The Squid's Ear Magazine


PEK Solo / A Quartet Of PEKS: Strange Beauty Out of Chaos (Evil Clown)

Using a vast array of instruments categorized by clarinets, double reeds, flutes, free reed aerophones, strings, electronics, electroacoustic sound-makers, percussion, duck calls, sirens and voice, David Peck layers his improvisation into four renditions of himself, which he refers to as a Quartet of PEKs, this work focusing on new instruments developed by Tim Kaiser.
 

Price: $11.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



PEK - all instruments, recording & mixing
clarinets: b flat, alto, contralto, contrabass,
saxophones: sopranino, alto, tenor
double reeds: piccolo oboe, oboe, contrabassoon, dulzaina, tarota, medieval pipe, bass tromboon
flutes: piccolo, C, alto, Russian 3 & 5 hole flute, Christmas flute, bass ocarina
free reed aerophones: accordion, sheng, melodica
strings: electric upright bass, alto & bass nagoya harps
electronics: moog subsequent, prophet, novation peak, Linnstrument, Korg ms-20, delay, loop station, stomp boxes
electro accoustic: telstar, electric chimes, hedgehog chime box, large spring box, cymbalum, cyclops harp, Azzam Bells MPA 019, [d]ronin
percussion: gongs, plate gong, almglocken, brontosaurus & tank bells, Tibetan bowls & bells, cow bells, orchestral chimes, glockenspiel, chimes, wood blocks, temple blocks, log drum, rachet, talking drum
other: duck call, crank siren, voice


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Label: Evil Clown
Catalog ID: 9269
Squidco Product Code: 30969

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters, in Waltham, Massachusetts, on April 1st and 3rd, 2021.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Strange Beauty Out of Chaos, is A Quartet of PEKs - four continuous tracks of one PEK each playing many instruments on each pass. I'd like to thank Nick Ostrum for the title. Nick used this phrase in a recent Squid's Ear review of Metal Chaos Ensemble - The Riddle of Steel and so I stole it for this work.

I recently became aware of the unique and distinctive instruments made by Tim Kaiser. I would classify these instruments as electro-acoustic rather than electronic since they amplify quiet acoustic sounds made on guitar strings, springs, rods and other metal materials. He also makes some homemade synths which are electronic. I bought 6 of these instruments (telstar, 2 electric chimes, hedgehog chime box, large spring box, cymbalum, cyclops harp) to add to the daxophone, [d]ronin and Ozzam Bells mpa-019 which I have had for some time. Tracks 1 and 2 use the new and older instruments from this category along with percussion and a couple of synthesizers. Tracks 3 and 4 have the horn solos and more percussion and electro-acoustic instruments.

The [d]ronin and the daxophone have been important instruments in the Arsenal, adding to the broad palate alien sounds that help us avoid sounding like other more conventional music. This new recording shows the power of extending this collections of sounds to a much bigger set. I will end up using these instruments a lot for this reason, and I will buy some more over time including a few of the homemade synths.

While I have enjoyed the process of creating Quartet of PEKs and Orchestra of PEKs recordings during our collective CV incarceration, I am looking forward to resuming performance with other musicians in the very near future. My housemate, Raffi, and I have both received first vaccine shots. I'll be able to open Evil Clown Headquarters to sessions probably by mid-May to players in the roster who have also been fully vaccinated. That date is about 5 or 6 weeks from the date of this writing. My current plan is to do several category 1-3 sessions during that time, but perhaps I will squeeze in one more Orchestra of PEKs set before I can start doing sets with other players."-David Peck, from the liner notes


Artist Biographies

Track Listing:



