Now Booking: Paisley Babylon Beautiful Chaos

The Paisley Babylon show Beautiful Chaos is now available for booking at art galleries, in-stores, venues and performance spaces. Beautiful Chaos operates in a twilight zone between art, music, DJing and performance art. Every performance is different, combining the best elements of live performance, DJing, multi-media barrage and dance party.

Beautiful Chaos features five turntables hooked up to echo boxes and other effects pedals, all going at once, artfully mixed and mashed up live with other sound sources by Joe Wallace, AKA DJ Paisley Babylon. The live mashup performance is only a single layer of the work on display at the Beautiful Chaos show–there is so much going on here you may have to see two or three performances to process it all.

But this is not entertainment through pain–Paisley Babylon isn’t here to torment an audience with sheets of noise. This is BEAUTIFUL Chaos.

In a world where religious extremists on both sides of the war strive to become media darlings, where a country fighting two wars at once is still wrestling with conspicuous consumption, Beautiful Chaos is a mad, dreamlike escape from front page headlines and workday deadlines alike.

Book the Paisley Babylon show BEAUTIFUL CHAOS now by called (312) 504-1264 or e-mailing management[at] paisleybabylon [.] net for more information.

A Paisley Babylon Rehearsal, July 31 2010

Paisley Babylon is in the studio rehearsing for a multi-media performance to be announced soon. What you’re about to hear is an hour’s worth of sonic weirdness–live mashups and mixes using a variety of sources including three turntables all going at once.

It’s a sound collage, music mix and live mashup being rehearsed in preparation for performances in Chicago to be announced soon.

In the meantime, enjoy this one-hour journey into the central nervous system of Paisley Babylon. Have a listen to the Mp3 and please feel free to drop comment on what you think of the clip–keeping in mind that it’s rehearsal quality, not performance quality.

Zombie Disco 2 At Chicago’s Lucky Number Grill w/DJ Paisley Babylon

Join me tonight (Saturday July 24) at 9PM at Lucky Number Grill for a full evening of disco fever, with zombie make-up done on location and all the boogie-down you can stand. I’ll be spinning the mirror-ball madness from 9 til 2. Come out for some DJ Paisley Babylon fun and a GREAT crowd of zombies from the Chicago Horror Society.

If you can’t make it out to the night’s madness, there will be a special Zombie Disco set list mix posted here later in the week. Stay tuned.

Retro Now: Guitar Hero Commodore 64 Mod

Guitar Hero for the Commodore 64 computer system? Some kinds of madness transcends both the medium AND the message of the presentation. This is all at once the most pointless thing ever done and the coolest. Why would you want to play Guitar Hero on the C64? For the same reasons people climb Mt. Everest–just freakin’ BECAUSE. Forget about “can’t be done” or “shouldn’t be done”, anyone crazy enough to mod an old clapped out computer from the copper age of computing is also probably a total genius.

I discovered this glorious insanity on my new favorite retro blog, Retro Thing, which also features VIDEOS of this in action–definitely worth the flashback value. Bravo, Retro Thing…and the best part of this whole thing for me was the fact that it was on display right here in Chicago. It’s just a shame the post was already two years old when I found it!

Retro Thing is definitely still going strong and well worth a look.

Andy Warhol Eats a Burger King Hamburger

Now THIS is some serious retro video. Andy Warhol typified so much of every decade he was active in, from the 60s to the 80s. Warhol is one of those public figures that fascinates even as you wonder what the big deal was all about- a combination of sophistication and blinding simplicity.

The greatest thing about this clip is the complete lack of a statement, which in itself is taking a philosophical position. Warhol said of “static” films like these that when you see a famous person you want to “eat them up” and stare at them for a long time. Film studies like these are Warhol’s way of boiling film down to that sort of raw experience.

Retro Drive In Movie Trailer: They Came From Within

I love retro drive-in culture. Especially grindhouse trailers. Here’s one in that classic 70s tradition for They Came From Within, which is actually pretty good. Sometimes the trailer is the ONLY entertaining thing about drive-in grindhouse flicks, but this time that is DEFINITELY not true. This is the first of many many 70s drive-in trailer posts, to be sure.

