Ghostly International is an American

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 ...

founded in 1999 by Samuel Valenti IV and currently headquartered in

Brooklyn, New York City Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

with team in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and

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 ...

. Artists include

Matthew Dear Matthew Dear (born April 4, 1979) is an American electronic music producer and DJ. History Texas-born Dear moved to Michigan as a teenager, where he was inspired by the sound of Detroit techno. Dear met Sam Valenti IV at a party while attendin ...

Dabrye Tadd Mullinix or Dabrye is an American musician from Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, also known by the aliases James T. Cotton and SK-1. During his adolescent years, he grew up in Troy, MI. His ''Winking Makes a Face'' was the first album re ...

(a.k.a. Tadd Mullinix),

Com Truise Seth Haley, known by his stage name Com Truise, is an American electronic musician and DJ. His stage name is a spoonerism of the name of American actor Tom Cruise. Biography Prior to 2010, Haley had released music under the pseudonyms Sarin Sun ...

Tycho Tycho is a masculine given name, a latinization of Greek Τύχων, from the name of Tyche (), the Greek goddess of fortune or luck. The Russian form of the name is '' Tikhon'' (Тихон). People Given name * Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), Dan ...

Gold Panda Derwin Schlecker (born Derwin Dicker, 1980), professionally known as Gold Panda, is an English electronic record producer and songwriter. Derwin Dicker also performs house music as DJ Jenifa. Early life Derwin Schlecker was born as Derwin Dicker ...

School of Seven Bells School of Seven Bells (often stylized as SVIIB) was an American indie rock band from New York City, formed in 2007. It originally consisted of Alejandra Deheza (vocals, guitar), her sister Claudia Deheza (keyboards, vocals) and Benjamin Curtis ...

, Kate Bollinger, Brijean,

C418 Daniel Rosenfeld (born 9 May 1989), known professionally as C418 (pronounced "see four eighteen"), is a German musician, composer and producer. Known for his minimalistic ambient work, he rose to fame as the original composer and sound designe ...

, crushed, Julie Byrne, dreamcastmoe, Dua Saleh,

Ginger Root Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

, Hana Vu,

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

, Goya Gumbani,

Mary Lattimore Mary Lattimore (born September 11, 1980) is an American classically trained harpist based in Los Angeles, California. In addition to her solo work and collaborations with fellow Philadelphia musician Jeff Zeigler, she has performed with indie mu ...

, quickly quickly, Shigeto and

Loraine James Loraine James (born 18 December 1995), also known as Whatever the Weather, is a British electronic music producer and musician. Early life Loraine James was raised in an Alma Estate tower block in Enfield, North London. Her interest in music be ...

(as Whatever The Weather).

History

Ghostly International was founded in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

by Sam Valenti IV in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

.Ghostly International: The Q&A
The Journal of Murketing He grew up in suburban

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 ...

, where, having become a fan of

underground music Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, Popular music, mainstream popular music culture. Underground styles lack the commercial success of popular music movements, and may involve the use of avant-g ...

culture, he would sneak into hip-hop clubs by carrying records for his Detroit DJ hero Houseshoes. Valenti later became a DJ himself, taking the name DJ SpaceGhost;They spin by night: The rise of Ann Arbor indie label Ghostly International
, Detroit Metro Times this theme is echoed by the name and logo of Ghostly International. Valenti met

at a house party that Valenti attended during his first week at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in Ann Arbor. Their shared affection for

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, particularly the sound of

Detroit techno Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mi ...

, led to the label's (and Dear’s) first

12 inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl (polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compar ...

, "Hands Up For Detroit." Following this, Ghostly enjoyed early success with albums by Mullinix as well as ''

Disco Nouveau ''Disco Nouveau'' is the first compilation album of Ann Arbor, Michigan record label Ghostly International. Released in 2002, the album served as a modern update of Giorgio Moroder's famed Italo disco sound of the 1970s and 1980s and includes co ...

'', a compilation including artists such as ADULT.,

Solvent A solvent (from the Latin language, Latin ''wikt:solvo#Latin, solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a Solution (chemistry), solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas ...

Legowelt Legowelt (real name Danny Wolfers) is a Dutch composer, electronic musician and visual artist, whose music spans a varying range of sub-genres. Life Danny Wolfers was born in The Hague, The Netherlands and grew up in the coastal neighbourhoo ...

