as Head of E-marketing, Marketing and Investor Communications in institutional funds management until commencing a career as a Non-Executive Director. Stone's older sister is Catherine (born ca. 1982) and her younger brother is Angus Stone (born 27 April 1986). Stone attended Newport Primary School and Barrenjoey High School. At primary school she joined the school band with her father teaching and her siblings accompanying. At family gatherings when the children performed, Stone played trumpet, Catherine on saxophone and Angus on trombone with Kim singing and John on keyboard or guitar. At about the age of 16 years her parents separated and she had a turbulent personal relationship with her boyfriend which broke up after a year.
Angus (Scottish Gaelic: Aonghas) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross. Main industries include agriculture and fishing. Global pharmaceuticals company GSK has a significant presence in Montrose in the north of the county.
Angus was historically a county, known officially as Forfarshire from the 18th century until 1928. It remains a registration county and a lieutenancy area. In 1975 its administrative functions were transferred to the council district of the Tayside Region, and in 1995 further reform resulted in the establishment of the unitary Angus Council.
The area that now comprises Angus has been occupied since at least the Neolithic period. Material taken from postholes from an enclosure at Douglasmuir, near Friockheim, about five miles north of Arbroath have been radiocarbon dated to around 3500 BC The function of the enclosure is unknown, but may have been for agriculture or for ceremonial purposes.
Angus is a masculine given name in English. It is an Anglicised form of the Irish and Scottish Gaelic Aonghas, which is composed of Celtic elements meaning "one", and "choice". A variant spelling of the Scottish Gaelic name is Aonghus. The Irish form of the Scottish Gaelic name is Aengus. A pet form of the given name Angus is Angie, pronounced "an-ghee", which represents the Scottish Gaelic Angaidh. A short form of the given name Angus is Gus, which may be lengthened to Gussie. The feminine form of Angus is Angusina.
The earliest form of the given name Angus, and its cognates, occurs in Adomnán's Vita Columbae (English: "Life of Columba") as Oinogusius, Oinogussius. This name likely refers to a Pictish king whose name is recorded variously as Onnust, Hungus. According to historian Alex Woolf, the early Gaelic form of the name, Oengus, was borrowed from the British Pictish Onuist, which appears in British as Ungust. Woolf noted that these names are all derived from the Celtic *Oinogustos. Linguist John Kneen derived this name from two Celtic elements the following way: *Oino-gustos, meaning "one-choice". Woolf also stated that between about AD 350 and AD 660, the Insular Celtic dialects underwent changes which included the loss of the final syllables and unstressed vowels, which affected *Oinogustos thus: *Oinogustos.
Angus cattle, known as Aberdeen Angus in most parts of the world, are a breed of cattle commonly used in beef production. They were developed from cattle native to the counties of Aberdeenshire and Angus in Scotland.
Angus cattle are naturally polled and solid black or red although the udder may be white. The native colour is black, but more recently red colours have emerged. The UK registers both in the same herd book, but in the US they are regarded as two separate breeds – Red Angus and Black Angus. Black Angus is the most common breed of beef cattle in the US, with 324,266 animals registered in 2005. In 2014, the British Cattle Movement Service named Angus the UK's most popular native beef breed, and the second most popular beef breed overall.
Aberdeen Angus cattle have been recorded in Scotland since at least the 16th century in the country's North East. For some time before the 1800s, the hornless cattle in Aberdeenshire and Angus were called Angus doddies. In 1824, William McCombie of Tillyfour, M.P. for South Aberdeenshire, began to improve the stock and is regarded today as the father of the breed. Many local names emerged, including doddies or hummlies. The first herd book was created in 1862, and the society was formed in 1879. This is considered late, given that the cattle gained mainstream acceptance in the middle of the eighteenth century. The cattle became commonplace throughout the British Isles in the middle of the 20th century.