Spectrum​ WinterProg treat: Julie Slick​ (guitar), Marco Machera​ (bass, vocals),Tim Motzer​ (Guitar) and Pat Mastelotto​ (drums) do an improv + King Crimson's "Indiscipline" (Italian version!), a piece reportedly based on a letter to Adrian Belew​ from his wife about one of her paintings.  17 minutes; "Indiscipline" kicks in at about 7' 30" .  Enjoy!

Last song, last set, 31 January 2015.

Improv - Indiscipline

"ricer[subway]car in seven segments" was germinated by two engaging, resonant sounds mapping closely to two notes one whole-step apart (E and F#) heard (and iPad-recorded with "immediacy-enhanced" fidelity) one evening (and only one evening – 6 January 2015) while waiting on the Brooklyn-bound Subway platform for the F Train at the NYC Delancey-Essex subway stop. I recorded the sounds with the intent of using them in a composition; here it is.

The first segment starts on E, centered on the subway recording (embellished with other sounds [roughly] of the E pitch class). The second segment adds the F# pitch class (again centered round field recordings form the subway. Each subsequent segment adds a pitch class, appearing in the following order: E F# G# D# A# C# B. This comes out as the E Lydian mode or – per the intentions of the last three segments, the Indian (Hindustani) Raag Yaman. Care is taken to approach B only in descent. 

In addition to the Raag Yaman structure in the last three segments, all seven segments use Indonesian gamelan samples for colotomic structure (i.e., where sequences of measures or fractions thereof are demarcated with a specific sequence of gamelan instruments). The ketawang structure is used here. It has fifteen periods marked by a gong strike and one period (the “Wela”) where there is no gong strike. The sequence is as follows:

Kempyang	Ketuk	Kempyang	Wela
Kempyang	Ketuk	Kempyang	Kenong
Kempyang	Ketuk	Kempyang	Kempul
Kempyang	Ketuk	Kempyang	Gong Suwukan
This structure is at times modified, especially for the time signatures in 5/8 rather than 4/4.

Other gamelan instruments (e.g., slentem, bonang, demung) as well as a drum kit are used during the first four segments of the piece. For the last three segments, sampled Indian tabla drum passages are used for percussion.

Edited segments of the initial subway on-site recording (known by the term “field recording”) are used in the first three segments of the piece. The entire subway recording is played through once for the last three segments of the piece.

Glenn Cornett
International Strange Music Day (24 August), 2020

ricer[subway]car in seven segments

Glenn Cornett, voice, rhythm guitar (recorded in Paris) - Upper left of picture
John Huldt, lead guitar (recorded in Los Angeles) - Right of picture
Jean Bardy, bass guitar (recorded in Paris) - Lower left of picture
Richard Portier, drums (recorded in Paris) - not pictured

Subplanet is a vehicle for producing pieces by Glenn Cornett.  The lineup varies from track to track, but always involves excellent musicians (and Glenn).

Lyrics:

Is there yet a rhyme unused 
Full of red facts from the gauge
To flow from my pen on account of you
And fix my soul deeply on the page

I live in a world
Of hopes held firmly as I roam
My vaults of ambition have pierced the sky
But the solitude penetrates the bone
 Penetrates the bone

Roaring through the rocky waste
Land of chasm currents un wound
Flash in the pan at best may we explode
Into nothingness of sound
 Hard sharp rock teeth longer still
As they gnash my head is full
Rips in the rock make a whirlpool for me
Even I may pass the pull

I live in a world
Of hopes held firmly as I roam
My vaults of ambition have pierced the sky
But the solitude penetrates the bone
 Penetrates the bone

 Torrents leave me still afloat
All the earthquakes I survive
I know but the absence of lovers once pledged
When the best and worst arrive

Peaks and troughs endured so far
Must we still seek love to hold
We’ve built a fire will we thrive in the heat
Or stagnate again in the cold

I live in a world
Of hopes held firmly as I roam
My vaults of ambition have pierced the sky
But the solitude penetrates the bone
 Penetrates the bone

Ambition

Subplanet is an umbrella project of Glenn Cornett and various collaborators. Glenn is a biotech entrepreneur who founded and continues to manage Spectrum, an experimental arts venue in NYC that has presented >2,400 concerts since opening in 2012. His incompletely-frequent compositions range from serialism to progressive post-rock to almost-ordinary amplified music.  His biotech work addresses treatments for Alzheimer's disease, autism, cancer, cardiovascular/metabolic disease and COVID. His neuroscience doctoral thesis (UCLA) was on deep-brain responses to musical stimuli. His MD was from U. Michigan.

Subplanet

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