http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/ Since its first release in 1982, Touch has created sonic and visual productions that combine innovation with a level of care and attention that has made it the most enduring of any independent music company of its time. en Copyright 2012 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:49:18 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss downloads in the TouchShop. Artwork & photography: Jon Wozencroft Mastered by Francois Tetaz at Moose, Melbourne Track listing: 1. Salt - 5:30 2. Knots - 33:23 3. Passage - 6:41 4. Fractured Mirror - 8:20 On "Audience of One", Oren Ambarchi presents a four-part suite which moves from throbbing minimalism to expansive song-craft to ecstatic free-rock. His previous solo albums for Touch exhibited a clear progression towards augmenting and embellishing his signature bass-heavy guitar tones with fragile acoustic instrumentation. Audience of One, while also existing in clear continuity with these recordings, opens the next chapter. Remarkable in its confidence and breadth, but also in the sensuous immediacy of its details, this is the first time a single record has come close to encapsulating Ambarchi’s musical personality in its full range and singularity. The techniques and strategies developed in his refined improvisational work with Keith Rowe and his explorations of the outer limits of rock with Sunn O))) and Keiji Haino are both in evidence, alongside the meticulous attention to detail and composition of his solo works. And on the cover of Ace Frehley’s ‘Fractured Mirror’ which closes the record, Ambarchi even points to his roots as a classic rock fanatic, in an epic yet faithful version which extends the shimmering guitar patters of the original into a rich field of phase patters reminiscent of the classic American minimalism of Reich and Riley. The album features a multitude of collaborators, who, far from appearing in incidental roles, are integral to the pieces on which they perform: on ‘Salt’, Ambarchi paints a hypnotic, chiming backdrop for Paul Duncan’s (Warm Ghost) vocals, and Joe Talia’s virtuoso drumming and driving cymbals are at the core of the epic ‘Knots’, in which Ambarchi, alongside a chamber arrangement by Eyvind Kang, weaves a net of frequencies and textures with the organic push and pull of a 70s psych jam, the bass response of a doom metal ritual and the psycho-acoustic precision of an Alvin Lucier composition. On his previous records, Ambarchi’s signature guitar tone was the ever-present bedrock over which other elements sounded. At moments on Audience of One, this disappears entirely, as on the beautiful ‘Passage’, which, recalling the 70’s Italian non-academic minimalism of Roberto Cacciapaglia and Giusto Pio, is composed of overlapping tones from Hammond organ and wine glasses, Jessika Kenney's voice, various acoustic instruments, and the delicate amplified textures of Canadian sound-artist Crys Cole. Rather than being provided by any particular sound, the unified feel of Audience to One stems simply from the unique, patient sensibility Ambarchi has developed over the last twenty years; abstracting musical forms into their barest forms, while somehow always managing to leave their emotive power intact. [Francis Plagne] Buy Oren Ambarchi "Audience of One" [CD] in the TouchShop Buy Oren Ambarchi "Audience of One" [FLAC] in the TouchShop Buy Oren Ambarchi "Audience of One" [Apple Lossless] in the TouchShop www.orenambarchi.com]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/to83_oren_ambarchi_audience_of.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/to83_oren_ambarchi_audience_of.html news Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:49:18 +0000 Live Last Night - 23:54 - 192 kbps Photo: Dave Knapik Recorded live at Fim de Semana Especial n.º 3, Teatro Maria Matos, Lisbon, 27th January 2012. Subscribe to the TouchPod podcast of TouchRadio via the iTunes Music Store Play CM von Hausswolff "Live Last Night" www.cmvonhausswolff.net Touch.30 ]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/touch_radio_74_cm_von_hausswol.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/touch_radio_74_cm_von_hausswol.html news Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:27:07 +0000 Touch.30 Live in Lisbon, 27-28.01.12 Fim de Semana Especial n.º 3, Teatro Maria Matos 27th January programme can be viewed here 28th January programme can be viewed here Bruce Gilbert & Mika Vainio CM von Hausswolff Jana Winderen Leslie Winer www.teatromariamatos.pt Spire: Live @ Passionskirche, Berlin, 5.02.12 as part of CTM.12 Festival Marcus Davidson Eleh Hildur Gudnadottir Charles Matthews Jana Winderen The Eternal Chord Organology www.ctm-festival.de www.spire.org.uk Touch.30: CM von Hausswolff interviews Mike Harding as part of freq_out 8, Moderna Museet, Stockholm 17-19.02.12 www.modernamuseet.se www.freq-out.org]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/touch30_live_events_january_an.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/touch30_live_events_january_an.html news Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:43:22 +0000 January 2012 issue of Creative Review is a music special with features on festivals, the future of the music video and much much more. Touch's Jon Wozencroft is interviewed for the magazine by The Wire's Jennifer Allan about the tendency for "music's more obscure genres to adopt distinctive, common visual styles." Read online at www.creativereview.co.uk [subscription required]]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/jon_wozencroft_in_creative_rev.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/jon_wozencroft_in_creative_rev.html news Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:35:33 +0000 Transmedia presents: The Art of Listening 2, Touch's residency in Brussels, January 16-20 2012. This residency is part of the Masters Degree course at Sint Lucas College. (You can read about last year's residency here)]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/the_art_of_listening_2.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/the_art_of_listening_2.html news Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:24:46 +0000 (Biosphere) for winning a Spellemann Award (Norwegian Grammy), in the Electronic Music section, last night in Oslo. N-Plants was released in 2011 and is still available in the TouchShop.]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/biosphere_wins_spellemann_awar.