Planningtorock


Jam Rostron, better known by their stage name Planningtorock, is an English electronic musician and record producer who lives in Berlin, Germany.

Life and career

Early life

Rostron studied at Blackburn College of Art on the Foundation course in 1990 together with Patrick Bridge, Andrew Hine, Lisa Roberts amongst others. Rostron then enrolled in an Art school in Sheffield before moving to Berlin in 2002. In 2004, they launched their label Rostron Records with Planningtorock's EP Eins, following it in 2005 with a compilation LP Carousel of Souls that featured songs from The Knife and The Soft Pink Truth. They sang backing vocals on the Badly Drawn Boy track "Outside is a Light 2", a B-Side from the 1999 single "It Came From the Ground".

2006–2009: ''Have It All''

After signing to Chicks on Speed's record label in 2006, Planningtorock released the limited edition 7" single "Changes/I Wanna Bite Ya", before their debut album was released the following summer.
In 2006, Planningtorock remixed the song "Marble House" by The Knife.

2010–2011: ''Tomorrow, In a Year'' and ''W''

In 2010, Planningtorock collaborated with The Knife and Mount Sims to write an opera for the Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma. The opera, titled Tomorrow, In a Year, is based on Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Tomorrow, In a Year was later released on 9 March 2010, by Mute Records and received generally favourable reviews from contemporary critics; according to the music review aggregation of Metacritic, it garnered an average score of 67/100.
Rostron worked as the sound designer and componist for the Bruce LaBruce film The Bad Breast; or, The Strange Case of Theda Lange in 2010.
Rostron began correspondence with James Murphy after he sent them a fan email that said 'Really like the Planningtorock stuff – just saying." Murphy later invited them on LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver tour before signing them to his label DFA Records. Planningtorock co-wrote the song "Answering Machine" from the album From the Cradle to the Rave by DFA label-mate Shit Robot in 2010. DFA released Rostron's second studio album W on 17 May 2011. Rostron had been working on the album's songs since 2007, eventually writing more than 27 songs. W received positive reviews from contemporary critics; according to the music review aggregation of Metacritic, it garnered an average score of 72/100. The album included a cover of Arthur Russell's song "Janine."

2012–2013: EPs and ''All Love's Legal''

In an interview with Resident Advisor, Rostron stated: 'Last summer after touring W, I had a bit of a creative meltdown and wasn't sure about making music any more—then I wrote "Patriarchy Over And Out," and suddenly the goal of the next album became clear'. During this period Rostron legally changed their name from Janine to Jam so as to have a non-gendered name. They also revealed that in the Spring of 2012 they set up a studio space with Olof Dreijer, Hermione Frank and Paula Temple.
Rostron states that "Patriarchy Over And Out" was a turning point 'which was the beginning of being more direct and experimenting with being more political'.
On 8 March 2013 Rostron released Misogyny Drop Dead EP and in mid-July released a vinyl-only remix of "Full of Fire" by The Knife "Let's Talk About Gender Baby".
On 29 October 2013 Rostron announced a third studio album All Love's Legal along with a music video for its opening track "Welcome".

2018-present: ''Powerhouse''

On 31 August 2018, Rostron released, "Transome", as the lead single from their fourth studio album, Powerhouse. It was followed by a second album track, Much To Touch on 12 October 2018. Both were released via Human Level / DFA Records.
Rostron identifies as genderqueer and non-binary. Powerhouse includes several tracks in which they sing about their family and childhood in Bolton, England. The title track is a tribute to Rostron’s mother: ‘She’s basically the powerhouse of the record. It was the hardest track to write, to pin down and express my love and adoration for my mum, because there’s so many things that she’s done for me, for the family, for my sister. She’s the powerhouse, for sure.’

Artistry

Planningtorock has stated that the distortion of their vocals allows for the "playing around with gender alongside communicating what I feel is the emotions within the songs. Because I am really interested in expanding upon the limits that we live in – how we are defined – and it is an experiment."

Discography

Studio albums