On Leap of Faith: "Alien yet familiar, bizarre yet completely fascinating. Expanding, contracting, erupting, settling down, always as one force..." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
On Metal Chaos Ensemble: "... using unique strategies to yield densely active and eerily surreal music, an incredible excursion through experimental improvisation." - Squidco website staff
Evil Clown
Leap Of Faith Orchestra: The Expanding Universe -
By Karl Ackermann, AllAboutJazz.com - July 8, 2016:
The creative music cooperative known as Leap of Faith had a long initial run from 1993 to 2001 and then re-booted in 2015. At their core, from the beginning, have been multi-instrumentalists David Peck (aka PEK) and Glynis Lomon. PEK, however, assumes a more than democratic leadership role across the many manifestations of the collective that live on his Evil Clown label. On The Expanding Universe the Leap of Faith Orchestra—true the album title—escalates with full (but non-conventional) ensemble of fifteen.
At fifty-thousand feet, one could describe the overall vibe of The Expanding Universe as running the gamut from melodic to shambolic. The latter perception may be driven by the presence of more than four-dozen instruments/devices in the hands of these fifteen artists. The sole track (being the title track) is a sprawling epic at seventy-seven minutes and does indeed deviate between the austere and the chaotic, but as always, composer PEK has a higher purpose. Swerving whistles and a siren usher in the piece with no small amount of urgency building to a crescendo of noise before a lone tuba replaces near-calamity with dark mystery. Later, piano and alternate devices struggle for dominance, lopsided melodies collide with bells, blocks and cymbals in a musical representation of the album's stated theme.
PEK and the Leap of Faith Orchestra collectively have the gift of being able to discover music where it lives and one would be justified in believing that they could find aesthetic value in the rhythm of windshield wipers as certainly as with a saxophone. The Expanding Universe only marginally revolves around recognizable spheres like the bass, vibes or cello. There are nebulas of boomwhakers, fog horns, sirens and pieces of metal attracted by the gravitational pull. Like any uncharted exploration, attention to detail makes this experimental journey a memorable experience.
String Theory - Condensed Phases of Matter -
By Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery -
July 15, 2016:
STRING THEORY - Condensed Phases of Matter (Evil Clown 9111; USA) String Theory features Dave PEK on clarinets, sopranino & tenor saxes, double reeds, game calls, etc., Glynis Lomon on cello & aquasonic, Mimi Rabson on violin and Jane Wang on cello. String Theory is a quartet off-shoot of Leap of faith with two core members: PEK and Glynis Lomon. I hadn’t heard of Ms. Rabson before this but I do know Jane Wang from her work with Sabir Mateen. This disc was recorded live at Mobius in Cambridge, MA in June of 2016, just last month. As with all or most Leap of Faith sets, this sounds mainly improvised and is one long 70 minute set. String Theory sounds like a modern string quartet with PEK’s various reeds replacing the viola. It is always nice to hear an aquasonic or waterphone, a sort of bowed vase with water inside which changes the tonality. It works well with the other strings and reeds. There are some especially magical sections where the three strings and double reed (oboe or bassoon) sound especially strong together, creating odd slight off-balance vibes, like drifting on a calm ocean which slowly becomes more turbulent as times goes on. PEK usually works on one of dozens of reeds at a time, concentrating on each one as he solos or interacts. Both cellos sound great when they deal with those deep, lower tones. This disc contains some of the best, most engaging strings and reeds quartet music I’ve heard. Most often quite mesmerizing. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
Audio CD Evil Clown 9113
Mekaniks - Live From KlownSpace
