Welcome to Touch Newsletter #167, a Chris Watson special. In September 2017, Chris will be presenting a brand new piece of work in Torbay, South Devon as part of The Tale. There will also be an opportunity to attend an artist’s talk and a sound artist masterclass with him. Tickets on sale now.
Following this, in May 2018, Chris will run two sessions at CAMP, a new residential arts centre in the high Pyrenees. Almost a kilometre above sea level, surrounded by snow-capped peaks, glaciers, forests and waterfalls, CAMP is a new project by Fuse Art Space. The sessions are run from a renovated 19th century hotel in the mountain hamlet of Aulus les Bains, updated to house Pro Tools studios, editing suites, multi-channel listening environments, AV classrooms, cinema, arts library, rehearsal and performance spaces, gallery, dark room, fine art studios and accommodation. Places are extremely limited. Details below.
We are also reissuing two albums by Chris Watson on compact disc: “El Tren Fantasma” and “Weather Report”. Both products will begin shipping early July…
A newly remasterered version of “Cloître”, a collaboration between Thomas Köner and Jana Winderen, is now available on CD and download. Recorded live from the cloisters at Evreux Cathedral, Normandy, France in June 2014.
Also on this Newsletter, a reminder of two recent editions – Robert Crouch’s debut for Touch, “Sublunar” and Richard Chartier’s “Removed” release on Ash International, of which there are very few left of the edition of 300.
The Tale: A Journey Across Torbay | September 2017
A new type of arts event is coming to South Devon this September. Chris will be presenting a brand new piece of work in Torbay, South Devon as part of The Tale. There will also be an opportunity to attend an artist’s talk and a sound artist masterclass with him. The Tale will guide you on a journey of discovery around the coastal area of Torbay – from the streets of Torquay, through hidden coves and historic harbours, to the quarry of Berry Head Nature Reserve.
Along the way, you’ll encounter artworks and performances by artists of international acclaim, made especially for Torbay. Inspired by the ideas of writer Philip Hoare, whose boyhood experiences of Torbay shaped his future, The Tale offers the chance to experience the hidden stories, sounds and dreams of the bay like never before. An adventurous arts event for explorers of all ages.
The Tale will take place over three long weekends in September: 8-10 Sept, 15-17 Sept, 22-24 Sept 2017. Tickets: £15.00 – £22.50 - Under 16s go free!
Booking and info: www.the-tale.co.uk
CAMP, France | May 2018
In May 2018, Chris will run two sessions at CAMP, a new residential arts centre in the high Pyrenees.
Almost a kilometre above sea level, surrounded by snow-capped peaks, glaciers, forests and waterfalls, CAMP is a new project by Fuse Art Space. The sessions are run from a renovated 19th century hotel in the mountain hamlet of Aulus les Bains, updated to house Pro Tools studios, editing suites, multi-channel listening environments, AV classrooms, cinema, arts library, rehearsal and performance spaces, gallery, dark room, fine art studios and accommodation.
The sessions will blend field work carried out day and night in the rich natural landscape with critical listening and discussion, spatial audio recording techniques such as spaced stereo microphones, surround sound arrays, ambisonic techniques using a Soundfield ST450 microphone, Schoeps double mid side arrays and Sennheiser middle and side systems, experimentation with contact microphones, hydrophones and parabolic reflectors, surround sound playback and multi-channel systems, and decoding techniques. Peak-season trips to spectacular high-altitude locations along the frontier chain between France and Spain will yield diverse opportunities for field recording and sonic exploration.
All sessions at CAMP are all-inclusive, with room and full board included. Places are extremely limited.
Further info: www.campfr.com/chriswatson
TO:47 | Chris Watson “Weather Report”
CD - 54:02 - 3 Tracks
Artwork: Jon Wozencroft
Track list:
1. Ol-Oolo-lo
2. The Lapaich
3. Vatnajökull
"The weather has created and shaped all our habitats. Clearly it also has a profound and dynamic effect upon our lives and that of other animals. The three locations featured here all have moods and characters which are made tangible by the elements, and these periodic events are represented within by a form of time compression.
This is Chris's first foray into composition using his location recordings of wildlife and habitats - previously he has been concerned with describing and revealing the special atmosphere of a place by site specific, untreated location recordings. For the first time here he constructs collages of sounds, which evolve from a series of recordings made at the specific locations over varying periods of time.