, Daniel Wang and

DMX Krew DMX Krew is the stage name of musician Edward Upton. Upton's other aliases include 101 Force, Asylum Seekers, Bass Potato, Chester Louis III, Computor Rockers, David Michael Cross, Ed DMX, EDMX, House of Brakes, Michael Knight, and Viet Cong. H ...

, inspired by the

Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...

movement of the 1970s and 1980s. The label then widened its focus to include groups such as Skeletons & The Girl-Faced Boys and Mobius Band, whose rock-based sound meshes with the label's eccentric leanings. Also known for forward-thinking package design by the likes of Will Calcutt and Deanne Cheuk, as well as the Boy, Cat, and Bird logos of Michael Segal, Ghostly International aims to be a complete aesthetic experience. Ghostly International followed up ''Disco Nouveau'' with two more successful

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s featuring its artists: '' Idol Tryouts'' and '' Idol Tryouts 2''. Ghostly International also runs a companion label, Spectral Sound, formed in 2000, releasing dance records by Matthew Dear/Audion, Seth Troxler, Avalon Emerson, and other producers. Ghostly International and

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

released a compilation album known as ''

Ghostly Swim ''Ghostly Swim'' is a free digital download album released in 2008 by Adult Swim and Ghostly International (through Williams Street Records). The track listing contains songs arranged and recorded in an unusual avant-garde style of pop, rock a ...

'',''Ghostly Swim'' compilation
, Adult Swim available on Adult Swim's website for free. It was released with a bonus track on January 27, 2009 as a limited edition CD. Two sequels to Ghostly Swim, '' Ghostly Swim 2'', was released digitally on December 23, 2014, (CD on April 28, 2015) and Ghostly Swim 3 on December 13, 2019. The label has also been involved in the soundtracks for video games. In 2014, Ghostly released a compilation album of new and previously recorded work by Ghostly artists to act as the soundtrack to the video game ''

Hohokum ''Hohokum'' is a 2014 art video game developed by Honeyslug and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita, and by Annapurna Interactive for Microsoft Windows. The player controls a snake-lik ...

''. A year later, the first soundtrack to critically acclaimed videogame ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...

'' by German musician

was released by Ghostly as a vinyl LP on August 21, 2015, four years after its original digital release by C418. In 2018 a limited edition version of the Super Nt

home video game console A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. While initial consoles were dedicated units with only a few game ...

was made by Analogue and Ghostly International. Throughout the 2010s, Ghostly International released music from artists such as Com Truise, Heathered Pearls, HTRK, Shigeto, Tycho, and TOBACCO. The label also collaborated with various brands, including Adult Swim and Warby Parker. In 2015, Ghostly International moved to Brooklyn, New York, where they are still based to this day. In 2019, Ghostly marked its 20th anniversary with collaborative projects, including partnerships with

Vans Vans (originally called the Van Doren Rubber Company) is an American apparel, accessories, and skateboarding shoes brand, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and ...

and

Miffy Miffy (, pronounced ) is a fictional rabbit appearing in a series of picture books drawn and written by Dutch artist Dick Bruna. The original Dutch name, ''Nijntje'', is a shortening of the diminutive ''konijntje'', "little rabbit". The first ...

, as well as events in multiple cities. The label received its second Grammy nomination for a retrospective box set the same year. In 2020, after more than a decade of working with Secretly Distribution, Ghostly International became an affiliate label of Secretly Group, partnering with Ben Swanson, Chris Swanson, Darius Van Arman and Phil Waldorf, and co-founding All Flowers Group, a label group which also includes the label drink sum wtr.

List of artists

* Adult. * Aeroc *

Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

*Brijean *Bullion * Choir of Young Believers *

Christopher Willits Christopher Willits (born April 8, 1978) is a San Francisco-based guitarist, electronic music composer and producer, visual artist and scholar. His music is electroacoustic in nature, in that both analogue and digital sounds are meshed into one ...

* Ciel *

*crushed *

* Dauwd * Deastro *dreamcastmoe * Dua Saleh *Emeralds *

Fort Romeau Michael Greene, aka Fort Romeau, is an electronic music producer and DJ from the United Kingdom. Background Born in Chester, Greene grew up in Oxfordshire and went on to study Music and Visual Art in Brighton. After graduating he moved to London an ...

* Geotic *

*Goya Gumbani *Galcher Lustwerk * Heathered Pearls *

HTRK HTRK (pronounced "hate rock", formerly Hate Rock Trio) is an Australian band formed in 2003. The band is currently a duo of vocalist Jonnine Standish and guitarist Nigel Yang; bassist Sean Stewart was a member until his death in 2010. The ban ...

