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| Industry | Music and entertainment |
|---|---|
| Genre | Experimental, alternative rock, electronic, psychedelic |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Owner | Vinita Joshi (1997–present) |
| Website |
rocketgirl |
Rocket Girl is a London-based independent record label. It has released records by Robin Guthrie, Pieter Nooten, God Is an Astronaut, Ulrich Schnauss, A Place to Bury Strangers, Bell Gardens among others, including many artists associated with ambient music.
Contents
History
Before launching Rocket Girl in 1997, Vinita Joshi had been actively involved in running both Cheree Records and Ché Trading, releasing tracks by artists such as The Telescopes, The Tindersticks, Bark Psychosis and Disco Inferno. Ché Trading, an offshoot label co-founded by Joshi and Nick Allport, was responsible for releasing the music of Essex Etherealists, Disco Inferno, and had a roster that also included the Tindersticks, Backwater, Füxa, and Slipstream. Ché Trading had two Top 40 hit singles by Lilys (A Nanny In Manhattan) and Urusei Yatsura (Hello Tiger). Vinita has also been involved with a number of other record labels throughout the years, namely Bella Union and One Little Indian.
Launch
In 1997, Rocket Girl's first release was a split single by the band Silver Apples (I have known Love) and Windy & Carl (Fractal Flow). The label continued to grow with a diverse roster and encouraged cross-pollination between its artists, most notably the 1998 7" single collaboration between Low, Transient Waves & Piano Magic (Sleep at the Bottom). Hot on the heels of the Silver Apples & Windy & Carl’s 7", 1998 also saw the release of Rocket Girl's first full-length album ‘A Tribute to Spacemen 3’, which was a celebration of the pioneers of drone, with offerings from Bowery Electric, Mogwai, Arab Strap, Piano Magic and Low, among others. Later, in 2000, Rocket Girl released the EP 'Add N to Fu(x)a'. After just four years following its launch, Rocket Girl was credited for the launch of "intriguing lo-fi classics" Late in 2010 the label signed the London-based band Drugstore.
Awards
In 2001, Rocket Girl enjoyed television exposure being the focus of an entire episode of the BBC series ‘Hit & Miss – An A-Z of the music industry’. In the same year, the label won a Young Music Professional Award. In August 2013, the Association of Independent Music nominated Rocket Girl for the 'Best Small Label' award.
Offshoot labels
Rocket Girl has also established a number of offshoot labels, including Indus Sonica, which reissued Piano Magic’s seminal debut ‘Popular Mechanics’, and 'Mandita'. Both labels remain under the Rocket Girl banner.
Artists
| Artist | Description | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 A Place To Bury Strangers |
A Place to Bury Strangers (APTBS) is a New York–based noise rock band that was formed in 2011 and composed of Oliver Ackermann (guitar/vocals), Dion Lunadon (bass guitar) and Robi Gonzalez (drums). The industry describes APTBS as the loudest band in New York. They are suggested to borrow influence of the UK's 1980s indie rock scene and glimmer with nods from early material by The Cure and My Bloody Valentine, specifically with reference to the atmosphere of those recordings rather than just aping their style. The songs are finely fashioned with an eclectic set of hooks and baselines. | |||||
| Add N to (x) | A collaboration between Barry Smith from Add N To (X) and Randall Nieman from Füxa. | |||||
| aM™aem | This is a combination of Kodai (of Supercar) and Miyuki. The two-piece band, with their minimum composition, has become very creative and each expresses their own characters during their sound making process. They are described as a Stargazer Electro Duo band. Their music consists of acoustic drums, guitar feedback and computers, supported by images. The sound aM™ delivers was once described as "the imagination of the galaxy". | |||||
| Azusa Plane | The Azusa Plane was the psychedelic music recording and performance project of Jason DiEmilio (1970 – 2006). DiEmilio performed primarily on a Fender guitar and usually through echo effects. The industry suggested that there is a great deal of beauty in this music, some of it close to an ‘accepted’ standard for that abused noun. | |||||
| Byrne | Byrne are an alternative indie quartet from London, composed of Patrick Byrne, Mark Neary, Andrew Peace and Matt Burke. | |||||
| Coldharbourstores | Formed in 1998 this London-based band consists of Lucy Castro, David Read, Michael McCabe, Graham Sutton & Liam Greany. Their music is described as an 'Hypnotic acoustic ambiance’. | |||||
| Drugstore | The band was formed in 1993 by Monteiro, Robinson and Chylinski. Drugstore's music has been featured on four film soundtracks : "Superglider", from the album Drugstore, is used on "All Over Me" and "House of America", both released in 1997; "Fader", also from Drugstore, is featured on the credits of the 2000 film Cherry Falls; "Old Shoes", originally written and performed by Tom Waits from the album Step Right Up: The Songs of Tom Waits, is used in the 2004 film East of Sunset. The band's music was also featured throughout the BBC series This Life, whose music producer was Ricky Gervais. | |||||
 Eat Lights Become Lights |
