Welcome to the Touch Newsletter #149. We have two new releases and one major live event lined up in June 2016. Claire M Singer will be launching her debut album, “Solas”, live in Glasgow as part of the Molendinar Burn Project. It is a free ticket but you do need to book. More information on the double CD and the Glasgow concert can be found below.
Simon Scott releases his first album for Touch, “FloodLines” (after “Insomni” on Ash International), recorded live at Café Oto on January 31st 2016 as part of “Touch presents…”.
You can now order both albums in advance on the TouchShop…
We also have a few copies left of drøne’s “Reversing Into The Future” – look out for their second release coming in the summer, a flexidisc on Pomperipossa Records… Back in stock, the DRONE and DRØNE T-Shirts + downloads. Do read the intriguing article about drøne in The Hum.
TouchRadio celebrates the recent Touch Conference events in America, with recordings from three in the series… TouchRadio 123: Daniel Menche “Live at Chapel Space, Seattle”. TouchRadio 124: Mark Van Hoen “Live at The Battery, San Francisco”. TouchRadio 125: Philip Jeck “Live at The Battery, San Francisco”.
TO:101 | Claire M Singer “Solas”
Double CD - 7 tracks - 68:11
Release date: 24th June 2016
Full download available on release with purchase of physical album
All tracks written & performed by Claire M Singer
Mastered by Denis Blackham @ Skye
Photography & design by Jon Wozencroft
Track List:
CDOne
1. A Different Place 06:35 - you can listen to this track here
2. Ceò 05:39
3. Solas 10:50
4. Dìobaig 04:47
5. Eilean 11:36
6. Wrangham 06:47
CDTwo
1. The Molendinar 25:57
Solas (‘Light' in Gaelic) is Claire M Singer’s debut album spanning 14 years of her work in acoustic and electronic composition. In recent years she has focused on writing and performing a mix of organ, cello and electronics with regular performances at Union Chapel where she is Music Director, running a diverse programme of concerts and educational workshops around the Chapel’s Henry Willis 1877 organ.
Other performances include the Roundhouse London by The LCO Soloists; a' fàs soilleir, an audio-visual work, exhibited at Tate Modern London, XMV New York City and Ceremony Hall Austin TX and she has performed as part of Spire at Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam, Kunst-Station Sankt Peter Cologne and many more.
The Molendinar, which was co-commissioned in 2015 by Civic Room, Glasgow and Union Chapel, London to celebrate Glasgow’s Molendinar Burn Project wiil be performed on the 14th June 2016 at Glasgow Cathedral to conclude the weekend festival.
“Created specifically for the Molendinar Burn Project in organ and electronics, and appearing on her debut album, “Solas”, the powerful and haunting work invites the audience to experience the work within the setting that inspired it. Join us to follow the journey of the burn as it emerges from beneath the city that we live in today. Commissioned by Civic Room and Union Chapel, where the piece was recorded for the album, the work will be performed at Glasgow Cathedral for one night only, as part of the Glasgow Cathedral Festival of Music 2016.”
Buy Claire M Singer “Solas” [2xCD] in the TouchShop
www.clairemsinger.com
Reserve a free ticket for the Glasgow performance of The Molendinar
Further event information on Facebook
Tone 53 | Simon Scott “FloodLines”
1 track - CD in full colour slipcase - 30:51
Limited edition of 500 copies
Release date: 17th June 2016
[Download available now with purchase of physical album
Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering
Artwork & Photography by Jon Wozencroft
Track List:
1. Floodlines 30:51 you can hear an extract here
Recorded live at Cafe Oto as part of “Touch presents…” on 31st January 2016
Simon Scott is a sound ecologist and multi-instrumentalist from Cambridge, England. His albums “Insomni” (Ash International) and “Below Sea Level” (12k/TouchLine) are out now. His work explores the creative process of actively listening, the implications of recording the natural world using technology and the manipulation of natural sounds used for musical composition. He plays the drums in Slowdive and has recently collaborated with artists James Blackshaw, Spire, Taylor Deupree (Between), Isan and many more.
This is his first physical release for Touch.
Source material recorded in The Fens, East Anglia.
