The Books were an American-Dutch duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their music typically incorporated samples of obscure sounds and speech. They released three critically acclaimed albums on the German label Tomlab, and released their fourth studio album, The Way Out, on Temporary Residence Limited in July 2010.

History

1999–2002: Thoughts and Thought for Food
Zammuto and de Jong first met in New York City in 1999 as they shared the same apartment building. De Jong invited Zammuto to dinner at his apartment, where he played him some of his collection of audio and video samples, including a Shooby Taylor record. Zammuto said of their meeting that "we both kind of knew at that moment that we listened (to music) in interesting ways and had similar approaches to music". Soon after, they began playing what they considered pop music, in comparison to their own works, under the name the Books.

In 2000, the Books started work on their début album Thought for Food. Zammuto and de Jong moved often during this time, recording in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and finally in the basement of a hostel in North Carolina where Zammuto worked for a while after hiking the Appalachian Trail. Thought for Food was released on October 22, 2002.  Praised by critics for its distinctive sound, it featured extensive sampling from obscure sources coupled with mostly acoustic instrumentation.

2002–2003: The Lemon of Pink
Shortly after the release of Thought for Food, the band relocated to North Adams, Massachusetts, near where Zammuto had graduated from Williams College in 1999, studying chemistry and visual arts. Zammuto and de Jong began the recording of The Lemon of Pink around this time. Anne Doerner, a guest vocalist on the album, said the process was much more arduous than the recording of Thought for Food, with Zammuto working on the album for five straight months.

The Lemon of Pink was released to critical acclaim on October 7, 2003. It is similar in style to Thought for Food, but oriented more around vocals performed mostly by Anne Doerner.

2003–2006: Lost and Safe, Music for a French Elevator, Prefuse 73 Reads the Books
In 2004, the French Ministry of Culture asked the Books to compose music for a new elevator in their building. The Books released a Mini CD of this work in 2006, under the name Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by the Books.

On April 5, 2005, the Books released their third studio album, Lost and Safe. Zammuto has a greater vocal presence in this album, and the album was criticized for this change of sound. Aside from this, Lost and Safe was well received by critics. Throughout early 2005, the Books collaborated with the electronica artist Prefuse 73. The Books appear on his album Surrounded by Silence ("Pagina Dos"), and the E.P. Prefuse 73 Reads the Books E.P. collects remixes of material sourced from the Books' albums.

Before starting a three-month tour of North America in April 2006, the Books had played only one concert, in October 2003 at a festival in Chicago, Illinois. Zammuto wasn't always enthusiastic about performing The Books music live, stating in an interview with KEXP in 2012 that "...The Books started to feel like a glorified karaoke, because we would play in sync along with these electronic rhythms." Zammuto expressed apprehensiveness towards touring, but says it is necessary to make a living, given his belief that people downloading the Books' music via file-sharing has put him under financial strain.

2006–2012: Hiatus, The Way Out and break-up
Following the release of Music for a French Elevator, the band took a break from recording to tend to their new families, tour in support of their albums, and pursue some of their own projects, which included Zammuto scoring a feature documentary about the Biosphere 2.

In 2007, the Books released Play All, a DVD of thirteen music videos and three previously unreleased tracks. The Play All videos are composed of found footage transformed into a collage that matches their music. The Books often screened these videos during their live performances.

The Books toured heavily between 2005 and 2007, including two tours in Europe and two Canadian shows. In early 2009 the Books covered the Nick Drake song "Cello Song" in collaboration with José González for the Red Hot Organization's Dark Was the Night fund-raising album.

The Books began working on The Way Out in late 2008. Zammuto spoke of the album's New Age themes in an interview in April 2009, saying they took samples from self-help and hypnotherapy cassettes. When asked to describe the album, Zammuto said "You're getting verrry sleepy." On April 5, 2010, the duo announced that The Way Out would be released through Temporary Residence Limited in July. On April 27 Pitchfork  began streaming the track "Beautiful People", which Zammuto described as "a three part christian harmony mixed with a sort of euro-disco-trash beat, an orchestra’s worth of sampled brass and lyrics about the twelfth root of two (my favorite irrational number), trigonometry and tangrams". The album was released on July 20.

The Books played the ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York, in September 2010 and then toured North American tour with The Black Heart Procession. The band had been chosen by Portishead & ATP to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival that they planned to curate in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace.ATP: I'll Be Your Mirror London

In January 2012, Nick Zammuto announced in an interview via Pitchfork Media that the Books were splitting up to focus on other projects.

On April 3, 2012, Nick Zammuto released Zammuto, under the moniker Zammuto. In 2014 he released another album called Anchor.

Paul de Jong released two solo albums;  IF and You Fucken Sucker, in 2015 and 2018 respectively.

Musical style

The Books are commonly cited by critics to be of a genre of their own. Zammuto has described it as collage music. Paul de Jong described it as "the new folk music...[w]e make our own instruments, use our own libraries of sound bites while trying to create something universally human." Although they have said that their influences include Nirvana, David Bowie, Roxy Music as well as new wave and classical music, these do not show prominently in their music, though Zammuto was directly influenced by electronic musicians Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin. The Books' music usually consists of acoustic instrumentation of folk melodies usually played on guitar, cello, banjo and more, combined with a diverse range of samples obtained from cassettes found in thrift stores, which are digitally processed and edited. They also rarely use a drum kit in recordings and performances, instead favouring everyday objects like children's toys and filing cabinets, which were sampled and looped. Some observers contend that their music is aleatoric, but Zammuto has disagreed, saying the music is very tightly controlled.

Discography

Studio albums
 Thought for Food (2002)
 The Lemon of Pink (2003)
 Lost and Safe (2005)
 The Way Out (2010)

Compilations
 A Dot In Time. (2012)

EP
 Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by the Books (2006)

DVDs
 Playall (2007)
 Freedom from Expression (2012)

References

External links

 Interview with The Books
 Interview with Nick Zammuto about his new band and the break-up of The Books

Category:Musical groups from Massachusetts
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2012
Category:Folktronica musicians
Category:Temporary Residence Limited artists

1999–2002 : Thoughts and Thought for Food Zammuto and de Jong first met in New York City in 1999 as they shared the same apartment building .

On the search for sounds
The Books turn anything and everything they hear into music
- |
NORTH ADAMS - It's a blessing and a curse to be tuned in to every single sound around you. At least it is for Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong.
On their way into the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art this past Sunday, they overheard a snippet of someone's conversation: "Where are we going?" the person remarked offhandedly. "Oh, it's called Canada."
Zammuto and de Jong laugh heartily when they recall this moment later over coffee at Mass MoCA's cafe. It's a perfect slice of mundane talk that could be manipulated - to draw out its "inner beauty," as they would put it - for the music they make together as a duo called the Books.
Sampling snatches of found sound and field recordings has become the bedrock of their work. The problem, of course, is that they've ended up with a library of nearly 25,000 audio and video samples waiting to find a new life in song. That's just a ballpark figure, they stress. They can't keep up with the contents of the library anymore.
Nor can they sum up their aesthetic in finite terms. Calling them sound-collage artists comes close, taking into account the slippery detours into electronica fused with acoustic instrumentation and the hushed vocals that often bookend spoken-word narratives. Sometimes they sing over their samples and write accompanying lyrics, but they're just as happy to let the sample tell the whole story.
The fact that de Jong and Zammuto are playing two sold-out shows tonight at the Institute of Contemporary Art is no small feat. They've released three albums since forming the Books in 2000 but didn't tour until after the last one, 2005's "Lost and Safe." They simply didn't think a live set ting was feasible given the painstaking studio sorcery they employ.
"It didn't even occur to us that it was possible to take it on the road," Zammuto says. "Once we started getting royalties from our CD sales, we realized there's just no way to make a living unless you go on the road."
But that stripped them of the anonymity they had enjoyed as artists holed up in their home studios. Zammuto, for one, had to adjust to the idea of performing before an audience, which he now says is part of the pleasure of having a band.
"I didn't feel particularly comfortable onstage at first because I actually had to learn how to play the guitar and learn how to sing," he says.
So what was he doing before that?
"I was just shooting rubber bands at my guitar," Zammuto says, alluding to the avant-garde nature of coaxing the sounds he wanted. "Figuring out a way to present the samples along with the music without it just looking like karaoke was hard to do."
They came up with a simple stage setup, playing cello and guitar over prerecorded samples, accompanied by videos projected on a screen. "All the ego that a rock star could project, we're projecting with these found images instead," Zammuto says. "That's sort of like our doppelganger."
Zammuto and de Jong share an easy chemistry in conversation, attentive to what the other has to say and what he contributes to the band. Their roles aren't rigidly defined, but like an old married couple, they've worked out a dynamic, often toiling separately until they're ready to exchange ideas.
They thrive on their respective talents. Zammuto, 33, who grew up in Andover and now lives with his wife and two kids in a house they're renovating in southern Vermont, has a visual-arts background. De Jong, 44, was born and raised in Holland in a family that prized all sorts of music in the home, and he learned to play cello as a child. Like Zammuto, he's a full-time musician and is raising a small child and renovating a house with his wife 30 minutes outside North Adams.
Zammuto and de Jong are united in their fascination - obsession, they admit - with sounds. They met almost 10 years ago when they were living in the same apartment building in New York. When Zammuto found out that de Jong maintained a collection of audio and video samples, he realized he had found a kindred spirit - and a bandmate.
They lived in North Adams for a while, and while neither of them resides here anymore, the town has been sort of a home base for them over the years. Zammuto graduated from nearby Williams College, where he's now a visiting artist who teaches a class on sampling. From Mass MoCA's parking lot they point to a brown house perched on a hill in the distance. "That's where we recorded 'The Lemon of Pink,' " Zammuto says of their second album.
Five years have passed since their last one, "Lost and Safe," but they've had a good excuse to take some time off. "Essentially we started having children, and that's enough to shake up any plans for the future," says Zammuto.
They're halfway done with a new album, which might be released this year, but they're not rushing it - mostly because they can't.
"Our productions are always pretty slow just because there's so much work to be done," Zammuto says. "It's really hard to finish a track in less than three weeks or a month."
"It's such vast amounts of raw material, that it's enough chaos as it is to get even the slightest feel for what we're working with," de Jong says of their samples library, which is meticulously organized by source (date and location) and category (content of what was said). "It's funny, the larger the candy shop gets, the more we kind of pick our tastes."
And the library keeps swelling, especially when Zammuto and de Jong are on the road. Trolling Salvation Army and Goodwill stores in the towns they encounter on tour, they're particular about what they'll buy; they're partial to old instructional videos for products that don't exist anymore.
They're not, however, as interested in recognizable texts or voices. Aside from a few well-known cameos - Albert Einstein's mellifluous cadence makes a memorable appearance on an early song - Zammuto and de Jong look for evergreen sounds that lend themselves to a universal voice.
Lately they've been picking up self-help and hypnotherapy cassettes, which they say have inspired much of the upcoming album's new age-y themes. "You're getting verrry sleepy," Zammuto says when asked what the album sounds like.
As with all the Books' albums, most of the initial work was deciding which sounds would inspire Zammuto and de Jong to create anew. They've got plenty to consider.
"It's a very active kind of looking when you're looking for samples. It's a great kind of meditative exercise because you really get to see American culture from this very strange perspective," Zammuto says. "It's not the mainstream that we're looking at, it's the fringes - things that are trying to be the mainstream but somehow just never really got there."
De Jong nods his head. "There's something about going out there and finding it yourself and rummaging through all that stuff," he says. "It's kind of a harvesting, a social-cultural farming."
James Reed can be reached at jreed@globe.com.

