Jon Wozencroft leads a discussion on the haunted nature of experimental music and photography and plays some records to elaborate. If you like experimental music and photography, this is not to be missed!

Thursday 29 September, 7.30PM
Daniel Blau Gallery
51 Hoxton Square
London N1 6PB

Photograph: Jeffrey Silverthorne, ‘Untitled’, 1982. Unique silver gelatin print.

Jon Wozencroft is Senior Tutor in the department of Visual Communication, Royal College of Art, and the founder of Touch (1982), a unique and highly regarded publishing company based in the UK, working with artists internationally. He has contributed several articles and essays on music and design for a number of publications, including The Guardian, Tate Magazine and The Wire, and in 1988/94 he authored the books The Graphic Language of Neville Brody 1 & 2. He has worked on the Joy Division archive. He is currently involved with new projects for Wire, Chris Watson and Oren Ambarchi.
If you would like to attend this event, please RSVP to: london@danielblau.com.
Tickets are £5, payable on arrival at the gallery.

www.danielblau.com

This September, Never Records will open at 11 Southwark St. near London Bridge tube station, as part of Illuminate Production’s Merge Festival, sponsored by the Tate Modern, and Better Bankside. Philip Jeck will be performing from 8pm The Bear Pit at on 24th September.

In the daytime, Touch, with BJNilsen, Jon Wozencroft & Mike Harding, will be recording and cutting at Never Records at 2pm for two hours. Two vinyl cuts will be made of the recording, one for display and listening in the shop and one, the other copy goes to the archives…

Never Records is a multi-media multi-artist project by New York artist/musician Ted Riederer. Exploring the potential of a record store and record label to unite, educate, and uplift a community through recorded sound, Riederer’s project began in an abandoned Tower Records near Union Square in New York City. In January 2010, Riederer, in collaboration with curators No Longer Empty, created what the Wall Street Journal described as a “mock shop” that served as a “love letter to the dying concept of the record store.”

In September 2010, Riederer brought Never Records to the Liverpool Biennial, and expanded upon his original idea by purchasing a vinyl record lathe. He then cut recordings of live performances, including Philip Jeck & Hildur Guðnadóttir, inside of record store/performance space, and filled his record store with this library of on site performances.

…and don’t forget, The Tapeworm’s free evening of October performances, featuring BJNilsen and CM von Hausswolff, also part of the Merge Festival.

www.mergefestival.co.uk
www.secretshape.com/neverrecords

A special concert for the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, with The Gavin Bryars Ensemble & Philip Jeck.

Composed in 1969 and first recorded for Brian Eno’s Obscure label, Gavin Bryars’s The Sinking of the Titanic was inspired by reports that the ship’s string ensemble continued to play the hymn tune Autumn as the vessel sank in April 1912. Featuring projections of archival images curated by Bill Morrison and Laurie Olinder.

Tickets are now available from www.barbican.org.uk
The CD is still available from the TouchShop…

10″ Vinyl
Printer inner and outer colour sleeve
Design & photography by Jon Wozencroft

Track listing:

Side A
1. Liminal 3:07
2. July 5:06

Side B
3. Shift 6:47
4. Seven Stars* 3:01

Recorded in Studio B, Amannstudios, Vienna.
Acoustic and electric guitars, bass, synths, computers.

*Seven Stars features Steven Hess on drums, recorded at Amannstudios by Christoph Amann

Fennesz’s first solo release since “Black Sea” [Touch # TO:76, 2008] is a 4 track 10″ vinyl, with a CD version due in September 2011. It will also be available as a digital download. Using acoustic and electric guitars, bass, synths, computers, Fennesz continues to engage and entrance us in equal measure.

Fennesz writes: “Seven Stars was recorded in Vienna in January 2011. I recorded and mixed the album within 3 weeks. Liminal and July were existing pieces which i have reworked. (I wrote an early version of Liminal in a hotel room in Bali in 2010). There is also a version of Liminal that I have been playing live for some time. My friend Steven Hess, with whom I have worked before, happened to be in Vienna at the time of the sessions, so I invited him to join me in the studio. Christoph Amann recorded the drums using a selection of his great microphones including his amazing new Josephson.

I wanted to make a record that has a certain lightness about it and at the same time explore new territory using drums on one track. This might be something I will continue with in the future.”

Fennesz’s third collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Flumina”, is due out this summer on Touch.

Continue reading →

Jon Wozencroft discusses his current cultural reference points with Unit Editions, a progressive publishing venture by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy, on their “culture lust” blog.

www.uniteditions.com

“Within Sound of the Nile – Tracing the composer Soliman Gamil”

A documentary on the works of Soliman Gamil by Paul Paulun.
Research: Chloe Griffin, Paul Paulun and Sam Wilder.

