The Turntabling Podcast

 

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The very first Turntabling Podcast is now up and running for your listening enjoyment. First episodes of ANYTHING are painful, rough, cheesy and difficult to be enthusiastic about once the next and much-better-sounding editions go up, but for now this maiden voyage of the Turntabling Podcast will have to do.

The idea behind this show is not so much to do music CRITICISM, but something more along the lines of vinyl ARCHAEOLOGY. Consider this a voyage into the dark, scary underbrush of vinyl. Where the monsters live, at least according to local superstition.

In this first episode, Turntabling discusses born again christian new-wave music by Steve Taylor, an Australian experimental album called Tape Projects 06, the frightening and funny Hilarity And Despair: American Answering Machine Tapes Volume One, plus a listen to choice bits off the Irritainment album by Guyana Punch Line. Sore throat music isn’t for EVERYONE, but some people like it.

Listen to the first-ever Turntabling Podcast, and remember that just like Dan Savage would say…it gets better. Episode Two should be FAR more entertaining, but don’t let my saying that deter you from hearing these weird vinyl cuts…they’re worth it.

–Joe Wallace

Electronic Sadism: A Chicago Compilation

Turntabling Records is at it again–this time with a brain-shreddingly unusual compilation of Chicago electronic music projects by Paisley Babylon, Savior Noise, Thelema USA, Satan’s Tea Boy and other acts featured on Electronic Sadism: A Chicago Compilation.

That link takes you to the 20-track iTunes download version of the album, but there is also a limited edition 12-song sampler available for sale on compact disc. The CD version is limited to a run of 500 and is completely hand-assembled. No more than 500 will be made and sold.

The 12 tracks available on the CD sampler are a strange mixture of Coil, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire and Skinny Puppy textures. There are vintage-era industrial and ambient sounds combined with soundtrack-esque interludes, mellow meanderings, and nearly hallucinatory side-trips. But the ghost of the Marquis de Sade is always lurking nearby to bring you back to attention with a sonic blast of fury and chaos.

The packaging for this CD special edition is deceptively LP-sized, right down to a poly outer sleeve.  But make no mistake, this is a compact disc full of electronics, evil and doubt (as Brian Eno would say). Going from wildly chaotic to strangely danceable, Electronic Sadism is a great birthday gift for the old-school industrial music fan in your life. Anybody who wishes for the good old days of Throbbing Gristle and Test Department should have a listen to this.

Have a free listen to the download-only track “Speaker Damage Guaranteed” from the digital version of Electronic Sadism or listen to the final track on the limited-edition Electronic Sadism CD by Thelema USA, “Robes Off”

Electronic Penis Choppers Digital Single: The M Diary

Electronic Penis Choppers–one of the trouble-making side projects of Paisley Babylon. EPC plays coarser, more abrasive textures than Paisley Babylon–this is a band that likes its electronica sharp and spiky.

This particular digital single, The M Diary, is probably comparable to Wire at its most experimental–think of a more hyperactive and prickly “Small Electric Piece” from Wire’s 154 album crossed with some Musick to Play In The Dark -era Coil and you’ve got the right idea.

The M Diary features more than six minutes of captivating electronics, the creation of which were influenced by organic substances that should be hinted at rather than named.

The M Diary is as far away from smooth and mellow as it gets. How did this track get made at all considering the brain fuel involved?

No matter. Electronic Penis Choppers strikes again, with a very sharp object into your central nervous system. You won’t feel any pain when it goes in, you’ll just see blue flashes and wonder why the colors taste so funny.

Don’t be fooled by the false ending near the final section of the track–EPC brings back the metallic tones for one last bow before the track winds up. Wait for those skittering sounds to return before moving on to the next track.

This track is available for download via Amazon.com. Preview, purchase and download The M Diary by Electronic Penis Choppers for .99 cents.

Paisley Babylon Digital Single: Blood Alcohol Content .211

For fans of the more experimental side of The Legendary Pink Dots, this digital single from Paisley Babylon should be right up your alley. Anyone who owns the LPD albums Faces In The Fire or Shadow Weaver should give a listen to Paisley Babylon’s Blood Alcohol Content .211. There is a kindred spirit at work in these surrealist textures.

The analog synth sounds of the Roland Juno 1 and Juno 6 are on display here along with some trippy found sound and echo manipulation. There’s also an old analog Eventide Harmonizer played as an instrument, lending this track some delicious otherworldly textures.

Inspired by true events in San Antonio, this track speculates what it’s like to experience the aftermath of a car crash at extreme speeds at 3AM on a rain-swept  Texas highway. There is a definite LPD influence here, cross-pollinated with Throbbing Gristle and a dash of Eno at his most sinister. The track is part of the PB digital album Songs From The Interstellar Hash Bar Jukebox, but was also released in 1997 on the CD-only Alpha Wave Variations album.

This MP3 digital download is sold via Amazon.com. You can preview, purchase and download the Paisley Babylon digital single Blood Alcohol Content .211 for .99 cents.

