Nicolas Collins - Devil’s Music (1986)

Nicolas Collins - Devil’s Music (1986)

“Devil’s Music” is possibly the first glitch album, and one of the best. The way the samples all bounce off eachother and create a symphony of sound is fantastic. How was such complex music created at the time? From Collins’ website:
“...It developed in 1985 out of the confluence of my fascination with early Hip Hop DJs, a Cagean love of the splendor of radio, the introduction of the first affordable, portable samplers, and a simple home-made “stuttering circuit” (inspired, perhaps, by my years as a student of Alvin Lucier.) In Devil’s Music, the performer sweeps the radio dial in search of suitable material, which is

sampled in snippets of one second or less. These are then looped, layered and

de-tuned. The stuttering circuit “re-rhythmitizes” the samples by retriggering

and reversing the loops in response to accents in the rhythm of the ongoing (but

usually unheard) flow of signal out of the radio.”

“Devil’s Music A” is based mostly on dance stations. “Devil’s Music B” is based more on easy listening and classical stations.

This 2009 reissue also includes 3 bonus tracks: “The Spark Heard ‘Round The World’”, a tape piece, and “Real Landscapes” (live recordings of the album’s European tour) parts 1 & 2. OUTDOOROUTOUTDOORSWIMMINGPOOLSOUT