RITUAL INSCRIPTION is the first release on the new Bakersfield-based creative music label Epigraph Records. Recorded live at a jam-packed midnight concert at Metro Galleries in downtown Bakersfield, the album features the fierce improvisational intensity of internationally renowned percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani from Japan, with the mangled electronic alchemy of Los Angeles guitarist Jeremy Drake and the slash-and-burn brass of Bakersfield trumpeter Kris Tiner. This edition is limited to 500 numbered copies, with one of five original designs screen printed on the back of each jacket by cover artist Alex Sarad. Bandcamp customers can choose from four available designs during checkout (subject to availability).
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“There’s something different happening in Bakersfield since the glory days of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. That at least is what would be suggested by the inaugural release from Epigraph Records.”
– Kurt Gottschalk, The New York City Jazz Record
“A tightly balanced combination of intensity and lyricism that arises from an intelligent reciprocity of conventional and experimental playing by three musicians with deep stylistic and expressive affinities… an exhilarating meeting.”
– Avant Music News
“The music is raw, open-ended and strangely enough, deeply emotional… music that will grab you by the throat as well as make you dream. It’s especially the contrast between both that makes this great art, the tension between Tiner’s gentle humanity on the one hand, and Drake’s horror-movie sounds on the other, with Nakatani embracing both ends of the spectrum, that make this performance really worth looking for. Highly recommended.”
– Stef Gijssels, Free Jazz (Belgium)
“They work their magic in an impressive short set. You are ready for more when the second side ends.”
– Gapplegate Music Review
“Two improvisations, 18 and 13 minutes long. Two rollercoaster rides. Drake’s playing being mostly textural and noise-based, Tiner is free to fire strings of burning-hot brass lines and well-controlled blurts and blasts, while Nakatani wields unbridled creativity at his drum kit, striking and brushing skins and frames with a plethora of objets. The magic is there, and I was holding my breath throughout.”
– François Couture, Monsieur Délire (France)
“Elastic, kinetic sounds mutate constantly, coloring a broad canvas through tight and thick interplay. No sound is obvious; the trio deserts common instrumental roles for inventive and challenging ones. The narrative of the improvisation is loose, but the fierce, intense sonic alchemy is arresting—an idiosyncratic language outlined spontaneously… brilliant and masterful.”
– Eyal Hareuveni, All About Jazz
credits
released January 17, 2012
Tatsuya Nakatani - percussion
Kris Tiner - trumpet, flugelhorn
Jeremy Drake - electric guitar
Recorded live at Metro Galleries in Bakersfield, CA on 5/13/2010
Engineered and mixed by Brian Boozer, Aum Studio, Bakersfield
Mastering by Richard Simpson
Cover art by Alex Sarad
Design by Alex Sarad and Kris Tiner
This recording was made possible in part by a Subito Quick Advancement Grant from the Los Angeles/SF Bay Area chapters of the American Composers Forum.
Epigraph Records is devoted to the documentation of new improvisational and creative music recorded in Bakersfield,
California. Our releases spotlight boundary-pushing local artists along with innovative and unclassifiable musicians from around the globe....more
supported by 6 fans who also own “Ritual Inscription”
The guitarists first solo album (like the actors first Hamlet) is a hoop that eventually has to be jumped through...and Mary Halvorson has finally risen to the challenge...a truly brilliant improviser and technician (I remember being knocked out by a performance she gave with Anthony Braxton in London),she has added layers of emotional and spiritual patina to those skills...the pre-release track here demonstrates all those qualities in spades...I see this release will include work by Noel Akchote (whose music plays a key part in my listening regime)...
So,until its release "I eat the air,promise crammed"...
Update! This album is now released and I can "count myself King of infinite riches"...this release catapults Mary Halvorson into a different league for me...wonderful,wonderful,wonderful! John Cratchley
It’s hard to say exactly what SIM CARD HØLDER is, but on this LP, it plunges you deep into a terrifying world of shadow and space. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 29, 2021
supported by 6 fans who also own “Ritual Inscription”
The liner notes describe the village in the cover photo as "bleak but oddly beautiful". That pretty much sums up the music itself as well. Dark and dire but somehow shining as well. An engaging experience. Brandon Burkholder