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PHAETON DIFFUSION (c/o Alain Basso, Les Devants de Promery, 74370 Pringy, France) A distribution service for mostly cassettes from the post-industrial & underground areas, as well as a few records and a couple of CDs. The 92 items in the catalogue include items by Con-Dom, Le Syndicat, Autopsia, Nox and Contrastate, amongst many others. Labels include E'Ostrate, Sounds for Consciousness Rape, Korm Plastic etc.
POISON PLANT (Revised address! PPM, 825 Gist Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910) Another (mainly) cassette label dedicated to high quality, ranging from dadaist lunacy to the hypnotic ethno-ritual music beloved of Soundimage. Artists include Miguel Ruiz, Thomas Dimuzio, Jack Hurwitz and several less well known; their last catalogue covered 35 items.
PRIKOSNOVENIE (5 Rue Désiré Colombe, 44100 Nantes, France) A label with several CDs available (see Cherche-Lune review in EST 6); and a pile of tapes including a series of inexpensive cassette singles; bands that EST has featured in the past include Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites, Klimperei, In My Rosary, Sebastian Gandera and A Gethsemani; left-field rock, neo-classical, eccentrics and romantics abound.
PROPELLER ISLAND (Paulsbornerstr. 10, 10709 Berlin, Germany) Mail order for Lars Stroschen's sample CDs and AKAI S1000 CD-ROMS featuring sampled gamelan and mellotron sounds.
PSYQUIL RECORDS (c/o T. Kowalzik, Hüttenmüllerstr. 6, D-6700 Ludwigshafen, Germany) Psyquil, a label home to quite a diversity of talent, have released a new 5-track CD by ūsubsonic electronic" group No Comment. The label is, however, now dead, as far as cassette releases are concerned, and No Comment will be the only group still at this address.
RADIO TANGERINE WAVE (F.O.S.S. & ART, Oleg Onoprienko & Sergey Tutov, P.O Box 20, Moscow 105425, RUSSIA) Who knows how R.T.W. have been getting on since they wrote to me last year? They already seemed to have a good grasp of free-market economics, inviting foreign labels, musicians and magazines to get in touch so as to begin to open up the emerging Soviet musical market. On a less cynical note, cultural exchange is never a bad thing. R.T.W. are trying to produce a magazine, and already run one all-USSR radio program (possibly others now) devoted to electronic music. Any material you can send is welcome, and they're happy to provide information or cooperate in any way.
RANDOM ACOUSTICS (PO Box 0251, D-53552, Bad Hönningen, Germany; dist in UK by Impetus) R.A. devote themselves to putting out albums of improvised, experimental and related music. As well as albums by pianist Georg Graewe, Earl Howard (live electronics), and Melvyn Poore (tuba & electronics), they also publish scores.
RAUM312 (Löningstrasse 15, 28195 Bremen, Germany) A new label devoted to experimental music; forthcoming CD releases should include new material by Asmus Tietchens, Telepherique, Jeff Greinke, John Watermann, Beequeen, Y-TON-G and Jörg Thomasius.
RECOMMENDED NO MAN'S LAND (Postfach 11 04 49, D-8700 Würzburg, Germany) One of a network of labels linked to Britain's own Recommended (now ReR Megacorp), including ADN (Italy), AYAA (France) and RecRec (Switzerland), all of them available in the UK from These Records. The No Man's Land back catalouge includes people like Tom Cora, Half Japanese, Skeleton Crew and others; companion label Review Records has released material by Etron Fou Leloubland, The Camberwell Now, etc.
ReR MEGACORP (79 Beulah Road, Thornton Heath, CR7 8JG; tel: +44 (0181) 771 1063; fax: +44 (0181) 771 3138) Chris Cutler's Recommended Records has become ReR, distributing and mail-ordering much the same sort of stuff as before; avant-classical; electro-acoustic; Rock in Opposition; groups like AMM, Cassiber, Faust, Magma, Negativland or The Work. They also still put out the RéR Quarterly, a well-respected magazine and accompanying music compilation. Their tastes haven't moved on much in the last few years, but it's still an important source for several whole genres of new music. The latest catalogue update (August 1993) contains artists like This Heat, Towering Inferno, Tenko and Christine Groult.
