Label
Turnabout Tapes
Turnabout Tapes was an 1980s independent label focused on industrial and experimental music released on cassette and vinyl.
About
Turnabout Tapes is an independent record label that operated within the industrial and experimental music underground during the 1980s. Based on its release catalog, the label maintained a commitment to alternative formats, issuing material on cassette tape and vinyl LP, which was characteristic of the DIY ethos prevalent in experimental music circles of that era. The label's roster encompassed provocatively-titled projects exploring harsh, industrial, and avant-garde sonic territories, as evidenced by releases such as Kopfmord, La Tete contre les Murs, and Zerfall Pervers on cassette, alongside the 1988 LP Second Strike. The label's emphasis on cassette releases particularly situates it within the tape culture movement that thrived in underground experimental and industrial communities, where the format served both as an economical distribution method and as an aesthetic choice aligned with lo-fi and DIY production values. Though limited documentation exists regarding the label's specific geographic base or founding details, Turnabout Tapes represents an important footnote in the decentralized network of independent labels that sustained experimental music outside mainstream commercial channels during the 1980s underground.