The eighth Evil Clown "Shorties" collection gathers 14 compact improvisations drawn from 14 releases by nine ensembles and 28 musicians, offering a concise survey of the label's early-2026 activity as reeds, brass, strings, electronics, bass, percussion and spoken word cycle through rapidly changing configurations that distill Evil Clown's broad-palette approach into brief, sharply contrasting snapshots.

Using David Peck's expanding system of color-coded Frame Notation, this fifth Turbulence Orchestra and Sub-Units performance gathers 19 musicians from the Evil Clown, western Massachusetts and Vermont improvising communities into a large-scale work of voices, reeds, brass, strings, keyboards, electronics and percussion, balancing preplanned entrances and ensemble events with organically unfolding collective invention.

Leap of Faith's core duo of David Peck on reeds, electronics, strings, percussion, and invented instruments with Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic, voice, and percussion expands to an eight-piece Evil Clown Orchestra with brass, reeds, guitar, bass, drums, electronics, and real-time processing, creating a high-energy improvisation of horn frenzy, dense counterpoint, shifting sonorities, and collective transformation.

Drawing musicians from across the Northeast, the 30-member Turbulence Orchestra and Sub-Units — directed by PEK — convenes for a sprawling 2-disc session of conducted large-ensemble free improv, first presenting six compact sub-unit improvisations before merging into a sweeping hour-long orchestral performance of shifting instrumentations, graphic cues, and evolving textures.

A lively sampler of Evil Clown's expansive improvisational universe, this collection assembles fourteen concise, high-energy performances drawn from livestream sessions across multiple ensembles, where shifting instrumental combinations, dense textures, and spontaneous interaction distil the label's long-form aesthetic into sharply focused bursts of collective invention.

Conducted by PEK using an expanded system of graphic signs, cue windows and directional frames, this large Turbulence Orchestra realises a continuous narrative of shifting density, guided entrances and exits, and evolving instrumentation, the players responding in real time to PEK's visual triggers to create a vivid, shape-shifting electro-acoustic improvisation.

With PEK and Glynis Lomon joined by John Fugarino, Eric Dahlman, Michael Caglianone, Tor Snyder, Albey onBass, Scott Samenfeld, Cliff White, and Joel Simches, Leap of Faith expands into a richly textured septet where strings and horns form the core dynamic, augmented by percussion, electronics, and processing in an improvisation that evolves through a vast range of sonorities.

Expanding to a nine-piece ensemble, Leap of Faith Orchestra with PEK and Glynis Lomon joined by John Fugarino, Eric Dahlman, Michael Caglianone, Tor Snyder, Albey onBass, Dennis Warren, and Joel Simches, transforms through broad palette improvisations where horns, strings, guitar, bass, percussion, electronics, and real-time processing converge into a richly layered orchestral improvisation.

A massive 22-member improvising ensemble, the Turbulence Orchestra and Sub-Units are heard live in Vermont, with five dynamic sub-unit performances and a full-orchestra hour-long guided improvisation, blending structured conduction, graphic notation techniques, and a chaotic palette of woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion and even rubber chickens in an intense and unpredictable sonic experience.

While typically performing and releasing extended improvisations that last an hour or more, before each of the Evil Clown's Livestreamed performances they record a short improvisation, referred to as "Shorties", taking approaches that yield unique character to the longer works, collected here in 15 recordings with permutations of regular collective members.