Back in the summer of 2004 Nurse With Wound (Steven Stapleton and Colin Potter) were invited by Kunst I Nordland to visit the Arctic Lofoten Islands for a number of weeks. A small studio was set up in their apartment and their task was to collect sounds from the area and create a series of unexpected radio transmissions that were broadcast on the local radio station over a period of two months. A substantial amount of material was produced and the broadcasts were released as double CDs, the first being Shipwreck Radio Volume 1. This has long been out of print, so we are now re-releasing it in 2 parts on vinyl for the first time, as a deluxe 3 disc spot-varnished boxset with a full colour 2 page insert, with original photographs from the project and new written material. The audio has been carefully remastered for vinyl by Colin Potter.
Remastered & expanded 2CD
Back in the summer of 2004 Nurse With Wound (Steven Stapleton and Colin Potter) were invited by Kunst I Nordland to visit the Arctic Lofoten Islands for a number of weeks. A small studio was set up in their apartment and their task was to collect sounds from the area and create a series of unexpected radio transmissions that were broadcast on the local radio station over a period of two months. A substantial amount of material was produced and the broadcasts were released as double CDs, the first being Shipwreck Radio Volume 1. This has long been out of print, so we are now re-releasing it with additional tracks from the original project. The audio has been carefully remastered by Colin Potter.
Canopies: A roof-like covering of trees enclosing a large or wide natural space.
Cathedrals: Large edifice usually of stone, enclosing space reserved for spiritual contemplation.
Vertical structures that strive for light and open spaces, defying gravity, and reason.
A Tarkosvsky-esque transcendence of spirit and nature, time imprinted on an intertwining of sap and stone, branch and pillar, column, and trunk.
This third MPM release is co-written by Phil and Jackson Mouldycliff, with studio treatments (mixing, mastering, and arranging) by Colin Potter. Additional field recordings used in the composition were provided by Dave Carson. It accompanies an installation under the same title, with visual material by Phil, Dave, and Sarah Robinson, to be shown at Wells Cathedral in the summer of 2025.
The extended ambient piece weaves together found sounds from the interiors of ecclesiastical buildings and both temperate and tropical forests. The composition features bells, organ, choirs, wind through vegetation, birds, insects-both real and imagined. These elements are further layered with synthesised and sampled sounds, creating a seamless soundscape that embodies the connection between nature, architecture, and memory.
A new CD of a live performance by these two talented improvisers. The interplay between them is, to use a cliche, telepathic. Whilst it's often difficult to figure out who is doing what, the gelling of the sounds is perfect, going from meditative to intense, smooth to harsh (but not abrasive). Improvisation at it's best - highly recommended!
Recorded live on 24th May 2024 in Barcelona
Rhodri Davies : Amplified harp, electronics
Alfredo Costa Monteiro : Amplified objects & electro-acoustic devices
Mixed by Alfredo Costa Monteiro
Mastered by Colin Potter
REVIEW by Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly : The biggest surprise here is not the music but the label. I would expect such fine talents in improvised music to find their home within their musical field, say, a label like Confront. But it's on Colin Potter's ICR label, home for Potter's music, Andrew Liles, Nurse With Wound and others related to these projects. Alfredo Costa Monteiro and Rhodri Davies don't seem to be from this family. They recorded this piece on May 24, 2024, in Barcelona, with Davies on amplified harp, electronics and Monteiro on amplified objects & electro-acoustic devices. These aren't the most conventional instruments, and the results aren't all too traditional; at least, most of the time. The amplification is used to generate drone-like sounds, with pickups being amplified, and mechanised objects and electrical currents are incorporated into the music. Whatever these amplified objects are, we don't know, and I thought that would be a good thing; it leaves a lot to imagine there. I can't even hazard a guess, or perhaps I never tried in the first place. I sat back and enjoyed this work all the same. Based on what I heard, I'd say there might be one or more sound effects at work, but maybe it's all to do with the careful placing of microphones and a clever mix of microphone and line recordings here. At least, again, that's what I imagine here. The music is far from noisy, or all too tranquil for that matter, yet always with some force played. Here too, the buzzing of drones, no matter how quiet they are, is always present, in whatever changing form. And, sometimes, the music has a pleasant, violent feel, such as around the 25-minute mark. Whatever happens, the music never stays in the same place too long, constantly changing and moving, looking for the next sweet spot. This goes on for about 40-some minutes, and then the possibilities are exhausted. The listener (me) wasn't exhausted and wished for some more.
