Touch 25 [cont.]
Dream (USA):
The Sound Projector (UK):
S&V (Russia):
Sanctuary (Peru):
This 2006, an austrian [UK, actually! - ed.] label celebrate one more year being at the top of underground experimental electronic music. Yes!!, TOUCH was conceived by Jon Wozencroft in 1981, and one year after appears the first cassette magazine Feature Mist. Right now on my hands we present 2u this new compilation, produced initially for the His Voice magazine, but the final decisition was that this one will be the 25th anniversary cd.
Touch 25, is the title of the CD that has exclusive tracks from known artists like Fennesz, Pan Sonic, Ryoji Ikeda or Peter Rehberg, and several insert recordings (with a few seconds) yeah 'unknown artist tracks are field recordings and found sound, with no artist credits'.
The cd start with not so known artists: BJ NIELSEN with "Gotland" and the australian OREN AMBARCHI into "Moving Violation" with 'come and go' sounds similar to the sea waves. Related to the next track ... do you remember the slow movements of Red House Painters? .. well readers .. CHRISTIAN FENNESZ (the well know underground austrian artist of this label) makes one in which the acoustic guitar has the main rol.
The next ones are titled "quick and cold" and "actual time of arrival", while tracks seven and nine belongs to CHRIS WATSON, a man that recorded 'transport conditions': the first are confused sound 'on water' while in the second one we can hear 'train alarm' and all the atmosphere of those moments.
MOTHER TONGUE (that started as a trio: Andrew McKenzie, Dorothea Franck, Stefan Weisser with the LP "Open In Obscurity" in TOUCH too) appears with a theme with some hard beats of percussion, along its XXX minutes (that includes unidentified noises and voice), followed by -personally- the best track of the compilation "TT 1205", that contains the experience of the famous PETER REHBERG with his sound ala laptop, sometimes similar to c&cuts, with a fast rhytm
PAN SONIC appears in the most ambient and industrial style with a theme in two different parts, the next one "Tu non mi perderai mai" by JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON is similar to a soundtrack for a moment of trance. The largest one "Heavy water (Bärseback)" from the brain of JACOB KIRKEGAARD is another rare track followed by the minimalist japanese RYOJI IKEDA (that started with TOUCH in 1996 with the CD "+/-") with his known drones into "Untitled #25". The next one belongs to the brain of the London music and visual artist PHILIP JECK (b. 1952) with "Hindquarters".
The 22th track is "Put My Trust in You" by MARK VAN HOEN (ex-SCALA, and mostly know by his work in LOCUST: since 1993 with the 12" Skysplit) that seems a soundtrack of a happy end in slow motion, with those delightful sounds. The last 2 are: "Spring Fever" of BIOSPHERE (dark sounds with some howls in a lost forest) and "Atlantis" by ROSY PARLANE (that cames from Auckland - New Zealand and started with the band THELA). We should be attent to the future releases of this label that started the 'cassette culture' in the 80's with Jon Wozencroft and Mike Harding, incredible isn't it?.
ideabiographica (Italy):
Venticinque brani (che definire brani č una “filosofia astratta” la quale non rende -scriviamo cosě- l’esatta realtŕ di questa situazione) per “celebrare” i venticinque anni di una label: la britannica Touch, per un totale di circa ottanta minuti di veri e propri “onanismi sonici” (nel piů totale rispetto del lavoro dei musicisti coinvolti). Minimalismo “electronico” suonato e sofferto,
con partecipazioni che vanno da Fennesz, Jňhann Jňhannsson e Pan Sonic; tutti ma proprio tutti legati in comune da un grandissimo filo rosso (solo rosso) che si dipana per tutto questo tempo e che si potrebbe definire sperimentazione. Strumenti, computer che vogliono integrarsi in un affastellarsi di perverse e carnali congiunzioni sessuali. Esperienza ostica, molto ostica ma decisamente (al termine dell’ascolto) appagante. [Claudio Baroni]
Gaz-Eta (Poland):
Undoubtedly what Jon Wozencroft started 25 years ago, with the release of cassette magazine "Feature Mist" has had an immense impact on the way quiet, minimal music is heard. Through crucial output from artists such as Pan Sonic, Philip Jeck, Ryoji Ikeda, Fennesz, Biosphere, Rafael Toral, Oren Ambarchi, Chris Watson and numerous others, Touch has grown as a label and has lead the way in terms of new, often uncategorizable sounds. As with many labels [Last Visible Dog, ECM, Mego] it has created its own unique niche of music. People in search of a particular, low-impact, hushed music know exactly where to turn. To celebrate its quarter century mark, Touch released "Tone 25", a compilation brimming with previously unreleased tracks from its regular line-up. Along with Oren Ambarchi's intensely still "Moving Violations", we