Episode 11
Episode 10: Waiting for the G Train After Midnight
This week, I want you to come on a journey with me. It is a journey through memory. We are going back to a time and place and reliving an experience. This experience is not a singular instance. This experience is a cumulative one.
There are some neighborhoods of Brooklyn which are only serviced by the G train. This subway line runs roughly north to south from Queens to Brooklyn. There are numerous other subway lines which connect to it that can take you into the other boroughs of NYC. Typically, late at night there are fewer passengers who require the usage of the G train, so there will be a limited number of trains operating on the line at once. If you have missed the most recent train, you can wait for up to an hour for the next one to arrive. Before the MTA installed LED signs in stations informing their passengers how long a wait was before them, this time could seem like an eternity.
Like a Jackson Pollack painting, this piece is sprawling in dimension. It also employs musical elements in a repetitive manner that resemble the painter's drips and sprays. The basis for the piece comes from drums which have been overloaded with electronic signals to cue sequences of MIDI tones. Then once this was perfected, two separate takes of trumpet blowing are laid into the the landscape, converted into MIDI, split into multiple channels which then are overloaded with sequences of their own. Finally, the mix employs multiple levels of interconnected signals sidechained together to create and enhance the vibe of this mystical experience.