Buy "Weather Report" [CD] in the TouchShop
www.chriswatson.net
TO:42 | Chris Watson “El Tren Fantasma”
CD album - 10 tracks - 65 minutes
Artwork: Jon Wozencroft
CD mastered by Denis Blackham
12" cut by Jason @ Transition
Track list:
01: La Anunciante
02: Los Mochis
03: Sierra Tarahumara
04: El Divisadero
05: Crucero La Joya
06: Chihuahua
07: Aguascalientes
08: Mexico D.F.
09: El Tajin; El dia y La noche
10: Veracruz
"Take the ghost train from Los Mochis to Veracruz and travel cross country, coast to coast, Pacific to Atlantic. Ride the rhythm of the rails on board the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico (FNM) and the music of a journey that has now passed into history."
El Tren Fantasma, (The Ghost Train), is Chris Watson's 4th solo album for Touch, and his first since Weather Report in 2003, which was named as one of the albums you should hear before you die in The Guardian. A Radio programme was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 30 Oct, 2010, produced by Sarah Blunt, and described as "a thrilling acoustic journey across the heart of Mexico from Pacific to Atlantic coast using archive recordings to recreate a rail passenger service which no longer exists. It's now more than a decade since FNM operated its last continuous passenger service across country. Chris Watson spent a month on board the train with some of the last passengers to travel this route. As sound recordist he was part of the film crew working on a programme in the BBC TV series Great Railways Journeys. Now, in this album, the journey of the ;ghost train' is recreated, evoking memories of a recent past, capturing the atmosphere, rhythms and sounds of human life, wildlife and the journey itself along the tracks of one of Mexico's greatest engineering projects.
Buy "El Tren Fantasma" [CD] in the TouchShop
www.chriswatson.net
Tone 51 | Thomas Köner & Jana Winderen “Cloître”
CD – 1 track – 44:24
Remastered by Thomas Köner
Photography & design by Jon Wozencroft
Track list
1. Cloître
Recorded live from the cloisters at Evreux Cathedral, Normandy, France by Franck Dubois, 14th June 2014, as part of L’Ateliers. With thanks to Denis Boyer.
Buy Thomas Köner & Jana Winderen “Cloître” on Bandcamp
www.thomaskoner.com
www.janawinderen.com
Tone 56 | Robert Crouch “Sublunar”
Limited edition CD and download – 4 tracks
Written, recorded and performed by Robert Crouch
Mastered by Lawrence English @ 158
Artwork and photography: Jon Wozencroft
Track list
1. Descension
2. Brick by Brick
3. Listen to the sound of the earth turning
4. Coda (Sailing Stones)
Presented live in Los Angeles. Source material originally developed as part of mas gestos y mas caras, a collaborative performance with Rafa Esparza and Yann Novak, presented at the Hammer Museum on July 8, 2016.
Buy Robert Crouch “Sublunar” in the TouchShop
www.robertcrouch.com
Ash 12.3 | Richard Chartier “Removed”
Limited edition CD in spot varnished ekopak, and download – 2 tracks
Artwork: Linn Meyers, Untitled, 2011, ink on mylar, 42” x 78.25”
Design: Philip Marshall
Track list
1. Removed 1
2. Removed 2
Formed over the course of 5 years, “Removed” was a process of removal/erasure. Only trace elements appear from what was. Their interactions merely a ghost of a composition — subtle echoes across the sound spectrum. A glacially paced progression of discreet relational sonic events and flows.
Inspired in part by the rigorous line drawings of American visual artist Linn Meyers, whose 2011 untitled drawing graces the cover, “Removed” draws the listener in to follow patterns. Meyers often creates large scale on-site works that transform a space into durational installations of seemingly endless lines. Seen from a distance these lines appear as almost natural ripples in a wall surface, but deeper, upon closer inspection, the delicate echoes and fluctuations of the artist’s hand arise from the density of details.
Chartier’s precise sound compositions work in a similar manner. Austere and shimmering, the two compositions of Removed beg for careful listening on headphones. Or let these 2 compositions play quietly amplified across your space. Either way, a physically captivating dimensional experience.
Buy Richard Chartier “Removed” in the TouchShop
www.3particles.com
www.ashinternational.com
Guerrilla Audio
Guerrilla Audio is a new series of audio raids by Simon Fisher Turner.
guer·ril·la
ɡəˈrilə/
noun
noun: guerilla
a member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces.
Each audio edit will be posted for 14 days and then removed from the site, although the information about each guerrilla activity will be archived, but without the audio. There will be two postings per month with the first (also featuring Klara Lewis & Rainier Lericolais) on 1st August 2015, so please check in regularly to listen to the latest offering.
Guerrilla Audio
www.simonfisherturner.com
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