Rocket Girl is a

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 ...

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

. It has released records by Robin Guthrie,

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. The band currently co ...

, Ulrich Schnauss, A Place to Bury Strangers,

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 42,072 at the 2010 census, down from 44,054 at the 2000 census. Bell Gardens is part of the G ...

among others, including many artists associated with

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...

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 Essex etherealists Disco Inferno. Other artists on their roster included the Tindersticks, Füxa, and S ...

, releasing tracks by artists such as The Telescopes, The Tindersticks,

Bark Psychosis Bark Psychosis are an English post-rock band/musical project from east London formed in 1986. They were 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 ban ...

and Disco Inferno. 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,

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 fro ...

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. Ché Trading had two Top 40 hit singles by Lilys (A Nanny In Manhattan) and Urusei Yatsura (Hello Tiger). Vinita has also been involved with a number of other record labels throughout the years, namely Bella Union 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 th ...

Launch

In 1997, Rocket Girl's first release was a split single by the band Silver Apples (I have known Love) and

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

(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 ECHELON, originally a secret government code name, is a surveillance program (signals intelligence/SIGINT collection and analysis network) operated by the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement:Given the 5 dialects that use ...

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 "En ...

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

Bowery Electric Bowery Electric was an American post-rock band, formed by Lawrence Chandler and Martha Schwendener in 1993. History Formed by Lawrence Chandler and Martha Schwendener in late 1993, Bowery Electric played their first show in New York City in Jan ...

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). Mogw ...

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 (band), Low, among others. Later, in 2000, Rocket Girl released the EP ''

Add N to Fu(x)a Addition (usually signified by the plus symbol ) is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the other three being subtraction, multiplication and division. The addition of two whole numbers results in the total amount or '' sum'' of t ...

''. After just four years following 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.

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 nominated Rocket Girl for the 'Best Small Label' award.

Offshoot labels

Rocket Girl has also established a number of offshoot labels, including

Indus Sonica Rocket Girl is a London-based independent record label. It has released records by Robin Guthrie, Pieter Nooten, God Is an Astronaut, Ulrich Schnauss, A Place to Bury Strangers, Bell Gardens among others, including many artists associated wi ...

, which reissued

’s seminal debut ''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes 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 and transportation o ...

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

Artists

Discography

References

External links

Official Website

Official Facebook Page
{{Authority control British independent record labels