Touch, August 2007
Chris Watson at the British Association Festival | York, September 2007
A full programme for this festival can be found here
'THE SOUND OF SANCTUARY', an installation will appear at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, throughout the festival.
Tropical rain forests hold a special place in our imaginations. They sustain myriad life forms yet retain a mysterious sense of presence. A place of marvels where we sometimes fear to tread. Chris Watson, one of the world's greatest sound artists and sound recordists has produced, in real time, 'The Sound of Sanctuary', re-creating the sounds and atmosphere to be experienced at sunrise in the Amber Mountain rain forest of Northern Madagascar within the beautiful acoustics of Holy Trinity church at Goodramgate. This will be a contemplative installation which combines some of the common elements of these two very different sites to produce an inspiring and reflective soundscape. The internal architecture and sound of Holy Trinity has similarities to the deep forest acoustic of dense tropical rain forest. Specially recorded location surround sound will fill the space and immerse the listener in the slow drip of time. The sounds of one ancient place played in another. Come inside and take a walk in one of the most remarkable habitats on earth.
'MIDNIGHT AT THE OASIS' - LIVE, at the Marquee in Parliament Street on 13th September 2007
The Kalahari desert is a vast open space where over 85% of the wildlife is nocturnal. After sunset the dunes, grasses and thorn bushes are patrolled by an alien empire - the insects. 'Midnight at the Oasis' presents an un-seen soundscape from a beautiful and hostile environment. In a live mixing Chris Watson, one of the world's greatest sound artists and sound recordists, will create a 20 minute time compression from sunset to sunrise in South Africa's Kalahari desert. Within the neutral acoustic space of a canvass marquee in the centre of York the listener will be transported and then surrounded by the unique and delicate nocturnal sonic detail recorded in this remote habitat.
Oren Ambarchi - In the Pendulum's Embrace
In The Pendulum's Embrace
Oren Ambarchi
[Touch # TO:78, 2007]
CD - 3 tracks
Oren Ambarchi continues his otherworldly investigations with "In The Pendulum's Embrace", a dark twin to his landmark 2004 album "Grapes From The Estate" [Touch # TO:61]. Returning again to the hallowed halls of BJB Studios in Sydney, Ambarchi expands the scope and range of his unique musical language, incorporating an even broader pallette of instrumentsand sensibilities. Despite the use of glass harmonica, strings, bells, piano, percussion and guitars, it's startling that the world created is still unmistakably his own, and that there is such a cohesion of vision throughout the albums's three lengthy pieces. With this record there's an even more tenuous coexistence of fragility and density; sounds as light as air mingling with wall shaking low-end. The converted already know the kind of trance-inducing euphoria of Ambarchi's music. Newcomers will be scouting the back catalogue...
You can hear an extract from the album here and an info sheet (pdf) can be downloaded here You can read reviews here
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We are rolling out new websites over the next few months...
The sites are designed by Rebels in Control, with type and photography by Jon Wozencroft, including photos by the artists themselves