Jam Rostron / Planningtorock

Planningtorock – aka Jam Rostron – is a Bolton-born Berlin-based singer-songwriter, composer, producer and director with three critically acclaimed studio albums of left-field dance to their name – not to mention various collaborations, operas, film scores and remixes. A self-taught, non-binary, working-class musician, they’ve spent a decade plus queering sound and vision as Planningtorock.

Planningtorock debuted in the Noughties with 2006’s Have It All [Chicks On speed], finding artistic community among fellow DIY outliers and gender outlaws such as Peaches and The Knife. Their sound – tense, spellbinding dance music with classical flourishes, unexpected brass and pitched-down vocals that have become Planningotorock’s signature – have earned them a dedicated following.

W, Planningtorock’s critically acclaimed 2011 debut on DFA, revealed a visionary and politicized producer. It offered up deeply queered art-pop – 2014’s All Love’s Legal (“a masterclass in left-of-centre dance music”, Mixmag), released on Rostron’s own imprint Human Level with banner-ready slogans (‘Patriarchy Over And Out’, ‘Let’s Talk About Gender Baby’), revealed their ability to combine pop-oriented music with a political message.