Paisley Babylon Dream Surgery Single

Dream Surgery by Paisley Babylon is a quite surreal experience. Nearly six minutes of electronic bliss recorded in Keflavik, Iceland in 1999 during a blizzard, this track was definitely influenced by the weather, the constant darkness in Iceland that time of year, and the lava fields stretching endlessly across the countryside.

Paisley Babylon specializes in electronic ambient journeys, experimental soundscapes, and more traditional sounds in the Morricone soundtrack vein. There’s also more than a hint of Stereolab and Coil influence here with a dash of Throbbing Gristle thrown in for good measure.

Dream Surgery has more structure than some of the other sounds on the album this was released on, Midnight Hallucinations, but there is definitely a trippy vibe going on here. This track is probably not right for road trips–it INDUCES highway hypnosis instead of driving it away. Never mind the surgery games, this track is all about the anesthetic.

This is the first post in a series of experiments to get projects like Paisley Babylon some wider exposure among people into sounds like these…Turntabling Records plans to offer these tracks as downloads direct from the site once our digital download interface is ready–we present this track via iTunes.

Download Dream Surgery in MP3 format via iTunes. Dream Surgery is a single track available for .99 cents. You can also explore the rest of the album, Midnight Hallucinations.

An Experiment With Music

Some regular Turntabling readers know that Turntabling isn’t just a blog, it’s also a micro-label featuring projects including Paisley Babylon, Thelema USA, Electronic Penis Choppers and other unusual electronic music delights.

I’ve long been fascinated by the decline of the music industry, the rise of the independent artist, and the whole indie music scene in genearal. From fascinating indie labels like Beta-Lactam Ring Records to the insanely prolific Legendary Pink Dots, there is plenty of life in indie music even as the majors crumble into nothing.

But I personally haven’t seen any site that has really taken full advantage of some of the tools and tricks other online retailers use to sell Widget X or Service Y. I have a theory that with the right kind of presentation, even a teeny tiny more or less unknown micro-label like Turntabling could get some new fans by presenting music in interesting, left-of center (but fan-friendly) ways.

So Turntabling begins an experiement with the micro-label stuff.

We’ll be posting a variety of individual tracks, singles, EP packages and full albums available for purchase and digital download. No postage to worry about (yet–we plan on offering some flexi discs and other novelties at some point) just pure digital downloads. At a buck per song, what’s the risk?

The toughest part about any experiment like this is cross-referencing unfamiliar music with better known artists to give people an idea of what to expect. Some Paisley Babylon tracks sound like the two-headed mutant offspring of Nurse With Wound and Brian Eno. Electronic Penis Choppers can be Aphex Twin-esque, but veer off into Coil territory with regularity. Thelema USA has an sinister ambient vibe but also winds up in Coil’s musical zip code…

But suffice it to say that this experiment will be quite interesting from both a musician point of view and a music sales point of view. It’s tough to make any kind of living at all from music, art, any creative pursuit. I’m hoping that this experiment gives Turntabling Records projects some added exposure to people who would enjoy these sounds and become part of the audio cult that is Turntabling Records.

Off we go!

–Joe Wallace

Unrezt and Recordings of Thin Consolation

I stumbled across Thin Consolation by accident today after checking out a new Twitter.com/turntabling follower who is part of this Belgium-based record label.

I spent AGES on this site listening to glitchy, electronic wonderfulness including a FABULOUS electronic 12 inch by Odaka called Warm Geometry. I’ve played this six times in a row now. Part of what Unrezt calls the “Pastorale Electronics series”, Warm Geometry is an analog synth dreamy-fest that kicks into some nice percussion-n-bass analog synth action.

I am dying to hear Warm Geometry on vinyl as the gods of stereo intended but the track at Unrezt is a nice experience regardless.

There are other wonderful discoveries to be made at Unrezt including the glitch-happy Cupp Cave (which features a nice sample about zombies on the intro to the track linked here). And I love the description of Cupp Cave’s world, which is inhabited by “improbable vegetarian Texan zombies on Mexican mushrooms, all thumbs and two left feet.”

Unrezt is my new favorite record label (at least for this week)–great stuff from Belgium and more to come.

P.S. The label is Thin Consolation, the website is Unrezt. I am new so I don’t get the distinction between one end and the other…so Unrezt folks, forgive a dumb Yank.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

–Joe Wallace … Continue Reading

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

These are words I never, EVER expected to go together. Tokyo…SKA? Sounds great to me! I don’t know how long this brain-altering download will be available, but suffice it to say that Mod64 is my new favorite music blog. If for no other reason than the fact that I located this album, AND one by The Music Machine, who look like they’ve stepped right out of one o’ Swingin’ London’s groovier basement hash dens. Oh yes, I am hooked and on a downloading frenzy. Some of my musician friends say they don’t even bother purchasing music anymore because of all the free MP3 downloads, but being able to properly DJ show means having full quality, so I am happy to support the artists wherever I am able by purchasing retro reissues. Bring the grooviness!