Eat Lights; Become Lights (ELBL) was formed in London in the winter of 2007 by Neil Rudd and fits within the Krautrock genre. Eat Lights Become Lights have repackaged krautrock for a new audience without compromising on the long-standing musical codes and conventions. The name "Eat Lights Become Lights" was intended to be something memorable, but not the one word band name, which Rudd suggested was commonplace in the industry. It is suggested to be a "mantra" or "statement" that alludes to something "nebulous" and offers audiences an anchor point from which to explore the sound. The trademark Eat Lights Become Lights sound owes much to Neil's love of German avant-garde progressive rock and electronic music of the 1970s, which some suggest is not just "pastiche" or "homage", but rather a "soulful extension" conveyed through a concoction of motorik grooves, overpowering noise, and then balanced with a uniqueness that indicates most clearly the brands "burgeoning potential". The sound sample opposite shows how Neil uses analogue and software synths alongside traditional guitar, bass and drums to construct an ever-evolving synthetic landscape of harmony and melody, feedback and drones but always underpinned with driving, insistent motorik percussion. ELBL's sounds are finely fashioned with an eclectic set of hooks and baselines. | |||||
| Experimental Audio Research | Experimental Audio Research (commonly shortened to E.A.R. or EAR) is a psychedelic / drone project formed in 1990 by Peter Kember (a.k.a. Sonic Boom), formerly of Spacemen 3. Their approach is underlined with an ere of experimentation. | |||||
| Füxa (pronounced Fyoo-sha, or like the color fuchsia) was created in 1994 and consists of Detroit musicians Ryan Anderson (formerly of Asha Vida and later to join DELTA WAVES) and Randall Nieman. Füxa focus on a lo-fi, electronics-heavy blend of droning, treated guitars, vintage synths, and sparse percussion in the vein of suicide. Their fast ascension into cult status is the result of their experimental approach to their work. | ||||||
| Frausdots | Frausdots is a band from Los Angeles, California, United States. The band consists of Brent Rademaker, formerly of The Tyde and Beachwood Sparks, and Michelle Loiselle, a former backing singer for Guns N' Roses, Carl Tapia, Roger Brogan, Exiquio Talavera and David Baum. | |||||
| Gnac | GNAC (pronounced niak, as in the last syllable of cognac). The name gnac is a pseudonym used by songwriter and music producer Mark Tranmer. The name is derived from a short story by Italo Calvino in Marcovaldo entitled Luna e GNAC (or ""moon and gnac""). Since the story refers to a cognac factory it is reasonable to pronounce it 'niyak' but some people say 'guh-nac' and the odd person says 'gee-nac'. | |||||
 God Is An Astronaut |
God is an Astronaut (GIAA) are a five piece band from Glen of the Downs, Ireland. The band was formed by twin brothers Niels and Torsten Kinsella in 2002. Their album, titled "The End Of The Beginning" was intended to be a farewell to the industry.[29] Many now consider GIAA as of the worlds biggest instrumental bands.[30] In mid-2006 a licensing deal with U.K. label Rocket Girl saw both their E.P. and second album "All Is Violent, All Is Bright" being re-released.[31] | |||||
| Jon DeRosa | Jon DeRosa (born 21 December 1978) is a guitarist, composer and singer/songwriter from Brooklyn, New York.[32] His work contains a mix of influences and is quite simply: sophisticatic pop music.[33] | |||||
| July Skies | July Skies is a project by Antony Harding.[34] | |||||
| Pieter Nooten | Pieter Nooten composes all of his music solely on a MacBook Pro. But the power of Nooten’s machine is not to be underestimated, and neither should his talent as a composer. Nooten’s aesthetic is rooted loosely in a minimalistic compositional technique with the detailed production and unexpected musical depth enveloping the melancholia in a comforting shroud.[35] Pieter Nooten increases the level of musical involvement during his live performances by the images processed by Miryam Chachmany, an emerging talented video maker whose works are currently on display in galleries in Miami, New York City, New Mexico and also in an important upcoming art-festival in Amsterdam. The music is created and mixed using the Mac Book Pro, the only equipment chosen by the musician. Pieter’s music is suggested to create emotion, highlighting harmonic areas mainly directed towards nostalgia and reflection through elements of elegant piano-violin orchestrations, piano sound with keyboard elements.[36] | |||||
| Robin Guthrie | Guthrie’s more recent releases Emeralds is, according to critics, his most consistent yet, blending the peerless haze of his patented Cocteau Twins sound with a more modern, cinematic bent.[37] | |||||
| Roy Montgomery | Roy Montgomery is a guitarist from Christchurch, New Zealand. His music consists of mostly instrumental solo works with elements of post-rock, lo-fi, folk and avant-garde experimentation. His signature sound might be described as atmospheric or cinematic, often featuring complex layers of chiming, echoing and/or droning guitar phrases. | |||||
| Sam Kills Two | In 2006 drummer Matt Bell joined as the third band member of London based Sam Kills Two: a band led by singer Fred Bjorkvall and producer, mixer and multi-instrumentalist Geoff Gamlen. Critics describe Sam Kills Two as well constructed skilfully handled with a freshness throughout.[38] | |||||
| Ulrich Schnauss | ||||||
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