‘Turntable Technology’ is the highly anticipated exceptional double artist album from beat technician Pablo on Soma Records, stepping away from the staple label sound to unleash a synthesis of anarchic beats, soundscapes and medleys.
‘Turntable Technology’ is a diverse and mesmerizing album that defies all genre boundaries. Sounding like a reincarnation of The Avalanches crossed with De La Soul and The Cinematic Orchestra right through to Ennio Morricone and Jon Brion, Pablo fuses rare beats and breaks, hip-hop, soul and jazz together with soundtrack, classical, down-tempo to create an album unlike any you will have heard. Experimenting heavily with instrumentation, many of the parts are played by Pablo himself, including the Cuatro guitar, Puerto Rico’s national instrument.
Pablo is Michael Hunter, the Glaswegian musical talent that brought the dubbed-out goodness of Butches Brew to Soma’s sister label, Fenetik, under his Butch Cassidy Sound System alias. He has produced under his Pablo guise on Good Looking Records, Fenetik Music and Red Hook Recordings and composed the theme and incidental music for the computer game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas & Grand Theft Auto IV; music that has been heard by millions of gamers, all over the world.
The album commences with title track, ‘Turntable Technology’, a vocal introduction to turntable use and control set over a choice selection of glitched-out and skipping beats. Swinging into the primate sounds of ‘Sing’, with its truly infectious riff and freaky vocals charging up the energy before stepping into the dancefloor friendly ‘Fairchild: Live At The Lab’ and tripped out ‘Sky Is High’.
‘Turn The Page’ is a brief insight into the life of Pablo, discussing his one-room home and lack of sufficient footwear all through an audio-book format while ‘The Story Of Sampling’ delves into his topsy-turvey world with classical strings and lyricists stitched together with a ghetto’s worth of attitude.
Featured on Rough Trade’s end of year compilation, Counter Culture ‘08, ‘Record Shop’ is filled with vintage goodness. It teaches a lesson on what Pablo spends his buttons on before shooting straight into the cosmic ‘Goes To Pluto’, with its funk’d-up bass, spiralling synths and whacked-out shakers and cow-bells.
‘Music Maestro’ mellows the tone with harps and gentle singing in anticipation for the dark and mysterious ‘Rooftop Chase’, crawling with eerie sounds that shoot cautious looks over your shoulder. Finishing CD1 is the divine, saxophone-led ‘High Jazz’, a blissful and sincere record that tugs happily at the heartstrings.
CD2 is a collection of instrumentals of many of the originals scattered amid additional original works including ‘The Cuatro Track’, a beautifully peaceful and sanguine guitar solo and ‘Into The Deep Blue’, a deeply passionate record provoking imagery of rolling Italian hills, olive trees and Mafioso. ‘Proceed With Caution’, ‘On The Trail’ and ‘Act of Persuasion’ share a menacing spirit with the earlier ‘Rooftop Chase’ while still blazing with magnetic mystery.
‘Journey’s End’ begins to wind the album down with melancholy and almost helpless sentiment before the dreamy and soulful ‘Reincarnation’ leaves the sweet taste of Pablo watering in your mouth.
From beginning to end this album moves, entertains and scares. As much at home within the world of cinema as it is for anytime listening, Pablo has concocted an utterly memorable masterpiece that lives and breathes.
TRACKLISTINGsoma
CD 1
1. Turntable Technology
2. Sing
3. Fairchild (Live at the Lab)
4. Sky Is high
5. Turn The Page
6. Speed Check
7. The Story Of Sampling
8. Record Shop
9. Goes To Pluto
10. Music Maestro
11. Rooftop Chase
12. High Jazz
CD 2
1. Speed Check Instrumental
2. The Cuatro Track
3. The Story Of Sampling Instrumental
4. Into The Deep Blue
5. Turn The Page Instrumental
6. Sky Is High Instrumental
7. Act Of Persuasion
8. Turntable Technology Instrumental
9. Sing Instrumental
10. Puzzled Picture
11. Music Maestro Instrumental
12. Proceed With Caution
13. On The Trail
14. Journey’s End
15. Reincarnation
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