1. Strange Beauty Out of Chaos 1:10:39

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Boston Area Improvisers
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
Percussion & Drums
Electro-Acoustic
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Solo Artist Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Evil Clown.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Axioms (PEK / SpokenWord / Lomon / onBass / Simches)
Illusion and Reality
(Evil Clown)
Two vocalists associated with Cecil Taylor's final trio--Albey onBass and Jane SpokenWord--join Evil Clown leader David Peck (PEK) on reeds, winds and a large collection of percussive devices, and Glynis Lomon on cello & aquasonic, for an extended work of critical poetry and spoken word, merging truth and abstraction through free improv and pointed expression.
Weston, Matt
Sparky 4 [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD]
(7272music)
The 4th installment in percussionist & composer Matt Weston's serialized opera for percussion ensemble + electronics, a set of narratives and counter-narratives that explore mental health struggles as they develop over time in varying circumstances, realized through a combination of site-specific graphic, multidimensional and instantaneous scores.
Turbulence
Fluid Friction
(Evil Clown)
A 9-horn section from the Leap of Faith Orchestra performing an expansive improvisation of thoughtful and melodic interaction augmented with the Evil Clown arsenal of percussive instruments, from David Peck on clarinets, sax & winds, Jared Holiday on sax & bass clarinet, David WelansĘ& Dennis LIvingston on flutes, Elwood Epps & Bob Moores on trumpet and Duane Reed on horns & trombone.
PEK Solo, An Orchestra of PEKs
Prisms
(Evil Clown)
The first "Orchestra of PEKS" album to feature Tim Kaiser's recent electro-acoustic instrument, this multi-track solo recording also introduces multi-wind / multi-instrumentalist David Peck's new West African Kora, in a wild electroacoustic set performed on a dizzying array of reeds, winds, strings, electronics, metallic percussion, wood percussion, sirens and thunder tube.
PEK Solo / An Orchestra of PEKs
Electrolysis
(Evil Clown)
A follow-up to Stretching the Fabric of Space, this solo release from David Peck presents an extended layered set of fize improvisations using a base of prerecorded and premixed tracks with some electronic processing to speed up and slow down, to raise and lower pitch, and to build up thick mixes of sounds from the same sonority set.
PEK Solo
Decision Boundary
(Evil Clown)
With exotic instrumentation including clariphone, tarota, nadaswaram, mussette, flutes, clarinets, English horn, medieval pipe, whistles, concertina and gongs, Boston improviser David Peck performs over elements captured on a loop station, all decisions made in real time as he evolves this extended improvisation, creating a diverse and unusual recording.
PEK Solo / An Orchestra of PEKs
Stretching the Fabric of Space
(Evil Clown)
Part of Boston multi-wind/instrumentalist David Peck's "Orchestra of PEKs" series, this extended improvisation finds PEK interacting with a pre-recorded Ableton Mix of synthetics developed during his Semantic Notions album, over which he improvises on clarinets, saxophones double reeds & flutes, along with many percussive instruments, particularly a Chinese guqin.
PEK Solo
Requiem for Raymond
(Evil Clown)
A heart-felt and yearning solo work by Boston multi-instrumentalist and improviser David Peck performed as a requiem for the passing of his father, Raymond Sheldon Peck, in September of 2020, recorded a few hours after receiving the news, in an emotional work with heavy-hearted percussion behind grief-struck clarinet, contrabass clarinet, and flutes.
PEK Solo / A Quartet of PEKS
Fixed Intentions for the Saxophone Family
(Evil Clown)
The sixth PEK Solo effort of 2020 in Boston-based improviser and composer David Peck's series, this album is a followup to his Clarinet Family album earlier in the year, here creating a virtual symphony of saxophones by layering his composition in the studio through four separate recordings, working in the vein of Rova Sax Quartet or the World Sax Quartet.
PEK Solo / An Orchestra of PEKs
Coulombs
(Evil Clown)
Recording as An Orchestra of PEKs--overdubbed tracks performing with his arsenal of metallic, percussive and electronics devices--intermediate mixes here of electric cello and electric upright bass through Moogerfooger stomp box and syntrix analog synthesizer and a metallic percussion mix, the various timbres interacting as a larger environment for PEK's reed improvisations.
PEK Solo
Complex and Real Dimensions
(Evil Clown)
Before initiating the live improvisation that makes up Complex & Real Dimensions, reedist and multi-instrumentalist David Peck built a foundation track including electro-acoustic instruments created by Tim Kaiser, particularly the loop-capable "Large Spring Box", creating tone, timbre and interludes over which PEK passionately performs.
PEK Solo
For Alto (For Anthony Braxton)
(Evil Clown)
In 1969 alto saxophonist Anthony Braxton released an unprecedented solo saxophone album, For Alto, dedicating each piece to a composer or player, including Leroy Jenkins and John Cage; Boston improviser David Peck took this album as inspiration to create his own extended solo improvisation as a tribute to Braxton, performing on a classic Selmer Balanced Action saxophone.
PEK Solo
Completeness for Flutes and Double Reeds
(Evil Clown)
Boston improviser and multi-instrumentalist David Peck (PEK) in a solo album using his Quartet of PEKs formats, improvising in the studio through four layers, presenting the final installment of a triptych of albums constrained to one or two woodwind instrument families - this one for flutes and double reeds, along with nadaswaram, shenai, goat horn, dizi, bass tromboon, &c &c.
PEK Solo
Elaborations
(Evil Clown)
For Boston improviser David Peck, a surprisingly small set of instruments for this extended solo work focused on Bb, bass & contrabass clarinets, recorded in a continuous improvisation augmented with goat horn, ocarinas, wood flutes, penny whistle, triple slide whistle, chromatic harmonica, hulusi, wind siren, concertina, gongs, tank bell and Tibetan bells.
PEK Solo
Schematic Abstractions for the Clarinet Family
(Evil Clown)
PROMO COPY WITH CUT CORNER
PEK Solo
The Strange Theory of Light & Matter
(Evil Clown)
Four times David Peck, as the Boston reedist and multi-instrumentalist leverages concepts from his graphic scores for the Leap of Faith Orchestra designed to limit the excesses of large ensemble in improvisation, following his score of symbols and written instructions through four recorded iterations, listening to and reacting to the previous layers in a virtual quartet of PEKs.
Pek Solo
Pursuing the Ideal Limit of Inquiry
(Evil Clown)
The fourth PEK Solo effort of 2020 finds Boston-area reedist David Peck in a virtual duo with himself, using a digital delay in a call and response on a single instrument - the tenor saxophone - his primary horn for a large part of his early history, demonstrating his current improvisational thinking & language on his most familiar instrument.
PEK Solo / An Orchestra Of PEKS
Some Truths Are Known [3 CDS]
(Evil Clown)
David Peck, aka PEK, took advantage of the down time from his typically busy performance schedule with the Boston-area collective of bands centered around Leap of Faith to record a number of solo performances, using a variety of reed and wind instruments and the arsenal of unusual percussive instruments at his disposal, recording the 3 full CDs of new material presented in this set.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC