• Digital Album

  Streaming + Download

  Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
  
  ---review by Darren Bergstein, Downtown Music Gallery
  .
  SIMULACRUM - Synesthesia (Evil Clown 9282; USA) Synesthesia is loosely defined as a phenomenon wherein you hear music but see shapes and/or colors. The word translates as “perceive together”, a strange and aberrant twisting of perception wherein one sensory stimulus is seen through the prism of a different stimulus. The Simulacrum collective knows this condition only too well, and comes about as close as anyone can to making synesthetes out of us all. Dave PEK, Bob Moores, and Eric Woods (aided and abetted by recording engineer Joel Simches, whose real-time signal processing provides the icing on the cake), performing on their usual armament of instrumentation both acoustic and electronic, guide us across a scorched earth of noises, tones, and sequences that burst like iridescent fireworks for the mind, leaving after-images permanently burned on our retinas. At roughly the ten-minute mark of this hour-long improv opus, spurts of random-access synth give way to morse-code beeps and telex arcana while tinkling percussives enter the airspace sideways amidst dive-bombing flares of horn. What seems like flagrant chaos and barely-controlled noise reveals layers of expertly telegraphed pulse that mitigates the idea these blokes are simply blowing in to the wind; the torrent of ideas leaping out at you from all angles paint a portrait of mad geniuses at play who know how to expertly navigate the complex soundfields they instantly devise. It almost sounds devilishly composed at points, but so much is happening at any one moment you realize all three musicians are in a veritable frenzy trying to get a grip on the landrush of ideas they’ve unleashed. As the music waxes and wanes, a plucking of guitar here, a tsunamic-rush of electronics there, the listener is so swept up in this galvanic ecosystem there’s barely time to catch a breath. Couldn’t imagine any other collective you’d prefer to be willingly asphyxiated by.
  .
  - Darren Bergstein, Downtown Music Gallery
  -----------------------
  ---Liner Notes by PEK
  .
  The pandemic forced me to focus on solo works for its duration. It was fun to explore the world of overdubbing and multichannel recording for a year or so, but I am more than ready to resume ensemble playing. When the hammer came down in March of 2020, Evil Clown had some great momentum recording a number of great projects in a few short months: Leap of Faith had just recorded Principles of an Open Future for Relative Pitch, Metal Chaos Ensemble had just recorded The Riddle of Steel, Turbulence had just recorded Friction Coefficients, and new ensemble Expanse had just recorded Main Sequence. All of these projects would have made great music during the last year. Now that we are coming back to a more normal world and I have started LIVESTREAMING shows from Evil Clown Headquarters, all of these projects are picking up again.
  .
  Another new project that was conceived at this time was Simulacrum. This new band is an offshoot of Metal Chaos Ensemble featuring 3 the core members PEK on all my stuff, Eric Woods on analog synth, and Bob Moores on space trumpet, guitar, and electronics. Our debut set, Hyperreality, from a few months back included a few special guests, like many Evil Clown albums do, but this new set is stripped down to just the core trio.
  .
  There was a first set for this band on the book which was cancelled for the virus. The basic idea of this band is to increase the amount of electronics, to keep the ancillary percussion and loose the drum set, along with PEK and Bob holding down the horn parts. Even without the drums, this set tilts more in the noise direction than typical of Metal Chaos Ensemble. I am interested to see where this project goes as we continue. I like this session and I think you may too…
  .
  PEK Out – 9/4/2021 ... more
  Purchasable with gift card

  Buy Digital Album   $6 USD  or more

  Send as Gift  

• Killer trio edition of Simulacrum tearing it up at Evil Clown Headquarters...

  Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  digipak
  
  Includes unlimited streaming of Synesthesia via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
  ships out within 7 days

  Purchasable with gift card

  Buy Compact Disc   $12 USD or more 

  Send as Gift 

• Share / Embed

about

credits

license