A West Lothian record label and recording studio has just sold a signed vinyl record for over £1200 in order to raise funds for refugees fleeing from the conflict in Ukraine.
Werra Foxma, the record label based in Armadale, listed a 12” LP test pressing of ‘La Fenëtre Magique’ by Scanner on Ebay recently.
Fifty bids were cast for the record, but the final winning bid went to someone in Switzerland, and was finalised at £1243 - which will go in its entirety to the Red Cross Ukraine appeal.
The West Lothian record label also plan on donating 100 per cent of their digital sales made over the weekend alongside the auction to support the aid effort.
This Bandcamp Friday weekend, we are donating 100 per cent of all digital sales to support the aid effort.
The LP was signed by Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) who is incredibly well-known in the electronic music scene, getting his stage-name from his trademark use of police and cell phone scanners when producing his music.
Robin’s signature graces the outer sleeve, inner sleeve, and the label of his own personal copy - only played once in order to approve the pressing before the album went into production.
Fra Brown, founder of Werra Foxma, spoke about the charity auction, he said: “Honestly my expectation was to raise £100 - but before you know it it had jumped up to £300.
“Then within half an hour on Saturday it shot from £300 to £1100, which really suspended all disbelief.
“The final total was just under £1245, which for one single vinyl record is absolutely insane.
La Fenëtre Magique is Scanner’s latest album - originally recorded as a session for a radio show in August, 2021 - the LP features a 30 minute track called ‘Blinking In Time’ and ‘After Magnetism’ which is described as ‘a blanket of scorched earth sound’.
Fra continued: “I can understand why it sold so well though, Scanner has been on the vanguard of alternative electronic music for 30 years, collaborating with Wire and even Brian Eno, the godfather of ambient music.
“I’m sure Robin auctioned off an old 7” single a few years back and the buyer ended up being Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth.
“But I think the final total even shocked Robin - I gave him a call after we broke £1000 as he was coming off-stage at a gig in London and he couldn’t believe it either!
“All that being said, we’re just a small part of the electronic music scene trying to support people in Ukraine - so many others in the community are raising money and waiving fees for the cause - we’re just happy to be a part of it.”
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