Expanse
Reach
Perhaps the most synthetic of Evil Clown releases, Expanse represents space and restraint, this the 8th album from the Boston improvising collective of David Peck on reeds, winds, synths and percussion, Robin Amos on synths, Michael Knoblach on percussion (including egg beater, humpty dumpty toy, and teething rings) and Joel Simches providing real-time processing; inexplicably interesting
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… With the band being a trio and with Michael on his quiet percussion stuff, this set is at a lower mean dynamic than other Evil Clown ensembles. It is a classic broad palate improvisation with the long piece moving organically through many sonorites in movements of 3 to 5 minutes.…”
Reach:
Expanse
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 31 May 2023
1) Reach – 1:07:33
2) Grasp – 5:03
PEK – clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, bass tromboon, melodica, [d]ronin, 17 string bass, theremin with moogerfooger, ms20, novation peak, moog subsequent, syntrx, arp odyssey, prophet, Linnstrument controllers, soma pipe with game calls, spring & chime rod boxes, crotales, glockenspiel, Tibetan bowls & bells, chimes, electric chimes, crotales, glockenspiel, brontosaurus & tank bells, gongs, plate gong, temple blocks, log drums, seed pod rattle, orchestral castanets, cow bells, Englephone, aquasonic, danmo, wood & temple blocks, almglocken, orchestral chimes, orchestral anvils, chair squeaking
Robin Amos – EML101 (processed by flanger, alesis, bitrman, roland), waldorf, blofeld, roland JP 08, autoharp, spring & chime rod boxes, gavel
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 seed pods, 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
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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 eighth set from Expanse, although Michael has also appeared on Leap of Faith and Metal Chaos Ensemble sessions. Some of the Expanse sets have featured mostly acoustic instrumentation, and some of them have included more electronic instrumentation. Reach is the third album to have a significant electronic emphasis. The first, Chromatic Spectrum (4/28/2022), featured Evil Clown regular Eric Woods, who is a core member of Metal Chaos Ensemble and Simulacrum and a frequent guest of Leap of Faith. The second, Swathe (3/11/2023), features three newbies (DNA Girl, Count Robot and Tim Mungenast) on mostly electronic instruments. They all caught on to us from the LIVESTREAMING shows and since they had a long connection with Michael, we got them down for a session.
The current set, Reach, features Robin Amos, founding member of the seminal 90s era Boston band Cul de Sac. Both Michael and Yuri Zbitnov (house drummer from 2015 to 2021) were affiliated with Cul de Sac for some of their lengthy run. Robin plays the EML 101, a 70s era portable patch-synthesizer. He plays other instruments of course, but this analog synth has an excellent sound palate and he has exquisite control over its capabilities.
With the band being a trio and with Michael on his quiet percussion stuff, this set is at a lower mean dynamic than other Evil Clown ensembles. It is a classic broad palate improvisation with the long piece moving organically through many sonorites in movements of 3 to 5 minutes.
I found that I spent less time on the horns than I usually do in most Evil Clown sessions. The combination of the electronic sounds from Robin together with the unusual sounds from Michael’s percussion rig, inspired me to spend more time on the Tim Kaiser electro-acoustic instruments, the synthesizer section, the strings section and the percussion. All told, it was a very satisfying session completely different than any other set from any of the Evil Clown Ensembles.
I was expecting this to be a great session and I was not disappointed. Stay tuned and enjoy this set!!!
PEK, 31 May 2023
Paul Brennan Photos
