Rocket Probes August Playlist

Big Naturals - Big Naturals
(Debut self released album from Big Nats, well worth picking up a copy)

Salems Pot - Sweeden
(Ultra spacey, ultra heavy, hypnotic doom from Sweden that we are loving here at Mission Control...and you can love it too: salemspot

Eno & Byrne - Bush of Ghosts (Demos)
(Some different versions of this weirdo kraut disco classic)

Walter Razzati - 1990 Bronx Warriors Soundtrack
(Cheesy 80's 'Warriors' meets 'Escape from New York' meets 'Mad Max' movie soundtrack, but some great 'Goblin' and 'Teeth of the Sea' moments hidden away in there)

Can - Future Days Live
(The band in full swing live in Koln 1973)

Spacemen 3 / Sun Araw - split 7
(Great 7" on the great pop supplement label...a must have!!)

Gnod - 5th Sun
(We mentioned these great tracks on a previous playlist, but nice to have the finished Trensmat 7" of it in our hands and on the deck!!)

Hildur Guðnadóttir - Leyfdu Ljosinu
(Intense absorbing Icelandic cellist drones)

Fairhorns - Doki Doki Run
(Nice krauty, droney, noisey spacescapes on this new album by Matt from Beak>, Team Brick etc)

QMXLX - Tlentifini Maarhaysu
(Another from Matt from Beak>, this time his slide into the world of heavy psychedelia)

We Are Camera - Ausland
(Neu type vibes courtesy of Dave C's Optical Sounds recommendation)

Damon - Songs of Gypsy
(Snake charming biblical Fuzz)

Faust - IV
(From the classic opener to the less experimental side of Faust, loving this album all over again especially the pop based tracks with splashes of electronica)

Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
(Wish there was more of this type of music in the world......oh wait there is; GOAT, ha! Rocket finally get the world dancing again)

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Line of the Best Fit gives their verdict on the Goat album

Line of the Best Fit have published a nice review of the Goat album, it says:

"For large chunks of the year, the far north of Sweden is enveloped in virtually ceaseless darkness and permafrost temperatures. As such, it’s not surprising that Goat – who although currently residing in the far less arctic Gothenburg, have their roots in the tiny village of Korpilombolo (population 529) in the Swedish part of Lapland – have opted to seek respite from the endless winter by bingeing on sounds from various exotic locations.

The band’s imagination appears to have been pushed to extremes and beyond in the remoteness of Korpilombolo, too: World Music arrives laden with one of the most outlandish backstories you could hope to encounter. Goat reckon that Korpilombolo was once visited by a voodoo priest, attracted to trek to this remote spot on the map by no less than a celestial vision. Understandably starved of entertainment, locals went wild for the visitor’s unholy teachings, which didn’t please the Christian church one bit: the voodoo disciples were expelled, and a curse, active to this day, was placed on the village.

Unlikely, you say? So it may be, but the most potent parts of World Music hint that the band’s gritty, subterranean grooves have been spiked by the kind of sensory-warping supernatural ingredient that might have been used to add hypnotic prowess to shamanistic campfire rituals back in the olden days, even if Goat’s brand of voodoo is too occupied with conjuring good vibes to place long-distance calls to the land of the dead.

World Music is an apt title for the band’s debut. The album embarks on a musical round-the-world trip that centres on a fruitful alliance between the trance-inducing rhythmic exuberance of afrobeat and the more primitive ends of psych-rock, as perfected by The Stooges circa 1970, with various added elements – the “motorik” repetition of krautrock, humid swamp funk fashioned in the traditions of New Orleans, woodland-trekking freak-folk, assorted other esoteric strands – added to the dense, restlessly bubbling freak-beat broth. There’s certainly no shortage of bands drawing from these once hopelessly obscure sources that have recently become a lot more accessible due to the pioneering work of such reissue labels as Light in the Attic, Soundway and Now-Again, but Goat wield a couple of aces to propel them a few steps ahead of the competition.

