Bitchin Bajas is the side project of Cave‘s Cooper Crane. There are similarities between the two bands, mostly in that they both mine 70′s Krautrock. But on their debut, Tones/Zones, Bitchin Bajas forgo Cave’s Can-like rhythms for more Tangerine Dream/Brian Eno/Cluster-like keyboard ambiance. And while Cave, despite their influences, still sound mostly modern, Bitchin Bajas do not. In fact, if one picked this album up without knowing a thing about it, they might not know it was produced over 30 years after the above mentioned artist’s heyday, and that’s a good thing.

There’s a ton of retro going on these days with metal bands borrowing liberally from Sabbath or early Metallica, electronic bands from New Order or Depeche Mode and psych bands from Neu and Kraftwerk. Bitchin Bajas are the first that I’ve heard that dive this deeply into the more ambient side of 70′s German experimental music. From organs and analog synths to recording on a reel-to-reel, Cooper has gone to painstaking lengths to make this record sound like its influences.

What makes makes Tones/Zones not merely sound like a cover band – albeit a cover band of bands no one would dream of covering – is that he keeps a strong sense of melody throughout. Side two’s opener, for example – all the songs are called a variation of Zones – sounds like a lost Cluster classic. Its lightly strummed guitar beneath a swirl of keyboards is beautifully highlighted by a simple synth line. So, maybe it really sounds like its influences, but good songs are good songs. Plus, it’s not like there’s a glut of bands doing what Bitchin Bajas does.

I can’t say everyone will feel this way. Maybe there are hardcore 70′s ambient enthusiasts that will think this is hipster ambient the way I think Dead Child are hipster metal. I find that far fetched, though. No one is going to high five Cooper for his spot on Cluster or Eno vibe. Hipsters play wink wink metal in order to live out a little boy’s fantasy. I don’t know many little boys dreaming of one day being just like Brian Eno.

Either way, Tones/Zones works. I may have been a little down on the record store day split with Moon Duo, but it was precisely for the fact that ambient music plays less well as one song. Here, as a full length, there’s time for melodies to come and go and for the underlying drone to work its magic. If you like this sort of thing, Tones/Zones should be totally fulfilling. It’s also a lot cheaper than those hard to find German imports. So, it’s a win-win.