Ghostly International
Encyclopedia
Ghostly International is an American
independent record label
. Chief artists include Matthew Dear
, Dabrye
(aka Tadd Mullinix), Mobius Band, and Skeletons & The Girl-Faced Boys
, all of which are innovative contributors to the world of music.
Ghostly International was founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan
by Sam Valenti IV in 1999
. Valenti grew up in suburban Detroit, where, having become a fan of underground music
culture, he would sneak into Hip-Hop clubs by carrying records for his Detroit DJ hero Houseshoes. Valenti later became a DJ himself, taking the name of DJ SpaceGhost. This theme is echoed by the name and logo of the company he founded.
Valenti met Matthew Dear
at a house party that Valenti attended during his first week at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Valenti and Dear's shared affection for electronic music
, particularly the sound of Detroit Techno
, led to the label’s (and Dear’s) first 12 inch single "Hands Up For Detroit." Following this, Ghostly enjoyed early success with albums by Mullinix as well as Disco Nouveau
, a compilation including artists such as ADULT.
, Solvent
, Legowelt
, Daniel Wang and DMX Krew
inspired by the Italo Disco
movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
Since then the label has widened its focus to include groups such as Skeletons & The Girl-Faced Boys and Mobius Band, whose rock-based sound meshes with the label’s eccentric leanings. Also known for forward-thinking package design by the likes of Will Calcutt and Deanne Cheuk
, as well as the Boy, Cat, and Bird logos of Michael Segal, Ghostly International aims to be a complete aesthetic experience.
Ghostly International followed up Disco Nouveau with two more successful compilation album
s featuring its artists: Idol Tryouts
and Idol Tryouts 2
.
Ghostly International also runs a companion label, Spectral Sound
, dedicated to more dancefloor-oriented music coming from some of the same artists on Ghostly (such as James T. Cotton, another moniker of Tadd Mullinix (aka Dabrye)).
Recently Ghostly International and Adult Swim
released a compilation album known as Ghostly Swim, available on Adult Swim's website for free. It was released with a bonus track on January 27, 2009 as a limited edition CD.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
. Chief artists include Matthew Dear
Matthew Dear
Matthew Dear is an American music producer, DJ and electronic avant-pop artist.-History:Texas- born Dear moved to Michigan as a teenager, where he was inspired by the sound of Detroit Techno...
, Dabrye
Dabrye
Dabrye is an alias of Ann Arbor, Michigan-based musician Tadd Mullinix , whose Winking Makes A Face was the first album released by Ann Arbor’s Ghostly International...
(aka Tadd Mullinix), Mobius Band, and Skeletons & The Girl-Faced Boys
Skeletons & The Girl-Faced Boys
Skeletons are an American entertainment unit from Oberlin, Ohio. They currently live in New York City....
, all of which are innovative contributors to the world of music.
Ghostly International was founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
by Sam Valenti IV in 1999
1999 in music
-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation.**Paul McCartney attends the first of his stepdaughter Heather's first housewares collection in Georgia....
. Valenti grew up in suburban Detroit, where, having become a fan of underground music
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
culture, he would sneak into Hip-Hop clubs by carrying records for his Detroit DJ hero Houseshoes. Valenti later became a DJ himself, taking the name of DJ SpaceGhost. This theme is echoed by the name and logo of the company he founded.
Valenti met Matthew Dear
Matthew Dear
Matthew Dear is an American music producer, DJ and electronic avant-pop artist.-History:Texas- born Dear moved to Michigan as a teenager, where he was inspired by the sound of Detroit Techno...
at a house party that Valenti attended during his first week at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Valenti and Dear's shared affection for electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, particularly the sound of Detroit Techno
Detroit techno
Detroit techno is an early style of electronic music beginning in the 1980s. Detroit, Michigan has been cited as the birthplace of techno music. Prominent Detroit Techno artists include Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson...
