A coming of age for the label reaching new heights, with one of the best multi-CD compilations of all time. I do not say this lightly. Think of all of the most highly regarded compilations of this ilk, and I think you will find fewer with such a rich and diverse selection of artists, coming together to deliver a tour de force of ambient.
Music Can Make A Difference
Touched Music is having a great year celebrating its 10th anniversary. Release after release of engaging and seminal works have been steadily flowing down the pipeline. This latest offering is a major stand-out release in terms of scale and quality. The anniversary series is excellent, and then this with no less than 35 tracks coming on a 4-CD edition. The artist roster reads like a who’s who of contemporary downtempo and ambient electronic music. Long time legends mixed in with some newer names, but all of whom share a common characteristic, quality. If location is the keyword for property, surely quality does the same for music. A tour de force of ambient music for 2023.
If you want to buy one amazing physical (or digital) music compilation, then this is the one I highly recommend. Check this name list! The Space Between Numbers, The Future Sound Of London, Gel-Sol, Robert Leiner, Thomas Fehlmann, Dub Tractor, Si Matthews, Heogen, The Inventors of Aircraft, Scanner, DF Tram, Youth, Gaudi, Anders Ilar, Wil Bolton, Mick Chillage, Gabriel Le Mar, Biophonix, Lorenzo Montanà, Eric the Taylor, David Harrow, afp v Rob Mo, Canopy Of Stars, Cyance, Living Light, MX, Kuba, Conboy, Sven Kössler, Kaya Project, Holeg Spies, Sounditions, Forrest Fang, Mark Van Hoen, and Dan Armstrong. Wow, I’m almost out of breath just typing that long list! There are so many names of note that I keep my eyes peeled for. Like a cartoon character who get caught by the crook of his neck on glancing at a name and craning his neck back to see “what was that I just saw….” So what follows is a kind of version 2.0 review after a notepad++ file save accident, by which I mean I lost 90% of my review content. Cider in hard, I’m here to try to do my earlier work justice. Consolidation through inebriation. Please bear with me as I cry into my cider of lost auto-saves and reflex responses to errors, which lost me my words.
I received an early copy of this physical release. It comes in a really nice presentation box, with artwork by the fantastic The Designers Republic. There are muted greens abound. Inside the card box are four discs. Each comes with its own varied muted tone and large fonts providing all of the artists and track titles. Each of the discs coming in a gate-fold cover with black and white digital artwork inside, and the specific track details again in the large font on the outer sides. Thanks guys, you must have heard my gripes about tiny fonts on some other releases, which become challenging in low light, or without my old man reading glasses. The last word on each of the covers is “Music Can Make A Difference,” which to me encapsulates the ethos and perhaps mission statement if there is one for Touched Music.
Touched Music for me brings the best out in people. It draws us together as humans, provides us with fabulous music to share (which is often the first love for many of us), but goes way beyond this with its heart-felt charitable nature. Touched Music collects money for charitable causes, primarily Macmillan Cancer Support. The strength of their releases, both by the artists involved, and the label chief Martin Boulton, is testament to the good that exists in the world. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. So, back to the music.
The variety of musical offerings here span most ambient sub-genres and styles, from piano, drone, and tonal, to more rhythmic ambient-dub and IDM styled boombastics. Luckily I was given an early digital copy of this release to digest. I’m not the most prolific writer of reviews, and the like, and those who know me, understand I like to live with music for some time before casting the die of critical assessment. I believe like a good wine, good music needs time to breathe, and be absorbed by the listener before any hasty or flippant remarks should be cast. With a release of this scale and variety, many evenings, and journeys by car were passed by devouring Touched By Silence 2.
I would highly recommend this be experienced on really good headphones or hi-fi equipment to gain the maximum impact for the listener. This has been one of the most immersive and engaging releases I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. This is ambient music at its best. A coming of age for the label reaching new heights, with one of the best multi-CD compilations of all time. I do not say this lightly. Think of all of the most highly regarded compilations of this ilk, and I think you will find fewer with such a rich and diverse selection of artists, coming together to deliver a tour de force of ambient.
If you are interested here is my more detailed guide to the four Sequences — or feel free to skip to the end for my summation.