Throughout World Music, there are subtle nods towards the set texts of Classic Rock. The title of the loose-limbed funk-rock of ‘Let It Bleed’ – complete with Fun House sax skronk – is a throwback to the peak era of the Rolling Stones, whilst the hushed acoustic coda to the epic Hendrixian freak-out ‘Goatlord’ – a rare spot of calm on an otherwise energetic outing – inches close to the chord sequence of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s perennial ‘Freebird’. This is telling: whereas many of their esoterically-orientated colleagues stick to hook-averse noodling, Goat have a keen interest in actually putting together some killer tunes, ensuring that the likes of ‘Goatman’ – a clattering, ominous chant that understandably won the band plentiful blogosphere acclaim when it was put out as a 7’’ – and ‘Run to Your Mama’ (imagine Bo Diddley straddling a Far Eastern beat) attach themselves to the listener’s memory shelves with a generous layer of superglue. Goat also manage to mould a bewildering array of influences into an easily identifiable sound, meaning that the odd complaint – it would’ve been nice to have a bit more of the exploratory spirit unveiled on the majestic, sprawling-yet-tight closing instrumental ‘Det som aldrig förändras’, for example – is easy to overlook." JANNE OINONEN - 8/10

You can read the full review here

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GNOD Groove Back Into Europe!

GNOD are ready to head back out on the road next week to get their groove on with their family on the continent, THEY cannot wait, got some new sounds to peddle!

Then some nice shows in UK with Expo 70, Goat & Teeth of the Sea and to finish off a hectic 6 months another trip to Ireland to the lovely Hunters Moon in October.

More Please……

Gnod Bless

29th August - A/N/D Festival - First St, Manchester
1st September - Chaudelande Festival, Normandy, France
4th September - A La Miroiterie, Paris
5th September - Le Water Moulin, Tournai
6th September - L’Aquilone, Liege
7th September - Les Ateliers Claus, Brussels, Belgium
8th September - Private show TBA
11th September - Gent TBA
12th September- Antwerp TBC
13th September - Cab03, Leiden, Holland
14th September - Incubate Festival, Tilburg, Holland
20th September - w/ Expo70 - Night & Day, Manchester
23rd September - w/ Expo70 - Mello Mello, Liverpool
19th October - w/ Goat & Teeth Of The Sea - The Lexington, London

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Only a handful of tickets left for October's Rocket party featuring Gnod, Teeth of the Sea and Goat

As of the time of posting this, there are only 31 tickets left to buy for this show.

So if you were wanting to get a ticket, avoid disappointment and buy yours ASAP before it sells out.

Buy your tickets here

It is looking like it is going to be a great night, a bit of an early 15th Anniversary birthday party for Rocket.

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High Wolf plays London show

High Wolf is playing a rare London show (his only one of 2012) next Saturday at the great venue 'Others' in Stoke Newington.

Rocket released an album by High Wolf's alter ego Annapurna Illusion called 'Life's an Illusion' last year and can highly recommend you seeing his High Wolf show.

You can find more details about the show here and tickets can be purchased here

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Anthroprophh to play Un-Peeled festival

Anthroprophh, the solo project by Paul Allen from The Heads is playing the Un-Peeled Festival in Manchester on Saturday October 27th.

Big Naturals will be joining Paul as his backing band, so expect some very heavy versions of tracks that will be appearing out on the self titled Anthroprophh debut LP released on Rocket in January 2013.

What this space for more info on the album.

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Goat get Stool Pigeon'd

Goat have just had another interview published, this time in the free magazine Stool Pigeon.

You can read more about their Swedish voodoo psyche here

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Gnod play live soundtrack to short film at A/N/D festival

This has just been announced from Gnodland:

Gnod @ A/N/D Festival 29th August

We are happy to announce we will be soundtracking an excellent short film called MET STATE on wednesday 29th Aug at the opening of the Empire Drive in at A/N/D in Manchester City Centre between 8:30-9:30

MORE DETAILS HERE:

http://www.andfestival.org.uk/events/empire-drive-in/

&

http://www.andfestival.org.uk/venues/qpark/

A lo tof great work being done on the drive in cinema, well worth a gander.

