Birds (class Aves) are a group of endothermic vertebrates, characterised by feathers, a beak with no teeth, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a lightweight but strong skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm (2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m (9 ft) ostrich. They rank as the class of tetrapods with the most living species, at approximately ten thousand, with more than half of these being passerines, sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds.
The fossil record indicates that birds are the last surviving dinosaurs, having evolved from feathered ancestors within the theropod group of saurischian dinosaurs. True birds first appeared during the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years ago, and the last common ancestor is estimated to have lived about 95 million years ago. DNA-based evidence finds that birds radiated extensively around the time of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that killed off the non-avian dinosaurs. Birds in South America survived this event and then migrated to other parts of the world via multiple land bridges while diversifying during periods of global cooling. Primitive bird-like "stem-birds" that lie outside class Aves proper, in the group Avialae, have been found dating back to the mid-Jurassic period. Many of these early stem-birds, such as Archaeopteryx, were not yet capable of fully powered flight, and many retained primitive characteristics like toothy jaws in place of beaks and long bony tails.
Made of Bricks is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Kate Nash, released in the United Kingdom on 6 August 2007 by Fiction Records, Cherrytree Records, and the Universal Music Group. The album was a commercial success, topping the UK Albums Chart and spawning a number-two single in the form of the lead single "Foundations". The album was later released in Europe on 10 September 2007 and in the United States on 18 September.
The album was released five weeks earlier than originally planned due to the popularity of "Foundations". The album does not contain the track "Caroline's a Victim", which was released as a limited 7" single, double A-Side with "Birds" on Moshi Moshi Records before "Foundations". "Birds" was included as the fifth track of the album.
A version that included a "making of" DVD was available at Best Buy on the album's release in the United States. In that country, Made of Bricks debuted at number 36 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 16,000.
"Birds" is a song by British alternative rock band Coldplay. It was produced by the band's long time producer Rik Simpson along with Norwegian production duo Stargate. It appears as the second track on their seventh studio album A Head Full of Dreams (2015).
An official music video was also released by the band. The video was directed by Marcus Haney. It was set to the back drop of Colorado Desert's famous Salvation Mountain. The entire video was shot on a Super 8mm camera. The director wrote on Instagram: "It's a tribute of thanks to the late artist Leonard Knight for creating Salvation Mountain and bringing so much joy to everyone who's come across it."
Stuart Berman of Pitchfork Media called the song "a shot of taut, Phoenix-styled motorik pop that provides a rare moment of intensity on an album that’s all about arm-swaying, Super Bowl-crashing bombast".
M83 or M-83 may refer to:
M83 is the debut studio album by French electropop band M83, released on April 18, 2001 on Gooom. The album was reissued on September 6, 2005 on Mute Records for its North American release, and is thus sometimes referred to as 0905.
Produced by both M83 and Morgan Daguenet, the album is predominately instrumental, with dialogue samples from various films and television programmes appearing across the songs. The track titles, if read sequentially, form a short story.
Recorded as a duo by founding members, Anthony Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau, the album was recorded at Echotone, in the Autumn of 2000, with co-producer Morgan Daguenet. The track "Slowly", included on the album's 2005 reissue, was recorded two years later at the same location.
All songs written and composed by M83.
M83 are a French electronic music band led by Anthony Gonzalez and currently based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Formed in 2001 in Antibes, France, the band initially was a duo featuring Nicolas Fromageau. They have released six albums and two soundtracks, including the Grammy Award-nominated Hurry Up, We're Dreaming.
Gonzalez and Fromageau parted ways shortly after touring for their second album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, with Gonzalez now recording primarily on his own, often with the help of his brother Yann Gonzalez, vocalist and keyboardist Morgan Kibby, and drummer Loïc Maurin. In 2011, Gonzalez posted an open audition on the M83 website for a multi-instrumentalist who could join the band. Nineteen-year-old Jordan Lawlor won the audition. Fromageau formed a new band in 2009 called Team Ghost and has released two albums to date.
Gonzalez first developed an interest in music while in high school. Together with Fromageau he formed a post-rock outfit called My Violent Wish. At the age of 17, Gonzalez bought a synth to record a demo, which he sent to a number of French labels. When Gooom Records appeared interested, he recruited Fromageau to "help me because I didn't feel like I had the shoulders to carry the project on my own". The band is named after the galaxy of the same name.