31 Dec 2021

Rocket Probes – December 2021 Playlist


Rubber Oh – Little Demon
(Fuzz bass driven banger from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs' Sam Grant's new band – great Richard Dawson/Pharaoh Overlord remix too!)

Various – The Life of an Uncultured Magician
(Great compilation put together by the wonderful Supernormal folks – contains possibly the best ever version of Tony's....those who know, knows!)
Supernormal

David Terry – Live at Cafe Oto
(Relive)

Faust – Punkt
(Listen to the fish)

John Dwyer & Friends – Gong Splat
(More high caliber explorations)

Mohammad Reza Mortazavi – Ritme Jaavdanegi
(Incredible rhythms – cheers to paddy for the nod)
Mohammad Reza Mortazavi 

My Disco – Alter Schwede
(Dark industrial noise and rhythms)

Ninos Du Brasil – Vida Eterna
(Organic techno textures)
Ninos Du Brasil

Anti Cimex – War Machine
(Another GÅS recommendation of Swedish filth)

Jim Coleman – The Unbelievable Truth
('Evol' sounds)
Jim Coleman

Sex Tide – Scorpion
(Nice fuzzed sounds on Feeding Tube)

Richard Youngs – CXXI
(Bit special this...)

Oren Ambarchi – Live Hubris
(Wicked grooves)
Oren Ambarchi

Maistah Aphrica – Meow
(African inspired Italian jazz-psych sounds)
Maistah Aphrica

The Slits – Earthbeat (7" version)
(Trippin' trippin' trippin')
The Slits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZP5pLajWs8

Mario Batkovic – Introspect
(Great new album on Invada)
Mario Batkovic

Mirage – Telepathic Radio
(Joe from Banshee's excellent psychedelic solo voyage)
Mirage

Irreversible Entanglements – Open The Gates
(Cheers to Paddy from GNOD for also turning us on to this)

J.C. Heavy – is this really me
(Fuzz 'n hammond groove)
J.C. Heavy

Plastikman – Consumed
(Minimalist techno sounds...cheers to Mike Bourne for the recommendation)

El Michels Affair – Dhuaane
(Global fuzz)
El Michels Affair

Universally Estranged – Reared Up In Spectral Predation
(Spaced out death metal from Sweden)
Universally Estranged

Release Music Orchestra – Sundance
(Classic kraut(jazz)rock as recommended by Cherrystones)
Release Music Orchestra

Gökçen Kaynatan – Gökçen Kaynatan
(Turkish fuzzed electronics on Finders Keepers)
Gökçen Kaynatan 

Eli Kessler – Icons
(Conjuring-up a Jon Hassle vibe in places...another Mike Bourne tip)
Eli Kessler

Funeral Mist – Deiform
(Blackened sounds from Sweden....cheers to GÅS for the tip)

Wings – Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
(Bit of a NYE banger for you)
Wings

Listen/Follow our updated monthly Rocket Probes Spotify playlist here:


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24 Dec 2021

Rocket 40% off seasonal sale


As a big thank you for supporting us over the last 12 tricky months, we have decided to do a '40% off' seasonal sale on the Rocket Bandcamp:

Bandcamp

The sale will last from now until midnight on New Years Day.

Just use the code '2021' at the checkout

Thanks
John & Chris

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22 Dec 2021

Sam Grant from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs/Rubber oh tells Birthday Cake For Breakfast 'What is on his iPod'

It reads:


Here at Birthday Cake For Breakfast, we like to get to the heart of what an artist is all about. We feel the music they listen to is just as important as the music they make.

In the struggling year of our lord 2021, we’ve had all sorts talk to us about inspirations, including the likes of Maybeshewill, Sugar Horse, Albertine Sarges and Sweeping Promises!

With the year coming to a close, we’ve decided to once again turn it on its head a bit and ask some of our favourite artists what releases they’ve been raving about this year. With that in mind, off the back of a big tour across the UK with Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and announcing new project Rubber Oh, we’re chuffed to have Sam Grant take some time out to talk us through his favourite releases from the past 12 months:

Djinn’s album Transmission
(Rocket Recordings)

“This is a gorgeous album out on the same label as Pigs x7 and Rubber Oh, Rocket Recordings. I had the video pop up for the first single, Love Divine, one morning in February, listened to it and immediately stuck a pre order on the album. It’s a beautifully textured fog of a record, that goes on sonic journeys, effortlessly carrying you along. It’s deep and rich tonally, and finds spaces of rhythm and grooves that are magic.“... 