streaming, downloads and CD mail order
1) Live From KlownSpace - 1:10:04
Outpost 186, Cambridge MA - 22 July 2016
PEK ‐ laptop, dulzaina, oboe, tenor sax, clarinet, contra-alto clarinet, sheng,
bass tromboon, ms-20, (d)ronin, theremin, aquasonic, metal, electronics,
fog horn, taxi horn, game calls, whistles, sirens
Bob Moores - space trumpet, guitar, electronics
Yuri Zbitnov - metal, wood, (d)ronin, daxophone, theremin
Audio CD Evil Clown 9112
Mekaniks - Evil Clowns On Parade
streaming, downloads and CD mail order
1) Evil Clowns on Parade - 50:36
Evil Clown Headquarters - 30 June 2016
PEK ‐ tenor sax, clarinet, contra-alto clarinet, dulzaina, shenai, sheng,
fog horn, (d)ronins, ms-20, theremin, aquasonic, daxophone, metal,
electronics, laptop, sirens
Bob Moores - space trumpet, electronics
Yuri Zbitnov - daiko, festival drum, dumbek, (d)ronins, daxophone,
percussion, metal
Kevin Siegel - electric bass, loops, electronics
Audio CD Evil Clown 9115
Leap of Faith - Field Extensions
streaming, downloads and CD mail order
Leap of Faith
Field Extensions - 59:46
Pek - dulzaina, contrabassoon, clarinet, contra-alto clarinet, alto and tenor
saxophones, flex-a-tones, metal, wood, guzheng, [d]ronins, daxophone,
ms-20, theremin, aquasonic, siren, electronics, voice
Glynis Lomon - cello, aquasonic, voice, flex-a-tone
Yuri Zbitnov - drums, metal, wood, daiko, daxophone, balafon, [d]ronins, hand
claps, voice
Sparkles Out...
8/30/2016
Audio CD Evil Clown 9117
Turbulence Doom Choir ‐ Lava Flow
streaming, downloads and CD mail order
Turbulence Doom Choir
1) Variations on Post-Apocalyptic Doom Bag - 1:00:29
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA
8/25/2016
PEK ‐ conta-alto & contrabass clarinet, tenor & baritone saxophones,
dulzaina, metal, wood, [d]ronins, theremin, aquasonic, guyzheng,
slide whistles, sirens, ms-20, daxophone, electronics, voice
Dave Harris - electric tuba
John Baylies - electric tuba, synthesizer
Yuri Zbitnov - drums, metal, wood, daiko, dumbek, [d]ronins, voice
2) Digital distribution with CD Baby!!
20 recent titles uploaded and available all over the place!!
11/4/2016 - 8 pm
Ensemble TBD -
Evil Clown Outpost 186 Residency
3rd Saturday of the Month
Outpost 186, Cambridge MA
11/19/2016 - 7 pm
Leap of Faith Orchestra - Supernovae
Somerville Armory, Somerville MA
10/9/2016 - 8 pm
Leap of Faith Orchestra & Sub Units -
Encryption Schemes
Lilypad, Cambridge MA
12/17/2016 - 8 pm
1/21/2017 - 8 pm
Ensembles TBD -
Evil Clown Outpost 186 Residency
3rd Saturday of the Month
Outpost 186, Cambridge MA
3) Call for fan reviews on Amazon.com and CD Baby
Since the last newsletter from June came out, Evil Clown has been shredding hard. We have 7 more new releases: Three sets from the newest Evil Clown Ensemble, Mekaniks, which features the full electronics arsenal, one each from String Theory, Leap of Faith & Turbulence and one from the new Turbulence side project Turbulence Doom Choir featuring 2 electric tubas, the percussion and electronics arsenals and the horns of PEK!
First up was String Theory at Mobius in Cambridge on June 24. This excellent set had Mimi Rabson on violin, Glynis Lomon and Jane Wang on cellos and PEK on his usual array of horns and toys. Bruce Lee Gallanter wrote an excellent review (see above).
Metal Chaos Ensemble
War Tuba
Bandcamp
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Chrononauts
Intermetallic Compounds
Bandcamp
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Zero-Point Energy
Bandcamp
CD Baby
Amazon.com
String Theory
Quantum Chromodynamics
Bandcamp
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Absolute and Apparent Horizons
Bandcamp
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Turbulence
Vortex Generation Mechanisms
Bandcamp
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Viscous Friction
Bandcamp
CD Baby
Amazon.com
CD Baby handles digital distribution to all kinds of download and streaming services as well as physical CD internet sales... Evil Clown is now up on CD Baby, Amazon, Itunes and a zillion other streaming and download sites....
