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.

This version includes the much loved track "Are You Psychic" alongside a version of "Phantoms of Dreamland" recorded live at Café Oto featuring original album vocalist Lucianne Lasalle and regular collaborator HOVE on electronics

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Space-time defying vibrations from Balearic-electro-pionneer Michal Turtle. Oozing originality but with a fun and positive delivery, yet somehow creating sonic tapestries way ahead of their time. A true innovator. Worth it for that "Jeka" track alone.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Are You Psychic
A2. Phantoms Of Dreamland (live At Café Oto);
B1. Village Voice;
B2. It's A Stop Sign, Shirley!
B3. Yak By Yak
B4. Jeka

‘Landmass’ Turtle’s first artist album since 2017’s ‘Human’. To be released on 24 March 2023, it is his third official album having also released the acclaimed ‘Who Knows’ EP in 2013.

‘Landmass’ is a beautiful body of work that flows naturally as one piece of music and is inspired by the sparse surroundings of Jon’s studio in Argyll, Scotland, an area he moved to to try and escape the noise of the city and a move that has directly impacted on his creative process.

Jon Cooper… “Since I started producing music I have never gone into a track with any preconceived ideas, I let the music develop in its own way so my direct surroundings have always played a huge part in how it sounds and the hustle of the city was something I felt I needed to get away from. This was a cathartic experience in making it - it's a real outpouring of love for the Scottish countryside and the beauty I’m lucky enough to live in and see every day!”

Jon’s musical journey is one of experimentation and passion. A regular of the electronic scene in Glasgow in the late 90's/early 2000’s, he started to experiment with DJing and music production more for his mates entertainment than with any aspiration of a career as one of the most understated electronic artists Scotland has produced.

His white label releases soon started to become a staple in the Scottish electronica scene, and Jon’s fascination with creating music purely through “trial, error and feel” started to grow and demand for his records became more and more.

Jon’s approach to music has never changed. Not musically trained and self proclaims to “not being able to read a note of music!”, he is heavily influenced by his surroundings and experimentation. Naturally his music evolved away from dance music to a much more fluid and experimental sound that was not defined by getting played in clubs.

TRACK LISTING

A1 - Landmass
A2 - North
A3 - Promise
A4 - Autumn Light
A5 - Earth
B1- Moon
B2 - So Many Gone
B3 - Pigeon
B4 - Fertile Ground
B5 - Elders
B6 - Appreciate

Born in Croydon, UK in 1960 and working in Switzerland for decades, Michal Turtle has led a storied career as a composer, arranger, technician and producer, consistently aligned with some of the most exciting bands and projects within the realms of pop and experimental music. A figure as masterful in the realm of expansive ambient recordings as advertising jingles, it’s only in recent years that Michal’s solo productions have gained acclaim and a cult following that continues to grow ever wider.