Read the rest of the list here: Birthday Cake For Breakfast

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Album of the year – Rocket appreciation


Always an honour to have Rocket albums pop-up in end of year round-ups, and here are a few we have seen:

Gnod – La Mort Du Sens 

The Quietus

The Quietus (Best Psych Albums)

The Quietus (Tracks of the Year)

Resident

Piccadilly

Sun13

Birthday Cake For Breakfast

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Gnod – Easy to Build, hard to Destroy

The Quietus

Tower Records

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Djinn – Transmission

Raven Sings The Blues

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Urdog – Long Shadows: 2003-2006

Raven Sings The Blues


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21 Dec 2021

The Vinyl District reviews Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs live at Camden Electric Ballroom


It reads:

It’s the last show of the year for me, and it was a fucking banger. Newcastle’s Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs finally got to play their sold-out gigs at the Electric Ballroom after Covid rescheduled several dates, and it was worth the wait. These guys popped on my radar during the lockdown, and I’ve been hooked ever since hearing their stellar 2020 album Viscerals. They remind me of early Clutch crossed with Tomahawk and Jesus Lizard. It’s dark, moody, psychedelic, and heavy as hell.

The UK music scene is absolutely on fire at the moment. While there are tons of new bands alongside old favorites doing reunion tours and celebrating monumental albums of the past, there’s a notable new crop that keeps chugging along. Building an audience is arguably the hardest thing for a band to do, especially during a pandemic, but the ones who can deliver both on vinyl and on stage are going to win. Pigsx7 is one of those bands. Three albums in, and they can do no wrong...

Read the rest and see a gallery of photos here: The Vinyl District

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Listen to GOAT's October show at Plan B in Malmo in full

 

Legendary 'bootlegger' Mystery Jack recorded the whole of GOAT's first club show in over 3 years at Plan B In Malmo.

Tracklist:

GOAT Live at Plan B- Malmö, Sweden (AUDIO ONLY)
October 23rd

00:00- Queen of the Underground 
06:52-  Disco Fever
13:04- Goatfuzz
17:52- Let It Bleed
22:05-Gathering of Ancient Tribes
27:25- Fill My Mouth
34:28- Golden Dawn
41:02- Let It Burn
46:20- Run to Your Mama
53:45- Talk To God

Encore:
1:03:33- Peruanen
1:07:17- The Sun The Moon

The band only have one confirmed show for 2020, and it is looking like it will be their ONLY UK show next year:

August 25 / London / All Points East Festival  Tickets

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Louder Than War reviews Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs live at Camden Electric Ballroom


It says:

“Therapy through noise” is how Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs once described their music. At Camden’s Electric Ballroom, discovers Nils van der Linden, that seems true for both band and audience.

If you call your band Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, you’re not really going to be serving up subtlety. And so it is for this Newcastle five-piece, who apply the same more-is-more approach of their name to their music and live performances.

It’s in Matt Batty’s roar as he delivers lyrics about everything from self-esteem to religion. It’s in the brutal tectonic riffs laid down by guitarists Sam Grant and Adam Sykes in Black Sabbath-on-steroids anthems like Halloween Bolson. It’s in the unflinching rhythms of drummer Johnny Hedley and bassist Chris Morley that make the group sound like a marching herd of mastodons, right from the very opening beats of show-starter Reducer.

It’s in former drummer Batty’s unique moves – a cross between martial arts-inspired gestures and traditional Russian dance – that continue even as he steps back from the microphone to pour bottled water down his throat and over his head...

Read the rest and see the gallery of great photos here:  Louder Than War

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20 Dec 2021

Rocket Recordings – Best of 2021 Playlist

We have compiled a compilation of Rocket Recordings tracks from 2021 for you.

It is not really a 'best of', just a selection of tracks taken from all of our 2021 launches - one track per release. Listen via either Soundcloud or Spotify:

Soundcloud

Spotify

And don't forget – you can buy all these releases digitally (and some still on vinyl/CD) from the Bandcamp link below. If we do not have physical copies left then try your local record store:

Bandcamp

Thanks once again for all your incredible support this year, it has been another tricky year for us all, so thank you!!

Chris & John

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17 Dec 2021

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs to headline Raw Power 2022


Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are heading back to Raw Power in 2022.


From Baba Yaga's Hut:

Very excited to announce the first round of bands for Raw Power 2022 London's righteous psychic celebration of sound and fury at The Dome & Boston Music Room in North London on August 26/27/28.

Headlining after two huge Electric Ballroom shows are Newcastle's Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs.

Joining them are Belgium's finest punk band Cocaine Piss, Natalie Sharp's wonderful electronic opera Marra! An interrogation into the dialect and ceremonies of West Cumbria. The debut London show for Poland's radical feminist punks Siksa. 

