Neurodivergent
Cosmic Collisions
“… A new ensemble emerging out of the Boston collective band Expanse with David Peck on reeds, percussion and innumerable instruments, Count Robot on voice & tapes, DNA Girl on guitars & mandolin, Tim Mungenast on guitar, and Michael Caglianone on reeds & winds, all adding percussion and electronics from the Evil Clown arsenal, exploring aspects of group improvisation.…”
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… They bring an odd sensibility that involves improvised spoken word banter between the three of them and a more pop-culture oriented use of guitar, mandolin and electronics than is typical in Evil Clown ensembles. For the third set featuring these three relative newbies, I’m rolling out the new band name, Neurodivergent, to explore combinations of their aesthetic as a group of players with a long history with various combinations of players from the Evil Clown Roster.…”
Cosmic Collisions:
Neurodivergent
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 13 January 2024
1) Cosmic Collisions – 1:10:05
2) Giant Monster Insurance – 5:29
PEK – clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, tarota, bass flute, bass tromboon, game call through soma pipe, melodica, Theremin with moogerfooger, syntrx, ms-20, moog subsequent, prophet, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, almglocken, brontosaurus, & tank bells, Englephone, danmo, wood blocks, log drums, cow bells, gongs, plate gong, balafon, xylophone, orchestral chimes & anvils, bells, chimes, spring & chime rod boxes, [d]ronin, 17 string bass, crotales, glockenspiel, flex-a-tone, Tibetan bells, bowls and chimes, bells seed pod rattle
Eric Dahlman – flugelhorn, overtone singing, electronics, game call, tenor recorder stem, water bottle, spring & chime rod boxes, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, nord stage 3, 17 string bass, orchestral chimes, alnglocken
Michael Caglianone – soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet, flute, melodica, water bottle, Tibetan bowls & chimes, orchestral anvils, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, log drums
DNA Girl – electric 4 string mandloin, cigar box guitar, voice, effect pedals, crotales, gong, cowbells, wood blocks, log drums, chimes, moog subsequent, Linnstrument controller, xylophone, balafon
Count Robot – voice, tape player, fx, genometer, novation peak, Linnstrument controller, prophet, crotales, gong, spring & chime rod boxes
Tim Mungenast – electric guitar, voice, effects pedals, overtone singing, Tibetan bells, log drums, temple & wood blocks, gavel, novation peak, prophet, xylophone
Jim Lucchese – drums, Tibetan bowls, spring & chime rod boxes, seed pod rattle, brontosaurus & tank bells, cowbells, crotales, glockenspiel, gongs
Joel Simches – live to 2-track recording, real-time signal processing
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Liner Notes by PEK
Every once in a while, a new ensemble gets started at Evil Clown. Sometimes the new unit has a particular aesthetic problem and an appropriate band name assigned defined in advance. For example, Metal Chaos Ensemble started as a duet between me and Yuri Zbitnov as soon as we started to work with newly acquired metal instruments in 2015, and Turbulence was formed to feature groups of horn players – sometime as only horn players and sometimes with bass and drums. Sometimes the new unit is spun off from an existing ensemble with some variation or different set of resources. Simulacrum was spun off from Metal Chaos Ensemble to include even more electronic instrumentation and signal processing and to not require a drummer.
Sometimes the new unit comes about because new players join the roster and contribute to a session by an existing ensemble, and it is clear their contribution adds a distinctive voice to the Evil Clown palette which deserves a new band name. Such is the case with Neurodivergent. Count Robot, DNA Girl and Tim Mungenast played on two Expanse records in 2023 (Swathe in March and Gamut in July). They bring an odd sensibility that involves improvised spoken word banter between the three of them and a more pop-culture oriented use of guitar, mandolin and electronics than is typical in Evil Clown ensembles. For the third set featuring these three relative newbies, I’m rolling out the new band name, Neurodivergent, to explore combinations of their aesthetic as a group of players with a long history with various combinations of players from the Evil Clown Roster.
For this performance, Cosmic Collisions, I invited Eric Dahlman (tp) who was on the second set last year and who has been an Evil Clown regular for years. We were originally going to be a quintet. At Leap of Faith’s performance (Spooky Action at a Distance) at the Lilypad in September 2023 which included Michael Caglianone (a core woodwind player who has been on many recordings by many Evil Clown Ensembles), a drummer friend of Michael’s, Jim Lucchese, came to see the show. He and Michael go way back having played together in the band Zen Bastards for years. After the show we were talking, and I invited him to come do a session at Evil Clown Headquarters with Michael. Cosmic Collisions ended up being the show… So we ended up performing a septet instead of a quintet and Jim has officially joined the roster.
Anyway, we had a terrific Livestream performance. I really like this set and I bet you do too…
PEK 1/14/2024
Words on the Words of Cosmic Collisions from Count Robot
Here are a few typed words about some of the spoken word segments during Cosmic Collisions, by Neurodivergent, which you are reading to alleviate any possible confusion about the dialogue in our set.
First let me state that I am not in a cult, even though I like Blue Oyster Cult. The robes that I am wearing during the performance were provided to me by a benign circle of people, who blindly worship a perfect human, who we can never question, and must do whatever he says, but that in no way means we’re in a cult.
What is a cult? A definition of a cult is “a group that blindly follows a leader with religious fervor.” Now, just because that sounds like what I belong to, doesn’t mean I actually am in a cult.
Three people walk into an art museum to view an impressionistic painting. Two of the people are in a cult. When the cult members look upon the oil splashed canvas, they both say in unison “It is a sign from the leader we blindly follow! It is a sign we should we blindly believe he is the holy one who would never lie to us even when he offers us no proof that he is telling the truth and everyone else is offering proof that he is lying!” The third person looks at the painting and says “Wow, that’s a beautiful flower.”
Meaning is subjective. Who has the role of speaking for the creation? Once the art of spontaneous music and spoken word is released, it is in the ether for people to respond to as they will. They can interpret the meaning as they desire, because that’s what the human mind does.
If I was in a cult, I would be speaking for everyone in Neurodivergent, but I’m not in a cult, thus my words here are my own. However, in Cosmic Collision, other people say some wonderfully fun, and funny (pop culture references anyone?), and funny insightful (I forgot to pay my futility bill!), things. It’s a form of jazz when we riff words together, scat out of the hat, and separately, spontaneously, or spouting recreated conversations from earlier, for an example of that, give a listen to, Giant Monster Insurance on Bandcamp. https://neurodivergent1.bandcamp.com/track/giant-monster-insurance
Cults are stupid mindless wastelands buying truth at the inconvenience store.
Is that how you interpret it, or how I interpret it?
If I hold a mirror up to my stupidity are you reflected back or am I?
I hope that clears things up.
Count Robot (a non-cult member)
Paul Brennan Photos &
Video Screen Grabs
