Fiona Talkington has been playing extracts from “Thirty years and counting”, the Touch.30 CD and double vinyl release for Touch’s 30th year.

You can catch up with Late Junction here and buy the product in the TouchShop. Hurry while stocks last… both formats are limited editions…

Congratulations to Late Junction in their 10th year…

Following the Touch.30 events of early December, we received various reviews and Fabio Lugaro and Peter Knight kindly allowed us access to their photographs of the Beaconsfield events. A summary can be found here.

And UK’s Norman Records wrote about the Touch. 30 years and counting release:

“There are virtually no labels on this planet that are in my thoughts as much as Touch these days, I have releases in my collection by almost the entire current roster, strange news for a lad brought up feasting on various strains of indie pop and muscular guitar heroics. Perhaps my mind illicitly craved exotic textures and unnerving sound vistas over catchy riffs or punchy anthems, I know not exactly when the shift occurred but I am sure glad it did.

That they’re celebrating three decades operating from the fringes of the experimental music world, gradually positioning themselves closer and closer until they now effortlessly navigate the bleeding heart at the centre. Such is the strength and power of Touch music that all the artists concerned can contribute exclusive pieces to this anniversary celebration and despite their apparent diversity, create a seamless collage of profound moods and atmosphere-laden evocation.

As an entry point to this quiet behemoth of a label, ’30 Years & Counting’ works incredibly well, a very satisfying mix of tactile field recordings, heady twilight ambience, sparse modern classical, decaying post-rock fallout and granular tonal hypnosis. This enviable line-up of practitioners are kings or queens of their particular musical outposts to my ears – these four lengthy segments feature all the players at some juncture or other, fine innovators such as Oren Ambarchi, Chris Watson, Biosphere, Jana Winderen, Bruce Gilbert, ELEH, C. Hausswolff, BJ Nilsen, Fennesz, Philip Jeck, Mika Vainio and the beautiful work of my current squeeze, Hildur Gudnadottir. Look at that plethora of talent and weep with joy. Then buy what you can afford of their back catalogue, you’ll never look back.”

A free download of Network 21, prepared by Jon Savage, which was presented as a free CDR, can be found here; and a recording of Autodigest’s live performance at Beaconsfield can be heard here.

A big thank you to all those of you who came and contributed so much goodwill to what was for us a memorable event. We are looking for a recording of Mike Harding’s reading of Simon Fisher Turner’s SMS – does anyone have one? unfortunately our digital recorder failed with just that one piece… The rest of the performances were all recorded.

You can read reviews of last week’s Touch.30 event at Beaconsfield, London

The Liminal
Dalston Sound
Mich Leemans (Flemish)
likeahammerinthesink

and photos here:

Fabio Lugaro
Peter Knight

Network21

In early 1987, when this mix was taped, House music was finally breaking through – Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley’s “Jack Your Body” went to number one in January – and indie music, to me at least, was losing its fire. I’d been to New York the previous year and made a trip to Downstairs Records – which of course, was situated upstairs – and come back with some early DJ International 12’s and some bootleg breakbeat 45’s, so was beginning to add some of these into the mix into the usual white noise.

So you get some Punk and you get some Girl Group and some Sixties garage and some strange spoken word stuff and a few attempts at analogue breakbeats. It all sounds like the raw material for a killer mix but I like it in its raw and unadorned state. Thanks to the Tommy Boy 12″ of the three Double Dee and Steinski Lessons, I was obsessed with mixology: hence the bootleg House mix and the first 12″ by the JAMMS, which had just been released when this tape was made.

It’s also a record of a moment. Jon and I lived in deep West London. It was relentless, even twenty five years or so ago. So, on a Friday night or a weekend, we’d get in the car, spark up, and head out on the M40. Drive past High Wycombe high up into the Chilterns, and take the Stokenchurch turn-off. Turn left, and drive along the Oxford Road through the village of Ibstone. Just before Ibstone House, there is a turn off to the right. Park there, and walk West.

