[atlantaprog] TouchXtone Concerts & News May 2005

All this information, plus photos, music downloads, and more can be found at
<http://www.touchxtone.com/>

TOUCHXTONE 
Michael Thomas Roe and Jim Combs
<http://www.touchxtone.com/>
Synthesized Ambient Space Drums¹N¹Bass Chill Music
Based in Atlanta, GA

Headlines: Performances in June in Chapel Hill (Nightlight), Philadelphia
(electro-music 2005 Festival), and Decatur (Javamonkey). 2 new CDs (Astroboy
and headmiX) just released plus Michael¹s new CD (Mi.T.-CON 04) with
Tangerine Dream/Kluster founder Conrad Schnitzler. WDIY features TouchXtone
during month of May on EMUSIC program. The UK magazine Sequences features
unreleased TouchXtone song Virgin Saw on latest issue¹s CD sampler.

TouchXtone Shows in June (hey, we¹re on tour in NC & PA!)

In all the years TouchXtone has been performing, we've never performed out
of state and we've never done a "road trip" tour. The first week in June
we'll have the opportunity to do both! For folks living between North
Carolina and New York, this is a great chance to see us live.

Nightlight in Chapel Hill, North Carolina- Thursday, June 2, 2005 at
10:00pm- 

First stop is a really cool club called Nightlight, ³a tiny art-land vortex
run by low-income party people, a dedicated task force of interns,
well-wishers and sympathizers. The whole operation is backed up by a
fabulous community of fans and music lovers who support experimentation,
surprise, social improvisation, lots of drinking - hollering - dancing and
frequing out.²

Doors open at 9pm and we go on at 10pm. Cover is $3.00.

<http://nightlight.dyss.net/>

Electro-music 2005 Festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania- Saturday, June 4,
2005 at 7:00pm-

Electro-music 2005 is a three-day conference/music festival to be held at
the Cheltenham Art Center in Philadelphia, June 3 - 5, 2005. The program
will include lectures, demos, jam sessions, and concerts. TouchXtone opens
the Saturday evening concerts with a performance in the theater at 7pm
sharp.

The scope of this festival is very broad, covering all aspects of
electro-music, experimental electronic music, including circuit bending,
computer music, electro-jazz, modular synthesis, musique concrete,
improvisation, noodles (generated or automatic music and algorithmic
composition), multi-media, visual art and much more. The focus will be on
participant involvement, sharing, community development, audience education,
and great music.

Festival tickets are $15 for one evening, $20 for one day, or $50 for all
three days.

<http://event.electro-music.com/>

JavaMonkey in Decatur, Georgia- Friday, June 17, 2005- We¹ll be out on the
patio and will kick off the evening around 8:30pm.

There is no cover at JavaMonkey, so come down and enjoy the best organic
coffee and delicious beer & wine selections in Decatur, not to mention the
fabulous desserts and sandwiches. During the summer, the patio is wide open
for a nice outdoor experience.

And, as usual, there will be lots of interesting surprises from the musical
melting pot of Michael¹s and Jim¹s synthesizer congregation.  Great stereo
sound and a pleasant, family-friendly atmosphere.

JavaMonkey is located at 205 Ponce de Leon Ave. #5, Decatur, GA 30030. The
store front faces Church St. across from the Decatur MARTA Station. Phone
number is 404.378.5502 and URL is <http://www.javamonkeydecatur.com/>

RogueFest in Decatur, Georgia- Saturday and Sunday June 18 & 19, 2005- We¹ll
be attending this event.  For electronic and progressive music fans in and
around Atlanta, RogueFest 2005 is happening at Jake's Toadhouse on Saturday
and Sunday June 18 & 19. Giles Reaves (Jim's fellow Different Skies alumnus)
will be performing his incredible brand of space music with Nashville band
Spacecraft,and Atlanta's own Z-Axis, whom TouchXtone performed with at last
year's East Lake Commons benefit, is on the bill performing an intricate set
of pristene progressive rock. A treat not to be missed!

TouchXtone Shows in July

JavaMonkey in Decatur, Georgia- Friday, July 22, 2005- We¹ll be out on the
patio and will kick off the evening around 8:30pm.

TouchXtone Shows in September

JavaMonkey in Decatur, Georgia- Friday, September 2, 2005- We¹ll be out on
the patio and will kick off the evening around 8:30pm.

