While studying at Oberlin College, Brokaw met many people who became figures on the American indie rock scene of the 1990s, among them Stephen Immerwahr, who formed Codeine with Brokaw, as well as Sooyoung Park of Bitch Magnet and Seam, Liz Phair and John McEntire of Tortoise.
Soon after graduating from Oberlin, Brokaw played drums for G.G. Allin. He also played drums on the two first Codeine albums, and helped kick-start Liz Phair's career. In 1990 he returned to the guitar, one of his two main instruments, and teamed up with Thalia Zedek, a well-known figure on New York's post-No Wave scene. The two formed Come, a band that despite never gaining much mainstream popularity is still widely seen as one of the most important bands of the American indie rock scene of the 1990s, in terms of originality and artistic courage.
Brokaw and Zedek took a break from Come at the end of the decade, and the band never regrouped, though the pair has since performed together on many occasions. In November 2008 the band convened for one performance at the Tanned Tin Festival in Spain.
After Come, Brokaw has released several albums in his own name, from the instrumental Post-Rock of Red Cities, through the composition and performance of the musical score for "i was born, but...", to the more straightforward song structure of Incredible Love. Both Brokaw and Zedek were invited to participate in a limited edition series of albums by Normal Records, a German label. As a noteworthy detail, Brokaw recorded his contribution, Wandering As Water, in one day, playing all instruments on the record.
In 2008 Brokaw formed his own record label, CAPITAN RECORDS, which has released 2 solo albums of his instrumental music ("Canaris" and "Gracias, Ghost of The Future") as well as his collaboration with Wrekmeister Harmonies, "Live in NYC".
Additionally, Brokaw has played in the bands Pullman, Rivulets, Consonant, and The New Year and played as accompanist to such artists as Thurston Moore, Evan Dando, Steve Wynn, Fan Modine, Christina Rosenvinge, Alan Licht, and Rhys Chatham. He provided music for two dance companies: Kino Dance (Boston) and the Daghda Dance Company (Ireland), and scored the films "I Was Born, But" (Roddy Bogawa) and "Road" (Leslie McCleave). Chris participated as drummer 10 in the Boredoms 77 Boadrum performance which occurred on July 7, 2007 at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, New York.
In 2007 he formed the band Dirtmusic with Chris Eckman (Walkabouts) and Hugo Race, they released the same-titled album on Glitterhouse and then in 2008 performed at The Festival In The Desert, in Essakane, Mali, where they met the Touareg band Tamikrest. In January 2009 they recorded their second album "BKO" at Ali Farka Toure's old studio in Bamako, Mali, in collaboration with Tamikrest, released in 2010.
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