Escape Mechanism
Encyclopedia
Escape Mechanism is the title of a sound collage
project instigated by Minneapolis based artist Jonathan Nelson. Using fragments of audio from a variety of previously recorded sound sources, the project is an experiment in recycled media.
Escape Mechanism has taken many forms, since 1997. From solo studio releases and theatrical sound design, to a live ensemble and sound installation, the project is defined by its re-use of sounds found in the broadcast media.
Although essentially a studio project, Escape Mechanism experimented briefly (1999 – 2001) with live improvisation. Performing under the name Cast of Thousands with Escape Mechanism, the rotating ensemble also worked exclusively with bits and pieces of the media environment, performing at art venues and performances spaces such as The Walker Art Center
, the Soap Factory and The First Avenue Main Room.
Escape Mechanism has collaborated with artists such as Steev Hise, The Tape-beatles
and Wobbly, and mounted sound installations at art galleries such as The Blue Theater, Rosalux Gallery and The Rochester Art Center.
Escape Mechanism proudly presents itself as 100% recycled, as every sound found in an Escape Mechanism composition is recycled from a previously recorded source. No original sounds are incorporated; only original juxtapositions.
. The show is a weekly exploration of works of appropriation
, by artists who use samplers and other audio playback equipment to create original sound collage
compositions.
The program brings together artists from multiple genres, and has featured interviews with sound collage artists such as The Bran Flakes
, Emergency Broadcast Network
, The Evolution Control Committee
, Omer Fast, DJ Food
, The Freelance Hellraiser
, Girl Talk
, Go Home Productions
, Christian Marclay
, Negativland
, John Oswald
, People Like Us
, DJ Qbert, DJ Spooky
, Steinski
, The Tape-beatles
and many more, since 1999.
A record label (Recombinations) and recurring art exhibition (Festival of Appropriation) are among Nelson’s other projects. His visual work has shown at galleries such as The Rogue Buddha, Outsiders and Others and Rosalux Gallery.
Sound collage
In music, montage or sound collage is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores...
project instigated by Minneapolis based artist Jonathan Nelson. Using fragments of audio from a variety of previously recorded sound sources, the project is an experiment in recycled media.
Escape Mechanism has taken many forms, since 1997. From solo studio releases and theatrical sound design, to a live ensemble and sound installation, the project is defined by its re-use of sounds found in the broadcast media.
Although essentially a studio project, Escape Mechanism experimented briefly (1999 – 2001) with live improvisation. Performing under the name Cast of Thousands with Escape Mechanism, the rotating ensemble also worked exclusively with bits and pieces of the media environment, performing at art venues and performances spaces such as The Walker Art Center
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...
, the Soap Factory and The First Avenue Main Room.
Escape Mechanism has collaborated with artists such as Steev Hise, The Tape-beatles
The Tape-beatles
The Tape-beatles are a multi-media group that formed in Iowa City in December 1986. Its members have included Lloyd Dunn, John Heck, Ralph Johnson, Paul Neff, and Linda Morgan Brown...
and Wobbly, and mounted sound installations at art galleries such as The Blue Theater, Rosalux Gallery and The Rochester Art Center.
Escape Mechanism proudly presents itself as 100% recycled, as every sound found in an Escape Mechanism composition is recycled from a previously recorded source. No original sounds are incorporated; only original juxtapositions.
Some Assembly Required
Nelson is perhaps best known for his role as host and producer of the nationally syndicated radio program, Some Assembly RequiredSome Assembly Required
Some Assembly Required is a sound collage radio program in the United States, produced in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the first radio show known to focus exclusively on works of sample based music, and appropriation in audio art...
. The show is a weekly exploration of works of appropriation
Appropriation
Appropriation is the act of taking possession of or assigning purpose to properties or ideas. The word appropriation was first used by a Russian theorist named Bakhtin to describe a holistic language theory. The Russian word for appropriation is prisvoenie, which directly translated means ‘to make...
, by artists who use samplers and other audio playback equipment to create original sound collage
Sound collage
In music, montage or sound collage is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores...
compositions.
