Colin Potter - Early Cassettes (Integrated Circuit Records) 1980 - 1983

One area that suited the cassette medium down to the ground was DIY Electronica.The most prominent prime mover in this zone was one Colin Potter.Sound engineer and bedroom geek, with a couple of synthesisers and a tape recorder, he took the opportunities available to him, via the new cassette culture,to release his owns works on his own record label(which still exists today!);Integrated Circuit Records.ICR Studio and ICR Distribution have been in existence for over twenty years.
"Integrated Circuit Records & Integrated Circuit Studio… the name seemed like a good idea over 25 years ago but it was soon realised it was too much of a mouthful & we were left with ICR & IC Studio. Much better."

The first release, ICR 001, was a record, the compilation LP ‘We couldn’t agree on a title’. Again that seemed like a good idea at the time... The next few releases were cassettes (remember them?) promoting the dubious ‘musical’ career of one Colin Potter. The studio moved from a bedroom into an outbuilding & became a modest 4-track. It was the dawn of the DIY era, anti-music, the tape underground, call it what you will. It grew, a little bit, more cassettes & the odd record were released & ICR became ICR Distribution promoting other fellow-travellers from near & far.
Colin has been an engineer for over 20 years now, and along his diverse history he has worked with Nurse With Wound, Current 93, Organum, Jonathan Coleclough, Ora, and many others. Being a musician himself, his contributions to these projects are often more than just being the engineer.


His music is primarily synthesiser based, and sounds very 'now' ,with its minimal electronics and crude rhythms.The muddy quality of the cassette tape gives the sound an time looped quality,like you're listening through a wall into a bedroom stuck in 1980; or is that just in my mind?

Download them all below:

The Ghost Office ICR002
Two Nights ICRoo4
The Where House ICR005
A Gain ICR006