REVELATIONS 23 PRESS (c/o TOPY Station 23, PO Box 687, Halfway, Sheffield S19 5UX, UK) To judge from the sampler they supplied me, Revelations 23 ought to have a rosy, crucial future in the occult publishing scene. Phil Hine presents an all-too sane look at magick and sexuality, especially for gay men, and Ray Sherwin takes a very practical, undogmatic approach to magic ritual. Other work, such as the magickal record of Crowley's "Scarlet Woman" Leah Hirsig, or a piece by Ramsey Dukes are likely to appeal only to the more committed ...
ROBI DROLI (Strada Roncaglia 16, 15040 San Germano (AL), Italy) A label with lots of folk music in their catalogue; their New Tone News sublabel releases avant garde music by people like Glenn Branca, Peter Gordon, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Mikel Rouse and Ben Neill. UK distribution through Impetus.
ROJARO (c/o Kjetil Maria Aase, Postboks 6724, Rodeløkka, N-0503 Oslo 5, Norway) That's short for ūrock, jazz, rootsū, by the way. RoJaRo is an international archive of non-classical music magazines, which publishes indexes cross-referencing hundreds of thousands of articles, reviews etc. The 1992 index totals 1300 A4 pages, and the 1993 one is as big, so if you'd like to refer to them, hassle your local library. Amongst the magazines featured in their index are Audion, Forced Exposure, Option, Rubberneck, Your Flesh, ReR Quarterly, ND, and of course EST, as well as many that cover less avant-garde areas. Magazines who wish to support it are urged to send copies of future and back issues.
RRRECORDS (151 Paige St., Lowell, MA 01852, USA) Still one of the finest distributors and labels for unusual noisy "industrial" stuff, stocking labels like United Dairies, Permis de Construire, Musica Maxima Magnetica and Dom, amongst many others. The label has releases by the likes of Randy Greif, Doc Wor Mirran and Hanatarash to its name, plus 11 (sadly for Europeans, only on NTSC) videos by The Haters, John Duncan, Null etc.
RUNCITER CORPORATION (BM Indefinite, London WC1N 3XX) As well as their natty line in bizarro comics, and a few wacky and unlistenable cassettes, Runciter has under its roof some of the finest graphic design to be found in this splendid country of ours.
RUSSELL RECORDS (73 Sharon Street, San Francisco, CA 94114, USA) Home-label for Mandible Chatter (see EST 6 reviews), their two CDs ($15 each to UK) and one cassette.
SECTION 1 (125 Fellows Court, Weymouth Terrace, Haggerston, London E2 8LW) Small cassette mail-order operation, with tapes from Academy 23, The Grey Wolves, Ramleh and other antagonistic noise undergrounders.
SHAX (23 Main Street, Redmile, Notts NG13 0GA, U.K.) Bootleg distributors with a long list of live tapes, including lots of punk/hardcore as well as recordings of gigs by Front Line Assembly, Whitehouse, Test Dept and others. A very commendable enterprise.
SHF DISTRIBUTION (c/o 172 Ealand Rd., Batley, West Yorks WF17 8JF, U.K., or c/o 3a Market St., Paddock, Huddersfield, West Yorks HD1 4RT, U.K.) Smell & Quim's own mail order service, it supplies their own product as well as plenty of other bizarre, obnoxious or extreme music. People from Charles Bukowski to The Grey Wolves feature.
SHOCK RECORDS (56 Beresford Road, Chingford, London E4 6EF) Stefan Jaworzyn remains Music From the Empty Quarter's token iconoclast, and his label and mail-order service cover appropriately wacked-out, fucked-up, pissed-off music. Lots of post-noise rock, free jazz skronk, free improv, avant-classical and various other avant-noise avenues to explore: Cecil Taylor, Caspar Brötzmann, 23 Skidoo, Luciano Berio and Pussy Galore all feature in their catalogue.
SILENT RECORDS (101 Townsend Street, Suite 206, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA) As well as running their own very high-quality label dedicated to ambient-industrial and experimental music, Silent distribute lots of other stuff, from the most bizarre through to grindcore and techno material.
