Welcome to the 120th Touch Newsletter. February 24th at London’s Café Oto – an enthralling double-bill featuring electronic musician Michał Jacaszek in collaboration with Polish ensemble, Kwartludium, plus a solo set from Icelandic cellist and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. Details below.
Announcing two new tapes from The Tapeworm. The first is by Black Spirituals (Zachary James Watkins and Marshall Trammell). A 40-minute live recording by Daniel Menche of the duo in full flight, from August last year. First available at dates on their European tour supporting Earth, TouchShop now has limited stock, shipping w/c 16.2.
The second tape is titled “ZA86” – a 25 year old radio reporter’s personal journey in the final, most repressive moments of a hated regime. The last years of apartheid were the most brutal as a low-level civil war was battled out on the dusty streets of South Africa’s black townships. Recorded in 1986 by Nigel Wrench and to be released on the 25th anniversary of the day Nelson Mandela walked to freedom, “ZA86” is edited from 9 tapes in the unique cassette archive of Turnstyle News, unlocked for the first time from a Cape Town cellar. More on this project can be read at www.za86.org
In January, Pinkcourtesyphone performed in LA at a Touch presents… concert. You can now download his performance as episode 110 of the Touch Radio series.
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TTW#77 | Black Spirituals “High Vibration Resonance Vol.1”
Cassette only – limited edition of 200 copies, 150 copies of which are available during Black Spirituals’ 2015 tour with Earth, commencing 22.1.15 [or…] shipping from TouchShop w/c 16.2.15.
Illustration – SavX
Track Listing
A: Black Zenith I
B: Black Zenith II
Zachary James Watkins: electronics. Marshall Trammell: percussion. Recorded live at Disjecta Art Gallery on August 30th, 2014 by Daniel Menche. Mastered by Jacob Felix Huele. 1+1=3.
Black Spirituals’ performance involves the manipulation of temporal experience using a framework of dynamic relationships and a “Multi-Aesthetic Approach to Improvisation.” The title “Black Spirituals” is borrowed from a found cassette documenting a lecture given by Bernice Reagon on the roots music of American black slaves. These stories form a sonic resonance that speaks of rich relationships to ones surroundings, memories, profound feelings, dreams, and the experiences that inspire human expression. This duet features a new tradition in conversant, duo vernacular dynamics that sparked a revolution in our conceptions of space, stage, ritual, performance, geography, praxis, brotherhood, relationships, rockin’ out, and more.
Buy Black Spirituals “High Vibration Resonance Vol.1” in the TouchShop
More information on www.tapeworm.org.uk
www.blackspirituals.com
TTW#86 | Nigel Wrench “ZA86”
Cassette only – limited edition of 150 copies. Shipping from TouchShop w/c 16.2.15.
Illustration – Martin Crawley
Track Listing
A: Part One [15m00s]
“Why do the white people just shoot us?”
B: Part Two [14m48s]
“We have crossed from death to life.”
ZA86 is a 25 year old radio reporter’s personal journey in the final, most repressive moments of a hated regime.
The last years of apartheid were the most brutal as a low-level civil war was battled out on the dusty streets of South Africa’s black townships.
Released on the 25th anniversary of the day Nelson Mandela walked to freedom, ZA86 is edited from 9 tapes in the unique cassette archive of Turnstyle News, unlocked for the first time from a Cape Town cellar. It takes the listener to a violent world with moments of great beauty. The reporter, far from being edited out, is very much present, as are the thumps and bumps he hears in his headphones.
From a May Day call to arms by Winnie Mandela to the extreme views of white right wingers; from 19 year old platoon leaders to the aftermath of an attack by police and soldiers in Soweto; from the words of envoy Terry Waite to the funeral of a television cameraman and the Band Aid-like pop song released by the apartheid regime, ZA86 unflinchingly documents the disturbing reality of 1986 in South Africa. A journey into the heart of apartheid.
Buy Nigel Wrench “ZA86” in the TouchShop
More information on www.tapeworm.org.uk
www.za86.org
Live at Café Oto | 24th February 2015
Jacaszek & Kwartludium Perform "Catalogue Des Arbres", plus
Hildur Guðnadóttir.