Sequence 01 of Touched By Silence 2 opens up with a beautiful and haunting track by The Space Between Numbers, a collaboration between Hannah (Mrs Jynx) Davidson & Will (Makirikur) Humphreys. A truly angelic opening track which I would have purchased this release for alone. With its soaring synths, and angelic reedy strings, it speaks of heavenly places, and feels like a cross between Global Communication with some Aphex Twin ethereal moments and bass swells like that you’d expect to find on an Inkipak track. It is immediately followed by its dark twin.
The FSOL guys—never ones to be outdone—drop a grinding and almost industrial dark track that feels like the spiritual dark twin to the opening track. Like the birth of twins from the gyration of an angels and demons. Surely the Nephilim tracks are twins of light and darkness. Boomtastic basses from FSOL with grinding synths speak of machines, and dark delights. Cymbal crashes and deeply reverberating claps create a space between plains of existence. Demonic trailing vocals lead us from the light into the dark. Gel-Sol (Andrew Reichel) delivers “The Soul Of Her Tomorrow” which for me keeps the celestial theme running, like a cousin existing somewhere between the darkness of FSOL’s track, and the lighter opener by TSBN.
Surely, I have not been watching too many episodes of Supernatural for my own good lately. Hmmm Maybe. I blame the Winchesters. Robert Leiner (for me) is another huge name. From my discovery of his Source and “The Source Experience” release names to his beloved album released under his own name Visions Of The Past, Robert never fails to deliver quality, deeply-engaging atmospheric tracks. “Turn” is as good as anything he has kept for his own releases.
Top quality tracks from veritable masters of contemporary electronic music ::
As I listen more and more to this release, I am reminded of R&S/Apollo Records, and their Apollo & Apollo 2 The Divine Compilation releases. A lot of the tracks on here would not have been out of place on those compilations which are now somewhat legendary. Going this deep just four tracks in makes me think this release is like a FSOL Mind Maps release, only with more minds, and of course unmixed. This point leads me nicely into the double mix CD which is also available. Mixed by Biophonix and with NASA sound bytes creating a cohesive immersive experience. This double mix CD showcases many of the tracks from the mammoth compilation, which are nicely selected and mixed, with interesting and complimentary sequencing. Really worth checking out this additional release! So I’m going to comment on a few more tracks but hopefully the message is clear from the outset, this is a fantastic release, chock full of top quality tracks from veritable masters of contemporary electronic music.
Whether you prefer digital of physical releases, this release has something for everyone. Maximum score achieved! So on to some other highlights. Thomas Fehlmann delivers a chugging steam-train of a track, with delightful aplomb. This is real smoky smoke music. It has the spirit of The Orb with whom he has worked with as a band member, but has that modern Germanic feel, with rhythms that speak of machinery or even trains. Dub Tractor brings “Sleep Seq 60,” which is very in keeping with their audio aesthetic. Almost dreamlike, hazy and like a nursery melody. Warm and comforting. Si Matthews’ track has lots of homage like traits, with very Jean-Michel Jarre like synths, as in the great early Oxygene. Si Matghews is a talented—somewhat newer—producer with great releases on great labels like Móatún 7, .txt, Fantasy Enhancing, and Carpe Sonum.
Heogen. Well, what do i need to say about Heogen. The first Heogen album (Odd Radio Circle, Touched Music 2021) was the release that thrust me into writing about music, putting words into the real world, which came about by way of a dare as much as by design. I love everything Heogen has released. That said this track threw me initially. It wasn’t what I was expecting from Heogen, but then if there were ever two people to deliver the unexpected, then Martin Boulton (this releases sponsor) and Jeroen Bax (aka exm), known as Heogen collectively, are the very people to delight and confuse. The vocal led sample composition of this track wasn’t what I was expecting, and whilst it took me some listens to get over my initial prejudice, this soon became a summery car drive-by blaster, windows open, enjoying the breeze on a hot summer evening. All the time loud enough to thrill but hoping I’m not thrilling too many of the pedestrians on my way by. I know very little about The Inventors of Aircraft other than what Google or Discogs gave me. I can mainly say he is in great company, and hold up his own very well, with a nicely spaced-out track which brings Sequence 01 and the first CD to a nice close.
