Liner Notes by PEK

In May of 2021, I opened Evil Clown Headquarters to other fully vaccinated musicians, and the first session of the new age was scheduled for the second set of the Expanse sound world.  Michael and I both enjoyed the auspicious first set right before the pandemic shut down and collaboration became an ongoing Evil Clown project, both as a duet for some sets and as a larger unit for others.  As an ongoing project, it needed a permanent name, so after some thought I came up with Expanse which evokes space and restraint, the central idea behind this ensemble at its inception.

As is often the case as a new ensemble develops over time, the original scope of intent is deepened and broadened.  An Evil Clown session that is assigned to Expanse really is a set with Michael and me and others where it is not Leap of Faith, Turbulence, Metal Chaos Ensemble, or some other Evil Clown Ensemble.  The recordings have varied from acoustic duet to trios and various larger bands with electronics and other sounds.  Michael does frequently appear as the percussionist and sometimes drummer on performances by these other Evil Clown bands. 

Counting Main Sequence, the first duet set which is credited to Sub-Unit No.1, there are now 19 Expanse albums recorded since 2020 and Michael also appears on many albums by other Evil Clown ensembles.  One recent Expanse variation has included synthesist Robin Amos, who was a founding member of the seminal Boston area post-rack band Cul De Sac.  Robin brought in violinist Jonathan LaMaster who was also in Cul De Sac for the later half of their long run.  Michael was a band member for a year and the drummer for two tours which is how we got Robin involved to begin with… 

Robin (3 Expanse and 4 Simulacrum releases) and Jonathan (3 Expanse and 1 Leap of Faith Orchestra releases) have now each occurred on multiple albums and have really stepped up to our unusual process here at Evil Clown Headquarters…  I love it when players who have long experience playing with each other come in together.   Their deep Cul De Sac connection is readily apparent and really shines through the improvisation.  John Fugarino and Michael Caglianone are among our star horn players and many recent albums by various Evil Clown ensembles have featured the three of us as the horn section or as a key part of the horn section.  The dynamic of the seasoned horn front line with the Cul De Sac electronic / string / percussion section has produced another very compelling recording. 

As I usually do, I title the works when I put them in the schedule, and I assign an image from my fractal artwork library and make a poster.  The title and the image follow the process from the planning stage to the final product which is typically ready within a few days of the performance.  The CDs get ordered to the manufacturer and take about 3 weeks to arrive…  Sometimes the titles really reflect the mood of the piece and sometimes less so.  In this case, the Title – Loud and Furious Tongues – evokes a chaotic and rambunctious piece, but it turned out that this set is actually very restrained, with lots of space and suspended motion.  There is still plenty of chaos, but it is not continuously aggressive…  Anyway, I generally don’t make changes to the titling at any point in the process, so the title Loud and Furious Tongues goes down in the book as ironic…

I was expecting this to be a great session, and I was not disappointed.

PEK, 1 April 2025