Or Records (sometimes capitalized OR Records after their logo) is a small British

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

, which was established in 1998 by

Russell Haswell Russell Haswell (born 1970, Coventry) is an English multidisciplinary artist. He has exhibited conceptual and wall-based visual works, video art, public sculpture, as well as audio presentations in both art gallery and concert hall contexts. ...

and based in London. The label specializes in

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

and is distributed by

Touch Music Touch (sometimes mistakenly written 'Touch Records' and sometimes written Touch Music, which is technically the publishing side of the company) is a British audio-visual organisation, operating the Touch label. Touch was founded in 1982 by Jon ...

. They have issued "''the first ever

MiniDisc MiniDisc (MD) is an erasable magneto-optical disc-based data storage format offering a capacity of 60, 74, or 80 minutes of digitized audio. Sony announced the MiniDisc in September 1992 and released it in November of that year for sale i ...

only release''" (Alan Phillips,

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Software)

the 1998 experimental album ''Minidisc'' by

Autechre Autechre ( ) are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all o ...

's side-project

Gescom Gescom is an electronic music project based in the UK with close ties to the electronic duo Autechre. Stylistically, the music of Gescom is closer to electronic dance music, acid techno, and industrial music than Autechre's, with the exceptio ...

Overview

The label was apparently established in 1998 with its first release, a CD remaster of a 1995 vinyl previously from

Mego Records Mego was an experimental electronic music independent record label based in Vienna, Austria. The label has been superseded by a new company, Editions Mego, which was set up both to keep Mego albums in print and to issue new albums, run by Peter ...

. They have since slowly but regularly published 15 releases from 1998 to 2003. They sign with the motto "''it's a or''". Their peculiar catalogue numbering scheme use a different word for each release, followed by the actual number of the release in the catalogue: "UNLESS 1", "ORCDR 2", "ONLY 3", etc., up to "JUST 13". Their audio magazines use the more regular "ISSUE 1" and "ISSUE 2" scheme.

Artists

Published artists alphabetically include: CD_Slopper,

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, Farmersmanual (

Farmers Manual Farmers Manual is an electronic music and visual art group, founded in Vienna in the beginning of the 1990s. The core members of the collective are Mathias Gmachl, Stefan Possert, Oswald Berthold, Gert Brantner, and Nik Gaffney. Part of the very ...

or Farmer's Manual),

Zbigniew Karkowski Zbigniew Karkowski (14 March 1958 – 12 December 2013) was a Polish experimental musician and composer. Biography Karkowski was born on 14 March 1958 in Kraków, Poland. He studied composition at the State College of Music in Gothenburg, Sweden ...

& Helmut Schäfer (a.k.a. Helmut Schaefer), Francisco López, MAZK (

Masami Akita is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by Masami Akita, best known for a style of harsh noise music. Since 1980, Akita has released over 500 recordings and collaborated with numerous artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada a ...

& Zbigniew Karkowski),

Daniel Menche Daniel Menche (born December 4, 1969) is an American experimental musician and multidisciplinary artist from Portland, Oregon. Since 1989 he has recorded many albums that are categorized as electro-acoustic, noise music, dark ambient music, abst ...

, Shirt Trax (a.k.a. Shirttrax), Stützpunkt Wien 12 – plus (on anthologies) Hecker, and

Incapacitants are a Japanese noise music group formed in 1981. Initially a solo project of Toshiji Mikawa, Fumio Kosakai joined upon the project's relocation to Tokyo. The duo's stated aim is to produce "pure" noise, uninfluenced by musical ideas or even huma ...

. They also sometimes issue an "audio magazine" (a CD with the magazine for booklet) about new computer music: * (1999) '' Or Some Computer Music'' – (featuring

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

, Beautyon, CD_Slopper, General Magic,

Kevin Drumm Kevin Drumm (born 1970) is an experimental musician based in Chicago, United States. Biography Emerging from the city's improvised music scene, in the 1990s he became one of the world's pre-eminent prepared guitar players. Since then his work ...

, Stephen Travis Pope, Trevor Wishart, Ubik,

& Kasper T. Toeplitz) * (2001) ''Or Some Computer Music 2'' – (featuring Albert de Campo, Atau Tanaka & Eric Wenger,

Curtis Roads Curtis Roads (born May 9, 1951) is an American composer, author and computer programmer. He composes electronic and electroacoustic music, specializing in granular and pulsar synthesis. Career and music Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Roads studied co ...

, Farmersmanual, Jim O'Rourke, Phoenecia, Tom Wallace)

External links

Official site

Discography of Or Records
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control British independent record labels Record labels established in 1998 Experimental music record labels Noise music record labels

Overview

Artists

See also

External links