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Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste joins Nikita Gale and Alexander Provan to speak about bass as a way to repulse people or bring them together, cause aggravation or collective pleasure. Toussaint-Baptiste recounts moments in his life when bass, emanating from a parked car or carnival, has shaken his walls, tested his nerves, and made him feel connected to other people, whether or not he appreciates the music blasting from their subwoofers. Ranging from the soundtrack of his childhood in Baton Rouge to the sonic maelstrom of J’ouvert in Brooklyn, Toussaint-Baptiste describes bass as a means for marginalized people to make an impression on an insensitive world. He listens to chopped-and-screwed cumbia, Ariana Grande, laptop speakers, Nelly, the passage of bass through subway tunnels, and frequencies too low to hear.
Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste is an artist, composer, and performer living in New York City. His work has recently been exhibited at Interstate Projects (Brooklyn) and Hessel Museum of Art (Annandale-On-Hudson, New York).
In this episode, Toussaint-Baptiste presents a monologue with music and illustrative audio, adapted from a performance that he presented last year at Triple Canopy, where he is currently in residence. In a conversation accompanying the episode, Toussaint-Baptiste elaborates on the uses and abuses of bass—and on how the experiences recounted in his monologue have shaped (and politicized) him as a listener. He speaks about low-frequency sounds as instructing us to, in relating to each other, keep in mind what we can’t see, what we can’t hear, what we don’t know. And he connects his understanding of bass—as forging visceral connections between people without revealing who they are—to the philosopher Eduard Glissant’s “poetics of relation,” which suggests that “each and every identity is extended through a relationship with the Other.”
In order of appearance, the music and other recordings played on this episode are: Najee, “Najee’s Theme,” Najee’s Theme (EMI America, 1986); Nelly feat. Kelly Rowland, “Dilemma,” Nellyville (Universal and Fo’ Reel, 2002); Super Grupo Colombia, “Pájaro Zinzontle,” Super Grupo Colombia: Lo Mejor De Siempre (MultiMusic Mexico, 2000); E.S.G., “Swangin’ and Bangin’,” Ocean of Funk (Perrion Entertainment, 1994); trailer from Ticks, dir. Tony Randel, (USA, 1994); Leonela Guzman, field recording of I-10 near Vassar Street, Houston, Texas, 2021; MC Nero Baby, “I Gotta Lotta Respect,” I Gotta Lotta Respect (NBJ Records, 1996); RidinChevySolo, “2005 Silverado Traffic/Street bass REACTIONS,” video, 2012; FeteTV, “West Indian Day Parade 2018,” video, 2018; Ariana Grande feat. Iggy Azalea, “Problem,” My Everything (Republic, 2014); CHInewsable, “Fireworks on the streets of Crown Heights 6/20/20,” video, 2020; Vybz Kartel, “Go Go Wine,” Kingston Story (Mixpak Records, 2011); Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, “LEV AS,” 2021.
Medium Rotation is produced by Alexander Provan with Andrew Leland, and edited by Provan with Matt Frassica. Tashi Wada composed the theme music. Matt Mehlan acted as audio engineer and contributed additional music.
Medium Rotation is made possible through generous contributions from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Nicholas Harteau. This season of Medium Rotation is part of Triple Canopy’s twenty-sixth issue, Two Ears and One Mouth, which receives support from the Stolbun Collection, the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, Agnes Gund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