This is a single-track road through trees down into an almost deserted valley: an oasis of quiet. Walk down in the near total darkness past Barbara Castle’s old house – on a hill-top to the right – down to a T junction. Turn left along a road (Holloway Lane) shrouded in tall trees and after a few hundred yards you get to the tiny village of Turville. Depending on your taste, you can drink or eat in the village pub, the Bull and Butcher. (The place has changed, of course, it’s not such an oasis of quiet since the pub got reviewed in US tour guides).

At 75 minutes, this is a pretty good soundtrack to such an expedition. It was fun to compile: I remember tuning in on my car radio and being very excited when I heard the MC5 blasting out over the airwaves. It originally comprised two full sides of a 90 minute cassette, so about 15 minutes have been cut out for reasons of space: tracks by Saqqara Dogs, the Neon Boys, the Middle Class, “Section 43” by Country Joe and the Fish. I still like all the records that you hear on this mix. [Jon Savage, 21 November 2012]

Track list:

Jose Jimenez talks to Teenagers
MC5 Looking At You – single version
The Slits What A Boring Life
Middle Class Situations
Rock the House – 1986 white label
Spooky Tooth Waiting For The Wind – break
Sylvester Rock The Box – bonus beats
The Medallions The Letter
John Leyton Wild Wind
JS > I Like Synthetic/Kinks
Lee Dorsey Get Out My Life Woman break
Rosa Yemen Herpes Simplex
Jimmy “Bo” Horne Spank
Boy vs Girl w/ JS
Miss X Christine
The Urinals Sex
JAMMS All You Need Is Love original 12″
The Bostweeds Faster Pussycat Kill Kill
The Poets In Your Tower
The Jaynettes Sally Go Round The Roses
Buzzcocks Boredom backwards
John Lennon at Royal Command Performance 1963
The Residents Beyond The Valley of a Day in the Life
Twinkle Golden Lights
JS > Touch Ritual
The Spades We Sell Soul
Mars Helen Forsdale
The Electric Eels Agitated
Skip Spence Books of Moses
The Shangri-Las He Cried
The Chubukos Witchdoctor Bump
The It Donnie
Maurice Woodruff – My Predictions for 1963
Break of Love Ride by Vikki Love and Nuance
The Attack Colours of My Mind
Pop Up Advertising
Pere Ubu Heart of Darkness

30 releases in 30 years of Touch fitting into 30 seconds and 3 bonus seconds…

autodigest Live at Touch.30

FENNESZ SHOWCASES NEW MATERIAL • MASTERCLASS IN SOUND TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL MUSIC • PETER SAVILLE NAVIGATES THE BRIDGE BETWEEN DESIGN AND FINE ART • BRUCE GILBERT READING & MUCH MORE…
“SOME KIND OF WOODSTOCK WHERE YOU WOULD LEAST EXPECT IT…”

A two-day festival celebrating 30 years of Touch, with performances, installations and displays, and a full programme of workshops and masterclasses in design and music, recording, mastering and the digital realm. The full programme is now available to read below.

Venue: Beaconsfield, 22 Newport St, Vauxhall, London, SE11 6AY
Dates: 5-6 December 2012

The Festival Pass entitles you to access all events at this festival and is now onsale here:

Atmospheres 4 – Touch.30 at Beaconsfield is the main UK event in a year-round programme of activities celebrating 30 years of existence.

Atmospheres 4 – Touch.30 at Beaconsfield is a two-day festival with performances, installations and displays, and a full programme of workshops and masterclasses. The Festival will explore all aspects of Touch: the music; the distinctive and influential design and photography; the process of recording and mastering; and the opportunities of the digital realm.

Participation in the event will extend well beyond Touch artists and creative team into the hinterland around the label: academics, industry professionals, other ground breaking music organisations etc.

Atmospheres will be curated by two of Touch’s founders and the current creative team, Mike Harding and Jon Wozencroft, and produced by them with along with Touch’s experienced digital and live production team already responsible this year for events in the UK, Germany, Belgium, USA and elsewhere detailed here.