Question: where did zammuto and de Jong first meet

Answer: New York City

where did zammuto and de Jong first meet

Question: when did zammuto and de jong first meet

Answer: 1999

Question: what did zammuto and de Jong call their time together

Answer: Thoughts and Thought for Food

what did zammuto and de Jong call their time together

Question: who were the first couple to meet in new york

Answer: Zammuto and de Jong

who were the first couple to meet in new york

Question: when did thoughts and thought for food start

Answer: 1999

when did thoughts and thought for food start

Question: who did zammuto meet in new york

Answer: de Jong

De Jong invited Zammuto to dinner at his apartment , where he played him some of his collection of audio and video samples , including a Shooby Taylor record .

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Question: what was the name of the record that zammuto played with de jong

Answer: Shooby Taylor record

what was the name of the record that zammuto played with de jong

Question: what was the name of the record that zammuto played at his apartment in new

Answer: Shooby Taylor

Question: what was the name of the group that zammuto and de jong met in

Answer: Thoughts and Thought for Food

what was the name of the group that zammuto and de jong met in

Question: who played shooby taylor in the video game

Answer: Zammuto and de Jong

who played shooby taylor in the video game

Question: what did de jong invite zammuto to

Answer: dinner

Question: where did zammuto and de jong first meet

Answer: New York City in 1999

where did zammuto and de jong first meet

Zammuto said of their meeting that " we both kind of knew at that moment that we listened ( to music ) in interesting ways and had similar approaches to music " .

Soon after , they began playing what they considered pop music , in comparison to their own works , under the name the Books .

If there is a single theme that runs through all the reviews of the Books, it concerns the unique, unclassifiable nature of their music. The constituent ingredients are not all that unusual - an eclectic collection of samples (culled from movies, field recordings, and records) paired with acoustic instruments (banjo, fiddle, guitar, cello, mandolin, and so forth) and stitched together with a healthy dose of digital processing and editing. And yet the results are so affectingly singular. When they released their debut album, Thought For Food, on Tomlab in late 2002, it struck like a veritable bolt out of the blue. Released just a year later, their sophomore effort The Lemon Of Pink is a more lyrical record, while remaining quintessentially Books-ish, resisting easy labels or any attempts to pigeonhole.
So, how do they describe what they do?
"We think we're country and eastern," laughs Book Nick Zammuto, when I put the question to him. "No, really, we're a food band - that's the genre we put ourselves in. And it's not that our music is like cooking; it is cooking. When we get together, we make food and we make music. It always happens simultaneously. We're just much more comfortable cooking for audiences than playing for them, so I think that might be part of our live performances someday." It's appropriate, then, that I meet with Nick over a lunch that he has prepared at his apartment in the small, industrial city of North Adams, Massachusetts. Joining us is Anne Doerner, whose haunting vocals, banjo, and fiddle run throughout The Lemon of Pink. Paul De Jong, the other founding member of the Books, is absent, visiting his family in the Netherlands.
The collaboration between De Jong, a classically trained cellist, and Zammuto, a self-taught musician with a background in visual and installation art, began in New York City a few years back, when they lived in the same building. "It was sort of an instant attraction," Nick recalls. "He had me and my girlfriend at the time over for dinner one night and put on this Shooby Taylor record. Do you know Shooby Taylor, the Human Horn? He would scat over anything! And we were all on the floor. We both kind of knew at that moment that we listened in interesting ways and had similar approaches to music."
When the two started playing music together, they saw their work as the Books as a pop project, something quite different from the more abstract, experimental work that they each made on their own. And though they had an instant musical rapport, that first record was a long time in the making, produced in fits and starts over a couple of years and in a variety of locations: New York, Los Angeles, the suburbs of Boston (where Nick is from), eventually completing the final five tracks of the record in rural North Carolina.
"I ended up hiking the Appalachian Trail," Nick says, remembering the final steps in Thought For Food's long road to completion. "And that was a defining moment in my personal experience. It was completely purifying, in a way. I ended up living in North Carolina right after that and my mind was just open to music in a new way, because my ears were so clean, basically. There just happened to be a lot of instruments lying around and I ended up meeting a lot of people, especially Anne, and it led my interests in new directions."
By contrast to Thought for Food, which followed a tortuous path, The Lemon of Pink, took shape in a single stretch over a scant few months of intense activity in a small room in Nick's old apartment in North Adams. "It happened much more all at once," Anne says of the second record, as she began to prepare tea. "I mean that's what he [Nick] worked on for five months straight; whereas Thought for Food was more like you guys [Paul and Nick] having different moments of fun here and fun there."
"You know the sophomore effort is always difficult, once you realize that somebody's going to listen to what you're doing," Nick says somewhat ruefully. "And we were trying to deal with that in the most constructive way that we could. For me, I needed some kind of focus, some kind of sustained effort, just to figure it out, so that was The Lemon of Pink, but now," he laughs, "I just want to have fun again."
When we spoke, The Books were gearing up to begin work on their third record as soon as Paul returned to the States. In preparation for this, Nick has been going through their giant library of samples, culled from all manner of sources: snippets of film and television dialogue, historic speeches that Paul has collected from sound archives in Rotterdam, old records, and, most recently a batch of tapes and mini-discs made by Nick's brother of interviews with friends, philosophical musings and the like.
"We distill [the samples] in a variety of ways, often by putting them in folders, grouping them and kind of fingerprinting them onto our brains and then you start to make associations between them," Nick explains after we finish lunch and sit down in front of his computer to leaf through sound files. "Some of these associations are rational: like a death theme. We've got a lot of great death samples that we've got to use," he says enthusiastically. "The great thing about them is that they're all really bright and happy. They all have a death theme, but there's something about them that's either really funny or really sweet."
An entire Books song often emerges from a single element: a fragment of speech or a particularly compelling sound or set of sounds. "It all seems to grow from a seed," Nick explains, citing the example of some recordings that they made of a friend's eight-year old daughter improvising on a lithophone. "There's this moment when she plays the riff that you hear at the beginning of 'Take Time'," he explains, "and that's the lithophone as she was playing it, just looped. It has a really interesting time signature and a nice melody and it made a nice loop and that was how it started. We had a tempo, a key, and a time signature from that sample and the rest kind of fell naturally from it and was a continuation of that idea in one way or another."
"It's about finding certain resonances between things rather than having things stand for particular concepts," he says of the process of creating a song, as he takes out a mandolin and begins to play with a short loop of Anne's banjo that he finds particularly compelling. "It's about finding the connections between things. I think of what we do basically as just tuning; tuning whatever we find so that it moves in harmonious ways."
Susanna Bolle
March 15, 2004

Question: what was the name of the group that played pop music in comparison to their own works

Answer: the Books

Question: who is the author of the books

Answer: Zammuto

Question: what genre of music did the books play

Answer: pop music

Question: what type of music did the books play

Answer: pop

Question: what was the name of the pop music group that zammuto and zachman

Answer: the Books.

Question: what did the books play in comparison to their own works

Answer: what they considered pop music

what did the books play in comparison to their own works

Question: what type of music did zammuto and zacchino listen to

Answer: music

what type of music did zammuto and zacchino listen to

Thought for Food was released on October 22, 2002.