We are pleased to announce that there will be two broadcasts on public German radio stations WDR (14th June), and BR (9th of July).

You can read the text in English here [.pdf]
www.wdr3.de

We are delighted to announce that Jana Winderen has won the Golden Nica for Digital Musics and Sound Art at Ars Electronica 2011. Her entry “Energy Field” was chosen by the jury out of 717 original entries into the category.

Philip Jeck received a Distinction for “Suite: Live in Liverpool” and Sohrab an Honorary Mention for “A Hidden Place“.

Since 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica has served as an interdisciplinary platform for everyone who uses the computer as a universal medium for implementing and designing their creative projects at the interface of art, technology and society.

The Prix Ars Electronica, the Ars Electronica Festival, the Ars Electronica Center – Museum of the Future and the Ars Electronica Futurelab are the four divisions that comprise the Ars Electronica Linz GmbH, whose specific orientation and long-term continuity make it a unique platform for digital art and media culture.

The competition is organized by the Ars Electronica Linz GmbH and ORF’s Upper Austria Regional Studio in collaboration with the OK Center for Contemporary Art and the Brucknerhaus Linz, and the prizes are awarded during the Ars Electronica Festival each year. The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the most important awards for creativity and pioneering spirit in the field of digital media.

A previous Touch entry winner was Ryoji Ikeda’s “matrix” [Touch # TO:44] in 2001.
Previous Distinctions have been awarded to Gescom for their MiniDisc release, which was released on OR, and Chris Watson for his album “Outside the Circle of Fire” [Touch # TO:37].

www.janawinderen.com
Jana Winderen in the TouchShop
Ars Electronica

Press Coverage (Norway unless stated):
Kunstkritikk
Ballade
Listen to Norway (mic)

Chris Watson’s “Midnight at the Oasis” will be featured on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction on 1st June 2011. It will be available on the BBC iPlayer after that…

“Midnight at the Oasis” is released on the CD Cross-Pollination, which is released on 30th May 2011 but can be pre-ordered from the TouchShop.

Chris Watson’s & Marcus Davidson’s “The Bee Symphony” was featured on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction on 24th May 2011. It is currently available to listen again to on the BBC iPlayer.

“The Bee Symphony” is released on the CD Cross-Pollination, which is released on 30th May 2011 but can be pre-ordered from the TouchShop.

It is a great pleasure to announce that Touch Radio is now a “named collection” within the British Library’s Archival Sound Recordings website.

The British Library is home to the UK’s national collection of radio recordings in its sound archive. They range from 1924 through to the present day and include programming of all kinds, both public service and commercial. The arrival of the internet, and internet radio, has freed creative programme makers from the need for transmission equipment, broadcast schedules and sponsorship, and ushered in an era in which almost every imaginable approach to programme making is now possible.

Although the artistic possibilities of radio were recognised almost as soon as the medium was introduced back in the early 1920s, the full possibilities of art radio and of radio art are even now only being explored by a small number of pioneering stations around the world, of which Touch Radio is one. The range of approaches adopted by these stations can be as diverse as the interests and personalities of the producers themselves. Freed from the concerns of advertisers, charters, sponsors, licenses, departmental policies or house styles, the programme contributors are allowed to be as straightforward or as creatively original as they like.

This collection represents the complete Touch Radio archive to date: around one new programme released monthly since January 2005, each varying in duration from a few minutes to over an hour. The collection will be updated from time to time as new recordings become available.

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library’s collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, photographs, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages.

Touch Radio on the British Library’s Archival Sound Recordings website

Touch presents… as part of The Domino Festival:

Mika Vainio
Hildur Guðnadóttir
Thomas Ankersmit

In 2012 wordt het Engelse Touch 30 (!) jaar. Touch werd opgericht in ’82 en omschrijft zichzelf als een ‘audiovisuele operatie’. Een combinatie van klank en beeld. Wat beschouwd wordt als moeilijke avant-garde, geeft Touch mooi vorm. Inhouse designer is fotograaf Jon Wozencroft zelf. Opvallend aan de Touch hoezen zijn de vele natuurbeelden, vaak landschappen. “It’s a project about beauty. I can find myself working on it as a gardener would” dixit Wozencroft. Naast ‘sterren’ als Fennesz, Jóhann Jóhannsson, (ex-Cabaret Voltaire oprichter en ‘sound recordist’) Chris Watson en Mika Vainio, huisvest Touch ook straffe recente signings als revelatie Eleh en Jana Winderen (wiens cassette The Noisiest Guys On The Planet (Cassette, Ash International) opnames bevat van … garnalen).

