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Luminiferous Aether

by Metal Chaos Ensemble

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Review by Nick Ostrum
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    Metal Chaos Ensemble is Eric Zinman, Yuri Zbitnov, Steve Niemitz, Syd Smart, Joel Simches, and, PEK; in other words, it is the percussion section (with some modifications) of the wildly adventurous Leap of Faith Orchestra. Although this is a pared-down unit, Metal Chaos maintains the sonic immensity of the larger collective, in large part through deploying a truly impressive array of tools. Some — various reeds, drum kits, melodica, synth, samples from the PEK catalog, and tabula — are familiar enough. Others — metal, wood, belatrons, Brontosaurus and tank bells, [d]Ronin, Dan-Mo, and various sirens — less so. The result is an hour-long jam session of thoroughly trippy improvisational cacophony. It begins with a recorded lecture on the solar physics disrupted by a chime and rolling montage of percussive clack and sci-fi sounds. About ten minutes in, the musicians hit their groove, as the discrete rumblings well into a whirling psychedelic stew of depth, gravity, and ludicrousness befitting, well, the Luminiferous Ether it seeks to reflect. From this point, the album oscillates between low electro-percussive simmers and spacey synth-driven cacophony. Even so, it never reaches the blow-out or meltdown one might expect with such an adventurous configuration. The focus is on restrained dynamics, tension, and strange, churning ambience rather than explosive crescendo and shock.
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    There is a potential downside to being as prolific as PEK and his Leap of Faith collective, as releases can sound like works-in-progress, as steps along the way to some, yet unrealized end. That said, Sun Ra — a clear inspiration for this project — could shine some light on this. As with Ra — a man who performed, recorded, and released relentlessly, even posthumously — the process itself was the actual end, each step a realization of just a small piece of an opus sealed not by a definitive work, but by the sheer number and variety of creative releases. That same applies to this album. Although Luminiferous Ether stands on its own, consider it one more contribution to the Evil Clown collective's catalog, another unique brick in its wall, or maybe more appropriately, one long, colorful strip of fabric in its bizarrely calico circus tent. It glistens and rustles. It is weird. It draws one's ears. And, it is one small but important contribution to the broader evolving, luminiferous whole.
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    Review by Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
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    METAL CHAOS ENSEMBLE With PEK / ERIC ZINMAN / YURI ZBITNOV / STEVE NIEMITZ / SYD SMART - Luminiferous Aether (Evil Clown 9205; USA) The Metal Chaos Ensemble or MCE feature this time: PEK on carnets, saxes, melodica, synths & percussion; Eric Zinman on synth, balafon & log drums; Yuri Zbitnov on drums, metal, orchestral percussion; Steve Niemitz on drums, tabla, balafon, wood & metal; Syd Smart drum, theremin, etc. and Joel Simches on signal processing. The MCE seem to be the most prolific of all the Leap of Faith offshoot projects with some 15 previous releases. The personnel changes from session to session, with just a trio on some discs (PEK, Zbitnov & Simches). This session was recorded at Evil Clown HQ in January of this year (2019, just last month) and this version is a sextet. All six members play a variety of percussion: brontosaurus bells, cymbals, crotales, balafon, log drums, metal & wood. Two of are elders: Syd Smart (for Raphe Malik & Ted Daniel) and Eric Zinman (for Linda Sharrock), who have been around for a long time, but remain under the radar. Mr. Zbitnov does a creepy spoken word recitation to start things off, it is short and slowly the percussion and synth swirl softly together, building, layer by layer. PEK selectively chooses one reed or double reed at a time, taking solos on each while the percussion, synth(s) and processing weave their way around one another. Everything is well-recorded, the subtle layers of percussion slowly getting more dense. The sextet mix tribal drumming with eerie synth sounds and spacey cymbals, metal or balafons. Although all of this music is improvised, Mr. Pek always assembles ensembles who listen, react and contribute selectively. Rarely do things get too dense. Mostly, everything flows together organically although, the echo effects also keep the vibe mesmerizing. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
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    ----Liner Notes by PEK
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    Metal Chaos Ensemble was formed in early 2015 by PEK and Yuri Zbitnov as a working project to explore chaotic rhythms on metallic instruments. I had started to amass the Evil Clown Arsenal of percussion, electronic and wind instruments and we needed a workshop to develop this universe of sounds for the Leap of Faith Orchestra. It was immediately obvious that Metal Chaos Ensemble had a sound to itself and over the last three years has been one of the most prolific Evil Clown ensembles. We have produced a bunch of albums covering a wide range of sonority sets, but always with the presence of Gongs, chimes, glockenspiel, Tibetan Bowls and many other metallic sounds and the horns of PEK. All Metal Chaos Ensemble sessions include at least myself and Yuri, along with a whole bunch of different guests.
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    For around 2 years now, I have been using the Ableton software to create electronic mixes which we use in several of the bands as an accompaniment track. In performance, I ride the fader from off to very present, but most of the time more to the background. Raw samples are taken from the Evil Clown Catalog and also specially recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters with instruments drawn from the Evil Clown arsenal. I then use Adobe Audition to process the samples and finally Ableton to assemble a timeline and create a mix. Most of the more recent MCE sessions use one of these mixes.
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    In the early days of MCE, most of our sets were with multiple percussion players. More of the recent MCE sets have a bigger variety of instruments with everyone doubling the percussion, more emphasis on electronic instruments and signal processing, and fewer dedicated percussionists… This particular set is a bit MCE old school, since 3 of the five musicians are great drummers. I had tried to schedule a session like this a few months ago with myself and these three drummers, but Yuri had car trouble and Syd’s wife uses their car on Thursdays, so Steve and I ended up doing a duet (Emergent Syntax).
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    This time It was looking like we were going to be Yuri, Steve, myself with Joel in the recording chair. I need to have Joel here for the mix when the ensemble gets more complicated and it seemed like a smaller unit, so I thought I would bring in Eric on synth, since I’ve been looking for a good set for that. Turns out Syd was able to ride with Eric and we ultimately had this full quintet!
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    I’m very happy with this performance which combines the old school percussion dominated MCE with some of the electronics of the new school MCE. Check it out!
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    PEK 1/12/2019
    ... more
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1.