Zammuto and de Jong moved often during this time , recording in New York , Los Angeles , Boston , and finally in the basement of a hostel in North Carolina where Zammuto worked for a while after hiking the Appalachian Trail .

Thought for Food was released on October 22 , 2002 .

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Question: where was thought for food recorded

Answer: North Carolina

Question: when was thought for food released

Answer: October 22, 2002

Question: what was the name of the album that zammuto and de Jong released in 2002

Answer: Thought for Food

Question: what trail did zammuto hike

Answer: Appalachian Trail

Question: where did zammuto and de Jong record

Answer: New York, Los Angeles, Boston

Question: who recorded thought for food

Answer: Zammuto and de Jong

On April 5 , 2005 , the Books released their third studio album , Lost and Safe .

Zammuto has a greater vocal presence in this album , and the album was criticized for this change of sound .

A song’s meaning and structure are dependent on its vocals. Vocal delivery and content can propel an artist to iconic status — think of Bob Dylan and his unforgettable voice, singing tales of Americana — or send a group into a downward spiral of garden-variety recordings. The Books’s brand of electro-pop has never been a conduit for lyrical expression; instead, Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong opt for sporadic instrumentation and random samples of rambling strangers. Their latest LP, Lost and Safe, departs from their previous work and turns toward becoming stereotypical pop.
The Books’s previous full-length releases, The Lemon of Pink and Thought For Food, are templates for greatness. Their gorgeous electronic landscapes and smooth integration of morphed samples give both albums a warmth that is uncharacteristic of similar electronic bands. It’s disappointing that the material on Lost and Safe doesn’t compare to the strength of the essence and feeling of these albums.
The most blatant and ill-advised difference on Lost and Safe is the focus on vocals, which causes Zammuto and de Jong to structure each track more rigidly than before. One of The Books’s greatest attributes had been their ability to create spastic yet catchy songs like Thought For Food’s “Enjoy Your Worries, You May Never Have Them Again.” But almost every track on Lost and Safe progresses predictably, based on a standard pop formula. On “A Little Longing Goes Away,” they try a more adventurous approach to lyrical delivery, using airy, soft cries, but the track resembles mellow, ambient art-pop.
The frequent, uninteresting samples on Lost and Safe don’t compensate for the album’s sub-par music and muffled croons. The Books’s other releases use sound clips more erratically; the group would tamper with miscellaneous ramblings to add a new dimension to the music. One of Lost and Safe’s most uninspired tracks, “Be Good To Them Always,” combines a monotonous clip with soft vocals, while intermittent keyboard flares become tiresome and boring.
The Books aren’t completely off their game on Lost and Safe: The introductions on “Vogt Dig For Kloppervok” and “An Animated Description of Mr. Maps” are reminiscent of their older works. Keyboard drones quickly give way to spare, random percussion and well-placed samples, but both degenerate into artsy pop songs.
The focus on vocals on Lost and Safe is an unfortunate deviation from The Books’s signature electronic sound. Though they don’t abandon their previous style completely, The Books have produced a mostly lifeless release. By focusing on the music again, The Books may be able to continue in the tradition of their previous two releases and avoid the mediocrity of Lost and Safe.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Question: who has a greater vocal presence on lost and safe

Answer: Zammuto

who has a greater vocal presence on lost and safe

Question: what was the name of the third album released by the books

Answer: Lost and Safe

what was the name of the third album released by the books

Question: when did lost and safe come out

Answer: April 5, 2005

Question: who released the album lost and safe in 2005

Answer: the Books

who released the album lost and safe in 2005

Question: why was lost and safe criticized

Answer: change of sound

Question: how many albums did the books release in 2005

Answer: third

how many albums did the books release in 2005

Before starting a three - month tour of North America in April 2006 , the Books had played only one concert , in October 2003 at a festival in Chicago , Illinois .

The Books book big domestic tour
Indie-pop duo The Books have laid plans for a three-month North American tour starting the first day of March, with more than 40 dates currently on the itinerary.
The New Yorkers will set things in motion with a March 1 show in Northampton, MA, before tackling the rest of the extensive club and campus tour, which crisscrosses the continent more than once before landing the band back in its hometown at the end of May.
Support acts for the tour have been announced so far for only a handful of shows. Death Vessel will open for the first batch of March dates, and Jose Gonzalez will also join in later in that month. The Books will share a bill with Califone for a March 17 concert at Los Angeles's Getty Museum.
The Books--comprised of Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong--are still touring in support of their 2005 album, "Lost and Safe," and don't appear to currently have any new studio recordings in the pipeline. The duo has been keeping busy of late with a European tour, full details of which can be gleaned from the band's website.
The band released its debut album, "Thought For Food," in 2002, and followed it up a year later with "The Lemon of Pink."
Death Vessel released its debut album, "Stay Close," last year. Singer Jose Gonzalez has released several albums in his native land of Sweden; his American debut, "Veneer," hit stores last August.
March 2006
1 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
5 - Pittsburgh, PA - The Andy Warhol Museum
6 - Columbus, OH - Wexner Center for the Arts
7 - Oberlin, OH - Dionysus Disco
8 - Urbana, IL - Courtyard Cafe
9 - Minneapolis, MN - The Whole Music Club
10 - Des Moines, IA The Vaudeville Mews
13, 14 - Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern
15 - Ann Arbor, MI - University of Michigan Museum of Art
17 - Los Angeles, CA - J. Paul Getty Museum
23 - Boston, MA - Museum of Fine Arts
24 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
25 - Philadelphia, PA - International House
29 - Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
30 - Raleigh, NC - TSC Ballroom
31 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
April 2006
1 - Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds
2 - Orlando, FL - The Social
3 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder
6 - Austin, TX - The Parish
7 - Denton, TX - Hailey's
10 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
12 - Salt Lake City, UT - In The Venue
14 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
15 - Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory
17 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
19 - Eugene, OR - W.O.W. Hall
20 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
21 - Seattle, WA - U.W. Husky Union Building Auditorium
22 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
26 - Milwaukee, WI - Onopa Brewing Co.
27 - Cincinnati, OH - N.O.W. Festival, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center
28 - Grand Rapids, MI - Ladies Literary Club
29 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
April 2006
1 - Buffalo, NY - Soundlab
2 - Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
3 - Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
5 - Brooklyn, NY - Northsix
6 - North Adams, MA - The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
12 - Middlebury, VT - Coltrane
13 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
24 - New York, NY - World Financial Center
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Question: when did the books play their first concert in chicago

Answer: October 2003

when did the books play their first concert in chicago

Question: where did the books play in 2003

Answer: Chicago, Illinois

Question: when did the books start touring north america

Answer: April 2006

when did the books start touring north america

Question: what year did the books play their first concert in america

Answer: 2003

what year did the books play their first concert in america

Question: how many concert did the books play in chicago in 2003

Answer: one

how many concert did the books play in chicago in 2003

Question: who played a concert in chicago in 2003

Answer: the Books

Question: how long did the books tour north america

Answer: three-month

how long did the books tour north america

The Books toured heavily between 2005 and 2007 , including two tours in Europe and two Canadian shows .

In early 2009 the Books covered the Nick Drake song " Cello Song " in collaboration with José González for the Red Hot Organization 's Dark Was the Night fund - raising album .

Jose Gonzalez maps North American jaunt
Jose Gonzalez will follow up a world tour behind his second studio album, "In Our Nature," with a handful of summertime North American festival appearances.
The Swedish singer/songwriter, who has trekked across Australia, China and Europe since the beginning of the year, kicks off the six-date run June 25 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The schedule includes performances at the Toronto Jazz Festival (6/26), Winnipeg Jazz Festival (6/27), Vancouver International Jazz Festival (6/28) and the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival (6/29). One US date--July 1 at Ann Arbor, MI's Ann Arbor Summer Festival--is also on the books. Details are shown below.
Gonzalez will be joined onstage by percussionist Andres Renterria and Death Vessel vocalist Joel Thibodeau for the short outing. The performer continues supporting "In Our Nature," which surfaced in October 2007 and follows up his 2006 major-label debut, "Veneer."
Gonzalez recently collaborated with The Books on a cover of Nick Drake's "Cello Song," a track found on the February release "Dark Was The Night," which benefits the international AIDS charity Red Hot Organization.
June 2009
25 - Halifax, Nova Scotia - St. Matthew's Church
26 - Toronto, Ontario - Harbourfront Centre
27 - Winnipeg, Manitoba - Pyramid Cabaret
28 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
29 - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Broadway Theatre
July 2009
1 - Ann Arbor, MI - Power Center
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Question: who did the books collaborate with for the red hot organization's dark was the night

Answer: José González

Question: what was the name of the red hot organization's 2009 album

Answer: Dark Was the Night

what was the name of the red hot organization's 2009 album

Question: what song did the books cover in 2009

Answer: Cello Song

Question: who wrote the song "cello song" for the red hot organization's dark was

Answer: Nick Drake

Question: what year did the books cover the song "cello song"

Answer: 2009

what year did the books cover the song "cello song"

Question: when did the books tour heavily

Answer: between 2005 and 2007

Question: when did the books tour in europe

Answer: 2005 and 2007

Question: how many tours did the books have in europe between 2005 and 2007

Answer: two

Paul de Jong described it as " the new folk music ... [w]e make our own instruments , use our own libraries of sound bites while trying to create something universally human . "

Although they have said that their influences include Nirvana , David Bowie , Roxy Music as well as new wave and classical music , these do not show prominently in their music , though Zammuto was directly influenced by electronic musicians Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin .

