31 May 2023

Rocket Probes – May 2023 playlist

The Holy Family – Bad Travelling
(A dark repetitive mantra of a new track)
The Holy Family

Julie's Haircut – Plaster Mask EP
(New music from your fave Italians)
Julie's Haircut

Shit & Shine – 2222 and Airport
(Another really great album from S&S)
Shit & Shine

Thee Alcoholics – Power
(Powerful!!)
Thee Alcoholics

Tomaga – Ersangerkreig
(Love this track)
Tomaga

Cluster – Heiße Lippen
(Classic)
Cluster

A'Bear – Ignition unite
(Repetitions)
A'Bear

Okay Temiz / Johnny Dyani - Witchdoctor's Son
(Immersive Jazz sounds)
Okay Temiz / Johnny Dyani

Phil Upchurch – Voodoo Chile
(Fuzz)
Phil Upchurch 

Waiting Mode – Enjoy The Silence
(JP from GNOD/Holy Scum on Tesla Tapes)
Waiting Mode 

Kapibara - Część Trzecia "Smutek nie musi być negatywny"
(This is good)
Kapibara

Raptus – Count Down
(Mutant Funk)
Raptus

Westside Gunn – Big L & Half a Mil
(Loivi'n the Gunn)
Westside Gunn

DRMCNT – RX Live Sessions
(Heavy sounds from thee alcoholic)
DRMCNT

Kammerflimmer Kollektief – Mäander
(An old fave in Mission Control...sounds like a Rocket release)
Kammerflimmer Kollektief

Sonny Sharrock – Black woman
(Turn up loud)
Sonny Sharrock

Vacuous – Dreams Of Dysphoria
(Great British Death – produced by Wayne Adams)
Vacuous

Holden – Blackpool Late 80s
(Classic Holden)
Holden

Ak’chamel, The Divinatory Monkey and the Sovereign Plumed Serpent – Phallus Pallace
(Tribal texan sounds)
Ak’chamel, The Divinatory Monkey and the Sovereign Plumed Serpent

Tina Turner – Keep on walkin'
(Rest In Power)
Tina Turner 

Listen to/follow our Rocket Probes spotify playlist:



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26 May 2023

Goat score Shane Meadows new series The Gallows Pole


The BBC  have announced the exciting news that the Shane Meadow's directed, three part series based on Benjamin Myers book ‘The Gallows Pole’ will be premiered on BBC2 and iPlayer on 31st May.

And we are thrilled to finally announce that the series has been scored by Goat - plus as well as tracks by other bands the three episodes also feature some classic tracks from Goat’s back catalogue. 

So tune in.

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23 May 2023

The Holy Family announce their second album 'Go Zero'


We are really happy to announce the return of The Holy Family, with the all-immersive new album 'Go Zero'.

For those who are unaware The Holy Family is the brain child of David Jason Smith (The Stargazers Assistant/Guapo) and he is joined on this album by Kavus Torabi (guitars), Sam Warren (bass) and Emmett Elvin (piano and Rhodes) and Joe Lazarus (Drums). The album was mixed by Finnish studio wizard Antti Uusimaki (Circle/Pharaoh Overlord etc).

Watch the haunting animated/live action video made by the extremely talented Tom Brewins for the first track the be revealed from the album, the repetitive mantra that is 'Bad Travelling':

Watch Video

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'Go Zero' is available to preorder on CD plus ltd edition yellow vinyl via here:

Preorder Ltd LP/CD

And also available ltd edition green vinyl via your local record shop – both  vinyl versions come packaged in a delicious die-cut sleeve.

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See The Holy Family live at: 
4 Aug / London / The Grace (tickets go on sale here Wednesday at 10am)
5 Aug / Herefordshire / Unorthodox Paradox Festival

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The Holy Family – Go Zero

The second album by underground rock-and-beyond shapeshifters The Holy Family comes complete with a heavy concept for the psychedelically inclined, and pairs this with music which does this justice and then some.

‘Go Zero’ follows up the British group’s widely praised self-titled debut from 2021 and – says foundational member David Jason Smith – “is based on a hypothetical theory that there is no such thing as ‘the future’. We are continually moving forward into our past until we arrive at our birth – creation – the Tree Of Knowledge… or ‘Going Zero’, as I’ve termed it.”

