Robert Turman

Robert Turman, an experimental, noise, and industrial musician originally from San Diego, California, quietly put out a handful of obscure tape releases throughout the 1980’s. Turman first came onto the industrial scene in the late 70’s as the ominous ‘other half’ of the legendary noise outfit NON, alongside Boyd Rice, and together they collaborated on the now classic 1977 single ‘Mode of Infection’ / ‘Knife Ladder’. Shortly after, Turman parted ways with Rice to pursue his own unique vision as a solo artist, fusing together every possible influence at his disposal and laying those ideas down on numerous self-released cassettes like Flux (1981) and the prolific Chapter Eleven (1988) cassette box set. Turman’s most original work, Way Down, came in 1987. It was a creation that utilized synthesizer arrangements and drum machines alongside guitar solos, piano chords, tape loops, and primitive sampling to create a whole new brand of danceable minimal synth blended perfectly together with the industrial darkwave noise he was mostly known for.

After vanishing from the music scene in the late 80’s, Turman resurfaced in 2005 and teamed up with seminal noise musician Aaron Dilloway to write and perform new material. After Turman and Dilloway put out several split releases together with Hanson and Medusa Records, Turman joined with Dais in 2010 to re-issue Way Down, which had previously fallen into tape label obscurity, but has now been made available once again for a new generation of listeners for the first time ever on vinyl.