So why oven gloves? The question seems quite reasonable for a band whose world of words and music is made almost entirely from the juxtaposition of the banal with the extraordinary. But we'll get to that later.
The guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and the cellist Paul de Jong formed The Books in 2000, which neatly detaches them from the century of jazz, blues, and other popular recorded music to which they refer, and escape from, in their work.
The significance of the year wasn't unnoticed by Zammuto. Did he feel a sense of musical responsibility? "Well, kind of. I did have a palpable sense of where we were technologically," he says. "That anybody who has access to a computer can produce a professional sound. So it was important to stay out of big studios - stay out of the mainstream, basically, and still make it work somehow."
Although ages aren't revealed, Zammuto is a decade older than de Jong, and the only common ground they had musically when they met was Nick Drake, whose "Cello Song" is the encore to their live shows. Zammuto cites Nirvana as a formative influence, while de Jong grew up with Bowie, Roxy Music, and New Wave - once he'd thrown off the shackles of a classical-music childhood (he started learning the cello at eight years old). It's pleasing to discover that now they listen to a fair amount of world music, including Konono No 1 and Mahmoud Ahmed, as well as recently rediscovering Brian Eno and David Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, with which they both feel a strong connection.
But what's really exciting about The Books is that none of these influences are particularly present in their music. Their nearest contemporaries sound-wise are perhaps their fellow Americans Califone, whom it turns out they admire and played with early this year at a couple of sold-out gigs in LA. But while Califone just like to scrunch up their essentially live performances with a few glitchy, scratchy samples, The Books are happier fully immersed in the infinitely malleable universe of digital sound. Or, as Zammuto puts it, "recording little pieces and using the computer to organise those bits." The result is a kind of less-is-more future-folk, cliché-free and miraculously organic, given its provenance.
Part of this uniqueness stems from the unusual samples they use and how they use them. They don't just repeat snippets of sound or vocals so they function as hooks, as, say, most hip-hop acts do. Instead, whole sections of speech are allowed to unfurl, with all their natural pauses and repetitions, conjuring atmospheres which either clash pleasingly with the delicate collage of instruments in the background, or comfortably bed down with them. For example, on their most accessible album, 2005's Lost and Safe, the "vocal" on the track "Venice" consists almost entirely of an American reporter's description of a Salvador Dali "happening" in Venice: "The canvas and the photographers are covered with paint. I might add, it's black paint and gold paint on a white canvas..."
Where do they find these things? "That was on an old Decca record of obscure opera recordings made in 1966. It's a bonus track on that record," says de Jong gleefully, revelling in the discovery.
Even the lyrics, which are actually sung by Zammuto in his gentle, Paul Simon, voice, have all been sourced from old books and religious texts. They have no interest in making personal statements. "It's something we've tried to avoid entirely; to remove the ego from the writing process," says Zammuto.
Another standard rock ingredient that The Books have dispensed with is the drum kit. I mention my feeling that much rock drumming functions, paradoxically, like speed-bumps, preventing the music from having any real momentum. Zammuto agrees. "Yes, the cymbals especially. They completely obliterate the way you can use the high-end as an expressive thing in music. It opens things up if you remove the drums. There's so much more air and space."
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So what do they use instead? "We went to the toy section at Wal-Mart and that generated some interesting percussion," says Zammuto, smiling. "Lost and Safe also utilises a looped bounced baseball and an old filing cabinet with a sub-woofer inside it, so who needs a drummer?"
It's remarkable considering the buzz surrounding them over the past year or so, and the fact that they're already on their third album, that the band are still pretty much broke, and still recording in a bedroom - Zammuto's to be precise. File-sharing fans are the problem. "It's the spin-offs which might just make us a living," says de Jong. So go to their website now, folks, and buy an enigmatic T-shirt, or some even more enigmatic oven-gloves. Oven gloves? "Well, we spend a lot of time cooking together," says Zammuto, reasonably. "It has the same kind of rhythm, and needs the same kind of patience," adds de Jong. "And if you start with really good ingredients then you can't go wrong," concludes Zammuto.
Their show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall a couple of hours later gives no indication of the fatigue they'd alluded briefly to earlier. "By the end of the year we'll have played 80 shows, which is nothing we imagined we'd ever do," De Jong had said. But their playing is fluid and intense, and the new, synchronised, back-projected films have clearly been as meticulously assembled as their music, justifying their pride in them. Created from clips from cans of film and videos picked up in thrift stores, plus some home-movie footage, they are by turns enigmatic, witty and hypnotic, and add to the power of the performance rather than just complementing it.
Computer music made in bedrooms is often no more than a storm in a laptop, but The Books have somehow managed to locate the ghost in the machine.
'Lost and Safe' is on Tomlab
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Question: who described nirvana as "the new folk music"

Answer: Paul de Jong

who described nirvana as "the new folk music"

Question: along with boards of canada, what electronic group influenced zammuto

Answer: Aphex Twin

Question: who was influenced by boards of canada and aphex twin

Answer: Zammuto

who was influenced by boards of canada and aphex twin

Question: along with david bowie and roxy music, what band has been heavily influenced by

Answer: Nirvana

Question: what did paul de jong call new wave music

Answer: the new folk music

what did paul de jong call new wave music

Question: what type of music do nirvana, david bowie, and roxy music

Answer: new wave and classical music

what type of music do nirvana, david bowie, and roxy music

Question: along with aphex twin, what electronic musician influenced zammuto

Answer: Boards of Canada

Question: who was zammuto directly influenced by

Answer: electronic musicians Boards of Canada

The Books are commonly cited by critics to be of a genre of their own .

Clogs (Bryce Dessner): Hello, Nick and Paul! I have played your music for many different friends and it never fails to appeal. Why do you think this is?
Books (Paul de Jong): Hello Bryce, Nick and I are going to speak together on this interview. We outnumber you for once! I think our "listenability" comes from our working process. We're attracted to sounds we can listen to again and again and feel something every time. Over time we build up a body of sounds of such concentrated quality that it's kind of hard to go wrong. It's like cooking - it's easier when you have good ingredients.
Clogs, your music seems to comfortably straddle various genres, from chamber music to rock. Is it important to you how you fit into this continuum? (Personally speaking, we think it's a bunch of hooey.)
Clogs: Yes I agree it's a bunch of hooey! If anything, a strength of our music may be that we don't easily define - it can work in a rock club and it can work on a chamber music series.
Nick, you're from Massachusetts and, Paul, you are from Holland. You strike me as an odd set of musical bedmates.
Books (Nick): I think our love of sound in its most idiosyncratic forms is what keeps us going. (That and our odd sense of humour.) I grew up in Boston, and didn't touch a musical instrument until I was about 15, when I stole my brother's guitar. I started composing when I got my first computer in 1998, after a friend introduced me to the music of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher.
(Paul): I took up the cello at five and was immersed in chamber music at a very early stage. In my early teens I started cutting audio tapes to shreds, gluing them together with nail polish, creating my own radio plays and sound effects. It just evolved from there, until the practice of acoustic instruments and my activities in the recorded media started meeting in a meaningful way.
How about your own musical backgrounds and your music-making process? You met at school, right?
Clogs: Yes, at Yale School of Music in the late 1990s, although the group didn't form until after graduation - they would have kicked us out! Padma is the primary composer, and I bring a handful of pieces to each record. But our music is very collaborative and evolves from performance to performance.
Books: We particularly love Clogs' use of odd divisions of time - figures in five, and three-over-four patterns. We're wondering how these come about?
Clogs: While most of our music is simple harmonically, there are often more complex things going on rhythmically. I enjoy writing guitar riffs that may repeat an arpeggio for instance, but in an odd time-signature so that the notes land in a different place each time. There is a tension that occurs by layering complex rhythms that can give music vitality. I think mostly though we look for rhythms that, while uncommon, are really just about grooving! There are a lot of vocal samples in your music. Where do you find these voices?
Books: One of our motives for touring is that we get to visit thrift stores in cities we'd otherwise never visit - there are treasure troves of nearly extinct LPs, videos, and home recordings out there.
Clogs: Ah ha! Thrift stores! I always wondered who buys those old videos!
Books: Box-fulls. They're a good investment! We've also started making our own videos, collaging video samples together from our growing collection in a similar fashion to our audio work.
Clogs: Can you talk about the instruments you build? Rumour has it you like to run sounds through the filing cabinet, and last time I was in your studio Nick was running sounds through long pieces of PVC piping and recording them.
Books: Yes, we used a filing cabinet with subwoofers in it to create the percussion in An Animated Description of Mr Maps. The enamelled metal gives it a nice warm sound. Recently we've been "tuning" unpitched percussion (breaking twigs etc) by re-recording them through a series of drainpipes. This way percussion and melody can be used interchangeably for a great many sounds.
We know you've also been interested in introducing foreign objects into your playing - it looks like fun, and adds drive and texture to the music.
Clogs: The Stick Music album was a concept we had specifically about using altered techniques on strings. On one of the tracks, Sticks and Nails, we created some really odd timbral sounds by preparing the guitar with nails between the strings. But an odd sound is not interesting on its own, and is only evocative within the music it supports. So in a way this is similar to your own approach of integrating these found sounds.
Books: Exactly. The sounds must be mutually elevating.
Clogs: Your music uses acoustic instrumentation (banjos, fiddles, cello, guitar) that is uncharacteristic of most electronic music. Can you talk about the influence of traditional music - such as bluegrass?
Books: Traditional American music - actually an amalgamation of old European, African and native music - has always been an inspiration. There's something wonderfully warm and weird about it, and you can hear the roots of so much contemporary music within it. You also seem to have many intersections with "older" music. Often we sense a medieval quality at work within your music, coupled with something wholly un-western.
Clogs: Yes, absolutely. The new record especially reflects our interest in early music. In fact the first track on our latest album, Lantern, is an arrangement of a piece for theorbo (a renaissance bass lute) by Johannes Hieronymous Kapsburger (1580-1651). And I think Padma especially, who studied Indian music, introduces an element of non-western music.
Are there any influences that you would associate directly with your inspiration to create the Books? John Cage, Brian Eno, and Steve Reich are three composers I think of when I listen to your records.
Books: Influence works so subconsciously for us, it's hard to name names, although we're thrilled to be associated with such good company! We have reservations about assigning responsibility to sound - music is a collective endeavour. We're certainly implicated in making it, but we can't take full responsibility for the results.
Clogs: It seems to me the Books are constantly evolving - Lost and Safe, your newest record, features a lot more of Nick's singing than earlier albums. Was this a specific decision?
Books: Our personal lives and interests have changed radically since we started working together, and we've learned so much from each record. We assume that we'll keep changing. In fact, it's becoming more and more clear that we're essentially a wave playing to a wave, if you know what I mean.
Likewise, Clogs records are all distinct - you seem to be travelling along an increasingly exciting trajectory. How aware - or conscious - are you of the evolution of your music?
Clogs: I think we are very aware of continuing to explore new mediums and sounds. We don't like to repeat ourselves, but in the end the music will come out regardless of our plans. I like how you put it: "We're certainly implicated in making it, but we can't take full responsibility for the results."
· Clogs and the Books are at Bristol Cube Cinema tomorrow (0870 4444 400), and touring. Details: cmntours.org.uk

