Touch, Biosphere’s Geir Jenssen, his label Biophon Records and his publishers Touch Music would like to warn fans of a release by another artist who has decided to assume the name Biosphere, too…

Touch strongly advise fans of Biosphere to avoid buying this release. Any official Biosphere releases will be announced on Touch’s site or www.biosphere.no.

Biophon Records writes: ”We have noticed that there is some confusion on an album release called Solar Systems by an artist using the name Biosphere. Please be aware that this is NOT a Biosphere release. It’s a cheap Trance album (German style…) written by somebody we believe is Canadan. and released by the Canadian label Hopeful Tragedy Records.”

September sees Touch artists travel to Norway to take part in two festivals.

Ultima ’09, the Olso Contemporary Music Festival, includes performances by Hildur Guðnadóttir [13.09.09] and “Noise and the imagination”, a discussion between Jana Winderen, Ole Anton Engen (Health and Welfare department at Oslo City Council) and Touch’s Mike Harding [16.09.09]. Jana also gives a live performance, ‘Blind Field Recordings’.

Meanwhile, at Stavenger’s Numusic Festival, Philip Jeck is performing and in discussion with The Wire, Fennesz plays live [all 10.09.09], and Biosphere performs a “set of newly arranged club classics” [11.09.09].

www.numusic.no
www.ultima.no

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson investigates the man-made noise pollution which is becoming increasingly invasive in our lives and in our environment, affecting both humans and wildlife. He explores what noise is, the impact of man-made noise and the possible long-term consequences if we don’t turn the volume down.

In the oceans, increasing levels of background noise is disrupting long-distance communication among whales. On land, studies of Great Tits have revealed how birds near busy roads sing at higher frequencies than those in nearby quieter woodlands.
In 1996 the European Commission issued a Green Paper which stated that an estimated 20 per cent of all EU citizens were exposed to noise levels that scientists and health experts considered to be unacceptable, at which most people become annoyed, sleep is disturbed and health may be at risk. Noise is a health issue as well as a nuisance. Recent studies have demonstrated excessive risks of hypertension in people living near airports, even when asleep.

Following the Green Paper, the European Commission issued a directive for member states to map noise levels of major cities. Today, noise, like air and water pollution, is an environmental issue which governments and policy makers cannot ignore.

Chris discovers that education is the first step in taking personal responsibility when he explores the potential damage of exposure to loud music in public venues or on personal listening devices.

Presenter: Chris Watson
Producer: Sarah Blunt

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 9:00pm Thursday 20th August, this show is now available on the BBC iPlayer, for a week.

www.chriswatson.net
“A Problem With Noise” on the BBC iPlayer

From August 15th – 24th 2009, Touch was away on a residency at The Aldeburgh Music Festival [curated by Faster Than Sound]. We are working on a new project, The Suffolk Symphony.

Faster Than Sound presents The Suffolk Symphony by Touch, featuring Philip Jeck, BJNilsen, Jon Wozencroft, Mike Harding and Philip Marshall.

8pm – 11pm, Saturday 22 August
Hoffmann Building: Britten Studio and Jerwood Kiln Studio, Snape
Tickets: £10.00
Box Office: +44 (0)1728 687110
Book tickets online

Faster Than Sound bring more imaginative experiments with sound and image to the Snape Proms with The Suffolk Symphony, a specially commissioned residency and new work by leading sonic and visual production company Touch. Inspired by the historic coastline of Aldeburgh and its surrounding area including Aldeburgh Music’s Snape Proms and its history, Touch will create a new audio-visual symphony from scratch, using only locally sourced sounds and images. Beginning on 16 August, Philip Jeck, BJNilsen, Jon Wozencroft, Philip Marshall and Mike Harding will go on a week-long treasure hunt to unearth old records, field recordings, home-made sounds and images to create a new multimedia Suffolk Symphony, culminating in its first performance on the 22 August.

Following the offer of an Aldeburgh Residency by Faster Than Sound’s creative producer Joana Seguro, Mike Harding responded with the idea of creating a new multimedia work purely from locally sourced sound and image. Mike and BJNilsen went on an exploratory field trip in May to make initial field recordings which are being made into vinyl to be used in the performance.

The artists are already busy exchanging ideas in preparation for the residency in August, with Jeck drawing inspiration from the work of Benjamin Britten, especially his Simple Symphony, and Jon Wozencroft planning to describe the special place of Aldeburgh on film, shot in real time during the residency.

Directed by Mike Harding with sound by Philip Jeck and BJNilsen and images by Jon Wozencroft, the whole week was documented for an interactive website by Philip Marshall. The residency featured workshops and presentations by Philip Marshall and Mike Harding, including interviews with the other artists and a Touch showcase, culminating in the performance which will take place in the recently converted industrial space of the Hoffmann Building.

