Release Date 24. November 2023 on All platforms

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The music featured on Headman’s DeTurning album conjures a similar effect to people who
have experienced a near death encounter seeing their entire lives pass before their eyes,
with a series of seemingly disconnected experiences forming a dreamlike narrative.


This collection echoes Robi Insinna’s early days in London at the turn of the century where
making music became a rebellion against the saccharine sound of the era. The Headman
moniker and Relish Recordings were born to inject the sort of raw and live aesthetic
established by bands like Gang of Four and ESG with the same sensibilities he applies to his
INDUSTRIA multidisciplinary brand – repurposing vintage military gear and iconic designer
pieces to create something individual, an approach he also employs on the album’s artwork.
The songs themselves double as a form of resurrection, with disused tracks found on old
hard drives brought back to life.


These ruminations of the past are evident with the inclusion of friends and former
collaborators akin to a musical eulogy. The album’s first single NO SURPRISES features
vocals by Silver Jan for an early eighties downtown NYC vibe that could have found a home
in the Mudd Club or Danceteria or by Larry Levan at Paradise Garage. Zillas on Acid rework
the track into a slow-driving techno chugger, taking it in a more sinister direction.
SOMETIMES finds Vongold over a nineties indie throwback instrumental with a remix
provided by Leipzig’s New Hook, and the title track features vocalist Tara complimenting the
proto-electro sound.


Much of the music also doubles as love letters to his most influential artists – FASHION is
less like a cover of the eponymous David Bowie song and more like a hallucination, with a
deep dub aesthetic echoing a hazy memory of this formative artist, where LIVE 120 conjures
the feeling of earlier Headman remixes while taking inspiration from the likes of Liquid Liquid
and Shrieckback. DUB21 uses dub influences by Jah Wobble while subtly paying tribute to
Andrew Weatherall, SOLINA is titled after the string organ it was composed upon, with
recollections of Brian Eno and Visconti, and the dark cold wave sound on NOT ABOUT
recalls J.G.Ballard through the sonic lens of Dopplerefekt and includes two remixes by
Exterminador – one with a hypnotic melody that evokes memories of Chris & Cosey and
another with a more ethereal retro atmosphere.


If the artistic process resembles a deathlike experience, the resulting album is like a requiem
celebrating the possible end of Headman as a moniker, while keeping open to the possibility
of a transcendent afterlife with a series of new projects like Robi Insinna and SASM w
Douglas McCarthy from Nitzer Ebb awaiting to be reborn.

Tracklist:

  1. No Surprises (Album Version)
  2. Solina
  3. Sometimes feat Vongold
  4. DeTurning
  5. Dub21
  6. Fashion Dub
  7. Live 120
  8. Not About
    Bonus:
  9. Sometimes Dub feat Vongold
  10. No Surprises Dub
  11. Not About Dub
  12. No Surprises (Zillas On Acid Remix)
  13. Sometimes feat Vongold (New Hook Remix)
  14. Not About (Exterminador Remix 1)
  15. Not About (Exterminador Remix 2)
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