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3RIO ART (Magisch Theater, Juliaandillenstraat 22, 2018 Antwerpen, BELGIUM) An independent label doing CDs, vinyl and cassettes all with very high quality presentation and with a shared interest in ritual music. They also do a weekly radio show on Radio Centraal Antwerpen (103.9 FM). Home to the band Hybryds, see EST #5.
A STATE OF FLUX (PO Box 28543, Providence, RI 02908, USA) ASOF run their own label, with releases from the likes of Blackhumour, Due Process and the intriguing US Steel Cello Ensemble, and also distribute a variety of post-industrial recordings from people like Crash Worship, Cranioclast, Etant Donnes and Strafe für Rebellion.
ABERDEEN F.I.N. (36 Buchan Road, Torry, Aberdeen AB1 3SW) Like all Free Information Networks, they'll send you counter-cultural information in return for an SAE/donation. They're also compiling a "comprehensive" underground, alternative, independent information directory, to be published twice yearly. Individuals and organisations are welcome to submit written articles (X words) and information.
ACTA (28 Aylmer Road, London W12 9LQ; dist via Impetus, These, Cadillac) John Butcher's label has two mainstays; his own improv sax, both solo and in various groups, and Chris Burn, a pianist who ranges from free improv to recitals of music by John Cage and Henry Cowell.
AD PERPETUAM MEMORIAM (PO Box 184, S-78122 Borlaenge, Sweden) This is a "new CD label dedicated to timeless sounds", which on the evidence of their first release by French group Kultivator, could also be translated as "heavy progressive rock in the Canterbury vein".
ADVANCE PARTY (PO Box 3290, London NW2 3UJ) Formed by several people from the free festivals and raves community, they intend to campaign against increasing police harassment and against draconian new Public Order legislation; send an SAE for information; donations particularly welcome.
AK DISTRIBUTION (NEW ADDRESS: 22 Lutton Place, Edinburgh EH8 9PE) An excellent print media distributor and mail-order service, with a catalogue that lacks all the unexpected and eccentric surprises of Counter Productions but is much more comprehensive. They publish as the AK Press imprint, books by Noam Chomsky, Stewart Home and various Semiotext(e) titles. Their distribution covers Re/Search, Loompanics, political and subcultural zines, surrealism, Spectacular Times and a large array of political non-fiction (mostly left / anarchist).
AMOK BOOKS (PO Box 861867, Terminal Annex, Los Angeles, CA 90086-1867, USA) Amok sent me their 1991 book catalogue, which includes their notorious Fourth Dispatch, an indispensable (?) and very wide-ranging catalogue of "the extremes of information in print". Also Nietzsche's My Sister and I, the Neue Slowenische Kunst art book, and some other intriguing material.
ANANANA (Apartado 21671, 1137 Lisboa Codex, Portugal) An independent label with releases by Bernardo Devlin (see review), Carlos Zingaro, Rafael Toral and Telectu to their name, they also distribute other music, such as Arcane Device's Envoi In Cumin, music from Osso Exótico, Desaccord Majeur and others.
ANOMALOUS RECORDS (P.O. Box 22195, Seattle, WA 98122-0195, USA, phone: (206) 328-9339, fax: (206) 328-9408) Another excellent mail-order firm covering lots of experimental and post-industrial ground: AMM, Con-Dom, Illusion of Safety, Muslimgauze and Sleep Chamber are amongst the many artists featured in their July catalogue, all with brief descriptions. There was enough good material there to easily justify a transAtlantic order for me.
ANTI-ANTI (37 Pamplins, Basildon, Essex SS15 5BN) Mail-order service for photocopied matter and cassettes dealing with all the usual "occultural" topics: Burroughs, Timothy Leary, Throbbing Gristle, Crowley, subliminals, computer viruses and so on. They also promise a large selection of music tapes: punk, world music, occult reference, and dance, and have plans to produce a magazine called "Cosmic Joke". Prices are exceptionally reasonable, and as far as I can tell everything is ripped off of somebody else.
ANTI-MUSIK DER LANDSH (Mariusz Blachowicz, Ul. Wolna 46/309, 38-500 Sanok, Poland) I only have a 1992 catalogue, but it's still worth mentioning as I doubt many people have had much chance to check out Polish alternative music. AML is a cassette-label with 22 releases by bands like M.A.B., Hiena and Rafael, descriptions varying from pop / folk to punk to industrial / electronic.
