Expanse
Gamut
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“…This Expanse Edition includes players with a post-jazz aesthetic and a post-rock aesthetic, and the strong pre-existing relationship of the post-rock players produces a very different music than the other post-rock-aesthetic influenced Evil Clown sets by units like Metal Chaos Ensemble.…”
Gamut:
Expanse
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 30 July 2023
1) Gamut – 1:10:37
2) LSD Spiders Want My Lunch Money – 5:29
PEK – clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, sopranino, alto, tenor & bass saxophones, bass tromboon, 5-thole wooden flute, theremin with moogerfooger, syntrx, nord stage 3, prophet, korg m20, novation peak, moog subsequent, arp odyssey, Linnstrument controllers, soma pipe with game call, [d]ronin, 17 string bass, guqin, nagoya, spring & chime rod boxes, electric chimes, array mbira, crotales, glockenspiel, gongs, plate gong, brontosaurus & tank bells, cow bells, orchestral chimes, Englephone, danmo, wood blocks
Eric Dahlman – trumpet, overtone voice, game call, bells, stomp boxes, nord stage 3, prophet, spring & chime rod boxes
DNA Girl – mandolin, octave mandolin, vocals, spoken word (Flower of My Soul by Deborah Nash), transistor radio
Count Robot – voice, zither, stomp boxes, novation peak, moog subsequent, korg ms20, Linnstrument controllers, spring & chime rod boxes, crotales, glockenspiel
Tim Mungenast – guitar, ukulele, overtone voice, voice, bells, stomp boxes, 17 string bass, [d]ronin, log drums, wood blocks, spring & chime rod boxes
Michael Knoblach – Bodhran, jaw harp, copper bowl, enamel bowls, sand blocks, African circumcision rattles, slinky, tit-fers, wooden billiards triangle, train whistle, acme siren whistle, meinl helix bowls, scraper, xmas ornaments, clock chime, marbles in plastic container, tiny sleigh bells, glass furniture carpet protectors, ratchets, tiny seed pod shakers, huge & medium seed pods, gong, party time balloon pump, fishing reel, wooden robot, Griswold cast iron skillets, nails in baby food jar, flex-a-tones, horses-ass-a-phone, vibratones, whisk, abacuses, metal pot scrubbers, basket of rocks, turtle skin rattle, egg beater, happy apple, pitchforks, devil chasers, wood shakers, fisher price turtle, fisher price bee, first years clown, humpty dumpty toy, spooky world noise makers, plastic tubes, castanets, Victorian children’s rattles, antique Asian bronze children’s rattles, healing balls, mortar & pestle, confirmation bells, wooden bell, sleigh bells, elephant bell, sistrum, antique sheep shears, axatse, scalp massagers, basket rattles, metal rattle, African wood blocks with stone inside, Chicxulub dinosaur and star teething rings, bags of marbles, water filled mason jar, magic wands, water filled lobster pot, palm frond rattles, plastic ball rattles, American Percussion busy box drum
Joel Simches – Live to 2-track recording, real time signal processing
Full Video
Video Shorties
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.
This is now the ninth set from Expanse, although Michael has also appeared on Leap of Faith sessions. Some of the Expanse sets have featured mostly acoustic instrumentation, and some of them have included more electronic instrumentation.
During the break for new studio construction for a few months at the end of last year I heard from some relatively local folks who are fans of our work here at Evil Clown Headquarters. Count Robot and DNA Girl reached out on Facebook and expressed an interest in doing a set. It turns out that they know Michael from way back, so I scheduled an Expanse set with them (Swathe – March 2023) as the guests. Separately, Tim reached out with the same request, and it turned out that he knows them and Michael as well, so I added him to the Swathe set.
Turns out that they all know trumpeter and Evil Clown regular Eric Dahlman… Makes sense since Eric introduced me to Michael to begin with… So, this new set, Gamut, is the second Expanse set with DNA Girl, Count Robot, & Tim and includes the addition of Eric. I always enjoy bringing a group of players with long history with each other to a session at ECH… You end up with a group dynamic where the players are all interacting with each other, but the predefined units interact with each other also.
The world of improvisation is an interesting one. Players come from many different backgrounds and learn to improvise with each other despite significant differences in their musical origins and musical languages. Evil Clown ensembles have included players with backgrounds in jazz, classical, world music, rock and other genres. This sextet Expanse Edition combines players with a post-jazz aesthetic and a post-rock aesthetic, and the strong pre-existing relationship of the post-rock players produces a very different music than the other post-rock-aesthetic influenced Evil Clown sets by units like Metal Chaos Ensemble and Simulacrum.
I was expecting this to be a great session and I was not disappointed.
PEK, 30 july 2023
Paul Brennan Photos