Plus Thank playing their killer new album Thoughtless Cruelty on Box Records, M(h)oal over from Ireland with their new EP Gender Studies.

Then two of the heaviest & bleakest bands around in the UK right now, Nottingham's Bloody Head & Newcastle's Penance Stare. Joining them are Kurokuma, killer sludge from Sheffield. 

Plus industrial electronics from Mighty Lord Deathman, droning accordion from Bong's David Terry, Raw Power favorites Luminous Bodies return.

Early bird weekend tickets tickets are on sale now for £67 (incl. of fees):

Tickets

Spotify Playlist

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Petbrick – Pet Sounds Vol.2 released today


Today see's the release of Pet Sounds Vol.2 by Petbrick!

The EP is available to buy on ltd edition cassette from Bandcamp via this link – there are also tshirts featuring the incredible artwork by Alex Heir available:


You can listen to Pet Sounds Vol.2  on all streaming channels


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Petbrick, the duo of Wayne Adams and Iggor Cavalera return with the second of their Pet Sounds series!

The Pet Sounds series is a chance for the duo to explore some uncharted sonic territory and the sounds on Vol.2 continues to do what Vol.1 started.

The 6 new tracks presented here are an exploration of weirdo noise, face melting gabber, breakcore and even an excursion into immersive krautrock territory.

Once again Wayne and Iggor find themselves engaging in the positive destruction of their crushing sound to expand the sonic Petbrick multiverse into new areas.

These tracks also give a little taster to some of the expansive sounds that can be expected on Petbrick’s sophomore album, which is scheduled for release in 2022. 

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14 Dec 2021

Petbrick release Pet Sounds Vol.2


Petbrick are playing London tomorrow night supporting fellow rocketeers Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs. And the band are going to have copies of their second instalment of the Pet Sounds series on ltd edition cassette and tshirts (in natural and white colours) available to sell on the night.

Then on Friday the EP will be released digitally on Bandcamp and streaming channels!

So to make sure you get one of these tapes/shirts get a ticket for Wednesday's night show here:

Tickets

Artwork for the tape/shirt has been created by he very talented Alex Heir.

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A bit about the release:

Petbrick – Pet Sounds Vol.2

Petbrick, the duo of Wayne Adams and Iggor Cavalera return with the second of their Pet Sounds series!

The Pet Sounds series is a chance for the duo to explore some uncharted sonic territory and the sounds on Vol.2 continues to do what Vol.1 started.

The 6 new tracks presented here are an exploration of weirdo noise, face melting gabber, breakcore and even an excursion into immersive krautrock territory.

Once again Wayne and Iggor find themselves engaging in the positive destruction of their crushing sound to expand the sonic Petbrick multiverse into new areas.

These tracks also give a little taster to some of the expansive sounds that can be expected on Petbrick’s sophomore album, which is scheduled for release in 2022. 



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13 Dec 2021

Press and Journal reviews Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs in Aberdeen

They say:


The psych metal five piece, aka Pigs x 7, also vowed to ramp up the amps  to  ‘trouser flapping’ volume to the Lemon Tree in their first Aberdeen gig.

Ahead of the Granite City show singer Matt Baty claimed the aim is for Pigs x 7  and the audience to become lost in music.

Mission accomplished.

As the feedback buzzed through the venue after the final riff of the night fans would have needed a compass to find their way back to normality after a euphoric show.

This was a celebration of noise, riff and the power of music.

Find What Feels Good… Pigs x 7

Newcastle’s Pigs x 7 produce a sonic maelstrom that sounds like Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Sunn O)))  and Sleep mixed together in a blender.

If the blender is connected to a wall of amps all ramped up to maximum.

From the offset Pigs x 7 played with intense volume and relentless, kinetic riffs.

A charismatic and passionate front-man vocalist Baty was decked out in shorts and a T-shirt that proclaimed Find What Feels Good.

Pigs x 7 in full flow feel not just good -they feel great...

See the rest here:  Press and Journal

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6 Dec 2021

Backseat Mafia say some words about Rubber Oh


They say:

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs guitarist Sam Grant’s new band Rubber Oh, have shared their debut single ‘Little Demon’. The track will  be released as a limited edition coloured vinyl 7″, exclusively available via Bandcamp only. The 7″ goes on sale this Friday, the 3rd December on Rocket Recordings as part of the last Bandcamp Friday.

“It’s a reference to when you’re lying in bed and your thoughts sabotage you” – explains Grant of “Little Demon”. 

“It’s all meant to be this fixed loop – the lyrics, the riff, the drums – a constant repetition that keeps going round, maybe like a fever dream. The little demons that when you’re in bed suddenly start in your psyche, opening a door that just leads to another door.”  Wherever this door leads, “Little Demon” is a psychic journey to be returned to on repeat. 

