Robert Turman

Originally released as a small run cassette in 1987, only to fall into tape label obscurity, Robert Turmans industrial genre-bending masterpiece album Way Down finally has been excavated for a proper vinyl reissue after twenty-three years in the shadows. This album solidifies Turman as a cut above the rest with respect to his talent and his natural ear for experimental composition. Turman first came onto the industrial scene in the late 70s as the ominous other half of legendary noise outfit NON, alongside Boyd Rice, together releasing the now classic first NON single, Mode of Infection/Knife Ladder 7″ in 1977. After parting ways, Turman went on an excursion of self-released cassettes to which he fused every possible influence at his disposal, culling together past habits of experimental know-how and going forward into uncharted terrain. After his previous experimental efforts included on his Flux release in 1981, and even later in the prolific Chapter Eleven boxset, Turman turned the tables with the creation of Way Down, using synthesizer arrangements and drum machines alongside guitar solos, piano chords, tape loops and primitive sampling to create a whole new concoction of dance-like minimal synth blended together with the industrial darkwave noise he was mostly known for. After almost vanishing from the music scene, Turman resurfaced in 2005, teaming up with seminal noise musician Aaron Dilloway to not only reissue previous recordings, but to record and perform once again with new releases out on Hanson and Medusa. This vinyl reissue of Way Down serves as the blueprint of what Turman sought to render as a very accessible minimal synth/industrial album, yet keeping it just obtuse enough to make it one of the most brilliant and engaging albums to be ushered into the canon of 80s experimental culture.