The Swede Beat Mixtape Vol 5: The Touch

July 14, 2011

After taking a refreshing three-year break The Touch comes back with a new refined sound and a new release. The Touch also hooked up with the French mastermind and power house Kitsuné from Paris that put out their two latest releases.
The Swedish electro outfit describe their music as pop music with a “dancey” undertone taking influences from 90‘s tribal and NY-Disco from the 70‘s and early 80‘s they’ve developed a genuine sound. Olov Andersson, Lina Öhman, and Johan Wahlberg from the band let us in tap into The Touch over an ice-cold beer on a hot Stockholm afternoon.

The Touch – Sermon (Official Music Video) from The Touch on Vimeo.

So let’s start with the name, what inspired you to create the name The Touch?
Johan: We’ve heard many stories about how we found our band name. And we’re actually not sure which one is true. We read somewhere, that we stole the name from a Dallas based rock band… but we’re not sure if that’s true. The only thing we can say is that we were in a hurry and we needed to come up with something fast. There’s no greater meaning to the name, really.

How did you make the switch from just DJ-ing to be a live band?
Johan: Well one day we made a song with a verse and a chorus. And it felt kind of natural. We felt that we knew that was the way to go. After that, the live shows came in to place, pieces were coming together. Before that, it was kind of hard to know, are we suppose to DJ? Are we suppose to play live? Should we have different singers all the time? (Which we ended up doing)
I think we made good tracks before, but we didn’t have a long-term perspective. But now what we do feels really natural, and we’re all comfortable with how it is.

What is your take on the current Swedish electronic music scene?
Olov: I would say living in Gothenburg a few years ago you got pretty spoiled. You could go out one Friday and dance to Kevin Saunderson and the next Friday to…Simian mobile disco and the next to Jerome Sydenham and so on, it was pretty crazy actually.

Johan: We really grew tired of the electro “banger” music, like 4 years ago. So that kind of scene I don’t miss. But The Eye was something else. And TrunkFunk Records is something else. Genuinely good dance music. So if we should talk about anyone in Sweden doing something for Swedish club culture it would be DJ Nibc. He’s the manager of the other label we are on (TrunkFunk Records). And he’s a really good DJ. He influenced us a lot, especially in the initial face.

You recently hooked up with french label Kitsuné, could you tell us a bit of how that happened and how it feels to work with them?
Johan: They wanted to feature our single for Kitsune Maison Compilation 11: The indie-Dance and an also put out an EP release with Sermon. So the compilation is a promo for the single “Sermon” that is out 11th of July.

Lina: We’ve always wanted to be released by Kitsuné so it’s been a really nice experience.

Wow, great. Speaking of your single “Sermon”. Could you tell us what it’s about?
Olov: Lina and I were suppose to meet to work on a song, and the last track I was listening to before I left the apartment listening to Diana Summer’s “Does your mama know about me?” There was line that stuck on me: “don’t you turn your back on me”.
So before I left the apartment I had pretty much all the lyrics to Sermon settled, it just came to me. So that’s what inspired me. The line. Don’t you turn your back on me.

A few weeks ago, you played in Stockholm at Debaser Medis. And you had a spring gig in Berlin. Do you feel a difference when playing abroad than when playing here in Stockholm?
Lina: I feel that Swedes observe the actual concert and take in the music rather than just dance. It feels like they might be a bit more reserved. The crowd we had in Stockholm was really good. We felt a strong connection with the them. I felt like they were really interested in the music. Berlin was a lot more dancing and feeling the music in a different way.

Johan: In Germany they’re more DJ oriented and maybe not too used to live gigs. So people dance much more, they usually have they’re backs to the DJ. So it feels a bit weird if you’re a band and they turn their back on you. But I guess it’s still nice that they’re dancing and really enjoying the music.

How does it work with your gigs? Do you plan them? Or just go with the flow?
Johan: We have a set list, but usually try to be pretty spontaneous. We feed off the crowd, and we like to interact with them. Our performance sort of depends on the connection we have with the crowd.

So now lets help you get in touch with your senses. Watch the new video and download the mixtape The Touch has put together especially for The Swede Beat.

The Swede Beat Mixtape Vol 5: The Touch. Download and Stream Below
The Touch’s mixtape for The Swede Beat by ThTch

1. Ikue Mori – Joganden Shooting Moon
2. ULYSSES – Gibson in E
3. Slight Delay – Can You Feel It?!
4. Nacho Patrol – El Fuego En Nosotros Todo
5. ESG – Moody (Spaced Out)
6. 23 Skidoo – Jalan Jalan
7. Augustus Pablo – East Of The River Nile
8. Louis Philippe – Don’t Blame It On The Summer
9. The Durutti Column – For A Western
10. Konono No 1 – Kule Kule Reprise
11. Percy Randolph – Shine
12. S. Olivier Nakara Percussions – Balimba
13. Diskjokke – Sengon
14. Miriam Makeba – Amampondo
15. Lizzy Mercier Descloux – Sports Spootnicks
16. Sly & Robbie – Side Walk Doctor
17. Testbild! – Sarkofag
18. Pixeltan – Scatter
19. Tele Music – Disco Free (Faze Action Edit)
20. Ichisan & Nakova – Valhala
21. Isolée – In Our Country
22. Pearson Sound – Wad
23. The Future Sound Of London – Calcium
24. Aural Exciters – Maladie D’Amour

http://www.facebook.com/thtch
By Vanessa Gil

Written by: The Swede Beat