Monthly Archives: December 2011

Hyperbubble Drastic Cinematic Vinyl LP

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Drastic Cinematic is an ultra-indie vinyl LP from the label Pure Pop For Now People and will be quite rare and extremely hard to find soon–it’s a limited edition of 100 copies with a fabulous hand-designed/hand assembled cover.

The album itself? Utterly fantastic, especially if you’re a fan of soundtrack sounds by Tangerine Dream.

Hyperbubble is better known for bright, up-tempo robot pop with plenty of genre influences from bubblegum to electronica, but Drastic Cinematic is a departure from that–the soundtrack-y vibe is all through this vinyl record and Hyperbubble lays it on THICK with fat, heavy analog synth rhythms and pulsing beats that call to mind some of the most exciting electronic soundtracks of the 70s and early 80s.

Standout moments on this album include the great-for-driving Night Cruiser, and Blame It On The Bot. And don’t overlook the opening track Vox Noir which has an excellent “Beach Boys gone goth” sound.

If you were a fan of the soundtrack for The Park Is Mine or Thief, you owe it to yourself to own this. Sure, Drastic Cinematic by Hyperbubble is available via MP3 in the usual places, but the vinyl version of this is, in my mind, definitive. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, though I must say for transparency’s sake that the band used some of my photography for the album cover–maybe I’m not so impartial? Either way, if you are a fan of synth soundtrack music, have a listen and you will not regret it.

–Joe Wallace

TD’S CDs & LPs in Bloomington, Indiana

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The second stop of Vinyl Road Rage 4 was another familiar shop–TD’s CDs and LPs in Bloomington, Indiana. This shop, located at 322 East Kirkwood Avenue, is a basement record store in a building with a good coffee shop and several other attractions.

It’s been running in the basement there for over ten years, giving love to local bands, selling rare and weird music and with quite a good, diverse selection too.

Any fan of 80s/90s electronic or experimental music should definitely have a look. Nurse With Wound is very well represented there (just one example) and the soundtrack section is crammed full of great, obscure and hard to find titles–especially Goblin. Vinyl and CDs are both equally represented–this is not a shop that has one or the other as an afterthought.

Like other great indie record shops, the notes about some of the more attention-worthy releases handwritten or printed out by the staff on stickers make the shopping experience a lot more fun and informative.

There’s something about notes written by the people who work in that particular shop that make you feel like you’re really connecting with the store overall. It’s a great touch and a habit I like to encourage.

I can’t tell you how many albums I’ve purchased strictly on the content of those notes alone, and my visit to TD’s was no exception–at least one of my purchases was on the strength of those little writeups. TD’s is friendly, fun to shop and very cozy. The fact that you can go right next door for a caffeinated jolt and review your purchases is also a big plus.

I highly recommend this record store and it’s definitely on my “must shop” list for anytime I am in the area.

Fellow vinyl junkies, why not join me on Facebook? You can also become a fan of the official Facebook page for the upcoming Turntabling.net book WTF Records: The Turntabling Guide to Weird and Wonderful Vinyl.


Vinyl Road Rage Video-More From The Road

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Yet another installment in the Vinyl Road Rage video series, shot in Austin Texas. This one’s a closer look at the Crosley Revolution portable turntable and how it performs when broadcasting to an FM channel as opposed to going USB in to a computer…naturally the USB signal will be much better, but when you need the FM capability, it’s pretty nice to have.

The Crosley, after road testing and playing with it onscreen, seems to be very handy for a low-tech streetcorner DJ concept, or perhaps a set at your local drive-in movie theater…very handy indeed! Get two, a big boom box and let your DJ skills fly.



The Turntabling Collection: Rare, Hard-To-Find and Awesomeness on CD and LP

For Sale, Weird and Unclassifiable Vinyl

Many Turntabling readers know us from conventions including HorrorHound Weekend, Flashback Weekend, Cinema Wasteland, Capricon and Dark Carnival Film Festival.

Turntabling sells rare, hard to find and just plain amazing vinyl and CDs at conventions every year and last year the Turntabling booth got so large I was carting around more than 700 titles. Not bad for a small space at a convention, eh?

When the collection isn’t making the rounds in convention-land, there are many titles for sale online as well. The Turntabling Collection has been offline since the last HorrorHound Weekend and Vinyl Road Rage, but the collection is coming back on line for sale once more.

As with everything else on the web, listing a collection of this size takes time and the inventory is coming up to speed with updates on a daily basis.

If you’re looking for obscurities, Italian soundtrack sounds from Goblin and Morricone, electronic music and analog synth sounds, Isaac Hayes, John Carpenter, Sleep Chamber, Skinny Puppy, Coil, or similar sounds, keep checking The Turntabling Collection as I am updating the for sale list day to day.

–Joe Wallace