ANTICOPYRIGHT (P.O. Box 368, Cardiff CF2 1SQ) Thoroughly marvellous distributor of "agitational and generally scurrilous flyposters". Send them some money, send them some posters, help cover the world's walls with a variety of anarchist, situationist and plain weird items. Well worth supporting. Current catalogue lists 251 posters.
AORTA (c/o Petak, Postfach 778, 1011 Wien, Austria) As well as the Aorta series of magazines / pamphlets, they also sell several cassettes by Kadmon's group Allerseelen, plus three compilations featuring talents like Luciano Dari, White Stains and Vox Populi.
APHASIA (Richard Johnson, Aldersyde, Station Road, Banchory, Kincardineshire AB31 3XX) Home to the experimental industrial band Aphasia (see cassette reviews) who have a £3 tape, Body Exhaust System available, with a CD to follow in mid-'95 described as having some similarity to Jim O'Rourke, the Hafler Trio and Michael Prime.
ART DIRECTE (Box 31052, S-400 32 Gothenburg, Sweden) A small label with only 6 CDs listed as available, from Merzbow, Brume, Pacific 231 and others.
ARTAMAN TAPES (62 Saxby St., Salford, Manchester M6 7RG) Artaman distribute a number of their own cheap cassettes, featuring the Grey Wolves, KZ, Victor Victim and others, plus more Grey Wolves material released on Strength Recordings. All or most of it comes from the "extreme power electronics" area: harsh, unpleasant, and deliberately violent music, here enhanced with images of fascism.
ARTWARE AUDIO (Donna Klemm, Taunusstr. 63b, D-65183 Wiesbaden, Germany) Time to get your Deutschmarks out. If the idea of buying things from a foreign mail-order firm seems unnecessarily laborious to you, then it's just because you haven't yet seen Artware's huge catalogue of industrial and experimental music, including some printed matter too. Alternatively, look at it the same way you view window-shopping. There may be too much good music here for the health of your bank balance, but just looking can be quite enjoyable. Artware continues to act as a label, with releases to its credit by people like De Fabriek and Sigillum S (i.e. the post-industrial genre). The mail-order catalogue lists labels like Permis de Construire, Dark Vinyl and World Serpent listed alongside artists like Bourbonese Qualk, Ramleh and Asmus Tietchens, plus plenty of printed matter. The catalogue is priced at 5 DM, and easily well worth that. Artware is also actively involved in Ultra Sonic Capacity, see below.
ASH INTERNATIONAL (mail-order via Touch; UK dist via Kudos) The label behind the controversial yet highly successful Scanner albums, Ash is also responsible for several other highly unusual releases; a Hafler Trio LP and 12"; the Runaway Train LP (a recording of conversations between a runaway train's driver and his controller); music by Andrew Lagowski's S.E.T.I. and the collaboration between Seefeel and Locust, Aurobindo.
ASP (PO Box 5587, San Mateo, CA 94402, USA) This label is run by the people who record as Crawling With Tarts, and their catalogue includes their own recordings and several by associated groups. The CWT material varies from song-based material to experimental collage and improvisation. The diversity is indicative of ability.
AUDIOFILE TAPES (Carl Howard, 209-25 18 Avenue, Bayside, NY 11360, USA) One of the biggest cassette labels in the states dealing with underground, experimental and non-mainstream musics (others including Sound of Pig and Harsh Reality), Audiofile's current catalogue includes over 170 releases. Artists include the well-known, like Test Dept and Konstruktivits, and the completely obscure, plus stalwarts of the American cassette scene: Nomuzic, Alien Planetscapes, Cephalic Index, Mental Anguish and If, Bwana. The music varies from psychedelic rock through electronic soundscapes to sound collage. A lot of it is pretty amateurish and undeveloped, some of it is as good as you will find.
AURAL RESPONSE (4 Brackendale Grove, Harpenden, Herts AL5 3EJ, UK) Music mail-order style, mostly dominated by tons of indie, punk, hardcore types, but also groups like Negativland, Coil, Madonna and Throbbing Gristle. Obviously of most use to people living far away from a decent indie record store.
AVANT (dist. Harmonia Mundi) John Zorn's Japan-based label has already built up an excellent catalogue. They've released several album's by Zorn's own highly eclectic Naked City, music by classic no-wavers DNA, Buckethead's solo guitar pyrotechnics, Fushitsusha, Blind Idiot God, Boredoms, Ikue Mori, John Oswald, David Shea, Lee Hyla, Peter Garland, Z'ev (forthcoming) and Steve Beresford (forthcoming). Fringe jazz, improv and neo-classical composition, with a very strong New York flavour. All widely distributed.
