Drag City Organic Grooves 7 Items

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.

nehan is a Japanese free improvisation & avant-garde rock quintet formed in August 2022. Their performances are initiated by a 9hz brain wave emitted from a testee who has been brought into a deep meditative state via either hypnosis or acupuncture - a very relaxed but very alert state. nehan doesn"t begin until the testee has gotten into the state of "nothingness." It is only then that the improvisation can begin.The role of improvisation has been key to all the musical projects of Masaki Batoh. In 2010, as Batoh was winding down the activity of his long-standing "heavy chamber folk" group, Ghost, he became involved in the design of a machine to generate sonic data based on brain waves. An acupuncturist as well as a musician by trade, his interest was spurred by the rhythms of the body and the brain, and a desire to access the "pulses" of brain waves to initiate improvisations. Following the release of Brain Pulse Music, Batoh toured Japan, the US and Europe, making demonstrations of his process using a local volunteer and guest performers, when available. Today, nehan arrive at their performance space prepared with a Brain Pulse testee, bringing a wide array of instruments including gongs, timpani, tabla and other drums and percussion, Crumhorn, bagpipes, mellotron, oscillators and additional sound effects. Their performance is a transformative electro-acoustic display that passes through the prism of music styles, from east to west, from traditional folk and classical to rock, jazz, and avant electronic.While nehan"s performance presentation invokes a sense of ritual, they understand their process as being far removed from any type of spiritual endeavor - it has nothing to do with eastern thinking or any kind of religious ceremony - this is an action of improvisation, occurring in reality between the five musicians on stage, in response to the brain waves of an individual.For the personnel of nehan, Masaki Batoh asked players with whom he had good previous experiences in improvisation: Fu...

Cylene II is the new materialization of the collaboration between François J. Bonnet & Stephen O"Malley, initiated in 2018 and continued without interruption since then, taking form in a myriad of contexts ranging from common practice to recording sessions, concerts and tours.Cylene II bears witness to these different contexts, offering a multifaceted sound signature developed on different occasions (artist residencies in La Becque, Switzerland and Modena, Italy, live performance excerpts, a studio session at INA-GRM Studios in Paris).The epic opening track "Four Rays (Anti Divide)" welcomes, for the first time, other musicians - in this case a wind quintet - expanding the duo"s sonic palette without betraying the fundamental component of their music, namely the driving of sonic energy. Elsewhere, Bonnet and O"Malley propel the energy between themselves, extending the singular climate that has characterized their musical development over the past five years. Among their minimal presentation of tones and resonances, as glacial harmonic intersections slowly elevate with massive physicality to an orchestral degree, new refinements become evident: the music"s relationship to silence, and a brightening of the fine metallic edge glowing at its core.For the listener, Cylene II is a sound that reaches from the deep and scales up to the far firmament in its careful motion, drawing emotions viscerally from the chest, giving rise to the suggestibility of the soul. A séance of sorts for all who witness it, whether playing or listening.

The initial cassette-only releases of Tashi Dorji turned lots of heads, including Six Organs of Admittance and Hermit Hut - now over a decade later, this release makes its full-album debut on vinyl."It really was a formative time for me because it felt like everything opened, as far as the possibilities of what music-making meant. Like improvisation walked in and then there was a volcanic eruption" - Tashi Dorji"The self-titled session was recorded at a nice studio at the local university here in Asheville. I had some friends that were studying music there and had access to studio time. This session focused more on extended/prepared guitar ideas. My interest in percussive elements of sounds, timbre, harmonics, and dynamics plays a lot in this recording." - Tashi Dorji

The initial cassette-only releases of Tashi Dorji turned lots of heads, including Six Organs of Admittance and Hermit Hut - now over a decade later, this release makes its full-album debut on vinyl."Guitar Improvisation and Tashi Dorji are the first physical releases of my guitar improvisations. They were put out by a small local, now defunct, label called Headway Recording in 2012 and 2013.The friends who ran the label had heard some of my guitar music and reached out to me about doing a cassette release.Guitar Improvisations was really my first recording of improvisation - in a semi-studio setting at my friend"s basement space. It really was a formative time for me because it felt like everything opened, as far as the possibilities of what music-making meant. Like improvisation walked in and then there was a volcanic eruption . . ." - Tashi Dorji