Ghost Box Records

Ghost Box Records
Founded 2004
Founder Julian House
Jim Jupp
Genre Electronic
Electronic pop
Hauntology
Country of origin UK
Official website Ghost Box Records

Ghost Box is an independent, UK based record label, launched in 2004 by Julian House and Jim Jupp.

Background

A record label established in London in 2004 by producer, Jim Jupp and music industry graphic designer, Julian House. It was originally created as an outlet for their own musical experiments with the idea that each release’s packaging would display a similar design sensibility and both music and design would allude to House and Jupp’s shared imaginary landscape; a very British parallel world of TV soundtracks, 60s and 70s horror movies, vintage electronic music, folk song, English psychedelia, supernatural stories and folklore.

Music journalist Simon Reynolds coined the genre term hauntology to describe Ghost Box's uniquely haunting visual and musical output.[1]

Visual Style

What sets Ghost Box apart from other independent record labels is its strong sense of narrative and fictional setting. Jupp and House have described the label as existing in an imagined or misremembered past. It’s a world outside of time where cultural references from a roughly 30 year period (say 1960-1980) are happening all at once.[2]

Influenced by library album covers and the rigid design grid of Penguin and Pelican paperback books, Ghost Box records and CDs were always intended to look and sound like artefacts from a parallel world, familiar, elegant, but somehow "wrong".

Artists and Guests

Ghost Box’s key artists are House's own The Focus Group and Jupp’s Belbury Poly and also The Advisory Circle the recording name for the work of producer and longest serving Ghost Box collaborator Jon Brooks.

Ghost Box have also released albums by Pye Corner Audio, Mount Vernon Arts Lab, Hintermass, The Soundcarriers and Roj.

There have also been releases by guest artists sometimes in collaborating with members of the regular roster over an ongoing series of Ghost Box singles. First the Study Series (nos. 1-10) and more recently the ongoing Other Voices series.

Guests have included include Broadcast, John Foxx, Cavern of Anti-Matter, Sean O'Hagan, Steve Moore The Listening Center and ToiToiToi.

Reception

Boing Boing's Mark Pilkington noted Ghost Box founders "fused pop concrète, soundtrack and library music with sharp design and a swarm of esoteric pop-cultural references to create a parallel reality built upon memories of a very British past."[3]

In reviewing Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age, PopMatters called Ghost Box "[o]ne of the most rousing (oc)cult phenomena of the past decade" with having "created a career conjuring past futurisms and collectively buried fears to create music that quite literally feels like it’s in a different league, even another dimension, than other modern musicians."[4]

Discography

Musician Title Format Catalogue Number
Belbury Poly Farmer's Angle (2004) 3" CD-EP GBX001
The Focus Group Sketches and Spells (2004) CD/LP GBX002
Belbury Poly The Willows (2005) CD/LP GBX003
Eric Zann Ouroborindra (2005) CD GBX004
The Focus Group Hey Let Loose Your Love (2005) CD GBX005
The Advisory Circle Mind How You Go (2005) 3" CD-EP GBX006
Belbury Poly The Owl's Map (2006) CD GBX007
The Focus Group We Are All Pan's People (2007) CD GBX008
Mount Vernon Arts Lab The Séance at Hobs Lane (2007) CD/LP GBX009
The Advisory Circle Other Channels (2008) CD/LP GBX010
Belbury Poly From an Ancient Star (2009) CD GBX011
Roj The Transactional Dharma of Roj (2009) CD GBX012
The Advisory Circle Mind How You Go (Revised Edition) (2010) CD/LP GBX013
Belbury Poly Farmer's Angle (Revised Edition) (2010) CD/10" GBX014
The Advisory Circle As The Crow Flies (2011) CD/LP GBX015
Belbury Poly The Belbury Tales (2012) CD/LP GBX016
Pye Corner Audio Sleep Games (2012) CD/LP GBX017
The Focus Group The Elektrik Karousel (2013) CD/LP GBX018
John Foxx and The Belbury Circle Empty Avenues (2013) CD/10" GBX019
The Soundcarriers Entropicalia (2014) CD/LP GBX020
The Advisory Circle From Out Here (2014) CD/LP GBX021
Various artists In a Moment... Ghost Box (2015) CD/LP GBX022
Hintermass The Apple Tree (2015) CD/LP GBX023
The Belbury Poly New Ways Out (2016) CD/LP GBX024

Seven Inch & Download Singles

Musician Title Catalogue Number
Belbury Poly and Moon Wiring Club Study Series 01: Youth and Recreation (2010) GBX701
The Advisory Circle with Hong Kong in the 60s Study Series 02: Cycles and Seasons (2010) GBX702
Belbury Poly and Mordant Music Study Series 03: Welcome to Godalming (2010) GBX703
Broadcast and The Focus Group Study Series 04: Familiar Shapes and Noises (2010) GBX704
Hintermass Study Series 05: The Open Song Book (2011) GBX705
Jonny Trunk Study Series 06: Animation and Interpretation (2011) GBX706
Pye Corner Audio with The Advisory Circle Study Series 07: Autumnal Activities (2011) GBX707
Belbury Poly and The Advisory Circle Study Series 08: Inversions (2012) GBX708
Listening Center with Pye Corner Audio Study Series 09: Projections (2013) GBX709
Belbury Poly and Spacedog Study Series 10: Message and Method (2013) GBX710
Brooks and O'Hagan Other Voices 01: Calibair/ Mulcair (2014) GBX711
Listening Center Other Voices 02: Quotidian Forgotten/ Our Material (2014) GBX712
The Pattern Forms Other Voices 03: Fluchtwege/ The Sacrifice (2015) GBX713
Steve Moore Other Voices 04: The Moon Occults Saturn At Dawn/ Val Sans Retour (2015) GBX714
Pye Corner Audio with Belbury Poly Other Voices 05: Machines are Obsolete/Pathways (2015) GBX715
Cavern of Anti-Matter Other Voices 06: Pulsing River Velvet Phase/Phototones (2015) GBX716
ToiToiToi Other Voices 07: Odin's Jungle/Golden Green (2015) GBX717
Beautify Junkyards Other Voices 08: Constant Flux/Pirâmide (2016) GBX718

Download only label sampler album

Title Work Catalogue Number
Various artists Ritual and Education (2008) GBXSAMP01

References

  1. Society of the spectral, The Wire no. 276, November 2006
  2. Interview: Belbury Poly, FACT magazine
  3. Mark Pilkington (12 October 2012). "Hauntologists mine the past for music's future - Boing Boing". Boing Boing. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  4. Gabriele, Timothy (12 November 2009). "Broadcast and the Focus Group: Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age - PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved 6 August 2014.

External links

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