SIMULACRA (PO Box 703463, Dallas, TX 75370, USA) Small cassette and CD label with raw sound collage / noise-based releases: see reviews section for details.
SLAM (3 Thesiger Road, Abingdon, Oxon. OX14 2DX; tel 01235 529012) Fine (mostly) improv label, recent releases including Dave Draper's Invisible String Quartet (electric guitar soundscaping), Paul Dunmall and Paul Rogers (improv folk-jazz). Distributed by Cadillac, Impetus and These.
SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF NEW MUSIC (Francis House, Francis Street, London SW1P 1DE) The S.P.N.M. is dedicated to the promotion of new music composition. Members receive the monthly New Notes, with details of relevant concerts nationwide, and discounts on admission to events or purchase of CDs, books, scores etc.
SOLEILMOON (PO Box 83296, Portland, Oregon 97283, USA) Excellent industrial / experimental label and distributor of numerous intriguing recordings. Also now home to the Brian Williams' resurrected Side Effects label. Artists include Muslimgauze, Nocturnal Emissions and Lustmørd.
SONIC ARTS NETWORK (Francis House, Francis Street, London SW1P 1DE) The S.A.N. exists to promote electroacoustic composition in Britain. Members (£15 per year, £6 for students) receive the Network's journal every year, an Agenda every two months containing news of activities of the Network and its members, and the monthly New Notes from the S.P.N.M. Members receive discounts on admission to S.A.N. events. No relation to the American group of composers known as the Sonic Arts Union.
SORCERER SOUND PRODUCTIONS (c/o Martin Howard, 34 Bassingham Road, Wembley, Middlesex HA0 4RL) Devoted mostly to the work of Martin Howard of the Techno-Primatives, SSP functions as a label, with twenty-two releases available. All the cassettes are a nicely consistent £4.99 (includes postage in UK). SSP also sell voice packs for various synths, and demo discs for the Atari STFM computers.
SOUND SOUND (92 Ilford Road, London SE5 9HR, U.K.) The label run by Stanza of The State has available the group's own releases plus other by Bourbonese Qualk, and some compilations. Their sister video label (same address) has two State videos out, one directed by Stanza with music by Bourbonese Qualk, and two compilations featuring the likes of Etant Donnes and Muslimgauze.
SOUND WEIRD (Ken MacKenzie, ADDRESS TO BE UPDATED) Rising from the ashes of the Rat Music Company comes Sound Weird, aiming to cover a wide cross-section of secondhand and new underground music. Mostly it's rock and electronic music, with psychedelic and cosmic synth stuff prominent, although other weird music creeps in too.
SOUNDIMAGE (4 Leacroft Road, Iver, Bucks. SL0 9QP) An excellent and sensibly-priced little cassette label, distributed in the USA by Poison Plant, with releases as reviewed this issue plus two compilations of electro/ritual and experimental music, and an "ambient world music" cassette by two of the members of Tuu.
SPH (Apartado 223, 2780 Oeiras, Portugal) Well, as the reviews spotlight might have indicated, you'll find as good a selection of cassette artists on SPH as anywhere else. As well as those reviewed, they include Siegmar Fricke, Dead Goldfish Ensemble and Klimperei, stretching from electropop to minimalist ambience and through to more industrial sounds.
STAALPLAAT (P.O. Box 11455, 1001 GL Amsterdam, The Netherlands) Simply one of the best mail order services that I know of for post-industrial, new experimental music in Europe. Releases on their own label include cassettes and CDs by people from Laibach to the Hafler Trio to the Legendary Pink Dots, as well as videos by Survival Research Laboratories. They also stock labels like Industrial Records (various cassette reissues), Touch, United Dairies, Earthly Delights, and a host of excellent European labels. Music covered in the latest 18 page catalogue includes Nurse With Wound, Test Dept, Asmus Tietchens, Negativland, plus hundreds of others. Exchange rates for Dutch Guilders are usually pretty reasonable too!
