Retard Disco is an American, Los Angeles-based
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...
. The label launched with two debut releases by 14 Year Old Girls and
Hawnay Troof
Hawnay Troof is an American electronic indie band formed in late 2001.
Despite of the band's American punk and electronic background, many elements of pop, dance-punk, electronica, soul, noise music and club. have been incorporated into its ...
in 2003. The label subsequently released over two dozen records by artists including Partyline, Epsilons, The Younger Lovers,
Bark Bark Bark
Jacob Alonzo Cooper, also known as Jacob Safari, is an American musician, remixer, record producer, songwriter, and occasional DJ. Cooper has been a drummer of the bands Wavves, The Mae Shi, Cold Showers, Har Mar Superstar, and previously had a ...
and more.
Henry Rollins
Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Roll ...
has been a vocal fan of the label, frequently playing Retard Disco releases on his radio show and citing the label, alongside Dischord, Ipecac, and Matador, as his favorites.
The label first gained attention when the band 14 Year Old Girls performed live on national TV, on Tech TV's
X-Play
''Xplay'' (previously ''GameSpot TV'' and ''Extended Play'') is a TV program about video games. The program, known for its reviews and comedy skits, airs on '' G4'' in the United States and had aired on '' G4 Canada'' in Canada (and briefly on ...
and G4 TV's The Screen Savers and Players. The band was written up in ''
GamePRO
Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...
'', ''
EGM'', ''
GameNOW'' and more, played shows with
Gravy Train!!!!
Gravy Train!!!! were an electroclash band from Oakland, California. The band released material on the labels S.P.A.M. Records, Cold Crush, Kill Rock Stars, Cochon Records, and Retard Disco. The band had four members (represented by the four exc ...
, Pansy Division and The Briggs. They once played at Magic Mountain and they have played at an Elks Lodge. Maximum Rock'n'Roll called them "Quite endearing" and Punknews.org declared them "the inventors of Nintendo punk."
Epsilons band-members included then-teenagers
Ty Segall
Ty (stylized as ty) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. It was founded by Ty Warner in 1986. It designs, develops and sells products, most notably Beanie Babies, exclusively to spec ...
and Charlie Mootheart.
The label released the DVD ''Stame The Batch'' featuring the band
Gravy Train!!!!
Gravy Train!!!! were an electroclash band from Oakland, California. The band released material on the labels S.P.A.M. Records, Cold Crush, Kill Rock Stars, Cochon Records, and Retard Disco. The band had four members (represented by the four exc ...
Because the label was home to bands 14 Year Old Girls, Totally Radd!! and Bad Dudes, it became known as a hub for the genre known as "Nintendo Punk." Both 14 Year Old Girls and Totally Radd!! released exclusive songs on a CDRom that was paired with issues of gaming magazine EGM as a special promotion set by the label.
Hawnay Troof
Hawnay Troof is an American electronic indie band formed in late 2001.
Despite of the band's American punk and electronic background, many elements of pop, dance-punk, electronica, soul, noise music and club. have been incorporated into its ...
released six albums on Retard Disco and many videos including "Connection" which charted #2 indie video of the year (MTV2, 2008) and #1 video on MTVU (MTVU, 2009)
The Younger Lovers is the musical project of acclaimed author
Brontez Purnell.
Roster
* 14 Year Old Girls
* Bad Dudes
*
Bark Bark Bark
Jacob Alonzo Cooper, also known as Jacob Safari, is an American musician, remixer, record producer, songwriter, and occasional DJ. Cooper has been a drummer of the bands Wavves, The Mae Shi, Cold Showers, Har Mar Superstar, and previously had a ...
* Epsilons
* Gene Defcon
*
Gravy Train!!!!
Gravy Train!!!! were an electroclash band from Oakland, California. The band released material on the labels S.P.A.M. Records, Cold Crush, Kill Rock Stars, Cochon Records, and Retard Disco. The band had four members (represented by the four exc ...
*
Hawnay Troof
Hawnay Troof is an American electronic indie band formed in late 2001.
Despite of the band's American punk and electronic background, many elements of pop, dance-punk, electronica, soul, noise music and club. have been incorporated into its ...
*
Manda Rin
Manda Rin (real name Amanda MacKinnon, born 22 March 1977) is a Scottish singer, artist and songwriter. She is the singer and keyboard player of the Scottish indie rock band Bis, later fronted the Kitchen and also released a solo album. She als ...
* The Munchers
*
Partyline
Partyline is an American, Washington, D.C.-based punk rock band, consisting of singer/songwriter Allison Wolfe ( Bratmobile, Cold Cold Hearts, Dig Yr. Grave, Deep Lust, Hawnay Troof, etc.), guitarist Angela Melkisethian (The Hell Mutts, Hot ...
* Scream Club
* Signals
*
The Show is the Rainbow
* Totally Radd!!
* The Younger Lovers
References
External links
Official Retard Disco websiteSouthern Records: Retard Disco catalog
{{Authority control
American independent record labels
Record labels based in California
Record labels established in 2003