Fourth Dimension Records is a British

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, specialising in international

underground music Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture. Underground music is intimately tied to popular music culture as a whole, so there are important tensions within underground ...

. It was founded by Gary Levermore as an offshoot of his Third Mind label before being taken over by Richard Johnson (aka Richo) in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. The label became quite successful in the 1990s, releasing music by Simon Wickham-Smith &

Richard Youngs Richard Youngs is an English musician based in Glasgow since the early 1990s. His catalogue of solo and collaborative work formally begins with ''Advent'', first issued in 1990. He plays many instruments, most commonly choosing the guitar, but ...

KK Null , known by his stage name KK Null, is a Japanese experimental multi-instrumentalist active since the early 1980s. He began as a guitarist but learned how to compose, sing, play drums, and create electronic music. He also studied Butoh dance at ...

The Gerogerigegege () is a Japanese experimental music project, founded in 1985 by . Though they are often categorized with Japanese harsh noise acts such as Merzbow and Masonna, The Gerogerigegege has also released albums of more straightforward punk rock ('' ...

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

, Splintered (band),

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moo ...

, Hijokaidan (band), and

Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...

, side projects by members of

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and

Skullflower Skullflower is a British noise rock band, formed in 1987 in London, England. Led by guitarist Matthew Bower, the band attained a cult following with a sound based on "sludgy, Black Sabbath-style riffs overlaid with feedback, fuzzed-out guitar ...

and myriad 7" and 10" singles by experimental artists from the UK, US,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Alongside the label, Johnson also ran a mail order service, stocking rare underground releases from around the world. Shortly before taking over the label, Johnson began editing a fanzine called Grim Humour, initially covering non-mainstream artists such as

Big Black Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band's initial lineup also included guitarist Santiago Durango and bassist Jeff Pezzati, both of Nake ...

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...

Killing Joke Killing Joke are an English rock music, rock band from Notting Hill, London, England, formed in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass). Their first album, ''Ki ...

Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...

Whitehouse Whitehouse may refer to: People * Charles S. Whitehouse (1921-2001), American diplomat * Cornelius Whitehouse (1796–1883), English engineer and inventor * E. Sheldon Whitehouse (1883-1965), American diplomat * Elliott Whitehouse (born 1993), ...

and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

. These often came with cassette or vinyl compilations (usually given FD catalogue numbers) with participants including the aforementioned Sonic Youth,

Cindytalk Cindytalk is an experimental music project, founded in 1982. Cindytalk operated as a group for many years, but more recently has been a solo project by Cinder (previously known as Gordon Sharp), a Scottish performer and the only constant member ...

Ausgang Ausgang was an English gothic rock band formed in Birmingham, England in 1983. History Ausgang formed from the ashes of previous band Kabuki.Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, , p. 24-5 Some memb ...

, Con Demek and Portion Control. The fanzine ceased in the mid 1990s but Johnson has since launched a new title, Adverse Effect, which has been praised by

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

and

Ptolemaic Terrascope {{Infobox magazine , image_file = pto.png , image_size = , image_caption = ''Ptolemaic Terrascope'' logo , editor = Phil McMullen (1988–2005) Pat Thomas (2005-07) , editor_title = , staff ...

, lasted four editions and now can be found as a blogspot and via the Fourth Dimension website. Although Fourth Dimension was dormant for a short while in the late 1990s, it has since relaunched with further releases from Merzbow and Circle, as well as albums by Johnson's own project Theme, The Fields of Hay and British sound artist

Andrew Liles Andrew Liles (born 11 March 1969) is a British sound artist and multi-instrumentalist. He has a vast output of recordings that he has released since the mid-1980s, covering a variety of styles as experimental music, dark ambient music, progr ...

. He has also begun a second label, Lumberton Trading Company, a joint venture initially started with Hassni Malik The Vitamin B12. It has issued a number of albums by artists including

Experimental Audio Research Experimental Audio Research (commonly shortened to E.A.R. or EAR) is an experimental music collective formed around Peter Kember (a.k.a. Sonic Boom), formerly of Spacemen 3. While Spacemen 3 were a relatively traditional rock and roll band with s ...

, Theme,

Thighpaulsandra Timothy Lewis – best known by the stage name Thighpaulsandra – is a Welsh experimental musician and multi-instrumentalist, known mostly for performing on synthesizers and keyboards. He began his career working with Julian Cope in the late ...

, Human Greed and

Michael Gira Michael Rolfe Gira (; born February 19, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author and artist. He is the main force behind the New York City musical group Swans and fronted Angels of Light. He is also the founder of ...

. More releases are also planned. Besides the fact Fourth Dimension and Lumberton Trading Company continue to this day, Richard Johnson is still writing about music, is involved in

Theme (band) Theme or themes may refer to: * An academic discipline or school subject * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strate ...

, plans to oversee a reissue campaign by his last group, Splintered (band) and is working on a book devoted to his Grim Humour fanzine. Another book dedicated to

Adverse Effect An adverse effect is an undesired harmful effect resulting from a medication or other intervention, such as surgery. An adverse effect may be termed a "side effect", when judged to be secondary to a main or therapeutic effect. The term complica ...

will then follow.

External links

Fourth Dimension page at DiscogsAdverse Effect website - incorporates Fourth Dimension RecordsLumbarton Trading Company
{{Authority control British record labels Record labels established in 1984 Experimental music record labels Noise music record labels Industrial record labels