Pulsating bass and vibrating vocals dominate this track and the huge statement drumming hammers home the hypnotic beat. The track is heavy and grinding with only the vocals to give it little bit of a lift made special with the mix of male and female vocals. The track is an exciting beginning for a new exciting band....

Read the rest here: Backseat Mafia

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4 Dec 2021

Aquarium Drunkard reviews GOAT's Headsoup album


It reads:

Last we heard from the mysterious Swedish collective Goat, it was the spring of 2018 with the “Let It Burn” b/w “Friday, Pt. 1” 7”, combining the band’s doomy and self-proclaimed “best song,” written for a short film fittingly featuring a sacred goat pit against evil pagans, with a studio outtake jam that lives in a decidedly more placid space, transmitting warm, astral, free-jazz tones. Those two tracks have now found a home on Headsoup—a collection of standalone singles, B-sides, digital edits and never before heard songs from across the group’s near-decade practice of psychedelic voodoo, along with two brand-new tracks recorded towards the end of last year.

The collection plays as seamlessly and self-assured as any of the band’s studio albums, with Goat’s witchy brew of krautrock, African rhythms, psychedelic rock, ethio-jazz, and astral blues pungently filling the aural spaces around them. Working in chronological order, Headsoup kicks off with “The Sun and the Moon”—the B-side to the band’s earliest single, “Goatman”—and the table is immediately set for a feast of epic, hypnotically propulsive proportions, where all are welcome to join in and immerse themselves into the shifting boundaries of space, time, and sound...

Read the rest here: Aquarium Drunkard

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3 Dec 2021

Rubber Oh's Little Demon 7" released today


Today sees the release of Rubber Oh's debut single 'Little Demon' which is available on ltd edition yellow vinyl 7" today as part of Bandcamp Friday:

Bandcamp

The B-side of the single is an incredible remix by Richard Dawson with help from Circle/Pharaoh Overlords Jussi Lehtisalo.

For those who missed our announcement, Rubber Oh is the killer new band put together by Sam Grant from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs.

Watch the great John O'Carroll video for Little Demon here:

Little Demon

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1 Dec 2021

Listen to 'Little Demon' the debut single by 'Rubber Oh' – Sam Grant from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs's new band

Introducing the debut single by Rubber Oh – the new band put together by Sam Grant from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs.

The track 'Little Demon' is released on ltd edition yellow vinyl 7" this Friday 3 December at 8am GMT (Bandcamp Friday). The B-side of the single is an incredible remix by Richard Dawson with help from Circle/Pharaoh Overlords Jussi Lehtisalo.

Buy the 7" from here (from 3rd December): Bandcamp

Watch the John O'Carroll video for the fuzz bass driven 'Little Demon above.

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Straight from the fertile imagination of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs guitarist Sam Grant comes Rubber Oh - a place where an irreverent magpie spirit has its way with the eternal psych-pop continuum. ‘Little Demon’ is the first sample of this fresh foray - a bass-driven, blissed out mantra that sets out its stall where the travails of the everyday fade into the transcendental realm of the astral plane.

A whole new box of sonic delights from a curious and artful talent, this track maps out a refreshing new landscape on which shameless melodic suss and wayward aural eccentricity lock horns. Some may be reminded of the likes of Air’s ‘10000Hz Legend’ and Super Furry Animals ‘Radiator’ by the montage of 60s-tinged mind-melt and sleek futurism here, but the truth is that Rubber Oh is a manifestation of a very personal vision. Alchemically assembled in his own Blank studios in Newcastle,  ‘Little Demon’ - in all its thundering, earcandy glory, and accompanied by a Faustian, abstraction-embracing remix by friends and cohorts Richard Dawson and Circle’s Jussi Lehtisalo - is merely a first step into the unknown.

“It’s a reference to when you’re lying in bed and your thoughts sabotage you” reasons Grant of ‘Little Demon’ - “It’s all meant to be this fixed loop - the lyrics, the riff, the drums - a constant repetition that keeps going round, maybe like a fever dream. The little demons that when you’re in bed suddenly start in your psyche, opening a door that just leads to another door”  Wherever this door leads, ‘Little Demon’ is a psychic journey to be returned to on repeat.


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Smote to play Roadburn Festival 2022


Really excited to announce that Smote will play next years Roadburn Festival, joining fellow Rocketeers The Holy Family.

The band will play recent Rocket album Drommon in it's entirety – and word on the street is a certain Adam Sykes from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs is going to join them on guitar!

Info and tickets here: Roadburn

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