Different Skies 2005 Electronic Music Festival at Arcosanti, Arizona-
Saturday, September 17, 2005- Jim will be spending the week and performing
at the Different Skies 2005 Music Festival. For more info, see
<http://www.arcosanti.org/>. There are many photos from last years festival
up on the TouchXtone web site at
<http://www.touchxtone.com/ds2004photomenu.html>

New TouchXtone CDs 
samples and ordering available at http://www.touchxtone.com/downloads.html

Almost 2 years after we released our first 2 CDs, TouchXtone have release
our 11th and 12th CDs. And Michael has released his collaboration with
Tangerine Dream/Kluster founder Conrad Schnitzler.

headmiX is a CD of remixes of the best unreleased material over the last
year. DJ Mi.T. took the producer chair and worked his mighty magic after
combing the archives for beat&slam-worthy material. With some sprinkles of
sonic icing and some novel mixmastering, Mi.T. cooked up a tasty feast.
We're really enthused with the music and the cover art, which is a
collaboration between photographer Mary Souther, and monsieurs Mi.T. and
Ji.C. It literally is the many faces of TouchXtone. There's even an official
Tour T-shirt up on our store for those of you who are interested in such
things. 56 minutes +

Astroboy was Jim's favorite cartoon growing up in Oklahoma. Well it is now
one of his favorite TouchXtone CD's as well. Edited from live performances
at the January 21, 2005 JavaMonkey show, these 9 songs showcase the heavier,
electro drum laden sound and theatrical atmospherics that resulted from the
forced hiatus of the band over the 2004 holidays due to Jim's bout with
bronchitis and the remnants of preparations for a 2nd TouchXmas show. Jim's
melodica and vintage CS-50 make their recorded debut, each representing
polar opposites on the soul spectrum. And Michael's inspired melodies and
arpeggios and even a Bernie Worrell-channeling funky bass synth solo take
this CD into new territory for the band. 53 minutes +

Mi.T.-CON 04 Conrad Schnitzler, elder statesman and ambassador of electronic
music, famous for his work with Tangerine Dream, Kluster and his solo
recordings. A musician given to edgy and unexpected sonic exploration.
Michael Thomas Roe, far younger in age, yet a musician of much experience
and broad tastes working diligently, as a solo artist and as a member of
TouchXtone, to make his mark in electronic music.

With a talent for exploring lush sonic textures and the simple melodic turn,
Michael creates soundscapes that might seem incompatible with Conrad¹s more
jagged approach. Yet, there is often the odd twist, an underlying weave that
elevates the music beyond the merely pretty in to the realm of the truly
interesting. And Conrad, even at his most challenging, manages an organic
accessibility, a structural openness that invites the listener in. What
might happen if the two were brought together?

The music feels like the running record of a first meeting between two
strangers in a land unfamiliar to them both. The two strangers talk a bit,
feel each other out, determine that they may have a common interest, and
decide to strike out together for a while. And as the unfamiliar terrain
opens up before them, they bask in the wonder and newness of it all.

Where Michael might have created a vast shimmering swath of lovely textures,
Conrad may react with oddly industrio-organic sounding bleeps and squawks
with clattering drum loops that remind you of the real world lurking around
the corner. When Michael paints a contemplative ambient brain-soother,
Conrad brings in reverberated ritualistic hammers striking hard gongs.

The centerpiece of ³Mi.T.-CON 04² is 07, a 23 minute opus that just may
redefine the techno-ambient genre. Here, Michael lays down a ³generative²
ambient piece while Con runs riot with drum machine and more ³generative²
sounds. The results are sometimes surreal, sometimes familiar, compellingly
organic sounding, and highly visual.

Give it a try, preferably two or three; allow some time for the strange
juxtapositions to settle in your ears, and then turn it up. You just might
find yourself in a train with two strangers, engaged in a most unusual
conversation, completely unaware of the passing of time.

- David Mitchell, April 2005

TouchXtone On The Radio

WDIY is doing "a month-long focus on the Atlanta Georgia-based TouchXtone."
The Featured CD on May 5th was "One."
<http://wdiy.org/programs/emusic/playlists/2005/focus05.html#may>

WDIY 88.1 FM, Allentown and Bethlehem, PA, 93.9 FM in Easton, PA and
Phillipsburg, NJ, 93.7 FM in Fogelsville and Trexlertown, 92.9 FM on Service
Electric Cable, and webcasting on the internet. Listen on-line to WDIY at
http://wdiy.org and click on the LISTEN link or go directly to:
http://rm1.refugemedia.com/ramgen/encoder/wdiy.rm
EMUSIC web site - http://wdiy.org/programs/emusic
RSS News Feed: http://wdiy.org/programs/emusic/rss/enews.xml
Podcasts: http://wdiy.org/programs/emusic/rss/EMUSIC.xml

TouchXtone In The Press

Mick Garlick, editor at Sequences Magazine in the U.K. sent a note today
letting us know that our track, Virgin Saw, was selected and included on the
sampler CD that accompanies the new issue of Sequences magazine.

The skinny on Issue No30: "With so many EM artists having fallen by the
wayside it's a real blast to see that Durham-based British EM veteran Ron
Berry is still active making music in 2004, an interview and a new track
from Ron is featured. We have chat with the legendary Andy Garabaldi who
with Nessie relaunched the audio magazine Inkeys last year. Always expect
something new from Ian Boddy's DIN label which brings us diverse and
original sounds, sometimes more experimental than the usual EM, news, loads
of new releases reviewed."

<http://www.micksequences.demon.co.uk>

US copies should be available from Archie Patterson at Eurock. PO Box 13718
Portland, Oregon 97213, U.S.A., e-mail: apatters@xxxxxxxxxx (credit cards,
USA Checks)

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