Bitchin Bajas

Formerly a side project, now definitely a band in their own right. This is a thread for them. RIYL Frippertronics, Terry Riley, Alice Coltane, cosmic yoga music.

you can listen to them here https://soundcloud.com/bitchin-bajas
not too long ago they had 47 followers on soundcloud, and now there are 144

here they are being bouncier than usual https://soundcloud.com/permanentrecords/bitchin-bajas-krausened-promo

here they are last year live in paris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm1QgXdZrVk

i remember when this had under 50 views on youtube, now it has...1,944!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skNz1u9DUhI

also this is from their new album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ciyUDlY0Q

bugger.
lp and cass only :(
stop with the elitist gumph, and press a few cds ...
would definitely buy.

i think they usually do downloads at the drag city site? it appears to be not on the site yet (since i guess technically the album is not for sale yet) but i wonder if they'll add that option once the release date comes and goes. unless you really wanted the CD, and in that case you appear to be out of luck.

i find it irritating that DC doesn't offer dl codes with vinyl purchase, but so be it

Damn, was hoping the was an I Love Style thread.

I really enjoyed their show last night. They don't hide their influences at all, but why should they?

picked up a split 45 they did with moon duo a couple years back. dug their track but let them slip in favor of whatever else. "bouncier" track up above is treating my saturday morning quite nicely.

yeah, DC's no free downloads policy sucks

omg i wrote alice COLTANE

you know what i meant

Wmc what was the rest of the show like? From listening to the record this morning they played side B in the second set. Was there more guitar?

The new record is fantastic. There is a multi cassette release in the works. The "no cd's" thing isn't elitism, they just prefer analog.

i'm not annoyed by what i perceive as elitism, i'm annoyed by not getting a download w the LP

seems like industry standard at this point

we're complaining about two separate issues (not making CDs, not offering download codes -- the latter is DC policy afaict, the former up to the band?)
either way, i'm looking forward to more people enjoying this band

There was a bit more guitar iirc, plus they brought in some percussion loops for the last piece. Pared down to 3 players for the 2nd half.

oh ok, so it was more like the regular show
good to know!
i'm glad you enjoyed it!

I liked that they did that song named after Water Wrackets, which is one of my favorite Peter Greenaway things. They have good taste obv!

haha I listened to that one on spotify, my mind wandered and I genuinely forgot that I wasn't actually listening to a terry riley album!

I dig this

I was stood in a record store earlier today holding a copy of Vibraquatic in my hands. I put it back in the rack though so I guess I flunked the test?

fuck yeah bitchin bajas!

Why didn't you buy it? That was the wrong choice.

They did a whole soundtrack for Water Wrackets!

cos i already had an armful of awesome records! also the cover art was a bit iffy. xp

Guess I can't argue with that. It's good though.

I bet it is! I actually got Water Wrackets off emusic and that was very good.

Pared down to 3 players for the 2nd half.

3rd dude played sax mainly or exclusively iirc. was good to see how different the main set was from what they're presumably normally like!

looking fwd to this. krausened is fantastic

Frippertronics / Alice etc is totes my wheelhouse but can't, won't, on principle, listen to a band that can't come up with a better name for themselves than Bitchin Bajas. Sorry. What if I choke to death on a cookie and this is the last thing they find on my turntable? "Looks like he checked out to...'Bitchin' Bajas.'"

I know, but you should still give it a try. It has been a few years and I've come around. I prescribe time and patience.

yeah, it's remarkably terrible. plus when they appeared, i was boycotting all beach-related band names & chill 80s ephemera in general. but the lecher's right. they're like harrison bergeron.

Don't call me that! Geez.

I know from having an unfortunate moniker, obvs. A lifelong burden!

all apologies. meant only in respectful jest.

Tell that to the Nestlé corporation, buddy :)

:)))

Frippertronics / Alice etc is totes my wheelhouse but can't, won't, on principle, listen to a band that can't come up with a better name for themselves than Bitchin Bajas. Sorry. What if I choke to death on a cookie and this is the last thing they find on my turntable? "Looks like he checked out to...'Bitchin' Bajas.'"

― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Saturday, July 13, 2013 6:54 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think they are very deliberately trolling with their band name (and album titles). certainly evokes four non blondes or a jimmy buffett cover band much more than any of their musical reference points.

Saw them today, & despite them arriving late and only getting to play for ~20 minutes, it ruled. Nice mix of guitar, mostly sax (a little flute), and keyboard/oscillator (?) running beneath it all, along with some pre-recorded percussion tracks. great guitar sounds...wished the set had gone on for 60. took some video i'll put up at some point.

love the new record, too.

so sad that some people won't listen to them because of the name! lol

awesome band, good people, great music

Maybe someday they will accept live percussion :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzWX9V894so

ha, love the grass cam!

I couldn't help but just chill in the shade on a grassy patch. Wasn't anyone around when they started, but a good 30 or 40 accumulated behind me by the end of the jam.

nice!

personally i love the band name

i hope they call their first album with a drummer "hit with the rhythm stick"

love this drone + sax noise https://soundcloud.com/bitchin-bajas/rip-this-joint-stones-cover

it's kind of a mess but i like it anyway

SMOKIN'

Last night I saw them perform Terry Riley's In C with 20+ extra musicians, many of whom i have never seen before (and some I have) -- i'm really curious who coordinated this performance? getting 25 (26? some people were out of my view) people in the same place once is a challenge, but ostensibly they had to practice at least once? Also, I know the score is fluid and can be adapted -- who was in charge of that? I could have stayed after to ask, I guess but I don't like to bombard people with questions after they spent roughly an hour playing music in a room that was getting increasingly hotter as the hour went on.

