Spire 3 - Daniel Menche "Hover"
320kbps MP3 - 2 tracks - 27:36
Download-only
2 tracks - 30 piece teenage choir and organ
Track Listing:
1. Hover 19:29
2. As Is 8:07
As part of the Spire project, Touch is pleased to announce this download-only release by Daniel Menche.
"I work at a high school library here in Portland, Oregon. Once a week there's a choir class and occasionally I will poke my head in to hear the fantastic sounds of the kids singing. The singing can be a bit rusty mainly due to the shyness factor in their young voices and the reluctant learning of the music notation from the choir teacher. I really liked hearing that rough-awkward singing from the kids and it remind me of myself being in a choir as a little kid and remembering how much I HATED IT! Mainly because I didn't understand music notation... nor did I want to and also I was incredibly shy just like these kids.
Well anyways I'm always thinking of ways to get young folks to have fun with sound and such and also I had an idea to use these fine choir students for a recording utilizing their awkward singing sounds. My strategy for the kids was vowels because every kid knows vowels! A-E-I-O-U and just sing those letters as long as possible is what I will instruct the kids to do. I mentioned to the choir teacher that I will be coming in and taking ten minutes of the student’s time to record them for a recorded composition and the teacher approved with this idea but she was also very confused. How can I be a known recording musician and not know about music notation such as 'flat C or sharp D' or whatever that jargon is. I told them... "Don't worry... kids will have fun and it'll sound fantastic." And so I barged into the classroom and hit record on my little recorder and began the vowel singing game with the kids. The sheer state of confusion on their young faces was rather beautiful and the singing was fantastic to my ears. I noticed immediately that they couldn’t get the low sounds very well because well… they’re kids and baritone sounds just aren’t in the picture yet for them. So I utilized a Hammond organ for the bass sounds for the final piece of music titled “HOVER”.
Included is the raw unedited "as is" recording document of myself having fun with the kids and getting sounds out of them for this "HOVER" recording. This raw recording has a charm to it of the kids being confused and having some fun. Teenage cathartic-ism to say the least. The look on the choir teacher’s face when I had everyone screaming in different vowels was priceless. I can see her facial expression screaming at me "Music notation blasphemy!!!"... I respond back "Yep, sure is and now look at all the smiles on our kids faces."
You can preview an extract from this release in the TouchShop.
Buy Hover in the TouchShop
danielmenche.blogspot.com/
Spire 2 - Enrico Coniglio "Songs from Ruined Days"
320kbps MP3 - 1 track - 45:14
Download-only; a TouchShop exclusive.
Track listing:
1. Songs from Ruined Days
As part of the Spire project, Touch is pleased to announce this download-only release by Italian artist Enrico Coniglio. You can preview an extract from this release in the TouchShop.
Enrico Coniglio is a Venetian musician who focuses his musical research on the representation of the contemporary landscapes. In relation to his studies in urban planning (University IUAV of Venice), his interest is directed towards the loss of identity of places and the uncertainty of the evolution of the urban territory.
If his music comes mainly from the ambient genre, mixing a droning guitar with field recordings and digital manipulation, on the other hand he’s just interested to document the landscape, meaning to build his personal catalogue of soundscapes, with a particular reference to the Venetian lagoon.
Over the last year he has collaborated with various musicians including Joachim Roedelius, Arve Henriksen, Oophoi and others, and he has releases and podcasts with Psychonavigation, Glacial Movements, Cronica electronica and Laverna net. You can hear a previous release “Sapientumsuperacquis” on Touch Radio.
The present release is a long-drone track mostly based on recordings made in Porto Marghera, a big industrial coastal area on the mainland of Venice, Italy (Winter 2009), now largely on disposal and afflicted by a severe economic and environmental crisis. Part of this work was originally used for a sound work in the “Antares” pavilion of VEGA Park (VEnice GAteway for science and technology) for a photography exhibition as a part of the project "Le nuove vie di Porto Marghera". Other field recordings were made in Vienna, Austria (December 2009), in an attempt to explore the sacral spaces of the city. 'Song from ruined days' is a mix of industrial and liturgical soundscape, a brief journey in the space of a full desolation.
"Enrico Coniglio is among the best kept secrets of the Italian ambient scene"
(Roberto Mandolini, Rockerilla)
"He deals in a warm, soothing blend of guitar drones, field recordings and digital post-production"
(Ewan Burke, Cyclic Defrost Magazine)
"Coniglio's atmospheres, meanwhile, take turns at being ethereal and lightflooded, obscured by clouds, ominous and abstract"
(Tobias Fischer, Tokafi)
"Enrico Coniglio creates a series of absorbing ambiences that have a moody enigmatic quality about them - dark, deep pools of sound morphing crackling in places with electrical damage"
(Morpheus Music Reviews).
"Coniglio's multi-varied collection provides a rich and oft-surprising listening experience"
(Textura)
"This is a must have for ambient DJs!"
(Mixmaster Morris)
Buy Songs from Ruined Days in the TouchShop
www.enricoconiglio.com
Chicago | Photo by Dave Knapik
The 10th Spire will take place in Riga on May 23rd 2009
Sound Forest Festival
St. Saviour's Anglican Church, Riga, Latvia
Philip Jeck
Jana Winderen
Charles Matthews
Hildur Gudnadóttir & Elín Hansdóttir
Charles Matthews & Mike Harding - The Eternal Chord
The Spire Ensemble - Organography
Photos can be seen here
A full programme of the festival can be downloaded here
Spire 1 - Jon Wozencroft A3 print / The Spire Ensemble - "Organology"
A3 print + digital download now available from the TouchShop
A3 print
Features an image (depicted to the right) by Jon Wozencroft, output onto high quality heavyweight matte paper.
Digital download
320 kpbs MP3, available only when purchasing the Spire print...
The Spire Ensemble - "Organology" 14:14
Recorded at Norheimsund Church, Norway during the Hardingtonar Festival, 21st June 2008. [2008 was the centenary of the birth of Geirr Tveitt, whose work was celebrated at this festival.]
Featured artists: Marcus Davidson - Grand Piano | Mike Harding - Conductor | Philip Jeck - Casio SK1 Keyboard | Charles Matthews - Organ BJNilsen - Electronics | Jana Winderen - Electronics
Fundamentalis review in Mojo | October 2008
The Touch label's Spire project is all about restating the sonic power of the church organ in the modern age, pushing this awesome instrument to its terrifying limits. This majestic collection of live tracks, recorded in churches and cathedrals across Europe, unites organ maestros like Charles Matthews with such Touch-endorsed electronic explorers as BJ Nilsen, Fennesz and Philip Jeck, to create a euphoric drone of power, calm and beauty, that, played loudly enough in a far-away room, will soothe the chattering clamour of the urban brain.
Spire Lego by Albert Jenssen
Albert Jenssen, son of Biosphere's Geir Jenssen, kindly allowed us to post these photos of his Lego design of a church for a spire concert...
Spire Live - Fundamentalis | Autofact 12/Touch Tone 28 | Wire Review
An excellent review of Spire Live - Fundamentalis can be read here
Spire Live at The HardingTonar Festival | 21.06.2008
To mark the centenary of the birth of Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt, The Hardingtonar festival has invited Spire to contribute various works based on his compositions.
BJNilsen | Philip Jeck | Charles Matthews | Jana Winderen | Marcus Davidson et al. will take part in a live event at various times on 21st June 2008 in Norheimsund, Norway.
You can read more in Ballade here
A programme in English can be found here
A full programme can be downloaded here and tickets can be bought here
Spire Bootleg
Yes we have been bootlegged! Here you can find out more. Its from Ars Electronica 2006...