"Using samples of Edison Diamond Disc recordings, Mr. Brooke has deftly blended fractured bits of them—everything from cheerful songs with strummed ukuleles to a mournful Bellini aria—into a score for tape and two live singers . . . [the piece] conveys the giddily disorienting effect the recording technology had on the public's perception of music." -- The New York Times, on Brooke's previous work
Border Towns explores how recordings have reengineered the psychological landscape of the U.S. Even in the earliest days of the phonograph, regional musical styles flourished on records, bucking the notion that mass marketing centralized taste and erased local difference. Border Towns is assembled from field recordings of radio, television, stereos, and ambient sounds in 12 towns located on the literal fringes of the U.S. These samples are reconstructed into pieces reflecting on location, recording, and culture. The performers lipsynch, sing, and coordinate their movements precisely with a dense score of sound effects, pop song fragments, and prerecorded text.
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Border Towns - Nick Brooke
Artist Statement
In my works, vocalists and actors are trained to mimic sampled collages of sound effects, pop songs, and musical ephemera, blurring the line between recording and live performance.
My music is completely made up of others’ tunes. I remix samples with silence and sound effects, and try to create an arena in which memory of pop cultural materials is at battle in the audience’s mind. This process also takes place on stage, as the live performer lipsynchs, imitates, and is seamlessly integrated into the sound score. I allow new meanings to grow up around familiar tunes, and to question to role of the composer (and also lipsyncher), in creating or singing this arrangement. Much recent experimental theater takes its inspiration from music; sound effects, singing, and samples are its ever-present props. My work attempts to integrate the music at a deep level, letting it determine the choreography, singing, and theater of the piece. By training performers to lipsynch and closely imitate pop cultural samples, I hope to use experimental theater and sampling to reflect on recording's place in daily life.
My music is completely made up of others’ tunes. I remix samples with silence and sound effects, and try to create an arena in which memory of pop cultural materials is at battle in the audience’s mind. This process also takes place on stage, as the live performer lipsynchs, imitates, and is seamlessly integrated into the sound score. I allow new meanings to grow up around familiar tunes, and to question to role of the composer (and also lipsyncher), in creating or singing this arrangement. Much recent experimental theater takes its inspiration from music; sound effects, singing, and samples are its ever-present props. My work attempts to integrate the music at a deep level, letting it determine the choreography, singing, and theater of the piece. By training performers to lipsynch and closely imitate pop cultural samples, I hope to use experimental theater and sampling to reflect on recording's place in daily life.
Biography
Nick Brooke mixes musical sampling, lipsynching, and theater into a genre all its own. In his works, vocalists and actors are trained to mimic sampled collages of sound effects, pop songs, and musical ephemera, blurring the line between recording and live performance. His work Tone Test received its premiere at Lincoln Center Festival in 2004 and previews on NPR and in The New York Times documented its innovative aesthetic. His works have been performed across the U.S. and in Europe, and featured at the Lincoln Center Festival, the Spoleto Festival, and the MATA Series. He has received awards and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, ASCAP, the Rockefeller Foundation, Djerassi, and the MacDowell Colony. Brooke’s instrumental works have been performed by the Paul Dresher Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, Toronto’s Continuum New Music, the Nash Ensemble of London, Orchestra 2001, Dan Druckman, and New York's Gamelan Son of Lion. During a two-year Shansi Fellowship to Central Java, he studied gamelan and collaborated on musical projects with Javanese composers, dancers, and visual artists. He teaches at Bennington College.
The Cabinet is a production company that creates, workshops, and performs experimental music theater works by Nick Brooke. The company supports an ensemble that is trained in vocal and acting techniques, and works with larger venues to co-produce works. The Cabinet uses extensive workshops in experimental theater techniques to create live performances. The performers are first rehearsed musically to meld their voices with a sampled collage, then co-directors Jen Rohn and Nick Brooke collaboratively develop the movement and theater based on the individual performer. Working with the co-directors and performers, the sound engineer gradually chisels the electronic collage in and out, something like a hand-colored photograph, in order to create moments of presence and distance with the live performers.
The Cabinet is a production company that creates, workshops, and performs experimental music theater works by Nick Brooke. The company supports an ensemble that is trained in vocal and acting techniques, and works with larger venues to co-produce works. The Cabinet uses extensive workshops in experimental theater techniques to create live performances. The performers are first rehearsed musically to meld their voices with a sampled collage, then co-directors Jen Rohn and Nick Brooke collaboratively develop the movement and theater based on the individual performer. Working with the co-directors and performers, the sound engineer gradually chisels the electronic collage in and out, something like a hand-colored photograph, in order to create moments of presence and distance with the live performers.