BAIN TOTAL (8, rue du 4 Septembre, 01000 Bourg-en-Bresse, FRANCE) This is Die Form's own label, and naturally enough they stock an impressive selection of Die Form product, as well as material by Etant Donnés and Legendary Pink Dots, plus the very extensive quadruple compilation Sex and Bestiality.
BAROONI (PO Box 12012, 3501 AA Utrecht, The Netherlands) Distributed by Soleilmoon in the USA, SRD in Britain, EFA in Germany and Semantic in France, so don't write to them direct to buy their stuff! This is a very fine label with releases from Kleg, Asmus Tietchens, Thomas Köner, Gore and others; and a new album forthcoming from Lee Ranaldo.
BEN ALLEN (117A Great Victoria Street, Belfast, N. Ireland) Like Mark Pawson, below, cultural icon Ben Allen, as well as being an artist with kitsch / surrealist influences, sells the world a variety of colourful t-shirts. Dare you be seen without one?
BETTER DAYS (56 Whiting Road, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8HR) Repository of all things underground and psychedelic, Better Days stocks music from space/psych-rock groups like (the now well-known) Ozric Tentacles and the Magic Mushroom Band, as well as stranger people like Cabbage Head.
BI POLAR (Paul Knowles, 88 Kingsley Road, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG1 4RD) Cassette label interested in hearing from industrial, experimental, guitar noise and electronic noise artists. As well as the Aphasia / Dachise tape (reviewed in EST 6) they will soon have a tape by 0000/0001 available, described as "extremely evil and morbid" power electronics.
BLACK ROSE RECORDINGS (PO Box 4581, London SW6 4YE) Your source for recordings by the group Contrastate, and nowt else. Including their excellent CD A Live Coal Under the Ashes, a CD reissue of "i", and new album Throwing Out The Baby With The Bathwater.
BRUCE'S FINGERS (24 Chauntry Road, Haverhill, Suffolk CB9 8BE) Ten year old jazz label with a forward-thinking taste in music. Their own faves include releases by free jazz trio Hession / Wilkinson / Fell, highly regarded and deservedly so for their noisy, energetic approach.
BRUME REC. (C.Renou, 4/6 route de bry, 94350 Villiers, Marne, France) Brume are one of the more undefinable of European experimental music/noise artists. This is one place to obtain releases from, or just make contact.
BV TAPES (7 Buddleia Close, Ipswich, Suffolk IP2 0XG) Cassette label with many inexpensive releases, mostly in a vaguely post-industrial vein (£2.50 UK, $5 world, payable to C Fuller). Label boss Barry Fuller's selections frequently reflect his sex-and-horror interests.
CABBAGE HEAD COLLECTIVE (PO Box 702, HA2 0AU) The Cabbage Head Collective is a group of musicians and artists with various artworks, albums and collaborations to their credit. The Cabbage Head tapes range from experimental to weird songs, and they also publish the Graphicon art zine.
CHAINSAW CASSETTES (11 Layton Road, Islington, London N1 0PX) It would be unfair to describe Chainsaw as an identikit indie cassette label, complete with typewriter and photocopied inlays, as they have more than enough commitment to what they're doing to make up for any shortcomings in presentation. Artists vary from the noiserock of Headbutt through to more experimental or industrial outfits like factor X or Chemical Plant. They're now up to release number 20, and they're all very affordable.
CHARNEL MUSIC (PO Box 170277, San Francisco, CA 94117-0277, USA) A neat little label and distributor, whose catalogue doubles as a newsletter, with news and reviews of relevant artists. They have released material by Zeni Geva, Merzbow, Trance, and other noisy experimentalists, particularly from Japan, and distribute a very select number of similar artists, from labels like We Never Sleep and Staalplaat. They also occasionally air some of the material through a radio show.
CHARRM (NEW ADDRESS:15 Devonshire Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE2 2NB) Label home to Zoviet France and Horizon 222.
