In the mid-80s I bought a compilation cassette from a tape collective run by some friends, without a box but packed in a plastic sleeve with a blue-grey booklet. It won my attention as the likes of New Order, Tuxedomoon and Simple Minds were on it; bands I was mad about at the time. The other artists on the tape were completely unfamiliar to me (Robert Wyatt, Soliman Gamil and poetry by Vladimir Mayakovski). The cassette was T1 - Feature Mist, the first release by a new British cassette label: Touch. The music on the cassette, and the artwork, has since determined my entire musical taste and Touch is still one of the most interesting labels I know.

In 2012, the London label celebrates its 30th anniversary and they are making it known. Not only have they brought out some exceptional releases, there have also been a range of events around the world to celebrate. Outside of New York, Glasgow, Madeira etc. one of these unique events was the Touch. night at the end of August during the Feeërieën festival where we enjoyed BJ Nilssen, Phillip Jeck and Biosphere.

To close this anniversary year, they held a two-day event in Beaconsfield art centre, near Vauxhall Station in London, where conversations and info sessions took place during the afternoon while some of the label’s most interesting artists gave concerts in the evening.

The afternoons all followed the same pattern: conversations with various people who have played a significant role in the existence of Touch.

These conversations were held by Mike Harding or Jon Wozencroft, the two driven individuals who had the bright idea in 1982 of setting up a label and are still active with the same passion and love for the music and their artists.

Dag 1 startte met Jon Wozencroft die kwam schetsen hoe het indertijd allemaal begonnen is en hoe ze uitgegroeid zijn tot een collectief artiesten (‘in fact, they are all friends’) die op hun eigen unieke manier hun stempel gedrukt hebben op de electronische en electro-akoestische muziek en het gebruik van field recordings in de hedendaagse muziek.

Day 1 started with Jon Wozencroft who summed up how it all started at the time, and how they developed into a collective of artists (‘in fact, they are all friends’) who in their own way made their mark on electronic and electro-acoustic music and the use of field recordings in contemporary music.
Following this introduction, which showed Wozencroft to be a good storyteller and which he peppered with amusing anecdotes, there was a more technical explanation in which Denis Blackham, the regular mastering engineer at Touch. (and of an impressive list of other artists, see the www), and Christian Fennesz discussed how the sound of Fennesz’ Venice, the most successful Touch. release so far, originated.

Denis Blackham & Christian Fennesz foto: © Fabio Lugaro

The next conversation was a very interesting chat between Jon Wozencroft, Denis Blackham and Jason (from Transition Mastering Studios) on the (quality) differences between analogue and digital sound, the pernicious influence of mp3 compression on the sound quality of music and how artists, label and listeners deal with it.

After a short break, writer, journalist and cartoonist Edwin Pouncey (aka Savage Pencil) and Jon Wozencroft talked about their record collections. Pouncey, by the way, will be at the AB on 22 December when he will give a reading on Subterranean Metal at Amenra’s MassV release show.

After this breezy intermezzo, we returned to more serious matters with a conversation between Mike Harding, Tony Myatt (University of Surrey), Seb Jouan (Aecom Acoustic Design, Arts & Culture) and Hildur Gudnadottir on the recording of Hildur’s last album in ‘multi-channel hi-audio’ and the future of this method of recording/playback which can be compared to a 3D surround system.

The conversations were broken up by brief audio interventions with material from the Touch. archives; we were treated to old work by Panasonic and Ryoji Ikeda. The first afternoon concluded with 2 screenings / listening sessions: Coda Plus 47 by Fennesz and Ryoji Ikeda and Liquid Music by Fennesz.

From 8 o’clock on there were concerts in the rear hall of (The Arch), a brick-arched hangar under a busy London Underground line where mould and damp patches crumbled off the walls and a tube train rattled overhead several times a minute, and the acoustics were, to put it mildly, less than ideal for the type of artists we would be hearing over the next two days. But none of the audience or artists were bothered by this and everyone looked forward to the crème de la crème of the artists on the Touch. roster.

We kicked off with a beautiful set by Hildur Gudnadottir playing her latest album. This was played in surround, which sadly did not really add anything due to the poor acoustics.

