Following collaborations with
Bonnie Prince Billy,
Natural Information Society, and filmmaker
Olivia Wyatt, as well as a short album titled Transporteur,
Bajas Fresh is the second Drag City-issued double album from Chicago's cosmic drone unit
Bitchin Bajas, after 2014's self-titled effort. This format seems to work best for
the Bajas, as they're able to stretch out and create their most unencumbered material.
Bajas Fresh melds electronic and organic instruments more thoroughly than their past works, with percussion making a greater presence this time around. While earlier releases such as Krausened occasionally featured motorik rhythms courtesy of a drum machine, this one features live drums providing a calm but insistent heartbeat on a few pieces. "Jammu" begins with blinking arpeggios and harmonium-like drone, eventually developing a fast, shimmering bass pulse and fluttering woodwinds, with snare drums providing a soft but exciting rush closer to the track's end. "Yonaguni" is much more fluid, warped, and free, with crashing, tumbling jazz drums and tape-manipulated bells and shakers providing a heady aura for the smoldering guitars and billowing flutes. Significantly more direct is "Circles on Circles," an aural laser light show filled with prismatic arpeggios, vast synth sweeps, and an overwhelming sense of joy and optimism. Much more subdued, but no less enlightened, is
the Bajas' cavernous cover of
Sun Ra's "Angels and Demons at Play," which features dripping, echoing percussion and an ethereal flute melody gradually underscored by a slowly rising drone. The group reaches a supreme state of Zen on "2303," a solemn meditation that lasts as long as its title.
Bajas Fresh is a masterful union of the group's jazz, Krautrock, and new age inspirations, and another rewarding chapter in their saga.