Question: what are the books commonly cited by critics as

Answer: a genre of their own

what are the books commonly cited by critics as

Question: what genre are the books commonly cited by critics to be of

Answer: their own

what genre are the books commonly cited by critics to be of

Question: the books are often cited by critics to be of what genre

Answer: of their own

the books are often cited by critics to be of what genre

Question: what are commonly cited by critics to be of a genre of their own

Answer: The Books

what are commonly cited by critics to be of a genre of their own

Question: what are the books commonly cited by critics for

Answer: to be of a genre of their own

what are the books commonly cited by critics for

Question: who is most likely to consider a book a genre of their own

Answer: critics

who is most likely to consider a book a genre of their own

The Books ' music usually consists of acoustic instrumentation of folk melodies usually played on guitar , cello , banjo and more , combined with a diverse range of samples obtained from cassettes found in thrift stores , which are digitally processed and edited .

Conducted by Jemayel Khawaja
Hate Something Beautiful: I heard the show [April 22nd show at Malibu Performing Arts Center] was excellent. It was listed as a special engagement, so what about the performance was out of the ordinary?
Nick: Well, Todd Reynolds is with us now and it's been a joy to play with him. He's a violin player that we met in the town that we have our studio in, in North Adams, Massachusetts. He's opening, he plays his own set and he does a lot of live looping, some really amazing improvisation on his violin. And then he sits in on our set quite a bit. He's touring up the west coast with us. We're touring because our DVD is finally finished. That's big news for us. We finally polished up the video work we've been doing and put it in one place.
HSB: So does the DVD run concurrently with a single album or are the videos set differently?
Nick: The videos are set to songs on our records and there are a few new songs on there as well
HSB: Oh really? So have you guys been working on a lot of new material?
Nick: Oh yeah. Of course, always. I'm actually working on a film right now as wellâ€”doing music for that and editing it. It's a documentary about the biosphere. It's about a project in the Arizona desert back in the 90's when they were playing around with what they called 'energetically open but materially closed systems'. It's really an amazing story, a kind of only in America story.
HSB: That sounds cool, do you know when this will be finishing up?
Nick: It's impossible to say, really. I think it's gonna take me through the summer in terms of work and then after that I'll be working on something new.
HSB: I read that you used to work in a sandwich shop.
Nick: Yeah, that's true
HSB: Well, I'm a purveyor of sandwiches. I was wondering if you had any good recipes for sandwiches that I may not know about?
Nick: Let's see. Well, where I worked. There was a -cuts out of service- Ciabatta , homemade pesto, walnuts, parmesan cheese, -cuts out of service- bagel, mushrooms, tuna fish.
HSB: Are you a vegetarian?
Nick: Yes I am
HSB: Is Paul (De Jong, other half of The Books) also?
Nick: No.
HSB: So tell me about the first few sessions you and Paul had together
Nick: Well, the first thing we ever recorded is the first track on our first record. We kind of went from there.
HSB: Wow. How vast is your database of samples?
Nick: It's, um, getting more vast all the time. Since we moved into video it's taken on a whole new character. On our last tour we collected probably 2000 VHS tapes and probably another 2000 audio tapes. We're just starting to chew through those and find new material.
HSB: I remember you saying on your last tour that you just went to thrift stores and picked media up as you went by.
Nick: Yeah, that's exactly what we do. Whatever town we go to, we stop at the Salvation Army or Goodwill and rifle through their dollar bin.
HSB: So is this the main source from which you obtain samples?
Nick: Yeah, well, we also take samples from movies, vinyls, our own personal family archives. We also have a collection of images and texts. It's a huge mix of things. And it's getting larger all the time. Its really surprising what we're finding on the video front right now. It seems to be the cutting edge of what we're happening in our library right now.
HSB: How much extra material is there that doesn't get put on albums?
Nick: There's a huge amount that doesn't end up on our records. Maybe one percent of what we have actually ends up on our records.
HSB: Tell me what your views are regarding the boundaries of art. You guys really do transcend and try to bring things into one, I dunno, conglomeration of media. Do you have any plans to further branch out or bring things in?
Nick: Y'know, there's a sense of quality that we're looking for in the material that we select. It's kind of impossible to describe but you know it when you see itâ€”when you come across something that has an aura about it, a certain power that lasts over time. Like a really nice guitar riff or something that pulls you in and has the ability to connect to other things in many different ways. So the boundaries are just keeping a sense of what that is and maintaining an integrity within the music that allows that quality to come forward in a clear way. Other than that, stylistically, I don't think that there are a lot of boundaries in the way that we think about it. We're sort of stuck within our own aesthetic. It's not really considered, it is just what we do.
HSB: Are there any plans to bring in any interpretive dance?
Nick: (Laughs) I'm not a dancer, although there has been a lot of choreography done with our music. A lot of dancers seem to really latch onto it, I think because the music is multi-layered and dense. They send us tapes of their performances. We have quite a collection.
HSB: To what extent is your music aleatoric?
Nick: I think, it's not aleatoric, it's really tightly controlled. There's really not randomness in it. I mean, there is this sort of chaotic motion through cultural space that we all experience, but it is hard to see that as random. I think aleatoric, by definition, is 'composed by chance'. There is a chance element in how we cross paths with the material that we use. But in terms of how it is put together, there's no chance at all.
HSB: Can you tell me a bit about the process of how you pick a sample for a part? Do you spend a long time searching for it, or are you waiting for something to catch your ear with the emotive quality that you were talking about earlier?
Nick: Yeah, it's, uh, a matter of trial and error usually. You can't ever force anything into a place where it shouldn't go. So we try lots and lots of things and most of them don't work so we toss them out. Every once in a while you find something that really shines for some reason and we build off of that. It's a matter of putting things together and seeing how they stick.
HSB: Are there any specific samples or the finding of specific samples that stick out in your mind as ones that really spoke to you?
Nick: Yeah. There are those moments that go way beyond expectation. Like the Mommy/Daddy sample on 'Motherless Bastard' . I recorded that one myself out in L.A. I was videotaping jellyfish at the Aquarium of the Pacific and this conversation happened right next to me. It was amazing, I didn't even realize until I came home and watched the tape. It's stuff like that, that you're lucky to get on tape. There are a lot of others as well that are mindblowing. Like that Salvador Daliâ€¦
HSB: Is that Dali in 'Venice'?
Nick: Yeah, that's his voice
HSB: Wow, I'm glad to know that. I have found that your music is often really quotable. That makes sense, considering that there is a lot of spoken word in your music. A favorite line of mine is 'Welcome to the human race, you're a messâ€.
Nick: (Laughs) Yeah, that's Alan Watts from a radio lecture that he did many years ago. He is one of our favorite writers. He has such a grasp over the heart of religious philosophy. It just translates really well into where we're at now as a culture.
HSB: So what sort of writing does he do?
Nick: He was a comparative religion professor in Chicago for ten years. He was British originally, but moved to America. He was a practicing Buddhist by the end of his life.
HSB: Are you religious?
Nick: Am I religious? I wouldn't say religious. I think spiritual is rather a better word. It's really hard to, those words have been so bastardized that it's hard to make any sense out of them anymore. I'm not part of any organized group.
HSB: What did you study in college?
Nick: I studied chemistry and visual arts
HSB: How old are you?
Nick: I'm 31.
HSB: I read something you wrote on your website about how filesharing puts a big strain on your income. What do you think of filesharing as an, entity, I guess?
Nick: It's been hugely damaging, I think, to our livelihood. We see most of our livelihood simply stolen from us and I don't think that can be justified in any way. On the other hand, we can show up in a city where we only sold ten records and hundreds of people come to the show. That sort of makes up for it, except for the fact that I have to leave my family behind to make a living.
HSB: Do you download music?
Nick: No I don't.
HSB: That's interesting. Well, it does have its positive aspects as you mentioned. And I really think you've done cool stuff with the DVD and I heard something about sound art that you do, so it looks like you've found a way to work around the declination of cd sales.
Nick: Well, it's something we're forced to do. My real love is being in the studio and making records. Everything else is a distraction to me. I don't want to have to reinvent what I have to do all the time because people are stealing from me. I don't appreciate that, it's true, we're forced to do it.
HSB: Do you like to tour?
Nick: Do I like to tour? Um, I live through it, y'know. It's fun in certain ways, but like I said, I don't like to leave my family behind, so. I would prefer to be at home in the studio.
HSB: That's interesting. What is your favorite Books album? If you'd be comfortable saying. I dunno if you will.
Nick: I have no opinion on that. They're all my children.
HSB: Do you and Paul hang out a lot at home?
Nick: Uh, no, not really. We try to work on our own and then bring things together. When we need to be in the same space we are, but otherwise we're pretty private people.
HSB: Are there any concrete plans for the next album?
Nick: No, no concrete plans.
HSB: The track 'Tokyo' is in an HIV/AIDS prevention commercial. Have you received a lot of attention from that?
Nick: It hasn't seemed to affect anything as far as I can tell.
HSB: Did you think it was going to?
Nick: No, not really.
HSB: Have you had any other brushes with the mainstream?
Nick: (Laughs) I don't really understand the concept of the mainstream. I don't even think it exists anymore, to a large degree. I'm not concerned with the mainstream. I have nothing to say about it.
HSB: Do you see yourself as more of a musician or composer?
Nick: More as a composer. Being a musician is a secondary thing for me.
HSB: Do you listen to a lot of classical music?
Nick: I have at times. Right now I've been more into contemporary classical music, especially the work of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass
HSB: Right, they were the ones that kind of took instrumentation out of the box in classical music.
Nick: I think their compositional approach was totally different. It falls under the whole concept of minimalism, although I don't hear it as minimalism. The structure of it is different. The parameters that they set out to deal with are really different. It seems to reflect how culture is moving. It's less lyrical and more mechanistic.
HSB: How do you mean mechanistic?
Nick: I mean there's a certain conceptual aspect to it. There's a kind of mathematics there applied throughout. There's definitely subjective aesthetic but superficially it maintains this kind of evenness, um, which I really like. It doesn't have this kind of romantic or swooning quality that the classical music before it tended to have. It's much more even and meditative and I think that's why I like it.
HSB: Do you think that translates to electronic influence in other styles of music?
Nick: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yes, I think the primary aesthetic in dance music is the same one, they're very much related. Of course, the body of sound and the choice of sound are different and the structure is simplified.
HSB: Hey Nick, I think you're cutting out again. I want to wish you a lot of luck on the tour, I hope you get through in one piece.
Nick: Yeah, we're doing well so far.
HSB: Well, I tried hard to make it to the show but circumstance kind of shot me in the ass.
Nick: (Laughs) Well, maybe next time
HSB; Allright, man, goodbye.

