Based in London, Rothko were founded by Mark Beazley and have been in existence since the spring of 1997, playing their first show at The Hope and Anchor in Islington in August the same year.

Their first release was a 7" single, For Danny, on Fierce Panda in the Autumn of '97 and the original line up of Mark, Crawford Blair and Jon Meade, went on to release EP's, singles and three albums, on labels such as Lo Recordings, Bella Union, Foundry, Kraak, Zeal and Narwhal.

In 2000 Mark signed a publishing deal with Mute Song.

The original line up disbanded in 2001 and Mark carried on the Rothko name. His first release on his own was his collaboration with Japanese ambient master Susumu Yokota, the 12" EP Waters Edge on Jon Tye's Lo Recordings.

Late in 2001, Mark signed a deal with Too Pure Records and in 2002 released the album 'A Continual Search For Origins' and 7" single Red Cells.

In 2003 Mark started his own label, Trace Recordings, releasing the critically acclaimed Wish For A World Without Hurt album, a collaboration with BLK w/BEAR aka Washington DC based sound and visual artist Jim Adams.

Since 2004, the line up has been Mark with Michael Donnellly on bass guitar, Ben Page on keyboards and Tom Page on drums and percussion.

In recent years, the group have toured extensively in France and their most recent album, Eleven Stages of Intervention, was released on the Bip Hop label of Marseille in June 2007, followed in September 07 by the retrospective CDr album A Life Lived Elsewhere