Last new release for this newsletter was a special set indeed! I had this idea a while ago to do a Turbulence variation featuring as many of the tuba players as I could get at the same time... I had originally thought I would call it the Turbulence Tuba Choir... but considering the dark sound I was hoping to achieve, I decided on the Turbulence Doom Choir. At the last second Josiah couldn't make it, so we had just two tubas, but both Dave and John brought their electronics rigs! Combined with Yuri's drums and percussion, the Evil Clown electronics arsenal and the Horns of PEK we made some crazy DOOM sounds for sure!
Here's a chance for all you Clown Heads out there to help the cause!!! About half of the newly posted albums have published reviews... I went through all of the CD Baby and Amazon.com pages and posted those... I would love to have some fan reviews on those pages, so if you want to help and you have a favorite album, or you want to stream from Bandcamp and hear some new music and write about it, you would really be helping the cause!!
So, the below albums have been posted and I'm putting a link to the album page on this site (under the album cover), the bandcamp site (where you can stream), the CD Baby Site and the Amazon.com Site...
Thanks in advance for your feedback!
Leap of Faith Orchestra
Metal Chaos Ensemble – Intermetallic Compounds -
By Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery -
July 15, 2016:
METAL CHAOS ENSEMBLE [PEK / ANDRIA NICODEMOU / YURI ZBITNOV] - Intermetallic Compounds (Evil Clown 9091; USA) Featuring Dave PEK on tenor & alto sax, contra-alto clarinet, sheng, saxophone, aquasonic, etc., Andria Nicodemou on vibes, percussion, guzheng, yanqin and Yuri Zbitnov on drums, assorted percussion, dax, etc. The Metal Chaos Ensemble (MCE) is the prolific of all of the Leap of Faith offshoot units with some ten discs that we’ve listed. This disc features the smallest version of MCE, a trio with PEK & Yuri Zbitnov, both longtime members of LoF and newcomer, Andria Nicodemou, on vibes. This disc was recorded at Evil Clown home/studio in January of 2016. The band name refers to the fact that each member plays metal percussion of some sort. The music unfolds slowly and mysteriously with the eerie sounds of bowed percussion, gongs, vibes, creating a hypnotic, floating world. The music here has a rather ritualistic, near-spiritual sound, which does occasionally erupt but never too much. At one point, there are some spooky vocal sounds which seem to push into some darker waters. Very effective. Overall, the music is quite like a ceremony, perhaps even wake up the dead from a deep slumber. Spirits rejoice!
Leap Of Faith Orchestra: The Expanding Universe -
By Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Music Review -
August 29, 2016:
Boston is PEK country. The avant reedman-composer is on a mission up there: to turn the world onto free improv music, free jazz. He's been recording prolifically lately with a number of his ensembles. The Leap of Faith Orchestra is no doubt his most ambitious project and can be heard to very good advantage on their album The Expanding Universe (Evil Clown 9110).
The release gives us one very long and rather exciting work for the full ensemble, which at that point consisted of 15 members, including Yedidyah Sid Smart on drums, Charlie Kohlhase on saxes, Glynis Lomon on cello. aquasonic and voice, in addition to reeds, trumpet, vibes, two more drummers, two basses, two violins, trombone-tuba, and piano.
This is a bracing collage of ever-varying sound color universes and at times they kick up a hell of a fuss! Other times they are a bit more focused within.
But all told you are in for a wildly free trip into the nether worlds of the universe. Nice one!
