It's been 40 years since Michal Turtle released his seminal, ground-breaking album "Music From The Living Room" into the world and promptly disappeared back into the aether.

An extremely obscure cult classic known only to deep diggers and aficionados of the finest order, it wasn't until Music From Memory reissued some of the tracks from it via retrospective compilations of Turtle's unreleased music almost 30 years later that his name become more widely known and a new generation were able to discover the artist's unique and pioneering style of experimental electronic music production, the majority of it very much ahead of its time, and to this day, still timeless.

Invisible Inc contacted Turtle in the summer of 2023 about releasing something else by him and it was during this exchange of emails that ideas were expressed about releasing not simply a straightforward reissue of "Music From The Living Room" to mark its 40th anniversary (the album has never been reissued in full) but rather a re-imagined/re-constructed take on the album bringing contemporary techniques, styles and newly recorded vocal and instrument parts into the mix and breathing new life into these wonderful compositions.

Collaborators old and new were brought into the studio and the songs re-created from the ground up. Familiar songs like "Are You Psychic?" and "Village Voice" get overhauled and echo remnants of their original counterparts but simultaneously sound like completely new tracks. The always mesmerising "Phantoms of Dreamland" is represented through a live recording at Café Oto featuring original album vocalist Lucianne Lasalle and regular collaborator HOVE on electronics. The remaining tracks, however, will be completely new to the ears of most people, never having been reissued or heard in these new forms ever before.

Regardless, whether in some way familiar or not, these hypnotic and repetitive pieces of beautiful sound art, all very different in style from one another, have an entirely new identity that even diehard devotees of the originals will fall in love with.

“Holy shit. This record is amazing. 'Are You Psychic?' is really something” dj_2button [Dummy Hand / Weirdos Inc.]

“What a record!” Cosmo Vitelli [I'm A Cliché]

“Amazing release. Probably your best release yet! Does everything an amazing record should and more...” Alexis Le-Tan [Oddity Radio / Full Circle / Offen Music]

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Following their release of the Michael Turtle 12” last year, Music From Memory now publish ‘Phantoms of Dreamland’; a compilation of works by the UK musician recorded between 1983-1985. This double LP features tracks drawn from the recording sessions for Turtle’s album ‘Music From The Living Room’ and also collects material Turtle recorded shortly after that, for an album which would never materialise. With three tracks taken from ‘Music From The Living Room’ and the rest of the compilation entirely made up of unreleased tracks, ‘Phantoms of Dreamland’ draws on an illustrious period for Michael. In 1982, at the age of only 22, Michael Turtle set up a portable four track studio in his family’s South London home, over-running his parents' front room with synthesizers, amps and instruments. Here he would create layered and deeply hypnotic tracks that were often built around live jams with musicians he would invite to his home. Although the music can appear to be sample based, all instruments were played live and any voices or sound effects were recorded directly to tape or from tiny cassette loops. Combining electronics with live percussion throughout, ‘Phantoms Of Dreamland’ reflects a deep sense of musical exploration and creates a uniquely other-worldly musical language of its own.

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For the second installment in their 12” series Music From Memory present two deeply forward thinking electronic tracks from British musician Michal Turtle made between 1983-4. The first track ‘Are you Psychic?’ is taken from Turtle’s obscure ‘Music From The Living Room’ album which Michal recorded literally in the living room of his family’s South London house at the young age of 22. Over-running his parents' front room with various synthesizers, amps and instruments, and setting up a portable four track studio the ‘Music From The Living Room’ tracks were built around live jams that took place alone or sometimes with musicians he would invite to play alongside him. Whilst seemingly sample based the instruments were played live and any voices or sound effects were actually recorded directly to tape, or put onto tiny 2.5 second cassette loops. ‘Astral Decoy’ was made in the year following the release of his only solo LP and forms part of a series of unreleased tracks that reflect a growing interest in combining electronics with more analogue elements such as Xylophone and live percussion. At the same time this track draws inspiration from the sound of electro and boogie which Michal had become greatly interested in at the time, and in particular the work of musicians such as Grandmaster Flash. With access to the archives of the many recordings made at his family home, this 12” serves as an introduction to a wider compilation of Michal Turtles works which is to follow on Music From Memory.

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Masters within the evolution of ambient and experimental music over the past forty years, Michal Turtle and Suso Saiz come together for the first time for ‘Static Journeys’, a full-length collaborative album. Unfolding over six diverse tracks, Turtle and Saiz imagine the memories, journeys and textures of half-a-dozen cities borne only of their imagination. Developed closely alongside Swiss agency and label PLANISPHERE, the music was premiered in it’s completed form during a performance installation for ON at Kunstmuseum Basel, a transdisciplinary event designed that featured live visuals from Ezra Miller and more. While both wildly prolific, the music of both Turtle and Saiz was previously the domain of specialist collectors and obsessive record enthusiasts. Since 2015, a series of reissues on labels such as Music From Memory and reinterpretations of Turtle’s music on Planisphere have brought the back-catalogue of these artists to a much wider audience, and to each other. Far from nostalgic and fundamentally curious as expected, ‘Static Journeys’ captures these innovators transferring their unique chemistry into an ambient tete-a-tete rich in detail. Static Journeys’ was recorded throughout 2019 over two individual recording sessions, each lasting a number of days. The first took place in Turtle’s infamous ‘living room’ studio, his cosy and domestic atmosphere providing the initial foundation for the pair’s long-form improvisations; Saiz focused on synthesis and modulation, Turtle providing hypnotic, looping percussion. Later, in a studio in Madrid, the roles became less defined. Saiz’s textures, musical time standing still began to kindly interweave with Turtle’s offbeat melodies. The results of these meetings are blissful and adventurous. Following the welcoming undulations of opening track Buonovintra Beckons, ‘Missing Papotl’ dives into soaring, new-age percussion underscored by wistful melancholy. ‘ Returning to Brendelton’ unfolds as analogue tropicalia, static indistinguishable from tropical birdsong. ‘Hattalcuia Awaits’ is bound by mystery and anticipation, whereas ‘Leaving Okovozi’ presents a quietly spectacular exercise in minimalism, led by yearning bass and whistling chimes. Finally, ‘Caravan to Inek’ allow for a dense, hopeful finale, incorporating electronic guitar and the afterglow of new connections forged. Blissful, diverse and occasionally sublime, ‘Static Journeys’ combines experimentation and creative trust to deliver a timeless musical meeting.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore