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 so the collaboration became an ongoing Evil Clown project, both as a duet for some sets and as a larger unit for others. 

Now at Thanksgiving of 2024, Michael has played on about 40 of Evil Clown sets, and we have logged 15 Expanse sessions of several different flavors.  One of those flavors is a more electronics leaning variety.  We did a trio with Eric Woods (analog synth) and another with Robin Amos (synth), later we did a sextet set (Bailiwick) featuring a larger electronics section more typical of Simulacrum with Michael, me, and guests Robin Amos (synth), Bob Moores (space trumpet, guitar & electronics), Jonathan LaMaster (electric violin) and Tony Leva (bass). 

A month or so before Bailiwick, Robin reached out and asked if I minded if he invited violinist Jonathan LaMaster to the session.  I’m always looking for good, qualified string players, and as it turns out Jonathan also performed on one of the Leap of Faith Orchestra scored performances.  Seems like a coincidence, but Jonathan played with Robin and at various times with our old main drummer Yuri Zbitnov and current percussionist Michael Knoblach in the Boston seminal post-rock band Cul-de-Sac back in the day.  The quartet of Cul De Sac lineup with founders Robin and Glenn Jones and guests Michael Knoblach and Jonathan LaMaster did an extensive tour of one of Cul De Sac’s albums in 1997 (either China Gate or The Epiphany of Glenn Jones – I’m not clear on which one).

This time, for Panoramic Extent, the ensemble was a bit smaller than Bailiwick, so Jonathan brought bass and midi-guitar as well as violin.  The session has more sections with a groove than usual and there are some sections that have tonal centers.  While it is still purely improvised, as all our performances at Evil Clown are, the strong post rock influence of Cul De Sac is readily apparent and brings the improvisation into different territory.  It makes sense – we are like the Cul De Sac 1997 touring unit with PEK subbing for Glenn Jones.

The Boston improvisation scene is broad and deep – this is not the first time that new players have arrived from their previous associations with regulars currently in the Roster.  In fact, it is the most common way that we add new members, and this method has some distinct advantages over cold acquisitions:  More is known about the playing of the newbies and common improvisation experience previously exists between the new arrivals and one or more of the existing Roster.  We were all excited by last night’s results and I will work to schedule more sessions by this quartet unit and slight variations in the coming year – Stay Tuned!

I was expecting this to be a great session and I was not disappointed.   Stay tuned and enjoy this set!!!

PEK, 24 November 2024