Ancienne Belgique

England's Touch. will turn 30 (!) in 2012. Touch. was established in ’82 and describes itself as an ‘audiovisual operation’. A combination of sound and image. Touch. gives fine form ...

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England's Touch. will turn 30 (!) in 2012. Touch. was established in ’82 and describes itself as an ‘audiovisual operation’. A combination of sound and image. Touch. gives fine form to what is considered to be 'difficult avant-garde'. In-house designer is photographer Jon Wozencroft himself. The remarkable thing about Touch. covers are the many images of nature, often landscapes. “It’s a project about beauty. I can find myself working on it as a gardener would” says Wozencroft. Aside from ‘stars’ like Fennesz, Jóhann Jóhannsson, (ex-Cabaret Voltaire founder and ‘sound recordist’) Chris Watson and Mika Vainio, Touch. also accommodates impressive recent signings like revelation Eleh and Jana Winderen (whose cassette ‘The Noisiest Guys On The Planet’ contains recordings of … shrimp).

8:00 pm - Thomas Ankersmit (nl)
Dutchman Thomas Ankersmit is resident of Berlin and saxophonist, installation-artist and electronica-musician. In 2010 he released his first official solo CD ‘Live In Utrecht’ (via Ash International, a Touch. sublabel), a track of approximately 40 minutes duration with abstract sax-sounds and analogue synthesizers. He often works with New York minimalist Phill Niblock and Sicilian electro-acoustic improvisation artist Valerio Tricoli. Live Ankersmit often performs together with kindred spirits like Tony Conrad, Jim O' Rourke, Kevin Drumm (whose 5 CD collector box ‘Necro Acoustic’ on Norway's Pica Disk is one of 2010's greats) and Borbetomagus.

9:00 pm - Hildur Gudnadôttir (is)
Icelandic cellist Hildur Gudnadôttir can already present an impressive CV as far as musical collaborations go. So it was that she worked together with Pan Sonic (see: their 'Katodivaihe' album), múm, Throbbing Gristle, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ben Frost. She's released two albums on Touch.: ‘Without Sinking’ (with Jóhann Jóhannsson as guest) and ‘Mount A’. Webzine Terrascope wrote of it: “Imagine taking all the slower pieces from Sigur Rós, A Silver Mt Zion, Mogwai, and Godspeed You Black Emperor and stringing them together into an organic whole and you’ll have an inkling of the incredible beauty this emotional music imparts.”

10:00 pm - Mika Vainio (fin)
Mika Vainio was ½ of the late Finnish groundbreaking electronica duo Pan Sonic (previously Pansonic) that threw in the towel with their last album ‘Gravitoni’ (and more specifically with the significantly titled last track on the album ‘Pan Finale’). Mika Vainio – also operating under the moniker Ø – deals in unadulterated electronica. He has already delivered his fourth solo album for Touch. with the latest album ‘Black Telephone of Matter’  (or in Finnish: ‘Aíneen Musta Puhelin’ ). Boomkat wrote of it: “Nobody else comes close to this man's sonic imagination or level of execution, this is another essential purchase for fans of cutting edge sonics and good music everywhere.” Vainio has also worked together with the likes of label-mate Fennesz and with Alva Noto for the famous Raster_Noton label. He's also done remixes for the likes of Björk.

SOUNDTRACK BY... BL13P DJ

►►► DOMINO FACTS…
Touch. was previously present for Domino in ‘05, with an expo and work by Jon Wozencroft and an installation by New Zealand's Rosy Parlane. JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON passed in review in ’09. Touch. had already released his debut ‘Englabörn’ in ’02, he was only noticed in Belgium in ’07 with the re-release by 4AD. Touch. top scorer is the fine FENNESZ. He has already visited Domino twice, only recently in ’09 with the then still illustrious JON HOPKINS who recorded the album ‘Small Craft On A Milk Sea’ together with Brian Eno and released it on Warp in ’10.
Aside from Touch., Domino has always had an eye for ‘headstrong record labels’, let's just say 'inspiring musical families'. Just think: Fat Cat (in ’01 with MÚM), Canada's Constellation Records (in ’02 with GY!BE), Berlin's ~Scape by and with dubmaster POLE, Norway's Smalltown Supersound (with the likes of KIM HIORTHØY) and Ghent's (K-RAA-K)³ even dropped by twice (in ’04 and ’07 with the likes of JAMES BLACKSHAW, IGNATZ and SILVESTER ANFANG).
There are also fine memories of the first Belgian visit by Iceland's Bedroom Community label in ’07, with the likes of NICO MUHLY (who in ’08 made the soundtrack to ‘The Reader’), BEN FROST (who was even picked up in ’08 by Mary Anne Hobbs) and VALGEIR SIGURĐSSON who would later produce albums by CocoRosie and Bonnie 'Prince' Billie. Drag City also made good cheer in ’05 with the likes of SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE and the impressive JOANNA NEWSOM (for only 250 paying guests!)
Finally, there was also Type Records in ’06 and we celebrated ten years of Domino Recording Co. in ’03 – a year later they would have a worldwide breakthrough with the release of Franz Ferdinand. Another favourite: Rough Trade Records (in ’06) with a still tender EMILIANA TORRINI who only broke through in ’09 with her hit ‘Jungle Drum’.