We Went There: Bitchin Bajas at Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
When you find yourself in Cleveland, and you see Bitchin Bajas are playing, you get yourself there. The band never has failed to deliver in my decade and a half of fandom, whether via their prodigious recorded output or their mind-expanding live sets, and that streak continued Saturday with their outstanding set at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern.
Walking into the venue you could hear the pop-punk/emo show happening in the main ballroom, but in the warm and cozy Tavern off to the side (above a very cool record/vintage store in the basement…this was a great venue!) a crowd of heads came in from the cold to get thawed out, physically and spiritually, by some luminous sounds.
Opening the show was the great Powers / Rolin Duo, the project of partners Jen Powers on hammered dulcimer and Matthew J Rolin on 12 string acoustic. I’ve been a fan of them for a while, and have seen other projects they are in, but had never seen them together. They played a great 35 minute set that showcased a hypnotic blend of cosmic Americana and dusty ambient. Powers laid much of the atmosphere, with Rolin adding in layers of sound and then dancing over the tones with intrepid melodies from his guitar.
The pair had some tuning issues (they noted the winter is harsh on their instruments) but sounded great throughout. At times it was fried, other times pillowy as a cloud. In the end it was a perfect mix of heady and grounded, a great segue into the headlining set.
Bitchin Bajas are a trio that have always sounded larger than the sum of their parts. The group explore the depth and complexity of analog synthesis, with some woodwind flourishes thrown in, a setup that may seem limited but has proven fully capable of allowing some scintillating adventures over the years. Their latest release, the excellent Inland See, was a bright, translucent collection that has felt like a calming balm for me throughout this completely rotten year.
The group played songs from the new album, but also mixed in sounds and textures from previous releases. They always are able to both float and gallop through their music in a way that few would be able to land, let alone attempt. To me they are firmly on the modern kosmiche mount rushmore, both for their depth and longevity, and Saturday was another feather in that hat. Their set as nearly 80 minutes featuring a maze of synths and programmed drums that was blended with saxaphone/flute/other woodwind I couldn’t identify to create a sound that felt both in the stars and planted firmly on the ground. What other band can, throughout one set, lovingly and skillfully reference Eno, NEU! and Sun Ra and live to tell about it, with a crowd still entranced even as their set passed an hour?
Whether it was brittle ambient or hard-charging waves of sound over Klaus Dinger beats, it was a great set that kept the crowd engaged and even produced calls for an encore. The group is on a fairly extensive tour (sadly no Minneapolis tour date yet, although I was told that would be coming) and if you get a chance to see the fellas, you shouldn’t miss it. The band have been doing this at such a high level, for such a long time, it’s easy to take for granted. Don’t let that happen. Get out and support the band if you can, and not just to keep them sustained, but to open yourself up to a soul cleansing, mind expanding odyssey.
Writer / co-founder
