touchactivities

BBC Radio 3's Late Junction presents "Attenborough at 100: The Wild Life of Sound". Featuring Chris Watson, Jana Winderen and much more... Link in Bio. 'On Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday, Verity Sharp presents a mixtape that celebrates the ways in which recorded sound and acts of listening-imagining can bring us into a close relationship with other species. Assembled as a collaboration between artist and researcher Rebecca Lennon and writer Ella Finer, the mixtape moves through musical and sonic worlds that variously abstract, reimagine and commune with human and more than human presences. Breath, vibration, rhythm, waggle - we meet the heartbeat of a swan, the voice of a whale, the purr of a cheetah, the sonorous lives of bees, foxes and street dogs. Finer’s concept of “the wild life of sound” speaks to something that the sonic and the creaturely realms share in common: a freedom from ownership, a resistance to neat categorisation, a space where connection can happen'. Produced by Alex Yates A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3

Release today on Touch !!! https://linktr.ee/touch33 #bandcampfriday

Out Now for #BandcampFriday: "Travelogue [Thailand]" by CM von Hausswolff & Chandra Shukla Link in bio. 'The third in an ongoing series of collected international audio diaries; the premise is quite simple: the two meet at a mutually agreed upon destination along with the facilitation of something to record audio of these experiences on. The intent is to capture and augment these sonic documentaries of their travels which then are sculpted into soundtracks. This is done by sourcing the culture, environment, persons or events that make their voices available. The result might be pleasantly kind and floating or unpleasantly rough and jarring unveiling a light or dark world. In February 2024, CM von Hausswolff and Chandra Shukla met in Chaing Mai, Thailand over the course of 9 days. Recordings were made at 31st Century Museum of Contemporary Spirit, Wat Umong (Suan Buddha Dhamma), Wat Phra Singh, Wat Phra That Dot Suthep, Loi Kroh Boxing Stadium, Wat Chedi Luang, Mae Wang Mae Win, Was Pha Lat, Wat Phra That Dot Kham, Wat Rong Khun Chaing Rai, Rong Suea Ten Temple Chiang Rai Ancient City, House of Opium Museum Chiang Saen, The Mekong at The Golden Triangle Chiang Saen, One Budget Hotel Chiang Saen... von Hausswolff and Shukla rounding off another whirlwind 9 days in Southeast Asia in the unusual setting of the Lanna Kingdom (Kingdom of a million rice fields) of Northern Thailand. A multifaceted location where Thailand shares borders with Myanmar, Laos and China in what is known as The Golden Triangle, a commercial trade zone between the nations. This frontier region is home to hill tribes, countless Buddhist monasteries, stupas, The Mekong River, mountains and forests. All of which can be heard on this recording. Always finding themselves in the most untypical of off the beaten tourist destinations and settings, CM von Hausswolff and Chandra Shukla use the Northern Thai backdrop for more sonic tapestries and meditational sound weaving. Perhaps not always in the calming of ways but more often in the midst of noise laden cacophony.'

Who would have thought! ‘North’ is 28... I recorded the material between 1996 and 1997. I found myself living in the vocal booth of a studio in Stockholm, with access to pretty good equipment—none of it mine. This was pre-laptop and pre–direct-to-hard-drive recording, so all the tracking was done on a Mac Classic running Cubase with MIDI, alongside Akai and Emax samplers. A few synths and guitars floated around the studio as well. It was all mixed on a Yamaha 01 onto an 8-track (7 with the sync signal) ADAT, then transferred digitally to DAT. I met Mike from Touch in a bar and quickly biked home to get the master DAT at his request. It was released a few months later on Ash International. To celebrate this, I recorded a new companion— The track draws on field recordings of ice, snow, and wind from the Arctic, reworked through various digital processes. Thx Enjoy! (BJ Nilsen - Amsterdam April 2026) Recorded and mixed at Odd Phasing and Echoes, Amsterdam, NL. (link in bio) @touchactivities @ashinternational