CHEESES INTERNATIONAL (783a Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, Dorset BH7 6AW) You can read more about them in EST #5, but here I'll just note that they provide a fine service to the UK, distributing mainly abstract noise-based recordings you'll otherwise find on import only. Who? Well, people like Arcane Device, Cranioclast, Conrad Schnitzler, Metamkine, plus zines like N.D., Vital and Interim Report. C.I. is a UK source for several foreign labels including Artware and CoC, and a useful point of contact for fans of noisy abstract stuff. A good place for us insular Brits to pick up lots of European releases without having to change currencies.
COMMERCIAL FAILURE (2005 Mission St. #56, San Francisco, CA 94110-1217, USA) A new label, with three CDs available, some 10" records, and cassettes, plus a video by GX Jupitter-Larsen, a compilation on, honest, 8-track cartridge and more. For $595 you can have GX come to your home and perform. See reviews of Begseidy Urkenstur, The Haters, Foundation for Public Broadcasting in this issue. CDs $15 outside US, $12 in US, $13 Can/Mex.
CORDELIA RECORDS (25 Arnesby Crescent, Leicester LE2 6QZ) A mimsical little label and mail-order thingummy, carrying their own bizarre psychpop records as well as labels like Hamster and Egg Plant, and a variety of music ranging from Nurse With Wound to the Happy Mondays and Napalm Death. All at very reasonable prices. Send 50p for catalogue / fanzine.
COUNTER PRODUCTIONS (P.O. Box 556, London SE5 0RL) Mail-order service for magazines and books. This includes surrealist and absurdist literature, poetry, obscure arts mags, anarchist and situationist zines, imported weirdness, alternative music mags, small press stuff and other arcana. From the Fortean Times to Vague to Semiotext(e) to Malice Aforethought Press, this is a 28 page catalogue full of well-known and obscure gems. Situationists, survivalist and semioticians rub noses. Invaluable.
CRANE UP (Alistair Binks, 36 Edgeley Road, Clapham, London SW4 6ER; from 30/6/95: Alistair Binks, 79 Parkgate Road, Chester, Cheshire SH1 4AQ) Small post-industrial cassette label. Has available a compilation tape featuring Zoskia, Endura, Herb Mullin, OM Art Foundation and others. Also a tape by Deleted (see review in EST 6) and other forthcoming compilations.
CTI MAIL ORDER (BM CTI, London WC1N 3XX) If you find it hard to find material by Chris and Cosey or their offshoots like CTI, why not try the source? As well as the more readily available albums, they carry a video of Cosey's performances, and some older hard-to-find material.
CYCLOTRON INDUSTRIES (PO Box 66291, Houston, TX 77266, USA) Home to Voice of Eye and source of their recordings. Look for an Asia Nova debut on the label this summer, and a V.O.E. CD on Italy's Musica Maxima Magnetica later this year. As well as the Mariner Sonique CD reviewed in EST #4, Voice of Eye have four other releases available through Cyclotron Industries, including a soundtrack to their performance King Lear, and other experimental material using handmade instruments.
D.O.R. (INFINITY) (PO Box 1797, London E1 4TX) A slowly growing young industrial / noise / electronics label, D.O.R. produce and sell material by Chemical Plant, Bourbonese Qualk, Cable Regime, W.M.T.I.D., Lull and others.
DARK DIAMONDS (1 St John's View, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 6NQ) Andy C produces a listing of sources for mainly hardcore / punk-related material, independent mail-order distributors etc. It's not relevant enough to reprint here, but if you'd like a copy, write, and enclose an SAE and possibly donate some extra stamps.
DBUT (PO Box 9415, Vålerenga, 0610 Oslo, NORWAY) dBUT is a new "network access point", aiming to distribute and promote products from the underground networks, spread contacts, release its own recordings, arrange gigs etc. They seem to have a variety of musical, magickal and mail-art type interests, and I wish them the best.
DEDALI OPERA (c/o Alain Basso, Les Devants de Promery, 74370 Pringy, France) Cassette label with releases by Kapotte Muziek, Denier du Culte, Alain Basso etc; compilations featuring Arcane Device, PBK, Le Syndicat, Adam Bohman, Asmus Tietchens etc.
DIRECT (BM Indefinite, London WC1N 3XX) Home to factor X, and source for at least eight of his nineteen-or-so cassette-only releases. See EST 2 for the full factor X story, but suffice to say that the music is kind of a cross between Karlheinz Stockhausen, Negativland, and a ten-year-old kid with a microphone.
