Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released rock, funk, R&B, doo wop, soul music, blues, pop, rock and roll, and jazz records. In the United States, it is operated through Republic Records; in the United Kingdom and Japan, it is distributed by EMI Records.
Broadcast were an English band formed in Birmingham in 1995 by Trish Keenan and James Cargill (bass). Their musical style blended elements of 1960s psychedelia with early electronic music and samples from esoteric sources; it earned the band a cult following.
The Focus Group is a project of experimental electronic musician and graphic designer Julian House. The Focus Group's sound is a blend of influences ranging from old library music sounds produced in the 1970s, 1960s-inspired pastiches, public information films, and soundtracks to 1970s films and programmes, as well as the sound collage of musique concrète.
Belbury Poly is the studio band of Ghost Box Records co-founder Jim Jupp. Jupp is the main composer and producer and also plays synth, keyboards and guitar. Other members are session musicians, that have included: Christopher Budd on bass and lead guitar, Jim Musgrave on drums, James Allen on drums, David Sharp on acoustic guitar and Cate Brooks on piano.
Eric Zann is an alias of electronic musician Jim Jupp. Jupp's releases are on the Ghost Box Music label, of which he is a co-founder. The name references a minor H. P. Lovecraft short story, The Music of Erich Zann.
The Owl's Map is an album by Jim Jupp, under the pseudonym of Belbury Poly. The album was released on 10 September 2006 on the Ghost Box Music label.
The Willows is an album by Jim Jupp, under the pseudonym of Belbury Poly. The album was released in 2004 on the Ghost Box Music label. It is named after a short story by Algernon Blackwood.
We Are All Pan's People is an album by Julian House, under the pseudonym of The Focus Group. It was released on 26 March, 2007 on the Ghost Box Music label. The title and artwork owe a simultaneous debt to the 1970s dance troupe Pan's People and the stories - the novella The Great God Pan specifically - of Arthur Machen; labelmates Eric Zann and Belbury Poly have also acknowledged a debt to the author.
The Advisory Circle is an alias of English electronic musician Cate Brooks along with King of Woolworths. Her releases as The Advisory Circle are on the Ghost Box Music label.
Julian House is a graphic designer, a musician, and the co-owner of the Ghost Box record label. He records music as the Focus Group.
Hauntology is a range of ideas referring to the return or persistence of elements from the social or cultural past, as in the manner of a ghost. The term is a neologism first introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his 1993 book Specters of Marx. It has since been invoked in fields such as visual arts, philosophy, electronic music, anthropology, politics, fiction, and literary criticism.
Jim Jupp is a producer, composer, and along with the graphic designer Julian House he co-owns the Ghost Box record label and manager of Belbury Music Publishing. He records as Belbury Poly. Jupp also runs his own music publishing business and small run record label, Belbury Music
Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age is a collaboration album by Broadcast and the Focus Group, released by Warp on 27 October 2009.
The Belbury Tales is a 2012 concept album by Jim Jupp, the fourth studio album under the pseudonym of Belbury Poly. It was released on 24 February 2012 on CD, online download, and 12" vinyl record. Rob Young contributed the short story "The Journeyman’s Tale" to the liner notes.
New Ways Out is a 2016 album by Jim Jupp, under the pseudonym of Belbury Poly. It was scheduled to be released on 27 May 2016 by independent record label Ghost Box Music on CD, online download, and 12" vinyl record.
Hypnagogic pop is pop or psychedelic music that evokes cultural memory and nostalgia for the popular entertainment of the past. It emerged in the mid to late 2000s as American lo-fi and noise musicians began adopting retro aesthetics remembered from their childhood, such as radio rock, new wave pop, light rock, video game music, synth-pop, and R&B. Recordings circulated on cassette or Internet blogs and were typically marked by the use of outmoded analog equipment and DIY experimentation.
Stop Your Nonsense is the debut album by English musical duo Position Normal, released in August 1999 by Mind Horizon Recordings. The album is constructed primarily from samples and found sounds, often taken from unusual vintage sources such as second-hand children's records and answer machine cassettes, often purchased by member Chris Bailiff in jumble sales and charity shops, or inherited from his father. Bailiff's bandmate John Cushway also contributes instrumentation and vocals. Released to critical acclaim, Stop Your Nonsense was praised for its distinctively whimsical and eccentric style, with writer Simon Reynolds later crediting the album for pioneering hauntology music. Position Normal later re-released the album themselves.
Hauntology is a music genre or a loosely defined stylistic feature that evokes cultural memory and aesthetics of the past. It developed in the 2000s primarily among British electronic musicians, and typically draws on British cultural sources from the 1940s to the 1970s, including library music, film and TV soundtracks, psychedelia, and public information films, often through the use of sampling.
Moon Wiring Club is the recording alias of Ian Hodgson, who releases his music on his own label Blank Workshop.
In Another Room is an EP by English musician Paul Weller, released in January 2020 by electronic label Ghost Box. The label approached Weller to record a release for them, the musician having already taken influence from the label's music on previous releases. Recorded with longtime engineer Charles Rees, the project allowed Weller to create more outré music and explore his passions for tape music and electronics.
