Releases

DL – 4 tracks – 39:38

Release date: Friday 20th January 2023

Available to order now

Track listing:

1. fond du lac
2. rondo
3. american dream
4. geisterorchester

Photography & design by Jon Wozencroft
Mastered by Simon Scott @ SPS

Orgelwerke began when composer Ted Reichman picked up a pile of rare organ vinyl from a library’s discard box. As he listened to this forgotten music late at night, he developed a process of transformation. He digitized them, turning them into loops and gestures, then reshaped them with tape, broken amplifiers and analogue echo boxes. It became something like a ritual, an exhumation of long-unheard music reanimated as glacial drones and ghostly symphonic movements — the sound of the cathedral transmuted into an enveloping shadow of pulsation, echo and glitch.

Ted Reichman composes electro-acoustic music, open-form pieces for improvising musicians, and film music. His long career in music goes back to his first recordings with Anthony Braxton in the early 1990s and his deep involvement in New York’s music community in the 2000’s. He was the original curator at Tonic on the Lower East Side of NYC, which became one of the world’s crucial venues for avant-garde music. He has made recordings for Tzadik, Skirl, and Tripticks Tapes, and produced and mixed albums for Wendy Eisenberg, Steven Long, Lina Tullgren/Alec Toku Whiting and many other experimental musicians. His film scores include Rick (with Bill Pullman and Sandra Oh), The Memory Thief, and the award winning documentaries Dear Mandela and Missing In Brooks County. He has been on the faculty of the Jazz Studies and Contemporary Musical Arts departments at the New England Conservatory of Music for over ten years, where he has developed a new curriculum on recording.

credits:

Recorded and mixed at Subtext Sound System
Thanks to Jason Coleman, Steve Long, Alec Toku Whiting, Tyler Gilmore and all at the MIT Radio Society

Various Artists – Bis dat [Spire 7.2]
Digital only – 8 tracks – over 100 minutes of music!

Available to pre-order now on Bandcamp | theeternalchord.bandcamp.com/album/bis-dat
Release date 6th May 2022

Reviewed by Mat Smith of Further. here

Track listing:

1. Zachary Paul – Sunken Cathedral 13:52
2. Faith Coloccia – Voice lV Sarcode 15:47
3. BJNilsen – Pressurised 15:40
4. Alcibiades – Omicronology 10:40
5. Yenting Hsu – Summer whisper 4:38
6. Rhodri Davies – HAARP 31:53
7. strom|morts – Absolute Magnitude Hermeticism 9:37
8. The Eternal Chord – Omnia transeunt 5:51 *This track released with pre-order

Photo taken on July 11, 1989 by Daniel Blau at Cave No.15 along Kaaha-Halapepe trail, Kau, Hawaii, elevation 109m above sea level, 325 degree N to Hilina Pali outlook © Daniel Blau, Salzburg

Dedicated to Didier Séverin of strom|morts, who left us too early.

After ‘Mutatis mutandis’ [Spire 7.1, 2020], ‘Bis dat’, meaning ‘Give more’, features 7 exclusive new compositions, using source material from ‘Semper Liber’, the album from The Eternal Chord collective of musicians (or not…)… Immersive and compelling, challenging and seductive, ‘Bis dat’ expands the organ repertoire into new territory, earthly and unearthly, past and present.

Zachary Paul’s violin and electronics plunge into the deep and he reimagines a drowned world, the spire still resplendent as creatures take up their new home; Faith Coloccia (mammifer, SIGE) continues her voice explorations and takes us to the skies, seeking the thermals – beyond the planets, even – while BJNilsen rams home the power of the beast (the organ was above all an instrument of clerical authority), a blistering piece using organ samples from Henry Willis’s Union Chapel organ in London. Alcibiades (Jay Glass Dubs & venoztks) combine Balkanology with organ samples to create a haunting, swirling miasmic oracle, and Yen-Ting Hsu guides us to gentler pastures with ’Summer whisper’. But danger lurks therein – we know what’s coming and there are always storms close by – and Rhodri Davies reminds us you can’t tame the beast, merely accompany and marvel. His unaccompanied harp fought the sounds of building reconstruction at his location – we don’t control these things, merely adapt and struggle on. strom|morts (swiss post-metal veterans) present a rich, massive alpine and wise gloom of sonics. And to finish the journey, or more likely start it, The Eternal Chord’s ‘Omnia transeunt’ is impossible to pin down and grasp firmly where it is – and where it might go! Plucked from the ether and moulded into a tuneful (at times) trip into another atmosphere. Let’s Go!