Out Now: Reissue of "Still Life - Requiem" by CM von Hauswolff. TO:103 CD + DL Link in bio. Conceptualised (2010–2013), composed and produced (2014–2017) by Carl Michael von Hausswolff in Palma (Majorca) and Stockholm. This musical piece consists only of sounds emitted and extracted from physical matter using emission spectroscopy as the sole basic technology. Acknowledgements to Linköping University (IFM), Sweden. 'Still Life - Requiem' consists of one piece with the same title and is divided up into two to fit the LP format. The piece is, as the title suggests, a requiem and it's contents are solely composed by sounds captured from a specific physical solid state material. The composer has used a technique called 'emission spectroscopy' whereby the frequencies generated from the material was analysed and transferred into, for humans, a listenable pitch (between 15 and 14000Hz). This captured organic sound material has been stretched, looped, equalised and composed to produce the recording. A requiem is a piece of music dedicated to certain sole or several restless souls that wander our worlds looking for a place to call home. A requiem radiates calm, peace and perhaps comfort for tormented spiritual beings - it's a piece dedicated to promote and insert tranquility and transcendence. This requiem also provides the listener with a certain feeling of connection - perhaps a connection with the unknown and with the energy field clusters and mental abilities of post-mortem life forms that would be the incorporeal essence of a living being. CMvH (born 1956 in Linköping , Sweden) has a long history within the communities of contemporary music and visual art. His first records was released in early 80s while the most recent saw the light just a few years ago ('Squared' [CD - Auf Abwegen, 2015]). In recent years he has been collaborating with Leslie Winer ('1' [LP - Monotype 2016]) and Hans-Joachim Roedelius ('Nordlicht' [LP - Curious Music, 2017]). He has also instigated and curated the collective sound-installation 'freq_out' during 2003 - 2017, which includes artists such as Jana Winderen, JG Thirlwell, Finnbogi Petursson, Christine Ödlund and others.

Out Now: "Generator: Live at Konzerthaus, Vienna 06 Dec 2003" by Philip Jeck, the second release available to Bandcamp Subscribers, with all profits going to The Philip Jeck Foundation. Subscription link in bio. Subscribers receive 12 exclusive unreleased live recordings mastered by Denis Blackham and 5 bonus items from his back catalogue. All proceeds from this subscription go to The Philip Jeck Foundation, supporting aspiring artists who produce work rooted in the traditions of experimental and creative arts. #PhilipJeck (1952-2022) was a unique artist whose influence reached far and wide. His family, friends and work colleagues within the international artistic community wish to continue his legacy by setting up The Philip Jeck Foundation. The Foundation provides small grants (up to £1,000) to artists working at the in experimental music making, visual and performance work. Grants could be used for research & development, travel bursaries or renting studio space, for example. The Foundation operates through a closed peer nomination scheme rather than an open application process. Each year the Foundation appoints a new group of independent nominators to identify potential recipients. This is the second release on the subscription, following last month's "Rote Fabrik: Live in Züruch, 5 Oct 2002". thephilipjeckfoundation.org/

Updated poster! Reception is proud to present the world debut of Shortwave Orchestra. The creation of Mike Harding aka venozkts (Tapeworm) featuring some of Ireland’s most accomplished and enduring experimental musicians. A rare event unlikely to be staged again in Ireland anytime soon. Early booking advised due to limited capacity. Tickets available via RA or link in bio. This Shortwave Orchestra performance will take place in three parts. For each part, Mike will be joined by an ensemble of Irish musicians Anthony Kelly, David Stalling, Bryan O'Connell, Si Schroeder. Kevin Brew, Aileen Wallace & Dennis McNulty. Prior to the performance, Luke Clancy will host a Culture File Debate with performers. Logo: John Wozencroft Image: Heitor Alvelos

TONIGHT, 7.30pm at @themeltd , Camden: Jon Wozencroft's latest Sound Seminar 'A Short History of Happiness'. Last remaining tickets via link in bio. 'The big unanswerable question – how do you measure happiness? What does happiness mean? Is it simply a perception of one’s self which is beyond verification? In this sense it is close to the mystery of consciousness, personal and beyond digital – and AI algorithms, for the time being at least. Can ChatGBT make you happy? It will sure try and convince you that it can. Is it to do with one’s personal experience of pleasure, of contentment? Good food and good sex? Pure luck in the scheme of the way life pans out? Being well off? Well not that, obviously, because there are plenty of examples of the filthy rich who are avowedly unhappy, hiding bigger problems with their steady accumulation of more and more. Sexual pleasure seems to be way down the list of people’s experience and priorities right now. Falling birth rates just one indicator of this global anxiety. Libido, desire, tactility, all under fire. Happiness needs a collective energy. I don’t think it’s easy to be happy if not many other people share the spirit of what’s in the air. Is it primarily about human, personal relationships and how one weathers all the challenges of intimacy between the home and the world? – this, maybe. Can we still say that the quest for happiness is the prime motor behind perception, feeling and behaviour? Or just give up? “Turn on, tune in, drop out”. Timothy Leary, 1967. (We need an upgrade of psychedelia, the anti-retro version). Not “Turn off, tune out, drop out”. The 2026 remix. Isolation is not the answer. Happiness is not a warm gun'.