Enthralling double-bill featuring electronic musician Michał Jacaszek in collaboration with Polish ensemble, Kwartludium, plus a solo set from Icelandic cellist and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir.
Jacaszek's collaboration with Kwartludium evokes the sounds of trees and feel of the forest; and in doing so they use a whole host of classical and modern techniques. In keeping with a lot of modern classical there is a direct link with the past masters, and here the link to Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux can’t be a coincidence.
“… and the trees, like earth’s wistful sighs to the sky” – K. Janiszewska
Jacaszek and Kwartludium's album “Catalogue des Arbres” and Hildur Guðnadóttir’s “Saman” were both released summer 2014
Buy Tickets at www.cafeoto.co.uk
Touch Radio 110 | Pinkcourtesyphone
22.01.15 - Pinkcourtesyphone - Live at LACE - 35:40 - 320 kbps
Recorded by Myke Dodge Weiskopf at Touch presents… Live in Los Angeles, 21st January 2015. With thanks to LACE, VOLUME and especially Yann Novak.
Subscribe to the TouchPod podcast of TouchRadio via the iTunes Music Store
Play Pinkcourtesyphone “Live at LACE”
www.pinkcourtesyphone.com
www.touchradio.org.uk
Ash 11.1 | Jóhann Jóhannsson & BJNilsen “I Am Here”
Many congrats to Jóhann Jóhannsson for his Oscar nomination for the soundtrack to “The Theory of Everything”… Jóhann's soundtrack with BJNilsen for the film “I Am Here” is just out on vinyl (with free download).
Limited edition vinyl LP + WAV download
Based on the original score for the film “I Am Here” (due to be released in 2015), written and directed by Anders Morgenthaler, starring Kim Basinger, Jordan Prentice and Sebastian Schipper. All music written and Produced by Jóhann Jóhannsson and BJ Nilsen.
This is the first collaboration between Jóhann Jóhannsson and BJ Nilsen… very much a mix between their two worlds (you can hear both their signatures) and with the help of additional musicians, including Hildur Guðnadóttir on cello and the remarkable voices of Elfa Margrét Ingvadóttir and Guðmundur Vignir Karlsson, they together create a world of great beauty and mystery.
You will receive a full digital download WAV version of the tracks plus a bonus track which does not appear on the final album when you place your order - the link to your download is contained in your email receipt.
Buy Jóhann Jóhannssen & BJNilsen “I Am Here” [LP + WAV download] from the TouchShop
www.johannjohannsson.com
www.bjnilsen.com
www.ashinternational.com
WHO#01 | drcarlsonalbion and the Hackney Lass “Modern English Folklore, volume one: Hackney”
Gatefold 2x7" - 4 tracks
Limited edition of 1500 (black vinyl) and 500 (clear vinyl)
Collages by Battle Of The Eyes
‘Modern English Folklore Vol.1: Hackney’ was the second release in the ongoing drcarlsonalbion project, begun by Dylan Carlson of Earth. It reflects his longstanding interest in the occult folklore and history of the United Kingdom and his abiding love for all things British.
The first release, “Edward Kelley’s Blues” b/w “Drunk on Angelspeech” for cassette-only label The Tapeworm, comprised spectral environmental recordings from the area around Waterloo Station, a former haunt of magicians and alchemists in the early modern era, and the site of one of Dylan’s own encounters with “spiritual creatures”. That release focused on Dr John Dee and, more importantly, his much-maligned scryer/medium, Edward Kelley. This second instalment uses ancient myth and occult lore, updated to the present-day Borough of Hackney in London’s East End.
This is a double 7” on The Wormhole, a byproduct of The Tapeworm. The second disc features instrumental tracks.
Buy “Modern English Folklore, volume one: Hackney” [Black vinyl 2x7"] in the TouchShop
Buy “Modern English Folklore, volume one: Hackney” [Clear vinyl 2x7"] in the TouchShop
www.drcarlsonalbion.com
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The previous Touch NewsLetter can be found here.
