Metal Chaos Ensemble
Narration Performances
Proteus IV
Excerpt from Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
“… The core of this group, is reeds, el. bass and drums, which soon gets their stride by getting into a fine funky, spaced-out groove in the first section with swirling electronics and/or effects swirling around the central groove. Mr. Zbitnov’s superb, uplifting drumming is at the center of the great groove, eventually turning into more spaced out weirdness. And there back to another great space/funk groove with some swell blasting sax from our man PEK! In some ways, this disc sounds like in was inspired in part from Gong and Hawkwind. The recitation has an interesting science fiction sort of vibe as well…”
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
The Boston-are duo of reedist PEK and percussionsit Yuri Zbitnov cover a wide range of sonorities, always with the presence of Gongs, chimes, glockenspiel, Tibetan Bowls and many other metallic sounds and the horns of PEK, here in a sci-fi epic, with Eric Woods on modular synth and Englephone, Mike Gruen on bass, and Joel Simches with real-time signal processing
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
These more groove-oriented sessions are relatively new ground for us. The solid contribution of Mike at the bass chair is really bringing us in a new direction. Make sure you check it out! Not to do so would be a serious mistake.
Proteus IV:
Metal Chaos Ensemble
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 11 July 2019
1) Proteus IV – 1:10:10
PEK – clarinet & contralto clarinet, alto, tenor & baritone saxophones, tromboon, malletkat, moog subsequent, [d]ronin, gongs, brontosaurus & tank bells, wood, metal, recitation
Yuri Zbitnov – drums, Englephone, gongs, crotales, brontosaurus & tank bells, wood, metal, recitation
Eric Woods – modular analong synth, Englephone
Mike Gruen – bass
Joel Simches – Live to 2 track recording, real -time signal processing
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Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
METAL CHAOS ENSEMBLE with PEK / ERIC WOODS / MIKE GRUEN / YURI ZBITNOV / JOEL SIMCHES – Proteus IV (Evil Clown 9222; USA) PEK on clarinets, saxes, moog, etc, Eric Woods on analog synth, Mike Gruen on electric bass & processing, Yuri Zbitnov on drums, percussion and Joel Simches on recording & real-time processing. The Metal Chaos Ensemble is perhaps the most prolific of all the several Leap of faith offshoot units, with some 20 or so titles under their name. This unit ranges from just the duo with longtime LoF founders: PEK and Yuri Zbitnov on up to quintets many of which include Eric Woods on analog synth.
This disc features a quintet version and was recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters on July 11 of 2019, just over a month ago. Whereas early versions of the MCE (metal Chaos Ensemble) featured several members all playing different percussion, this version finds only PEK and Mr. Zbitnov playing percussion. The other three members play electronics and signal processing. Featured on this disc is a somewhat disturbing recitation by drummer, Yuri Zbitnov or PEK himself. As with most discs by LoF or their offshoots, this disc starts off slowly and builds from there, adding instruments one or two at a time. The core of this group, is reeds, el. bass and drums, which soon gets their stride by getting into a fine funky, spaced-out groove in the first section with swirling electronics and/or effects swirling around the central groove. Mr. Zbitnov’s superb, uplifting drumming is at the center of the great groove, eventually turning into more spaced out weirdness. And there back to another great space/funk groove with some swell blasting sax from our man PEK! In some ways, this disc sounds like in was inspired in part from Gong and Hawkwind. The recitation has an interesting science fiction sort of vibe as well.
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. 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 4 channel Stream! Subscribe to my YouTube for notifications
These more groove-oriented sessions are relatively new ground for us. The solid contribution of Mike at the bass chair is really bringing us in a new direction. Make sure you check it out! Not to do so would be a serious mistake.
PEK 7/13/2019
Raffi Photos
