Here is a run down of some of Rocket album inclusions in various end of year lists that we have seen:
The Quietus – Albums of the Year #12 Moundabout – Flowers Rot, Bring Me Stones #32 The Utopia Strong – International Treasure #37 Alison Cotton – The Portrait You Painted Of Me #42 Gnod – Hexen Valley
Get Into This #10 Goat – Oh Death #48 Gnod – Hexen Valley #53 Rubber Oh – Strange Craft #85 Holy Scum – Strange Desires #98 The Utopia Strong – International Treasure
To celebrate the end of another year, we have put together a playlist of tracks taken from Rocket Recordings 2022 launches - one track per release.
We are incredibly proud once again of the eclectic collection of sounds we have released this year. We are blessed by having some of the most talented artists around and are humbled that they trust us to release their art on Rocket.
Listen to this very special taster of Rocket's 2022 here:
We won't lie but 2022 has been a tough year, maybe the toughest in our 24 years of releasing music. Brexshit, Covid, War and all their knock on effects has meant running a DIY label has never been so hard. We are also extremely aware that is has been a tough year for many of you out there, so we really do appreciate all your continued support.
We know it is a cliché thing to say, but it is 100% true, if it wasn't for you buying our records, CD's, tapes and shirts then we would not be here. So thank you!!
And we have a special 40% Off 7 Day Sale that starts tomorrow at 8am which is the last Bandcamp Friday of the year, so the best time to fill those gaps in your collection, just use the promotional code 2022sale:
To thank you all for supporting Rocket in 2022 we are having a special 40% OFF SALE that runs from 7 days starting from Friday 2nd December at 8am. The start of the sale coincides with the last Bandcamp Friday of the year, so no better time to fill those LP/CD gaps in your collection, or upgrade your wardrobe and purchase a Ltd edition t-shirt!
40% OFF SALE From: 2nd December (8am) To: 8th December Promotional code: 2022sale
As announced a couple of weeks ago Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are releasing their fourth album called 'Land Of Sleeper' on 17 February.
We are now happy to reveal the video for first single 'Mr Medicine' – made by the artist Wilm Danby, known for his paintings and video art for the likes of Palace, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Bullion. “When I first heard the track, I immediately felt a kind of forward motion, like being pushed forward by an unknown force in a nightmare, toward an unknown thing/place, floating but with no control. Scary but fun…” says Danby. “On repeated listens, it became sort of a mantra with riffs, about transcending fear through some kind of ritual/rite of passage. I wanted to make that ritual happen, to see what it could look like, and if it would work! A stone circle was the obvious place for this, the moon is famously great at transforming things, and transformations are usually very painful!”
Watch the bonkers, eye-popping video above.
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'Land Of Sleeper' comes housed in amazing 'Callum Rooney' sleeve art with obi strip and 'Oz' style lyrics poster. The CD and several different vinyl variants are available in these variants:
You can pick-up the ltd 'Rocket Exclusive' (Orange/Yellow Cloud) vinyl via the bands official website link below (not Bandcamp), where you can also pick up ltd edition t-shirts and tickets for their tour:
Our good friends at Rough Trade have an exclusive 'Deep Sleep' (Blue/black Splatter) vinyl.
Indie stores will be carrying 'Lucid Dreaming' (Orange) exclusive vinyl and all stores will be selling a ltd 'Black Night' (Black) vinyl edition. The album is being released via Missing Piece in the USA.
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The band are very excited to be heading to some of the finest towns and cities in the UK including some special instore shows. Also, the band have announced their first dates in North America:
UK SHOWS:
17 Feb / Bristol / Rough Trade (Instore show/signing) 18 Feb / London / Rough Trade East (Instore show/signing) 19 Feb / Brighton / Chalk (Resident Records Outstore show/signing) 23 Feb / Gateshead / The Sage 24 Feb / Edinburgh / The Liquid Rooms 25 Feb / Kendal / The Brewery 26 Feb / Lincoln / Lincoln Drill Hall 02 Mar / Cambridge / Junction 03 Mar / Ipswich / The Baths 04 Mar / Hastings / The Crypt 05 Mar / Leicester / O2 Academy 13 Apr / Milton Keynes / The Craufurd Arms 14 Apr / Stoke-on-Trent / The Sugarmill 15 Apr / Hebden Bridge / Trades Club 16 Apr / Stockton on Tees / Georgian Theatre 20 Apr / York / The Crescent 21 Apr / Newport / Le Pub 22 Apr / Portsmouth / Wedgewood Rooms 23 Apr / Hertford / Hertford Corn Exchange
US SHOWS:
11 Mar / Brooklyn / St Vitus 15-18 Mar / Austin / SXS 21 Mar / Los Angeles / Zebulon
Goat have announced they are heading to the UK for a series of dates in April, tickets will go on sale at 9am on Friday 4th November:
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 / Brixton Electric
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And don't forget GOAT are heading out for some shows around Europe from the 8th November and then in Scandinavia in January:
November 8 / Hamburg / Knust November 9 / Cologne / Kulturkirche November 10 / Liége / Reflektor November 11 / Kortrijk / Sonic City Festival November 12 / Utrecht / Le Guess Who Festival November 14 / Berlin / Festsaal Kreuzber January 25 / Oslo / Rockefeller January 26 / Malmö / Plan B January 27 / Stockholm / Slaktkyrkan
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Goat's brand new album 'Oh Death is out now...
Both the 'Oh Death' LP and CD comes housed in a gatefold sleeve adorned with eye-popping artwork.
The LP is available on ltd 'Cloudberry Swirl', 'Acid Orange' and 'Blackened Black' versions from your favourite record shops.
And finally, our good friends over at Levitation have their own exclusive version too – so US fans should snap one of those up!
