DeadAir Records
American independent record label
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deadAir Records, stylized as deadAir, is an American independent record label co-founded in November of 2021 by Jesse Taconelli and Billie Bugara. PAPER identified Bugara as a co-founder, while Hypebeast and music-industry publication RAMP identified Taconelli as a co-founder. In a 2022 first-person retrospective, Bugara wrote that an earlier label experiment led Bugara and Taconelli to start their own label.[1][2][3][4]
Jesse Taconelli
- Stem Disintermedia
- AWAL (2022; only Quadeca)
- Sony (2025-present; only Quannnic)
- Atlantic (2026-present; Lucy Bedroque and Jane Remover)
| deadAir Records | |
|---|---|
| |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Founder | Billie Bugara Jesse Taconelli |
| Status | Active |
| Distributors |
|
| Genre | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Official website | deadairrecords |
In addition to physical releases of their music, deadAir also designs and sells merchandise for its artists.[5]
History
Bugara's background included writing for the online publication Underground Vampire Club and serving as its editor-in-chief. In the retrospective, Bugara described how that publication's short-lived label experiment preceded the formation of deadAir.[6] No Bells credited Bugara's SoundCloud Digicore playlist with helping codify the emerging digicore scene. [7]
deadAir's first numbered catalog release was Jane Remover's 2021 album Frailty.[8] Pitchfork described the record as an ambitious expansion of digicore and later ranked it number 33 on its list of the 100 best albums of the 2020s through 2024. [9] [10] In 2022, Bugara co-presented a showcase at Baby's All Right in Brooklyn; PAPER described deadAir at the time as an independent label associated with influential digicore acts.[1]
Other independently reviewed deadAir releases included Jane Remover's Census Designated in 2023, Kuru's re:wired in 2024, Venturing's Ghostholding in 2025, and By Storm's My Ghosts Go Ghost in 2026.[11][12][13][14] In a 2024 profile, Alternative Press described deadAir as a young label that foregrounded inventive, boundary-pushing acts.[15]
Activities
The label describes itself as multidisciplinary.[16] Its official website maintains separate pages for its numbered release catalog, management clients, and publishing clients. [8][17][18] Since 2025, NTS Radio has hosted deadAir – Transmissions, a monthly program featuring label-associated musicians and guests. [19]
Artists released
| Act | Years on the label |
Releases under the label |
|---|---|---|
| Osquinn[a] | 2021-2023 | 3 |
| Jane Remover | 2021-present[b] | 7[c] |
| Dazegxd | 2022–present | 5 |
| Quadeca | 2022–2024[d] | 3 |
| Quannnic | 2023–present[e] | 3 |
| Kuru | 2024-present | 3 |
| Underscores[f] | 2025 | 1 |
| Prostitute[g] | 2025 | 1 |
| Operelly | 2025-present | 2 |
| Lucy Bedroque | 2025-present[h] | 3 |
| Photographic Memory | 2025-present | 1 |
| Kmoe | 2025-present | 1 |
| Ninajirachi[i] | 2025 | 1 |
| Racing Mount Pleasant[j] | 2025 | 1 |
| By Storm | 2026-present | 1 |
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Title | Artist(s) | Formats and notes | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Drive-By Lullabies | Quinn | Digital re-release | |
| 2022 | Frailty | Jane Remover | Digital, CD, cassette, vinyl[k] | [22] |
| vKiSS | Dazegxd | Digital, CD | [23] | |
| Quinn | Quinn | [24] | ||
| I Didn't Mean to Haunt You[l] | Quadeca | Digital, CD, cassette, vinyl | [25] | |
| 2023 | Kenopsia | Quannnic | Digital re-release, CD, vinyl[m] | [27] |
| Census Designated | Jane Remover | Digital, CD, vinyl | [28][29] | |
| Stepdream | Quannnic | Digital, vinyl | [30] | |
| 2024 | Exhibition Mode | Dazegxd | Digital, CD | [31] |
| Re:Wired | Kuru | [32] | ||
| From Me to You | Quadeca | CD, cassette[n] | [33] | |
