Emit Bloch

Emit Bloch (born David Turin; 8 September 1965) is an American guitarist, songwriter and journalist.

Emit Bloch is known for low fidelity recordings. Born to George L. Turin, a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley, and to Helen Elizabeth Green Turin, the daughter of a Utah cattle rancher, Bloch was raised primarily Berkeley, California and Layton, Utah. Bloch is a descendant of Christopher Layton, a prominent 19th Century Mormon settler and land owner.

Before performing under the name Emit Bloch, David Turin issued several low fidelity releases on his own Peopletree imprint in Los Angeles, California, including, with Milla Jovovich, the controversial The People Tree Sessions. In the late 90s, Turin co-founded the experimental jamming band Banyan (band) with Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins, bassist Mike Watt, Beastie Boys's keyboardist Money Mark and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and worked with Perry Farrell to develop Teeth, an early, internet-based music and film project funded by Lollapalooza.

Emit Bloch is affiliated with One Little Indian records and with MuteSong Publishing, the publishing arm of Mute Records. His first collection of songs, Dictaphones Vol. 1 (April 2010), was recorded entirely on a Sony cassette dictaphone. Dictaphones Vol. 1 has received ardent ardent critical acclaim as well as detraction due to it's production values. Before playing tracks from 'Dictaphones Vol. 1' DJ Steve Lamacq has asked 'Is this the answer to the record industry's problems" in reference to the album's production values and increasing popularity. In the March issue of UNCUT, Dictaphones Vol.1 received a rare 5/5 stars and reviewer John Lewis stated "These (songs) are like Alan Lomax’s ancient field recordings with bathetic contemporary references - and all are utterly remarkable.” A review of Dictaphones Vol.1 in London's The Sun called the record "...fresh, vital, uncluttered and brilliant" and awarded it 4.5/5 stars. As of August 2010, tracks from Dictaphones Vol. 1 have been played on Resonance FM (London), XFM, 6Music, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 1 by DJs Gideon Coe, Lauren LaVerne, Rob Da Bank, Don Letts, Steve Lamacq and Marc Riley. On 25 February 2010, Emit Bloch performed live and talked with DJ John Kennedy on London's XFM radio station. On 14 August, he appeared as a guest on both BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends and BBC Radio 2's Dermot O'Leary Show.

On Sept. 12, 2010 One Little Indian released Emit Bloch's 'Dorothy EP'. On the day of its release, the title track, 'Dorothy', an urban/country ode to the singer's ranch-bound Grandmother, was chosen by the Sunday Times as a 'Hot Download' with the newspaper calling it "a glittering, banjo-pocked, pedal steel-flecked, Paul Simon-like gem."

Emit Bloch has performed with Seasick Steve, Caitlin Rose, Moriarty, Jason Ringenberg and Paloma Faith. He currently resides in London, UK and is married to musician/photographer Kate Garner.

Dictaphones Vol. 1

Dictaphones Vol.1 was Bloch’s first album and released in April 2010 by One Little Indian Records, It was recorded entirely on a £6 Sony cassette Dictaphone as a demo for his soon-to-be music publishers (MuteSong). When an early edition of the dictaphone recordings was issued to iTunes through Bloch's imprint, iDot (via One Little Indian), the recordings were chosen by iTunes editors as a front page pick. Before playing tracks from 'Dictaphones Vol. 1' DJ Steve Lamacq asked "Is this the answer to the record industry's problems?" in reference to the album's production values and increasing popularity. The album gained good reviews from critics such as Uncut, who gave it 5/5 stars and praised Bloch as “an exceptional songwriter...utterly remarkable”.

Dorothy EP

Bloch’s next collection of songs to be released was the Dorothy EP in September 2010. The EP featured studio recordings of 'Dorothy' and two other songs from Bloch’s Dictaphones Vol. 1 album release. Recorded at RAK studios in St. Johns Wood, the release pitted Bloch’s distinct fingerpicking and lyrics against the London smarts of producer P*Nut and music director Simon Byrt (Piney Gir, Emiliana Torrini).

Discography

• Banyan (Higher Octave) 1997
• The People Tree Sessions 1998 (Cherry Red)
• Bouncy Castle (Peopletree) 2000 - out of print
• Falafelelf - Sexy Religion(Peopletree/iDot/One Little Indian) 2001
• Falafelelf 'Swing' (Peopletree/iDot/One Little Indian) 2003
• Monsta (One Little Indian) 2006
• Dictaphones Vol.1 (Lost Dogs/One Little Indian) 2010

References

• Sunday Times newspaper, September 12, 2010 Culture Section
• The Sun newspaper, February 26, 2010
• UNCUT magazine, March 2010
• Maverick Magazine UK April 2010
• XFM John Kennedy's Xposure Show http://www.xfm.co.uk/onair/djs/john-kennedy
• BBC1 Radio Rob Da Bank http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wknd
• BBC Loose Ends pagehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wknd
• BBC Radio Emit Bloch Page http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/2e0490e4-bc47-4462-b5d2-dfc311d58424
• One Little Indian Records Emit Bloch page http://indian.co.uk/promo/emit_bloch
• Lollapalooza Teeth Project http://janesaddiction.org/gallery/articles/warp-magazine-june-1995/

Persondata
Name	Bloch, Emit
Alternative names	Turin, David
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Date of birth	8 September 1965
Place of birth
Date of death
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