, led to the label’s (and Dear’s) first 12 inch single "Hands Up For Detroit." Following this, Ghostly enjoyed early success with albums by Mullinix as well as Disco Nouveau
Disco Nouveau
Disco Nouveau is the first compilation album of Ann Arbor, Michigan record label Ghostly International. Released in 2002, the album served as a modern update of Giorgio Moroder's famed Italo Disco sound of the 1970s and 1980s and includes contributions from artists such as Solvent, ADULT., and...
, a compilation including artists such as ADULT.
ADULT.
ADULT. is an American band from Detroit, Michigan that integrates vocals with drum machines, analog synths and electronic/punk elements. While popular in their home city of Detroit, they are also very popular in Germany and the United Kingdom.-History:ADULT...
, Solvent
Solvent (producer)
Solvent is the stage name used by electronic producer and remixer Jason Amm . Although his music has been included in the electroclash movement , many of Solvent's tracks fall under the intelligent dance music or electropop genres...
, Legowelt
Legowelt
Legowelt is a Dutch electronic musician who describes his musical style as "a hybrid form of slam jack combined with deep Chicago house, romantic ghetto technofunk and EuroHorror Soundtrack."...
, Daniel Wang and DMX Krew
DMX Krew
DMX Krew is the recording name of Ed Upton. He has released 6 full albums on Aphex Twin's label Rephlex Records and numerous singles/EPs for both Rephlex and his own Breakin' Records. DMX Krew's sound spans several electronic music genres but had mostly been rooted in early electro-pop/breakdance...
inspired by the Italo Disco
Italo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
Since then the label has widened its focus to include groups such as Skeletons & The Girl-Faced Boys and Mobius Band, whose rock-based sound meshes with the label’s eccentric leanings. Also known for forward-thinking package design by the likes of Will Calcutt and Deanne Cheuk
Deanne Cheuk
Deanne Cheuk is an illustrator, designer, art director and artist. She was born in Perth, Western Australia, and currently resides in New York....
, as well as the Boy, Cat, and Bird logos of Michael Segal, Ghostly International aims to be a complete aesthetic experience.
Ghostly International followed up Disco Nouveau with two more successful compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s featuring its artists: Idol Tryouts
Idol Tryouts
Idol Tryouts is the second various artists compilation album released by Michigan-based label Ghostly International. Unlike the label's previous sampler Disco Nouveau, Idol Tryouts contains music solely from artists signed to Ghostly International...
and Idol Tryouts 2
Idol Tryouts 2
Idol Tryouts 2 is a various artists compilation album released by Ann Arbor, Michigan-based record label Ghostly International. It is the label's third compilation overall and the second in their Idol Tryouts series. Idol Tryouts 2 contains tracks from artists on the label and spans the musical...
.
Ghostly International also runs a companion label, Spectral Sound
Spectral Sound
Spectral Sound is a record label that was originally an offshoot of the more cerebral Ghostly International, but has since gained similar notoriety thanks to successful records by Matthew Dear and other techno producers...
, dedicated to more dancefloor-oriented music coming from some of the same artists on Ghostly (such as James T. Cotton, another moniker of Tadd Mullinix (aka Dabrye)).
Recently Ghostly International and Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
released a compilation album known as Ghostly Swim, available on Adult Swim's website for free. It was released with a bonus track on January 27, 2009 as a limited edition CD.
List of Artists
- Choir of Young BelieversChoir of Young BelieversChoir of Young Believers is the musical project of singer, writer and guitarist Jannis Noya Makrigiannis from Copenhagen, Denmark. The band, which consists of Makrigiannis along with a rotating cast of supporting players, has had multiple No 1 hits in its home country and was named the "Best New...
- Christopher WillitsChristopher WillitsChristopher Willits is a musician and multimedia artist located in San Francisco. Willits is "a prominent experimental musician from the San Francisco Bay area" and "a pioneer and a teacher, exploring new methodologies for signal processing.". He has been instrumental in redefining the guitar in...
- Com TruiseCom TruiseCom Truise is the stage name of Seth Haley, an American electronic musician originally from Oneida, New York, and later, Princeton, New Jersey...
- DabryeDabryeDabrye is an alias of Ann Arbor, Michigan-based musician Tadd Mullinix , whose Winking Makes A Face was the first album released by Ann Arbor’s Ghostly International...
