Arguably one of the most exciting things to happen to electronic music in the past five years was the emergence of Touched Music—the charity label & brainchild of Martin Boulton (Min-Y-Llan). The passion with which it has been organised and implemented has fostered works of incredible skill, leading to contributions from established favorites from all genres and giving a real platform to producers looking for a home. It’s no surprise then that the new offshoot label Touched Electronix formed as a collaboration with the well-established Furthur Electronix (run by Anil Lal), should continue this style and offer up some of the best and challenging music you’re going to hear in the coming years.
Top-end auditory provocation and stimulation
For myself, arguably one of the most exciting things to happen to electronic music in the past five years was the emergence of Touched Music—the charity label & brainchild of Martin Boulton (Min-Y-Llan). The passion with which it has been organised and implemented has fostered works of incredible skill, leading to contributions from established favorites from all genres and giving a real platform to producers looking for a home. It’s no surprise then that the new offshoot label Touched Electronix formed as a collaboration with the well-established Furthur Electronix (run by Anil Lal), should continue this style and offer up some of the best and challenging music you’re going to hear in the coming years.
Touched, in all of its forms, has made the compilation fun and exciting again. Nothing feels like filler material and what I’ve found is repeated examples of true top-end auditory provocation and stimulation release after release. Touched Music and Furthur Electronix—two forward thinking labels have merged together to put out exclusive compilations of the best music in the electronic genre, all in one place. Touched, in all of its forms, has made the compilation fun and exciting again. Nothing feels like filler material and what I’ve found is repeated examples of true top-end auditory provocation and stimulation release after release.
Logically-named TE001, what is surprising is the opening belter from Exm (titiled “Meltt v.v”), surprising enough that you might need new pants if you don’t step away from the speakers quickly enough after dropping the needle. I’m sure I woke up my neighbors but who am I kidding, it’s a work day and they should probably be awake anyway. As usual Exm graces us with with incredible style—lovers of Autechre beware as you might not be able to listen to them in the same way again. It’s just as rich and complex but there’s just that much more musicality here to keep your attention and make things feel like polished pieces rather than full on stochastic processes. A great pull back halfway through and subtle plays with tempo round off this epic ten-minute introduction leaving the listener awestruck for what might follow.
Buspin Jieber takes the stage next with “We Become Silent.” Used to promote the release on social media a while back, it set the tone for the level of quality we could expect from TE001. It was good then and it sounds even better now without the obstruction of online compression. It’s a clear and upbeat piece and if you like it I suggest you go and check out more of his work under the alias Murya.
A double 12″ release of variety and skill
Talking of quality I take a moment to appreciate what I’m holding in my hands. I recently got back into the vinyl game and its allowed me to revisit some of the great music I don’t have digitally. Being format-agnostic I’m not really going to weigh in on the already-extensive arguments that exist but I will say that following the tradition of other Touched physical releases a lot of care has gone into its presentation, rounding things off nicely. A double 12″ release with clear and crisp cover design is only complimented beautifully by the vivid blue of the records themselves. If anything you’re going to look incredibly cool listening to this, I might even regain respect amongst my peers and society might allow me out of my house again like a normal person.
Albeit a fresh label, confidence already shows with the inclusion of The Future Sound Of London. Their offering is simple yet effective, unhindered by the complexity displayed by much electronic music it just allows for a pleasant listening experience that melts the minutes into each other. Karsten Pflum returns appearing to channel his inner-Ochre (and possibly Gollum) with “Fishes and Plantses,” and lovingly Min-Y-Llan makes an appearance for the initial release. These three tracks back-to-back provide a laid back quarter of an hour, it’s great that they are grouped together on one platter, good to reach for if you wanted to listen to TE001 out of order.
Side C begins nicely. Pants-shuddering low-end with a good, constant hatty electro beat leads up to second half that presents a real Gescom feel—listening to “Nebular Structures (Reconstructed)” by Junq really takes me back and it’s great to work to. It ends nicely too with New Zealand’s Peak:Shift laid-back production.
The flip-side of the second disc is another great example of grouping. Both tracks here, “P8.10” (by Bot1500) and “Solar Drift” (by Cignol) are very danceable—the former displaying some incredible Braindance qualities and the latter squelching its way through some very acidic arpeggiation. If you were going to take one record to a club it would be this one—lots of entry points and steady rhythm make both pieces absolute essentials.
Overall the name of the game here is variety and skill. Touched Electronix have made a bold move branching out and based on this initial launch I feel it’s certainly going to pay off and I very much look forward to what’s going to happen next. A stylish release both sonically and physically. Touched Music and Furthur Electronix—two forward thinking labels that have merged together to put out exclusive compilations of the best music in the electronic genre, all in one place.
Touched Electronix 001 is available on Touched Electronix.
