Collage GuyBack in 1999, when a
mash-up was something done only to potatoes, DJ And sound-collage artist Jonathan Nelson launched an online radio show called
Some Assembly Required. Operating from a college station in Minnesota, it showcased cut-and-paste acts like The Tape-beatles and Evolution Control Committee, as well as Nelson's own mix of music, instructional records, comedy, and whacky effects, digitally sculpted into a one-of-a-kind sound.
Ten years later, his aural experiments play out on a syndicated weekly radio broadcast and a new album titled
(Emphasis Added), recorded under the name Escape Mechanism and inhabited by a chorus of voices ranging from Wolfman Jack to motivational speakers. "These are the sounds in my head when I dream," Nelson says, "thanks to growing up in a media-soaked universe. "
- Elizabeth Held
