Nicolas Collins

2025 Stock.  EM Records presents the CD and vinyl reissue of Nicolas Collins' Devil's Music, originally released in 1986. The New York-based experimental composer and circuit bender created this work through live radio sampling techniques that anticipated developments in electronic music production by several years. Collins developed his practice through collaborations with Christian Marclay, Elliot Sharp, David Shea, David Tudor, and John Zorn, establishing himself as significant figure in experimental electronics through performance, composition, and instrument invention. His theoretical contributions include Handmade Electronic Music -- The Art Of Hardware Hacking (Routledge, 2009) and his teaching position in the Department of Sound at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Devil's Music emerged from Collins' investigation of real-time radio signal manipulation using modified electronic circuits. The compositions capture mid-1980s New York City airwaves through systematic intervention - fragmenting, looping, and reconstructing broadcast material into new compositional structures. Philip Sherburne identified the work as "an early template for techno," recognizing its influence on subsequent electronic music development. The reissue includes "Real Landscape," a 1987 European recording originally released on cassette, plus CD-exclusive material: "The Spark Heard 'Round The World," constructed from multi-band radio and scanner recordings, and video documentation of a 1987 Birmingham performance. CD purchasers receive downloadable software recreating the original hardware circuitry - following David Tudor's conceptual framework where the technological apparatus constitutes the composition itself.

Collins' approach treats radio transmission as raw material for compositional manipulation, transforming mass media signals into abstract electronic works. His method combines systematic circuit modification with real-time performance, creating works that exist at intersection of technological intervention and aesthetic investigation.

The reissue appears as 2LP gatefold vinyl and double CD in triple-gatefold packaging, featuring 24-bit digital remastering, bilingual documentation, and archival photographs. The release represents both historical document and continuing investigation into electronic music's technological foundations.