Visit www.abconcerts.be for concert details in English, French and Dutch

Reviews can be found here:
www.digg.be
www.kwadratuur.be
www.gonzocircus.com

Igloo Magazine have published reviews of three recent Touch albums by Eleh, Phill Niblock and BJNilsen. They write: “Touch has long been a label that embraces experimental electronic music by an array of respected musicians, many who have released material over an extended period of time through the label. Resplendent in founder Jon Wozencroft’s distinctive sleeve designs, Touch is always mindful of quality both aesthetically and musically, and continues to deliver the best in experimental electronic listening music that is high in concept and creativity.”

Read the full article at www.igloomag.com

Hard back book featuring Jon Wozencroft’s ‘Heart and Soul’
148pp full colour

Shaping Voices is distributed by Oogachtend NV

Today, design exists in multiple contexts and encompasses a broad range of disciplines, practices, technologies and forms. Our information society is constantly pushing and redefi ning the visual landscape, opening the field for new developments and ideas. Throughout the book, the different authors present arguments and ideas to broaden the readers’ perspective, allowing them to go beyond the complexity of the current design debate. Shaping Voices aims to discuss the questions (and possible answers) concerning the development of new concepts for re-evaluating contemporary design practice and theory. The book contains the ideas and reflections of a variety of authors, ranging from a selection of designers and artists who have addressed this question within the framework of their work and design practice, to researchers and media art and design theorists who are facing these questions in their daily routine as lecturers and coaches of design students. The book is intended to be a means for the authors and contributors to communicate their shared passion regarding the rich potential of the design landscape for enlivening our environment.

BJNilsen, Mika Vainio, Jacob Kirkegaard & Hild-Sophie Tafjord are all taking part in the Hertz Festival in Athens this week.

Curated by Novi_sad, who is also performing.

More information can be found at www.hertzfestival.com

The Art of Listening – a blog from Touch’s residency in Brussels, January 17-21 2011.

Continue reading →

The Art of Listening

Mike Harding & BJNilsen, with a sound seminar by Jon Wozencroft. (see above for our daily blog)

Transmedia in association with Hogeschool Sint-Lukas Brussel, as part of The City of Sounds’ Research Project by Joost Fonteyne, Boris Debackere and Steven Devleminck.
Workshops, talks & field trips with a performance at Recyclart on Thursday 20th January.
Although the teaching element of the week is not open to the public, all are welcome to the performance night. For further information please visit the Recyclart website.
BJNilsen & Touch live

Thursday 20th January 2011 21h00
Recyclart
Station Brussel-Kapellekerk/Gare Bruxelles-Chapelle
Ursulinenstraat/25/Rue des Ursulines
1000 Brussel/Bruxelles

Lend Me Your Ears have named Touch as their “pioneering label of the year” for 2010.

They write: “Touch – LMYE’s pioneering label of the year: shepherding magnificent new releases by Philip Jeck & BJNilsen that were among the year’s best anywhere is qualification enough for recognition. But Touch went further, bringing Sohrab’s unmissable A Hidden Place, Daniel Menche’s extraordinary Hover, early Hildur Gudnadottir goodness in the form of the Mount A re-release & further enhancing its Touch Radio series with 12 new instalments – including this Phill Niblock.”

earslend.blogspot.com

The Bee Symphony

Celebrating the bee in science and art
Friday 17 December 2010 at 7.30pm
Rymer Auditorium

The Bee Symphony, consisting of recordings of bees by Chris Watson (‘Autumn Watch’, ‘The Life of Birds’, ‘The Life of Mammals’, ‘Life in the Undergrowth’ and ‘Life in Cold Blood’), Mike Harding (Touch) and a vocal score by Marcus Davidson (Spire) will be performed live by Chris Watson and five singers from the University of York, conducted by Marcus Davidson. The Symphony was originally commissioned as part of Pestival and performed in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.

“The theme of the evening is really for people to become immersed in the sounds and rhythms of the insects.” Chris Watson

In addition to The Bee Symphony the programme will feature other sound performances and talks by scientists on current research on bees and the current perils that they face, including:

Irene Moon – My Queen and I: An introduction to the bees and their closest relatives, also a special episode for TouchRadio

Buy tickets at www.yorkconcerts.co.uk
The Bee Symphony microsite
www.marcusdavidson.net
www.chriswatson.net

Photo © Thomas Adank

The latest issue of The Wire features a four page article on EVP and Ash 9.4/PARC 4 – CM von Hausswolff’s and Michael Esposito’s “The Ghosts of Effingham”.

The Wire writes: “Revisiting his family farm with Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Michael Esposito captured the sounds of his ancestors for their wax cylinder project, “The Ghosts of Effingham”. Ken Hollings spools back to the days of Thomas Edison to investigate how obsolete recording devices and the dead voices captured on them have changed our perceptions of the material world.”

Buy “The Ghosts of Effingham” in the TouchShop
www.ashinternational.com
www.ashinternational.com/parc
www.thewire.co.uk