Angular Recording Corporation was an

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- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

founded in

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...

, South East

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It was established in June

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

by two ex-

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

students, Joe Daniel and Joe Margetts, who reclaimed a local

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Triangulation Station and made it their first artefact: ARC 001. The label's founders were influenced by a love of angular

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

and the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

label

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Duru ...

. Gaining funding through medical testing, Angular Recording Corporation was able to finance its debut release in November 2003, the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''-championed ''The New Cross : An Angular Sampler'', making it the lead review in the magazine. In the

2011 England riots The 2011 England riots, more widely known as the London riots, were a series of riots between 6 and 11 August 2011. Thousands of people rioted in cities and towns across England, which saw looting, arson, as well as mass deployment of police ...

, the label lost all its stock and entire back catalogue in the PIAS warehouse fire. An ''Angular Store'' website remains active.

Discography

Samplers

The first two Angular samplers launched the careers of a number of bands, including: Art Brut,

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...

and

The Long Blondes The Long Blondes are an English indie rock band formed in Sheffield in 2003 by Dorian Cox (lead guitar and keyboards), Reenie Hollis (real name Kathryn Hollis) (bass guitar and backing vocals), Emma Chaplin (rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing ...

. ARC 002: ''The New Cross'' *

- "The Marshals Are Dead" *The Fairies Band - "Pink Socks Rock" *The Vichy Government - "Make Love to the Camera" *Nemo - "Picadilly in Sepia" *

The Violets The Violets were an English post punk/indie/ pop band from the New Cross area of London, England. Formed initially as a bassless garage punk trio, The Violets early gigs saw them playing stark, spiky and minimalist punk that evoked early art-sc ...

- "Laxteen" *

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

- "Making Progress" *The Swear - "High Rise" *Elizabeth Harper - "Don Juan" *Lovers of Today - "Guy Fawkes" * Art Brut - "

Formed a Band "Formed a Band" is song by English-based indie rock band Art Brut. It was released as a single on 29 March 2004 by Rough Trade Records and reached number 52 in the UK Singles Chart. A later recording, produced by John Fortis, is present on thei ...

" *Lady Fuzz - "What's it Worth?" *Gifthorse - "You Save my Life, I'll Ruin Yours" *The Bridge - "First Frenzy" *Mark Sampson - "The London Eye" ARC 004: ''Rip Off Your Labels'' *The Vichy Government - "I Control Discourse" *The Violets - "Stealer" *Art Brut - "Top of the Pops" *The Fucks - "Argos" *

- "Autonomy Boy" *Showboys - "Factory" *The Swear - "Advert Boy" * The Boyfriends - "No Tomorrow" *Elizabeth Harper - "Trouble in the Palace" *Gifthorse - "Happy Daggers" *Lovers of Today - "A Short Nasty Shock" *Luxembourg - "Let Us Have It" * The Rocks - "We Got It (Galen Remix)"

References

External links

Angular Store
{{Authority control British independent record labels Record labels based in London Record labels established in 2003 Alternative rock record labels Media and communications in the London Borough of Lewisham Companies based in the London Borough of Lewisham