| 2025 | Fishmonger | Underscores | CD & vinyl reissue (deadAir Legacy Edition) | [34] |
| Ghostholding | Venturing | Digital, CD, vinyl | [35] | |
| Attempted Martyr | Prostitute | Vinyl[o] | [38] | |
| Revengeseekerz | Jane Remover | Digital, CD, vinyl | [39] | |
| I Look at Her and Light Goes All Through Me | Photographic Memory | Digital | [40] | |
| K1 | Kmoe | Digital, CD, vinyl | [41] | |
| Warbrained[p] | Quannnic | [42] | ||
| I Love My Computer | Ninajirachi | Vinyl[q] | [43] | |
| Grip Your Fist, I'm Heaven Bound | Racing Mount Pleasant | Vinyl[r] | ||
| 2026 | My Ghosts Go Ghost | By Storm | Digital, CD, vinyl | [44] |
| Backstage Hologram | Kuru | [45] | ||
| C[s] | Lucy Bedroque | Digital |
Compilation albums
| Year | Title | Artist(s) | Formats and notes | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Sororite[t] | Lucy Bedroque | CD, vinyl |
Mixtapes
EPs
| Year | Title | Artist(s) | Formats and notes | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Teen Week | Jane Remover | Digital re-release (abridged version)[v] | [52] |
| 2023 | dSX.fm | Dazegxd & Quinn | Digital, CD | [53] |
| Scrapyard I | Quadeca | Digital | [54] | |
| Scrapyard II | ||||
| Scrapyard III | ||||
| 2025 | Handwriting Practice No. 1 | Operelly | [55] | |
| TellMeWhatToSwallow | Photographic Memory | |||
| Heart | Jane Remover | Digital, CD, vinyl | [56] | |
| 2026 | *Flutters Away* | Operelly | [57] | |
| Nowhere EP | Venturing | Digital, vinyl |
Singles
The following list excludes singles which are released in the rollout of and included on an album or mixtape for legibility.
| Year | Title | Artist(s) | Formats and notes | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | "Royal Blue Walls" | Jane Remover | Digital | |
| 2023 | "Vete" | Kuru | ||
| 2024 | "Flash in the Pan" | Jane Remover | [58] | |
| "Magic I Want U" | [59] | |||
| 2025 | "Supernova" (featuring Funeral) | [60] | ||
| "Dreamflasher" | [61] | |||
| "Audio Diary" | Kuru | |||
| 2026 | "And I Dance" | By Storm | [44] | |
| "Speed Demon" | Lucy Bedroque | |||
| "Whitehorsemannequin" |
Notes
- As Quinn; cofounder
- As of 2026 with the release of the single Beauty Sleep, Jane Remover's releases are co-distributed with Atlantic Records.
- Includes two releases under the Venturing alias.
- Exclusively in 2022 with the release of the album I Didn't Mean to Haunt You, Quadeca's releases were co-distributed with AWAL.
- As of 2025 with the release of the album Warbrained, Quannnic's releases are co-distributed with Sony Music.
- Underscores is signed to Mom + Pop, but partnered with deadAir for a physical release of Fishmonger.
- Prostitute partnered with deadAir for a physical release of Attempted Martyr, and later signed to Mute Records.
- As of 2026 with the release of the album C, Lucy Bedroque's releases are co-distributed with Atlantic Records.
- Ninajirachi is signed to NLV Music, which partnered with deadAir for a physical release of I Love My Computer.
- Racing Mount Pleasant is signed to R&R, but partnered with deadAir for a physical release of Grip Your Fist, I'm Heaven Bound.
- Released alongside Sony Music.
- deadAir partnered with NLV Records for this release.
- Grip Your Fist, I'm Heaven Bound was originally self-released in 2022, while the band was still going by the name Kingfisher. In 2025, the album was reissued on vinyl under the name Racing Mount Pleasant by deadAir.
- Released alongside Atlantic Records.
- Sororite is a compilation of Lucy Bedroque's debut album Sisterhood, as well as the EPs Féte de la Vanille and Amy, all of which were originally self-released on digital platforms by Bedroque themself under Autosarco Musique.
- Daze's Game 3! was originally released in 2021. After briefly being taken off streaming platforms for unknown reasons in May 2025, it was re-released digitally via deadAir later that same month.[citation needed]