Date: Sat, 3 Jun 1995 10:52:55 +0000 SWIM INFORMATION SWIM is a new independent record company, owned and run by COLIN NEWMAN (Wire/Wir etc.) and MALKA SPIGEL (Minimal Compact etc.) based around our production facility in South London. We believe ourselves to be one of the first of a new breed of record company, almost a "desktop record company" taking up the ideas of the dance movement, in terms of it's production values and approach, but not just limiting ourselves to dance music. In fact we would like to feel that we embrace all that is good about contemporary music culture. MALKA SPIGEL `Rosh Ballata` CD WM1 This album, in a typically Swim fashion, is possibly one of the more uncompromising things we could have started the label with if only because it was originally conceived as a release in Malka's homeland, Israel and the majority of it is sung in Hebrew! However do not expect some kind of "world music" or folk record. The album encompasses various styles (Trance, Abstract, Ambient Techno, Technogrunge, Indiepop, Dance-Pop, Ballad & just plain Weird) without ever wholly being any of them "Like Bjork, this is not world music but world class pop" Stephen Dalton - NME "File under `mystics for the masses`. Or just plain, bloody fab" Dave Simpson - Melody Maker ORACLE `Tree` CD WM2 The second release from the label is the first from Oracle. Oracle are SAMY BIRNBACH, MALKA SPIGEL (Minimal Compact) and COLIN NEWMAN (Wire) and have been working towards this project's completion since 1989. Like many Swim projects Oracle freely mix different often "rival" approaches towards music on their "genre busting" debut. Some pieces would find favour on the "intellectual dancefloor" others would alienate even the most hardened "Ballericist". Some pieces can charm with their melodic wistfulness others are best appreciated with big boots on! Yet all in all the aim is for a beauty beyond stereotypical forms, a multi-dimensional work which can make as much sense now as it can in 5 or 10 years time "A shimmering modern psychedelia" Jon Savage - Mojo "Spigel`s voice remains amongst the most haunting in modern rock" Dave Thompson - Alternative Press EARTH & OSCILLATING `Oracle Remixes` Vinyl VWM 1 Swim`s first venture into vinyl and the first in a series of "development" releases. Earth`s approach is to go for the beauty jugular, their remixes of "World Gardening" (Squeaky Gardening) and especially "Flow" (Motion) are so chilled out they're in the garden! The latter has already found it's way onto the Crammed compilation "Freezone One". The approach of Oscillating (now Immersion due to too many Oscillators) is more radical. Their mixes of "Surrender" (No Surrender) and "Questions" (No Answers) are stripped and remodelled beyond recognition. Trance beyond trance is not an adequate description. Original versions on "Tree" by Oracle CD WM2 . IMMERSION - `Oscillating` CD WM4 Immersion first came to Swim via a mutual contact in Germany. Swim artists Oracle were very impressed by their minimal spacey style which doesn't quite sound like anything else and commissioned two remixes of tracks from their own "Tree" album which were first released by Swim on vinyl (VWM 1). They have since changed their name to from Oscillating to "Immersion". So and Maya now have their own album released on Swim, augmenting the label's reputation for searching out the best in contemporary music. They themselves have little interest in the personality based ideas of conventional pop marketing or in the newest DJ sensations. Their "organic machine music" is their manifesto. Tip for '95 Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) - NME. IMMERSION REMIXES - Vol 1. Vinyl VWM 4.1 by Mark Gage, Intens, Trawl & Craig Wharton "Oscillating" by Immersion's beat diminished quirky electronic strangeness has attracted a wide cross section of interested parties. Thus Immersion themselves (who are not very interested in promoting themselves, preferring the attention to stay on the music) suggested that we try to get in touch with contemporary musicians who they (and us) like with the instruction to cast the net as wide as possible. These are the first fruits of this remix project which will include monthly vinyl releases and at least 2 CD compilations. "shooting a line of electronic beauty through electronic noise" Tony Marcus NME RESOLUTION `The Ghostwriter`- Vinyl VWM 2 Resolution is Michael Harding who currently resides in Brighton and the 12" is the first fruits of a virtual/physical collaboration between himself and Intens our production/remix hat. The