Bitchin Bajas Vinyl, CD & Tape 6 Items

And suddenly! With a tactile clunk, Bajascillators bubbles to the surface. "Amorpha", a side-long shower of synthetic bells and bass, as patterns interlock and repeat and the beat within the barlines shifts constantly, forms a new, latest miniature of infinity. You flip it, and "Geomancy" resets you, starting anew, with heavy drift and drone leading into a space of shorter broken lines and middle-eastern tonalities, that roll back into ether again - new spaces, but mysteriously consonant with the vibe. And that"s how it goes - side by side, Bajascillators rolls four unique numbers that act on their own AND as extensions of each other, phases in perfect flow. Each time, as the needle cradles into the playout groove, you the listener are becalmed, in stasis, forever changed. Until you flip the side - and forever changes again...The Bajas is back.Bajascillators arrives almost five years since their last official full-length, 2017"s Bajas Fresh. In the eight years prior, from 2010 to Fresh, Bitchin Bajas issued seven albums, plus cassettes, EPs, singles . . . wave after wave of analogue synth tones and zones extending into a stratospheric arc. Each release its own headspace, shape and timbre, each one sliding naturally into their implacable, eternal gene pool. Following the flow, always, the Bajas went ever-deeper-and-higher on these records, whether making soundtracks or collaborating with Bonnie "Prince" Billy, using only fortune cookie fortunes as a libretto. Plus engagement, with a steady stream of shows and tours around the world; live re-airings and expansions of the space captured in their records as they continued to grow and flow - all the way through, really, to the present moment. Plus, there have been releases since 2017 - a split 12", a 7" single, digital track release and two "Cuts" cassettes, plus the all-covers cassette release Switched On Ra. But the overall number of releases, plus the five years between long players, implies a potential distance between phases, a new line in the sand....

A year after the cassette-only release of Switched On Ra, another format has fallen from whatever kind of rare ether Bitchin Bajas occupy when they"re at home. The LP edition of Switched On Ra bears all the same riches (only richer of course) in its grooves, adding a lovely screen-printed rendering of the graphics to its larger-than-cassette-cosmos dimensions.Switched On Ra is the outcome of a typical Bajas exercise: pouring some out for the pioneers that came before (as they"ve done with Bitchitronics and their participation in the annual Chicago performance of "In C" over the years). It"s a nice way to get a flow - they play a little of themselves, then some for the pioneers, then a little more for the band. Before long, they"re playing with the inspirations twined, as they can only come from within.For Switched On Ra, this meant a deep delve into the song-book of one of their soul-predecessors, Sun Ra, whose music is literally written in the Bajas DNA. Digging into this music sounded wild on paper: the drone synth group taking on the Arkestra harmonies and Ra"s loose grooves? The trick was to get that sense of rhythm to translate across the spectrum from Ra to Bajas, in a way that worked for them both.Their rearrangements of the tunes went good - up and down the EQ band, they were finding the round sounds and jagged edges that brought Ra"s music into their own thing. Then at the last minute, there was another twist - why not pay tribute to the Queen herself, and think of the arrangements with a Wendy Carlos vibe? A little side homage? After all, Switched on Bach was visionary, bringing analog synths from the outside all the way into the mainstream in the late 60s - and this take on Ra is meant to take him to new ears everywhere.Sun Ra of course was his own kind of original keyboard visionary, using electric keyboards in the late 40s and 50s to fill a role in jazz that had traditionally been played on acoustic piano only. Once he"d done so, he took his writing in directions inspired by the ele...

