Squidco Blurb

A mammoth undertaking by Boston multi-instrumentalist David Peck, 3 CDs of studio improvisations about language, one part per CD, performed on a vast array of reeds, percussive instruments and unusual sound sources, with drummer Yuri Zbitnoff joining for intermediate mixes, resulting in a multi-layered and unique sonic universe of depth and dexterity.

Squidco Staff

Liner Notes by PEK

Every once in a while, there is a break in the crazy schedule here at Evil Clown and I have some time to do a solo album.  Our grand olde pal, the Corona Virus has provided such a break in spades….  At the beginning of the 2020, it appeared that the year would be our busiest yet…  We did a bunch of albums in January, February and the first weeks of March, and then I was forced to cancel a bunch of wonderful performances scheduled for the months that followed.   So, I caught up all my old business:  web site, social media, distribution, and the other non-musical activity required to drive the enterprise.  Then I took a month off…  my biggest rest since I started up in 2015 after my long hiatus.  In mid-May I started up again, conceiving some new means of producing some of the enormous output normally achieved by Evil Clown.  In the Fall I did a huge series of solo works along with a few Metal Chaos Ensemble sets.

Now entering the second calendar year to be affected by the Stupid Virus, I really miss playing with others…  For obvious reasons, I have been producing a lot more PEK Solo albums than I do typically.  I conceived a structural schema for producing solo works while we wait for the virus to be over.  As with larger ensemble Evil Clown sessions, the planning involves selecting sound resources from the massive Evil Clown Arsenal and setting up the studio with these instruments to allow rapid changes in instrumentation and therefore in sonority.  This system provides a framework to create solo works that are sufficiently different from each other that I can continue to produce new work at something close to my usual rate even while I can’t perform with others.

The PEK Solo albums fall into four categories:

1. One continuous track (no overdubbing) of PEK playing one or many instruments with or without signal processing.
2. One continuous track of PEK playing one or many instruments with a prerecorded mix of samples drawn from the Evil Clown Catalog or specially recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters.  Solo albums from before 2020 fall into the categories 1 & 2.
3. A Quartet of PEKs – Four continuous tracks of one PEK each playing many instruments on each pass.  Three of these albums, Schematic Abstractions for the Clarinet Family, Fixed Intentions for the Saxophone Family, and Completeness for Flutes and Double Reeds use very focused palettes.  Other Quartet of PEKs releases use broader palettes comprised of woodwinds, percussion, electronics, and strings.
4. An Orchestra of PEKs – Many tracks of PEKs performing on a broad section of the Arsenal.  The last of these, Some Truths are Known, is a mammoth 4-hour studio construction / composition in 3 eighty-minute movements.  I list 110 instruments in the notes for this album….

The current session, Semantic Notions, is a category 4 set.  Like Some Truths Are Known, it is a massive 4-hour work in three 80-minute movements.  I’m really enjoying these very large format works which remind me in some ways of my Frame Notation Scores for the Leap of Faith Orchestra.  The methods are very different, but the goal is the same:  Erect a formal structure that controls a work’s development by applying composed structures to wholly improvised content. 

The compositional element is a methodology, an algorithm.  I create intermediate mixes in Ableton from samples of the Evil Clown Catalog, or by recording specially at Evil Clown Headquarters.  For Semantic Notions some of the intermediate mixes include:

• Three Quartet of PEKs sessions listed above (Schematic Abstractions, Fixed Intentions, Completeness)
• 16 PEK mixes of each of these (4 tracks of each at various pitch/time transformations)   
• 48 PEK mix of the above three 16 PEK mixes
• Metal Chaos Ensemble – Null Hypothesis (with Yuri Zbitnov)
• Metal Chaos Ensemble – Journey to Skull Island for wooden percussion (3 tracks of duets with Yuri Zbitnov and PEK)
• Thick Wood mix made from multiple transformed copies of Journey to Skull Island
• Sruti box mix
• Hand chimes mix

Using the above and other sources, I create an approximately 78-minute mix (length of a full CD) of varying sonority and density with silent gaps of 3 to 5 minutes.  Then I set up the studio with a bunch of string, percussion and electronic instruments.  I record two tracks of the entire duration of the work where I improvise textural support tracks.  Then I record one track of the entire duration with the room full of horns and other solo instruments.  The performance of these 3 final tracks is very similar in many ways to more conventional real-time improvisation in an ensemble with a few key differences:

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• The general shape and color of the accompaniment tracks is known in advance.
• Instrument selection for some sections is decided in advance (particularly for the openings and conclusions)
• The dynamic profiles (wave forms) of the previously recorded tracks and pre-mixes are visible in the recording software, providing a clear picture over time of the earlier tracks and precise information on transition points.
• My improvisation language features phrasing as a principle element.  Improvising with accompaniment performed by myself means that I do not need to deduce in real time the phrasing of the other players.  It is possible to match my own phrases with near total precision.

Semantic Notions transforms through a huge set of sonorities ranging from sparse and quiet with one or a few instruments to dense and very chaotic thick sections and various levels of in-between.  The huge instrumentation allows very different sonorities not only for the thinner sections but even for the dense sections.  Hopefully, I achieve my aesthetic goal of telling a compelling story with sufficiently different overall character over the duration of the composition.

Until the stupid virus is over and more normal interactions are possible with other people, I will continue to create PEK Solo new works using the four concepts listed above and maybe some new ones.  There also may be some small group Leap of Faith and Metal Chaos Ensemble sets.  Evil Clown will resume its normal routines when vaccination is widespread, and it is safe to do so.

As usual, the chaos of the universe throws out problems which require our attention.   Expression must be expressed.  Music must be made.  The chaos of the universe demands it.

PEK – 1/26/21