Peski Records | |
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Founded | 2003 |
Founder | Garmon Gruffydd, Rhys Edwards |
Defunct | 2016 |
Status | Inactive |
Country of origin | Wales, UK |
Official website | peski |
Peski Records was an independent record label and music publisher based in Cardiff, Wales. The label has released records by influential Welsh artists including Cate Le Bon, Gwenno, R. Seiliog and Y Pencadlys.
The name Peski derives from the Welsh word 'pesgi', which is normally used to describe farm animals and means 'to fatten'. The name was coined in 2002 when founders Garmon Gruffydd, Rhys Edwards and a childhood friend was strolling on the grounds of St David's Cathedral in the county of Pembrokeshire. Once inside the cathedral, the trio signed the guestbook and Peski Records was born.
Peski's first release was Jakokoyak's debut album, Am Cyfan Dy Pethau Prydferth (2003), which had a distinctive lo-fi experimental electronic music sound with leanings towards psychedelic folk, sometimes classified as folktronica. The album title, Am Cyfan Dy Pethau Prydferth was taken from a badly translated poster on the walls of the Cardiff Union. After quickly selling out of all copies of the album in the UK, it was re-released in Japan in 2004 and was warmly received in Japanese magazines such as Vogue Nippon. After a string of subsequent releases, Jakokoyak supported fellow-countrymen Super Furry Animals on their short tour of Japan and the success enabled Peski to invest in other artists.
Over the next few years, the label went on to release records from David Mysterious (real name Cai Strachan), Evils and The Joy Formidable's Rhydian Dafydd (Stitches), before signing Aberystwyth's psychedelic indie pop band Radio Luxembourg in 2007, who had expressed a wish to release 2 EPs before moving on to a London-based record label. After fulfilling their agreement, Radio Luxembourg went on to sign with Fantastic Plastic Records and changed their name in 2009 due to possible legal problems with the radio station of the same name.