Simon Scott's blistering live set from London follows his 2015 album ‘insomni’ but features his field recordings of areas of The Fens in East Anglia that cartographically are below mean sea level. They’re complimented by underwater hydrophone recordings taken on field research trips, making the unheard audible and brings the unseen to the surface. It’s a flat landscape that was devastated by the draining of The Fens in the 17th century. The ecosystem was damaged but these areas have been left to reflood and re-establish it’s vernacular wildlife, replete with its own instrumentation and orchestras. Tapping into these, Scott's vision encourages us to explore the fertility of the flatlands of England.
Buy Simon Scott “FloodLines” [CD] in the TouchShop
Further Simon Scott releases are available in the TouchShop too…
www.simonscott.org
Ash 11.9 | “DRONE” T-shirt
A new white-on-black T-shirt, coming back in stock.
Printed in white ink on a Fruit of the Loom Super Premium in black.
Front illustration: Center Chest, 20cm wide
Buy “DRONE” in the TouchShop
Ash 12.9 | “DRØNE” T-shirt
A new white-on-black T-shirt, coming back in stock.
Printed in white ink on a Fruit of the Loom Super Premium in black.
Front illustration: Center Chest, 20cm wide
Buy “DRØNE” in the TouchShop
PRLP2 | drøne “Reversing Into The Future”
Limited edition vinyl (500x)
Cover image: Maria von Hausswolff
Cut by Jason @ Transition
Track List:
Side A: This Strange life l [19:53]
Side B: This Strange life ll [19:57]
You can listen to an extract here
and you can read a feature in The Hum here…
Tristan Bath in The Wire wrote: “The buzz of cooling systems working overtime seems to infect the rustlings of Van Hoen’s modular synth, woozy shortwave radio and field recordings. The duo seek out peace, and very nearly find it amid several diversions into melodic territory. The palpable heat never lets up though, making for an unsettling session that always simmers”
tinymixtapes: “...borne out of A/C-less conditions in Los Angeles... Van Hoen (a.k.a. Locust) and Harding reportedly had a limited window in the morning before their equipment started overheating, and they used that time to harness field recordings, short wave radio, and modular synth into a decidedly electronic journey. Anna von Hausswolff of the sponsoring Pomperipossa label calls the album a “jewel.””
Felt Hat: "Drone minimalism has taken its toll in many ways on ambient, noise and improv as well as the so-called synth music that is derived from the ambience of krautrockian voyages of Tangerine Dream or Ash Ra Tempel likes. So how about two dudes from LA doing it their own way. Well, atmospheric as it is sounds really cool and definitely not overproduced overdone, minimalistic and yet very rich. I guess it is the matter of Mark and Mike's elaborate approach towards composition and attention they give to each other. And at the same time it is not at all cliché, it takes you all the way into subterranean underworld that this kind of music should do if it is really good, and it does, hell it does!"
Pomperipossa Records, curated by Anna von Hausswolff, is delighted to announce the forthcoming release of the first album by drøne. Field recordings, short wave radio, modular synth all combine to form an enticing, arresting, moving journey of electrically-charged dissonance, drones and electronic melodies… Anna calls it “a jewel”.
"A very hot day in the hills above Los Angeles… only possible to work in the mornings because of the sweltering afternoon heat, so all a bit frantic, but with a kink in time. There is no wifi-controlled air conditioning; the car is electric-powered and charging up. It has barely rained for months, (if not years) and the hoses are working overtime. Its an analogue session; Mark’s modular synth set up is working furiously and overheating. We are pushing sounds through and seeing what works… and things gradually take shape. The forms seem to determine themselves; how much control do we have? How much do we want? Some peculiar things start to happen and the haze bends. Some of the sounds seem alive and are quick to reform as we struggle to contain them, like trying to stuff snakes into a bag. The sounds moan and sing, forming their own phonemes.”
Buy drøne “Reversing Into The Future” [LP + download] in the TouchShop
www.field.nu/drone
@dronefield
www.pomperipossarecords.com
Guerrilla Audio
Guerrilla Audio is a new series of audio raids by Simon Fisher Turner.
guer·ril·la
ɡəˈrilə/
noun
noun: guerilla
a member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces.
Each audio edit will be posted for 14 days and then removed from the site, although the information about each guerrilla activity will be archived, but without the audio. There will be two postings per month with the first (also featuring Klara Lewis & Rainier Lericolais) on 1st August 2015, so please check in regularly to listen to the latest offering.
Guerrilla Audio
www.simonfisherturner.com
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The previous Touch NewsLetter can be found here.
