Touchable Sound: A Collection of 7-inch Records from the USA is an art book, a love story and a keepsake, all rolled up into one.

Touchable Sound: A Collection of 7-inch Records from the USA
Edited by Brian Roettlinger, Mike Traff and Diego Hadis
Soundscreen Design, NY, 2010

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Last year, our staff considered naming “Self-Released” the Label of the Year.  Too trite, said some.  Too trendy, said others.  As odd as the choice might have seemed – and as potentially divisive as Time magazine’s naming “You” as Person of the Year – the fact that we were having the debate underscored the fact that the industry had changed.  Today, labels no longer hold sway, the DIY mentality is prevalent, and we are just as likely to receive and review self-released efforts as we are “official” label releases.  Along with this evolution comes an increase in creativity and collectibility.  Modern artists have unleashed some incredibly limited releases (the latest being a Svarte Greiner edition of one, available through an Experimedia drawing) and some amazing handmade packaging (Richard Skelton’s personalized discs).  Small labels have also gotten into the act, from Sonic Pieces’ hand-sewn covers to Cotton Goods’ requisitioned library books.

There’s something wonderfully tactile about the handmade, as opposed to the factory-pressed.  Grateful owners are not only likely to forgive any physical flaws (off-center gluing, ink smears, misspellings), but to cherish them.  In some cases, the packages have a smell: patchouli, musk, marker.  And when the release is limited – especially when the number is printed on the product and is incredibly low (a #7?  A #1?), – then a fan’s appreciation can soar through the stratosphere.

Many of these releases appear from a single source and promptly disappear.  They sell out on pre-order (damn you, Eluvium!) or in a matter of hours (E + I).  And they are never shared again.  One imagines them being hoarded by obsessives like Steve Buscemi in Ghost World.  The owners may be happy, but they are also quietly possessive.

For this reason alone, it’s a small miracle that this book was ever compiled, because it required owners to share their treasures, potentially diminishing their psychic value.  Touchable Sound collects images of 7″s from the past 25 years, with a keen eye for their artistic quality.

Perhaps a better way to describe this book is to list the things it is not.  It is not a collection of the usual suspects.  It is not a collection of things readers will have seen before, even if they worked in a record store.  It is not a bunch of big names included at the expense of the worthy and small (a mistake made by the recent The Art of British Rock).  Although reasonably priced, it doesn’t feel cheap.  Instead, Touchable Sound is a loving artifact, a historic document, and an artistic manifesto.  The photos are printed on glossy paper and offset by short essays on 3/4 matte.  The images are packed with vision and variety, as likely to inspire as an illustration journal.  With any luck, publications such as these will become an annual event.

The euphoric, can-do spirit behind these projects is summarized in Henry H. Owings’ opening essay.  After agreeing to assemble 600 jackets for Olivia Tremor Control, Owings writes, “Over the next couple of months we hand-colored the jackets, rubber-stamped and individually autographed the dust sleeves, and folded and stuffed the posters into each copy.  Within a couple of days, the band members and their girlfriends all had blisters from coloring the covers.  And after that first week, we were only about 50 jackets into the project!  And there were still 550 to go?!  What in God’s name were we doing?!”  But although the record sold out, this was not the point.  As Owings concludes, “it’s about a commitment to producing perceived value over that of actual cost … it’s about making a product that will spend its life sandwiched in somebody’s record collection, yet will exist forever in the hearts of its creators.”

In these pages, readers will encounter 7″ jackets that have been silkscreened, die-cut, stenciled and stamped; painted, puzzle-cut and sprinkled with sand; saddle-stitched, twine-tied, blood-splattered and burned.  Readers will also find a wide variety of vinyl: vinyl lettered by typewriter keys, stained with dyes (a Denovali staple), sliced into unusual shapes, and made to glow in the dark.  Then there’s the inserts: maps and matches, ice cream spoons and lottery tickets, rejected Bible pages and train-flattened coins.  

The book is a cornucopia of creative design, and the authors are to be congratulated for producing a tome worthy of its subject matter.  Perhaps they would have preferred to release a hand-assembled book, but then it would have been insanely limited, and we might not have had the chance to own it.

Richard Allen 

Written By: host
Date Posted: 10/26/2010
Number of Views: 250