Monthly Archives: December 2011

TS30 – Jon Wozencroft “Touch.30”

“Touch.30” T-Shirt, designed by Jon Wozencroft.

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

Zahra Mani’s Summer Soup/Pistou

Pistou is French for “Pesto” – this soup is a celebration of home-grown
summer vegetables and olive oil…

Soak about 300 g of dried beans (according to taste) in cold water over
night. (You could use tinned beans if you really must).

The next day, chop up 3 or 4 small-ish, freshly picked courgettes, 3 or 4
waxy new potatoes, fresh broad beans (all to about half-inch cubes or slices),
and a de-seeded tomato.

Heat a dash of olive oil in a large pot, add all the above (having drained
the dried beans), along with a big sprig of fresh basil, and stir gently
before covering with cold water. Let it come to the boil, then simmer until
the potatoes and beans are cooked – the courgettes shouldn’t be too soft.
While the soup is cooking, use a blender to purify as much fresh basil as
you can find with 2 cloves of garlic and the de-seeded flesh of 2 oxheart
(cuore di bue) tomatoes, a generous pinch of sea-salt and a really generous
glug of best extra-vergin olive oil. This is the pistou.

Salt the soup. Then, to serve, pour the pistou into the soup at the table,
and eat with toasted bread with olive oil. Accompanied by a nice crispy
young white wine.

The Liminal | Touch.30 interview

The Liminal’s Scott McMillan writes: “In 1982, Touch was established by Jon Wozencroft, Mike Harding, Andrew McKenzie and Gary Mouat. Pointedly not a record label, they initially produced audiovisual magazines, in which the images and text were given as much prominence as the music on their cassette compilations. Over the years, they have moved onto releasing vinyl, CDs, and digital downloads, by artists such as Fennesz, Chris Watson, Philip Jeck, Phill Niblock and Oren Ambarchi, but their ethos is as it was when they first started.

“Touch remains under the curatorship of Jon Wozencroft and Mike Harding. To mark the beginning of their 30th anniversary, which will feature a number of events around Europe and the US, they agreed to be interviewed by The Liminal, the first time they have been interviewed together for over ten years. Given that the number three is of symbolic importance to Touch, it seems appropriate that this interview will run in three parts.”

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

Minute of Listening | Sound and Music

Chris Watson, Jana Winderen & Mike Harding have contributed sounds to the educational project “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

Touch.30 Featured…

Here you can read articles, press features etc which cover Touch.30.

1. A 3 part interview by Scott McMillan from The Liminal, conducted in a couple of North London pubs over the last few weeks of 2011…

Part One: Ritual
Part Two: Contact
Part Three: Vectors

2. A 3 part conversation between Susanna Niedermayr and Mike Harding on ORF, (Austrian National Radio) on January 5th, 12th and 19th 2012, conducted at ORF in Vienna in October 2011…

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

3. Sweden’s Soundofmusic are broadcasting “Touch Non Stop”, a 90 minute online mix to celebrate Touch.30, featuring tracks from 1982s ”The New Nubia” by Soliman Gamil (from Touch’s first ever edition, Feature Mist) through to the most recent releases, and all points in-between.
www.soundofmusic.nu

4. FACT Magazine
“Touch celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and we begin our appreciation of its achievements with a brief look at some of our favourite cover designs from its catalogue.”
www.factmag.com

5. Trax Magazine
Plus Qu’Un Label
www.magazinetrax.com

6. prefix
In Left Field
www.prefixmag.com

7. Go Mag
Cover mounted CD, GO MAG Mayo 90
Artwork & track listing

 

You can read the feature in Spanish here: page 1 | page 2
www.go-mag.com/

8. The Ghostly Shop
Interview with Jon Wozencroft here
The Ghostly Store

9. Musique Machine
Interview with Mike Harding here
Musique Machine

10. The Quietus
Interview with Mike Harding, John Kieffer and Jon Wozencroft here
The Quietus

TS11 – Biosphere “Mysterier”

7″ vinyl only – 2 tracks – 10:04
Cut by Jason @ Transition
Cover by Jon Wozencroft

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.