Question: where do the books' samples come from

Answer: thrift stores

Question: what electronic musicians influenced zammuto

Answer: Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin

what electronic musicians influenced zammuto

Question: what type of instrumentation does the books' music usually consist of

Answer: acoustic

Question: along with david bowie and roxy music, what other band has influenced the books

Answer: Nirvana

Question: what are thrift stores' samples obtained from

Answer: cassettes

what are thrift stores' samples obtained from

Question: what instruments are usually played in the books' music

Answer: guitar, cello, banjo

what instruments are usually played in the books' music

Zammuto has described it as collage music.

Zammuto has described it as collage music .

Let the Good Times Roll for the Fords
By Pat O’Shea, Sports Writer
Ladies and gentlemen, the Haverford women’s basketball team is on a roll. With a victory this past Tuesday night against their rival Bryn Mawr, the Fords secured their ninth victory in a row, surpassing the previous record of eight consecutive victories. After a hard-fought road loss to Ursinus College on Thursday, the Fords are now 13-5, and 10-3 in Centennial Conference play. After winning 12 of their past 14 games dating back to November, the Fords are in first place in the conference—one game ahead of second-place Gettysburg—as they get set to take on third-place Dickinson today at home with tip-off set at 1:00PM.
The Fords’ streak was no fluke. The team is ranked third in the conference in field goal percentage (38.3%), first in free throw attempts (72.9%), as well as first in blocks per game (5.7). Combine these offensive statistics with the fact that they hold their opponents to a league low 31.5% field goal percentage, and it is no wonder that the Fords are enjoying their best season since the 2013-2014 season, when they won the Centennial Conference Championship.
While the Fords have displayed the importance of playing “team first” basketball in recent weeks, Sierra Berkel ’18 is in the top ten of the conference in three offensive categories: ninth in points per game (12.4), fifth in rebounds per game (8.8), and fourth in field goal percentage (49.7%). Samantha Wetzel ’18 also has dominated the boards, averaging 9.1 rebounds per game this season, good for third in the Centennial Conference, and she also has 54 blocks for this season, second highest in the conference. During the record-breaking win at Bryn Mawr on Tuesday night, Wetzel ’18 also cemented her place in the Haverford record books by blocking the 161st block of her collegiate career, setting a new program record. Sophomore Macy Goldbach has also been integral part of the team’s success averaging 11.7 PPG this season.
Haverford has presented their opponents with the difficult dilemma of deciding which player to focus their defensive efforts on as the Fords have multiple players on the court that can score at will. The Fords feature an extremely deep lineup that includes seven players that average more than 17 minutes per game, ensuring that the team can stay fresh until “winning time” late in games. This formula has definitely worked thus far, and they are playing at a level that suggests Haverford will be playing basketball games into the conference playoffs in late February.
Today, in Calvin Gooding ’84 Arena, the Haverford women’s basketball team will play at 1:00PM as they look to continue their impressive season with an important match-up against the Dickinson Red Devils.
Photo courtesy of Megan Furch
How Skin Gambling in CSGO has become more popular in recent years
By Kate Hawthorne, Staff Writer
In the late summer of 2012, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was released across all platforms. The game was designed as an upgraded successor to the revolutionary Half-2 fan made mod, CS: Source. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO for short) quickly gained popularity on the PC and in no time at all, a bunch of professional gamers started competing in tournaments and live streaming adrenaline fuelled, fast-paced team matches.
For as long as people have been watching this popular esport, players have been wanting to get into gambling on live games. This has seen a huge increase of people looking to find CSGO gambling sites. The sites have been quick to add popular casino styled games for their players to play, with a unique CSGO theme. People who enjoy betting on CSGO have been treated to a bunch of unique games which you won’t find on other online casinos or betting sites.
The globally renowned and successful streaming platform, Twitch.tv, is predominantly used by gamers to watch or stream CSGO matches and tournaments. This largely helped towards the gaming phenomenon taking flight and being as recognized as it is today.
The reason why gambling on CSGO has become so popular is due to how accessible it is to all players. Many sites you can gamble at accept both real money bets as well as skin deposits. Real money CSGO gambling works incredibly similar to how regular betting sites work. You simply make a deposit and place a bet on the team you want to win. There is usually a selection of markets to choose from and some of the best sites will even let you bet in-play. Skin gambling works slightly differently. Players can deposit both skins or vGO skins into their account and either turn those skins into coins to use at the site or gamble the skin to win more valuable skins.
Betting on CSGO isn’t limited to any region or country and players from all over the world enjoy watching it and making bets on the scintillating tournaments it produces. If you reside in the U.S you might want to check a few things out before you join a new site, however. This is due to the strict gambling laws in North America can be. Currently only players from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware can gamble at online casinos. For sports and esports betting, players must reside in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island or West Virginia.
Esports to be Taught in Schools Across the Nation
By Kate Hawthorne, Staff Writer
Esports Education – Courses to be offered to students training for a qualification in Esports
We’ve already seen esports as a college option being fully backed by governments in countries across Asia, but the United Kingdom have been the next country to back the academic side to esports.
Globally, the esports industry is projected to generate over $1.1 billion in 2020 with a 16% growth from the previous year, as reported by CSGOBettor.com.
Colleges around the UK are now looking to provide this to their students starting from September 2020. The Education and Skills Funding Agency has already confirmed and allocated the necessary funding.
Spotlight on Creativity: “The Coyote File” Unshelved
By Chloe Lindeman, Co-Editor-in-Chief
When was the last time you wrote or created something that really made you proud? For Alex Brooks (HC ’17), that moment is now — but it’s been in the works for more than four years.
After years of playing on some top cassava bingo sites, Alex Brooks struck inspiration and her love for new bingo games and slots were in her words "responsible for the recent change".
This Thursday, Brooks, a political science and Russian double major, is releasing the prologue to The Coyote Files, a digital article series he started during high school. It tells the story of the US and Russia fifty years in the future through the eyes of four different characters.
The Bi-College News sat down with the political science and Russian double major to hear what the process has been like for him. Here’s what he had to say:
Did you always know it was going to be a Russia-US story?
Not really … I wanted Russian characters in the story, because this was around the same time I was visiting Russia, participating in Russian programs and stuff. Russia’s a fascinating place, and it has a fascinating history, and so why not have some of it take place in Russia? It’s also a part of the world I understand more than I understand other places … I think the big caveat on what I’m writing is, this is my perspective. I don’t know everything about Russia; this is based on what I know and my experience and what thoughts I have personally.
Did you think a lot about it while you were studying abroad in Russia?
I did. It was hard for me to talk about exactly what it was about. I was trying to actually work on it in Russia. It was a lot harder to work on it in Russia because I was thinking in Russian and my ability to write in Russian is not as good … We had grammar class, and I was just tired of grammar exercises, so I would try to see if I could write a short story to use the grammar. Honestly, the idea didn’t work that well, but at least I got to explore what I could write in Russian.
You’ve been working on this for four years. Have things changed?
I’ve changed a lot; the story’s changed a lot, too. It’s nothing like whatever I was working on at first … I overhauled the story and completely scrapped everything I was doing and started from scratch at least five different times. I’ve written lots and lots of drafts. For every overhaul, I’ve written a draft of something … I did a lot of deleting stuff like crazy, especially if I learned something new and I’d realize that this element of something that I’d think is really important is not in the story at all; it’s time to change it. Or I’d discover I’m wrong about one sort of thing. Or I’d learn something new and I’d really want to work with that. But now I think … it’s ready now.
Was there ever a time when you thought about scrapping the project and doing something totally different?
I mean, not really. It’s weird because it’s something that’s stuck over the past few years, and there are times when I’m not working on it as much. I guess there are times when I have doubts. Like serious, serious doubts. And I’m wondering whether I’m going to do anything or whether it’s a waste of time or something. That’s definitely a thing, that’s happened multiple times. But ultimately, this is something I’m passionate about. I really like writing … at this point, I have the story; I just need to put it out there.
Brooks didn’t say much about the background of the story itself since the prologue is the background. He did note that among the characters are Allison King, “the daughter, basically, of the Bill Gates of their time;” Andrei Volodin, “who runs Kremlin Corp. … [which is] an arms corporation;” and Bagha, a “cybernetic soldier.”
“I’m starting with Trump and Putin … the prologue starts in 2020, so it’s not like now, and of course it hasn’t happened, but it’s foreseeable,” said Brooks.
