Welcome to the Touch Newsletter #183. On Friday May 25th 2018 new data protection regulations come into force across the EU. Since you have already opted in to join our newsletter to receive regular information about Touch, we thought we would give you an opportunity today to opt out from this mailing should you desire. You are able to do this anyway with each newsletter you receive, but you can also do it easily here: Click here to unsubscribe; we have also updated our privacy policy here.
Two new albums are in stock now and ready for shipping; Mark Van Hoen’s first solo album for Touch since “Last Flowers from the Darkness” in 1997 lands today. "Invisible Threads", about which Mark writes: "During the time I was recording the album I was editing audio and sound design for films - this too went some way to defining the structure and sound of Invisible Threads. At the time of recording several of the titles on the album, I had re-read “The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion”, a short story by Edgar Allen Poe… and in some ways this record is a soundtrack to that. The title “Invisible Threads” refers to the intangible connection between all of the musical and personal influences that brought this record into being.
Mark is also headlining Touch Presents… in Berlin on June 20th 2018 at Monarch, alongside Sohrab, Jasmin Blasco and Marta de Pascalis with DJ v93r - details below.
And we welcome back after a few decades break, Strafe F.R. from Düsseldorf with a massive new record, “The Bird Was Stolen” Chain D.L.K.’s Stuart Bruce writes: “It’s an unpredictable, fresh-sounding and rich hour-long release which never drops the interest levels, and it’s certainly worthy of attention.” – full details below.
TO:104 | Mark Van Hoen “Invisible Threads”
CD + download – 7 tracks – 39:51
All titles composed and recorded by Mark Van Hoen in Los Angeles 2016
Photography & design by Jon Wozencroft
Mastered by Denis Blackham
Track listing:
1 Weathered
2 Dark Night Sky Paradox
3 Opposite Day
4 The Yes_No Game
5 Aethēr
6 Flight Of Fancy
7 Instable
Mark Van Hoen writes: "In mid 2016 I did a brief tour of the west coast with Philip Jeck, Simon Scott, Daniel Menche, Lee Bannon, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Pye Corner Audio and Marcus Fischer. The music of all these great artists and the experience of playing these shows with them all informed what would become ‘Invisible Threads’, which was primarily composed and recorded in the latter half of 2016. I had not played live at dates in such a dense cluster for many years, and the exposure to so much great music and the artists was inspiring. Other Touch artists were also an influence here - Claire M Singer, Jana Winderen and as ever Chris Watson (who has been an enduring influence from the moment I first heard Cabaret Voltaire in 1979), along with my project ‘drøne’ with Mike Harding… the collaborative aspect of drøne brought up a few new paths in itself.
During the time I was recording the album I was editing audio and sound design for films - this too went some way to defining the structure and sound of ‘Invisible Threads’. At the time of recording several of the titles on the album, I had re-read 'The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion’, a short story by Edgar Allen Poe, and in some ways this record is a soundtrack to that.
The title ‘Invisible Threads’ refers to the intangible connection between all of the musical and personal influences that brought this record into being."
Buy Mark Van Hoen “Invisible Threads” on Bandcamp
www.markvanhoen.com
TO:110 | Strafe F.R. – “The Bird Was Stolen”
CD + download – 14 tracks – 63 minutes
Mastered by Denis Blackham
Artwork & photography: Jon Wozencroft
Dada/video image: Strafe F.R.
Track listing:
1. Jovian Tempest
2. Prepper’s Home
3. Aconite
4. Anophelis
5. Cap de Barbaria
6. Pianosmoke
7. Flare
8. Medusa
9. Golden Stomach
10. Dictator
11. Himmelgeist
12. Megalitic
13. Violet Sun
14. Towton
The bird was stolen because the donkey was sleepy.
Based in Düsseldorf, Germany, Strafe F.R. is a long-term collaboration between the artists Bernd Kastner and S. M. Syniuga, which started in 1979. After a long period of hibernation, The Bird Was Stolen marks their return to Touch following four previous releases in the 80s and early 90s.
From their early connection with the local scene, centred around the Ratinger Hof in Düsseldorf, Strafe went on to develop a unique and influential form of sound sculpture that pioneered the use of field recordings alongside home-made instruments and the use of the studio as a performance space.
A new track, ‘Virgin’, which appeared on the recent Touch Movements CD/book, gave an early indication that they are back at the peak of their powers. The Bird Was Stolen presents 14 new compositions that push the signature sound of Strafe F.R.
Chain D.L.K. write: “Strafe F.R.’s second album since returning from a 20-year hiatus is an exercise in contradictions. Truly experimental, it provides us with 14 unique and hard-to-read environments of metallic noises, heavy filters and tape effects, heavily gated guitar and guitar-like noises, pulses and processing- then crashes into them to various degrees with percussive surprises that are sometimes harsh and unpleasant, sometimes quirky bordering on comical. Even the press release skips from talking about vanilla fudge in coconut trees and finding Liszt sleeping inside a piano to the devoured liver of Prometheus. It’s one of those “really don’t know what’s going to happen next” releases, exemplified by the sudden appearance of heavily processed vocal on “Aconite” with a lyric in which the album title is found.