- Deastro
- Gold PandaGold PandaGold Panda is a musical composer, performer and producer from the United Kingdom.He was born in Peckham, London, in 1980 and hails from Chelmsford, Essex. He lived in Japan and studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies at University of London...
- Heathered Pearls
- HTRKHTRKHTRK is an Australian band formed in 2003.-Biography:Originating in Melbourne and based in London since 2007, HTRK started playing in 2003 when guitarist Nigel Yang and bassist Sean Stewart invited vocalist Jonnine Standish to create music inspired by Lynchian imagery, protopunk and post...
- JacaszekJacaszekMichał Jacaszek is a Polish electroacoustic musician, often credited on albums simply as Jacaszek.-Discography:Studio Albums* Lo Fi Stories* Lem Konzept* Sequel* Kompleta* Treny...
- LoscilLoscilLoscil is the electronic/ambient music project of Scott Morgan, from Vancouver, BC. The name Loscil is taken from the "looping oscillator" function in Csound...
- LusineLusineLusine is Texan Jeff McIlwain, an ambient/IDM musician. Originally a Texas native, Jeff now resides in Seattle. In 1998, he attended California Institute of the Arts to study 20th century electronic music and sound design for music and film...
- Matthew DearMatthew DearMatthew Dear is an American music producer, DJ and electronic avant-pop artist.-History:Texas- born Dear moved to Michigan as a teenager, where he was inspired by the sound of Detroit Techno...
- Michna
- Mux MoolMux MoolMux Mool is an American electronic musician, DJ, and producer, affiliated with the labels Moodgadget and Ghostly International.-Biography:...
- Pale SketcherJustin BroadrickJustin Karl Michael Broadrick is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist and drummer. He is best known as a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and industrial music.-Biography:Broadrick was born in the council estates of inner...
- PhantogramPhantogram (band)Phantogram is an American electronic rock duo from Saratoga Springs, New York, formed in 2007 and consisting of Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter . They write and record in a remote barn in upstate New York called Harmony Lodge...
- School of Seven BellsSchool of Seven BellsSchool of Seven Bells is a band formed by Benjamin Curtis of Secret Machines, together with identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, formerly of On!Air!Library!. The band is named after the School of the Seven Bells, a mythical South American pickpocket training academy.-History:Curtis and...
- Shigeto
- The Sight BelowThe Sight BelowThe Sight Below is an electronic music/shoegaze act from Seattle, Washington. Its main member is American post-minimalist composer Rafael Anton Irisarri....
- SolventSolvent (producer)Solvent is the stage name used by electronic producer and remixer Jason Amm . Although his music has been included in the electroclash movement , many of Solvent's tracks fall under the intelligent dance music or electropop genres...
- Tadd Mullinix
- TychoTycho (musician)Scott Hansen, professionally known as Tycho, is a San Francisco-based ambient music project from artist and producer, who is known as ISO50 for his photographic and design works...
Former Artists
- 10:32
- Aeroc
- Ben Benjamin
- Cepia
- The ChapThe Chap (band)The Chap are an experimental pop band from North London. Their music is a mix of rock and pop.-Band members:*Keith Duncan - drums, vocals, keyboards*Panos Ghikas - bass, vocals, guitar, violin, computer, keyboards...
- Charles Manier
- Clark Warner
- Daniel Wang
- Dykehouse
- Grand Valley State New Music Ensemble
- JDSY
- Jeffery Sfire
- Kill Memory CrashKill Memory CrashKill Memory Crash is three-piece Electronic band from Chicago, Illinois. They originally formed around 1998, they made an almost self-imposed exile from the music industry due to their indifferences to the popular styles of Electronic music at the time. They eventually made a very sinister sounding...
- KilnKiln (band)Kiln is a Michigan-based Ambient trio that is a reincarnation of ambient group Fibreforms.-Discography:*Treedrums as Fibreforms...
- Midwest Product
- PostPrior
- Mike Servito
- Mobius Band
- North Valley Subconscious Orchestra
- Sam Valenti IV
- Skeletons & The Kings of All Cities
- Syntaks
- Twine