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Cassette
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DC 860CS
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Cassette version. "Years past the space time of Automaginary, Bitchin Bajas and Natural Information Society have reported back at last from beyond. If the new title doesn't clue you, Totality brings good news. Since their first collaboration, the path ways that lead from Natural Information Society's ecstatic all-world jazz to Bitchin Bajas' microtonal soundscapes have grown ever finer in their articulation. Across the spectrum, the septet balance a deeply searching mood with wonderfully in-pocket production feel. This makes for collective aural transport of the highest order to all those listening in. In the time since their 2015 first convergence, the Natural Information Society have released four albums (one in collaboration with Evan Parker, one with Ari Brown) and Bitchin Bajas five (one a soundtrack, one with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, one featuring the songs of Sun Ra). Given the multivarious paths both groups have traveled, it makes sense that their second convergence seems to emanate from centuries, eons beyond or below -- some undefinable elsewhere -- from their first. Totality is that. These days, Natural Information Society is populated differently. From the sextet NIS that co-created Automaginary, Joshua Abrams, Lisa Alvarado and Mikel Patrick Avery remain. In the stead of the departed former players is Jason Stein on bass clarinet. This might account for some mere impression of aspects of time, space and evolution to be found here -- but then again, Bitchin Bajas flow on in their long-standing trio configuration (Cooper Crain, Dan Quinlivan, Rob Frye), so the 'people in the room' theory of how Totality ever got this way will only take us so far. Recorded in a single day with Greg Norman at Chicago's Electrical Audio, then slowly considered into the finished record we hear here, Totality is a sweet-tempered second child. It experiences time in ways the first kid didn't. If you're in it for slow-shifting trance formations, it's gonna be cool. There's lots here for you, lots of simmering time and synth atmospheres dappled with radiant woodwinds -- but there's some head-snapping hypno-rhythms that stand apart from the groove energies of the first one. It's just natural facts: two different days in time separated by years, with the experience of several live encounters between the two groups in between. Beyond that, only the music can say anything else. That said, here are a few thoughts from this listener's log... The low-key revolutionary thump of 'Nothing Does Not Show' and 'Clock no Clock' notwithstanding, Totality charts impressive new launch angles from NIS & BB's improvisatory heart, with their careful listening and response time continually redefining the space in a relaxed manner that rewards deep zoners. Additionally, their blended corps assimilate marvelously on Abrams' composition, 'Always 9 Seconds Away.' Here, and with the aforementioned groovers, the collective resonates beyond familiar kraut/spiritual/minimal power lines, bringing new time conceptions to bear in the always-expansive space of this album event. It's about time we got back to the singularly-divined space of Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas with Totality. That's the best way to way to define this new music -- it's about time."
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LP
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DC 860LP
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"Years past the space time of Automaginary, Bitchin Bajas and Natural Information Society have reported back at last from beyond. If the new title doesn't clue you, Totality brings good news. Since their first collaboration, the path ways that lead from Natural Information Society's ecstatic all-world jazz to Bitchin Bajas' microtonal soundscapes have grown ever finer in their articulation. Across the spectrum, the septet balance a deeply searching mood with wonderfully in-pocket production feel. This makes for collective aural transport of the highest order to all those listening in. In the time since their 2015 first convergence, the Natural Information Society have released four albums (one in collaboration with Evan Parker, one with Ari Brown) and Bitchin Bajas five (one a soundtrack, one with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, one featuring the songs of Sun Ra). Given the multivarious paths both groups have traveled, it makes sense that their second convergence seems to emanate from centuries, eons beyond or below -- some undefinable elsewhere -- from their first. Totality is that. These days, Natural Information Society is populated differently. From the sextet NIS that co-created Automaginary, Joshua Abrams, Lisa Alvarado and Mikel Patrick Avery remain. In the stead of the departed former players is Jason Stein on bass clarinet. This might account for some mere impression of aspects of time, space and evolution to be found here -- but then again, Bitchin Bajas flow on in their long-standing trio configuration (Cooper Crain, Dan Quinlivan, Rob Frye), so the 'people in the room' theory of how Totality ever got this way will only take us so far. Recorded in a single day with Greg Norman at Chicago's Electrical Audio, then slowly considered into the finished record we hear here, Totality is a sweet-tempered second child. It experiences time in ways the first kid didn't. If you're in it for slow-shifting trance formations, it's gonna be cool. There's lots here for you, lots of simmering time and synth atmospheres dappled with radiant woodwinds -- but there's some head-snapping hypno-rhythms that stand apart from the groove energies of the first one. It's just natural facts: two different days in time separated by years, with the experience of several live encounters between the two groups in between. Beyond that, only the music can say anything else. That said, here are a few thoughts from this listener's log... The low-key revolutionary thump of 'Nothing Does Not Show' and 'Clock no Clock' notwithstanding, Totality charts impressive new launch angles from NIS & BB's improvisatory heart, with their careful listening and response time continually redefining the space in a relaxed manner that rewards deep zoners. Additionally, their blended corps assimilate marvelously on Abrams' composition, 'Always 9 Seconds Away.' Here, and with the aforementioned groovers, the collective resonates beyond familiar kraut/spiritual/minimal power lines, bringing new time conceptions to bear in the always-expansive space of this album event. It's about time we got back to the singularly-divined space of Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas with Totality. That's the best way to way to define this new music -- it's about time."
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LP
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DC 626LP
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2025 repress. "Natural Information Society, like their partners in time Bitchin Bajas, live their days in flow motion. Rhythms come and go, instruments sound as a means to a greater end. Music is the way of their life. Their debut convergence, Automaginary, feels as natural as it does inevitable. Both groups were first heard in 2010, both emerging from solo endeavors that accessed a vastness, more room than a single player might ultimately fill -- a place then for fellow travelers! Joshua Abrams, a questing bassist and improviser by trade, with an extensive discography of solo recordings and collaborations with a wide variety of artists, formed Natural Information Society as a conduit for the live presentation of his guimbri music. Abrams had delved into the sound of the threestringed Gnawan lute on his own, intrigued by the instrument's ability to provide melodic and rhythmic direction with a minimal, hypnotic palette. Known for the drone also are Bitchin Bajas. Cooper Crain of CAVE started the Bajas to explore his fascination with vintage electronics and recording techniques. With Dan Quinlivan on keyboards as well, Bitchin Bajas' discography has explored a range of dynamic approaches, producing various proportions of atmosphere and soundtrack that move from becalmed stasis to synthetic beat-building with a prescient liquidity. Both Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas are in pursuit of the unconscious in their musical expression, and through their independent methods, both have ridden the wind to unseen places, using the playing as the carpet that will take them there. A multitude of influences swarm amoebically in their sounds, from the mud of ancient Afro-groove to 20th-century classical austerity, from the clatter of freedom jazz to the 4/4 of kraut and disco and fusion beyond -- and then beyond the music and into the air. Wrapped up in a screen-printed jacket from visual artist Lisa Alvarado, whose aesthetic sense is a touchstone for the vision of Natural Information Society, Automaginary is psychedelic and ambient and jazz -- yet none of it either, the whole being more than the sum of former parts. This is music of unique variance, a remarkably perfect congregation of the two tribes that are Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas."
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