FWRL is BACK!

We took a long break to reorganise our thoughts and direction. We realised long ago that we no longer wanted to release music on CD, we were not happy with our distribution deal, our digital distribution required a huge compromise in sound quality and we did not have a reliable way of manufacturing cassette tapes and vinyl records. We decided to stop, take a few steps back and find solutions to these issues.

Having found creative solutions, we are now thrilled to announce that we are back in business, with the same stated goal: To promote art that people are not, have never been, and will never be ready for.

We are no longer going to be releasing music on CD. Instead, we will focus on limited editions of handcrafted analog media, such as vinyl records and cassette tapes, with beautiful artistic packaging. In addition, some of our material will also be available as extremely high quality digital files in DSD and high definition PCM (WAV) format, for download.
Our distribution will be very small scale, which means we will no longer attempt to push our products under your snout. Those who are determined enough will easily be able to find and purchase FWRL releases. After all, they are not for everyone.
In addition, we welcome all interested artists to get in touch, as we are looking for weird and obscure material to release.

Beware, we're back!

Mind The Goon 7" Single: 100% analog and handmade records!

Mind the Goon

Smurf/ These Days
FRWL 2015

"Mind the Goon" is a goon with a mind of his own and an electric taste on music and sound. He is known to travel and live in several countries in Asia, South America, and occasionally Europe, while composing diverse songs, telling tales of the road, the river and the seas.
"Smurf" is a sort of surf tune with a vengeance while "These Days" is a romantic love song for the social networking generation.
This is a 100% analog recording on tape, 1950's style. The transfer to the disk medium was done entirely in the analog domain, using a vintage disk cutting lathe with an original monophonic cutterhead, at Magnetic Fidelity. Each record was hand-carved and numbered, with hand-painted covers and manually typeset labels. It is a limited edition of 200.
Artwork by Sabine Steldinger. Transfer to disk medium by J. I. Agnew.

The Dead Bluesmen 7" Single: 100% analog and handmade

The Dead Bluesmen

Shotgun Blues/I didn't wake up this morning
FWRL 2015

"The Dead Bluesmen" formed in 1932, in the Mississippi Delta area, where they were picking cotton at local plantations. Soon after forming, they murdered their bosses and hit the road. Little is known about them past that point. They are rumoured to have been sentenced to death in the early 50's, only to come back from the dead to haunt the world with their dark, authentic blues sound.
"Shotgun Blues" is an anthem of protest against unfair taxation, homelessness and corruption, ending with murder. It follows the path of the honest poor man through eviction, rejection and his eventual carefully crafted plan of revenge and justice.
"I didn't wake up this morning" sums up the entire tradition of the blues within its short duration. A song about death, it humorously reminds us of our common predicament.
The authentic 50's blues sound has been carefully preserved on the 7" records, which were individually cut on a vintage disk cutting lathe with an original vintage monophonic cutterhead and vacuum tube electronics, entirely in the analog domain, at Magnetic Fidelity. Each record is hand-carved and numbered, with hand-painted covers and manually typeset labels. It is a limited edition of 200.
Artwork by Sabine Steldinger. Transfer to the disk medium by J. I. Agnew.