Overall it was great!

https://longformeditions.bandcamp.com/track/demeter

:D

Nice!

i wonder if there will be any bajas at the deep listening workshop i am co-hosting tonight!?
(answer: not likely)

from their bandcamp -

Hello
We have been working to get our full catalog up over these last few months. We have just put all the collaborative releases we've made with Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Natural Information Society and Olivia Wyatt (original film soundtrack) up on our bandcamp page.

Bajas Fresh is now back in stock on 2xLP

brand new Bitchin Bajas releases coming later in 2021...

Thank you for all of your support
Peace

great news!

Their set from Constellation Chicago a few weeks back was great.
There is a Duophonic single in the works. They got along very well with Stereolab on tour.

That Atelier Claus live set on their BC page is fantastic IMO--very impressed that they performed it with a hastily-assembled backline due to van theft

Re Constellation — vastly superior to many of the online performances I’ve seen because they do an amazing job of micing & camera work. If you zoop the video to a tv & turn off the lights & crank the volume, it’s not unlike actually being there.

this album by BB member Rob Frye, which has the other BBs as well as noted Chicago musicians like Ben Lamar Gay and Quin Kirchner, is so good:
https://astralexoplanet.bandcamp.com/album/exoplanet
like Bitchin Bajas going cosmic jazz?

i'm here for it!

it's very satisfying, i'm into it

serious spiritual hat vibes

Loving the new Rob Frye--also, thought the Les Atelier Claus live BBs album released at the beginning of this year was fantastic and maybe dug some of its soundboard versions to studio ones of the same jams

(More than, rather)

Sun Ra covers album coming later this month! Very PSYCHed for this; their cover of "Angels And Demons At Play" on the last album was really cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ztOtKBcTAY

Released today! Listening now, it's as excellent as expected. Only complaint is that the cassette was supposed to ship today too, but the email notification I received with the download said that it would now be shipping in December. I mean I get pressing plants are backed up for vinyl releases but how hard is it to manufacture a cassette to arrive on time?

Everything, literally everything is backed up at some point in the chain right now. Got a lot of CDs I've ordered from smaller labels that I've been waiting on for months. It's a mess.

Even CDs? Man, that sucks. I didn't mean to imply it was the band's fault. Just seemed weird to push back a cassette release but sounds like this will be the rule rather than the excepetion until things get sorted out

i got my cassette last week (but i also live in chicago). maybe the initial run sold out?

Yeah, mine came last week as well. Might depend when you ordered it?

had no idea they were doing this, I need to check it out

cassette turnarounds (in europe anyway) are around 2 weeks currently, yet i'm seeing lots of tape release delays. my guess is that labels underestimated demand.

The bandcamp page now says cassettes ship 11/30, so I'm assuming they sold out of the first run and are ordering more.

From what I can tell, it's not the manufacturing as much as the shipping. I pre-ordered the new Howlin' Rain CD that was released on 10/8. Got an update on 10/16 that the LPs and CDs were still sitting on a container ship waiting to unload in San Francisco. Two weeks on from that and still nothing new, shit is just a mess.

ah yes, US ports are crazily backed up.

I love this so much. It captures Ra's starry-eyed space age optimistic side in a really reverent way while remaining extremely BITCHIN

Agree - it's wonderful

this band can do no wrong imo

this album gets better each time I play it

Yeah, this is great!

I wouldn't mind a new CAVE album while we are at it.

samesies

doing a short Midwest tour with Ryley Walker in March:

https://townsquare.media/site/838/files/2021/12/attachment-ryley-bitchin.jpeg?w=540&h=675&q=75

new one sounds great

https://bitchinbajas.bandcamp.com/album/bajascillators

heard it on the radio! yeah it's pretty cool

Can we get these dudes and Horse Lords to tour all over the country, please? Seems to be timing out well this time.

This year's album is utterly lovely, especially the first track which is like Steve Reich meets In a Silent Way.

Yes, first track is a highlight.

There’s also an alternate version of “Quackenbush” floating around out there which I prefer to the album version.

They just did a dc area gig and one in Baltimore both near me and I missed em both unfortunately

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmsi-CBnyOk

Thanks for the heads-up, 'Amorpha' is delicious

wow this band has been around for almost a decade!!

haha, i still sort of think of them as a Cave side-project, but I guess that is not really the case, is it

understanding its origin as a side project makes it considerably easier to look past the truly shitty band name imo :)

i love BBs but i do miss cave

every now and then Cave's instagram will spring to life (with generally random posts), so maybe they're not entirely kaput.

I miss Cave, too. But they just released an album in 2018 ... which I recognize is 4+ years ago, but I don't think they're gone for good.

feels like literally a million years ago, haha

personally i love the band name

― the late great, Monday, 26 August 2013 18:04 (nine years ago)

New album is bitchin, as usual!

yeah i love the name

i think i remember them saying at their last show NYE a few years back that one of the cave members lives in nyc now? given how local scene oriented the other members are, it would explain the relative inactivity