The interviews by Mike Harding during the residency included a discussion with his partner Jon Wozencroft about his vision for Touch, now nearly 30 years old, and an assessment of the changes which have occurred in that period. Philip Jeck discussed his work, particularly the method behind his live and recorded output, which eschews conventional instrumentation. BJNilsen assessed how field recordings have developed as source material for his work, and Philip Marshall described the way artists communicate their ideas online and how this affects the relationship between them and their audience. Each interview lasted for one hour, including a 15 minute Q & A session.

www.fasterthansound.com
www.aldeburgh.co.uk
Book tickets online

Bleep.com write: “Touch, and their output over the years, has always captured our attention here at Bleep – from their unique, musical approach to stunning, landscape photography used for release artwork. In acknowledgement of their progressive approach to music, we are very happy to have a comprehensive catalogue on board reduced at a special price for your buying pleasure in both physical and digital format, an interview with Jon Wozencroft and a selection of favourite releases picked by some of the Touch artists and staff.”

The Touch showcase can be found here on Bleep.com. Their interview with Jon Wozencroft can be read on the Bleep blog. Finally, there are “Best of Bleep” charts from Fennesz, Philip Jeck, Geir Jenssen, Mike Harding and Jon Wozencroft.

www.bleep.com

Rosy has created a headphone sound piece for Sonic Museum at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. “Dawn” was commissioned for the WW2 Hall of Memories. The installation runs until 29 November 2009. A sample of “Dawn” can be heard here, and the track downloaded from here.

In addition, on Saturday July 11, 7.30pm at St Paul Street Gallery, Rosy will be performing live to a screening of “Tuolumne: The Lights and Perfections”, a Super 8 film by Paul Clipson [USA].

www.sonicmuseum.co.nz
www.nzff.co.nz
www.rosyparlane.com

The comedy actor Mollie Sugden died yesterday at the age of 86 after a long illness. She was best known for playing Mrs Slocombe in long-running BBC sitcom “Are You Being Served?”. An obituary from news.bbc.co.uk can be read here.

As a tribute, please click here for a short mp3 clip, taken from Touch’s first edition, Feature Mist.

Read about Touch’s early cassette culture in the Archive

Faster Than Sound presents ‘The Suffolk Symphony’ by Touch, featuring Philip Jeck, BJNilsen, Jon Wozencroft, Mike Harding and Philip Marshall.
8pm – 11pm, Saturday 22 August
Hoffmann Building: Britten Studio and Jerwood Kiln Studio, Snape

Faster Than Sound bring more imaginative experiments with sound and image to the Snape Proms with The Suffolk Symphony, a specially commissioned residency and new work by leading sonic and visual production company Touch. Inspired by the historic coastline of Aldeburgh and its surrounding area including Aldeburgh Music’s Snape Proms and its history, Touch will create a new audio-visual symphony from scratch, using only locally sourced sounds and images. Beginning on 16 August, Philip Jeck, BJNilsen, Jon Wozencroft, Philip Marshall and Mike Harding will go on a week-long treasure hunt to unearth old records, field recordings, home-made sounds and images to create a new multimedia Suffolk Symphony, culminating in its first performance on the 22 August.
Following the offer of an Aldeburgh Residency by Faster Than Sound’s creative producer Joana Seguro, Mike Harding responded with the idea of creating a new multimedia work purely from locally sourced sound and image. Mike and BJNilsen went on an exploratory field trip in May to make initial field recordings which are being made into vinyl to be used in the performance. The artists are already busy exchanging ideas in preparation for the residency in August, with Jeck drawing inspiration from the work of Benjamin Britten, especially his Simple Symphony, and Jon Wozencroft planning to describe the special place of Aldeburgh on film, shot in real time during the residency.

Directed by Mike Harding with sound by Philip Jeck and BJNilsen and images by Jon Wozencroft, the whole week will be documented for an interactive website (now offline) by Philip Marshall. The residency will feature workshops and presentations by Philip Marshall and Mike Harding, including interviews with the other artists and a Touch showcase, culminating in the performance which will take place in the recently converted industrial space of the Hoffmann Building. The Suffolk Symphony will be subsequently released through Touch.The interviews by Mike Harding during the residency will include a

discussion with his partner Jon Wozencroft about his vision for Touch, now nearly 30 years old, and an assessment of the changes which have occurred in that period. Philip Jeck will discuss his work, particularly the method behind his live and recorded output, which eschews conventional instrumentation. BJNilsen assesses how field recordings have developed as source material for his work, and Philip Marshall describes the way artists communicate their ideas online and how this affects the relationship between them and their audience. Each interview lasts for one hour, including a 15 minute Q & A session, and dates and times will be shortly be announced via the website.