Hit 65 Retro Album Cover

This most excellently retro album cover from 1965 comes courtesy of the delightful LP Cover Lover, which is a favorite of mine. One of the awesome things about this particular look is the “future now” vibe. I’m a sucker for those squeaky-clean whites and the rounded corners that let you know this girl just might have arrived from a space ship or time machine a few minutes ago.

We have the space race to thank for a lot of that futurist design and fashion, methinks…and I’m soooo glad it happened. Where would be we today if not for Sputnik, JFK’s moon landing ambitions, and UFO hysteria?

60s Retro Television: Groovy Milk

Adventures in Retro isn’t just a catchy slogan round here…I’m a huge fan of culture artifacts from the 60s through 90s…including this deliciously cornball commercial from the America Dairy Association. Look at this stuff–the design, the music, that eye makeup! We laugh at this stuff now, but it was cutting edge in its own time, miles and miles away from viral marketing and social media. This is the first of many, many trips back in time here….

DJ Paisley Babylon Mix: After The Punks Have Gone

This mix is another type of retro altogether. I’m a big fan of post-punk and bands that started out punk but moved on to more interesting things after the novelty wore off. Nothing wrong with punk at all, but the bands that continued to evolve and mutate were by far the most interesting. Hence the inclusion those dreaded New Romantics, early electro/industrial AND post-punk acts in this mix, which features Fad Gadget, Front 242, Polyrock, PiL, Front 242, Blondie, even some Cramps thrown in for good measure.

This collection of retro tracks isn’t nearly obscure enough for me, but these songs are fun and most of them are instantly recognizable. You could have a nice little living room dance party going with this mix, especially if you’ve got a good supply of adult beverages available. Take a listen to AFTER THE PUNKS ARE GONE.

This mix is here to promote my DJ work and the artists themselves, but copyright holders should get in touch if there’s an issue. If you like these sounds and want to discuss a booking, please feel free to get in touch by e-mail: jwallace (at) turntabling (dot) net or call (312) 504-1264.

The Exotic World of Paisley Babylon DJ Mix

I love all sorts of sounds, and the more exotic ones rarely get a look in by typical DJs unless there’s a special night going on somewhere or private party in need of a worldly mash-up of Stereolab, Bossa Nova, dub reggae, Theivery Corporation, Chris Joss, disco, Piero Piccioni, Alan Hackshaw, Gorillaz, Gerard Heinz, Can, and many others. I decided it was high time this kind of listening experience got its due on the DJ decks and I’m making the journey available for parties, clubs and events.

I present to you a very heady cocktail of classy, exotic and easy-on-the-ears sounds in this mix, The Exotic World of DJ Paisley Babylon. Please feel free to click the image or the text to begin your listening experience.

Once upon a time, some of this music was the soundtrack for the international jet set, at work and at play on board the Concorde, at the clothes-optional beaches in Europe, and the martini parties of the NYC art crowd. Some of it brings back a feeling of cool tropical breezes, other tunes remove you to the balcony of a high-rise condo overlooking the New York skyline or the disco parapets of Italy. This is fantasy music–created especially to make us forget about whatever mundane things clouded our day when the sun was still shining. This is nighttime music.

I am taking gigs–both club nights and private events–featuring these sounds and much more. If you like what you hear in this collection, please get in touch to arrange an event or party. I’d be happy to create sonic atmospheres like these for you.

I also spin other genres and soundscapes; stay tuned for The Strange World of DJ Paisley Babylon featuring Coil, Nurse With Wound, Current 93 and related artists, plus an all horror-related collection of soundtrack sounds from the great Italian fright films of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Contact me for bookings, reasonable rates and more information:

jwallace(at)turntabling (dot) net

or call me at

(312) 504-1264.

LISTEN TO THE EXOTIC WORLD OF DJ PAISLEY BABYLON