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/biosphere_wins_spellemann_awar.html news Sun, 15 Jan 2012 08:52:45 +0000 NATURE: The Water Boatman’s Song BBC Radio 4, Tue 10 Jan 11.02, rpt Thur 12 Jan 21.02 Writer Paul Evans accompanies sound recordist Tom Lawrence on a journey in sound across Pollardstown Fen to hear the extraordinary sounds of an underwater orchestra of aquatic insects. Additional sound recordings: Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt. For over a year, sound recordist Tom Lawrence has been capturing the sounds of Pollardstown Fen in Ireland. These are no ordinary sounds, but the sounds of a hidden world; an underwater world, where an orchestra of creatures create an extraordinary and vibrant music. Above the water's surface, grasshoppers and crickets stridulate; that is, they rub one part of their body across another to produce 'those fiddling tunes so evocative of summer'. Below the surface, something similar happens as water beetles, water scorpions, great diving beetles, water boatmen and lesser water boatmen and hundreds of other species produce sounds day and night at over 2Khz, reaching 99 decibels in some cases - the equivalent of sitting in the front row of an orchestra "Tapping, knocking, hammering, drumming, clicking, creaking, cracking, croaking, buzzing, fuzzing, bleeping, winding, reeling, revving, puttering, pattering, humming, pulsing, squealing, shrieking.... the insects reveal themselves". Writer and narrator Paul Evans meets Tom Lawrence and takes a journey into the Fen to hear these sounds for himself. Tom leads the way. His friend, Jim Schofield joins them, bringing with him a boat (an inflatable boat that they first have to pump up), and then the three men 'wobble' along reed-lined drains into the Fen. It's a journey of revelations; not only does Paul encounter the underwater orchestra, but also Old Ireland and with it a magical adventure; They find a snake, haul up a bag of treasure, climb the steps of a Famine Tower, experience vertigo as they stand with their heads in the clouds high above the quarried land, watch Peregrines swipe through the air like sharp knives, and learn the story of a hanged man, his lost love and a vixen who wanders amongst the reeds, her piercing cry echoing through the darkness. "Sadly, since the making of this programme, Tom has died, but this is a very beautiful and fitting tribute to his work." (Jane Anderson, Radio Times) "The Water Boatman’s Song" on the BBC iPlayer]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/tom_lawrence_on_bbc_radio_4_10.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/tom_lawrence_on_bbc_radio_4_10.html news Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:33:26 +0000 Printed on a black Fruit of the Loom Super Premium T-Shirt. Position of logo and type: Center Chest, 10cm wide. Sizes available: S / M / L / XL / XXL [please state size preference in the TouchShop comments box when checking out!] We are also designing a postcard and various other items, so watch this space for further news... Buy Jon Wozencroft "Touch.30" [T-Shirt] in the TouchShop 30.touchmusic.org.uk]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/ts30_jon_wozencroft_touch30_ts.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/ts30_jon_wozencroft_touch30_ts.html news Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:41:20 +0000 On Invisible Pause - 48:13 - 192 kbps Photo: Mats Bäcker On Invisible Pause, choreographed by Christopher Arouni, is part of Skånes Dansteater's performance HAZE, November 4th 2011 in Malmö's Skånesdansteater. Mixed by Christopher Arouni, Christian Fennesz & Anders Myhrman. Subscribe to the TouchPod podcast of TouchRadio via the iTunes Music Store Play Fennesz "On Invisible Pause" www.fennesz.com]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/touch_radio_73_fennesz.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/touch_radio_73_fennesz.html news Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:13:02 +0000 ]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/touch30_1.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/touch30_1.html news Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:17:38 +0000 Track listing: Side A: Scuttling Around in the Shallows 11:25 Side B: Drying Out in the Sun 16:01 The fourth in the series of limited edition vinyl in the Tone 45 series. 100 copies only are available in the TouchShop... Scuttling Around in the Shallows is from the quadrophonic installation of the same name showed at Galerie B-312, Montreal, Canada 8th January - 5th February 2011. Drying Out in the Sun is from a four-speaker outdoor public installation at "Starfield Simulation #36", Scaniaparken in Malmö, Sweden, 4th September - 2nd October 2011. Buy Jana Winderen "Débris" [LP] in the TouchShop www.janawinderen.com]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/tone_454_jana_winderen_debris.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/tone_454_jana_winderen_debris.html news Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:38:47 +0000 Bells! – 25:39 - 192 kbps Recorded in the belltower of St. Mary's Church, Walthamstow on 30th November 2011. With thanks to Denis Hewitt & Ewan Marshall. Subscribe to the TouchPod podcast of TouchRadio via the iTunes Music Store Play "Bells!"]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/touch_radio_72_bells.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/touch_radio_72_bells.html news Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:15:27 +0000 Read Part One of the interview at www.theliminal.co.uk Read Part Two of the interview at www.theliminal.co.uk Read Part Three of the interview at www.theliminal.co.uk 30.touchmusic.org.uk]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/the_liminal_touch30_interview.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/the_liminal_touch30_interview.html news Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:28:47 +0000 "Minute of Listening", produced by Sound and Music. Minute of Listening is a creative learning project through which Sound and Music hopes to enable every child in the country to gain access to a huge diversity of music and sound and, for sixty seconds each day, to focus on the richness and enjoyment of the act of listening. www.minuteoflistening.org www.soundandmusic.org]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/minute_of_listening_sound_and.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/minute_of_listening_sound_and.html news Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:57:49 +0000 Track listing: A: Fluvialmorfologi 4:24 B: Feber 5:50 TS11 - the next in the series of vinyl-only Touch Sevens - is Mysterier by Biosphere, featuring Two tracks originally recorded for Hågogaland Teater, Tromsø, Norway in 2006 and remastered in 2011. Buy Biosphere "Mysterier" in the TouchShop www.biosphere.no ]]> http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/ts11_biosphere_mysterier_1.html http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/ts11_biosphere_mysterier_1.html news Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:00:18 +0000