The Artistic Suck EP

Good news! Our EP is now readily available for download! Love it, hate it, feel slightly indifferent toward it - it was a happy experiment that was fun for us (except for the stifling heat, oh my GOD).


The Touch Artists - The Artistic Suck EP [2009]
Tracklist:
1) Empires
2) August Rain
3) The Killing Tree
4) Chimera
5) When the Sun Dies

Cover art and lyric sheet are included in the download. Thanks for riding the rollercoaster with us.

News + Single

Just a quick note to say that we've been working on an EP for some time now, and it'll finally be released for free download from this site on August 4th.

Also, for those who need instant gratification, here's one that didn't take quite as long as the others:

"Camping (You Can Make It)" (mp3|3.55MB)

Yay?

Victory is ours!

Hi there. Chris here, coming at you with the most triumphant Touch Artists blog post thus far.

We did it. We finally recorded a song (with all due respect to "Ominous Chords," of course). From December 30 through January 5, Lea and I holed up in a smallish room in southern Maryland and wrote, recorded, edited, and mixed what has become our first "full" song.

That's right. Everything about this track was assembled from scratch in a little less than a week. It's entitled "When the Sun Dies" and, needless to say, we are quite proud of it. In fact, our only regret is that fellow bandmate Amber was not present to join in the festivities. (Then again, I was not present for "Ominous Chords," so there will be future opportunities.)

In any case, both the music and lyrics were co-written (so you can't blame one of us without blaming both). Lea is, of course, on acoustic guitar and lead vocals; that's me on electric guitar and harmonies.

Forgive the so-called "microphone quality." You may be tempted to pull out the indie cliche, "This sounds like it was recorded in someone's bedroom." Well, it was. And we do intend to re-record with better equipment (and fewer mistakes) at some point, so this is really just a demo. But it is a song and it did happen.

MP3:
The Touch Artists -- "When the Sun Dies" (mp3|5.45MB)

Or stream it at our MySpace.

Any questions, comments, and concerns are, of course, warmly welcomed! Rock over, London. Rock on, Chicago.

A couple of things.

For the record, I am in no way associated with "Ominous Chords," although I have hired Hot Chip to remix it.

I would also like to take this opportunity to deny any rumors that may have been circulating concerning me and lingerie.

That is all.

Much love to the adoring fan(s),
Chris.

demo (ominous chords)

It's all serious business around Touch Artist Headquarters ("tah" when abbreviated, and yes, we do actually say "tah" instead of spelling it out; it makes us cooler), as per usual. As promised, we do have a demo, but it isn't one that's going to make it onto the new album, unfortunately (as much I plead and beg - they beat me, they really do).

As of right now, it's available for download here on our blog. (edited to add: also available on our myspace.)

The Touch Artists - "Ominous Chords"

What people are saying about "Ominous Chords":
"It didn't seem like they were trying hard enough." - Filter

"I wanted to dance, but at the same time, I wanted to stay put. I've never felt so paradoxically conflicted in my life. ... Wait. Never mind. There was that one band. I think they all died. Nevertheless, this is a great single and I thoroughly recommend listening to it while on some sort of hallucinogen." - Under the Radar

"NOPE." - Large Hadron Collider, on destroying the world.

"Rating: negative eleventy and/or nine-point-nine. I'm pretty sure this song makes me want to kill myself. [...] On the other hand, "Ominous Chords" is just the kind of push we all need to do something substantial for the world we live in. [...]" - Pitchfork

"No." - Anonymous

"We have a record?" - Amber

Varying interpretations of "Ominous Chords":
"It's pretty clear that the illegal parakeets are the true ninjas. Being ninjas, their activities are illicit by default, thereby appropriating them to ninjahood. It is unclear whether or not the ominous chords are aware of the secret lives of these parakeets, but I guess that means the birds are doing their job." - Amber

"Regardless of the grammatical leanings of this song, I'm sure that the chords themselves are the real ninjas. Raising illegal parakeets has just been included as a requisite practise of anyone ascribing themselves to ninjahood, and I only know this because of my association with actual ninjas." - Lea

"This song represents a subconscious lust for their parents." - Freud

"No." - Anonymous

work is butt

I just left a voice memo to myself consisting entirely of "ba-da-ba, ba-da-da DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN."

You guys can work with that, can't you?

2008 what?

It's a little disheartening to think that this thing hasn't been updated for almost a year. I thought I'd remedy that with a little news, in case anyone actually reads this. I'm sure there's maybe ... one? Or that could be the peyote talking.

Despite hardcore university life and soul-sucking day jobs, the Touch Artists have been undergoing a vicious kicking of the gears. I've decided temporarily that being in a Shakespearean sci-fi rock musical is far more important than attending classes this Autumn (or, at least, that's what I'm telling myself), so you can look for me in the Newtowne Players' November production of "Return to the Forbidden Planet." There will be tentacles (and possibly Starbucks)!

Amber has taken to falling on her head occasionally, but only when animals of the equine persuasion are involved. I don't know how she can narrow down the frequency of the occurrence to an ordered state; I fall on my head arbitrarily and whenever possible.

Chris, I believe, has either finally gained dictatorship in a small third world country (though he plans to make it larger by June of 2010). Either that, or he's fallen into a university-created literary aperture, occasionally peeking out to say "hello" - and, of course, update us on the status of his domination over the as of yet unspecified third world country. Chris and I holed together for a week in August and prepped a couple of parts for demo, which means that something should be posted here for sampling ... at some point.

We're all planning to convene again from the 18th to the 21st of September overall, mainly to absorb the music of people far more talented than ourselves, but possibly making the skeleton of a cohesive track, and perhaps breathing or eating, though we aren't entirely sure.