Bitchin Bajas

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!

that sounds rad

I think that the three Bajas coordinate all of it.
They are remarkably talented and well connected.

I know that Dan has arranged performances of In C before, and Cooper has been recording with a diverse group of musicians working in Jazz, Rock, and Folk styles.

There is a collaboration with Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society forthcoming that I am pretty excited about.
I saw them play in St Louis earlier this year and enjoyed it a lot.

Ah, the recording job -- that explains it! I would gladly ask Cooper in person (I see him ALL THE TIME) but I'm a complete failure at cold introducing myself and he always seems busy. I feel lucky to be on the far periphery of something this cool though! I like where they're headed.

New album is excellent, BTW. Should have a review running soon.

Can't wait to hear & obtain the new one on wax...and see them play in a couple weeks. That Terry Riley show sounds awesome.

Baja O'Riley

haha!!

know what else was weird? i just read the part in my eno book about the happenstance recording of no pussyfooting, and how it was just old fripp and eno noodling around, and to sit there and hear almost 30 ppl play this strange captivating influential ~avant garde~ composition to a hot room full of people in 2014, it made me glad to be able to see the inheritance of 50 years of pushing the boundaries of what is considered music. i'm glad they are celebrating their inheritance, i guess! it's an honorable artistic gesture.

That sounds incredible! I've been in hot rooms listening to dozens of people playing long compositions but nothing as exquisite as what you're describing.

lol @ Baja O'Riley

i know this i sound like a one trick pony ..
but will any of this bands material appear on cd ?
not into doing the digital/vinyl option ..
summary : i really want this stuff on cd.

please edit my first sentence in that post as you see fit.

i.e. wine flowing @ hq.

lol @ Baja O'Riley

― lol on hoosly (crüt), Monday, August 11, 2014 8:20 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm with you mark e, but it's not looking promising. the new album in August is coming on LP and cassette, though, so i guess they aren't completely averse to outdated physical media. i would love to give them some $$ though.

nevermind me, it does look like they've been releasing stuff on CS all along. not sure why they are so averse to CD.

fucking cassette !
again.
ok.
that's it.
fuck this band.
back to my gorgeous sounding tangerine dream cd reissues.
i would love to throw money at this bunch of media format elitists, but i do not want a cassette (seriously ! i lived in the 80s - was a dreadful format !), nor scratch friendly vinyl
oh, and fuck a digital only option.
despite the growth of digital/vinyl, the cd is still the format choice for the masses.
so, yes, i am one of the masses.

New record is really good. Really, really good. More after I digest it a few more times :)

You don't even get a download with the vinyl, Mark E!

That's a Drag City thing. They never give downloads with vinyl, it's stupid.

looking forward to getting this. lol @ an extra hour of material on the cassette version!

slowburner.gif amirite

kind of hilarious (and in keeping with their confrontationally awful band name) that this is pretty much on every format EXCEPT compact disc. and the cassette bonus tracks! jeez, guys!

it's rockin my world though.

fucking cassette !
again.
ok.
that's it.
fuck this band.
back to my gorgeous sounding tangerine dream cd reissues.
i would love to throw money at this bunch of media format elitists, but i do not want a cassette (seriously ! i lived in the 80s - was a dreadful format !), nor scratch friendly vinyl
oh, and fuck a digital only option.
despite the growth of digital/vinyl, the cd is still the format choice for the masses.
so, yes, i am one of the masses.

― mark e, Monday, August 11, 2014 3:29 PM (4 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm completely with you, although part of me admires the perverse integrity of releasing music only on the worst conceivable format. another part of me thinks, die hipster trash. but as i said, they make pretty music.

They don't hide their influences at all, but why should they?

― WmC, Saturday, July 13, 2013 9:46 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this, yes. they did two tracks live (when i saw them a few weeks ago) that were almost alarmingly like the "ralf und florian" album. but they were lovely, so who cares?

I would sign on for a live rip of side two of the "Ralf und Florian" album for sure. Hope they come my way ....

yeah this new album is pretty wonderful. was playing it LOUD yesterday.

anyone have a rip of those hideout live cassettes they put out last year? i just can't get into cassettes, no matter how bitchin they may be.

Drag City's no downloads thing is p idiotic but if they don't do CDs of their marginal stuff I assume it's the result of looking at sales figures and concluding it'll be throwing good money after bad

Have the Drag City bosses ever addressed the no downloads thing? I've assumed it's a deliberate position meant to send a message about record-buyer entitlement or something, but I've grown to think it's actually dickishly elitist - I ride buses, man. I want to listen to your shit and look out the windows, you know?

this is the only comment i've seen:

What have been the label's landmark achievements of the past few years and the biggest challenges, if any?

Twenty-five years and still going is probably an achievement --- being old is a challenge few recover from. Standing against the anti-artist digital advancements embodied by streaming services, the download code etc and managing to have a dialogue about it with dissenting consumers feels like an achievement. Continuing to establish relationships with emerging artists and their freaky friends has been rewarding as well. All these are among the challenges ahead, as well as the achievements thus far

Streaming platforms are at the centre of endless debates, with the usual interchange of enthusiasm and criticism. I was wondering if you could comment on this issue in relation to DC's decision not to feature its catalogue on such platforms. How has this choice been received by the artists themselves?

They haven't so much received our choice as participated in it. If there were a prevailing good feeling for this method of music dissemination, we be standing on the platforms with everyone else, waiting for the train to come.

http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4147998-rian-murphy-from-drag-city-on-the-independent-label-market

i wonder what is "anti-artist" about the download code though? i think they're totally right in not doing the streaming stuff -- why don't more labels do this?

same with Kranky. i really don't see how you can lump download codes (for people who actually paid for vinyl) in with "anti-artist" digital.

xp

like, i would have listened to the new Tim Hecker about a million more times if the vinyl had come with a download, and probably won't buy any more vinyl from them.

Maybe the idea is that there is no historic precedent for a buyer getting an album in two formats when just paying the price for just one format. "Anti-artist" in that it theoretically cuts sales, since the buyer who wants to hear the album on vinyl and digitally should ideally pay for it twice. Not saying I agree with this btw.

Maybe the idea is that there is no historic precedent for a buyer getting an album in two formats when just paying the price for just one format.

The word "legally" should be in there. It's like if labels responded to home taping in the 80s by bundling a cassette copy of albums with the vinyl.

yeah i suppose that makes sense -- not like you got a free cassette w/ your CD back in the 90s. guess it all comes down to that thorny "what are mp3s even worth" question. i bought the last bill callahan on CD because I'd be able to listen to it in places other than my living room... and i'm glad i did! it's a good record for the car, too.

xp

I do think it's a dumb move from a business perspective bc it seems like it'll push most consumers to the (cheaper) digital copy over the vinyl copy but I guess Drag City doesn't care too much about that.

yeah the download code just seems very consumer-friendly, even if they see it as "anti-artist" -- I'm sure, say, merge and matador sell more vinyl because of the download code.

i bought the last bill callahan and then downloaded it illegally because 18 is insanely high for nu vinyl

(bought it on vinyl that is)

yeah, if their vinyl was a little more budget priced, it might seem churlish to complain, but it's up there with everyone else. i dunno, i like so much of the music drag city puts out, i guess they can do what they want.

although i guess merge is about the same price, too--but they ship for free and have the downloads

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