Category Archives: editorial

Turntabling in HorrorHound Magazine #26

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by Joe Wallace

Turntabling readers who are also fans of HorrorHound Magazine will discover a little surprise in issue 26. On pages 50 and 51, you’ll find my article, The Sounds of Argento discussing the Italian Hitchcock’s work with Ennio Morricone, Goblin, and Keith Emerson. It’s the first of a two-part series and I’m very pleased to appear in the pages of HorrorHound, which just celebrated its five-year anniversary.

Issue 26 of HorrorHound hits the newsstand at a great time–HorrorHound Weekend in Cincinnati is November 12-14 and Turntabling will be there with plenty of rare soundtracks, vintage vinyl and many other goodies. Many thanks to HorrorHound magazine for hosting Turntabling–both in print and at the show.

And lest you think I only want you to read HH for the soundtrack info, you should know that issue 26 is crammed full of other goodness including the Psycho retrospective. It’s great to see a modern horror mag that devotes much space to more “modern” films giving Hitchcock his due.

Personally, my favorite parts of HorrorHound Magazine are the regular Video Invasion and Kitley’s Krypt features. Those two alone are well worth the cover price. Grab a copy from your favorite bookseller today and see what I mean.

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Audio-Technica ATLP120 USB Turntable

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At a recent Paisley Babylon gig at the Horror Society’s two-day film festival in Chicago, I did an all-horror related live mashup and turntablist multimedia set using a pair of Audio-Technica ATLP 120 USB turntables. I am pleased to say these Audio-Technica turntables worked quite well and give me good, consistent performance.

I took delivery of three of these AT USB turntables back in the middle of summer, but hadn’t had a chance to put them through their paces in a live setting until October when I started doing DJ Paisley Babylon gigs and performing Paisley Babylon Beautiful Chaos shows.

I am a big believer in these turntables after having used them in my October gigs here in Chicago. In spite of the weight–the AT120LP USB turntables have a built-in pre-amp so you can select line-level output or phono output–these were wonderful.

Perfectly suited for my needs as I was feeding line-level out from the turntable into an echo unit for life dub and mashup effects I could hold in my hand and make a big goofy show out of using. It’s a hell of a lot of fun to manipulate vinyl in this way!

My only gripe with these turntables has to do with the switch for selecting line out or phono out. Beware when transporting them as the switch is in the rear of the unit and is susceptible to breaking off if it gets jammed up against other gear as you’re transporting to short distance gigs. I threw mine in the back of the vehicle too close to my vinyl crates and one pothole and a jostle took out the switch on turntable #3. My fault for not packing more carefully, but something to keep in mind.

At the end of the day I can highly recommend the Audio-Technica ATLP120 USB turntable. It has much going for it and I’ll be getting good use of these for a long time to come.

Blogwatch

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I’ve been searching high and low for vinyl blogs to review here, but I’ve been coming up dry so I thought I’d pass along a few blogs that do cater to vinyl lovers but not exclusively so.

There is a LOT of vinyl on the always-fun Manchester Morgue, but my all time favorite find there has got to be the post on the German disco act Hot Blood, with an album called Disco Dracula. Now there is a movie crying to be made.

Xtabay’s World hadn’t been updated in a while but the most recent post makes up for that, at least for fans of the music on Dig It! The Sounds of Phase 4 Stereo.

The Midnight Monster Show is all about retro horror and related topics…I’m a fan, what can I say? No vinyl here but a fun read, regardless.

Funkabolic prices are far too insane for me to contemplate but I do enjoy windowshopping there. I’m not criticizing, just saying…50 euros for a vinyl record is a tough call when you’re USA based and looking at shipping on top of that…

I’ve only just this moment discovered two blogs; the first is DiscoWorkout and it promises much…it looks retro and futuristic at the same time and the magic word–disco–is right there in the name. How can you go wrong? I am hoping there is much disco cheeze to explore here.

Blog discovery two is called 20 Jazz Funk Greats and is also unique in the design department with an intentionally clunky, retro-future feel and the writing in many places feels like a nice departure from typical blog post style and tone…20 JFG is something I plan on spending more time on in the future.

–Joe Wallace

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WTF Album Covers: Morrissey Get Rich Or Die Tryin’

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When the PR spin doctors couldn’t live up to the courage of their convictions with the original gun-totin’ 50 Cent image for Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, they took the most spineless, cheesy route possible to save their wretched little movie–they swapped the gangsta thuggin gun visuals for the pic on the left–Curtis Jackson holding a cute little tyke instead.

“Awwww” you say. “Just look at that sweet little kiddo! Curtis Jackson might carry a pistol, but at least he won’t let the kid use it as a pacifier.”

It was shameless. It was corny. It worked. Even though poor 50 Cent had to endure the shame of the sort of spin doctoring usually reserved for Republican senators caught with their hands on the interns, he not only ended up no worse for the wear, he might have actually become a major influence for older, less relevant crooners who can’t…quite…command…the attention of the media and buying public the way they used to.

Case in point: Morrissey, who could be the very very first case of “me too” crossover from alt. rock to hip hop imagery. Is Moz trying to score points with 50 Cent’s audience? Is this the very first “aging rocker versus rap” feud? Perhaps Morrissey and Fiddy will engage in some kind of DJ battle, rap-off or…um, croon-off.

Probably not. But it would be damn amusing if they did. Behold Morrissey’s attempt to cash in on the baby pic image, which is somehow as disturbing as the possibility that he might try to guest-rap on the next 50 Cent single.

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