Welcome to the 128th Touch Newsletter. The Bookworm is The Tapeworm’s publishing venture – an irregular series of perfect paperbacks. Two new Bookworms are now on sale in the TouchShop.
For his first book, “Presets - Digital Shortcuts to Sound”, Stefan Goldmann has talked to industry leaders, programmers, producers, musicians and fine artists to collect a comprehensive description of the world of preset audio. Featuring interviews with Robert Henke (Ableton), Mike Daliot (Native Instruments), Michael Wagener (producer – Metallica, Janet Jackson, Ozzy), Cory Arcangel, the original Korg M1 developer team and many more…
Stefan Fähler is a freelance art director and illustrator working primarily in the music and film industries. He painted the graphic titles for Oscar-nominated documentary about Sebastião Salgado, “The Salt of the Earth”, by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival, 2014. He has directed music videos for the likes Heatsick, for whom he won an award for “Best International Music Video” at Leeds International Film Festival, 2014. His first book, “Zahntasia”, depicts the psychedental journey of a tooth…
A reminder of two recent tapes from The Tapeworm can be found below. TouchShop also has very limited stock of earlier tapes from the likes of Dale Cornish & Phil Julian, Michael Muennich, Osman Arabi, Graham Dowdall, Elektro Guzzi, Nam June Paik, Infinite Livez, and more…
Cassettes coming soon on The Tapeworm: editions by Saturn And The Sun (Joachim Nordwall and Henrik Rylander) and Mark Fell featuring Rhodri Davies and Okkyung Lee…
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TBW#02 | Stefan Goldmann “Presets – Digital Shortcuts to Sound”
220pp paperback book, 110mm x 171mm
First edition: industrially-sized…
Produced between 13.vi.2014 and 1.iv.2015 in London and Berlin by The Tapeworm.
Copy editor: Gerard Forde. Thanks to Sandra Jasper and Finn Johannsen. Typeset in Antwerp by Allon Kaye using Aldine 401, Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk and Miso.
Cover illustration by Michael Kummermehr, pixelated by SG.
Take a look inside the book…
For his first book, “Presets – Digital Shortcuts to Sound”, Stefan Goldmann has talked to industry leaders, programmers, producers, musicians and fine artists to collect a comprehensive description of the world of preset audio: from synthesis to sample libraries, from instrument emulations and gear cloning to automated composition and performance – short cuts in electronic music, classical and traditional musics, guitar rock & fine arts are covered. Disruptive gear and iconic presets, their background and impact – from Korg’s M1, Yamaha’s DX7 and Roland’s 909 to Ableton Live, Native Instruments Reaktor, Sidechain compression and Auto-Tune – are discussed with unprecedented depth and clarity.
Featuring interviews with:
Robert Henke a.k.a. Monolake
musician, lecturer & co-founder Ableton, Berlin
Mike Daliot
former senior audio developer Native Instruments & lecturer at Universität der Künste, Berlin
Michael Wagener
multi-platinum music producer & engineer, Nashville
Cory Arcangel
fine artist, New York
Dinis Schemann
pianist, Munich
Members of the Korg M1 product development team:
Tomoko Itoh & Junichi Ikeuchi, Inagi
Tony Stevanovski
arranger, Sofia
Dimitar Kotev
musician, Sandanski
+ introductory essay and glossary by Stefan Goldmann.
Biography:
Stefan Goldmann is an electronic music artist and DJ. Together with Finn Johannsen he runs the Macro label, whose artists include Elektro Guzzi, KiNK and Peter Kruder. He also writes a column for the flyer program of Berlin's Berghain club and is a co-author of its upcoming book, “Berghain 10”. In 2014 he released “Industry”, an album based exclusively on presets.
Buy Stefan Goldmann “Presets – Digital Shortcuts to Sound” in the TouchShop
More information on www.tapeworm.org.uk
www.stefangoldmann.com
TBW#03 | Stefan Fähler “Zahntasia”
80pp paperback book, 110mm x 171mm
Limited edition of 150 copies
Produced between 05.vii.2012 and 1.vii.2013 in São Joao, São Paulo, Antwerp, Berlin and London by Stefan Fähler and The Tapeworm.