Sequence 02 opens up with a genius of all thing’s audio, Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud. This is beautifully fleshed out exploration of sound with a resonating undercurrent, overlay-ed with nicely moving parts. DF Tram is one of my surprise discoveries on this release. Employing fantastic samplage of a vocal guide to the Hong Kong based Kowloon Bay. This is my kinda thing. Nice piano, over swashing synths, and atmospheric samples. Reminds me of nice tracks by Herrmann & Kleine (Morr Music). Nice stuff indeed.
Youth brings us a psychedelic shamanic and ritualistic track which leads us in a more ambient dub type direction. Youth is such a great musician from his music with Killing Joke to The Orb, and everything in between. Anything he puts out is always worth a listen. Gaudi who has been releasing some great albums with Youth over the last number of years brings one of my favorite tracks on here. A shuffling and soaring track with an ethereal and uplifting trajectory. This would be a great soundtrack to some long journey by train, like a transcendental express. Anders Ilar is another master at work on here. It is like we have been dropped on to the alien planet, and are getting strange sonar readings, and trying to find our bearings, the murk of uncertainty all around, and as we rise, we get to see more of the alien landscape. This is what this track speaks to me of. Ilar delivers a wonderful ambient track here that rivals anything on here for depth. More of an ambient soundscape without the need for percussive-ness.
Wil Bolton has been a busy man this last number of years delivering multiple albums in most calendar years. Spanning a who’s who of ambient labels. I found him via .txt, Sound In Silence, and Neotantra labels—and most recently he’s released Swept with Audiobulb.. All quality places to find engaging ambient compositions. Wil takes things down nicely into the more drone and tonal soundscape styled composition, creating a nice transitional piece.
Then we have a beautiful and haunting Mick Chillage track “Sunshowers.” Mick treats us to a sublime free-style piano exploration over subtle field recordings of weather and droning synths. This is summer showers dreamscape music, this is bliss and awe, encapsulating the best that ambient has. Mick never fails to impress me with his ability to know when less is more. He surely is to Ireland what Geir Jensen is to Norway. His albums on his own Before & After Silence imprint are essential purchases. This is one of the nicest tracks Mick has been generous enough to release on a compilation for some time and it just increases the value of TBS2. At just shy of 17 minutes, we get a full length Chillage classic. The track builds and rivals anything that Global Communication ever released. I’d love to hear a true spiritual sequel to 76 14 with Mick & the Global Communication boys all together. Thus ends lessons 2. So say we all. Well Sequence 02.
Sequence 03 kicks off with Gabriel Le Mar another long standing master in his field giving us a nicely moving ambient piece with percussive elements in the mix. Gabriel has a rich sound palette and produces a wide range of wonderful music across many labels. The track on here (“The Living Green (Beatless)”) is a more ambient version of a track release in 2018 on Carpe Sonum. It sounds every bit as fresh as the original, and possible brighter, despite being more ambient. Beautiful works as always here from Gabriel. Biophonix (Justin Gimblett) finally appears! Our mix master for the double mix CD has his own track on here. Whilst from I can tell being a relatively new producer of music, there is no drop in quality or style. He has found quite the way to sonically introduce himself, and amongst such high-quality producers. He can hold his head high for both his track and his mix. His track “Space & Time” is a well-constructed, arranged and produced release. Featuring a crisp female vocal, and some nice synth sweeps, soothing over a nice IDM beat.
Lorenzo Montanà has released so many albums it would make a collector cry. With Labyrinth album series of collaborations with the sadly missed Pete Namlook on FAX label. Lorenzo treats us to a nice percussive lead piece of electronica here. I need to explore his back-catalogue, especially after hearing this and his DUNUC album on Fantasy Enhancing label. Eric The Taylor is no stranger musically to me, and I’ve very much enjoyed his albums so far on Neotantra and Touched. Eric is a truly accomplished musician with a long and rich history of production, education, and collaboration. He brings us a more spaced out and trippy track here. Superb ambient. Words don’t do this justice. Headphones do.