about

Evil Clown 9205
Evil Clown Headquarters
Waltham MA
10 January 2018

credits

released January 12, 2019

- PEK - clarinet & contralto clarinet, alto, tenor & bass saxophones, bass tromboon, Melodica, wind siren, wood flute, Akia ewi, moog subsequent, Korg ms-20, [d]Ronin, Brontosaurus & tank bells, crotales, cymbells, log drums, metal, wood, voice, Ableton Mix*
- Eric Zinman - synth, balafon, log drums
- Yuri Zbitnov - drums, metal, wood, Orchestral Chimes, crotales, wind siren, kazoo, [d]Ronin, recitation, voice
- Steve Niemitz - drums, tabla, balafon, log drums, glockenspiel, Orchestral Chimes, crotales, cymbells, Dan-Mo, metal, wood, crank siren
- Syd Smart - drums, handsonic, theremin, talking drum, ocean drum, metal, voice
- Joel Simches - real time signal processing, live to 2 track recording engineer

*samples from the Evil Clown catalog or specially recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters
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YouTube: youtu.be/yzEbl47WVsk
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Evil Clown album page:
www.evilclown.rocks/mce-luminiferous-aether.html
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Review by Nick Ostrum
www.squidsear.com/cgi-bin/news/newsView.cgi?newsID=2145
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Here are links to the last year’s worth of MCE albums where we develop this electronics heavy improvisation concept.
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Beyond the Holy Mountain (2/25/2019)
bandcamp: metalchaosensemble.bandcamp.com/album/shape-memory
YouTube: youtu.be/LMdW-qYz_yg
Evil Clown Album page: www.evilclown.rocks/mce-shape-memory.html
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Luminiferous Aether (1/1/2019)
bandcamp: metalchaosensemble.bandcamp.com/album/luminiferous-aether
YouTube: YouTube: youtu.be/yzEbl47WVsk
Evil Clown Album page: www.evilclown.rocks/mce-luminiferous-aether.html
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Electric Sword Machine (12/8/2018)
bandcamp: metalchaosensemble.bandcamp.com/album/electric-sword-machine
YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DDdQfwhkE4&feature=youtu.be
Evil Clown Album page: www.evilclown.rocks/mce-electric-sword-machine.html
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Electric Universe Theory (9/7/2018)
bandcamp: metalchaosensemble.bandcamp.com/album/electric-universe-theory
YouTube: youtu.be/Fi8gyL9JiMg
Evil Clown Album page: www.evilclown.rocks/mce-electric-universe-theory.html
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Syncretic Discipline (8/2/2018)
bandcamp: metalchaosensemble.bandcamp.com/album/syncretic-discipline
YouTube: youtu.be/3mNnMrZ8qMg
Evil Clown Album page: www.evilclown.rocks/mce-syncretic-discipline.html
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Cryptomorphisms (6/2/2018)
bandcamp: metalchaosensemble.bandcamp.com/album/cryptomorphisms
YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pY0k4sgQIY&feature=youtu.be
Evil Clown Album page: www.evilclown.rocks/mce-cryptomorphisms.html
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Blast Furnace (4/12/2018)
bandcamp: metalchaosensemble.bandcamp.com/album/blast-furnace
YouTube: youtu.be/ZJtHC63EeNc
Evil Clown Album page: www.evilclown.rocks/mce-blast-furnace.html
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Shape Memory (2/15/2018)
bandcamp: metalchaosensemble.bandcamp.com/album/shape-memory
YouTube: youtu.be/LMdW-qYz_yg
Evil Clown Album page: www.evilclown.rocks/mce-shape-memory.html

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Metal Chaos Ensemble Boston, Massachusetts

Metal Chaos Ensemble was formed in early 2015 by PEK and Yuri Zbitnov as a working project to explore chaotic rhythms on metallic instruments. It was immediately obvious that Metal Chaos Ensemble had a sound to itself and over the last five years has been one of the most prolific Evil Clown ensembles. All MCE sessions include at least me and Yuri, along with a whole bunch of different guests. ... more

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