Turbulence Orchestra - Troughs (Final Audio)

Описание: Evil Clown 9445
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA
15 December 2025

1) Troughs – 1:10:41
2) Ridges – 5:23

PEK – clarinet, basset horn, contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, shenai, piccolo oboe, medieval horn, sheng, melodica, accordion, alto flute, ocarinas, brontosaurus & tank bells, spring & chime rod boxes, 17 string bass, [d]ronin, Godzilla harp, lfo percolator, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, ms-20, prophet, gongs, plate gong, wood & temple blocks, log drums, Englephone, danmo, triangle chimes, Tibetan bells & chimes, almglocken, array mbira, orchestral chimes, array mbira, kalimba, triangle chimes, cow bells

Micheal Caglianone – soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet, flute, melodica, wind siren, Tibetan bells & bowls, Englephone, danmo, balafon, xylophone, almglocken, temple bells, crank siren, log drums, brontosaurus & tank bells, gongs, wood & temple blocks, cow bells, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers

John Fugarino – trumpets, flugelhorn, trombone, valve trombone, French horn, melodica, ocarinas, array mbira, spring & chime rod boxes, orchestral anvils, almglocken, Tibetan bells & bowls, seed pod rattles, brontosaurus & tank bells, triangle chimes, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, nord stage 3, lfo violin, drone

Kelsey Gallagher – clarinet, melodica, talking drum, nord stage 3, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, drone phone, ratchet, bells, triangle chimes, Tibetan bowls, seed pod rattles, log drums, wood & temple blocks, cow bells, rubber chickens

Michael Knoblach – bodran, basket of rocks, meditation bells, slinky, riq with wooden zils, water filled mason jar, mortar & pestle, communion bells, sleigh bells, African rattles, seed pod rattles, axatse, copper bow, fisher price toys, wooden robot, sistum, vibratones, flex-a-tones, the farmer sings toy, marbles, metal chop sticks, meinl helix bowls, ratchet, boxing clown, devil chasers, abacus, lp udder

Joel Simches – Live to 2-track recording, real-time signal processing

Paul Brennan – Camera

Raffi – Video mix


----Liner Notes by PEK
Troughs is the final Evil Clown performance of 2025 and it is an appropriately strong conclusion to the year and in a way a summary of some of the years major strides… Evil Clown recorded 37 new albums in 2025 (by Turbulence, Turbulence Orchestra, Turbulence Orchestra & Sub-Units, Expanse, Expanse Percussion Edition, Metal Chaos Ensemble, Leap of Faith, Neurodivergent Orchestra, & Simulacrum) – 35 as LIVESTREAMS from Evil Clown Headquarters and 2 in Live Performance. There were over 50 participants this year in the Evil Clown Roster, but 4 of the key performers are all here: PEK (that’s me), John Fugarino, Michael Caglianone, and Michael Knoblach. I’m on all, of course, John is on 32, Michael C is on 18, and Michael K is on 17. There are many horn players in the Roster, but John, Michael and I have played together either as the entire ensemble, a three horn front line, or part of a larger horn section on 16 of this year’s albums – As a consequence, our improvised interaction has become extraordinarily tight.

Michael K plays a crazy assortment of hand percussion and unusual found percussion objects from a seated position on the floor, and for some sessions he plays drum set. Usually, our ensemble size is large (6 or more performers) since so many players want to participate, and because I am very interested in the difficult aesthetic problem of large unit pure improvisation. Most of the time, Michael plays from the kitchen due to crowding in the main studio room and for recording reasons to isolate his quieter percussion sounds, but for this set we were all in the main studio space for once.

The sole newbie on this set is clarinetist Kelsey Gallagher. The great tenor saxophonist Bonnie Kane brought her to the August Turbulence Orchestra & Sub-Units performance in Brattleboro VT. She did great, and here appears on her 5th Evil Clown recording in less than 5 months. It is rare to find clarinet specialists in pure improvisation since most truly accomplished clarinet players are classically trained and few classical players are able to make the leap to improvisation, but Kelsey is definitely one of them. She has big ears and a great voice. On her second performance (which was her first visit to Evil Clown Headquarters) we had a lengthy discussion before the set on my theories about broad palate improvisation and how we leverage the studio and the equipment in it to realize long form improvisations which organically transform through highly varied sonorities over the duration. I have never seen anyone new to these ideas accomplish so much so quickly.

The combination of a small highly seasoned Evil Clown unit with a highly skilled new addition really ended our 2025 season on a high note! I really like this set, and I bet you will too…
PEK 12/16/2025