Anyone interested in this communal nature of experimental music in its "post-Cagean" (peri-Cagean?) incarnation will find an impeccably cast movie (humans, computers, circuits…) with writing and editing that makes Semi-Conducting surprisingly hard to put down… Newcomers will get a detailed, honest narrative introduction to some of North America's and Europe's more unusual music.

Leonardo Reviews

Blurring the lines between composition and chance, Nicolas Collins' intimate reflections in Semi-Conducting reveal how life and music share the same experimental spirit-messy, full of happy accidents, and constantly stumbling into surprises. Part memoir, part musical adventure, reading this book is its own kind of performance, tuning into the unexpected and letting the feedback (of memory) play aloud.

You Nakai, Chair of the Department of Avant-Garde Arts, The University of Tokyo, Japan

With the characteristic brilliance of his humorous yet thought-provoking style, Nicolas Collins seems to offer us a memoir that features almost every possible type of music in a series of encounters, inventions, journeys, and much serendipity. But in reality, what we have here could be the definitive autobiography of experimental music itself.

Veniero Rizzardi, Adjunct Professor, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy

In this delightful memoir, Nic Collins takes us on a personal tour of experimental music, showing us that it has always been a music of tinkerers, hackers, and circuit benders.

Christoph Cox, Executive Dean, Eugene Lang College, The New School, USA

Armed with home-brew circuits and primitive computers, Semi-Conducting is an illuminating account chronicling the experimental music scene from Downtown NY to the Concertgebouw.

James Fei, Professor, Mills College at Northeastern University, USA