DIRECTION MUSIC (28 Nant-y-Felin, Pentraeth, Anglesey, Gwynedd, LL75 8UY, Wales, U.K.) After a lengthy hiatus, Direction Music returns. Their fine cassette back catalogue now contains synth and experimental music delights from people like Morphogenesis, Maeror Tri, Contrastate, Kevin O'Neill, N.R.Hills, Dave Prescott, Vidna Obmana and others. Forthcoming releases include Beauty of Sadness by Maeror Tri, material by David Bagsby and Nerve, and a compilation featuring Contrastate, Colin Potter, Graham Bowers, N.R. Hills and others.
DRONE RECORDS (c/o S Knappe, Löningstrasse 15, 28195 Bremen, Germany) Founded in 1993, Drone is a singles-only label devoted to experimental music, releasing limited editions that have so far included Maeror Tri, Møhr and Bee Queen. New 7"s by Big City Orchestra should be available now, and releases are forthcoming from Small Cruel Party, Aube and Paranoise Terminal. This is also the address to contact Maeror Tri, whose next project is a full-length CD from N.D.
E D T (B.P. 3155, 54013 Nancy Cedex, France) As a label, EDT are the conduit for material by Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites and its members. They also distribute a nicely selective bunch of recordings from Roger Doyle, Metamkine, UNACD and others.
EARTHLY DELIGHTS (PO Box 2, Lostwithiel, Cornwall PL22 0YY) Home to Nocturnal Emissions, they supply plenty of Nocky releases plus CDs, LPs and tapes by artists like Gregory Whitehead, Bourbonese Qualk, Lustmørd and Asmus Tietchens: an industrial / experimental / ambient crossover thang. They also produce the Magnetizdat series of information cassettes, containing lots of strange aural material (interviews, music, sounds etc) along similar lines to the Spiral series produced by the Radio Art Foundation. Also see the review of Network News elsewhere in this issue.
ELECTRONICAL DREAMS (Clive Littlewood, Silverton Villa, Higher Bugle, St Austell, Cornwall PL26 8PY) E.D. has over 25 releases available now, a wide variety of cassettes covering a cosmic music / instrumental electronic / synthesiser field, and a new CD from Michael Neil too.
EMANEM (Martin Davidson, 3 Bittacy Rise, Mill Hill NW7 2HH) Small label which has recently reissued several free improv classics from the early 70s, including music by Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Paul Rutherford.
EMMA (PO Box 71, Riccall, York YO4 6YY) The Electronic Music and Musicians Association exists to promote electronic music in the UK in all ways possible, and is open to fans, labels and musicians alike. They do a regular newsletter and in March organised a festival in Derby featuring Mark Shreeve, Ian Boddy, John Dyson and others.
EMPTY QUARTER (P.O. Box 87, Ilford, Essex IG1 3HJ) Still a major source of hardbeat, industrial and experimental music within the UK, including secondhand as well as new material, occasionally overpriced but generally reasonable. The selection somehow manages to range from Depeche Mode to Lustmørd without blinking an eye. If you're struggling to navigate the mail-order waterways, this is one channel worth following. they now have a label, T.E.Q. Music with releases by such electro-pop faves as Vanishing Heat, Solar Enemy and Portion Control; they're due to reissue the entire back catalogue of the latter. T.E.Q. are distributed by Cargo, Discordia, Dorobo, Staalplaat, Audioglobe and others.
EXART CASSETTES (P.O. Box 390, 1970 AJ Ijmuiden, THE NETHERLANDS) This is a Dutch cassette label with a catalogue of 42 releases to date, including one CD by Gorgonzola Legs. Other artists include Vrischika and F.N.T.C. and they have several international compilations available. They appear to inhabit a similar musical arena to Belgium's Insane Music (see E.S.T. #1), ie extremely off-centre "rock" and instrumental music. They also carry one or two items from other labels, including Ecstasy by Current Vol.2.
EXTREME (PO Box 147, Preston 3072, Australia; or EXTREME USA, 1071 Main St. #2000, Cambria, CA 93428, USA) A fine label from Australia, with releases by chaps like Paul Schütze, Muslimgauze, John Duncan, Merzbow, Jim O'Rourke, John Murphy and others. They have moved away from their noisy roots increasingly towards the ambient-ethno-percussive-ritualistic scene.
EYAS MEDIA (BM Tanelorn, London WC1N 3XX) The most recent mail-order list from Eyas Media includes several of their own releases by Hole and Sixth Comm, all at high prices to reflect limited supply.