FatCat Records is an English

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 ...

based in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. The label's output reaches into many styles including

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical elements common ...

, contemporary classical,

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

and

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

. Notable artists that have released music on the label include

Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jónsi, Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal soun ...

Múm Múm (stylized in lowercase) () is an Icelandic indietronica band whose music is characterized by soft vocals, electronic glitch beats and effects, and a variety of traditional and unconventional instruments. History The band was formed in ...

Animal Collective Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin (Josh Dibb). The band's work is cha ...

Frightened Rabbit Frightened Rabbit were a Scottish indie rock band from Selkirk, formed in 2003. Initially a solo project for vocalist and guitarist Scott Hutchison, the final lineup of the band consisted of Hutchison, his brother Grant (drums), Billy Kenned ...

Shopping Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A Retail#Shopper profiles, typology of shopper types ha ...

The Twilight Sad The Twilight Sad are a Scottish post-punk revival, post-punk/indie rock band, comprising James Graham (vocals), Andy MacFarlane (guitar), Johnny Docherty (bass), Brendan Smith (keyboards) and Grant Hutchison (drums). They have released five stu ...

Vashti Bunyan Jennifer Vashti Bunyan (born 2 March 1945) is an English singer-songwriter. She began her career in the mid-1960s and released a debut album, '' Just Another Diamond Day'', in 1970. The album sold very few copies and Bunyan, discouraged, abando ...

and We Were Promised Jetpacks.

History

1989–2001

FatCat originally began in 1989 as a

record store A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. Per the name, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records. But over the course of the 20th century, record shops sol ...

in Crawley, West Sussex, formed by Alex Knight, Dave Cawley and Andy Martin. It moved to central London in 1990, and originally specialised in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

-based

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

and

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

music. The store closed down in 1997, and the record label was born in its place, initially releasing

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and electronic 12"s. The label moved to

in 2001.

2000s

As well as Sigur Rós, another Icelandic band,

, were signed and proved successful for the label. The same year also saw the establishment of the 130701 imprint for the

Set Fire To Flames Set Fire to Flames was a Canadian instrumental music ensemble consisting of 13 musicians from Montreal, Quebec.

album '' Sings Reign Rebuilder''. A home for "post-classical" music, the imprint was later appended with the signing of pianist / composers, Sylvain Chauveau,

Max Richter Max Richter (; ; born 22 March 1966) is a German-born British composer and pianist. He works within postminimalist and contemporary classical styles. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the University of Edinbu ...

and

Hauschka Volker Bertelmann (born 11 October 1966) is a German composer, pianist and former rapper who mainly performs and records under the name Hauschka. He is best known for his compositions for prepared piano. He won an Academy Award and a British Ac ...

. In the same period FatCat consolidated its roster with the inclusion of artists like

David Grubbs David Grubbs (born September 21, 1967) is an American composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist. He was a founding member of Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol. He has also played in Codeine (band), Codeine, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet a ...

, Giddy Motors, and Party of One. The departure of Sigur Rós to

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

in late 2004 lead to the label going back to being entirely independent. In 2005, FatCat expanded its set-up with the establishment of a US office in New York, and with the FatCat Publishing arm. That same year saw the release of

's '' Lookaftering'' album. Besides picking up European licenses in

Vetiver ''Chrysopogon zizanioides'', commonly known as vetiver and khus, is a perennial bunchgrass of the family Poaceae. Vetiver is most closely related to sorghum while sharing many morphological characteristics with other fragrant grasses, such as ...

and Blood On The Wall, the label also signed singer / songwriter Nina Nastasia, as well as new acts like Tom Brosseau,

David Karsten Daniels David Karsten Daniels is an American singer-songwriter with an affinity for "slow-creeping songs that, once at full power, are like nothing else". His recordings are typically combinations of many styles of music sitting underneath lyrics that e ...

, No Age, The Rank Deluxe, and Songs Of Green Pheasant around this time. In 2007, FatCat put out the first FatCat DVD release by audiovisual artists

Semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

, who had previously worked on videos for Múm and QT?, as well as taking part in a number of FatCat showcases.

2010s

In 2012, the project of Meghan Remy, U.S Girls released FatCat debut LP Gem and later signed to 4AD to release her second album Half Free. 2013 saw TRAAMS release their debut FatCat release. In the same year TRAAMS released their debut LP Grin and their follow-up LP Modern Dancing was released in 2015. In 2014 The Twilight Sad released their fourth studio album Nobody Wants To Be Here & Nobody Wants to Leave to critical acclaim and a 10/10 review from Drowned In Sound. In 2015, Scottish composer and musician C Duncan released his debut album

Architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

which was later nominated for the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

. In 2016, FatCat signed

Tall Ships A tall ship is a large, traditionally-rigging, rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a r ...

