Ghost Box Music
| Ghost Box Music | |
|---|---|
| 240px | |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder | Julian House Jim Jupp |
| Genre | Electronic Ambient Musique concrète Library music Hauntology |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Official website | Ghost Box Music |
Ghost Box Music is an English independent record label, established in 2004 by Julian House and Jim Jupp.
Contents
Concept
The concept for the label was hatched by House and Jupp (who attended the same school[1] ) in 2003; a manifesto of influences was compiled, which included "music for schools, cosmic horror stories, library music, English surrealism, and the dark side of psychedelia".[2] In 2004, the first The Focus Group and Belbury Poly releases became available on CD-R. House and Jupp have stated the purpose of the label was to create "not just a record label, but an imaginary world".[3]
In an interview with Cyclic Defrost, Jim Jupp commented;
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Part of a theme that’s ongoing in all the Belbury Poly records, and I think all of the Ghost Box records (...) is a tradition of British science fiction, where you’ve got on the one hand the setting of a very traditional background, with very ancient things, but you’ve got this weird, cosmic stuff happening at the same time. A lot of old British sci-fi books – John Wyndham, for instance – have these really mundane, quaint little village settings, but all of a sudden something really freaky and cosmic appears in the middle of it.[1]
Aesthetic
Ghost Box had a defined aesthetic from formation; Julian House commenting:
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...the best way to put our stuff out was to start a label.. There was such a richness to the references we both shared, not just musical.. It made sense that we could put releases out which had this complete world attached to them.. A set of things united by a design identity, fragments of real or imagined books, collections of images, films, links... Something people can become lost in and want to be a part of.."[4]
Releases on the label (currently encompassing The Focus Group, Eric Zann, Belbury Poly, Roj, Pye Corner Audio and The Advisory Circle, and a rerelease of a Mount Vernon Arts Lab album) tend to share a common design aesthetic - all record covers so far have been by Julian House, with an acknowledged debt to the iconic design of sixties Penguin Books paperbacks.[5] There are shared elements in sound, too; Ghost Box artists tend to draw heavily on influences such as musique concrète, library music, and 1970s soundtracks. Several critics have noticed a melancholic or nostalgic element to the Ghost Box sound as well, prompting comparison to the shorter, 'interlude' tracks of Boards of Canada, or similar folk or psychedelia-influenced electronic musicians.[6]
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."[7]
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."[8]
Discography
| Musician | Work | Format | Catalogue Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belbury Poly | Farmer's Angle (2004) | 3" CD EP | GBX001 |
| The Focus Group | Sketches and Spells (2004) | CD | GBX002 |
| Belbury Poly | The Willows (2005) | CD | 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 | GBX009 |
| The Advisory Circle | Other Channels (2008) | CD | 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 |
Seven Inch Singles
| Musician | Work | 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) | 01 |
| Listening Centre | Other Voices 02: Quotidian Forgotten/ Our Material (2014) | 02 |
| The Pattern Forms | Other Voices 03: Fluchtwege/ The Sacrifice (2015) | 03 |
| Steve Moore | Other Voices 04: The Moon Occults Saturn At Dawn/ Val Sans Retour (2015) | 04 |
Download only label sampler album
| Musician | Work | Catalogue Number |
|---|---|---|
| Various artists | Ritual and Education (2008) | GBXSAMP01 |
See also
References
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<references />, or <references group="..." />External links
- Official site
- The Sunday Times article on contemporary electronic music, including Ghost Box and Belbury Poly
- A selection of images from projected Ghost Box films. Images by Julian House
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- ↑ Interview with Julian House, Soul Riot
- ↑ Norman Records review of various Ghost Box releases
- ↑ Adam Harper, Hauntology: The Past Inside The Present
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