The program brings together artists from multiple genres, and has featured interviews with sound collage artists such as The Bran Flakes
The Bran Flakes
The Bran Flakes are a sound collage pop group with members in the United States and Canada who specialize in creating music from pre-existing sources...
, Emergency Broadcast Network
Emergency Broadcast Network
Emergency Broadcast Network is the name of a multimedia performance group formed in 1991 that took its name from the Emergency Broadcast System. The founders were Rhode Island School of Design graduates Joshua Pearson, Gardner Post and Brian Kane . Kane left EBN in 1992...
, The Evolution Control Committee
The Evolution Control Committee
The Evolution Control Committee is an experimental music band based in Columbus, Ohio. The ECC was founded by Mark Gunderson in Columbus, in 1987. It typically uses uncleared and illegal samples from various sources as a form of protest against copyright law...
, Omer Fast, DJ Food
DJ Food
Originally produced by Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, the DJ Food project started in 1990 on the premise of providing metaphorical "food for DJs". DJ Food released the Jazz Brakes series, with Jazz Brakes Volume 3 being the most successful...
, The Freelance Hellraiser
The Freelance Hellraiser
Roy Kerr, aka The Freelance Hellraiser, is one of the creators of the UK bootleg scene.He gained fame with a mash-up called "A Stroke of Genius", which combined an instrumental edit of The Strokes' track "Hard To Explain" with Christina Aguilera's pop hit "Genie in a Bottle"...
, Girl Talk
Girl Talk (musician)
Gregg Michael Gillis , better known by his stage name Girl Talk, is an American musician specializing in mashups and digital sampling. Gillis has released five LPs on the record label Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles....
, Go Home Productions
Go Home Productions
Go Home Productions is the alter ego of Mark Vidler, a producer/remixer/DJ based in Watford, Hertfordshire, England...
, Christian Marclay
Christian Marclay
Christian Marclay is a Swiss-American visual artist and composer.Marclay's work explores connections between sound, noise, photography, video, and film...
, Negativland
Negativland
Negativland is an experimental music and sound collage band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! song, while their record label is named after another Neu! song...
, John Oswald
John Oswald (composer)
John Oswald is a Canadian composer, saxophonist, media artist and dancer. His best known project is Plunderphonics, the practice of making new music out of previously existing recordings .-Philosophy:Oswald coined the term "plunderphonics" to describe his craft in a paper called which he...
, People Like Us
People Like Us (musician)
People Like Us is the stage name of London DJ multimedia artist Vicki Bennett. She has released a number of albums featuring collages of music and sound since 1992. In recent years, she has performed at a number of modern art galleries, festivals and universities.-Musical career:Since 1991 Vicki...
, DJ Qbert, DJ Spooky
DJ Spooky
Paul D. Miller , known by his stage name DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is a Washington DC-born electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics or his fans as "illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntablist, a producer, a philosopher, and an author...
, Steinski
Double Dee and Steinski
Double Dee and Steinski was a duo of hip hop producers, composed of Doug "Double Dee" DiFranco and Steven "Steinski" Stein. They achieved notoriety in the early 1980s for a series of underground hip-hop sample-based collages known as the "Lessons"....
, The Tape-beatles
The Tape-beatles
The Tape-beatles are a multi-media group that formed in Iowa City in December 1986. Its members have included Lloyd Dunn, John Heck, Ralph Johnson, Paul Neff, and Linda Morgan Brown...
and many more, since 1999.
A record label (Recombinations) and recurring art exhibition (Festival of Appropriation) are among Nelson’s other projects. His visual work has shown at galleries such as The Rogue Buddha, Outsiders and Others and Rosalux Gallery.
Album Discography
- Box of Blue Paperclips (1997, out of print)
- Escape Mechanism (1998, Recombinations, REC004)
- Minneapolis Summit (2002, Staalplaat, with Steev Hise, The Tape-beatles and Wobbly)
- Cast of Thousands with Escape Mechanism (2004, Recombinations, REC003)
- (Emphasis Added) (2008, Recombinations, REC006)
External links
Interviews
- Radio Feature Interview with Escape Mechanism's Jonathan Nelson on National Public Radio (2009).
- Video Feature Jonathan Nelson profiled in a Minnesota Stories video at mnartists.org (2006).