Turtle made a long-awaited return earlier in 2020 with the extended ‘On a Canvas Lived a Baby’, a one-sided twelve of new material released on Planisphere Editorial. Now, the Basel based label invites a diverse and international cross-section of electronic musicians to reinterpret the artist’s back-catalogue, each delivering a thoughtful remix driven by the same sense of curiosity, exploration and genre-blurring that Turtle himself helped pioneer. Each track on the remixes collection was originally recorded between 1980 and 1985, in between Turtle’s regular tours with established bands.  Opening the collection, Laurel Halo adopts her LH alias for a textural and tripping revisit to ‘Phantoms of Dreamland’, transporting the haunting original to a hyper-detailed alternate dimension. Zoning back in, Neue Grafik finds typically eclectic form with ‘Men in Green’, turning the dials and blending ideas as if tuning between the emerging musical scenes that defined Turtle’s early-eighties life in Camden, London. In stark contrast, avant-garde polymath Felicia Atkinson designs a ‘Fennel and Moon’ version, weaving between earthy field recordings and an aching piano line, conjuring an almost ritualistic atmosphere, far from the city. 
Radical musical turns continue to define the collection as son of Detroit, Jimmy Edgar takes ‘Rainwater Fijit’ down a dark, damp tunnel, expanding on the pitter patter of Turtle’s more outlandish studio experiments, blending vocal experiments with fresh funk. Colombian experimentalist Lucrecia Dalt pulls further bizarre shapes from a patchwork of samples, a heaving, gasping industrial shuffle, before French producer D.K. returns a stronger rhythm, both building on Turtle’s lovingly naive tributes to the legacy of sample culture and his trusty ARP2600. 
Ostgut Ton mainstay and Panorama Bar resident Nick Höppner proceeds to sensitively rewire ‘Maid Of The Mist’ into a blossoming, introspective celebration of melody and ambience, an almost weightless experience that lends itself well as a breather before Luca Duran’s analogue, acid-tinged take on Spookie Boogie takes Turtle’s esoteric touches back into the direction of the funk and italo records at the heart of his initial inspiration.  The Remixes final chapter continues to expand in distinct and wide-reaching sonic directions. London’s Object Blue seems to slow time itself across her sublime interpretation of ‘Ball Of Fire’. Initially Turtle’s tribute to Howard Hawks 1941 film classic and the legacy of old Hollywood, worlds further collide into rolling, weightless bliss. 
Fellow Swiss citizen Mehmet Aslan stirs an enchanting, percussive mystery that unfolds with great pleasure on El Teb, while Parco Palaz conjures not one but two radically different remixes of ‘Are You Psychic?’, demonstrating both their imaginative nous, as well as the depth of Turtle’s legacy. Finally, an irresistible vocal contribution from Oso Leone adds even further colour and joy to ‘Maid of The Mist’, sending off this ambitious collection on a transformative, dream-pop high. With further details set to be revealed, there is an ongoing development focused around the accompanying art and visuals. The Peruvian born and now Amsterdam based graphic designer Jonathan Castro leads the art direction, along with visual artist Chris Harnan. Both artists look to explore the intersection between sound, imagery and its reorientation, exhibited through the musical contributors and visual translation. 

 “I am happy and honoured to have been the spark for this remarkable compilation. The magnificent work done by this collection of very special people speaks for itself, so listen and be transported. It has been half a lifetime since my original tracks were written, and I am gratified to know that they are somehow still relevant enough to be reworked and reinvented.” 
- Michal Turtle

TRACK LISTING

A1. Phantoms Of Dreamland (LH Mix)
A2. Men In Green (Neue Grafik Rework)
A3. End Of An Era (Felicia Atkinson Fennel & Moon Mix)
B1. Our Man In (DK Remix)
B2. Rainwater Fjit (Jimmy Edgar Remix)
B3. Phil 5 (Lucrecia Dalt Remix)
B4. Ball Of Fire (Object Blue Version)
C1. Maid Of The MIst (Nick Hoppner Remix)
C2. Spookie Boogie (Luca Duran Remix)
D1. El Teb (Mehmet Aslan Remix)
D2. Are You Psychic (Parco Palaz Remix Part I)
D3. Are You Psychic (Parco Palaz Remix Part II)
D4. Maid Of The Mist (Oso Leone Rework)

The band revolved around singer, songwriter and guitarist Martin Coogan (older brother of actor/comedian Steve), who blended his love of 70s glam and art rock (David Bowie, Be Bop Deluxe) with a nod towards the best in 60s music to create The Mock Turtles’ sound. From 1987 to 1990, the band made five singles (the ‘Pomona’ EP, ‘Wicker Man’, ‘And Then She Smiles’, ‘Lay Me Down’ and ‘Magic Boomerang’) and an album, Turtle Soup, for Manchester’s Imaginary Records, as well as a compilation 87-90. None of these has ever been reissued. Turtle Soup has subsequently been cited as one of the finest Manchester albums of all time. For this expanded reissue of Turtle Soup, which represents their complete Imaginary catalogue, all of the Mock Turtles’ non-album singles and B-sides are included, together with the many cover versions they recorded for Imaginary’s popular tribute albums (covering The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, Syd Barrett, The Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart and The Kinks). In addition, Martin Coogan has unearthed no less than fourteen previously unissued Mock Turtles demos from his personal archive! Sleeve-notes are by Mark Hodkinson (The Guardian, etc.), who was the first-ever journalist to review the band back in the mid-1980s. The package boasts the original versions of ‘Can You Dig It?’ (remained popular via various TV ads) and ‘And Then She Smiles’.