It figures, then, that over some 40 minutes the five musicians conjure a sound that exhibits an affinity with great experimental totems down the ages, in a manner that’s avowedly forward-facing and stamped with their own identity. All involved boast a pre-Holy Family CV to turn clued-in heads: Kavus Torabi (guitars), Sam Warren (bass) and Emmett Elvin (piano and Rhodes), along with Smith himself, were all members of the mighty Guapo. Finnish studio wizard Antti Uusimaki (Circle/Pharaoh Overlord etc), who co-sculpted the eight tracks on ‘Go Zero’ into their final form, is also a collaborator of Smith’s from the Guapo days. Drummer Joe Lazarus is new to the band – taking over that role from Smith, who largely concentrates on vocals and synths here – and his versatility is never in doubt, as his rhythms pull in myriad directions, blurring the lines between jazz, prog and psych rock.

Work began on this album in the summer of 2021, effectively as soon as ‘The Holy Family’ was released, with Smith writing and recording the music for ‘Go Zero’ in his home studio. Torabi, Warren, Elvin and Lazarus were gradually brought into the fold to add their parts, before being subject to alchemical post-production by Uusimaki.

Later, in the autumn of 2022, two pieces were laid down with the full band in each other’s company. One, ‘Hell Born Babel’, flies out of the traps with a sinewy post-hardcore bassline: people who know Sam Warren from Thumpermonkey, another band of his, will be forewarned of his way with a stout groove. The multi-layered freakout that follows might have a cattleprod effect for those listeners and others, nevertheless. The other, the second section of the three-part ‘Go Zero Suite’, tops ten minutes and is an improvised colossus with both Lazarus and Smith drumming. Rife with hypnotic repetition and circuit-frying Rhodes, if you dig anything from Can to Boredoms to Oneida to Guapo themselves, step this way.

Though The Holy Family’s musical inspirations are multitudinous, and rarely if ever obvious, the lyrics nod to a distinct literary source – namely ‘Vorrh’, the trilogy of fantasy novels by cult British author Brian Catling, who died in 2022 while ‘Go Zero’ was being assembled. In these books, the Vorrh is “an impenetrable sentient forest, older than mankind, believed to house all knowledge” – and in the same way that the name The Holy Family references an Angela Carter work, Smith explains, “the track titles ‘Chalky’s Eyes’ (had been eaten by flies) and ‘The Watcher’ are direct references to characters in the book.”

Catling was also a renowned visual artist, with his installation works acclaimed by the art establishment even as he rejected many of its trappings – often subverting traditional ideas of the gallery space. He saw art and literature as almost one and the same, sitting at his kitchen table switching from canvas to manuscript and back. Smith, similarly, has created artworks alongside his recorded output since the early days of Guapo (some ending up on album covers), and has presented audiovisual work in unconventional or ‘outsider’ locations. He cites his grounding in DIY music culture for this impulse, but shares with Brian Catling a strong individualist streak and desire to plough one’s own furrow. Explaining the similarities between creation of music and art, he says: “At some point the lightbulb moment occurs. I see what the musical direction has the potential to be, then shape the material in the same way I would conceive a sculptural installation.” 

With the vocal delivery pitchshifted and timestretched, and the music occult-adjacent, doomladen, dense and hazy – yet concealing outbursts of splendid melody – with ‘Go Zero’, The Holy Family have returned with an album that unfurls elegantly, even while big time discombobulation is occurring. 




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5 May 2023

May 2023 Bandcamp Friday


It is Bandcamp Friday once again, and here's a selection of goodies you need:

Julie's Haircut – Plaster Mask EP
(New digital exclusive EP featuring remixes by J. Zunz and Mike Bourne from Teeth Of The Sea)

Various – Launch300 LP
(Preorder our 300th release – a special 8 track 'vinyl only / bandcamp exclusive' compilation LP celebrating our 25 Anniversary – all unreleased music)

Rocket25 T-shirt
(LAST CHANCE to buy this 'made-to-order,' one print only tshirt design to celebrate our 25th Anniversary – two versions available, single or double sided print)

The Shits – You're A Mess  LP/DL
(Preorder this mighty new album on ash grey vinyl – it is a bit special this one!!)

Gnoomes – Ax Ox  LP/DL
(Incredibly unique new album from this band that sounds like no other – on green/blue swirl vinyl)

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Land of Sleeper  LP/CD/DL
(Biggest rock album of year? Yep, we think so!!)

Marlene Ribeiro – Toquei no Sol  LP/DL
(A few copies of this incredible album left on yellow vinyl)

Shit & Shine – New Confusion  LP/DL
(The band say this is the best album they have ever made and many fans say the same thing – never to be repressed, so this is one you need!)

