Metal Chaos Ensemble (Power Trio Edition) – Atomic Tuna Shorty 04

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Evil Clown 9262
Evil Clown Headquarters - Waltham MA
21 November 2020

Atomic Tuna - 1:09:40

.. PEK - clarinet, bass & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, alto, christmas & russian wood flutes, bass ocarina, melodica, diddlebow, upright electric bass, [d] ronin, wood & temple blocks, log drum, xylophone,
balafon, seed pod rattle, Tibetan bells & bowls, brontosaurus & tank bells, orchestral chimes, gongs, ms-20, malletkat, moog subsequent, cymbells, linnstrument, novation peak, daxophone

.. Mike Gruen - electric bass, signal processing

.. Yuri Zbitnov - drums, wood & temple blocks, xylophone, balafon, Englephone, Tibetan bells & bowls, crotales, bells, brontosaurus & tank bells, cymbells


METAL CHAOS ENSEMBLE - Atomic Tuna (Evil Clown 9262; USA) Unsure what an atomic tuna is (Fukushima fish?), but Dave PEK and his band of mercurial men sure do raise the temperature hereabouts to radioactive levels. Cursory round-up: PEK features his usual noggin-explodin' assortment of noisemakers, from reeds of various makes and models, to percussives sculpted in colorful tinctures (log drum, xylophone, balafon, chimes, tibetan bells, temple blocks, etc.), and a mad scientist’s lab of analogic van der graafs. Fellow MCE members Mike Gruen and Yuri Zbitnov provide electric bass/signal processing and yet more percussive adornment respectfully, but the whole of everyone’s contributions are engulfed so completely in the ensuing morass it’s impossible to tell who does what. And that’s the beauty of it all. The digipak cover notes this latest MCE missive as the ‘power trio edition’—that descriptor doesn’t disappoint. Waxing and waning, bobbing to and tro, thrusting and parrying, Atomic Tuna is a masterful study in group/sound dynamics, where shapeshifting improv yields a bevy of miraculous gifts for the ear as the trio travels the spaceways. The surprises are fast and furious: roughly eight minutes in, a slinky groove of near-funkadelia escapes your woofers, followed by PEK’s elastic hornswaggle and blurts of tie-dyed moogfog that wouldn't sound out of place on a Musica Elettronica Viva side. Those electronics arise with stealthy menace about half-way through the recording, augmented by the group’s steely interplay of woods, hand-held shakers, crotales, and, yes, metals, the wild abandon of the proceedings recalling nothing less than the 70s heyday of improv-era King Crimson. The Ensemble appear to have a never-ending supply of tricks up their sleeves; for all intents and purposes, even across an already voluminous catalog, this latest is one of their best yet. Pretty fearsome stuff. - Darren Bergstein