Bitchin Bajas, Geologist
(((folkYEAH!))) Presents: Bitchin Bajas is an American band operated as a side-project by Cooper Crain, who is also guitarist/organist of the Chicago band Cave. The other members are Dan Quinlivan and Rob Frye. With every successive Bitchin Bajas release, we see that the real key for them is a sense of discovery, that tingle that comes when you feel something breaking through. The sky opening up. Take “Skylarking”: a remarkable construction, built to and fro in the ether, but with a deceptive grasp of four-on-the-floor rhythm. A space dance that achieves completion in almost aggressive terms — aggressive like an oxygen bath! — showcasing jewels from their world music and jazz archives, then returning to their undulous source drone, riding smoothly back into silence. The stuff that fills this Inland See holds you up powerfully, as if you’re floating, saltwater or helium-wise — effervescent, effortless, elemental.