After running IC Studio for over 40 years I’ve accumulated a large store of recordings by both myself and the many people I’ve worked with. I was recently looking for some masters of another band on a hard drive, where I stored tracks that had been transferred from old digital tapes. I noticed the folder ‘Period Remixes’ which I decided to open, as I hadn’t listened to the material for many years. The tracks were remixes of Jonathan Coleclough's 'Period' album, on which I had worked with him when it was released over 20 years ago. These pieces were made before the use of computers became commonplace in studios. They were all mixed live, without editing, using a physical mixing desk and external analogue and digital effects units.
I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard.
And I hope you will be too.
Colin Potter, IC Studio. London 2025
Featuring two archive mixes of the original 1984 recording. A 2007 epic variation recorded for possible inclusion in Peter Strickland's film 'Katalin Varga' and a unique 'psychedelic' version from 2012 which until now has never been heard.
Featuring two archive mixes of the original 1984 recording. A 2007 epic variation recorded for possible inclusion in Peter Strickland's film 'Katalin Varga' and a unique 'psychedelic' version from 2012 which until now has never been heard.
ICR is delighted to release a 'new' CD from Paul, who has been quiet of late. And has been sorely missed. The origin of the music is detailed below, but suffice to say it's an excellent collection of what some might describe as 'cosmic'. That is to say that it's quite still, peaceful, droney but melodic, music to disappear into. Comes in a very nicely designed (by Jonathan Coleclough) 6-panel Ecopack. Highly recommended.
As the name suggests, 'Vault' is a collection of tracks that were recently discovered after languishing unheard for over a decade. Exactly when and why these were made is unknown, as unfortunately much of the details have been lost to time, however 'Anon' seems to be an edited version of a live performance that was part of Ciclo Herzios at La Clinica Mundana, Valencia in February of 2011 and 'Europa' might have been a rehearsal; so my best guess is that these tracks are from that time period as they all share an aesthetic.
Listening to the music with fresh ears I felt they should have an audience and the time seemed right to give them a little love.
The recordings were finessed a little and then sent to Colin Potter to get his input; he liked them and offered to release them. They were then polished up, mastered and well... here we are... a snapshot in time.
A numbered edtion of 500 copies.
The latest release from ICR is this excellent Nurse live set on marbled vinyl* in a Santini-designed sleeve. Recorded in Sweden in 2016. featuring Stapleton, Liles, Waldron & Potter, the chilly ambience of the performance reflects the icy conditions at the time of the shows. Cool.....
*The vinyl used is an 'eco mix' & the colours can vary - purple/pink/mauve....who knows!
We are delighted to announce the release on ICR of Jonathan's first physical album in a long time. A 72 minute long piece housed in a beautiful 6-panel Ecopack.
This monumental work, which took many years to construct, sees Jonathan working with samples of the flute playing of Theo Travis, weaving repeating phrases harmonising and looping around each other, moving towards an unusual break in the flow provided by a field recording by Jeph Jerman. After which the flute based sounds return to form a vast shifting drone. It is a quite unique piece, very much in the tradition of Jonathan's other long-form works & is highly recommended.
"WOMB" by Steve Parry (Neu Elektrikk / Hywl Nofio) and Colin Potter. Recorded on 1/4'' tape in 1981, it has remained unreleased in any format until now. Limited to 500 copies in a digipak CD with an 8-page booklet containing detailed information about the recordings.
''When it was mixed, I don’t think either of us knew what to do with it, as it was unlike any other music that was around at that time. So it languished….
Due to various house moves, Steve & I lost touch & I eventually moved away from Yorkshire, my favourite part of the world. Several years ago, on a short holiday in York I wandered into a pub that I’d never visited before & there was Steve, who I hadn’t seen for over 20 years. Full circle. We decided that the lost album should be released & Steve had the original ¼’’ tapes baked & I’ve now remastered the recordings. Listening to it was a strange experience. Many times I had to try to remember what some of the strange sounds were, or why we did this or that. The sound of convention & caution being thrown to the wind.
I’m glad we did it & I hope you like it.
Colin Potter, London 2021
"Womb remained unreleased other than a few cassette tapes given to friends. The Ampex 406 master tapes were severely damaged due to natural deterioration, so the original tape had to undergo a time-consuming restoration process. Thankfully the project was salvageable and the music was transferred to digital. I must admit listening now to these recordings I am reminded of the creative surge and ebullient enthusiasm for making the music. It was indeed an exciting time."
Steve Parry
Recorded: (1981) at Integrated Circuit Studio, Sutton–on-the-Forest, York & Wern Studio, York. Field recordings (1981) by Steve Parry on a Sony portable cassette tape recorder.