STRENGTH THROUGH AWARENESS (UPDATED ADDRESS: 47A Barnard Street, Salisbury SP1 2BJ) Those suppliers of extreme electronick, experimental and destroyed muzik-noise are back again, with a variety of inexpensive tapes by people like Con-Dom, Sigillum S and the Grey Wolves.
SUSAN LAWLY (PO Box 914, Edinburgh EH17 8BF) The September '93 price list shows our Sue to be the source of all things Whitehouse-related: albums, posters, t-shirts, live audio and video cassettes. That's the sado-industrial band, by the way, not Mrs Mary or any of the various buildings.
SWINGING AXE PRODUCTIONS (PO Box 199, Northridge, CA 91238) A mail-order distributor (and label, home to Randy Greif) with a strange selection of music from the "popular" (Brian Eno, Chris and Cosey, Wire) to the comparatively unknown (Tasaday, John Watermann, Peter Frohmader) and several things in between. A 90-minute Hafler Trio video caught my attention, but there are quite a few other desirable items in their Summer 1992 catalogue, all at noticeably low prices, exchange rates willing. An update sheet that they also sent throws in quite a few descriptions and reviews of items mentioned too.
T.M.F.H. (c/o, Tabone J.P., Poste Restante, 31000 Toulouse R.p., FRANCE) It's hard to tell from the small catalogue that J.P. sent, but this looks like what used to be a good magazine, now shifting its activities into music distribution. They carry music from loads of labels like Third Mind, Sub Rosa, Minus Habens and even people like 4AD or Mute. They have also released a cassette compilation featuring artists like Brume, Smersh and The Dead Goldfish Ensemble, are looking for contributors to another featuring "100% electronic & sampled music", and may well have other projects on the go too.
T.O.P.Y. LONDON (PO Box 1455, London N4 1JT) The only TOPY Access Point in Britain apart from the main address (see below), but they're active enough all the same. They make available a selection of 64 documentary and 23 musical tapes, the former covering subjects like Manson, Burroughs, Terence McKenna, xtian fundies; the latter Tibetan ritual music, cut-ups and bizarre compilations. They also sell several of their own publications plus such stock "classics" as the Manson trial statement and the "Last Supper" Jonestown transcript. Just out: a numbered collection of 3 C60 cassettes featuring music by Another Headache, Grey Wolves, White Stains and others.
T.O.P.Y. STATION 23 (PO Box 687, Halfway, Sheffield S19 5UX) The World Headquarters of the Temple ov Psychick Youth is probably the best place to get info on this dangerous David Koresh-inspired cult, it's corrupting effect on our children and its perverse and unChristian practises. TOPY is all about social deprogramming, magic without dogma, that sort of thing. This is also the address for their occult-oriented publishing house, Revelations 23 Press, which distinguishes itself through booklets that are of straightforward practical use rather than full of philosophical obfuscation.
TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS (Box 5524, Atlanta, Georgia 30307, USA) In its short life this American label has gained enormous recognition for the selectivity of their releases. These include 7" series by avant-guitarists including K.K. Null, Keith Rowe, Hans Reichel, Derek Bailey and Henry Kaiser. Albums include the reissue of the classic Outside the Dream Syndicate by Tony Conrad and Faust, plus three volumes of new live Faust material. All their material is also stocked by Forced Exposure, who TotE admit may be more reliable.
TAK TAK TAK (P.O. Box 7, Bulwell, Nottingham NG6 0HW) A home for poetry and music. They produce books and spoken-word cassettes on the poetry side of things, and the recordings include material by the likes of saxophonist Lol Coxhill and ex-Shock-Headed-Peter Karl Blake, plus Left Hand Right Hand. If you're a lit-scene fan, then Tak Tak Tak seem a reasonably priced bunch.
TECHNODELIA INSTITUTE (Fredbergsg. 3b, 414 65 Göteborg, Sweden) Suppliers of lots of industrial and post-industrial sounds to the Swedes. Such as who? Well, such as Throbbing Gristle, Brume, Hafler Trio and many others. Non-Swedes may well be interested in their home-grown artists, like Morthond, In Slaughter Natives, Ur Kaos or Njurmännen.