Check out A/N/D at: http://www.andfestival.org.uk/events/

Gnod Bless

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Don't forget, Gnod's split Collisions LP with Shit and Shine is launched by Rocket in October. More info here

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The Quietus interviews Goat

The Quietus has interviewed Goat about their Voodoo psyche...have a read of it here

Also...

For what it is worth MSN has made World Music it's album of the week, you can read their great review of the album here

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Aunty digs the Goat

BBC Music website have given Goat's World Music a nice little review:

Surrender your mind, body and soul to the Goat…

Close your eyes while World Music spins and it’s easy enough to piece together a scene for yourself. Think ritual drumming; the soft, rhythmic thump of unclad feet; ancient rites chanted in an unfamiliar tongue and rapt faces lit by the flicker of ceremonial fires while condensation drips lazily from jade-green palm fronds.

Where, now, do you think you might find yourself? Haiti? New Orleans? Saint Sebastian? Matool? Nope, instead all this voodoo-inspired wonder hails from decidedly un-tropical Sweden, courtesy of mischievous newcomers Goat.

While they might be many miles from William Seabrook’s Magic Island and their shtick – which includes an ancient curse and one member claiming he’s the 11th son of a voodoo priest – requires more than a pinch of salt to get onboard with, there’s at least one pivotal factor that certainly doesn’t fail to convince and that’s the music itself.

Channelling a more joyous energy than many others might if given the same source material (Fabio Frizzi or Steve Moore, say), Goat’s music is enigmatic and fittingly potent given the religion they’ve used as inspiration. Startling and possessed with a steady grasp of how different elements can gel and offset each other, the vertiginous mix means they’re perhaps the only band on the planet who can simultaneously bring to mind Can, Fela Kuti, Liquid Liquid and Moby Grape.

Basslines hulk and lurk, goading you pushily towards the dancefloor while psychotropic guitar parts conjure impossible colours and chanted, voice-as-instrument ululations score a deep path through your subconscious despite only one word in 50 ever actually making sense. Dip in at any point and you’re bound to hit gold, whether you light upon the cartwheel riffing of opener Diarabi, the glorious, organ-dappled funk of Disco Fever or the primal rattle and grunt of the beautiful but far-too-short Run to Your Mama.

You’ll soon find, however, that being a casual bystander simply isn’t an option: it’s all too captivating, too delirious and too gosh-darn wonderful for you not to join the fray. So surrender your mind, body and soul to the Goat and one of the year’s best albums so far.

Alex Deller 2012-08-22

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Drowned In Sound Review Goat - World Music

Drowned in Sound have written a great review for the Goat - World Music album released today.

Read it in full here: drownedinsound.com

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Teeth of the Sea join Rockets Goat & Hills at Roadburn 2013

After their storming set at the Green Man, Rocket are pleased to announce that TEETH OF THE SEA are also confirmed to play for Roadburn Festival 2013 alongside our very own GOAT & HILLS.

The band will play on Saturday the 20th of April at the 013 venue, Tilburg, Holland.

2013 will be our 15th Anniversary Year and we are dead chuffed to have 3 artists all playing Roadburn.

Next year will be full of delights, with a special anniversary release planned, the new Teeth of the Sea album, The Heads DVD and solo project by the bands lead guitarist Anthroprophh, new signing 'Hills' debut Rocket release and more, I'm sure we're find a way of exceeding ourselves, so watch this space.

For further details visit the Roadburn website:

TEETH OF THE SEA: roadburn.com/teeth-of-the-sea

GOAT: roadburn.com/goat

HILLS: roadburn.com/hills

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Goat – World Music is launched today

Here at Mission Control we are excited by today's launch of the album World Music, the debut album by Goat.

It is available in all good record shops so please go out and get yourself a copy today, you will not be disappointed!!!

