Being a music fan is highly a subjective thing. We all have different preferences and that includes band names. I don’t care how good you tell me they are, I just can’t see myself listening to a whole of Diarrhea Planet. Or Radical Face while I’m thinking of it. But, then again, everything is subjective and subject to change, right?
Despite years of reading such enticing descriptions as “expansive, looping, shifting synths and rhythms” and even despite their ties to Holiday at the Sea favorite Natural Information Society, I resisted the music of Bithin Bajas because of their name.
But the good folks over at Southern Jukebox Music remind us of why sometimes it’s worth looking past the name. Bitchin Bajas “is a band operated as a side-project by Cooper Crain, who is also guitarist/organist of the band Cave. The other members are Dan Quinlivan and Rob Frye.” Southern Jukebox Music is the project of Matt Beachey who records live performances on a Realistic TR-3000 reel-to-reel. Yes, he lugs that thing to and from shows. Why? He says:
I choose to record shows this way because (a: I just dig the sound of almost anything on tape, and I still haven't found a satisfactory substitute, and (b: I find that sometimes setting up a weird, clunky process of recording invites unique performances out of people. Digital recording has done wonders in democratizing the art of on-the-fly live recording; still, I think there’s something worth keeping around about the way sound waves cling to the iron grains of magnetic tape, and then play back a little jumbled up—a slightly impressionistic version of whatever was recorded. And I guess maybe I feel a sort of kinship with bootleggers of yore who hauled their reels to Grateful Dead shows, putting in the extra effort to make a lasting record of the night, albeit a colored and faded one. Sometimes a grimy record of the past better suits your memory anyway.
Whatever the reasons, we’re glad he does it and happy to support on Bandcamp where any proceeds will go to the artist. We first featured a selection from Southern Jukebox Music in August 2019 with Chris Forsyth and the Broken Mirrors Motel Band’s 07.11.19 performance. Today we feature Bitchin Bajas “Live at the 7th Street Entry.”