• Engineered by: Colin Potter
• All Instruments / sounds – Steve Parry & Colin Potter
• Producer – Steve Parry, Colin Potter
Instruments/devices used in the recording included: saw, plastic bucket and plastic tube, water, alarm clock, cotton rags, metal bars, electric drill, drum machine, bongo drums, analogue synth & sequencer, field recordings, electric, acoustic & bass guitars, flute, keyboards, found sounds, comb & voice.
An editon of 300 copies on marbled green vinyl, in a spectacular Santini sleeve with a full-colour 12'' insert.
Back in 2005, 3 special performances took place featuring Steve Stapleton, Colin Potter, Andrew Liles, Matt Waldron and Diana Rogerson. The gigs were held on 6 & 7 May at The Anatomical Museum / Narrenturm, Vienna (Austria). Each concert was limited to 50 seats. Fun was had. Lab coats optional. To commemorate the event, a limited edition of 200 CDRs was released by ICR and Klanggalerie, only available at the Vienna live shows.
In 2023, ICR re-issued this on CD expanded to include 2 new tracks, adding an extra 54minutes. These 2 tracks were constructed from the original source material with some extra sounds & they have been editied to form the 2 sides of this record.
The download includes the track that appeared on the original CDR edition.
Thanks to Petr Vastl, Amantine, Isabelle, Doris & Walter Robotka of Klanggalerie.
Voices - Amantine, Isabelle & Doris. Recorded at IC Studio, Preston & London, 2005 & 2023 by Steven Stapleton & Colin Potter.
Mastered by Colin Potter at IC Studio.
Photography & graphic alterations by Sarah Redpath
Cover by Santini
This is the 100th release by ICR. The first was the compilation LP ‘We Couldn’t Agree on a Title’ in 1981. Back in those days, I never imagined – no, wait – that’s so long ago, I really can’t remember what I imagined. I know that I did think Integrated Circuit Records was a good name for a label that was ‘integrated’ (?!) and vaguely electronic. Which is why it’s now called ICR, much less of a mouthful. But it is slightly surprising to have made it to 100 releases, although I doubt we’ll make it to 200, which partly explains the title of this CD.
3 tracks totalling over 74 minutes, 2 were recorded live at London's Cafe Oto. The third is a studio mix of the music I played live a number of times, but never managed to get a decent recording.
Colin Potter, London 2023
Cover artwork of performance confusion by Jonathan Coleclough,
Review by Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly :
In 1981, Colin Potter released a compilation LP, 'We Couldn't Agree on a Title', the inaugural release on Integrated Circuit Records. 'We Couldn't Agree On A Total' is the 100th release, but it's not a compilation. To celebrate this milestone, Potter selected two live recordings from his concerts at Cafe Oto in 2018 and 2016 and one studio piece of something he played live a couple of times but never managed to get a great recording of. The cover shows Potter and a plethora of instruments; I am sure this photo is some construction of various images, but it's an impressive display of gear. Next to playing as a musician, solo and with Nurse With Wound, Potter runs the ICR studio, so I am sure he knows all about gear, cobbling these together and making them sound simultaneously, with Captain Potter at the controls. The mixing board is the big audio canvas to paint sounds, add effects, change frequencies, and do whatever people do behind big mixing consoles to produce great music. In the April 2018 concert, Potter goes for a take on cosmic music, with arpeggios and rhythm in slow motion, and once that train leaves the station, it majestically rolls about. It has that cosmic Krautrock idea, and it works very well. In 2016, he did something similar, but the arpeggios come in later here, and it takes some time to get there. Potter needs some time to get his stuff brewing from below the surface, but it erupts like a volcano with clockwork precision. In the studio construction, none of these arpeggios are rolling about but a slow melodic touch over drone-like synthesiser tapestries. Maybe also a bit on the cosmic side, but less urgent and more ambient. To me, it seems Potter exercises more control in this piece, whereas in the live pieces, he's wilder and lets things run wild. Two sides of the master, and while I slightly prefer the controlled constructions, it's a great release.
ICR is pleased to re-issue this long deleted release, now enhanced for CD in a gatefold ecopack.
This originally came out in 2005 on CDR, as a limited edition of only 200 copies by ICR and Klanggalerie, only available at the Vienna live shows featuring Steve Stapleton, Colin Potter, Andrew Liles, Matt Waldron and Diana Rogerson. The gigs were held on 6 & 7 May 2005 at The Anatomical Museum / Narrenturm, Vienna (Austria). Each concert was limited to 50 seats. Fun was had. Lab coats optional.
ICR is happy to be releasing the first new solo album by Andrew in five years, completed in 2022 at Impression Lointaine.
