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Oceanus Pacificus
Chris Watson
Oceanus Pacificus

Touch # TS02
7" vinyl only - not available for digital download
Limited edition of 1000

Track Listing:

1. 3m
2. 10m

Locked grooves on both sides...

Artwork & Photography by Jon Wozencroft | Cut by Jason @ Transition

The voices and rhythms of the Humboldt current around the Galapagos Islands recorded April 2006 using a pair of Dolphin Ear Pro Hydrophones onto a NAGRA ARES-Pll digital audio recorder.

Chris Watson, originally from Sheffield but now resident in Newcastle, England, is the world's leading wildlife sound recordist. After co-founding Cabaret Voltaire with Richard Kirk and Stephen Mallinder, he left in 1981 to work for Tyne Tees Television and he also joined The Hafler Trio. He then left to become the sound archivist for the Royal Society for Protection of Birds. He is now working full time as a freelance sound recordist.

Chris Watson has released 3 solo albums for Touch and 2 collaborations with Swedish sound artist BJNilsen.

You can read reviews here

Touch has been nominated for Label of the Year by French organisation, Qwartz. Marhaug | Asheim - Grand Mutation has been nominated for Album of the Year, and Chris Watson ｬ BJNilsen - Storm for Experimental/Research project.

You can vote for your nominations from November 5th here

Touch 25 continues at The Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, tonight with shows from Biosphere and Storm by Chris Watson & BJNilsen.

In their wisdom, The Arnolfini Gallery has published the event under the wrong name, 'Touch Records', when of course it should be 'Touch'. Its amazing how people continue to change the name of our organisation, despite being sent copy to use for the programme.

Rant over!

Here you can fine a review and photos of the recent Touch 25 event and for the atmospheres festival here

The Londonist have reviewed the event here

There is also a more personal view from an audience member at Atmospheres 3 at The Museum of Garden History here

The Short Night
BJNilsen

[Touch # TO:75, 2007]
CD - 7 tracks

Track listing:

1. Front 2. Finisterre 3. Pole of Inaccessibility 4. Viking, Cromarty...
5. Black Light 6. Icing Station 7. Viking North

Listen to track 5 Black Light

Using location recordings, weather, birdsong and radio, BJNilsen continues to map and explore uncharted territory.

A follower to 2005's Fade to White [Touch # TO:65], BJNilsen develops his work further, based on field recordings and electronics. This time he adds harsher yet clearer harmonies with musical elements to the compositions, creating a beautifully complex and detailed study. Recorded in 2006-7 with mostly analogue equipment, using up to 50 year-old tapemachines, filters and generators that end up being the soft cushion in these cold location recordings.

Location recordings from M舁aren, Stockholm, Sweden; Coombe Gibbet, Berkshire, England and Landakot, Vatnsleysustrd, Iceland.

Telefunken M10 and M5, Studer B67, Ferrograph Series 4, Bruel and Kj誡 Sine-Random Generator and Frequency Analyzers. Also Monowave, Sequential Circuits ProOne, Korg MS20, Esq1, MOTU 828MK2, Ableton Live, Logic Audio 6

Morin khuur on Black Light played by Hildur Ingveldardtir Gudnadtir

You can read reviews here and the latest glowing review on the Boomkat website here

Touch follows up its 25th anniversary event of 2006 with a final show featuring:

Chris Watson | BJNilsen | Biosphere | People Like Us

+ special guests Zerocrop & Autodigest

Order of events:

2015 Chris Watson

2045 People Like Us

2100 BJNilsen

2145 People Like Us

2200 Zerocrop

2215 Touch 25

2245 Biosphere

2330 Autodigest

2345 People Like Us

Tickets are going fast and can only be purchased from the TouchShop here. They can be emailed out to you directly to avoid any postal hiccoughs...

[For full details of the atmospheres festival, see below]