Day One – Wednesday 5th December 2012

Afternoon events, 2pm-6pm:

• 2pm: Jon Wozencroft talks about the history of Touch, “Through the Digital Glass”
• 2:30pm: Denis Blackham (Skye Mastering) and Christian Fennesz on mastering for digital manufacture and the demands of the “Venice” project
• 3pm: “When did sound become music?” Sonic intervention from Panasonic.
Chaired by John Kieffer: Denis Blackham, Jason (Transition Mastering Studios) and Jon Wozencroft, a panel on digital and analogue sound, and how this determines listening outcomes
Sonic intervention from Ryoji Ikeda
4pm Break
• 4:15pm approx. Edwin Pouncey discusses his record collection…
• 4:30pm: Chaired by Tony Myatt (University of Surrey): Mike Harding, Seb Jouan (Aecom Acoustic Design & Arts & Culture) on multi-channel with Hildur Gudnadottir. This session reflects upon hi-audio formats, a specific example, and their future
(Followed by questions)

Screening Situations (upstairs), 6pm-7pm
• Coda-plus 47 (audio by Fennesz & Ryoji Ikeda)
• Liquid Music (audio by Fennesz)

Evening Performances, 8pm-11pm

• Hildur Gudnadottir – Leyfɗu Ljósinu (Beaconsfield version)
• audio intervention by David Toop, a presentation of “Yanomamo Shamanism”, released on ‘Touch Travel’ [T4] in 1984.
• Philip Jeck
• People Like Us – 4′ 33″
• audio intervention by BJNilsen, who plays a new piece recorded outside the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, “The cackle of dogs and laughter of death”.
• Playback of a surround-sound rendition of his Touch.30 piece “Brussels Nord” by Chris Watson (in absentia)
• Fennesz

Day Two – Thursday 6th December 2012

Afternoon events, 2pm-6pm:

• 2pm: Mike Harding introduces Touch’s digital presence on the web with Philip Marshall (websites) & Tim Medcalf (iOS devices) followed by at
• 2:45pm: Paul Wilson & Cheryl Tipp from The British Library on the TouchRadio archive
• 3pm: Jon Wozencroft & Garry Mouat – “Bromides and Spray Mount” – Touch design in the early years
• 3:45pm: Design Seminar by Jon Wozencroft – How Touch has responded to changing formats and download culture
•: 4:30pm Jon Wozencroft & Peter Saville discuss their parallel experience of visual culture, and the movement of graphic design to the art world (Followed by questions)

Screening Situations (upstairs), 6pm-7:15pm
• The Whitstable Symphony (audio by BJNilsen)
• The Suffolk Symphony (audio by Philip Jeck & BJNilsen)

Evening Performances, 8pm-11pm

• Thomas Köner
• followed by an audio intervention by Bruce Gilbert – “Sliding off the World”
• CM von Hausswolff
• Jon Wozencroft introduces Jon Savage’s and his pirate broadcast for Network 21 in 1987
• Biosphere – transfiguring Arnold Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht”
Bar area: audio interventions by Simon Fisher Turner and others…
In the Bar: Photography by Jon Wozencroft: The Listening Eye

Touch live @ Madeiradig 30th November

Thomas Ankersmit
Jana Winderen
Biosphere
Touch

Madeiradig

8pm 22nd November | The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Scotland

Philip Jeck, Thomas Köner, BJNilsen

www.glasgowconcerthalls.com

Touch.30 continues live in Essen, Germany at the Denovali Swingfest, on October 5th, with Philip Jeck, Achim Mohné and Mike Harding (Touch).

VINYL+

The resurgence of vinyl in recent years is a phenomenon which has not gone unnoticed; as CD declines sharply, its audio limitations exposed not only by advances in other technologies, but also by the myths propagated at the inception of digital exposed, so artists explore and demand other formats to express their work. Although a business model is still some way off the traditional artist » label » distribution » shop paradigm, it is clear this is being radically overhauled and replaced by online sales platforms set up by the artists themselves. But vinyl seems to have escaped this process, and continues to grow. Why is that?

www.denovali.com/swingfest
www.philipjeck.com
www.achimmohne.de

In September 2012 Touch in collaboration with ISSUE Project Room will present a series of events in Manhattan and Brooklyn (or across New York) celebrating the publisher’s 30th anniversary. 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. The label has presented a wide range of artists from New Order to Thomas Köner, and now has a strong focus on artists such as Fennesz, Chris Watson, Philip Jeck, Jana Winderen, Hildur Gudnadottir, Oren Ambarchi and Biosphere.

