Expanse
Chromatic Spectrum
The Boston-based Expanse, inspired by the concepts of space and restraint, configured as a trio in a livestreamed session where Evil Clown stalwart David Peck on clarinets, saxophones, fog horns & percussion is joined by Eric Woods on analog synth & percussion, and Michael Knoblach, who focuses on exotic percussion instruments, for a unique journey in electroacoustic improv.
Squidco Staff
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… was expecting this to be a great session and I was not disappointed. It has a very different vibe than either my previous work with Michael or my previous work with Eric. Not a surprise that the session is so different – the broad palette aesthetic concepts tend to produce widely different solutions, and this is a very unique combination of players and broad instrumentation.…”
Chromatic Spectrum:
Expanse
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 26 April 2022
1) Chromatic Spectrum – 1:10:36
PEK – clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto, tenor & bass saxophones, musette, shenai, sheng, bawu, bass flute, spring & chime boxes, electric chimes, chimes, flex-a-tone, fog horns, Englephone, almglocken, brontosaurus & tank bells, gongs, plate gong, Tibetan bells, crotales, glockenspiel, log drums, wood blocks, temple blocks. orchestral castanets, flex-a-tone
Eric Woods – analog synthesis, gong, cymbells, chimes, Englephone, cowbells, wood blocks, log drums, brontosaurus & tank bells
Michael Knoblach – frame drum, busy box drum, tank drum, enamel bowls, devil chasers axatse, abacuses, African rattles, Fischer Price toys, sheep shears, slinky, wooden billiards triangle, tit-fer, bells, antique child rattles, sand blocks, horses-ass-a-phone, basket of rocks, spooky world noise makers, spinning toy, acme siren whistle, mortar & pestle, large American percussion riq with wooden zils, lobster pot, Atlantis gong
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Liner Notes by PEK
In March of 2020, just before the onset of the pandemic, I had a first session with a new percussionist, Michael Knoblach entitled Main Sequence… Although Michael plays the drum set, in recent years he has been focused on unusual percussion. This duet with the Evil Clown percussion arsenal along with instruments from Michael’s huge collection available enabled wonderful new sonority. Michael plays at a quieter mean dynamic than is typical for Evil Clown ensembles. Leap of Faith, in particular, has stretches of this quieter space in nearly every improvisation, but the mean dynamic is much louder. It was very interesting to focus an entire set on my lower volume vocabulary.
Now, after the vaccines have allowed Livestreaming sessions and occasional live performance to resume, Michael and I have done several more Expanse sets and a few Leap of Faith sets. As with all the ongoing core projects, Expanse is modular and has different guests on different sets to make each session a distinct aesthetic problem. Since the dynamic of Expanse is lower, we have done smaller ensembles, duets up to quintets… This new trio edition brings in Evil Clown regular Eric Woods who plays analog synthesis in Metal Chaos Ensemble and Leap of Faith settings. I spent a long time looking for an electronics guru who would fit well in a EAI setting. There are good players around, but most synth people are pop culture oriented and not a good fit.
I was expecting this to be a great session and I was not disappointed. It has a very different vibe than either my previous work with Michael or my previous work with Eric. Not a surprise that the session is so different – the broad palette aesthetic concepts tend to produce widely different solutions, and this is a very unique combination of players and broad instrumentation.
Evil Clown will emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever, so stay tuned for several new releases per month from the various ensembles!!!
PEK, 27 April 2022
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