get gems like Chris Watson's field recording "Oujela Mine", Ryoji Ikeda's glowing hearth "Untitled # 25" and Mark Van Hoen's organic and orchestral piece "Put My Trust In You". Some of the other stand-out pieces include Rafael Toral's "Glove Touch", which was performed on glove-controlled sinewaves and Jacob Kirkegaard's "Heavy Water [Barseback]", which was recorded at the site of a closed-down Swedish nuclear plant. One thing I don't feel works in this compilation is a certain amount of disconnect. When I was first listening to the CD late one night in bed, I couldn't settle into any particular mood. In fact, there are pieces thrown in here that actually disturb the system. The disturbance starts around Mother Tongue's [Z'EV's old project] organic percussion piece and continues on until Pan Sonic's "Slovakian Rauta", which is a mish-mash of various, distraught electronic slabs. This middle section breaks the flow of the sounds. It almost acts like a wake-up call to those who doze off when listening to this stuff. Worth the price of admission alone is a thick booklet filled with Jon Wozencroft's detailed and immensely beautiful photographs. "Tone 25" is a yummy birthday cake, with 25 unique candles on the top, waiting for you to blow them off. [Tom Sekowski]
londonmilk.blogspot.com (UK):
With a solid twenty-five years at the forefront of contemporary music, releasing music by artists as diverse as The Hafler Trio, Sweet Exorcist, Sandoz, Oren Ambarchi, Chris Watson, Scala, Philip Jeck, Mika Vainio, Biosphere, Christian Fennesz, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ryoji Ikeda or BJ Nilsen to name but a fraction, Touch have collected one of the most impressive and inspired catalogues around, encompassing a wide array of genres, from noise to post-modern classical, ambient and electronic.
To celebrate this massive slab of work, the label, founded in 1982 by Jon Wozencroft Mike Harding, Nevelle Brody and Andrew McKenzie, of Hafler Trio fame, have put together a collection of twenty-five exclusive tracks from the likes of Biosphere, Fennesz, Pan Sonic, Chris Watson, Mark Van Hoen, Rafael Toral, Mother Tongue, BJ Nilsen, Philip Jeck and many more. Touch 25 doesn't intend to document the label's history, and only seems to give a vague and short insight into the various musical grounds covered by these artists, yet it is true to the label's ethic in every way, from the instantly recognisable cover artwork, by Wozencroft to the depth and reach of each one of the tracks featured. Acting as inserts are seven short pieces, scattered all across the album, none of them attributed to a particular artist. Set against fully developed compositions, these short intervals regularly bring in some fresh air and occasionally provide some welcome light relief.
Right from the outset of Gotland, contributed by BJ Nilsen, which opens the album, the tone is set. In this short piece (1'47), the Swedish composer works found sounds into an ebbing and flowing structure which eventually morphs into a vague white noise blob before merging into the first interlude. The mood here is somewhat introvert, with Nilsen taking the ambient scope which he has been developing in one way or another since his Morthond days to its environmental noise extreme. Orem Ambarchi’s Moving Violation is a stern and mournful drone-based composition. Here, he processes electric guitar sounds into an ever-changing drone where traces of statics and feedback provide the clearest signs of life. Fennesz’s Tree is, in comparison, a far more approachable affair. Built on the sonic shards of an acoustic guitar, the man constructs a delicate and peaceful composition. While Chris Watson’s double contributions rely heavily on found sounds, the next couple of tracks steer this compilation towards a more urban tone, first with Mother Tongue’s tribal Rewording, a track recorded back in 1988, then with Peter Rehberg’s minimal TT1205. Yet, while Pan Sonic juggle for a moment between post-industrial and desolate ambiences, it is back to more introvert pieces with contributions from Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ryoji Ikeda, Philip Jeck and Bruce Gilbert. Only Mark Van Hoen’s dreamy Put My Trust In You appears somewhat connected to reality. The album concludes with the bucolic Spring Fever, from Biosphere, and Rosy Parlane’s haunting Atlantis.
While Touch 25 doesn’t represent a comprehensive review of the label’s outputs over it’s twenty-five year history and is only a fraction of what the Touch team have put together to celebrate this major milestone, it still represents an important release and proves to be a truly essential collection. Although there is an undeniable consistency all throughout, each track reveals one of the facets of this most stimulating of labels.
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