* Hana Vu *

Jacaszek Michał Jacaszek (born 19 May 1972) is a Polish electroacoustic musician, often credited on albums simply as Jacaszek. Discography ;Studio albums * (2004) ''Lo Fi Stories'' * (2005) ''Lem Konzept'' * (2005) ''Sequel'' * (2006) ''Kompleta'' * (2 ...

* Julie Byrne * Kate Simko *

Khotin Khotyn (, ; , ; see other names) is a city in Dnistrovskyi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. It hosts the administration of Khotyn urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. According ...

Kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or Chemical Changes, chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects m ...

* Kate Bollinger * Lord RAJA *

Lusine Lusine (formerly L'Usine or Lusine ICL) is the stage name of Jeff McIlwain, an ambient/ IDM musician. A native Texan, McIlwain now resides in Seattle. In 1998, he attended California Institute of the Arts to study 20th century electronic music a ...

(as Whatever The Weather) *

Matrixxman Matrixxman, otherwise known as Charles McCloud Duff, is an American electronic musician Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general ...

* Michna *Moderna *

Mux Mool Mux Mool (born Brian Lindgren) is an American electronic musician, producer, and visual artist affiliated with the labels Moodgadget, Ghostly International, and Super Best Records. He has been featured on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, and is a ...

* Nautiluss * Pale Sketcher *

Phantogram Phantogram may refer to: *Phantogram (band) Phantogram is an American music duo from Greenwich (town), New York, Greenwich, New York (state), New York, formed in 2007 and consisting of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Sarah Barthel and Josh ...

Psymun Simon Christensen, better known by his stage name Psymun, is an American record producer based in Minnesota. He was a member of Thestand4rd alongside Allan Kingdom, Bobby Raps, and Corbin. Early life and education Christensen graduated from ...

*quickly, quickly * Recondite * Sam Valenti IV * Shigeto * The Sight Below *

*STUDIO * Tadd Mullinix *

Tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, also known as the Northern Tropic, is the Earth's northernmost circle of latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun ...

Ultraísta Ultraísta is an English-American experimental rock trio, formed in 2008. The band consists of Atoms for Peace members Nigel Godrich and Joey Waronker, alongside Laura Bettinson. The band's self-titled debut album was released on 2 October 20 ...

Willits + Sakamoto Willits may refer to: Places *Willits, California **Willits Depot located in Willits, California ** Willits High School also located in Willits, California ** Willits Municipal Airport, also known as Ells Field, three miles northwest of Willits, Ca ...

(Christopher Willits &

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his ...

) *

Xeno & Oaklander Xeno & Oaklander is an American electronic music group formed in 2004, consisting of musicians Sean McBride and Liz Wendelbo. Originating from Brooklyn, the band is considered to be among the cold wave revival scene of the 2000s and 2010s. Hist ...

Formerly signed

* 10:32 *Ben Benjamin * Black Marble *Cepia *

The Chap ''The Chap'' is a British humorous men's lifestyle magazine published quarterly. It was founded in 1999 by Gustav Temple and Vic Darkwood, and is still edited by Temple. The magazine proposes that men everywhere return to a more gentlemanly wa ...

* Charles Manier * Clark Warner *Daniel Wang *Dykehouse * Grand Valley State New Music Ensemble * JDSY * Jeffery Sfire * Kill Memory Crash *

Loscil Loscil is the electronic/ambient music project of Scott Morgan from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Morgan launched the project in Vancouver in 1998 while a member of the multimedia collective Multiplex, which curated audiovisual events at a ...

*Midwest Product *PostPrior *

Mike Servito Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

* Mobius Band * North Valley Subconscious Orchestra *

* Skeletons & The Kings of All Cities * Syntaks *

Twine Twine is a strong Thread (yarn), thread, light String (structure), string or cord composed of string in which two or more thinner strands are twisted, and then twisted together (Plying, plied). The strands are plied in the opposite direction to ...

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official site

''Metro Times'' article

Ghostly Apparitions - An Exploration of Michael Cina's Album Artwork for Ghostly International

Ghostly International moves to Tech Brewery, inks new deals
{{Authority control American independent record labels Techno record labels Music of Ann Arbor, Michigan Record labels based in Michigan Record labels established in 1999 Companies based in Ann Arbor, Michigan 1999 establishments in Michigan