# Rocket Girl

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.

## 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"). Joshi 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 and 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. In 2000, Rocket Girl released the EP Add N to Fu(x)a. Just four years after 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 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.

### Partial list of artists

| Artist | Description |
| | 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. |
| 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. |
| 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 a '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 (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 (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. Many now consider GIAA as of the world's biggest instrumental bands. 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. |
| Jon DeRosa | Jon DeRosa (born 21 December 1978) is a guitarist, composer and singer/songwriter from Brooklyn, New York. His work contains a mix of influences and is quite simply: sophisticatic pop music. |
| 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. 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Ulrich Schnauss | At once uplifting and otherworldly, the music of Ulrich Schnauss combines multi-layered synthesizers with beats and ethereal vocals, serving as an aural escape route from the trappings of reality. Today, Schnauss expresses a renewed interest in more direct electronic sounds, and aims to substitute traditional verse-chorus-verse structures for more freeform atmospherics. Stripping back the orgiastic excess of multilayered instrumentation |
| Whipping Boy | The Irish band Whipping Boy was made up of Fearghal McKee (vocals, guitar) Paul Page (guitar), Myles McDonnell (bass, backing vocals) and Colm Hassett (drums). They reformed in 2011, where only McKee and Hassett remain from the original band. The new members are Finn O’Connor, Killian McGowan and Joey McGowan (bass). Critics describe Whipping Boy as light years ahead of this Irish quartet's obscure, out-of-print debut Submarine. |
| Various Artists | Named for the U.K.-based label that put it out, the 3...2...1... A Rocket Girl Compilation includes a wide range of turn of the century psych, ambient, and indie bands. Critics describe Rocket Girl's compilation as a fine portrait of a great outfit, one that pursues its vision of music and quality above all else excellently. |
| Silver Apples | Silver Apples are a psychedelic electronic music duo from New York City, formed in 1967 and composed of Simeon Coxe III, who performs as Simeon, on a primitive synthesizer of his own devising (also named The Simeon), and until his death in 2005, drummer Danny Taylor. Silver Apples were one of the first groups to employ electronic music techniques extensively within a rockidiom, and their minimalistic style, with its pulsing, driving beat and frequently discordant modality, anticipated not only the experimental electronic music and krautrock of the 1970s, but underground dance music and indie rock of the 1990s as well. |
| State River Widening | Named after the title of a Chinese propaganda photo, London-based trio State River Widening comprises multi-instrumentalists David Sheppard and Keiron Phelan, along with drummer/percussionist Jon Steele. Critics have described State River Widening as a graceful Tortoise backing an instrumental Nick Drake set and a very distinctive sound from one of the most consistently brilliant groups operating on the UK scene. |
| Television Personalities | Commonly categorised as the finest cult band in the UK. Television Personalities is led by Dan Treacy – the bands one constant. Their mixture of neo-psychedelia, pop and punk spread over nearly twenty albums has been pivotal for generations of devotees. The bands colourful and erratic history – taking in addiction, homelessness, nervous breakdowns, insanity, numerous line-up changes, and all points in-between – have ensured that while they may never have reaped huge commercial success, they most definitely have never been boring. |
| The Brothers Movement | The Brothers Movement is composed of brothers Neil (guitars/vocals), Conor (bass), Danda Paxton(guitar/vocals) along with Scott Glennon (guitar) and Andy Parkes on drums. They formed in Dublin in 2007. The Brothers Movement released their self-titled debut album worldwide through Rocket Girl. |
| Windy & Carl | Windy & Carl are an ambient group based in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S. Formed in 1993 around the core husband-and-wife duo of guitarist Carl Hultgren and bassist/singer Windy Weber. Their drones are primarily derived from guitar, particularly via usage of delay effects, reverb effects, and E-Bow, rather than synthesizers. Another noteworthy aspect of W&C's sound is the absence of drums. |
| White Ring | White Ring, commonly described as a duo that dwell on the outskirts of pop music. Bryan Kurkimilis and Kendra Malia met on the internet in 2007 and ever since have been creating a sound that blends heavy, distorted electronics with sublime vocals. White Ring's music is highly sought after and very rare indeed. |
| The Sleeping Years | The Sleeping Years are: Dale Grundle (vocals, guitars, piano, etc.), Tom Page (drums, percussion), Dan Wood (piano, keyboards), Alex Beamont (Cello). Since the release of the Sleeping Years’ debut album ‘We’re Becoming Islands One by One’ (Rocket Girl), Dale Grundle and his band have been busy playing shows in Europe and the UK. With We're Becoming Islands One By One, The Sleeping Years have a record full of timeless melodies that only Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago can rival. When Dale Grundle, aka The Sleeping Years, sings about his hometown and all the magic and misery that surrounds it, he seems quite unique in the plaintive way he can turn simple observations into fascinating tales detailing the struggle and deprivation he quite possibly endured in the sleepy Northern Ireland town of Coleraine, from where he originates. |
| Transient Waves | Transient Waves were a Philadelphia-based three-piece that emerged from within the shifting network of US 'post-rock' operators that came to prominence in the latter half of the nineties. Critics suggest that by abandoning the linear drive and dynamics of traditional rock in favour of a more textural approach that included the use of the sampler and a shift away from the foregrounding of the 'song' and the 'voice'. Falling somewhere between Slowdive's dream pop and Robert Fripp's sparse electronic work, Transient Waves knows all the right studio tricks to create one stellar, hypnotic treat. |
| Bell Gardens | Pitchfork Media describe Bell Gardens as a dreamy, chamber-pop ensemble. Their second album, Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions, has been released on the Rocket Girl label. The band is a collaboration between Kenneth James Gibson and Brian McBride. Mojo (magazine) described Slow Dawns For Lost Conclusions as a mellowed mix of Americana, folk, gospel, and orchestral pop with pedal steel, strings and trumpet adding melancholic texture to the spacious, softly sung arrangements. |
| White Noise Sound | White Noise Sound are an experimental psychedelic rock band. Their electronic, guitar-based, sound is said to be inspired by the likes of Spacemen 3, Suicide and The Velvet Underground. It has been suggested that their drones and psychedelic melodies are impeccably well done, and at times sublime. The band is suggested to show similarities to Spacemen 3, My Bloody Valentine whilst sharing notes with OMD and Slipstream. |