Thirteen beautiful melodic tracks that weave in and out of focus in an almost hallucinatory manner, evoking many different moods and emotions.
13 tracks in a digipack sleeve, mastered by Dennis Blackham with artwork by Andrew.
ORBIT - course, path, circuit, trajectory, rotation, revolution, circle, cycle, circumgyration.
This sequence of pieces, composed in the main by Jackson Mouldycliff, with additional interventions & modifications from Colin Potter & Phil Mouldycliff, was started back in 2019 but because of the Covid pandemic it was only recently completed. The work centres on loops, repititions & recurrent elements of sound assembled by MPM to accompany a series of mixed-media drawings by Phil, which in turn, takes as its starting point, star charts, celestial globes, planeteria, orraries, armillary spheres, astrolabes & astronomical clocks. Each of the eleven pieces has a title taken from a particular type of celstial orbit.
Back in 2004 Paul Bradley started a sub-label to his Twenty Hertz imprint called Drone Works. The principle was that he would ask ‘fellow travellers’ to make a piece of around 20 minutes, each of which would be released as a simple CDR. Fourth in the series was the surprisingly titled ‘Drone Works 4’ by Darren Tate,a piece that I was particularly fond of. Fast forward 17 years and Darren decided to do a limited art edition re-release, a copy of which he sent to me. I was surprised to find that it was a double CDR, comprising 2 tracks per disc, all variations of the same theme. When I asked him about this he said that originally he had sent a track of organ improvisations to Paul, who had then made 4 versions using the source recording. Darren chose his favourite, which became the release and the other variations remained unheard until 2021. I listened to both discs many times and enjoyed them very much. I came to the conclusion that they deserved a wider release. With a little editing, I managed to fit all 4 tracks on to a single CD. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.
Colin Potter, London 2022
Darrent Tate : Electric organ, artwork
Paul Bradley : Remixing and re-imagining
Edited & mastered : Colin Potter, IC Studio, London
Design & layout : Jonathan Coleclough
Originally this was only available for a short period of time before World Serpent went bust and is often thought of as a ‘lost’ NWW work.
Review from brainwashed.com : Longtime NWW fans are going to be very very very pleased with this album. Shaved down to a mere duo featuring Steven Stapleton and Colin Potter, this is almost a tribute to the more ambient and free-form early to mid-period Nurse with Wound. The original mission statement from 1978 included a provision that Steven Stapleton didn't like "songs" and the last few full-length albums ('An Awkward Pause', 'Acts of Senseless Beauty', 'Who Can I Turn To Stereo' and 'Rock 'n Roll Station') have all been heavily song-based. Clocking in at under 40 minutes, this particular journey is comprised of three pieces: the two endpieces which linger around the 15-minute mark and the 8+ minute middle piece, whose title loosely translates to "Up in the Air, Singing" in Gaelic. Musically, it's perhaps the most intimate Nurse with Wound has been, with a particular, almost personal subtlety which I haven't detected probably since 'A Missing Sense.' The album opens with a warm underscore, scatterings of organic and electronic noises twitter and scurry by, accented with quiet, mumblesome voices, bees, finger piano or marimba (I can't tell) and various other sound effects -NOT- simply recycled from previous projects. It continues with an almost arguably surprising twist of events as the "band" jumps into full-force instrumental hyper Kraut-rock mode towards the end of the second track. The music and feel of the last track almost echoes the 'Musical Pumpkin Cottage'-era work from Stapleton with Tibet. The vocals repeat the title over and over again, comfortably easing any listener into utter bliss. This album can easily become one of my most listened-to records for 2002.
Jon Whitney
The 2 tracks on this record have been constructed from flotsam, jetsam & driftwood gathered in the Lofoten Islands by Steven Stapleton & Colin Potter in 2004 & reassembled at IC Studio, London 2021. The single is a prelude to the vinyl release of ‘Shipwreck Radio Volume 1/Lofoten Deadhead’, but getting vinyl manufactured is difficult & slow (the single itself was many months late), so we're not sure when the boxset will be available....
Contains the full Opium Cabaret album plus an additional 40 minutes previously unreleased studio material. Housed in deluxe full colour digipack with new art by Santini.
4 tracks, 74 minutes
Steven Stapleton, Andrew Liles & Colin Potter
Double CD. Eight enigmatic episodes from Utvaer.
Between June & July 2004, as guests of Kunst I Nordland, NWW broadcast twenty four unexpected radio transmissions from the Arctic Lofoten Islands, eight of which are included here.