two tracks which make up "The Ghostwriter" are an attempt to integrate guitar (albeit mutated) and polyrhythms into something which has a more insistent yet flowing feel. They also represent the Swim ideal in that they, like all Swim releases do not respect musical monotheism and its various accepted orthodoxies. A CD will follow. Michael also records for Ash International under the name of "Mesmer" and is an "Immersion" remixer. PLASTIC VENUS `Steady` 10" - Vinyl VWM5 & `Helven Park` CD WM5 Apparently a conventional four piece, Plastic Venus moved from their Isreali/Macedonian base to Camden to be closer to their perceived roots and to be "more extreme". The music they make as a result is a confusion of loudness and indirection, not so much an in-your-face sound as an in-someone-else's. According to fans, it rarely makes sense and you're left with a sense of wonder, who are these people and why are they doing what they're doing? In spite of this, they have their own following in Camden (and elsewhere). They look pretty weird too, singer Ronit has had bright pink hair for longer than anyone can remember and the band as a whole sports that apocalyptic punk look. yet the sound they make is different, there's no reference to '70s punk. Anorexic, pre-bulimic, this band are masters of musical skinniness. Like Kate Moss in a revolting punk explosion. The Album is will be released in June. COLIN NEWMAN `Voice` 12" - VWM 3 It's been 7 years since "It Seems", and what we all want to know is, can he cut the mustard still? Could he ever? Here we have four self indulgent tracks from a label boss who doesn't have to submit to anyones "A & R" . A foretaste of a CD (as yet unfinished) to follow. Is the popular music establishment quaking in it's boots? Will the underground be shaken to it's very core? IMMERSION REMIXES 'Vol 2' Fred Giannelli, Iris, Claude Young, Mick Harris - Vinyl VWM 4.2 After the sucess of the 'Vol 1',. which featured mixes by Mark Gage, Intens, Trawl & Craig Wharton, the 'Vol. 2' has a definite Transatlantic feel and includes mixes by Fred Gianelli, Iris, Claude Young and Mick Harris. Gianelli, who is a one time member of Psychic TV, runs his own Telepathic label in Boston. Its releases have built him a strong enough reputation to bring his "portable recording studio" over to Europe this spring. Due to contractual reasons we can't divulge the identity of Iris . Young is a young Detroit D.J. who records for Utensil and is known for his frantic mixing style. Harris from Scorn, Lull and formerly Napalm Death should need little introduction. No 1. In Fat Cat Techno Chart in Melody Maker G--MAN 'G--Man' E.P. - Vinyl VWM 9 The debut single from g--man (better known as Gez Varley from LFO) is simply relentless. It's just the most relentless music you're ever likely to hear. Minimal to the point of non-existance, g--man takes the barest essentials that you think people can get away with and prunes them down some more. And even then there's more catchiness than on a dozen comparable techno twelves. Far more austere than anything he's done as part of LFO, this E.P. is everything you could possibly expect from one of the first techno musicians to appear on the cover of NME. 'A damn fine E.P. which will sound great in 12 months time..' Nick Warren, Mixmag Update LOBE 'Placebo' E.P. (Vinyl VWM 7) Lobe, the latest find from Swim~, is 24-year-old male psychiatric nurse and electronic musician Ian Hartley. Based in Aberdeen, he started making music after briefly flirting with punk and experiencing the '88 acid sound at the Pelican club in Aberdeen. Bought his first drum machine while working as a postman before taking up the Government's offer of a music scholarship (more commonly known as going on the dole). Ian began studying psychiatric disorders after having numerous chemical experiences and has a deep interest in mental disorders, their causes and the effects they have on individuals and their families. Lobe's music reflects the often extremely fine line between sanity and insanity, where one's subjective opinion of one's self in relation to others is deemed reality. The peaceful feel of Lobe's music conceals a harsher, darker side - the angelic eyes of the killer as it were. In particular Lobe's music reassures you that what you see on the outside is not necessarily the whole story IMMERSION REMIXES 'Vol 3' Jon Ryman, Pablo Castrati, Paul Sch=FCtze and Cylo= b, - Vinyl VWM 4.3 'Vol. 3' of the Immersion Remixes (following hot on the heels of the stunningly titled 'Vol. 1' and 'Vol. 2') continues the series originally