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have announced the details of their fourth album called 'Land Of Sleeper', which will be released on 17 February.
Listen to the fiery first single to be revealed from the album, the hard-hitting 'Mr Medicine' above.
-
'Land Of Sleeper' comes housed in eye-popping 'Callum Rooney' sleeve art with obi strip and 'Oz' style lyrics poster. The CD and several different vinyl variants are available in these variants..
You can pick-up the ltd 'Rocket Exclusive' (Orange/Yellow Cloud) vinyl via the bands official website link below (not Bandcamp), where you can also pick up ltd edition t-shirts and tickets for their tour:
Our good friends at Rough Trade have an exclusive 'Deep Sleep' (Blue/black Splatter) vinyl.
Indie stores will be carrying 'Lucid Dreaming' (Orange) exclusive vinyl and all stores will be selling a ltd 'Black Night' (Black) vinyl edition.
The album is being released via Missing Piece in the USA.
-
The band are very excited to be heading to some of the finest towns and cities in the UK including some special instore shows. Also, the band have announced their first dates in North America:
UK SHOWS:
17 Feb / Bristol / Rough Trade (Instore show/signing) 18 Feb / London / Rough Trade East (Instore show/signing) 19 Feb / Brighton / Chalk (Resident Records Outstore show/signing) + 23 Feb / Gateshead / The Sage 24 Feb / Edinburgh / The Liquid Rooms 25 Feb / Kendal / The Brewery 26 Feb / Lincoln / Lincoln Drill Hall 02 Mar / Cambridge / Junction 03 Mar / Ipswich / The Baths 04 Mar / Hastings / The Crypt 05 Mar / Leicester / O2 Academy 13 Apr / Milton Keynes / The Craufurd Arms 14 Apr / Stoke-on-Trent / The Sugarmill 15 Apr / Hebden Bridge / Trades Club 16 Apr / Stockton on Tees / Georgian Theatre 20 Apr / York / The Crescent 21 Apr / Newport / Le Pub 22 Apr / Portsmouth / Wedgewood Rooms 23 Apr / Hertford / Hertford Corn Exchange
US SHOWS:
11 Mar / Brooklyn / St Vitus 15–18 Mar / Austin / SXS 21 Mar / Los Angeles / Zebulon
(Tickets for Brooklyn and LA shows go on sale from Friday November 4th)
“I’ve always liked the quote: “Sleep, those little slices of death - how I loathe them.”
So reckons Matt Baty of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, vocalist and lyricist of a band as comfortable wading through the darker quarters of their subconscious as they are punishing ampstacks.
Whether dwelling in the realm of dreams or nightmares, the primordial drive of the Newcastle-based band is more powerful than ever. Land Of Sleeper, their fourth record in a decade of riot and rancour, is testimony to this: the sound of a band not so much reinvigorated as channelling a furious energy, which only appears to gather momentum as the band’s surroundings spin on their axis.
"Shouting about themes of existential dread comes very naturally to me, and I think because I'm aware of that in the past I've tried to rein that in a little" reckons Matt. "There's definitely moments on this album where I took my gloves off and surrendered to that urge."
Whether this means Pigs, a band once associated with reckless excess, have taken a darker turn to match the dystopian realm of the 2022 everyday, is open to debate. The band themselves aren't necessarily convinced; "Sobriety does funny things to a man" reckons guitarist Adam Ian Sykes wryly.
"I know from my perspective, I was trying to write some much heavier and darker music" says guitarist and producer Sam Grant. "But this was an aim more as a counterpoint to earlier material, as opposed to any sort of political or social commentary. I still very much see these heavier moments as musically euphoric, and emotionally cut loose or liberating."
"For obvious reasons, the anticipation for the writing of Land of Sleeper was unlike anything we’d felt before" Adam adds. "These sessions were an almost religious experience for me. It felt like we were working in unison, connected to some unknowable hive mind."
The intensity of feeling is writ large right from the pulverising drive of opener 'Ultimate Hammer', and its rallying cry "I keep spinning out, what a time to be alive". Yet, whilst 'Terror's Pillow' and 'Big Rig' are rich with the band's trademark Sabbathian power, there's scope this time around that supercedes anything they've previously attempted. Matt's duet with the traditional folk vocals of Cath Tyler on the closing lament 'Ball Lightning', for example, is one particularly potent illustration of their expanded horizons.
In terms of emotional impact, a pinnacle on Land Of Sleeper is 'The Weatherman'. Replete with devotional rapture and radiant intensity, the band's attack slowed down to a mantric and mesmeric crawl, it marks a collaboration with the ululatory tones of Bonnacons Of Doom vocalist Kate Smith and a choir including Richard Dawson and Sally Pilikington. The resulting tumult constitutes a sound not unlike The Stooges ‘We Will Fall', reinvented and adrenalised as an invigorating sermon for the zeitgeist.
"This one presented an opportunity for me to do something completely unbridled. I wanted to surrender to the weight of the song, so the lyrics came about in much the same way I imagine a frenzied artist might throw paint at a canvas." relates Matt "I just wanted the lyrics to present an uncontrollable energy."
For all that the last few years have seen Pigs' stature rise in the wake of triumphant festival slots and sold-out venues alike, this remains a band, consummated by bassist John-Michael Hedley and returning drummer Ewan Mackenzie, who are fundamentally incapable of tailoring their sound to a prospective audience, instead standing alone and impervious as a monument of catharsis.
"Writing and playing music is often surprising and revealing, it can be like holding up a mirror and seeing things you didn't expect to see" reckons Mackenzie. "For me, the darker tracks on the record hold in common a determination not to lose faith, despite the odds."
The better to unite slumber and waking, Land Of Sleeper is no less than an act of transcendence for Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - new anthems to elucidate a world sleepwalking to oblivion.
