Immolation Ritual, by Christopher Bailey

Immolation Ritual

by Christopher Bailey

supported by

Stephen Weigel "Waking Down the Hillside at Cortona" captures the profound sense of microtonality that comes through perceived slight flatness from an expectation, via descent. The gestures in this piece unfold in such a way that it's fresh and novel every time with thick chord voicings, even though the compositional device is just a descending line - a testament to the incredible vision and non-muzak inclined instincts of Christopher Bailey. Piquing! Favorite track: Walking Down The Hillside At Cortona, And Seeing Its Towers Rise Before Me.

	/

Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
With Pretty Graphics and Liner Notes.

FIRE SALE!! All of our inventory MUST go!! Yes, you are seeing correctly--the physical media, even including shipping (US), is no more expensive than the download! Get it now!

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

ships out within 3 days

Purchasable with gift card

$5 USD or more
Streaming + Download

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

Purchasable with gift card

$12 USD or more

1.	Mergurs Ehd Ffleweh Bq Nsolst 09:23	lyrics	buy track
Mergurs Ehd Ffleweh Bq Nsolst Bohde kii woon jjaah, nsolst, ah! morszehee bq manmeh wohpvahg ffohxvahv nohmorjj nmehvah mergurs bq naa jjaaaa shtoh, lloh jjaah shtoh nmeh ngohah, vadir yuuvsloh anm anmahss kroh-ahk blanmdanmg nohl jjaar anm aahss mohlg jjuumm ohnm jjaah ahpanm yeshahp tchahkeh woe nwahv yeshahp ngohah wah jjahtanmg wah suustahnmanmg wah burkrohchkang bq wohv jjaaah nwoh from Mercury, a view of the Sun so great are you, oh sun! now, my time has come as proud citizen of Mercury to see you, to feel you let me, in this last act immolate myself in your blinding light. devour my flesh take it deep within you let it become part of the all-creating, all-sustaining, all-destroying being that is you.
2.	Aftermath 09:47		buy track
3.	Abstraction 1 06:08	info	buy track
4.	Abstraction 6 06:45	info	buy track
5.	Out Of 12:12	info	buy track
6.	NanoSymph 01:01	info	buy track
7.	Walking Down The Hillside At Cortona, And Seeing Its Towers Rise Before Me 13:41	info	buy track
8.	Abstraction 2 10:11	info	buy track

about

Innova Records #695 (www.innova.mu/albums/christopher-bailey/immolation-ritual)

Some (mostly music-geekery) notes on the music:

These works span my entire career until 2008, just about, from the earliest works on this disc, Abstractions 1 & 2, composed in 1993-4, to the most recent, Walking Down the Hillside at Cortona, and Seeing its Towers Rise Before Me (2007). My compositional development has been characterized by a number of strands or threads that have converged, diverged and then resynthesized in different combinations over the years for each piece I have written.

"Fragmentation of the Familiar"--where complex, hidden structures are composed out as juxtaposed, spliced and elided familiar fragments of tonality, modality, and other simple core musical notions--is found in the Abstractions and in Out Of. An A Major triad opens Abstraction 1--one of the more obvious examples. The very end of Abstraction 2, and of the album, a plaintive suspended 4th over an E major (added 6th) chord, is a slightly more complex one. In Abstraction 6, I could walk through and point out to you the (or a) "tonal" significance of every single event in the piece--from that point of view it is tonal, but it is a fragmented tonality/modality, laden with detritus, often pulled into tiny shards that make it, at first, difficult to follow, but with familiarity (at least to my ear), very expressive, sometimes in an eerie, unexpected or even exhilarating way.

An interest in microtonality manifests itself in a variety of ways in all works except Abstractions 1 & 2, and possibly Nanosymph (I say "possibly", because there are certainly microtonal intervals in there, but I did not consciously aim for them.) Mergurs is based on a gigantic 12-note C overtone-chord, and Just Intonation scale fragments. Aftermath is built out of a specific Just Intonation scale (1/1 21/20 9/8 7/6 5/4 21/16 11/8 3/2 13/8 5/3 7/4 15/8). Out Of is for piano (in 12-tet) and that same JI scale in the electronic sounds. Abstraction 6 explored what I call "Crystallized Just Intonation" where the leading part (the saxophone) is in 12-tet, and the notes in the electronics are tuned, from moment-to-moment, to 'crystallize' around the saxophone line in Just Intonation harmonies (this is not live, 'adaptive' tuning, but something more pre-meditated--at times I want the music to sound out of tune). Finally Towers is for 2 pianos, tuned to a combined 19 (equal-spaced) tones per octave.

credits

released November 5, 2010

Mergurs and Abstraction 6 recorded at Ground Control Studio, Brooklyn, NY, by John Bosch. Abstraction 1 was recorded at Caveman Music Studio in Brighton, MA by Kazuo Maekawa. Out Of and Abstraction 2 were recorded at Patrych Studios in Bronx, NY by Joseph Patrych. Towers was recorded at the University of Illinois by Paul Kotheimer. Mastering by Silas Brown at Legacy Studios. Design and texts by Christopher Bailey. Mergurs was mixed in part during a residency at I-Park. John Minor tuned the pianos for Towers. Innova Director: Philip Blackburn, Operations manager: Chris Campbell. Innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation.

license

about

Christopher Bailey Boston, Massachusetts

Born outside of Philadelphia, PA, Christopher Bailey is currently based in Boston, but frequently participates in musical events in New York City. His music explores a variety of threads, including microtonality, acousmatic and concrète sounds, serialist junk sculpture, ornate musical details laid out in flat forms, and constrained improvisation. ... more

christopherbaileymusic.com

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact Christopher Bailey

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Christopher Bailey recommends:

Lanes
by Bruce Hamilton

A delightful neo-Stravinskian (neo-neo-classical) romp. Christopher Bailey
go to album
Accidental Still Life EP
by Stewart Walker

I randomly discovered Stewart Walker back around 2000. Re-discovered him via youtube and such recently. This is a great little EP with delicious grooves and moods. Christopher Bailey
go to album
Duos With Piano
by Eric Wubbels

These are amazing pieces, going places I would never expect anyone to go, so dramatic and musically effective. Christopher Bailey
go to album

If you like Christopher Bailey, you may also like:

Me and the Glassbirds
by Heejin Jang

The Doom Trip label never misses, and the latest LP from the genius Heejin Jang is a trip into thrilling industrial terror. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 30, 2023
go to album
Spektralkompass - Sterbendes Hertz
by Håkon Thelin

Composer and bass player Håkon Thelin aims to cut to the essence of the double bass by focusing on technique with these contemporary pieces. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 11, 2023
go to album
Lee "Scratch" Perry's Guide to the Universe
by New Age Doom

Created in partnership with the Canadian noisemakers, the late legend's final collaborative LP enshrines his ability to lift joint ventures into otherworldly territory. Bandcamp Album of the Day Nov 8, 2021
go to album