You can read the prologue at www.thecoyotefile.com any time after its release tonight, Wednesday, Jan. 25, at midnight.
Growing interest in mobile bingos sites and apps
By Ethan Lyne, Lifestyle Editor
Online gaming has grown massively in the last couple of years, with mobile bingo sites perhaps being one of the most fun and easy to engage with. There’s not only the prospect of having a great time within a supportive online bingo community, there’s the chance to win millions and keep what you win from all sorts of no deposit bonuses and free welcome offers.
This demand from new bingo players looking to game at good mobile bingo sites is continuing to rise. All the while, mobile bingo apps are growing in popularity too. With 3G and 4G, iPhone and Android phones and super fast Internet becoming the norm, the world of online bingo just got more accessible.
The best rated online bingo rooms are never far away – with many available as soon as you open the app or site. Nowadays you can even read reviews to help choose before you play. And when you do play, have the option to deposit by a range of payment methods from Boku to Paypal to Ukash.
Choosing between a bingo app or site on mobile? Bingo sites today are built using HTML5 which makes them mobile-friendly, so you can enjoy the same type of experience as a desktop. Though, native apps provide a better overall user experience.
Mobile devices are ideal homes for the game of bingo – with touch screens, fast mobile networks and faster processors in-built. Now, many experts predict an even bigger increase in mobile bingo players in the not too distant future.
From the print edition published Dec. 7, 2016
10 best moments in poker
By Jonathan Byrne, Features Writer
While many things have been said about the popularity of poker games, we cannot deny the fact that poker has a history that runs back to the 18th century - that was the first time the game of poker was enjoyed around the Mississippi River. Poker was regarded as an outlaw game prior to the 20th century, and the general public did not have access to it in a free manner.
The game continued to spread across the US, especially during the 1894 Gold Rush and even during the Civil War. At that period, poker presented an opportunity to compete without gunshots and land some prize money in winnings. This captivated gamers and became very popular in saloons around, making it a common thing among the people.
However, poker did not blossom right away, because it took some time to explode. What we have done with this article is to make a very detailed timeline of the 10 most interesting facts about poker that every lover of the game should know.
Poker Becomes A Mainstream Game In The US
Just as we have said, poker was seen as an outlaw game in the US before the 20th century. The general public could not access it because of that and it was not recognized by a lot of people. But when many formats for playing poker were brought into the mix, and some purely entertainment and fun-focused types of poker like strip poker became very common things started changing. Having said that, the turning point came when Texas Hold’em that gets people more excited than other forms of poker like 5 card draw poker was legalized. Nowadays online poker at new UK casino sites is booming.
The first WSOP in 1970
What we could regard as the most respected poker tournament in the world was launched in 1970, though with a different format to what is obtainable in today’s WSOP. At that time, it was an invitational cash game where seven players challenged each other at the Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. By the end of the first season, the first champion was decided by a vote, and Johny Moss emerged victorious.
Poker Event Was First Televised In 1973
After the first WSOP in 1970, they hit another milestone in 1973 when the first poker event was televised. The event was the WSOP in Las Vegas too, and it paved the way for the general public to get a taste of what the game is like. This shored up interest in the game and led to the first female players being invited to join them, as an uncommon move at the time.
First Online Poker Room Came In 1998
With the game garnering even more players and the proliferation of the internet, opening of the first online poker room was inevitable, and that signaled a new chapter in the entire history of poker. It was in 1998 that Planned Poker opened, and though it did not garner huge success in terms of traffic, the road was paved for other poker platforms to open, and the ones that came later recorded the expected success. The growth of the industry was hampered by disconnections, slow loading times, and limited internet access a bit. But when these problems were solved, it witnessed an exponential growth.
The 2003 WSOP Trophy Goes to Chris Moneymaker
The WSOP has had many champions, but none has influenced the game like Chris Moneymaker did. He was just 27 and an accountant from Tennessee. He was an amateur poker player, and got into the tournament through an internet satellite of just $86. He went ahead to defeat 839 professional players, and at the heads up battle, he defeated Sammy Farha to go home with the $2.5 million prize money. The number of people trying to replicate what he did has grown exponentially. The tournament had 2,576 players in 2004, 5,619 players in 2005, and 8,773 players in 2006.
Isildur1 Surprised the Poker World In 2009
Only a few poker players succeeded in creating the type of buzz that Isildur1 created at the FullTilt poker room in 2009. This player that was not known by people at that time defeated the big names in the game and came out successful, taking home millions of their money. This made everybody start studying his moves. Many people launched FullTilt poker to look at his moves and how he beats other players. After defeating all the opponents, players that were breaking down his system to the last details and those sharing the databases Isildur’s hands in a move that was considered wrong at the time stopped him. The game will always remember him as a legend, and people will always savor the moments when he defeated the entire players.
Black Friday In 2011
Poker history witnessed one of its worst days on Friday the 15th of April 2011. It was the day domains of the biggest poker rooms at that time were seized by the Department of Justice of the U S. The affected rooms were the Ultimate bet, FullTilt Poker, and PokerStars. They locked players’ funds and blocked access to the site, and people started wondering what the problem was. After some time, an announcement came, and it revealed that only US players would be affected by the clampdown, but the act proved to be very inimical to the growth of the poker industry all over the world.
A World Record Was Set By PokerStars In 2013
Poker stars set a fresh world record in 2013, even as US players were not allowed to take part. It reached 225,000 players at that time. During the period under review, the buy-in was $1 and the guaranteed prize pool had $300.000. The tournament was memorable in many ways. The record has not been beaten till now, and it does not seem like any will do that in the nearest future.
Head up Games Got Solved by Poker Bots In 2015
With the development of poker strategies over the years, the arrival of poker bots became inevitable. Science departments in the biggest universities started working to create software that could play poker games, and though they did not hit success immediately, the silver lining became very clear in 2015. There were a lot of flaws with the first poker bots, so people were able to beat them easily. But ‘Cepheus’ arrived and put paid to Heads-Up Limit games and no one could beat it. The format was not popular and the threat was not much, but it still made a lot of players nervous, and they started questioning the next level for poker.
Pluribus, the AI Software Defeats Players in 6max Format In 2019
While the previous software couldn’t play one on one games, the arrival of Pluribus changed things. The advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software defeated 5 top players in the 6 max games, and players never appreciated that.
The bot was not taught any strategies by the scientists this time. Instead, they allowed him to learn by playing against himself with the basic rules of poker. Unexplainable play was learnt by pluribus, and this made it difficult for humans to beat.
What does the future hold? Let’s watch and see.
Haverford Basketball Off to a Promising Start
By Pat O’Shea, Contributing Writer
The Haverford Men’s Basketball team is off and running in their 2016-2017 season. They collected their first win on November 19th against Penn State- Schuylkill in the Lycoming Tournament, and have played three extremely hard fought games since including a two point loss to Bryn Athyn.
Coach Michael Mucci is in his 22nd season as the Head Coach of the Fords. Kyle Goldfarb ’19, the team’s leader in minutes per game, describes Mucci as “a players coach, and always has his player’s best interest in mind.”
This year, Coach Mucci brought in new assistant coaches, Rudy Wise, Cory Jacobson, and Doug Young in order to help develop the team. According to Kahlil Garnes ’19 and the Fords leading scorer, Joe Scibelli ’19, these additions to the coaching staff are paying off.
Wise, Jacobson, and Young are “bringing some new energy, schemes and toughness that we lacked last year.” says Scibelli. “We are lucky to have them.”
Notes Garnes, “all three are very knowledgeable and really want to win.”
In addition to the new assistant coaches, the Fords are relying on their team chemistry in order to make strides in the Centennial Conference this season.
Scibelli believes that the “team chemistry is solid. We are a young team, which means that some of the typical hierarchy isn’t present. We are really close with the young guys and it has become a tight group.”
Kyle Goldfarb, ‘19, agrees with Scibelli in that “the team chemistry has definitely improved. This is the second year we have had a class of six or more sophomores, and both classes have meshed well together.”
Scibelli and Garnes also agree that the team can definitely improve their turnovers. “We are not valuing the basketball,” says Scibelli, “This should improve as the season goes on and we get more comfortable with each other. The team has done a decent job of meshing so far but we still have a long way to go.”
The common thread of reducing turnovers is one point that Garnes echoed along with improving their “technique after getting into the paint.”