started after the release of the band's debut, 'Oscillating', when a variety of remixers and producers were approached with a view to redefining Immersion's music in their own way. So great was the response that the project has now taken on a life of its own with releases planned up to 1996. After the success of both 'Vol 1', and 'Vol. 2', 'Vol. 3' is a step into the vast unknown that lies beyond the borders of techno. =46eaturing mixes by masters of atmospherics Jon Ryman, Pablo Castrati, Paul Sch=FCtze and Cylob, 'Vol. 3' boasts a very different set of sounds to its twin predecessors. Ryman's remix of 'No Surrender' replaces the speed of the original with tranquillity and emptiness, Castrati's version of 'Immersion' is a locust swarm of sounds descending on the listener like the plague host, Sch=FCtze's revoicing of 'Sea Level' is a mesmeric ripple of samples, while Cylob's 'Envelope' is the last scream of the dentist's drill from Marathon Man. 'Vol. 3' - a bold step into spaciousness IMMERSION REMIXES 'Full Immersion' - CD WM4.0 "Oscillating", Immersion's first release on Swim, attracted a wide cross section of admirers, who raved about its almost beatless, electronic strangeness . As a result, Immersion, who aren't very interested in promoting themselves, suggested that we try to contact contemporary musicians and producers who were interested in remixing the band, with instructions to cast the net as wide as possible. So many people agreed that the project now includes monthly vinyl releases, with three already out, and at least 2 CD compilations. 'Full Immersion', the first CD release, combines the first two month's releases and features mixes by Mark Gage, Intens, Trawl, Craig Wharton, =46red Giannelli, Iris, Claude Young and Mick Harris. It also features two bonus tracks by g..man and Immersion themselves. Of those on the first 12-inch, Gage is the man behind the increasingly successful Vapourspace (the music, not the London club) & Cusp, Intens is Swim's in-house mixing team, Trawl is one Robin Rimbaud (best known for his Scanning activities and monthly club nights at London's ICA), while Wharton is a good mate of Gage's who has been dabbling with electronic music for the last decade. Mixers from the second 12-inch range from Giannelli, a one time member of Psychic TV, who runs his own Telepathic label in Boston and a contractually unidentifiable Iris through to Young, a Detroit D.J. who records for Utensil and is best known for his frantic mixing style and ex-Napalm Death, Lull and probably Scorn mainstay Harris. Bonus mixers g..man (Jez Varley from LFO) and Immersion, who surely need no introduction, are included to add extra value. SWIM CATALOGUE - April 95. TITLE CAT. No. ARTIST AVAILABILITY FORM= AT Rosh Ballata WM 1 Malka Spigel available now CD Tree WM 2 Oracle available now CD TBA WM 3 Colin Newman Autumn '95 CD Oscillating WM 4 Immersion available now CD =46ull WWM 4.0 Various June 19th '95 CD Immersion Helven Park WM 5 Plastic Venus June 26th '95 CD TBA WM 6 Resolution Aut/Winter '95 CD TBA WM 7 Lobe Jan '96 CD Space & Time/ WM 8 Cusp (Mark Gage) September '95 CD Liquids & Metals TBA WM 9 G-Man Aut/Winter '95 CD TBA WM 11 Pablo's Eye Autumn '95 CD Remixes of VWM 1 Oscillating/ Oracle Earth available now = Vinyl 12 Remixes of VWM 4.1 Mark Gage/Intens/ available now Vinyl 12 Immersion Trawl/C.Wharton The Ghostwriter VWM 2 Resolution available now = Vinyl 12 Remixes of VWM 4.2 Fred Giannelli/Iris/ available now = Vinyl 12 Immersion Claude Young/Mick Harris Voice VWM 3 Colin Newman available now = Vinyl 12 Steady VWM 5 Plastic Venus available now = Vinyl 10 Remixes of VWM 4.3 Jon Ryman/Pablo Castrati Immersion Paul Sch=FCtze/Cylob 10 July '95 Vinyl 12 Placebo VWM 7 Lobe 3 July '95 = Vinyl 12 Remixes of VWM 4.4 Various * Summer '95 = Vinyl 12 Immersion G-Man VWM 9 G-Man (Gez Varley) available now = Vinyl 12 TBA VWM10 Malka Spigel Autumn '95 = Vinyl 12 Oracle poster 42 x 35.5 cm available now Poster Swim T-Shirt one size turquoise on white, minimal available now T-Shirt * Remaining Immersion Remix series will be drawn from mixes by - Globo, Daniel Miller, Silverfish, Laika, Mark Bell, Cubanate, Disco Inferno, Gareth Jones, Justin Broadrick ......... SWIM Distribution; UK - SRD, France - Wotre, Benelux - RTD, USA - Dutch East, Germany/ Austria/ Switzerland- Strangeways /Indigo, Israel - Gong - if you are able to buy our products in the shops it always helps us. For mail order or further information, contact: Swim - PO Box 3459 London SW19 6ES - Fax+44.181.789.06.36. e.mail Swim@CityScape.co.uk