Michal Turtle’s Baby on a Canvas
“On a Canvas Lived a Baby” is the baffling title of a new 12” record by the lo-fi-electronica experimenter Michal Turtle. It is released in a limited vinyl edition by the Basel-based Planisphere label, the first part of a trilogy, with an extensive remix collection and a new, collaborative LP and AV project promised for next year.
He’ll probably hate us for saying this, but in one respect, at least, Michal Turtle – aka Michael Turtle or just Turtle – is a bit like Boris Johnson. He, too, will probably not know the number of “children” he has produced. Going back to a singular album called “Music from the Living Room”, released in 1983, Michal has released countless records on almost as many small and smallest imprints. Given the hypnotic and subtle quality of experimental work that travels lightly between dubby electronica, understated low-fi “noise” and the odd semi-whispered vocal (although it’s possible that this impression, gained from a completely arbitrary and small selection of recordings, is not representative), the artist’s continued obscurity is baffling.
Turtle was born in Croydon, Surrey, in 1960. He started playing drums and piano aged eight, playing in school and local youth orchestras as well as the school jazz band, the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, and various local rock bands. 1978 to 1981 saw him studying percussion at the Royal Academy of Music in London, as well as piano and composition. Also at this time he was playing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and drumming for 60s pop legend Kathy Kirby. Since coming to Switzerland in 1988 he has worked as a programmer, arranger, composer and producer, writing jingles for radio and TV, as well as producing, arranging and playing with a very very long list of other artists.
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