12 tracks – DL + pdf – 1:42:06

Available on Bandcamp 4th September 2020
Release date: 4th September 2020

Track listing:

1. Olivia Block – Flue 09:17
2. Marta De Pascalis – Alexandria 08:30
3. Richard Chartier – State 08:32
4. Faith Coloccia – Voice 1 Grapheme 07:55
5. Daniel Menche – Minimal 11:09
6. Jiyeon Kim – Organ Tapes 1 05:48
7. Philip Jeck – 75 bus 07:24
8. Dahra – Abadan (Perpetuum) 11:00
9. Orphax – Aeternus 12:54
10. Jiyeon Kim – Organ Tapes 2 06:40
11. Fennesz – Crystal Canyons 04:44
12. Faith Coloccia – Artifacts (bonus)

This album is released on Bandcamp Day; Touch will pay all receipts to the artists; any donations above that will go to support the label

featuring 12 exclusive new compositions, using source material from Semper Liber by:

Fennesz, Faith Coloccia (inc. bonus track), Richard Chartier, Philip Jeck, Orphax, Olivia Block, Jiyeon Kim, Dahra, Daniel Menche & Marta de Pascalis [UK, USA, Senegal, South Korea, Italy, Netherlands, Austria]

Liminal organ

Immersive and compelling, Mutatis Mutandis expands the organ repertoire into new territory, with influences from Senegalese traditional folk music, modern composition, classical organ, pop and electronic music.

The 4 colour plates by the art historian and author Sydney Russell show cave art from 4 to 6 thousand years ago. Taken in Brazil on one of several expeditions she made around the world, these highly emotional works reveal the sophistication and ageless quality of the imagination of the peoples who were expressing themselves at this time; they have been slow to reveal their beauty to us, having survived all weathers; their acoustic soundtrack unfolds slowly, submersive and involving.

Sydney Russell writes: “These photographs were taken in 1976 in Brazil. We eventually obtained minimum radio carbon datings for levels covering the paintings from approximately 3750-2500 BCE. They originate from the rock shelter sites of Sucupira, (Lagoa Santa) and Lapa do Cipo (Santana do Riacho), near Minas Gerais and Quadrillas (Montalvania), Bahia.”

The 19th Spire took place on 7th September 2019 at Chichester Cathedral, and was produced by Iklectik. These tracks, all performed by Charles Matthews, were recorded by Isa Ferri of Iklectik and mixed by Jeff Ardron (Saint Austral Sound), to whom grateful thanks are due.

https://theeternalchord.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-chichester-cathedral

Photo: Jon Wozencroft

There is no “correct” way to play the organ. Of course, there are strong and long traditions of how it should be played and by whom, but in the realm of time these rules count for nothing. The organ has the greatest frequency range of any acoustic instrument, and this unique aspect grants great freedom to the players. ALL STOPS OUT!!!

CD – 4 tracks – 78:40
Release date: tba

Track listing:

1. Aeternus
2. Perpetuum
3. Immortalis
4. Semper Liber

The Players: Marcus Davidson Hildur Gudnadottir Mike Harding
Charles Matthews Clare M Singer Maia Urstad Anna von Hausswolff

Performed on the 1893 Schlag & Söhne organ at Johanneskirken, Bergen; the 1967 Karl Ludwig Schuke organ at Passionskirche, Berlin; the Peter Bares organ, inaugurated in 2004, at Kunststation St Peter, Cologne; the 1885 ‘Father’ Henry Willis organ at Lincoln Cathedral; the 1877 ‘Father’ Henry Willis organ at Union Chapel, London; the Rieger organ at St. Stephan’s Church, Mautern & the 1897 Johnson & Son organ at St. Saviour’s Anglican Church, Riga between 2009 and 2016

The art historian and author Sydney Russell writes: “These photographs were taken in 1976 in Brazil. We eventually obtained minimum radio carbon datings for levels covering the paintings from approximately 3750-2500 BCE. They originate from the rock shelter sites of Sucupira, (Lagoa Santa) and Lapa do Cipo (Santana do Riacho), near Minas Gerais and Quadrillas (Montalvania), Bahia. Please refer to the website for more information.”

