Touch: Label of the Week

Touch: Label of the Week

24 September, 2007 | 12.47PM

• Section: Music News
• Written by: lizwarner

Amassing an impressive body of work over the last 25 years, Touch is host to several of today’s pioneers in electronic listening music. Biosphere, Mark Van Hoen/Locust, Chris Watson, Philip Jeck, Fennesz are among their current catalog artists. A likely candidate for Label of the Quarter Century, we took some time to ask London’s Mike Harding, co-founder of the label, which is operated with Jon Wozencroft, a bit about the Touch modus operandi.

If you had to choose a motto for Touch, what would it be?

Festina Lente — because you will always suffer for being ahead of your time.

Which brings us to the next question. In a world geared toward pop hits, you’ve been unafraid to venture into ambient territory and to develop artists. What has been your reward?

We get better at what we do, and manage to create a focal point, a certain standard.

We somehow manage to resist the diminishing of music publishing as a mode of expression by doing things at our own pace.

Every task or relationship has its own life span and we respect and respond to that.

In that process, has there been a Touch release or artist that has been under appreciated?

Too many to mention…

How about ideas that you’ve approached, such as the abstract ‘Ringtones’ collection in 2002… Was that misunderstood?

Yes, ‘Ringtones’ is a recent example.

Now everybody can create their own signature sounds for their mobiles.

How do you choose the artists that you develop and support, such as Biosphere, Mark Van Hoen?

By mutual consent.

Its an organic process, so I am not sure ‘choose’ is an appropriate term here.

There is a constant dialogue and exchange of ideas and information between us.

We respect artists who do what they do because they have no choice.

How do you recommend listening to music from Touch?

We don’t — we hope to leave the listener as much freedom as possible, which is why the artwork is the way it is.

The visual element does seem to play a very important role in the ingestion of the music. What is the process of creating Touch artwork that is consistently connected to the music?

It is art directed and curated through a consistent dialogue and silence with the artists we work with.

Perhaps it’s a result of the general atmosphere that you’ve created with sound and art, because now you’ve worked with many artists that are considered some of the elite of composers of the day. How do you plan on continuing that tradition?

Faith in the future.

In the early days of Touch, you released music on cassette. Today, you have the options of vinyl, CD and digital. How important are each of these mediums to Touch?

With digital, everyone suffers from the clinical clumsy process, masquerading as “perfect”.

In the past, we’d worry about hiss.

Now, some artists master on analogue machines, which says it all, really.

Congratulations on your anniversary this year. How will you celebrate 25th years of Touch?

Thank you.

We have been celebrating for some time.

What is the idea behind the Touch 25 live recordings? Is it tied in to this celebration?

Touch 25 covers the period 2006/2007.

Looking back, has the Touch approach changed since its inception in 1982?

It hasn’t, really.

Times change, and people adapt.

Or not, as the case may be.

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