David Harrow brings us back to a dubby styled stomper with “MRI Dub,” a nice track along the On-U Sound vibe. David is a hugely experienced producer, and the quality of this track stands up with all those lovely pinging delays and reedy mouth organ sounds. “afp v Rob Mo” gives us The Orb vibes and more. “Canopy Of Stars” (Christian Wheeldon) takes us to new territory with a more upbeat and rhythmic outing, giving a nice boost of energy and positive emotion. Cyance drops us down again into the moody substrata. Living Light (Eartha Harris from the US) takes us to the intermission point before the next sequence, completing CD3. Deep field recordings layer with delayed pianos conjures up a post-apocalyptic scene from the Last Of Us or 28 somethings later. Like a Global Communication after the apocalypse, before morphing into something so much more. A full fleshed out track with percussions and a bass that would make Mick Karn happy. I can feel the nurturing female warmth emanating from this clean and crisp dub inspired track. Beautiful stuff.
Sequence 04 kicks off with a track by the mysterious M X. A deeply atmospheric installation piece of music. Swashing and swathing layers of synthesized sounds envelop the listener with some lovely old and analogue sounding synths. A rhythmic track full of detail and sounds. Zapping and ethereal at the same time. I love the walls of subtle background noise and sonic details that would live happily in more experimental/industrial soundscapes. Quite the opener from a mysterious M X. Kuba then takes us into the more acidy ambient style of delivery, with twinkling pianos, and chorals. But a fat dubby bass slides us into ambient dub territory with lots of nice tape echo delays. (Paul) Conboy brings a more almost folk influenced sound palette and composition. An accordion plays a familiar melody, I know the melody but cannot place it. PM me please Paul! I get hints of B. Fleischmann in the arrangement here, and his Duo505 project. Very Morr Music territory, lovely. And for some reason I can hear but not hear Jarvis Cocker / Pulp somewhere in this composition.
Sven Kossler delivers one of his deep and atmospheric Detroit-ish track. Subtle acid sounds keep the contemporary feel here. Reminiscent of the first EBI album ZEN by Susumu Yokota on Space Teddy, with a pinch of Jarre thrown in. Kaya Project takes me back to the early 90’s Delerium release Semantic Spaces, which was an album I devoured. Rich worldly sounds deliver an epicly atmospheric track. No drum ‘n’ bass beats, keeping it ambient and very classy. Holeg Spies brings a deep atmospheric track with some dark moments, with feels like it was destined to be part of a Silent Hill soundtrack. A sort of uneasy tick-tock with jump scare noises, orchestral swathes keep the tension primed, and the composition like a journey into some dark unknown place. Very atmospheric. Sounditions lifts the mood with elements of funkiness, jazz like sounds. This more Mission Dub-possible soundtrack territory.
“Busywork” by Forrest Fang a long-time master producer is a tour de force of ambient soundscape construction. The childish melody creates an uneasy juxtaposition between the darker and lighter elements at play here. Like a wander in beautiful but strange woods. Everything is beautiful but there is something alien and strange just out of sight. Like a weird dream. Fabulous track from a master. Mark Van Hoen, he gets around. Seefeel, Autocreation, Sing-sing to name just a few. Mark has quite the diverse range of projects he participates in. Another deep atmospheric track with layers of sounds that give me more Warp / Morr Music vibes. There’s a wonderful rich palette of synth sounds in this track that tickle all of the auditory nerves. Sizzling and soothing at the same time.
Dan Armstrong gets the honor of the final word on this rich compilation. A very gentle track with clear piano notes floating over reedy synth and sustained almost choral notes, gives me Global Communication vibes. This is certainly a long way away from his UB40 work! This track ‘Regen Process’ has a second act! Building into a completely new beast with percussion and a phat bass. Touched By Silence 2 will not go quietly into that deep dark night, not without a last shout to invigorate the listener into action and reaction, before the atmospheric broke down outro. What a journey.
After listening to this compilation so many times, just for the pleasure of it, but also to try to write just the words to describe you the readers, I must note my respect for the curator Martin Boulton has risen to the highest echelons. Not only has Martin put together such an amazing array of artists under one roof but joining them all together in one release is nothing short of genius. I doff my hat also in respect for not only the curation but I would also say perfect sequencing of the tracks to create four fabulous legs to one amazing journey. In summary I want a steam train journey across the Trans Cambrian Mountains; this compilation to be the soundtrack cherry of this musical cake train ride. And all for a great cause. I cannot wait for more of the Touched Music 10 years celebratory releases, and I hope this is just the first of many decades to come.
Happy Anniversary Touched Music!
Touched By Silence 2 is available on Touched Music. [Bandcamp]