Artwork by Philip Marshall
Compiled and edited by Mike Harding
Mixed at the Völlhaus
Mastered by Mark Van Hoen
Photography by Sydney Russell

P&C 2018 Spire
Published by Field Music
@theeternalchord

Order The Eternal Chord – “Semper Liber” [CD + Download] in Bandcamp

Live 6.xi.15 Kunststation St Peter,  Jabachstr. 1, Köln, Germany. Recorded by Achim Mohné. Peformers are Claire M Singer & Mike Harding. With thanks to Georg Dietzler

Now available on Bandcamp

Recorded on 1st November 2013 as part of Bergen Kirkeautunnale, Norway

Featuring BJNilsen & John Beaumont’s Black Death, a new project using voice (tenor) and electronics; Charles Matthews’s repertoire includes performances of organ pieces by Arvo Pärt, Giacinto Scelsi and Johan Sebastian Bach; Marcus Davidson’s Ananta is released for the first time, and Spire regulars The Eternal Chord and The Spire Ensemble also perform.
This cassette will be released in July 2014

Liner notes:

A1: Charles Matthews plays JS Bach “Komm, Heiliger Geist”, A2: Charles Matthews plays Giacinto Scelsi “In Nomine Lucis”, A3. BJNilsen and John Beaumont “Black Death”
B1: The Eternal Chord “The Eternal Chord (Live)”, B2: Marcus Davidson “Ananta”, B3: The Spire Ensemble “Live In Bergen”, B4: Charles Matthews plays Arvo Pärt “Pari Intervallo”

Recorded on 1.11.13 as part of Bergen Kirkeautunnale 2013, with thanks to Kjetil Almenning and Møyfrid Fuglestad. Published by Touch Music [MCPS] except – A2: Editions Salabert/G Ricordi & Co.; B4: Universal Edition.
Illustration – Art I Cho.

This cassette is an aspiring product of The Tapeworm – “give the peasants champagne and they still want dirty water” TTW#70, copyright 2014 The Tapeworm.

www.tapeworm.org.uk

This cassette item is now sold out

2 tracks – FLAC Audio download – 18:31

Track listing and notes:

1. The Passing 9:14

Recorded at St. Stephan’s Church, Mautern, Austria as part of Spire live at The Kontraste Festival, Krems, 11th October 2013.

Marcus Davidson – Organ & Electronics

EVP samples by Raymond Cass from “The Ghost Orchid – An Introduction to EVP” [PARC CD1]
NASA recording of the winds of Saturn from The Voyager Spacecraft
Natural VLF Radio Phenomena of the Magnetosphere and space weather recording by S.P. McGreevy
With thanks to Charles Matthews

2. Sacred Space 9:17

Recorded at PassionsKirche, Berlin, Germany as part of CTM12 Festival, 5th February 2012
Marcus Davidson – Electronics
Charles Matthews – Organ
Part one: Notations from the NASA recordings of the Rings of Uranus
Part two: The Sun dawning over the dark rings of Uranus

Buy Marcus Davidson “The Passing” [FLAC download] in the TouchShop
www.marcusdavidson.net

320kbps MP3 – 4 tracks – 42:09
Download-only

Mastered by Giuseppe Verticchio

Continue reading →

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/

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

A3 print + digital download no longer 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

Autofact FACT 12/Touch Tone 28
Double LP Vinyl only [Sold out – download now available on Bandcamp]
Art Direction & Design by Jon Wozencroft
Compiled and edited by Mike Harding October/November 2006
Cut by Jason at Transition, London, on a Neumann VSM 70 March 2007

Track Listing:

Side One
Philip Jeck – Live in St. Michel & St. Gudula Cathedral, Brussels
[as part of Les Nuits Botaniques] 7th May 2006
16:36

Side Two
1. Charles Matthews – Live in St. Michel & St. Gudula Cathedral, Brussels
[as part of Les Nuits Botaniques] – plays Giacinto Scelsi: In Nomine Lucis 7th May 2006
11:29
2. Marcus Davidson – Live in Masthuggs Church, Göteborg
[as part of the GAS Festival] – Standing Wave 4th October 2005
9:11
locked groove

