Metal Chaos Ensemble
Narration Performances
Call of Cthulhu
Excerpt from Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
“… I found this disc to be pretty funny overall, too much to be taken too seriously. Musically, some of this reminds of a Gong or Acid Mothers Temple-like space jam, balancing with moments of darkness and semi-serious vocal bits. This might be the only (out of 100+ discs) Leap of Faith or offshoot project with an extreme sense of humor going on. I found this disc to be quite enjoyable if you don’t take the vocals too seriously. Unlike anything else from the strange folks up there in the Boston area…”
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
One of the most prolific Evil Clown ensembles, Metal Chaos Ensemble distinguishes itself through the use of Gongs, chimes, glockenspiel, Tibetan Bowls and many other metallic sounds, with horns, compositions and narratives by multi-reedist PEK, in a rhythm-heavy fantastical journey in a septet with Moouse Traore on djembe and Mike Gruen on Azoth and Basilisk.
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… This current set is the trio with Mike Gruen plus the modular analog synth of MCE regular Eric Woods and trumpet, guitar and synth from our pal Bob Moores and relative newcomer saxophonist Mike Caglianone. We now LIVE STREAM to YouTube all of the Evil Clown Headquarters recording sessions. With the help of Joel Simchez at the audio mixing console and Raffi at the video mixing console, we’re pushing a real quality 7 channel Stream! Subscribe to my YouTube for notifications…”
Call of Cthulhu:
Metal Chaos Ensemble
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA, 5 December 2019
1) Call of Cthulhu – 1:10:22
PEK – alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet & contralto clarinet, tromboon, mussette, guanzi, wood flutes, game calls, [d]ronin, orchestral chimes, glockenspiel, balafon, wood blocks, gongs, Tibetan bells & bowls, brontosaurus & tank bells, crotales, metal, wood, wind siren, recitation, Ableton mix*
Yuri Zbitnov – drums, Englephone, gongs, crotales, brontosaurus & tank bells, metal, recitation
Bob Moores – piccolo trumpet, guitar, synthesizers, signal processing
Mike Caglianone – soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, game calls, Tibetan bells, rattles, daiko, brontosaurus & tank bells, glockenspiel, metal
Eric Woods – modular analog synth, gongs, metal
Mike Gruen – electric bass, signal processing
Joel Simches – Live to 2 track recording, real -time signal processing
*Samples from the Evil Clown catalog and specially recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters
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Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
METAL CHAOS ENSEMBLE with PEK / MIKE CAGLIANONE / BOB MOORES / ERIC WOODS / MIKE GRUEN / JOEL SIMCHES / YURI ZBITNOV – Call of Cthulhu (Evil Clown 9236; USA) Featuring PEK on alto & tenor saxes, clarinets, mussette, flutes, guanzi & exotic percussion; Mike Caglianone on soprano, alto & tenor saxes, game calls & percussion; Bob Moores on piccolo trumpet, guitar & synth; Eric Woods on analog synth & gongs; Mike Gruen on electric bass & processing; Yuri Zbitnov on drums & percussion and Joel Simches on processing & mix. The Metal Chaos Ensemble is just one of a half dozen Leap of Faith offshoot projects, although they have become quite prolific with some two dozen releases over the past five years. The core members remain PEK, Yuri Zbitnov and Joel Simches, with a revolving cast of 3 or 4 other occasional members.
This disc begins with a short, serious sounding spoken word intro, which works since it is not too serious or prog (fairy tale?) like. I believe it is Mr. Zbitnov doing the recitation. Longtime Leap of Faith drummer, Yuri Zbitnov, soon gets into a great, tribal, martial groove which hold things together as the other members slow add their space rockin’ sounds: electric guitar, electric bass, electronics and assorted percussion. PEK gets a chance do some more serious sounding spoken words which sound somewhat spooky, the vibe dark and a bit sinister at times. Things calm down a bit and then the tribal groove begins again with some a couple of reeds slowly erupting on top. The overall vibe here is some sort of space rock vibe. It turns out that there are a series short spoken word sections with Zbitnov and PEK trading places, back and forth. I found this disc to be pretty funny overall, too much to be taken too seriously. Musically, some of this reminds of a Gong or Acid Mothers Temple-like space jam, balancing with moments of darkness and semi-serious vocal bits. This might be the only (out of 100+ discs) Leap of Faith or offshoot project with an extreme sense of humor going on. I found this disc to be quite enjoyable if you don’t take the vocals too seriously. Unlike anything else from the strange folks up there in the Boston area
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
Liner Notes by PEK
Metal Chaos Ensemble was formed in early 2015 by PEK and Yuri Zbitnov as a working project to explore chaotic rhythms on metallic instruments. I had started to amass the Evil Clown Arsenal of percussion, electronic and wind instruments and we needed a workshop to develop this universe of sounds for the Leap of Faith Orchestra. It was immediately obvious that Metal Chaos Ensemble had a sound to itself and over the last three years has been one of the most prolific Evil Clown ensembles. We have produced a bunch of albums covering a wide range of sonority sets, but always with the presence of Gongs, chimes, glockenspiel, Tibetan Bowls and many other metallic sounds and the horns of PEK. All Metal Chaos Ensemble sessions include at least myself and Yuri, along with a whole bunch of different guests.
MCE has always contained more rock elements that the other Evil Clown projects. This aspect of the project has really come into focus in the sessions over the last year or two. Last May we did three rapid fire sets in 8 days with two different groove-oriented lineups. These sessions are some of the most groove-heavy sets yet, due to the driving bass of newcomer Mike Gruen on Azoth and Basilisk, and the incredible djembe of Moouse Traore on Reverberatory Furnace.
This current set is the trio with Mike Gruen plus the modular analog synth of MCE regular Eric Woods and trumpet, guitar and synth from our pal Bob Moores and relative newcomer saxophonist Mike Caglianone. We now LIVE STREAM to YouTube all of the Evil Clown Headquarters recording sessions. With the help of Joel Simchez at the audio mixing console and Raffi at the video mixing console, we’re pushing a real quality 7 channel Stream! Subscribe to my YouTube for notifications
PEK 12/7/2019
Raffi Photos