TEMPLE PRESS LIMITED (P.O. Box 227, Brighton, Sussex BN2 3GL, U.K.) Still stocking a wide variety of occult-related literature, especially from the modern Western traditions such as chaos magic and Crowley et al, plus shamanism, tantra and so on. They're also now stocking a few CDs (Z'Ev, Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV) and have videos by Kenneth Anger, Derek Jarman, Burroughs, and TG/PTV. Efficient.
TESCO ORGANISATION (c/o Kohl, Holbeinstr. 8, D6940 Sulzbach, Germany) A trademark-thieving name for a noise-oriented label. Their roster includes the likes of Smell & Quim, Contrastate, Illusion of Safety and Con-Dom, amongst others.
YVONNE THACKER (10 Carnation Street, Leicester LE4 5QN) £3.50 per tape; as well as Sliding Sideways (see EST 6 reviews) Yvonne has another nine tapes available of music with synths, concrete and environmental sounds. From more popular styles through to more serious electro-acoustic music.
THE DECADE COLLECTION (c/o Dirk Serries, Kioskplaats 33, 2660 Hoboken, BELGIUM) This is Vidna Obmana's own label and has available five cassettes of their subtle, calm, ambient electronic music.
THE DEMOTHEQUE (PO Box 731, 75163, Pairs Cedex 04, France) They sent me the latest issue of their Tapeater newsletter. They call themselves an underground tape library: you send a deposit for tapes listed in the catalogue, they send you the tape, and you get the deposit back when you return it. They have over 100 tapes available, in genres from experimental to goth to pop, including material by Magic Moments at Twilight Time, Cacophony 33, Human Flesh, Telectu, and what looks suspiciously like new recordings from Lady June ...
THESE RECORDS (112 Brook Drive, London) The bestest record shop in Britain, I reckon. As well as the well-stocked and wide-ranging shop, open 12-5 Monday to Saturday, These Records do the same fine job with their mail-order catalogue. Lots of stuff from labels like ReR and Rec Rec, plus experimental artists from Faust through contemporary classical composers through improv groups to less categorisable types like the Hafler Trio or Negativland. Also on the way from their own label is a new This Heat CD of Health and Efficiency adding several new remixes (by PK, Robert Hampson, Jim O'Rourke) to the original tracks. Receives a wholehearted EST seal of approval..
TIMEBASE (Bürgerstr. 27, 40219 Düsseldorf, Germany) As well as their own label (ethno-ambient music by Temps Perdu and others), Timebase now do a mail-order catalogue, which covers similar areas as well as more experimental or post-industrial ones; artists featured include Vidna Obmana, Rapoon, Laszlo Hortobaghyi, and Coil; labels include Dorobo, SDV, Side Effects, Musica Maxima Magnetica and Cyclotron Industries. Lots of great stuff.
TONSPUR TAPES (Stefan Schwab, Hohe Warte 1, 8521 Spardorf, GERMANY) One of many small labels limiting themselves to the cassette format, due to its convenience and cheapness. Tonspur's current catalogue lists 36 releases including tapes by De Fabriek, David Prescott and Brume. Plenty of other names are well known from the cassette and fringe experimental scenes: they seem to be worth contacting.
TOUCH (13 Osward Road, London SW17 7SS) The acclaimed label has releases from people like Strafe FR, John Duncan and The Hafler Trio; forthcoming albums on the way from Sandoz, Hilmar örn Hilmarsson, a Jim O'Rourke / Robert Hampson collaboration, Albanian folksong, albums by Philip Jeck and Chris Watson and others. They also carry Mute's Grey Area reissues, Ash International, Staalplaat, Soleilmoon, Charrm, Hyperium, Dark Vinyl, Artware, Sub Rosa and several others, making them a prime source for experimental and post-industrial music in the UK. A 28p A5 SAE is suggested for a catalogue (SAE + 2 IRCs abroad).
TRAX (Vittore Baroni, c/o The Stickerman Museum, Via Battisti, 339, 55049 Viareggio, LU, ITALY) As well as a variety of mail-art projects, and publishing Arte Postale! magazine, Vittore's Trax catalogue covers various audio projects and mail-art publications, including a Psychic TV lyric book and otherwise unreleased CD.