Continue reading

TS13 – Mike Harding “Repaired/Replaced”

7″ vinyl only – 2 tracks – 3:55
Cut by Jason @ Transition
Cover by Jon Wozencroft

Track listing:

A: Broken Window 3:25
B: Broken Rain 0:30

Recorded in West Wittering and Balham using DPA 4060s onto a Nagra Ares P-ll digital recorder.

“Broken Window” first appeared in a slightly different form on the CD compilation “Saiwala – enquete sur l’esthetique musicale du vent” [60 page booklet + CD FEAR DROP 15]

 

T-Phone 5 – Edgar Honetschlager & Yukika Kudo “Negative Space”

12:04 – .m4v file

Live at Charim Galerie, Vienna, November 19th 2011

“The situation in Japan is dramatic. The day before yesterday a doctors’ congress came to an end in Tokyo. Since Fukushima blew up, the cancer rate has dramatically increased in the contaminated areas – which covers 8% of the Japanese land mass. it is unacceptable that babies and children end up with cancer because the public response is not be heard. Please have a look at the video. if you like it please pass it on. We must shout – the louder the better – because it is of concern to all of us.”

All visuals © Edoko Institute, Vienna | Ribo Ltd., Tokyo. Music: “Aun” (Christian Fennesz) published by Touch Music [MCPS] | “Mit anderen Augen” (Simone Santi Gubini)/La Camera Verde | “Miro Marcus” (Peter Ablinger)

Lasse Marhaug’s How to make a decent cup of Tie Luo Han

Tie Luo Han is a Chinese Oolong tea of the Wuyi Rock tea family. The name translates to Iron Warrior Monk, because it is believed that it was created by a powerful warrior monk with golden-bronze skin, hence the cool kung-fu movie-like name. This is one of my favorite teas. I drink it a lot. Although it’s a mid-priced tea (100 grams is usually around $30, although the price has risen in the last years) I like it better than teas which cost twice more. It’s easily available from online tea shops.

Tie Lup Han has a strong full-bodied taste, with a rich and smooth aftertaste. It works well with food, but the aftertaste will be somewhat lost, so for the full experience drink it on its own. It’s one of the teas which I can drink any time of the day.

Here’s how you prepare it:

Tie Luo Han is a loose leave tea. No tea bags, so you’ll need a bit more utensils than just a big cup.

If you have tea clams which you use for loose leave tea: throw them in the garbage. Tea clams is an abomination. The difference between bag tea and loose leave tea is that the loose leaves are bigger. They need space to swell. With a tea clam you’re putting them in jail and reducing the full effect. Use a pot (clay or glass, either is fine) or a Gaiwan.
Like other Oolong teas it’s best to brew Tie Luo Han at 90°C. If you don’t have a temperature-specific water boiler just let the water boil up and then cool for a few minutes. Never let water boil excessively – it’s the oxygen which provides taste to the tea. Dead water = dead tea.

The amount of tea is difficult to say. It depends on the size of the pot. Usually about 1/3 of the pot covered by tea (in dry condition) is a good rule. The amount of tea affects the brewing time. After a few times you’ll get a feel for it.

The first brew you throw away and don’t drink. This is to ’wash’ the tea of possible toxins. It also decreases the caffeine levels (80% of the caffeine is released during the first 30 seconds of brewing).

The second brew is the first you drink. Let it brew for approx 30 seconds. The tea should get a light brown colour. Not dark like black tea, but darker than green and white tea. 

Pour it into a pitcher from which you pour into the drinking cup(s). Use small drinking cups. It may not look as butch as your big red Manchester United-mug, but the tea will taste better. You should slurp. It adds oxygen and thus more taste.

For the third round let it brew for about 60 seconds. And for the forth and fifth add 15-30 seconds each consecutive round. The third brew is often the best. Your mouth is accustomed to the taste so the tea takes on a drier quality.

Tie Lou Han is good for about 5-6 brews.