### Discography

| Release Year | Artist | Title | Reference |
| 1997 | Silver Apples and Windy & Carl | Fractal Flow / I Have Known Love | Rgirl1 |
| 1998 | Various Artists | Tribute to Spacemen 3 | Rgirl2 |
| 1998 | Roy Montgomery with Kirk Lake | London Is Swinging By His Neck | Rgirl3 |
| 1998 | Low, Piano Magic & Transient Waves | Sleep at the Bottom / Green Acres | Rgirl4 |
| 1999 | Loopdrop & The Azusa Plane | Siempre Azul / United States Direct Investment in Other Countries | Rgirl5 |
| 1999 | Piano Magic | Low Birth Weight | Rgirl6 |
| 1999 | Gnac | Sevens | Rgirl7 |
| 1999 | State River Widening | State River Widening | Rgirl8 |
| 1999 | P.S. I Love You | Where On Earth Is Kevin Shields? | Rgirl9 |
| 1999 | Various Artists | Sounds from Psychedelphia | Rgirl10 |
| 1999 | Mazarin | Wheats | Rgirl11 |
| 1999 | Piano Magic | There's No Need For Us To Be Alone | Rgirl12 |
| 2000 | Füxa | Techno Light | Rgirl14 |
| 2000 | Mazarin | Watch It Happen | Rgirl15 |
| 2000 | Coldharbourstores | A Day Gone By | Rgirl16 |
| 2000 | David Sheppard & Keiron Phelan | David Sheppard & Keiron Phelan | Rgirl17 |
| 2000 | Experimental Audio Research | Vibrations | Rgirl18 |
| 2000 | Piano Magic | Artists' Rifles | Rgirl19 |
| 2000 | Mazarin | Chasing The Girl | Rgirl20 |
| 2000 | David Sheppard & Keiron Phelan | 2 | Rgirl21 |
| 2000 | Add N to (X) | Add N To Fü(X)a and Another Thing! | Rgirl22 |
| 2000 | Coldharbourstores | A Day Gone By | Rgirl23 |
| 2000 | Füxa | Fuxa 2000 | Rgril24 |
| 2001 | P.S. I Love You | Heart of Stone | Rgirl25 |
| 2001 | Various Artists | An Introduction to Rocket Girl | Rgirl26 |
| 2001 | Loopdrop | Loopdrop | Rgirl27 |
| 2001 | Pluxus | ...och Resan Fortsätter här | Rgirl28 |
| 2001 | Mazarin | A Tall Tale Storyline | Rgirl29 |
| 2001 | Coldharbourstores | More Than The Other | Rgirl30 |
| 2001 | Piano Magic | Seasonally Affective | Rgirl31 |
| 2002 | July Skies | Dreaming Of Spires | Rgirl32 |
| 2002 | Füxa | Supercharged | Rgirl33 |
| 2002 | Mazarin | Suicide Will Make You Happy / Flying | Rgirl34 |
| 2002 | Pluxus | Agent Tangent | Rgirl35 |
| 2002 | Pluxus | European Onion | Rgirl36 |
| 2002 | Keiron Phelan & David Sheppard | O, Little Stars | Rgirl37 |
| 2002 | Byrne | Sleeping Giant / Greener | Rgirl38 |
| 2002 | Byrne | Tidal Wave | Rgirl39 |
| 2002 | State River Widening | Early Music | Rgirl40 |
| 2003 | Byrne | Tidal Wave | Rgirl41 |
| 2003 | Frausdots | Dead Wrong | Rgirl42 |
| 2004 | Frausdots | Couture, Couture, Couture | Rgirl43 |
| 2004 | Robin Guthrie | Continental | Rgirl44 |
| 2006 | The Lilys | Everything Wrong Is Imaginary | Rgirl45 |
| 2006 | Robin Guthrie | Everlasting | Rgirl46 |
| 2006 | God Is An Astronaut | A Moment of Stillness | Rgirl47 |
| 2006 | God Is An Astronaut | All Is Violent, All Is Bright | Rgirl48 |
| 2006 | Robin Guthrie | Waiting for Dawn | Rgirl49 |
| 2006 | Lilys | A Diana's Diana (radio edit) / With Candy | Rgirl50 |
| 2008 | The Sleeping Years | We’re Becoming Islands One by One | Rgirl51 |
