Robert Turman’s legendary Way Down was constructed back in 1987 and its many examples of deep-genre fracking resonate in the underground to this day. A lot of modern records seem to aspire to recreate, almost exactly, what Turman accomplished here, and while there’s no shame in that, why not go straight to the source if you missed out on Dais’ reissue a half decade ago? The cracked electronics and murky sense of place sit well side by side with the post-EDM madness that is TODAY, but really you could introduce Way Down into any era and it would shine. I know as a kid I would have been stoked to hear cuts like “Lotek” as I watched Blade Runner (disclosure: I didn’t actually watch Blade Runner as a kid, though I was alive when it came out) and geek’d out to Bionic Commando, and I want you to pay particular attention to the video-game soundtrack angle because to me that’s what Turman foresaw more than anything: A future where robotic instrumental music would have a place not just in our minds but in our kids’ hearts. And that’s yet another caveat I want to tack on: Few lyric-less records with such a forward-knowing (fuck thinking) bent endeavor to carry so much emotional weight on their shoulders, and above all the other achievements I’ve mentioned, that is the true purity of Way Down. Handling the head and the heart with such care is tantamount to success, particularly when you’re cranking out tapes in a basement and you assume most people will never get the chance to hear what you’ve accomplished. It might be the ultimate irony that a guy (me!) who was 9 years old when Way Down came out and at the time knew little outside of bands with ‘Guns’ in the name progressed to the point, almost 20 years later, where he could review this amazing record and point out how singular it is/was despite the fact that what it is/was held no treasure for him (again, that’s me!) back when it came out. Or maybe it’s like this: I was the child of a gangster father whose rivals, upon killing my daddy, decided to leave me alive even though one day I might exact my revenge, but instead of killing the head of the ____ clan I decided to write up that record I unknowingly avoided hearing instead. THE ULTIMATE PAYBACK! This is fucked up…
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