Stefan Fähler used pencils, nail polish remover, trashy Xerox machines and gold paint in the creation of this book.
Take a look inside the book…
The Bookworm presents – with a wide grin – the first book by Stefan Fähler. Its title, “Zahntasia”, inflects the name of Walt Disney’s 1940 animated masterpiece with the German word for “tooth” (“Zahn”), and accordingly, it depicts a psychedental journey starring an anthropomorphic molar who suddenly gets popped out of his daily grind. Across 80 black-and-white pages, our toothy protagonist is whisked into a world of sticky indulgence, sweet romance and confectionary hallucinations. Seeing as there’s no text, the plot welcomes the viewer’s own interpretation, but it seems that just like Dorothy, this displaced tooth finds the way back to his roots.
Stefan Fähler created the images during an artist residency in Brazil, as well as in Belgium and his home base of Berlin. To complement his pencil drawings – adding some extra texture where necessary – he also utilized nail polish remover and a rickety, nearly obsolete Xerox machine. Although the story is told purely in pictures, Fähler’s dentist has provided a written introduction emphasizing the importance of caring for your chompers. This book makes a charming addition to any waiting room, a trusty companion for your next acid trip or the perfect gift for that magical wingèd lady who leaves cash under your pillow.
Biography:
Stefan Fähler is a freelance art director and illustrator working primarily in the music and film industries. He has designed gig posters for performers like Ariel Pink, Baths, Death Grips, Lætitia Sadier, Merzbow, Mykki Blanco, Mogwai, Wolf Eyes, Shonen Knife and album artwork for Leslie Winer, Marina Gasolina and Damo Suzuki.
He painted the graphic titles for Oscar-nominated documentary about Sebastião Salgado, “The Salt of the Earth”, by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival, 2014. He has directed music videos for the likes of Mediengruppe Telekommander and Heatsick, for whom he won an award for “Best International Music Video” at Leeds International Film Festival, 2014.
Fähler’s work can be seen in publications, exhibitions and festivals around the globe including Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Cannes, Milan, Sydney, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile and Basel.
Buy Stefan Fähler “Zahntasia” in the TouchShop
More information on www.tapeworm.org.uk
www.stefanfaehler.com
TTW#86 | Nigel Wrench “ZA86”
Cassette only – limited edition of 150 copies.
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
TTW#77 | Black Spirituals “High Vibration Resonance Vol.1”
Cassette only – limited edition of 200 copies
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
TO:97 | Heitor Alvelos “Faith”
CD - 12 tracks - 40:20
Released 1st June 2015
Photography: Jon Wozencroft & Heitor Alvelos
Mastered by Denis Blackham
Track listing:
1. Errant
2. Exodus
3. Edict
4. Alluvion
5. Pseudoself
6. Vicarious Solace
7. The Way of Malamat
8. Peirasmos
9. The Other
10. Home, Elicited
11. The Hopeful Night
12. Dedication
“Faith” is the first full-length sound release by media researcher and curator Heitor Alvelos under his own name. Heitor Alvelos has been a long-time on/off collaborator of Touch, having on occasion provided photography and stage visuals for Biosphere, Fennesz, BJNilsen, Rafael Toral and Philip Jeck, as well as releasing sound pieces under the aliases Autodigest, Antifluffy and Before Surgery, on Ash International, TouchRadio and The Tapeworm.
“The essence of the present piece is autobiographical: therefore the use of my own name”, the author clarifies. “And yet it aims at being resonant to others”: in this context, resonance may be regarded as both semantic and visceral, as the sound frequencies on Faith are often of the kind that “rearrange one’s organs”, to quote the recently departed Bernadette Martou. A necessity in order to carry the gravitas inherent to the subject, a confessional confrontation with the zeitgeist.
All sources have been gathered, recorded and produced throughout five decades, all the way back to a recording by Francisco Alvelos in 1972 that closes the release. Elsewhere, sounds have been processed to various degrees, the bookends retaining their original contexts, others mutating into deep abstraction. Overall, they flow as one single composition, evocative and foreboding in equal measures.
Buy Heitor Alvelos "Faith" [CD] in the TouchShop
…also available as 24-bit WAV Download files
www.benevolentanger.org/faith
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