Once Hildur had figuratively battered us senseless, we received the first audio intervention in the form of David Toop with a fragment (and slideshow) of his Yanomami Shamanism (released on Touch. in 1984 as T4).

Hildur Gudnadottir foto: © Fabio Lugaro

Next in line was Philip Jeck. His set did not vary greatly from what we heard of him earlier this year at Feeërieën but they were 40 very intense minutes in which Jeck, armed once more with 2 old record players, some effects and a minidisc player, had the entire audience eating out of his hand (I estimated 300 persons).

We then heard 2 ‘audio interventions’: a new piece by BJ Nilssen: ‘The cackle of dogs and laughter of death’ recorded at the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London and ‘Brussels Nord’ by Chris Watson, recorded, as you might have guessed, in the eponymous station when Chris Watson gave a workshop there in 2011.

To finish the first day, we were treated to an incredibly beautiful performance by Fennesz. After an introduction by Wozencroft - “he (Fennesz) can turn algorithms in emotional fields” - he played a very loud and aggressive set. Fennesz played some new material which emphasised his guitar playing much more; we had never seen the Austrian attack his strings as hard before.

When I bumped into Christian Fennesz in a nearby pub earlier that evening, he was looking for Philip Jeck (!!) and said he was excited about his upcoming performance in Brussels (Laika night on 26 January) and visiting Brussels and the AB again (and dining at Comme Chez Soi!). He also thought it was one of the better bills he has been on in recent years. I suspect that the acoustic conditions will also be better than the cave he played in tonight.

In the first afternoon conversation of day 2, Mike Harding spoke to the designers of the Touch. website and IOS app about the presence of the label on the worldwide web and how they react to the latest online developments.
This was followed by a conversation with the curator of the British Library where the archive of Touch Radio (check this out on the Touch. site, it’s well worthwhile!) has been housed for some years.

Next were a number of conversations held by Wozencroft about the graphic design at Touch. over the years and its importance to a label like Touch.
We finished off with a two-hour conversation between Jon Wozencroft and Peter Saville. Two graphic designers whose influence on music-related design over the last 30 years cannot be underestimated. The first is of course the Touch house designer and the second is the man who provided stunning artwork for almost all the releases on the legendary Factory Records.

The evening’s concerts started with a set by Thomas Köner, new signing to Touch., though active for years as a multi-media artist on the art circuit. His set was constructed of deep drones with field recordings woven through them. It might have been the damp and cold, but his set did not enthral me.
The evening’s first intermezzo was a brief poetic moment from Bruce Gilbert (Wire) in which he read from ‘Sliding off the World’, backed with live soundscapes.

Concert no. 2 was a beautiful set by CM Von Hauswolf. With homemade electronics (including a device with six oscillators) he dragged us along in a built-up piece consisting of various sine waves and the electronic treatment of his breathing, in which one had the feeling of becoming one with the whole surroundings.

CM Von Hauswolf foto: © Fabio Lugaro

As an intermission, Jon Wozencroft talked about a pirate broadcast he made in the mid-80s with Jon Savage for Network 21.

The two-day event was closed by an inspiring set by Biosphere. We saw Geir Jenssen (aka Biosphere) at work at Feeërieën and this time his set was better than that of the summer. The first segment was new work. This moved almost unnoticed into a treatment of Arnold Schoenberg’s ‘Verklärte Nacht’. As we could expect of Biosphere, he swept us along in a trip of electronic music and minimal beats, littered with field recordings.

After a short goodbye from Jon Wozencroft, we all headed out, more than satisfied, into the cold London night.
This two-day event showed that there are still labels that work with their artists, give fair opportunities to young artists, who try to build connections with their audience and offer that audience more than just music, that there are still labels who are not solely chasing profit and opt uncompromisingly for quality. And, perhaps most importantly, allow themselves to be guided by their love for music in every step they take.

Interesting links:
http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Blackham
http://www.fennesz.com/
http://www.hildurness.com/
http://www.philipjeck.com/
http://davidtoopblog.com/
http://www.koener.de/
http://www.cmvonhausswolff.net/
http://www.biosphere.no/