The Fords will host the Muhlenberg Mules on Wednesday, and then travel to Washington College on Dec. 10. Be sure to come out to Gooding ’84 Arena to support the Fords.
From the print edition published Dec. 7, 2016
Haverford Women’s Basketball Off to a Strong Start
By Pat O’Shea, Contributing Writer
The Haverford College Women’s Basketball opened the 2016-2017 season with hopes of making program history: the Fords will be looking to reach the Centennial Conference Tournament for a program record-breaking sixth consecutive season. The Fords are also looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since their 2013-2014 championship season.
Leading the Fords in her ninth year is Head Coach Bobbi Morgan, who has them very well positioned for a deep run. It is no coincidence that Coach Morgan has found success at Haverford in part because “she knows her stuff inside and out and constantly brings energy each day, which fuels us,” as Katie Cook ’19 says.
Junior Captain Sam Wetzel ’18 also commented on what Coach Morgan means to her and the team as “one of the best experiences I have had as a basketball player. She is like our mom at college.” A mom that understands her players and, as Wetzel says, “knows when we need a confidence boost and when we need a little tough love, but in the end, she helps us reach potential we did not realize we had.”
The team culture breeds success for the Women’s Basketball team. First-year Megan Furch describes her upperclass teammates as amazing both on and off the court.
“They are really patient teaching us plays and walking us through the motions,” said Furch. “They are some of the most supportive teammates I have ever had and I couldn’t imagine playing with anyone else.”
Sophomore Katie Cook believes that this chemistry helps the team on the court: “We are a very close team … it took some getting used to but we all play for each other, which is really important in this sport. When you have an entire team rooting for the success of everyone, it’s a powerful thing.”
So far this season, the Fords are 2-1 in Conference play with wins over Bryn Mawr and Franklin & Marshall. Junior Captain Sierra Berkel noted, “the start of the season has been really exciting. Even with just a few games under our belt, I have extreme confidence in the potential of our time this year.”
The Fords play two more Conference games before Winter break. The first is a home game against Muhlenberg on Wednesday, Nov. 7. On Saturday, Dec. 10, they travel to Washington College.
From the print edition published Dec. 7, 2016
“20 Feet from Stardom:” The Making of a Real Star
By Abby Hoyt, Co-Editor-in-Chief
In an era where most Hollywood singers sport commanding attitudes and resplendent clothing, Lisa Fischer’s humble nature and casual attire convinces the world to re-examine what makes someone a star.
Fischer strolled onto the stage in Bryn Mawr College’s Goodhart Theatre with a deep purple shawl draped gently across her body. A long, flowing yellow skirt occasionally floated away to reveal glittery sandals and painted toes. But don’t let this casual look fool you. This singer got her start as a back-up singer for legendary names like Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones and Luther Vandross.
Despite their talent, background singers tend to go unnoticed, and their voices are often overshadowed by the star of the show. Filmmaker Morgan Neville made a documentary in 2013 called “20 Feet From Stardom,” which examined the dynamic between background singers and the stars they work with. The film features renowned back-up singers like Lisa Fischer, Darlene Love, Merry Clayton and Judith Hill, portraying the struggles each woman went through in her quest to start a solo career.
Both Merry Clayton and Darlene Love show a small hint of disappointment when they speak about their solo careers. They express disappointment that they didn’t end up being the big stars they expected.
Fischer differs from these women in that she always found comfort in “walking the street and not having to worry about putting on sunglasses and hiding out.” In the documentary she describes her record deal as “just one of those things that just kind of blossomed,” and explains that she understands how fortunate she was. In 1992, she won a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her song “How Can I Ease the Pain.”
While the modern Grammy Award winner featured in an episode of MTV’s Cribs has a mansion decked out with the latest technology and impressive memorabilia, a scene in the documentary shows Fischer’s modest and cluttered apartment, giving the viewer insight into Fischer’s genuine humility. The camera pans around the room showing the apartment in a light state of disarray. We see a pile of clutter in the corner — clutter that turns out to be several gold albums and gifts from the musicians she has toured with. Later in the film we see her Grammy on a shelf with various other knick-knacks and picture frames. She blushes as she points it out and playfully admits, “Oh and here’s my Grammy…I just kinda keep it there. I don’t know what to do with it.”
After winning her Grammy she started to pursue a second record deal, but things didn’t go exactly as planned. “I was working on a second record and I don’t know. I just took too long. There was this window and it just took too long.”
Despite this setback, Fischer kept singing simply because she just likes to sing. In the film she is quoted as saying, “I love melodies. I’m in love with the sound vibration and what it does with other people. It’s familiar but so special and you’re just so happy when you get there and you try to stay there for as long as you can.”
And stay there she does. Her music combines elements of smooth jazz and soul that make the listener feel instantly relaxed. Her songs consist of mostly melodious tones and a cacophony of oos and ahhs that seem to never end. She’s careful to hit every note, and she leaves the audience to breathe in each note she makes and anxiously await the next one. In the film, she compares her singing style to that of a feather that was blown into the air.
“You just go, never hit a hitch,” she says. “You just land. That’s what it feels like to me.”
This is clearly conveyed to anyone who has had the pleasure of hearing her sing. There is so much effort that goes into every sound she makes, and the sound seems to come from her whole body, not just her mouth. She sways around the stage as if she is using her body to bounce the notes around the room. She doesn’t just hold the microphone; she tangos with it, creating different sounds by moving it in circles around her mouth. Her voice is genuine and warm. Even audience members with limited musical background (such as myself) had chills throughout the performance.
She began touring with the band, Grand Baton, in 2014, and in this setting she is advertised as the main attraction. However, her years as a backup singer have clearly left an impact on her, as she makes sure that the talent dynamics on stage are horizontal rather than vertical. She takes care to keep the main focus of the stage is not herself, and she dedicates generous time in her performance to feature each of her band members and allow them to go “off book” and show the room their talent.
Once she finished singing, several audience members came up to the stage to bring her bouquets of flowers. She graciously accepted the gifts, taking the time to bend down and thank each person individually. She walked back to center stage, put the flowers down, and softly thanked the audience, saying, “Thank you so much for these gifts, but just know that the best gift you could have given me was coming here tonight.”
Her concerts convey her desire to sing purely because she loves to sing. At the same time, they invite you into her heart and soul for an hour, and you walk away in paralyzing peace.
In the documentary, Sting makes an appearance. He comments on what separates real stars from the rest of the performers out there and argues that there is a “spiritual component to what they do that’s got nothing to do with worldly success.” He describes singing as “more an inner journey,” for true stars and that “any other success is just cream on the cake.”
Despite her start near the back of the stage, Fischer’s presence on stage and distinct musical talent have earned her a place among the stars of modern music.
From the print edition published Dec. 7, 2016
Consent to Be Seen: Magill Library’s Newest Exhibit
By Sophie Webb, Features Editor
Sharpless Gallery in Haverford College’s Magill Library is home to a new exhibit, this one titled Consent to Be Seen. A collection of works by Riva Lehrer, the exhibit opened Oct. 28 and is curated by Courtney Carter ‘17 and Assistant Professor of Writing Kristin Lindgren.
The exhibit is a collection of thirteen pieces of art and two display cases of sketches, all by artist and disability activist Riva Lehrer. Lehrer is a Chicago-based artist whose work focuses on representing the human body, specifically differently abled and physically abnormal bodies and people whose identities have been challenged or traditionally not accepted by society. In Consent to Be Seen, she focuses specifically on the biomedicine idea of “informed consent,” or the permission a patient can give to receive treated from the doctor. But rather than focusing on biomedicine, the exhibit centers around the idea of consenting to being seen. In her work, Lehrer aims to represent disabled bodies and people whose identities are unaccepted as full subjects and full people, challenging the viewer to see something more than the disability.
Each of the thirteen pieces in the exhibit depicts a body, but the medium used ranges from acrylic to colored pencil to collage. The pieces are quite large, and all together they have a commanding presence in the room. Accompanying each piece is a paragraph written by Lehrer that describes the piece and offers more insight, so that the viewer can know more about the subjects of her paintings, whether that subject be herself, transgender poet and activist Eli Clare, activist and University of Wisconsin at Madison professor Finn Enke or Curator and Art Historian Rhoda Rosen. Each of these subjects and the others that accompany them have a story to tell, and Lehrer attempts to tell that story through her art.
The power of the exhibit can’t truly be conveyed through words; it has to be seen. The exhibit will remain open through late January. Until then, it will continue to influence those who see it, making its viewers pause for a moment and truly think.
From the print edition published Dec. 7, 2016

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