Bitchin Bajas

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

that makes sense technically i guess, but not practically. it cuts out the customers who plan on mostly listening to digital but will pay for vinyl to support the artist and get a nice object (because paying for digital or cd can seem unsatisfying or chump-ish to some people).

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
― for sale: Bebe's boots, never worn (DJ Mencap), Thursday, September 11, 2014 9:57 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think the "no CDs" policy is the band (bitchin bajas), not drag city -- since the label releases CDs of almost every other album.

i get kind of annoyed these days when i go to merch tables and they only have vinyl (and sometimes cassette) for sale. happens more and more often. i'm not anti-vinyl (I own 1,000 LPs or more), I'm just not a format fetishist, I think CDs are more convenient, and new vinyl is grotesquely expensive anyway.

this band seems to have an arty disregard for their audience, generally speaking, so i'm not surprised that physical releases are treated somewhat cavalierly
for example, there were ~25 ppl playing In C and none of them were introduced, no one said a word before or after the performance, and basically there were no words exchanged between bajas and audience aside from audience "woo!" at the end.

it's a choice, i guess? not the choice i would make but it's their choice.

i went to a record shop today.
bought 2 cds (rockers hi fi, and snakefarm) for pocket money.
behind the counter they had cassette editions of new releases eg skrillex.
the cassettes were £15 each !
15 quid !!
if i could sell the cassettes in my attic for that kinda price then i could retire.

that's the thing though, i don't think anyone cares about the tapes themselves, it's more like a limited edition souvenir for the digital music you want to support?

i guess the exception is super niche/underground tape labels that don't even do a digital release.

are records actually more expensive than they used to be (when adjusted for inflation?)
I remember reading that Tusk had a high list price of $16 in 1979 (which would be $55 in 2014). So what was normal then? $12 would be $41, $10 would be $34

that's the thing though, i don't think anyone cares about the tapes themselves, it's more like a limited edition souvenir for the digital music you want to support?

What does "cares about" mean here? Beyond having a souvenir of music you want to support?

like, i don't know anyone who's digging for old cassettes because they love the format. the main appeal is that it's a cheap way for current artists to make a physical, non-digital product.

are records actually more expensive than they used to be (when adjusted for inflation?)
whole reason i started buying new vinyl in the 90s was because I could get an album for $8-9 as opposed to $15 for the CD.

t'other way round now

and i love it.

oh i think there are def people who fetishize cassettes for more than just cool souvenirs

there are def lots of noise(y) bands that release stuff only on cassette and not, at least not initially, on digital... although everything makes its way to digital now anyhow, doesn't it?

some new vinyl isn't terribly expensive, but a lot of it is. major label stuff, esp. reissue vinyl, is esp. pricey. i don't bother.

was recently in a great vinyl-only place in tennessee. great guy runs it. i bought $200 worth of records, we talked for an hour, good times. i told him i still buy CDs and don't think the format is any worse than vinyl and he looked at me like i was talking about tuning in martians with my tin-foil hat. people have drunk the Kool Aid, just as people drunk another flavor of Kool Aid when they disposed of all their vinyl and started replacing them with poorly-mastered CDs in the 1980s.

the joke is on them (whoever "them" are), again.

i'm listening to bitchitronics right now. on MP3! it's good.

vinyl is better for selling. i bought a LP for $7 a few months ago, just sold it on eBay for $150. harder to do that with CDs. though not impossible. in that respect, vinyl wins.

funny conversation b/c i feel like this band would be up my alley except for the fact that they're on drag city and therefore aren't on spotify and therefore i have to make an EFFORT to listen to them. which i will! but then again, maybe i won't!

you can listen to some stuff here

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2014/09/10/bitchin-bajas-cave-release/

also their soundcloud

not too much effort!

good point, thanks!

hi!

hi!

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.

Wait, where is this dialogue taking place? Because there's a pretty huge leap between Spotify and giving paying customers bang for their buck.

I wonder about some of the artists and whether they care either way - Ty Segall's put out records on a bunch of labels; I bought the vinyl for his In the Red and Castle Face LPs, but skipped the Drag City ones on wax. I listen to this shit on my way to and from work, you know?

I think the artists probably respect what Drag City wants to do but mostly aren't hard-liners (my guess only though). Ben Chasny's new label, Hermit Hut, provided a download code with the Tashi Dorji album, so he isn't riding the party line of his highest-profile label.

the whole download code w/ vinyl thing seems so silly to me since if you just bought the CD you could not only play it in your car but fairly easily rip it to MP3. but buying CDs seems anathema to a lot of folks now.

just download and burn, it's not a big deal