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Plus there's lots of other great releases and t-shirts from many of your Rocket faves, all via here:

Rocket Bandcamp

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3 May 2023

Julie's Haircut release new single 'Plaster Mask'

Your favourite Italian band Julie's Haircut returns with the first new music since the release of their 2019 critically acclaimed album 'In The Silence Electric'.

New single 'Plaster Mask' is released digitally this Friday (Bandcamp Friday) – the addictive new single also comes backed with two exceptional guest remixes from two highly respected Rocket label-mates J. Zunz and Mike Bourne from Teeth Of The Sea.

Watch the band made (with help from Rocket's John O'Carroll) video for 'Plaster Mask' above.

Buy the digital EP from 8am on Friday 5th May from here:
https://julieshaircut.bandcamp.com/album/plaster-mask-ep

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Balancing control and fury has been Julie’s Haircut’s main stylistic trait for years - perhaps never more so efficiently than in their new single “Plaster Mask”, a track which distinctly shows the ability of the five Italian psychrockers to set a sonically-filled landscape with a few key factors - an hypnotic rhythm, an alien vocal, some synthesized hooks, and a central section climaxing in a blistering stash of noises and drones. Like a trip back and forth blending the Apollonian and the Dionisyan, “Plaster Mask” is an amazing example of the band’s approach to contemporary psychedelia.

See the band live:
26 May / Esslingen (DE) / Psych In Bloom Festival @ Komma
2 June / Arlon (BE) / L'Entrepôt À Arlon
3 June / Heidelberg (DE) / Yolo Hof

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30 Apr 2023

Rocket Probes – April 2023

Goat – Seu Sangue EP
(Brand new track and 3 remixes)
Goat 

Haslanded – The Mill Sessions Vol.1
(Yep, we are blowing our own synths)
Haslanded 

Och – Så vidare EP
(New Jams by the mighty Och)
Och

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete – Dínamo
(New sounds from Mexico)
Lorelle Meets The Obsolete

Self-Immolation Music – Live in Electron House
(One for you Loop/S3 fans...featuring member of The Shits)
Self-Immolation Music

Syrinx – Aura Spinray
(Middle Eastern psych from 70s Canada)
Syrinx

Eddie Gale – Ghetto Music
(Spiritual)
Eddie Gale

Westside Gunn - Omars Coming
(Psyched hip-hop for The Wire fans...a Cherrystones recommendation)
Westside Gunn

Ame Son – Seventh Time Key
(Fuzzed and flute grooves)
Ame Son

Keith Hudson – Darkest Night on a Wet Looking Road
(Killer track)
Keith Hudson 

Necronomicon - Requiem Vom Ende
(Krautrock from '72)
Necronomicon

African Head Charge – Microdosing
(New track and new album!)
African Head Charge

Brast Burn – Debon
(Japanese avant rock from '75)
Brast Burn

Moebius & Beerbohm – Subito
(Driving repetitions)
Moebius & Beerbohm 

Haress – I Think, I Think
(On the great Wrong Speed)
Haress

Strife – Rush
(Proto Maiden meets Cooper band psych-rock)
Strife

Pyrolater – Die Haut Der Frau
(German elektro sounds)
Pyrolater

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Glacier
(Watch the film Coda if you haven't...RIP)
Ryuichi Sakamoto

Jah Shaka – The Commandments of Dub series 5
(Rest in Power)
Jah Shaka


Listen to and follow our Rocket Probes Spotify Playlist:


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14 Apr 2023

Goat's 'Seu Sangue' EP is released today


Today sees the release of Goat's 'Seu Sangue' EP – a four track EP featuring four remixes taken from their latest album Oh Death and a brand new track called Seu Sangue.

The EP is available to buy on Ltd edition cassette via bandcamp, but be warned there's only a handful of copies left:

Bandcamp

The band will have a small number of cassette's on sale on their up-and-coming sold out tour that starts tomorrow in Bristol:

April 15 / Bristol / SWX
April 16 / Birmingham / The Mill
April 17 /  Leeds / Brudenell Social Club
April 18 / Glasgow / Garage
April 19 /  Newcastle / Boiler Shop
April 20 / Manchester / Gorilla
April 21 / Brighton / Chalk
April 22 / London April / Brixton Electric

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'Seu Sangue' EP starts off with the ‘12” Extended Remix’ of lead single from ‘Oh Death’, ‘Under No Nation’. The remix has been created by MIEN’s John Mark Lapham, with help from the incredibly talented Thor Harris on extra percussion!

Next up is Rocket remixer faithful, Shit & Shine remixing the second single from ‘Oh Death’ the tribal rhythm driven track of ‘Do The Dance’.

