Rastascan Records will celebrate the release of New Music for a New America, the debut release from RITUEL on Wednesday, April 3, 1996 at Beanbenders (the Berkeley Store Gallery), located at 2295 Shattuck Ave (at Bancroft) in Berkeley. Show starts at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $5.
Rastascan Records is proud to announce the debut recording by the uncompromising Bay Area-based improv-quartet RITUEL. Consistently pretzelling expectations, RITUEL has been carving their own niche in both obscure and popular musics since 1990.
Though the band has been compared to John Zorn, Captain Beefheart, Diamonda Galas, Albert Ayler, and John Cage, RITUEL 's sound encompasses a collective vision that makes pigeonholing pointless.
One can only begin to appreciate the full scope and breadth of RITUEL 's artistry by experiencing New Music for a New America in its entirety, but the first three pieces offer a window into RITUEL 's world.
On "Are You Experienced," the band avoids the current practice of pale imitation and chooses instead to honor Jimi's Experience by "seeing the colors" and manipulating them for their own ends. On "You will be hypnotized twice," the second piece, RITUEL tunes up, turns on, and drops out with Timothy Leary and Harry Reasoner on a trip through negativland. "Donovan's Isle, " the third piece, is a loving tribute to merry old England's grand minstrel, the man in the brocade coat: Donovan. Though the soothing strains from the master's guitar are absent, RITUEL calls to him with devices equally at home in the musics of Sonic Youth and Gyorgi Ligeti.
RITUEL are : Jonathan Byerly (electrified saxes and winds), Molly Carter (voice), George Cremaschi (acoustic bass and electronics) and Garth Powell (percussion, saw, tapes and backing voice)
The members of RITUEL have performed and/or recorded with Lou Harrison, Henry Kaiser, Cecil Taylor Pauline Oliveros, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Grassy Knoll, Babatunde Olatunji, Splatter Trio, Glenn Spearman, Raphe Malik and Lisle Ellis.
"Rituel kidnaps ordinary notions of music, strips and violates them, chops them up, incinerates them and says: Voila! It's a fools game trying to deconstruct what the wildly ambitions avant-gardists are doing on this compelling and deeply subversive disc, which makes it that much more engaging." - Chris Garcia (Press Democrat)
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