Ghostly International

Last updated
Ghostly International
GhostlyIntlLogo.png
Founded1999 (1999)
FounderSamuel Valenti IV
Distributor(s) BWSCD, Inc., Virgin Music Label & Artist Services
GenreVarious
Country of originUnited States
Location Brooklyn, New York
Official website www.ghostly.com

Ghostly International is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by Samuel Valenti IV and currently headquartered in Brooklyn, New York City. Chief artists include Matthew Dear, Dabrye (a.k.a. Tadd Mullinix), Com Truise, Tycho, Gold Panda, School of Seven Bells, Mux Mool, and Shigeto.

Contents

History

Ghostly International was founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan by Sam Valenti IV in 1999. [1] He 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 DJ SpaceGhost; [2] this theme is echoed by the name and logo of Ghostly International.

Valenti met Matthew Dear at a house party that Valenti attended during his first week at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Their 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.

The label has since 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 albums 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).

Ghostly International and Adult Swim released a compilation album known as Ghostly Swim , [3] available on Adult Swim's website for free. It was released with a bonus track on January 27, 2009 as a limited edition CD. A sequel to Ghostly Swim, Ghostly Swim 2 , was released digitally on December 23, 2014, and on CD on April 28, 2015.

The label has also been involved in the soundtracks for video games. In 2014, Ghostly released a compilation album of new and previously recorded work by Ghostly artists to act as the soundtrack to the video game Hohokum . [4] A year later, the first soundtrack to critically acclaimed videogame Minecraft by German musician C418 was released by Ghostly as a vinyl LP on August 21, 2015, four years after its original digital release by C418. [5] [6] In 2018 a limited edition version of the Super Nt home video game console was made by Analogue and Ghostly International. [7] [8]

In 2015, Ghostly International moved to Brooklyn, New York, where they are still based to this day. [9]

Spectral Sound

Spectral Sound is a record label that was originally an offshoot of Ghostly International, but has since gained similar notoriety thanks to successful records by Matthew Dear and other techno producers. The label began in 2000 to fulfill the more dancefloor-oriented interests of founder Samuel Valenti IV, and early singles included artists like Kenneth Graham, Osborne and James T. Cotton (aka Dabrye).

Spectral’s first full-length was Leave Luck to Heaven by Matthew Dear in 2003, which proved to be a seminal fusion of pop and minimal techno. Primarily propelled by 12" singles, Spectral has broadened its initial American focus to include international producers like Hakan Lidbo and Mike Shannon, and has been likened to contemporaries Kompakt and Perlon. [10]

List of artists

Formerly signed

Related Research Articles

Ambient techno is a subgenre of techno that incorporates the atmospheric textures of ambient music with the rhythmic elements and production of techno. It was pioneered by 1990s electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, The Orb, The Future Sound of London, the Black Dog, Pete Namlook and Biosphere.

Microhouse, buftech or sometimes just minimal, is a subgenre of house music strongly influenced by minimalism and 1990s techno.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Dear</span> American music producer, DJ and artist

Matthew Dear is an American electronic music producer and DJ.

<i>Leave Luck to Heaven</i> 2003 studio album by Matthew Dear

Leave Luck to Heaven is the first studio album by Matthew Dear. It was released on Spectral Sound, a sub-label of Ghostly International, in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dabrye</span> Musical artist

Tadd Mullinix or Dabrye is an American musician from Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, also known by the aliases James T. Cotton and SK-1. During his adolescent years, he grew up in Troy, MI. His Winking Makes a Face was the first album released by Ann Arbor's Ghostly International. Parting with the IDM sound of Winking..., the first Dabrye album was 2001's One/Three, whose take on instrumental hip-hop paralleled the work of artists such as Prefuse 73. His early influences are White Zombie and 7 Seconds. His first band in high school was Battery 3, a shoegazing takeoff of the band Spacemen 3.

Mobius Band was an electronic rock trio from Brooklyn, New York consisting of Noam Schatz (drums), Peter Sax (bass/vocals/keyboards), and Ben Sterling (guitar/vocals/keyboards).

<i>Disco Nouveau</i> 2002 compilation album by Ghostly International

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 Susumu Yokota. It served as a major inspiration to the burgeoning electroclash movement and has been praised for its persistent relevance in much the same way as Moroder himself.

<i>Idol Tryouts</i> 2003 compilation album by Ghostly International

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. Musical genres represented here span techno, electro, electroclash and tech house.

<i>Idol Tryouts 2</i> 2006 compilation album by Ghostly International

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 genres of electronica, techno, electro, tech house and trip hop. Included in Idol Tryouts 2 is a second disc which highlights ambient music selections from Ghostly International artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disco D</span> American music producer (1980–2007)

David Aaron Shayman, better known by his stage name Disco D, was an American record producer and composer. He started as a teenage DJ in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he helped DJ Godfather popularize the Detroit electronic music called "Ghettotech".

