In radio, bumpers are segments of audio—usually music or voice overs—used to fill in breaks between regular programming. New Topophonics is intended to function as an extended bumper, a break between scheduled events that provides the space for a moment of relaxation and reflection. A series of environmental field recordings, New Topophonics captures our natural landscape as it is, in situ, a part of the metropolis and the metropolis an inextricable part of it. Recorded on forest hikes, city walks, and excursions to historic locations, this collection of field recordings offers listeners the opportunity to immerse themselves in the different aural environments of the city, while discovering new places to visit themselves.

New Topophonics takes its name from the influential 1975 exhibition “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape.” Unlike the Ansel Adams-style depictions of untainted nature, this new movement focused on the built landscape—architecture, motor vehicles, asphalt, concrete—alongside the natural world. By capturing the man-altered landscape, these photographs cast a critical eye on urbanism's destructive—and also constructive—environmental effects. “New Topophonics” captures a similar landscape in audio form, raising increasingly relevant questions about human interventions in the environment and environmental interventions in human life.

Daniel Tovar is a sound artist and educator based in Los Angeles. His work, created primarily with field recordings, experimental Foley, and electronic synthesizers, explores the aesthetic value of the mundane, typically ignored sounds of everyday life. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Northwestern University and a BA from UC Berkeley. He currently teaches philosophy at Sci_Arc in Los Angeles, and has previously taught in the liberal arts program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been performed at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Coaxial, and Experimental Sound Studio.