Irdial Discs is a fiercely independent label that has been running since the 1980s. Owned and run by one person, Akin Fernandez, it has released a large volume of varied and experimental electronic music, including the debuts of several now legendary producers such as Lee Purkis (In Sync), Anthony Manning, Neuropolitique, Aqua Regia and Morganistic.
As well as being a landmark label in UK electronic music history, Irdial wowed the world in a wider context with some of it's "found sound" projects, most notably the "Conet Project" CD which revealed the decades-long held secret of Numbers Stations, and the "Electric Enigma" CD featuring recordings made of the Aurora Borealis.
As part of it's embracing the Free Music Philosophy, Irdial has made the majority of it's catalogue available for free download from the Internet.
Catalogue numbers 31 - 40 do not appear as Discogs entries as they do not exist as physical releases. These places in the catalogue were taken up by radio transmissions under the title "Monster Music". The shows were pre-recorded and given to DJ Chips who aired them on his show on Touchdown FM, a prominent London pirate radio station in the early-mid 1990s. Subsequent to this they were also aired on Radio 4U in Berlin by Monica Dietel.
The Monster Music shows are listed below by Irdial catalogue number, compiling/performing artist, and title.
, Jul 18, 2001
Irdial Discs is Europes most forward thinking and acting record label. When the web had only 20,000 sites, Irdial-Discs was there. They were the first to embrace Napster and, were cited in the Amicus Curae from Shawn Fanning, Napsters inventor, as an example of a company choosing to use Napster to distribute its copyrighted works. Irdial has adopted the Free Music Philosophy; allowing everyone online to download its recordings for free. Irdial is unflinching, brave and not constrained by the cowardice that strangles other labels.
They release the works of Britains greatest exponents of the music referred to as "Electronic Music", and released several classic works that would have been lost to the world due to plain and simple cowardice on the parts of inferior labels. Case in point, the classic track "Storm" by InSync, which was universally rejected simply because it was mastered on cassette. They took that cassette, cut directly from it, and created a sensation. This is how Irdial works, taking the raw, unfiltered genius of the chosen few, and then unleashing that genius without restraint.
Irdial takes risks. They live on the edge.
Shortwave Numbers Stations, the encrypted transmissions of worldwide espionage organizations, send messages to their agents in the field using the voices of erotic women, robotic men and German girls. The sound of these stations is extraordinary. No one in the thirty year history of these remarkable stations ever released a document detailing their operation and sound.
The British Library did not have a single recording of a Numbers Station in its archive. No spy novel referenced them, despite the fact that they can be heard by anyone with a simple hand held shortwave radio. Irdial was the first to act. Thanks to thier release, "The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations", this most secret of subjects has been brought out into the open. The first ever newspaper and magazine articles about Numbers Stations have been published, and the television media is finally waking up to the incredible nature of this phenomena.
Anthony Manning, Aqua Regia, Neuropolitique, Luke Slater, Beautyon; all of these legendary artists were the cutting edge of their day, and the ones that are still recording and releasing are now revered. In 1989, They released a record that flooded the mailbox of a certain BBC radio DJ John Peel, becoming one of his most requestd records of all time. People are *still* asking for information on that disc.
In 2001, Irdial-Discs surprised everyone again, by releasing a newly found super-genius, Philip Minns, who is "M/Y". Like all other Irdial-Artists he was found through a demo; they never employ "the usual suspects" and this is a part of thier strength. It is what keeps them unique and separate from other labels. M/Y's first and very beautiful release will probably confuse, startle and annoy the public, but "WTF do they know" has always been the Irdial battle cry and, as with the unheeded original warnings about CD, Irdial have been proved right again and again and again.