| 2009 | Sam Kills Two | Sam Kills Two | Rgirl52 |
| | Robin Guthrie | 3:19 | Rgirl53 |
| 2008 | A Place to Bury Strangers | I know I'll see you | Rgirl54 |
| 2008 | A Place to Bury Strangers | A Place to Bury Strangers | Rgirl55 |
| 2009 | A Place to Bury Strangers | Missing You | Rgirl56 |
| | Sam Kills Two | No. 6 | Rgirl57 |
| 2010 | Television Personalities | You're My Yoko / the girl from nowhere | Rgirl58 |
| 2009 | Robin Guthrie | Angel Falls | Rgirl59 |
| 2009 | Robin Guthrie | Carousel | Rgirl60 |
| | Robin Guthrie | Songs to help my children sleep | Rgirl61 |
| 2010 | Ulrich Schnauss | Missing Deadlines | Rgirl62 |
| | The Brothers Movement | Standing Still / Lay Alone | Rgirl63 |
| 2009 | The Brothers Movement | The Brothers Movement | Rgirl64 |
| 2010 | The Brothers Movement | Blind / Sister | Rgirl65 |
| 2010 | Television Personalities | A Memory Is Better Than Nothing | Rgirl66 |
| | Project Skyward | Moved by Opposing Forces | Rgirl67 |
| 2010 | Peter Daltrey | Heroine / Tattoo double | Rgirl68 |
| 2010 | Kennedy Green | Kennedy Green | Rgirl69 |
| 2010 | Robin Guthrie | Sunflower Stories | Rgirl70 |
| 2010 | Pieter Nooten | Here is Why | Rgirl71 |
| | Kennedy Green | Cocopah | Rgirl72 |
| | aM™[aem] | Belong to Galaxy | Rgirl73 |
| 2011 | Various Artists | 3...2...1... A Rocket Girl Compilation | Rgirl74 |
| | Sam Kills Two | Pretty Ugly | Rgirl75 |
| 2012 | Füxa | Our Lips Are Sealed / Crystal Blue (dean and britta song remixed by Fuxa) | Rgirl76 |
| | Robin Guthrie | Emeralds | Rgirl77 |
| 2011 | Drugstore | Sweet Chili Girl / Clouds | Rgirl78 |
| 2011 | Drugstore | Anatomy | Rgirl79 |
| 2012 | Füxa | Electric Sound of Summer | Rgirl80 |
| | White Ring | Black Earth That Made Me | Rgirl81 |
| | Drugstore | Standing Still | Rgirl82 |
| 2012 | Azusa Plane | Where The Sands Turn To Gold | Rgirl83 |
| 2012 | Drugstore | Aquamarine | Rgirl84 |
| 2012 | Pieter Nooten | Surround Us | Rgirl85 |
| 2012 | Anthony Reynolds | A World Of Colin Wilson CD album. Featuring Colin Wilson. | Rgirl86 |
| 2012 | Whipping Boy | No one Takes Prisoners Anymore / Earth's Last Picture | Rgirl87 |
| 2012 | Eat Lights Become Lights | Heavy Electrics | Rgirl88 |
| 2012 | Jon DeRosa | Birds of Brooklyn | Rgirl89 |
| 2012 | Jon DeRosa | A Wolf in Preacher's Clothes | Rgirl90 |
| 2013 | Pieter Nooten | Haven | Rgirl92 |
| 2013 | Füxa | Photon | Rgirl93 |
| 2013 | Jon DeRosa | Signs of Life | Rgirl95 |
| 2013 | Eat Lights Become Lights | Modular Living | Rgirl96 |
| 2013 | Füxa | Dirty D | Rgirl97 |
| 2013 | God Is An Astronaut | Origins | Rgirl98 |
| 2013 | God Is An Astronaut | Spiral Code | Rgirl99 |
| 2013 | Various | Rocket Girl 100 | Rgirl100 |
| 2014 | Eat Lights Become Lights | Into Forever | Rgirl101 |
| 2014 | Bell Gardens | Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions | Rgirl103 |
| 2015 | White Noise Sound | Like A Pyramid of Fire | Rgirl104 |
| 2015 | White Noise Sound | Heavy Echo | Rgirl107 |