Nicolas Collins
- Flicker
A recording of a Great Northern Flicker drumming on the chimney of my house in West Falmouth, MA (USA), April 7, 2021. The bird’s percussive mating call acquires a Dobro-like amplification from the metal flue and wire grill over the chimney. No post-processing or editing beyond topping and tailing. One of several recordings made in the spring of 2021 that are incorporated in a performance work of the same name.
*Short version for recording playback in Blaues Rauschen 2021
GEODATA:
41°35’49.83”N 70°38’19.71”W | West Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA
© This is an image from the most famous American illustrator of American birds, 19th Century.
© Peter B. Kaars
BIO
New York born and raised, Composer and Musician Nicolas Collins spent most of the 1990s in Europe, as an Artistic Director of STEIM (Amsterdam) and a DAAD composer-in-residence in Berlin. He is a Professor in the Department of Sound at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Research Fellow at the Orpheus Institute (Ghent). An early adopter of microcomputers for live performance, Collins also makes use of homemade electronic circuitry and conventional acoustic instruments. His book, Handmade Electronic Music – The Art of Hardware Hacking (Routledge) has influenced emerging electronic music worldwide. At BLAUES RAUSCHEN you will hear one of his very rare works for audio playback without live performance.