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2024 0-9 z y x w v u t s r q p o n m l k j i h g f e d c b a

Bitchin Bajas - Switched On Ra '2021

24bit
Switched On Ra
ArtistBitchin Bajas Related artists
Album name Switched On Ra
Country
Date 2021
Genre
Play time 00:50:20
Format / Bitrate 24 BIT Stereo 2429 Kbps / 96 kHz
Media WEB
Size 284 MB; 1.0 GB
PriceDownload $8.95
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Tracks list

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 analogue 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.
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

Tracklist:
 01. Bitchin Bajas - Space Is the Place (07:56)
 02. Bitchin Bajas - A Call for All Demons (05:36)
 03. Bitchin Bajas - Outer Spaceways Incorporated (04:01)
 04. Bitchin Bajas - Moon Dance (07:41)
 05. Bitchin Bajas - Lanquidity (06:29)
 06. Bitchin Bajas - Opus in Springtime (05:48)
 07. Bitchin Bajas - Island in the Sun (06:59)
 08. Bitchin Bajas - We Travel the Spaceways (05:46)

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