The vinyl is limited to 1000 copies and the first 300 of those are on orange.

The reviews that have been coming in have been amazing and some of the comments have been humbling.

And here are two more great reviews of the album:

Clash magazine

and

Wine Women and a Song or Two

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Gilded Gutter and Stool Pigeon talk swedish voodoo with Goat

Gilded Gutter has just published a great and revealing interview with Goat, you can read it here

There is also an interview with the band in the latest issue of Stool Pigeon which is well worth a read.

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Goat reveal UK October tour posters

Goat have come up with these two fine posters to advertise their forthcoming October shows.

More information and poster for the London show which is a Rocket party featuring Teeth of the Sea and Gnod can be found here

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Goat appear in latest issue of Rock A Rolla

Pick up a copy of the latest issue of Rock A Rolla and you will find an interview with Goat and a review of the album World Music which is released on Monday.

Pick up a copy of the magazine from their website.

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Introducing Collisions 03 LP by Shit and Shine and Gnod

GNOD / $HIT & $HINE - COLLISIONS 03

(LAUNCH047)

Realistically it was only a matter of time before Gnod and $hit & $hine shared a slab of vinyl together, and it only seems fitting that this ‘meeting of minds’ is the latest instalment of our Collisions series, following splits by The Heads/White Hills and Oneida/Mugstar.

The first track to kick off this Collisions is 'Shitting through the eye of a needle in a haystack' by the mighty Gnod.

For the uninitiated, Gnod are an ever changing collective from Manchester that centres around four key members, who have been exploring and pushing repetitive experimentation through the filters of kraut, drone, space rock and industrial rave for several years now. Rightly earning themselves the title of one of ‘the best live bands in UK right now’. This track see’s Gnod replace their usual live drumming with drum machines. Mixing heavy sounding rhythms with the heavy echo and studio effects of dub. The track recalls the great ‘This Heat’ and ‘PIL’ as well as the Wax Tracks bands of the late 80’s and the post dub-step sounds of artists like ‘Shackleton’, while still remaining entirely all Gnod.

Next up is $hit & $hine with their track 'Ladies Circles'.

$hit & $hine have been disembowelling the underground music scene for several years now with impressive albums on labels such as Riot Season, Load, Southern etc. Originally based in UK now in Texas USA, $hit & $hine like Gnod is an ever changing beast that means you are never quite sure what you are gonna get. For this Collisions LP, which is their first release for Rocket, they have delivered possibly one their finest tracks to date. A repetitive journey that brings to mind the sound of a ‘clear spotted’ Beefheart and a ‘post acid trip’ Butthole Surfers caught in a kraut-step mind warp.

Basically, the believing is in the hearing.

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Collisions 03 is released on 15th October 2012

The LP is limited to 500 copies – 150 on yellow / 350 on black vinyl

(Will also be available as a download from iTunes)

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The people of Wine Women and a Song or Two have already written a great review of Collisions 03 and you can read it here

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Lauren Laverne's BBC 6 Music Show Applauds GOAT

Lauren Laverne (BBC6 Music) has sung high praise for GOAT, we'd like thank her for spreading the word.

You can listen to what she says on iPlayer, it's around 2 hrs 52 mins on her show here

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Teeth of the Sea live at the Green Man Festival

This is just a reminder to all those Rocket fans going to this weekends Green Man festival, that our very own Teeth of the Sea are playing the Far Out tent on Sunday.

greenman.net/teeth-sea

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Goatman appears on 'This is Fake DIY' mixtape

Apparently this months 'This is Fake DIY' magazine has Goat's Goatman on it's mixtape.