How to buy tickets:
www.brownpapertickets.com
Festival pass includes admission to the following events (there will also be various afternoon events included in the price – to be announced soon):

Thu, September 13, 2012  8:00pm
Philip Jeck & Ted Riederer + Ken Montgomery at Our Lady of Lebanon – 113 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
You can read a review of this performance on audiostream

Fri, September 14, 2012  8:00pm
Eleh + Lary 7 at Our Lady of Lebanon – 113 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
You can read a review of this performance in the New York Times

Sat, September 15, 2012  8:00pm
Chris Watson* – Forest Floor (multi-channel sound installation) presented by Mike Harding
Chris Watson* & Marcus Davidson – “The Bee Symphony” & the world premier of the second part of the trilogy “Sea Polyphonies” at Our Lady of Lebanon – 113 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
[*unfortunately Chris Watson is unable to attend]

and also…

Saturday, September 15th, 9pm – Midnight
on Daniel Blumin’s show on WFMU

Premier UK experimental label Touch turns 30 this year. To celebrate, Touch has been organizing events in Europe, and from September 13th to the 16th the celebration lands in New York City with a series of events at Issue Project Room, Anthology Film Archives, and Experimental Intermedia. Afraid of leaving home? Not to worry – the festivities also hit WFMU as label co-owner Mike Harding and composer Philip Jeck drop in for a visit!
Tune in as Harding discusses the label’s history and spins tracks from the imprint’s long out-of-print cassettes, recordings from the label’s roster of hit makers (e.g. Fennesz, Mika Vainio, Oren Ambarchi), and music that served to inspire the founding of the label!
Then, Philip Jeck, a Touch mainstay and artist primarily known for his mesmerizing work with prepared vinyl, performs live! Layers of creaky loops, hints of long-forgotten melodies, and echo-chamber strings meld with crackle, bass hum, and recombinant wormholes of sound. A Saturday night to remember. Do not miss!

You can hear the show archived here

Sun, September 16, 2012  4:00pm
Films of Jon Wozencroft at Anthology, 32 Second Avenue, NYC
Anthology Film Archives screens the films of Jon Wozencroft as part of Touch.30 Live in NYC.
THE SUFFOLK SYMPHONY 2010, 48 mins, video Visuals, Jon Wozencroft. Audio, Philip Jeck & BJNilsen.
LIQUID MUSIC 2012, 40 mins, video Visuals, Jon Wozencroft. Audio, Christian Fennesz.

Sun, September 16, 2012  8:00pm
Touch ensemble at Experimental Intermedia
[Access to this performance, with a $5 donation, is included for festival passholders only!]
Featuring: Daniel Blumin, Marcus Davidson, GenKen, Philip Jeck, Dave Knapik, Lary 7, JG.Thirlwell, Brian Turner and very special guest The Enchantress of Bioluminosity & others… Conducted by Mike Harding

www.issueprojectroom.org

Improvisation and Digital Arts Festival

Market House, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey UK
This event is a free-ticketed event, but unfortunately none are left. However, we are hoping to get some more allocated this week. Please keep an eye on Touch’s Twitter feed for updates.

Live:
Philip Jeck
BJNilsen
Chris Watson
www.idaf.co.uk

Sounding City: Public Sound, Kortrijk, Belgium, 28.04.12 – 13.05.12
Opening on the 28th with a presentation of the work of Chris Watson by Mike Harding and a live performance by Jana Winderen.