Audio CD Evil Clown 9116
Turbulence ‐ Skin Friction
streaming, downloads and CD mail order
Turbulence
1) Skin Friction - 1:09:57
Outpost 186, Cambridge MA
8/20/2016
PEK - sopranino, tenor and baritone saxophones, clarinet, contra-alto
clarinet, dulzaina, contrabasson, sheng, slide whistles
Charlie Kohlhase - alto, tenor and baritone saxophones
Bob Moores - trumpet, flugelhorn
Matt Finstein - trombone
John Baylies - tuba
Jesse Metzler - tuba
Audio CD Evil Clown 9114
Mekaniks - Evil Klowns Strike Again
streaming, downloads and CD mail order
1) Evil Klowns Strike Again - 1:10:04
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA - 27 July 2016
PEK ‐ laptop, alto and tenor saxophones, clarinet, contra-alto clarinet,
dulzaina, oboe, sheng, metal, crotales, bells, wood, guzheng, [d]ronins,
daxophone, ms-20, siren
Bob Moores - space trumpet, guitar, electronics
Kevin Dacey - metal, wood, crotales, bells, dumbek, guzheng, [d]ronins,
Supernovae draft score (page 1)
Now that we have prepared for and completed the first full orchestra performance, we have a new plan for the future! The next show is at the Somerville Armory on 11/19 with two shows planned for next year at the Nave Gallery, where we gave had 5 shows so far. If the Somerville Armory show goes well, I'll likely add a second show there sometime in 2017. These shows will be in the spring and the fall to avoid mobilization issues in the winter and heat issues in the summer since the venue has no air controls. Starting working on trying to get a show eventually at Mass Moca... more on that later as things develop.
The full LOFO is an expanded Leap of Faith (LOF) with the core ensemble of PEK, Glynis Lomon, Andria Nicodemou and Yuri Zbitnov together with an expanded percussion section, an expanded string section and an expanded wind section plus Sydney Smart (drums) and Eric Zinman (piano) from Glynis’ other band New Language Collaborative (NLC). The percussion section is Metal Chaos Ensemble (MCE), the horn section is Turbulence (T), and the string section is String Theory (ST).
I got a residency at Outpost 186 - every 3rd Saturday of the month. We'll use those shows for the named sub-units (LOF, MCE, ST, T, NLC, Mekaniks), or smaller cross-sections of the orchestra. We'll do some slightly larger cross-sections of the orchestra at the Lilypad fairly close to a full orchestra performance.
For each new performance of the full orchestra, I will create a score like the one for The Expanding Universe, utilizing frame notation to control who is playing at any given point in the performance with time code displayed to the ensemble. There will also be some written directions in the score defining pre-planned sonorities. I used these techniques in Expansions, performed at Mobius in 1994, although that composition included far more notated melodic material than I will use for the LOFO scores.
Poster for the next performance
Leap Of Faith Orchestra: The Expanding Universe -
By Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery -
July 14, 2016:
LEAP OF FAITH ORCHESTRA - The Expanding Universe (Evil Clown 9110; USA) The Leap of Faith (LoF) ensemble, which usually has 4 or 5 members, has been expanding over the past year. Often LoF play double bills with another sympathetic ensemble, each group playing their own set which is followed by a combined group set. This set by the Leap of Faith Orchestra took place just last month, June 4th of 2016. The usual Leap of faith cast was there: PEK (multiple reeds), Glynis Lomon (cello), Steve Norton (reeds) and Yuri Zbitnov (drums) was joined by 11 more part-time members: Syd Smart (drums), Charlie Kohlhase (saxes), Andria Nicodemou (vibes), Mimi Rabson (violin), Clara Kebabian (violin), Bob Moores (trumpet), Dave Harris (tuba), Peter Cassino (piano), Tony Leva (bass), Brendan Higgins (bass), and Kevin Dacey (drums, percussion). Rather than be totally chaotic, LoF leader Dave Peck, actually wrote a score which is described here: “The orchestra work (The Expanding Universe) uses a score which is simultaneously a Density and Sonority map prescribing the improvised development of the work. Written English descriptions of the overall sonority desired are given durations for each player on their part along with direction on when to play and when not to play. Players track the elapsed time with a large digital sports clock. This system allows me to compose detailed events without having to notate pitches or rhythms which would require significant rehearsal to accurately achieve. Skilled improvisers, like the ones I have recruited, can easily follow these instructions to create a highly structured improvisation without the need for specific rehearsal even when the ensemble is quite large as it is here.”