Sonic Boom was the first person to ask if they could remix a track off of ‘Oh Death’, and he dived straight for the album’s opener, the fuzz heavy ‘Soon You Die’ – which is the third track on the EP.

The last remix is by Marlene Ribeiro (Gnod) who’s latest album ‘Toquei No Sol’ was released in January this year. Marlene takes the track ‘Remind Yourself’ and turns it into an organic, techno raga.

And finally, the EP is finished by a brand new track, the title track ‘Seu Sangue’ the EP’s title track is a beautiful, four minute, ‘folk drone’ hymn.



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The Shits album 'You're A Mess' is released today


"Delve into their metallic, acid stripped, pig-fuck grooves and you will find a chaotic world of inverted psychedelia and jet black – fucking appalling – enlightenment waiting for you." The Quietus

“Unfettered heaviness, refined songwriting, sustained repetition and drone-quality ensuring a headbanging, holistic constant that makes You’re a Mess a truly therapeutic album.” Louder Than War

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The Shits mighty 'You're A Mess' is out today, and we couldn't be happier to finally share with you this incredible beast of an album.

You can buy the album on ltd edition Ash Grey Vinyl from Bandcamp here:


Or pick up the ltd edition Red Vinyl from your local record shop.

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The band are heading out for some shows too, including an album launch at London's Shacklewell Arms tonight:

14 April / London / Shacklewell Arms
15 April / Leeds / Secret Venue
19 April / Tilburg / Roadburn Festival
20 April / Ghent / De Roes
21 April / Mannheim / Juz
02 May / Salford / The White Hotel (supporting Gnod)




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7 Apr 2023

April 2023 Bandcamp Friday


It is Bandcamp Friday once again, and it is a bit of a special one this month as we are celebrating the label's 25 Anniversary with a couple of new goodies you can pick-up:

Various – Launch300 LP
(Preorder our 300th release – a special 8 track 'vinyl only / bandcamp exclusive' compilation LP celebrating our 25 Anniversary – all unreleased music)

Rocket25 T-shirt
(Made-to-order, one print only tshirt design to celebrate our 25th Anniversary – two versions available, single or double sided print)

GOAT – Seu Sangue EP  Cassette/DL
(Preorder the last couple of copies of this ltd edition cassette featuring four remixes of tracks from latest album 'Oh Death' - plus one previously unreleased track)

Gås T-shirt
(Last chance to put your name down for a made-to-order, one print only Gås tshirt)

The Shits – You're A Mess  LP/DL
(Preorder this mighty new album on ash grey vinyl – it is a bit special this one!!)

Gnoomes – Ax Ox  LP/DL
(Incredibly unique new album from this band that sounds like no other – on green/blue swirl vinyl)

Marlene Ribeiro – Toquei no Sol  LP/DL
(A few copies of this incredible album left on yellow vinyl)

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Plus there's lots of other great releases and t-shirts from many of your Rocket faves, all via here:

Rocket Bandcamp

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6 Apr 2023

Introducing 'Haslanded' Electronic Project

Introducing 'Haslanded' Electronic Project:

Between 2014 and 2016 four friends (Andrew Dewar Ainslie, Kevin Wells, John O'Carroll & Chris Reeder) would meet at The Mill recording studio near Reading, each armed with a different synthesizer. Without a plan, goal or direction and with each member having their own unique influences, they just filled the room with psychedelic lasers, made noise and hit record. Every 6 hour session was recorded, never with the thought of ever being released, it was simply recorded to document for posterity's sake.

Now, after the best part of a decade sitting on hard drives, the friends decided to revisit these recordings and what they heard surprised them. They agreed that some of the tracks should see the light of day and be shared with the world.

So here we are now at “The Mill Sessions Vol.1”. An EP that consists of three tracks, recorded and mixed sometime between 2015 and 2016. The first two tracks '7 Miles Out' and 'Saturation Point' were mixed by former UK and now US based producer Andrew Dewar Ainslie, while the third track from the EP 'Containment Wall' was mixed by Sasha Piankov of Rocket Recordings band Gnoomes.

Watch the teaser here: Teaser 

There are plans to release more tracks from the Haslanded Mill Sessions in the future, so watch this space!

The EP will be available to buy/stream digitally from the 7th of April


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Haslanded:
Andrew – Synth
Chris – Synth
John – Synth, Voice & Lasers
Kev – Synth

Improvised live in The Mill between 2015 and 2016
Tracks 1, 2 mixed by Andrew Dewar Ainslie
Track 3 mixed by Sasha Piankov
Mastered by Andrew Dewar Ainslie

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