Out Now: "Impressions d’une maison et d’un orgue face à la majesté d’une montagne" by Pedro Vian. Spire 12 DL. Link in bio. Organ improvisations recorded in the Catalan Pyrenees 'A couple of years ago, I stayed in an old house in the Catalan Pyrenees, in the small village of Arsèguel, near the French border. The house was surrounded by nature and faced a vast mountain landscape. In the living room, beside the fireplace, there was an old organ. I had originally brought my microphone and laptop to record the surrounding soundscapes, but the organ quickly captured my attention. I placed the microphone close to the organ pipes and sat down to improvise, letting the instrument and the atmosphere of the place guide the music. The result is a collection of improvised pieces gathered under the title Impressions d’une maison et d’un orgue face à la majesté d’une montagne, impressions of a house and an organ facing the majesty of a mountain.' Image credit: Adrian Birta released April 1, 2026

Electronic Voice Phenomena with CM von Hausswolff and Michael Esposito. About this workshop We carried out our first EVP workshop with CM von Hausswolff and Michael Esposito in 2024, with enormous success - we visited and recorded at Cathar castles, investigated the ruins of mountain villages abandoned almost 1,000 years ago, explored the waterfalls, high plateaus and ancient forests of the epic Pyrenees Ariegoises, and dug through treasure troves of mysterious historic objects in the local ressourcerie. In 2025 we added new sites and trips to the agenda, for an even deeper and more packed experience - we explored the pre-historic cave paintings at the Grotte de Niaux, and recorded in an abandoned silver mine at 1400m altitude, amongst other new developments. This year we’ll expend the schedule further still, with a program of visits to historic sites loaded with atmosphere; we’ll also investigate the related field of archaeoacoustics - the archaeological process of exploring the relationship between people and sound throughout history. More here: /onsite/evp

THURSDAY at @themeltd , Camden: Jon Wozencroft's latest Sound Seminar 'A Short History of Happiness'. Ticket link in bio. 'The big unanswerable question – how do you measure happiness? What does happiness mean? Is it simply a perception of one’s self which is beyond verification? In this sense it is close to the mystery of consciousness, personal and beyond digital – and AI algorithms, for the time being at least. Can ChatGBT make you happy? It will sure try and convince you that it can. Is it to do with one’s personal experience of pleasure, of contentment? Good food and good sex? Pure luck in the scheme of the way life pans out? Being well off? Well not that, obviously, because there are plenty of examples of the filthy rich who are avowedly unhappy, hiding bigger problems with their steady accumulation of more and more. Sexual pleasure seems to be way down the list of people’s experience and priorities right now. Falling birth rates just one indicator of this global anxiety. Libido, desire, tactility, all under fire. Happiness needs a collective energy. I don’t think it’s easy to be happy if not many other people share the spirit of what’s in the air. Is it primarily about human, personal relationships and how one weathers all the challenges of intimacy between the home and the world? – this, maybe. Can we still say that the quest for happiness is the prime motor behind perception, feeling and behaviour? Or just give up? “Turn on, tune in, drop out”. Timothy Leary, 1967. (We need an upgrade of psychedelia, the anti-retro version). Not “Turn off, tune out, drop out”. The 2026 remix. Isolation is not the answer. Happiness is not a warm gun'.

Chris Watson Friday Triple Threat: 1: Last chance to get a free tickets to Chris Watson's 'Planet Ocean' talk at @edinburghcollegeofart this evening at 6.30pm. 2: The latest episode of @resonancefm 's FogCast is a 'Planet Ocean' special, featuring several extracts from that release alongside aquatic archival classics from Bill Fontana and Michel Redolfi. 3. Chris also features in this episode of Radio 3's Sunday Feature 'The Microphone', first broadcast in 2022. Links to everything in bio. Image: Jon Wozencroft