The results are pretty extraordinary. The work is very long, nearly 77 minutes and goes through different sections. The music sounds directed since it moves in precise waves with different subsections rising and falling back into the often turbulent sea of sounds. A number of different things stand out: an intense free piano solo (Peter Cassino), a layer of brass waves sailing with another layer of twisted reeds, sporadic double rhythm teams (tablas?), erupting and then disappearing. The balance of more sparse sections with occasional dense outbursts sounds tightly directed. Considering that the Evil Clown label which documents all of the Leap of Faith and their offshoot projects, is closing in at nearly a 100 releases, this disc might just be the best one I’ve reviewed. A completely outstanding effort all the way around. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
Turbulence - Viscous Friction -
By Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery -
July 15, 2016:
TURBULENCE [With PEK / BOB MOORES / DAVID HARRIS / YURI ZBITNOV] -Viscous Friction (Evil Clown 9106; USA) Turbulence feature Dave PEK on tenor & bari saxes, clarinets, double-reeds, sheng, game calls…, Bob Moores on trumpets, foghorn & electronics, David Harris on trombone, tuba & foghorn and Yuri Zbitnov on drums. As David Peck and Leap of Faith continue to add members, a number of satellite groups have emerged: Metal Chaos Ensemble, String Theory and now Turbulence. Mr. Peck and drummer Yuri Zbitnov are both consistent members of LoF while the other two players here, Mr. Moores and Mr. Harris are more occasional members of Leap of faith and their offshoot projects. Recorded at the Evil Clown home-studio in April of 2016. Although the instrumentation here is mainly reeds, brass and percussion, the results are still mysterious, strange, occasionally disorienting and often enchanting. It sounds as if time is being slowed down and we are submerged in a vat of jello at times. The music calms down to more skeletal, spacious sounds for a long stretch. Mr. Zbitnov is gifted percussionist who always knows when to add to or lay out from the flow of events. He barely plays for the first 15 minutes and finally enters with some excellent mallet work as the set becomes more intense, eventually getting into a spirited groove. There are some wonderful, strange, low-end improv going on featuring tuba, trumpet, contra-alto clarinet (?) and percussion. Things grow more weird when PEK switches some of those double-reeds like oboe or bassoon. The music here is clearly recorded, warm and well-balanced. Once again Mr. PEK & Co. do a fine job of creating their own fascinating world. Much less extreme than most of the Leap of Faith discs. - Bruce Lee Gallanter
4) Leap of Faith Orchestra Plans & Progress
Leap of Faith Orchestra - The Expanding Universe
If your reading this from the webpage and you would like to receive this newsletter via email - send email to me at Sparkles@GiantEvilClown.com and I'll put you on the email list...
