Name: ESP by Pieken
Duration: 5 min 9 s
Description: Gear used: MPC-1000, Arturia Minibrute, Novation Bass Station II, Yamaha CS-10, Crumar Performer, Crumar Toccatta, Gem Sprinter 61, Rhodes Electronic Piano (Model 3363).

Gear used: MPC-1000, Arturia Minibrute, Novation Bass Station II, Yamaha CS-10, Crumar Performer, Crumar Toccatta, Gem Sprinter 61, Rhodes Electronic Piano (Model 3363).

Brutes Unlimited

Train//Tracks is an album-length collection of field recordings which captures the performances and environment of busking musicians in Chicago's underground train stations. The noisy interplay of the trains themselves becomes an integral part of the mix while providing natural transitions.
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Chicago's deep and rich musical tradition extends into the city streets and far underground to the train stations where buskers play for ever-shifting crowds. Stop to listen and one finds a unique patchwork of classic and contemporary musical influences drawn from around the world. The music becomes part of the city, melding seamlessly with the bustling people and roaring trains.

Beginning as a field recording exercise, the project evolved into something else as I tuned-in to the interplay of city sounds. In the work, a musical focus remains, but the music is augmented by the complex, thundering sound of trains rolling in and out of the stations. Their alien, mechanical noise occasionally overwhelms but never sticks around, offering natural transitions between songs and performances.

The trains do much to suggest the environment of the recording, but it's the musicians themselves—and their sometimes attentive audiences—who offer subtler charms. With nothing as artificial as a stage to separate, direct interaction is inevitable and part of the livelihood. The rough and imperfect nature of the recording helps to remind one that the music was made for the moment and for whomever might happen by to listen.

The music, the trains and the people all combine to create a sound that is Chicago to its core.

Field recordings were made between February and April of 2012 and compiled from approximately 20 hours of audio. Original photo by Kara Allyson.

Train//Tracks

Jewelry Watches Gold

1st track from our upcoming EP Black Water. Featuring Andrea Cochran(MEGABRUISER) on backup vocals! Released via Sanzimat International on April 9th, 2013. Pre-order this release digitally or on cassette through Sanzimat at http://sanzimat.bandcamp.com/album/black-water. ENJOY!

All Around You

Exploring, reforming, extracting, relaxing... space is the place.

ESP

Pieken

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