<i>Two/Three</i> 2006 studio album by Dabrye

Two/Three is Tadd Mullinix's second studio album under the Dabrye name. It was released by the Ghostly International label on June 13, 2006, around five years after its predecessor One/Three.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Simko</span> American electronic music producer from Chicago

Kate Simko is an American composer, electronic music producer and founder of her ensemble London Electronic Orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella Riot</span> American band

Ella Riot was a musical group based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 2007 by Tyler Duncan as My Dear Disco, the name change came in March 2011.

<i>Minecraft – Volume Alpha</i> 2011 soundtrack album by C418

Minecraft – Volume Alpha is the first soundtrack album by the German electronic musician Daniel Rosenfeld, known by his pseudonym C418. Created for the 2011 video game Minecraft, it is the first of two albums to come from the game's soundtrack. It primarily consists of simplistic ambient music, though some tracks are more upbeat. The simplistic nature of the album's music was caused by the technical limitations of Minecraft's sound engine, which made earlier concepts unfeasible. Volume Alpha was released digitally in March 2011 as Rosenfeld's first commercial release, with a physical release issued by record label Ghostly International in 2015.

<i>Ghostly Swim</i> 2008 compilation album by various artists

Ghostly Swim is a free digital download album released in 2008 by Adult Swim and Ghostly International. The track listing contains songs arranged and recorded in an unusual avant-garde style of pop, rock and hip hop. A sequel album, Ghostly Swim 2, was released in 2014.

Music of <i>Minecraft</i> Music of the video game Minecraft

The music of the 2009 video game Minecraft, developed by Mojang Studios, primarily consists of two soundtrack albums by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. American composer Lena Raine has also contributed music for four major updates to the game since 2020, alongside Aaron Cherof and Kumi Tanioka who worked on the most recent version in 2024. Music included in downloadable content (DLC) for legacy console versions of the game was handled by British musician Gareth Coker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C418</span> German musician, producer and sound engineer (born 1989)

Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418, is a German musician, producer and sound engineer. He is best known as the former composer and sound designer for the sandbox video game Minecraft. He is a co-founder of independent video game developer Ivy Road with Davey Wreden and Karla Zimonja, which is developing Wanderstop.

<i>Minecraft – Volume Beta</i> Second soundtrack album to the video game Minecraft

Minecraft – Volume Beta is the fourth soundtrack album by German electronic musician Daniel Rosenfeld, known by his pseudonym C418. It was independently released on 9 November 2013 as the second installment of the soundtrack for the video game Minecraft, and has been physically released by record label Ghostly. The album peaked twice at number 14 on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart in 2013 and 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C418 discography</span> List of works by German musician C418

The following is a comprehensive discography of C418, the pseudonym of German electronic musician Daniel Rosenfeld and who is best known for producing the majority of the soundtrack of the 2011 video game Minecraft. His discography comprises eight major studio albums, five Bandcamp exclusive studio albums, nine compilation albums, seven EPs, two mixtapes, 11 remixes, seven singles and three music videos. Rosenfeld has also completed a third volume of the Minecraft soundtrack, but citing licensing issues with Microsoft, the album has not been released.

<i>Three/Three</i> 2018 studio album by Dabrye

Three/Three is the third studio album by American musician Tadd Mullinix, under the name Dabrye. It was released on February 16, 2018 by Ghostly International.

References

  1. ↑ Ghostly International: The Q&A, The Journal of Murketing
  2. ↑ They spin by night: The rise of Ann Arbor indie label Ghostly International Archived 2012-08-29 at the Wayback Machine , Detroit Metro Times
  3. ↑ Ghostly Swim compilation Archived 2008-05-04 at the Wayback Machine , Adult Swim
  4. ↑ Rose, Mike (August 11, 2014). "Pure Hohokum: How Honeyslug's wacky world came together". Gamasutra . UBM Tech. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Minecraft soundtrack to receive vinyl release this summer". 23 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "C418 presents Minecraft Volume Alpha - Ghostly International". Archived from the original on 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
  7. ↑ Craddock, Ryan (3 December 2018). "Analogue Announces New Limited Edition Super Nt, And You Can Order One Right Now". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  8. ↑ Webster, Andrew (3 December 2018). "Analogue's limited edition SNES has custom sounds from your favorite Ghostly artists". The Verge. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  9. ↑ "Report: Ann Arbor-born Ghostly International now has an office in Brooklyn". 5 November 2015.
  10. ↑ "Releases - Ghostly International". Ghostly.com. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  11. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.