www.fasterthansound.com
www.aldeburgh.co.uk
Book tickets online

Continue reading →

Touch now has an official Twitter account. From there, we will be updating you with info on new editions in the TouchShop, TouchRadio broadcasts, and more… Follow us @touchmusic

twitter.com/touchmusic

A2 Poster, gloss stock
Designed by Jon Wozencroft

…discovered in the depths of the Touch archive, this poster advertises the long-deleted Tone 7 and Tone 7.1 from 1997 – New Order’s “Video 5-8-6”, which was recorded in 1982, initially as soundtrack to the opening of The Haçienda in Manchester, England.
These copies are from the original 1997 poster print-run. As such, they have minor blemishes (small crease marks to the edges) which, we believe, will be obscured when framed-up. Be quick! We only have a handful of these A2 Posters available…

Now sold out

A lengthy extract of Jana Winderen‘s CD ‘Heated’ [Touch # Tone 36] was played by Fiona Talkington on Late Junction on BBC Radio 3 last night. You can hear the episode here for 7 days. The live recording, along with a 7″ vinyl and cassette release, is available in the TouchShop here.

Many thanks to all who attended Touch Presents, live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. A fine review of the evening has been posted over at the Mapsadasical blog, and Drowned in Sound acclaim the “triumphant performance” with a 9/10 review.

The next Touch Presents… in London is now only a week away.

Touch Presents, live at The Roundhouse

16th May 2009, as part of The Short Circuit Festival.

Philip Jeck [UK] and the Gavin Bryars Ensemble [UK/FR] – “The Sinking of the Titanic”
Biosphere [NO]
Hildur Gudnadóttir [IS] & BJNilsen [SE]
+ an installation by Chris Watson
+ in the bar, Sheikh Ahmed selecting sounds from the Touch catalogue

Further information at www.roundhouse.org.uk
Book tickets online

Visit www.guardian.co.uk to read “Sinking of the Titanic: the watery sound meditation returns”, an article previewing the Gavin Bryars Ensemble / Philip Jeck performance next weekend at Touch Presents… at the Roundhouse.

“For his prologue, Jeck used a test tone record that had been lying around without a case for years. “What I’m trying to set up, it’s like an empty ocean, with bits that are like a premonition for things that are going to come,” he says. Amid the static from this battered record come foghorn-like tones and hisses like a diver’s air supply – this is a transmission being excavated from the past. “Philip is a genius, no doubt about that,” says Bryars.”
[nb: Jeck is not a DJ!]

www.guardian.co.uk: Sinking of the Titanic: the watery sound meditation returns
Further information about Touch Presents… at www.roundhouse.org.uk
Purchase The Sinking of the Titanic in the TouchShop

This Friday May 1st sees a rare screening of “Liquid Music” at Tate Britain’s Late at the Tate event. Produced by Jon Wozencroft for Christian Fennesz’s live performances during 2001-2004, the film has so far been impossible to master onto DVD. The soundtrack is from one of Fennesz’s finest performances, in Brighton, from the Touch tour of 2001.

As part of the night’s theme, “Polish Connections”, artist Janek Simon will perform an “optical intervention” in parallel to the original footage. There will be two screenings, at 7.30pm and 8.30pm, in the Duffield Room. Anybody interested in attending is advised to get there early, as space is limited and admission is free.

More details: www.tate.org.uk

Film notes for “Black Sea” by Jon Wozencroft, premiered last night at Fennesz’s Ether 09 performance in London.

Now available in the TouchShop:

“Touch – Not A Record Label” T-Shirt, designed by Jon Wozencroft.
Printed on a white Fruit of the Loom Super Premium T-Shirt.
Position of logo and type: Center Chest, 14cm wide.
Sizes available: S / M / L / XL / XXL / XXXL

Buy the “Touch – Not a Record Label” T-Shirt in the TouchShop

The Guardian newspaper have made next Tuesday’s performance by Fennesz at Ether 2009 one of their “Pick of the Week” recommendations.

They write: “…guitarist Christian Fennesz treats his instrument so it sounds like pretty much anything apart from a guitar. Fizzing, atmospheric stuff…”

Touch presents, live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, featuring Fennesz, Rosy Parlane and CM von Hausswolff will take place on Tuesday 21st April, 7.30pm, as part of the Ether Festival 2009.

A day before, at 6.30pm on Monday 20th April in the Purcell Room at the QEH, Touch’s Jon Wozencroft and Mike Harding will be hosting a Q&A session with the artists. Nb: the Monday event is FREE – so, if you are in London please do come!

In 2002, Touch invited a group of sound artists and composers to re-imagine the ringtone. On a recent visit to Dublin, Touch’s Mike Harding talked to Kevin Brew of RTÉ Radio 1’s “The Arts Show” about the miniature artworks that featured on the resulting CD, appropriately entitled “Ringtones”.

The disc features 177 tracks by artists such as Ryoji Ikeda, Fennesz, New Order, Hecker, Gilbert & George, Mika Vainio, Mark Van Hoen, Phill Niblock, Simon Fisher Turner, People Like Us, Oren Ambarchi and Chris Watson.

You may listen again to the interview by visiting The Arts Show website.

“Ringtones” is available in the TouchShop.