Review by Lucas Schleicher from Brainwashed : Eight new broadcasts from the chilly world of the Arctic Lofoten Islands are made available on this double disc and, in some ways, they all exemplify just how much Steven Stapleton must be falling in love with digital sound stretching. Just as the first volume was an effort to reshape the world around them in sound, the second volume of Shipwreck Radio turns the world of Lofoten into a strange place occupied by distortions of the Arctic's natural sound world.
“June 22,” the first of the two half hour tracks, begins with the by-now familiar greeting of Utvaer’s most beloved Deadhead, echoed by his perky sidekick. As they vanish, something sinister appears in their place. The image most prominent in my mind is of a furnace possessed by spirits best left unidentified, swelling into aggressive bursts of volume in increasing lengths as the track progresses, with a particularly bone-rattling eruption occurring just after the twenty minute mark. Frequently the sound hovers like thick, humid air, as if waiting for an unnamed menace to slither forth from the darkness. A subdued alarm bell appears out of the fog from time to time, commingling with faint metallic overtones on the fringe of perception while revenant gasps hiss in the mist. Even listening to the this track in the daylight, I have to say that I found it to be one of the more viscerally thrilling and frightening Nurse With Wound experiences I’ve had in a while, much like the gut feeling I used to get just before the initial drop on a roller coaster. As the last track in the Shipwreck series, “July 13” is quite the headcleaner. After the initial greetings, loops of the phrase “Welcome to Shipwreck Radio” are subjected to repeated unsettling voice manipulations that become a rippling landscape of their own, stretching syllables into unnatural technological groans. Each time the phrase returns, it is slower and contains more glitch material, eventually obfuscating the source completely. As the length of the recurring phrase increases, so too does the silence between the repetitions. The slower the voice gets, the more it sounds like broken zeros and ones, high-pitched tones with little musical value. Because of this, the track feels more like an algorithmic exercise than a creative one. I can’t imagine what was going through the minds of the Norwegians tuning in to this particular broadcast, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they smacked their radios a few times thinking something was broken. In some ways, the predictable pattern of “July 13” is the antithesis of the previous track’s ability to surprise, and it’s one I probably won’t return to frequently. Even so, the force of “June 22” alone is enough to make this release an invigorating addition to the group’s catalog. From Brainwashed
This Double Album brings together many of my major pieces from the last 40 years. "Red Bird" has been held up as a pioneering work, using both a "cinematic" approach to audio, and sound morphing, especially because it predates the use of computers but prefigures many of the techniques later used for making computer sound art. "Anticredos" brought together my research into new vocal sounds, developing new ways to notate sound itself, and uses sound-morphing as a live-performance technique. "Tongues of Fire" was the first full-length piece I made on the Composers Desktop Project, and won an award (the Golden NICA for computer-music) at the Linz Ars Electronica, International Computer Arts Festival, while "Two Women" crossed the boundary into actuality, using and transforming the voices of people in the public eye.
From Allmisic:
Both works feature some of the composer's most striking music, but they belong to two very different realms. "Red Bird" is a 45-minute piece of musique concrète in four movements. Made for the most part of bird sounds, body sounds, and selected mouthed words, it weaves an intricate network of symbols. Completed in 1977, it was made with traditional electro-acoustic techniques. It has a crude tape splicing aspect that aged surprisingly well. Often brutal in its contrasts, it presents interesting sound transformations, but most of all a dense, relentless abstract drama that compares very well to Pierre Henry's best works from the '60s and '70s. The result of four years of work, "Red Bird" is a significant work and conveys ideas of imprisonment and freedom that are beautifully expressed. "Anticredos" dates from 1982. It involves no electronics at all; it is a live performance by the experimental vocal group Singcircle. Wishart scored the piece for six voices, using extended techniques to expand, so to speak, the word "credos." Often the listener is tempted to believe there are electro-acoustic manipulations involved, but on close-up inspection it turns out Wishart simply found ways to make real voices perform sound morphings that some musique concrète composers used to work on relentlessly in the days before the computer age.
Circle Line initially started life as a graphic score created by Phil Mouldycliff as a piece to be played by Keith Rowe in 1989. Over a period of twelve years this open form composition developed to the point where by 2002 an opportunity arose to make a recording of the work at IC Studio in Preston, using ambient recordings taken from Circle Line Tube stations made specifically for the project by Phil and Colin Potter . Keith effectively solos over the assemble tape collage of sounds from the Underground, starting and finishing with material collected at Edgeware Road. Given that a full circuit of the Line takes upwards of fifty minutes, the individual stations are grouped together to create workable sections delineated by geographical boundaries. Since making the recording the work has been performed live by Rowe, Potter and Mouldycliff on a number of occasions.