Chris Watson – installation inspired by “After the Deluge (Na de Zondvloed)” by Roelant Savery @ Broel Museum. Unfortunately Chris Watson cannot be present for family reasons, so his work will be presented by Mike Harding from Touch.
Jana Winderen – installation – “The Moat” & live performance.

www.festivalkortrijk.be

Café Oto, London, England 02.04.2012

An evening celebrating Touch’s 30th anniversary and the release of Oren Ambarchi’s striking new album Audience of One – a four-part suite which moves from throbbing minimalism to expansive song-craft to ecstatic free-rock. Ambarchi will perform alongside the unparalleled aural intensity of Daniel Menche and BJ Nilsen’s layered sound environments.

www.orenambarchi.com
danielmenche.blogspot.com
www.bjnilsen.com
www.cafeoto.co.uk

Radio Boredcast is a 744-hour continuous online radio project – running from 1st March to 31st March 2012 – curated by artist Vicki Bennett (People Like Us) with AV Festival. In response to our ambiguous relationship with time – do we have too much or not enough? – Radio Boredcast celebrates the detail, complexity and depth of experience lost through our obsession with speed.

On 16th March 2012 at 5:57am, Touch takes over Radio Boredcast for 30 hours of programmes curated by Mike Harding and Jon Wozencroft, as a celebration of Touch.30. Many rare recordings are to be aired, including a number of Touch’s earliest cassette releases in full. Jon Wozencroft presents “TouchRadio 1987” – a compilation prepared in 1987 for private distribution on cassette… In those days, mix tapes were a very common way of sharing one’s own musical tastes on an informal basis. Half of this episode is presented here. Mike Harding also contributes three hour long “TouchAVRadio” transmissions, “Language”, “Sound” and “Time”, especially created for AVFestival.

In addition, many Touch artists are featured on other days of the month-long transmission, alongside shows submitted by Ash International and The Tapeworm. Special broadcasts from the likes of Chris Watson, Phill Niblock, Fennesz and BJNilsen are scheduled.
You can listen continuously for a month, or for hours, minutes or seconds. Online 24 hours each day, at www.avfestival.co.uk or www.thepixelpalace.org. The schedule for the whole month is listed here, with details of each show and information about the artists. You can also subscribe to the Radio Boredcast podcasts.

Radio Boredcast schedule at www.avfestival.co.uk
www.peoplelikeus.org

Chris Watson – A Journey South

Old Broadcasting House, Leeds, England 7th March

6:00pm : Drinks, snacks & chats
7:00pm : An Introduction by Mike Harding of Touch
7:10pm : A Journey South, with Chris Watson
8:30pm : Q&A
9:00pm : Close

Touch.30, in conjunction with the Oates100 Campaign and nti Leeds present an audio-visual journey to the South Pole with Chris Watson.

As part of the team for the David Attenborough BBC series “Frozen Planet”, Chris travelled to Antarctica to record the ambient sounds, the wildlife, the water – even the groaning of a glacier as it moves. Chris talks about his experiences there and brings the remotest continent to life with his stunning recordings.

Chris is is one of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena. His recordings are used in TV, Radio and Film including contributions to the award-winning re-release of “A Great White Silence”, originally filmed during Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.

For Touch he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative released on CD & Vinyl, such as his latest release “El Tren Fantasma”; viewed by one reviewer as “a benchmark in field recording not to mention a map of the soul, an insight into the human condition and a key to dreams”.

Chris has characterised his work as “putting microphones where you can’t put your ears” – come along to experience the incredible surround-sound results for yourself. This is part of a series of events intended to commemorate Captain Lawrence “Titus” Oates, who sacrificed himself 100 years ago in an effort to save the lives of his fellow explorers during Captain Scott’s attempt to be the first to the South Pole.

Generously hosted by nti Leeds at Old Broadcasting House with equipment loaned from Leeds Metropolitan University, this is a unique event to commemorate a true Leeds hero.

Event details for Chris Watson “A Journey South”
Directions and parking: www.ntileeds.co.uk
All profits go to: Help For Heroes

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

Click here to listen to “Touch Non Stop”

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 at 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

“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

[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

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

In 2012 Touch celebrates the 30th anniversary of its first release, “Feature Mist” [Touch # T1]. You can read about forthcoming events on Touch.30. This microsite will be updated regularly.

Touch.30