Things have continued to be very busy recently at Evil Clown Headquarters…
Main links to web content:
Evil Clown webpage http://www.giantevilclown.com/
PEK YouTube channel 1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCprJy4kMIRs51FIFQF12dw/videos
PEK YouTube channel 2 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClfRlTeeHnSxRsJTkFakiJw/videos
Kevin Reilly YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Kjreilly/videos
Bandcamp, for Streaming, Downloads and CD Orders https://evilclown.bandcamp.com/
Newly added domains to take you to the home page for each currently working band within the Evil Clown stie:
www.evilClown.rocks
www.leapOfFaith.rocks
www.stringTheory.rocks
www.Turbulence.rocks
www.mekaniks.rocks
www.metalchaosensemble.com
Bandcamp homepage for each of the currently working Evil Clown Artists:
https://leapoffaith1.bandcamp.com/
https://metalchaosensemble.bandcamp.com/
https://stringtheory6.bandcamp.com/
https://turbulence2.bandcamp.com/
https://mekaniks.bandcamp.com/
https://evilclown.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud Links
https://soundcloud.com/pek-746320808
Super handy play lists for rapid access:
10 most recent Evil Clown Releases: https://soundcloud.com/pek-746320808/sets/last-5-evil-clown-releases
Leap of Faith: https://soundcloud.com/pek-746320808/sets/leap-of-faith-since-2015
Metal Chaos Ensemble: https://soundcloud.com/pek-746320808/sets/metal-chaos-ensemble
String Theory: https://soundcloud.com/pek-746320808/sets/string-theory
Turbulence: https://soundcloud.com/pek-746320808/sets/turbulence
Mekaniks: https://soundcloud.com/pek-746320808/sets/mekaniks-1
In this newsletter…
1) Upcoming Performances
2) Digital distribution with CD Baby!! 20 titles uploaded and available all over the place!!
3) Call for fan reviews on Amazon.com and CD Baby
4) Leap of Faith Orchestra Plans & Progress
5) New Reviews
6) New Releases
The Expanding Universe
Hyperbolic Spirals
(with Metal Chaos Ensemble)
Bandcamp (disc 1) (disc 2)
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Dimensions
(with String Theory)
Bandcamp (disc 1) (disc 2)
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Probabilistic Analogues
(with with Sub-Units)
Bandcamp (disc 1) (disc 2)
CD Baby
Amazon.com
AlgoRhythms
(with Metal Chaos Ensemble
and New Language Collaborative)
Bandcamp (disc 1)(disc 2)
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Quadratic Reciprocities
(with Sub-Units)
Bandcamp (disc 1)(disc 2)
CD Baby
Amazon.com (pending)
Viscosities
(with String Theory)
Bandcamp (disc 1) (disc 2)
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Leap Of Faith Orchestra: The Expanding Universe -
By Eric Baylies, The Noise - Boston -
August 1, 2016:
2 tracks
Do not be deceived by two songs. This CD is 90 minutes of pure improvised bliss. Free jazz, noise, rock, it’s all here, but mostly free jazz. This might be among the free-est recordings I have ever heard, right up with Arthur Doyle, Albert Ayler, or Henry Cow. There are so many musicians, and so many instruments, that it is difficult to keep track of what’s going on. This is a fantastic, amazing record. I suggest you check out some of their other recordings online. The Expanding Universe is not easy listening, but the patient listener will be rewarded.
A week later, we had another Mekaniks set at Evil Clown Headquarters... We were going to have a larger ensemble, but Greg and Yuri both ended up having last second conflicts and so we had another trio, with Kevin holding down the principal percussionist role...
Audio CD Evil Clown 9111
String Theory - Condensed Phases of Matter
streaming, downloads and CD mail order
Condensed Phases of Matter - 1:10:20
Mobius, Cambridge MA
6/24/2016
PEK - clarinet, contra-alto clarinet, sopranino & tenor saxphones,
oboe, contra-bassoon, sheng, aquasonic, game calls. fog horn,
siren, whistles
Mimi Rabson - violin
Glynis Lomon - cello, aquasonic, voice
Jane Wang - cello
9/17/2016 - 8 pm: Leap of Faith
- Pseudorandom Generators
Evil Clown Outpost 186 Residency
3rd Saturday of the Month
Outpost 186, Cambridge MA
Evil Clown Newsletter 8/30/2016
The second Mekaniks session was the first Evil Clown show at Outpost 186 in Cambridge... A trio set with PEK, Bob Moores and Yuri... The weather was insanely hot and humid and the load in was one sweaty affair, but the set was great and Rob Miller was on hand to take some amazing photographs...
