Rocket Girl is a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

. It has released records by

Robin Guthrie Robin Andrew Guthrie (born 4 January 1962) is a Scottish musician, songwriter, composer, record producer and audio engineer, best known as the co-founder of the post punk alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has ...

Pieter Nooten Pieter Nooten (born 22 January 1961 in Oss) is a Dutch musician and composer best known for his work with Clan of Xymox. Music career Nooten's musical career began in the late 1970s. Starting out as the drummer in a local symphonic rock band, h ...

God Is an Astronaut God Is an Astronaut are an Irish post-rock band from County Wicklow, formed in 2002 by Niels and Torsten Kinsella. Their style employs elements of electronic music, krautrock, and space rock, reminiscent of Tangerine Dream. They have released t ...

Ulrich Schnauss Ulrich Schnauss (born 8 September 1977) is a German Electronic music, electronic musician and producer based in London, England. He was a member of Tangerine Dream from 2014 to 2020. Biography Ulrich Schnauss was born in the northern German ...

A Place to Bury Strangers A Place to Bury Strangers are an American rock band formed in 2002, in New York City. The trio is currently composed of Oliver Ackermann (guitar/vocals, bass), John Fedowitz (bass guitar) and Sandra Fedowitz (drums). Commonly known by the initi ...

Bell Gardens Bell Gardens is a city in the U.S. state of California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Located in Los Angeles County, the city's population was 39,501 at the 2020 census. Bell Gardens is part of the Gateway Cities Region, a largely urb ...

among others, including many artists associated with

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

History

Before launching Rocket Girl in 1997, Vinita Joshi had been actively involved in running both Cheree Records and

Ché Trading Ché Trading was an independent UK record label co-founded by Vinita Joshi and Nick Allport, and was responsible for releasing the music of Disco Inferno. Other artists on their roster included the Tindersticks, Füxa, and Slipstream. Ché was ...

, releasing tracks by artists such as

The Telescopes The Telescopes are an English noise, space rock, dream pop and psychedelic band formed in 1987 by artist, composer, and musician Stephen Lawrie, with band members David Fitzgerald and Joanna Doran joining later. The band's line-up is in ...

, The Tindersticks,

Bark Psychosis Bark Psychosis is an English post-rock band/musical project from east London formed in 1986. They are one of the bands that Simon Reynolds cited when coining "post-rock" as a musical style in 1994, and are thus considered one of the key bands d ...

and

Disco Inferno "Disco Inferno" is a song by American disco band the Trammps from their 1976 studio album of same name. With two other cuts by the group, it reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart in early 1977, but had limited mainstream ...

. 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 Tindersticks are an English alternative rock band formed in Nottingham in 1991. They released six albums before singer Stuart A. Staples embarked on a solo career. The band reunited briefly in 2006 and more permanently the following year. The ...

Backwater Backwater or Backwaters may refer to: Music * ''Backwaters'' (album), a 1982 album by American guitarist Tony Rice * Backwater (band), a jazz fusion band from Mobile, Alabama, or this band's 1976 debut album * "Backwater", a song by Brian Eno fr ...

Füxa Füxa (pronounced like the color fuchsia) is an American rock band. Füxa was formed in Detroit in 1994 by musicians Randall Nieman (formerly of Windy & Carl) and Ryan Anderson (formerly of Asha Vida and later to join Delta Waves). Band memb ...

and

Slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or water) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving object, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is moving. The term slips ...

. Ché Trading had two Top 40 hit singles by

Lilys Lilys are an American indie rock band formed in Washington, D.C in 1988. The only constant member is Kurt Heasley, with the line-up changing regularly. Several of the band's tracks have been used in television advertisements, including the ba ...

("A Nanny In Manhattan") and

Urusei Yatsura is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from September 1978 to February 1987. Its 366 individual chapters were collected in 34 ''tankōbon'' volum ...

("Hello Tiger"). Joshi has also been involved with a number of other record labels throughout the years, namely

Bella Union Bella Union is a British independent record label founded in 1997 by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. It is now run solely by Raymonde. History After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twin ...

and

One Little Indian One Little Independent Records (formerly One Little Indian Records) is an English independent record label. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarcho-punk bands, and managed by former Flux of Pink Indians bassist Derek Birkett. In t ...

Launch

In 1997, Rocket Girl's first release was a split single by the band

Silver Apples Silver Apples were an American electronic rock group from New York, active between 1967 and 1970, before reforming in the mid-1990s. It was composed of Simeon (born Simeon Oliver Coxe III, June 4, 1938 – September 8, 2020), who performed ...

("I have known Love") and

Windy & Carl Windy & Carl is an American space rock duo based in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. Cited as "a leading light of the Michigan space-rock scene" by AllMusic, the minimalist group was formed in 1993 by the husband-and-wife duo of guitarist Ca ...

("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 Low or LOW or lows, may refer to: People * Low (surname), listing people surnamed Low Places * Low, Quebec, Canada * Low, Utah, United States * Lo Wu station (MTR code LOW), Hong Kong; a rail station * Salzburg Airport (ICAO airport code: LO ...

Transient Waves Transience or transient may refer to: Music * ''Transient'' (album), a 2004 album by Gaelle * ''Transience'' (Steven Wilson album), 2015 * Transience (Wreckless Eric album) Science and engineering * Transient state, when a process variable or ...

and

Piano Magic Piano Magic was a musical collective formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, England. Their sound has been described as ambient pop, post-rock, indietronica, dark wave, "arty baroque pop" and "E ...

("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 Spacemen 3 were an English rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, known respectively under their pseudonyms Sonic Boom and J Spaceman. Their music is known for its brand of "trance-like neo-psyched ...

'', which was a celebration of the pioneers of drone, with offerings from

Bowery Electric Bowery Electric was an American band formed in New York in 1993 by Lawrence Chandler and Martha Schwendener. They released three albums between 1995 and 2000, including the critically praised ''Beat'' (1996). History Formed by Lawrence Chan ...

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogwa ...

Arab Strap Arab Strap are a Scottish indie rock band whose core members are Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. The band were signed to independent record label Chemikal Underground, split in 2006 and reformed in 2016. The band signed to Rock Action Reco ...

, 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 A pharmacy (also called drugstore in American English or community pharmacy or chemist in Commonwealth English) is a premises which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacist oversees the fulfillment of m ...

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 The Association of Independent Music (AIM) is a non-profit trade body established in 1999 by UK independent record labels to represent the independent record sector, which in 2016 constituted approximately 23% of the UK market. Its members in ...

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

's seminal debut ''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (often abbreviated as ''PM'' or ''PopMech'') is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do it yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation an ...

'', and Mandita. Both labels remain under the Rocket Girl banner.

Partial list of artists

Discography

References

External links

Official Website

Official Facebook Page
{{Authority control British independent record labels