It's almost four years since their last opus - two years since the most-recent run of live shows! Now, Bitchin Bajas return from whatever kind of rare ether they occupy when they're at home, bearing the riches of the whole cosmos in their hands. And strictly OG as well - on cassette only! Switched On Ra is the outcome of a typical Bajas exercise: pouring some out for the pioneers that came before (as they've done with Bitchitronics and their participation in the annual Chicago performance of "In C" over the years). It's a nice way to get a flow - they play a little of themselves, then some for the pioneers, then a little more for the band. Before long, they're playing with the inspirations twined, as they can only come from within. For Switched On Ra, this meant a deep delve into the song-book of one of their soul-predecessors, Sun Ra, whose music is literally written in the Bajas DNA. Digging into this music sounded wild on paper: the drone synth group taking on the Arkestra harmonies and Ra's loose grooves? The trick was to get that sense of rhythm to translate across the spectrum from Ra to Bajas, in a way that worked for them both. Their rearrangements of the tunes went good - up and down the EQ band, they were finding the round sounds and jagged edges that brought Ra's music into their own thing. Then at the last minute, there was another twist - why not pay tribute to the Queen herself, and think of the arrangements with a Wendy Carlos vibe? A little side homage? After all, Switched on Bach was visionary, bringing analog synths from the outside all the way into the mainstream in the late 60s - and this take on Ra is meant to take him to new ears everywhere. Sun Ra of course was his own kind of original keyboard visionary, using electric keyboards in the late 40s and 50s to fill a role in jazz that had traditionally been played on acoustic piano only. Once he'd done so, he took his writing in directions inspired by the electricity, places no one had thought to go before then. Doing what he did on the keys was a stand for individuality that became the background radiation of his journey through the cosmos; the search for a place beyond earthly dominance, for all the people who desperately wanted the fuck OUT. Bitchin Bajas have been content to dominate in a microtonal world, usually without a single chord to be found anywhere. But here, they step up righteously, their vibe triangulated as they bring Ra's music forward with some Wendy C style, making an unexpected space for all to thrive. There's a real feeling of joy as these collected signals bounce off the tape and through the speakers into your space. To get this unique colloid exactly right, Bitchin Bajas used nineteen different keyboards. They abstained from deploying their arsenal of reed and woodwind instruments: everything had to be on the keys. This meant Yamahas, Rolands, Korgs, Casios, a MicroMoog and of course their trusty Ace Tone organ. They even broke out the Crumar Ds-2, to have some of Ra's chosen tone in the mix. Then Jayve Montgomery added an EWI as a solo voice on a few tunes, just to get some air-blown signal (and a natural shout out to EWI master Marshall Allen) in there, after all. It felt like somewhere in the universe, Ra was decreeing it. Switched On Ra is an effervescent celebration of music throughout time and space.

And suddenly! With a tactile clunk, Bajascillators bubbles to the surface. "Amorpha", a side-long shower of synthetic bells and bass, as patterns interlock and repeat and the beat within the barlines shifts constantly, forms a new, latest miniature of infinity. You flip it, and "Geomancy" resets you, starting anew, with heavy drift and drone leading into a space of shorter broken lines and middle-eastern tonalities, that roll back into ether again - new spaces, but mysteriously consonant with the vibe. And that"s how it goes - side by side, Bajascillators rolls four unique numbers that act on their own AND as extensions of each other, phases in perfect flow. Each time, as the needle cradles into the playout groove, you the listener are becalmed, in stasis, forever changed. Until you flip the side - and forever changes again...The Bajas is back.Bajascillators arrives almost five years since their last official full-length, 2017"s Bajas Fresh. In the eight years prior, from 2010 to Fresh, Bitchin Bajas issued seven albums, plus cassettes, EPs, singles . . . wave after wave of analogue synth tones and zones extending into a stratospheric arc. Each release its own headspace, shape and timbre, each one sliding naturally into their implacable, eternal gene pool. Following the flow, always, the Bajas went ever-deeper-and-higher on these records, whether making soundtracks or collaborating with Bonnie "Prince" Billy, using only fortune cookie fortunes as a libretto. Plus engagement, with a steady stream of shows and tours around the world; live re-airings and expansions of the space captured in their records as they continued to grow and flow - all the way through, really, to the present moment. Plus, there have been releases since 2017 - a split 12", a 7" single, digital track release and two "Cuts" cassettes, plus the all-covers cassette release Switched On Ra. But the overall number of releases, plus the five years between long players, implies a potential distance between phases, a new line in the sand....