. Numerous complications after the release of their debut album caused a three-year hiatus. The band returned with their second album

Impressions An impression is the overall effect of something. Impression or impressions may also refer to: Biology * Colic impression, a feature of the gall bladder * Duodenal impression, medial to the renal impression * Gastric impression, a feature of th ...

in 2017 and marked a move away from a math-rock sound and towards a more alternative-rock sound. Also in 2016, Honeyblood released their second album Babes Never Die and C Duncan also released his second album The Midnight Sun, both to critical acclaim. Also in 2016, 130171 released albums by a new roster of artists including Resina, Ian William Craig and Dmitry Evgrafov. Ian William Craig's album '' Centres'' was released to critical acclaim and placements on numerous critics end of year lists including

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

NY Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

and

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

. In 2017, 130701 released '' Fiction/Non Fiction'', the debut album from Montreal-based composer Olivier Alary

Series and sublabels

FatCat has several 'series' they release music across: ''Splinter Series'', ''Split Series'', ''8” Series'', and ''E-RMX'', amongst others. They also have a sublabel called 130701, which was set up to release more orchestrated and instrumental material.

Artists

Current roster of artists

* Best Friends * Big Deal *

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

* C Duncan * Dead Gaze * Den Der Hale * Dmitry Evgrafov * Dustin O’Halloran * Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch * Forest Fire *

* His Clancyness * Honeyblood * Ian William Craig * Johannes Malfatti * Knightstown * Maps & Atlases *

Mazes A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...

* Mice Parade * Milk Maid * Nina Nastasia * Olivier Alary * Paws * Resina * Samana *

* Tal National *

* TRAAMS *

* We Were Promised Jetpacks

Alumni

* Amandine *

Aoki Takamasa (sometimes stylized as AOKI takamasa) (born 1976), is a Japanese people, Japanese electronic musician and producer. Biography Aoki Takamasa was born in Osaka in 1976. He began experimenting as a musician in 1993 when he was 17, when he rec ...

Tujiko Noriko is a Japanese musician, actor and director, from Osaka. She has released music on the Austrian label Mego and the German label Tomlab, among others. Much of her music is composed on a laptop and consists of layered samples, electronic beats, ...

* The Balky Mule *

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

mit

Funkstörung Funkstörung (sometimes stylized as Funkstorung) are an electronic music duo from Rosenheim, Germany, consisting of Michael Fakesch and Chris de Luca. History Chris de Luca and Michael Fakesch first met in 1992 at a techno party organised by ...

Black Dice Black Dice is an American experimental noise music band based in Brooklyn, New York and consisting of brothers Bjorn and Eric Copeland along with Aaron Warren. Formed in 1997, the group was initially inspired by hardcore and noise rock, but s ...

* Blood on the Wall *

Brakes A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background ...

* Charlottefield * Chib *

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

* Di Lacuna * Dorine Muraille * Dr. Smith & Professor Ludlow * Drowsy * Ensemble * Foehn * Fonn *

* Get Back Guinozzi! * Giddy Motors * Grain * Gregory and the Hawk * Grindverk * HiM * Hondo Straight * Immense * Insync v Mysteron *

Janek Schaefer Janek Schaefer (born 1970) is a British avant-garde artist, musician, composer, inventor, and entertainer, known for performing and exhibiting his work around the world with sound art, sound and installation art. Schaefer has released 40 albums, r ...

Jóhann Jóhannsson Jóhann Gunnar Jóhannsson (; 19 September 1969 – 9 February 2018) was an Icelandic composer who wrote music for a wide array of media including theatre, dance, television, and film. His work is stylised by its blending of traditional orchest ...

* Kemialliset Ystävät * Live Human *

múm Múm (stylized in lowercase) () is an Icelandic indietronica band whose music is characterized by soft vocals, electronic glitch beats and effects, and a variety of traditional and unconventional instruments. History The band was formed in ...

* MNNQNS * No Age *

Panda Bear The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is ...

* Party of One * Pimmon * Process * Programme * Psychedelic Horseshit * Odonis Odonis * Olivier Alary Ensemble * Our Brother The Native *

Set Fire To Flames Set Fire to Flames was a Canadian instrumental music ensemble consisting of 13 musicians from Montreal, Quebec.

* Silje Nes * Songs of Green Pheasant * Sons of the Sun * Storsveit Nix Noltes * Stromba * Sunroof! * Sylvain Chauveau * Ten Kens * Tom Brosseau * The Balky Mule * The Bug * The Dylan Group * The Rank Deluxe * The Realistics *

To Rococo Rot To Rococo Rot were a Berlin-based band who combined electronic and analog elements to create instrumental post-rock music. Pitchfork described the band's sound as "unmistakably digital, yet 100% human." The group was composed of bassist Stefan ...

* Transient Waves * Ultra-red *

* Web *

Welcome A welcome is a kind of greeting designed to introduce a person to a new place or situation, and to make them feel at ease. The term can similarly be used to describe the feeling of being accepted on the part of the new person. Overview In ...

* Xinlisupreme

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Record labels established in 1997 Alternative rock record labels British independent record labels Indie rock record labels 1997 establishments in England