actuellecd.com review by Marie-Pierre Bionniol in actuellecd.com
A l’heure où on ne cesse de nous farcir les esgourdines avec les nouvelles technologies et où un sampler se vend plus vite qu’une Fender, une clique de musiciens s’échine à jouer des platines comme on joue de la guitare: avec les dents, le coude, le coeur. La compilation, Turntable solos témoigne de cette scène vivace où seuls les disques des autres sont joués, découpés, bref, massacrés, pour les plus bizarres des sensations auditives. Christian Marclay, Martin Tétreault, Otomo Yoshihide… quelques noms de cette nouvelle tendance sont présents dans les plages de ce CD, détournant à l’envi disques de jazz ou d’effets, scratchant à qui mieux-mieux, bouffant presq..ue le diamant.


amg review by François Couture in all music guide
Turntable Solos contains exactly that, 18 s.olos by 16 avant-garde turntablists. This international project was produced by Otomo Yoshihide and includes contributions by such pillars of this genre as himself, Christian Marclay, Martin Tetreault and Merzbow, but also revealed the talents of France's Erik M and Austria's Dieb 13, here performing under the name Takeshi Fumimoto. Since Amoebic is a Japanese record label, Japanese artists are well represented, but contributions also came from the USA, Quebec, England, Germany, Italy, and Australia. These are not DJ sets -- you won't find a beat lasting over two seconds. The menu comprises strange sound source overlapping and humorous cross-referencing, controlled needle skidding, abundant use of prepared and mutilated records, electronics, and noise -- lots of noise. Marclay and Tetreault deliver funny collages (the latter's vari-speed use of an accordion record is hilarious), George Budd deconstructs lectures on "Political Science." Merzbow fished out an excerpt from his 1986 LP Batztoutai with Memorial Gadgets, but surprisingly Yoshihide beats him as the most aggressive, headache-inducing artist on this album. These are the highlights; a handful of other tracks leave the listener only half-convinced, but in general Turntable Solos provides a very representative overview of the art of the turntable from an avant-garde music standpoint. Except for the Merzbow piece, all material is exclusive to this collection.

Francois Couture