You can get the mag from here

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Supernormal 2012 – a Rocket perspective

We dont usually do reviews on this blog...but Supernormal Festival is such unique and amazing experience we cant help but share the great things we saw at this years 'happening'. So here is just some 'very short' words about the bands we enjoyed:

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Friday

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Unfortunately the first band to play on Friday was Trojan Horse, a band we wanted to see but we arrived just after they finished. So the first set we witnessed was a rare appearance outside of their home town of Portsmouth by You're Smiling Now But We'll All Turn Into Demons who played a great set of their stoned bluesy psych. (you can buy their latest ep on the amazing Cardinal Fuzz here). Next up was a DJ set by Thought Forms (as shown in horse box DJ booth) who played some great tunes including the Goatman 7".

Next band we saw was Joey Fat, a band we know nothing about, but did quite enjoy their Fall inspired repetition. Then came three droned out psych raga's from Sylvester Angfang II to soundtrack the sunset, but the headline slot went to stoner doomers Ramesses, who finished the day with a good set of heavy'ness.

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Saturday

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Saturday started with the King Crimson prog of Anta who started the day with a great set. Kogumaza also played a great set, their kraut rock inspired space rock resonated all over the site working perfectly in the sunny weather. We then wandered down to the house and saw a fantastic set by Team Sports, who's three members played dotted around in the long grass in front of the house, a lovely setting for some lovely subtle improv.

The came the ultra heavy Hey Colossus, who's current line features Jon from The Notorious Hi-Fi Killers and Tim from Part Chimp. After that we moved straight up to the dance tent and watched Black Tempest's Space Opera, which was saw BT expand into a costumed kosmiche three piece which was like Michael Moorcock, Edgar Froese and Jeff Wayne all together, it had to be seen to be believed. The day ended with 'maybe' our favourite set at the Festival and that came from Blurt. Ted Milton fronted the three piece and created an amazing repetitive psych-punk that got everyone dancing and the band really looked like they were enjoying themselves as much as the crowd.

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Sunday

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The past two years this has been the weakest day for the music, but this year it was the stongest. And what a better way to start than with Sly and the Family Drone, who set up on the grass in front of the second stage and did an amazing hour long piece of percussion and noise. While constantly encouraging the large crowd to join in with them on drums and cymbals handed out by the band. Straight after them was a band we didn't know called Sweeet Williams, who's set we really enjoyed, laid back slomo rock, that had a bit of Earth to them, but a lot warmer sounding.

Then we had four back to back great bands starting with The Cosmic Dead, whose energetic space rock was perfect for the sunny afternoon. Following them was the the dual fuzz wah of One Unique Signal, they owe a lot to Spacemen 3 and The Heads, but they do hit some great moments of their own. Then came Queer'd Science, a frenetic three piece from Manchester centered around the amazing drumming of ex Gnod sticksman Del. Their set was truly fantastic and got the crowd up on their feet dancing to their repetitive kraut-punk-disco grooves. The last band we saw we knew nothing about, they were called The Family Elan, a three piece of drum, bass and a guy who played bouzouki and saz through some heavy fuzz and wah pedals, that created great psyched out greek and turkish folk/dance songs, really good and makes us wanna check out a record by them.

Before leaving we enjoyed a great DJ set by Jase from Mugstar but we had to leave just before he finished. That meant we missed Fairhorns and Seefeel which was a real shame as by all accounts we missed two more great performances.

So, again, another great year...that was just a few words about the music, there was loads of great art and performance art all over the festival, and like before is full of great people.

So thanks again to all involved in making Supernormal happen, it is a unique festival and has become one of the most looked forward to weekends of the year...bring on 2013!!

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Gilded Gutter reviews the voodoo magic Goat's World Music

Gilded Gutter has written a nice review of Goat's World Music.

You can read it here

The blog are also going to publish an interview with the band, so watch this space for more info.

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Goat sign to Stranded for Scandinavia

Goat have signed to Stranded Records a subsidiary of Universal for the Scandinavian territories of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. This is great news for the band and will give them lots of exposure in their home and neighbouring countries. The label has produced the above video for their version of the album which is released in October. They are using the same sleeve artwork designed by Rocket for their release.

The album is still being released by Rocket in all other territories and is released in the UK and Europe on August 20th and in the States on August 28th.