But among the wilful surprises, there’s a rich depth to be found here as well. Though constructed from unorthodox parts, “Prepper’s Home” is a fascinating bit of electronica with a truly emotive undercurrent that suddenly breaks into almost Krupa-esque jazz rhythms in its second half. “Pianosmoke”, built from an experiment in playing bass and guitar sounds through a loudspeaker inside a piano in order to stimulate the resonance of the piano, ends up being a very coherent and melodic work that with the right electronica remixes would have a lot of crossover appeal, while other pieces like “Flare”, though built of similar stock, have a darker layout and a more spontaneous and theatrical flavour. “Violet Sun” is a good example of a sparser approach, in which the processed guitar evokes feelings of some sort of alien road movie, while final track “Towton” throws furthest back towards the band’s 80’s roots with some very analogue, fuzzy tape flavours and Nina Hagen-ish vocal wails, right down to its abrupt halting end.
It’s an unpredictable, fresh-sounding and rich hour-long release which never drops the interest levels, and it’s certainly worthy of attention.” [Stuart Bruce]
Buy Strafe F.R. – “The Bird Was Stolen” on Bandcamp
www.markvanhoen.com
Touch presents… Live at Monarch, Berlin 9pm 20th June 2018
Featuring Mark Van Hoen, Sohrab, Jasmin Blasco and Marta de Pascalis with DJ v93r.
Further info on the Facebook Event page
www.kottimonarch.de
Tone 63D | Zachary Paul & Patrick Shiroishi “Longitude: Live at Roughage”
Digital-only release
Artwork & photography: Jon Wozencroft
Track listing:
1. Longitude
Two Los Angeles-based musicians come together for the first time for a concert at Roughage. Zachary Paul on violin and Patrick Shiroishi saxophone. This recording was first played on “Unclassified”, a new show on BBC Radio 3, hosted by Elizabeth Alker, in May 2018.
Download Zachary Paul & Patrick Shiroishi “Longitude: Live at Roughage” on Bandcamp
TTW#107 | Saturn and the Sun “A Complete History of Mind Stimulations”
Cassette only – limited edition of 100 copies.
Illustration – Ben Axten.
Track List
A1: Escape From Your Hell
A2: Slow Down, Scum
B1: In Love With The Extreme
B2: Mind Is A Mess
Joachim Nordwall and Henrik Rylander created Saturn and the Sun to further their mutual passion in mindchanging sound experiments. Since 2005, they have created music together in ritual rock band The Skull Defekts, but since the death of the Skulls in April 2018 their common focus now is Saturn and the Sun. Deep, often monotonous and harsh electronic music inspired by 60s minimalism, early techno and tribal music. This is what you get when the two comes together.
Rylander is working as a forensic photographer and makes extreme sound art. Nordwall runs the iDEAL Recordings label and records experimental music on his own and with artists like Mats Gustafsson, Mika Vainio, Ryan Martin and Leif Elggren. They both share the legendary studio space Gothenburg Sound Experiment.
“Be careful with frequent listening.”
Buy Saturn and the Sun “A Complete History of Mind Stimulations” in the TouchShop
More information on www.tapeworm.org.uk
TTW#108 | Kumo “Day/Night”
Cassette only – limited edition of 125 copies.
Art by Sayako Sugawara.
Track List
A: Day
B: Night
Written, performed and produced by Kumo in SE23.
“From a starting point of two field recordings taken from the balcony of my flat in South East London, one was taken during the day the other at night, the rest of the music was built up in response: synths and theremin played as karaoke to the sounds of the estate. Accompanying, mimicking, occupying the spaces between the deliveries, planes, dogs, birds and the kids next door writing grime tunes. ‘Day’ was written, performed, recorded and mixed in the flat during daytime with only natural light, ‘Nigh’ under cover of darkness.” – Jono Podmore, London, 16.xii.2017
Biography:
Kumo aka Jono Podmore – Professor of the Practice of Popular music at the prestigious Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany – is best known latterly for his tireless work curating and managing the archives of Krautrock pioneers Can. In this respect, his masterstroke to date has been assembling the essential “The Lost Tapes” boxset.
Work under his Kumo alias across multiple releases, performances, DJ sets and installations has included collaborations with the likes of Irmin Schmidt, B.J. Cole, Jaki Liebezeit, Mr. C and Jose Padilla. His ongoing Horrorshow multimedia venture brings together live soundtracks and short films, and his established group Metamono finds new life in vintage analogue and hand made electronics, releasing two albums, and Secrets of Nature - Sounds Unseen: live electronic music for silent British film.
His label Psychomat was brought back to life in 2017 with two new single releases and more are planned. Jono is currently working on the score for feature film The Giaour, a book about Jaki Liebezeit’s life and theories, and teaches Tai Chi in London.
Buy Kumo “Day/Night” in the TouchShop
More information on www.tapeworm.org.uk
www.psychomat.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. We are well into the 3rd year and have just posted episode 68…
Guerrilla Audio
www.simonfisherturner.com
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