5) New Reviews
Leap of Faith
Factorizations
(with Steve Swell)
Bandcamp
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Solution Concepts
(with Thomas Heberer)
Bandcamp
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Riemann Surfaces
Bandcamp
CD Baby
Amazon.com
Finite Simple Groups
Plasma
6) New Releases
The next ECH set was a Leap of Faith trio set... We had not done a trio with Glynis, Yuri and PEK since 2001, before the long hiatus... This is a very unusual LOF set, which uses more of the noise and electronics elements than we typically use in small LOF sessions...
Got a bunch of new great reviews since the last newsletter... Including 4 reviews for LOFO - The Expanding Universe!!! I'll post a link to the ones that are posted on the web as well as the text... Bruce from DMG reviewed a few for the newsletter, those will just have the text...
Next up is the debut set from Mekaniks - the newest Evil Clown Ensemble featuring the full electronics arsenal including samples from the Evil Clown Catalog! Special guest here is Kevin Siegel on electric bass and electronics - Kevin had been following Evil Clown on the web from his home state of Florida and reached out to me... We set up the session at Evil Clown Headquarters when he was in Boston on other business... He really stepped up and we had an excellent session.
Evil Clown has started a residency at Outpost 186 in Cambridge (3rd Saturday of the Month)... We will go with something different every time! 2 gigs under our belt so far... The debut public performance of Mekaniks and a sextet version of Turbulence. Next Leap of Faith Orchestra performance is on 11/19 at the Somerville Armory - the Score, entitled Supernovae, is ready in a draft form (see below)... Working on recruiting dancers for a movement component since there is much more space in this room...
So, these shows are on the book as of this writing. See the posters (below on the on-line version of the newsletter) and on the Webpage for the full details... http://www.giantevilclown.com/performances---posters.html
1) Upcoming Performances
Metal Chaos Ensemble – Intermetallic Compounds -
By Marc Edwards, Jazz Right Now -
July 29, 2016:
I recently saw a Facebook post about the Metal Chaos Ensemble. I was curious, and decided to give the music a whirl. I was pleasantly surprised at what I heard as the music began. This recording has only one song, Ordered Crystal Structure. It’s touching base on a wide range of sounds and musical genres. I can only describe this music as psychedelic, having the qualities of experimental music. The music contains hints of East Asian sounds and noise-making in general. Some of the sound effects may be used in motion pictures and radio programs from the 1940s. This ensemble has only three musicians: PEK, Andria Nicodemou, and Yuri Zbitnov. According to Bruce Gallanter of Downtown Music Gallery, each musician is playing eighteen instruments throughout this session. There are YouTube videos showing them working in a home recording studio and elsewhere.
The music also is reminiscent of Tibetan Music, with the various horns, lots of sustained sounds from vibes, and other melodic percussive instruments. There are so many instruments used on this track, it becomes what I call a “cosmic soup”; an almost indescribable grouping of myriad sounds with pervasive polyphonic textures. One sound may dominate for a time, but it only fades to another instrument coming to the forefront. It’s a challenge to provide an accurate description of this ensemble. I will say that Intermetallic Compounds by the Metal Chaos Ensemble has to be one of the more interesting groups I have heard in a while. The way the musicians used their instruments, creates the illusion that the group is much larger than it really is.
I understand that this is one of the smaller versions of the ensemble. The music is very much in the spirit of Sun Ra. There is so much going on from moment to moment. The musical landscape is always moving, changing, like watching multicolored neon lights while walking down Broadway in New York City. This music will be appreciated by those who love electronic music, exotic sounding instruments, noise-based music and fans of the avant-garde in general. This CD is highly recommended. Do try to catch the Metal Chaos Ensemble if they tour through a town near you.
10/15/2016 - 8 pm
String Theory - Compactifications
Evil Clown Outpost 186 Residency
3rd Saturday of the Month
Outpost 186, Cambridge MA
The second show on 8/20 at the Outpost 186 residency was a sextet version of Turbulence. We had a nice very long continuous set of 70 minutes... Not nearly as hot or humid as the July show... What a relief!