Side Three
BJNilsen – Live in Masthuggs Church, Göteborg
[as part of the GAS Festival] 4th October 2005
19:36

Side Four
Fennesz – Live in St. Michel & St. Gudula Cathedral, Brussels
[as part of Les Nuits Botaniques] 7th May 2006
16:02

Spire Live – Fundamentalis is a collection of live tracks recorded at various Spire events held throughout 2005 and 2006. Released in association with US label, Autofact, Touch presents a selection of tracks performed by the main performers of Spire: Fennesz | Philip Jeck | BJNilsen | Charles Matthews | Marcus Davidson. Improvised pieces from Fennesz, BJNilsen and Philip Jeck contrast with a performance by Charles Matthews of a scored composition by Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi, ‘In Nomine Lucis’, and Marcus Davidson’s self-penned ‘Standing Wave’, which ends side two with a locked groove. Cut to preserve and enhance the bottom end frequencies, Fundamentalis is not merely a document; the tension between and within the individual pieces is palpable. Fennesz’s set “…evokes the rolling centuries in all their pain and beauty, leaving us at once becalmed and energised, but never oppressed under the weight of time.” Electronics breathe new life not only into the organ, but also into the setting. But successor does not mean replacement. Ultimately, it’s the majestic sound of the organ, so steeped in centuries of tradition, that one remembers above all else.

Spire is one of the most innovative projects around, drawing on the full canon of organ works, from the very first annotation in the Robertsbridge Codex from the 14th Century, to max msp patches and software sampling… With two CD releases and 9 performances in cathedrals and churches throughout Europe, Spire remains a potent live force in harnessing the sounds of the ages.

Reviews:

The Wire (UK)

Can be read here

Mojo (UK):

“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.”

This release received an Honorary Distinction at Ars Electronica in 2006

DCD – 7 tracks

Track Listing:

CDOne 76:04
On the main organ in the cathedral: Charles Matthews plays tracks 1-4:

1. Marcus Davidson – Opposites Attract [10:05]
2. Marcus Davidson – Psalm for Organ 3 [1:24]
3. André Jolivet – Hymne à l’Universe [11:58]
4. Liana Alexandra – Consonances lll [6:52]
Marcus Davidson plays track 5:
5. Henryk Gorécki – Kantata for organ op. 26 [15:42]
In the side chapel: 6. BJNilsen – Live in La Petite Chapelle [29:59]

CDTwo 69:06

1. In the crypt: Philip Jeck – Live in the Crypt [44:14]
2. In the side chapel: Fennesz – Live in La Petite Chapelle [24:49]

St. Pierre Cathedral, Geneva, was the crucible of the Reformation in 1534…

The second release in the Spire series [cf Spire, organ works past, present & future, Touch # Tone 20, 2004] is more than a document of ‘Spire Live’, which took place as part of La Batie 2004, at St. Pierre Cathedral, Geneva, on 5th September 2004. Curated by Eric Linder, from La Batie, and Mike Harding, the dynamism of the event, where the audience rotated between 3 separate venues within the Cathedral precinct, is reflected in the individual recordings: Philip Jeck goes heavy metal in the crypt: BJNilsen comes over all moody in the side chapel, and Fennesz soothes and seduces in the same place.
All this is set up by Charles Matthews and Marcus Davidson on the main organ [4 manifolds, computer operated] which dominates the time and place. Davidson plays Gorécki’s extraordinary Kantata for organ, [full stops on max employed here] which segués into BJNilsen’s ultra-heavy live organ and electronics next door. This follows Charles Matthews’s excellent renditions of pieces by Jolivet and Alexandra which, as the text by Thierry Charollais says: “The event seemed provoking and iconoclastic in contrast to the severe and austere atmosphere of the cathedral. Though some of the musical pieces were audacious, the music focused mainly on spirituality. It generated a different perception of the organ pieces, thus modifying our perception of the cathedral and making the event truly exceptional.”

And to finish, Fennesz soothed us with sound. His set evoked the rolling centuries in all their pain and beauty, leaving us at once becalmed and energised, but never oppressed under the weight of time.