If anyone knows any distro companies in Japan and the Far East that are interested in working with us on the Goat album, please get in touch.

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Sound Bite Culture sing praise for GOAT

London's latest Film, Music and original writing 'Sound Bite Culture' website sing praise for GOAT'S World Music.

Read the full review here: soundbiteculture.com/goat-world-music-review/

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Goat's Goathead gets a spin on BBC6 Music's Freakzone

The good people at BBC 6 Music on Stuart Maconie's Freakzone show have played another Goat track off their forthcoming 'World Music' album, available in all good record shops as on next Monday.

Listen to the stream on the 6 Music website: bbc.co.uk

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Rocket's Goat & Hills Play Roadburn 2013

Rocket are pleased to announce that GOAT have been confirmed for Roadburn Festival 2013. The band will play in Het Patronaat in Tilburg, Holland on Friday, April 19th.

We’re also excited to announce that future Rocket artist HILLS have also been confirmed for Roadburn 2013 on Saturday, April 20th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

For further details visit the Roadburn website:

GOAT: roadburn.com/goat-confirmed-for-roadburn-2013/

HILLS: roadburn.com/hills-added-to-roadburn-2013-lineup/

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Normans Records sings Goat's praise

Normans records, probably the best record shop in the UK (closely followed by Piccadilly Records) has blown us away with their write up of Goats World Music:

Read it here:

Ahhhh, the mysterious Goat from Korpolombolo in Sweden!

Yes, if there was a proper buzz band for 2012 it's these cultists and we're not talking what the bloody BBC would have you believe is exciting - this is the sound of the underground lighting a pyre for these dark, troubled times and then having a massive ritualistic gathering around it. The sound of squalling psych riffs blended with scratchy, heavy art-rock and celebratory chanting.

Amongst this delicious spread of songs you'll spot distinct shades of black mass-era Rolling Stones, Can krautrock, fleeting glimpses of ominous Scandinavian folk and countless rugged 'n' funky African-inspired rhythms. This last element especially nails the album's floor-filling tribal-style backbone and elevates it to somewhere very unique and groovy indeed!

In lesser hands the genre-splicing nature of this stunning album could have resulted in quite a directionless mess but thankfully 'World Music' is an out-of-the-blue underground rock masterpiece and stamps deliriously all over the current stale climate in big furry Viking boots - there's not been one record this year that's united the office quite like 'World Music' has managed and it genuinely leaves me welling up with emotion, such is the transcendental power and uniting spirit of the thing!

So yeah, once again I've craftily whipped a CD from under the marauding sensors of our music-devouring ReviewBot3000 machine (whose fizzgog-branded motto is, "If it ain't bolted to the floor I will review it, properly, and with no punctuation errors!") and brought it home so I can play it mega-loud for about the 20th time and feel utterly amazing again. 'World Music' gets consistently better with each airing, see, it's like a psychotropic drug and there's not many records made these days that have that raw energy and durability.

Everything is perfectly in place here from well-segued samples and the odd field recording to the breathless running order. It's hit after flipping hit with this band, they've concocted an alarmingly poppy creation filled with nine all-too brief excursions into a voodoo world where Swedish psychedelia meets belting Afro-rock and parties like there's no tomorrow. Please, like with all your favourite albums, play it ridiculously loud, then, undoubtedly, re-rewind and crank it up again till dawn and beyond. Goat are worth falling out with your neighbours for.

5 / 5 – Brian

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You can see the write up on their website in full here

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Goat 'Let it Bleed' on The Quietus

The Quietus have a little piece on Goat, showing the video for Let it Bleed.

See the article here

Don't forget the album World Music is out on August 20th

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The One That Got Away - BEAK> >> Promo

The BEAK> new album >> on Invada records has been on heavy rotation over the last few months and we urge everyone to go out and purchase it, especially the limited edition with bonus tracks.

This You Tube clip is a promo for the album and the track it features 'Spinning Top' is one of our favourites.

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