11/11/00 - Saturday, Irving Plaza - New York, NY

https://archive.org/details/db2000-11-11.shnf

Image: The floor of Irving Plaza seen from the balcony (source: BizBash)

Review:

The Basis intro is atypically Magner-dominant for the first several minutes. He utilizes the 11/9 synth early on, to great effect, and then comes in later with more traditional Basis intro synth effects. Occasional breakbeat flourishes from Sammy, along with some more industrial synth effects from Magner, lend an air of darkness to the jam. Barber builds the jam up to a very tense crescendo that drops, somewhat suddenly, into Basis. There is a drawn out and atmospheric middle jam. The main jam is interesting. Magner uses a very clean synth sound while Barber uses some harsher distortion. At 21:45, Magner takes the reins, delivering a jarring Gates of Hell line and moving over to the trance synths. The theme continues to develop, breaking down and rebuilding into a much heavier theme around the 25 minute mark. Magner uses the Gates of Hell at a lower register than typical over heavily distorted synths and a psychotic theme from Barber, all contributing to a sinister effect. The key change comes shortly after the 28 minute mark, and the jam builds patiently to an excellent Basis ending. Basis is followed by a short breather in the form of Three Wishes, which is followed by a banner version of Unspoken Rhyme. The jam begins with some mellow ambient waves from Magner and muted distortion from Barber in a melancholy theme. Pretty soon Magner introduces the flute patch to great effect. This theme breaks down, and at 9:30 Magner introduces a trance lead that he builds over several minutes. The back half of this jam is incredible, with Magner and Barber trading lead around this theme and building to a great ending. The ending of Unspoken Rhyme melts into a Home Again intro. The Home Again jam is pretty standard, but drawn out. The build is eminently patient and the peak satisfying. Hope fills the set closer slot. Hope has an atypical dub style jam, relaxed and mellow for the first half. Sammy throws in some breakbeat flourishes, and by the 11 minute mark the jam is more firmly in dnb territory. The jam begins to build to a Barber-dominated peak beginning around 13 minutes in, but the band doesn’t tip their hand until after the 15 minute mark (Barber teases Hope a little earlier, but the rest of the band isn’t anywhere near it). Very strong, atypical version.

Hot Air Balloon gets the second set off to a majestic start. After a couple minutes of type one soloing, the jam breaks down, around 7:30, into a mellow trance theme. This theme breaks down after only a few minutes into mellow psychedelia. Barber develops a catchy riff just after the 10 minute mark, and the rest of the band falls into place around this riff. It’s not typical Biscuits fare, but it is stunningly beautiful. The jam enters Floes territory pretty soon after, with a near complete breakdown around the 14 minute mark and a patient build back up to Floes. The Floes jam eschews the traditional primal percussive rock in favor of a dnb theme built around a catchy Barber riff that carries through the entire jam. Magner contributes to the theme with a few industrial and digital synths, but overall it is a Barber dominated vehicle the entire time It patiently builds back to a massive Floes ending. Fantastic stuff. Crickets has a captivating and hypnotic trance jam. It stays in a pretty restrained territory before breaking down around 8:30. After some Floes-ish riffs, the jam begins to build back up to a Hot Air Balloon ending. M.E.M.P.H.I.S. has an extremely patient first jam. Magner leads in the first half, with alternating riffs on cleaner and distorted synths. Barber doesn’t really peak the jam; he plays a series of escalating grooves until he delivers the peak riff out of nowhere. The outro jam is extremely patient as well. Barber uses muted distortion to craft a playful, bouncy theme. Around the 15 minute mark Sammy begins to gradually shift towards a trance rhythm, and the jam builds, with extreme patience, to a Crickets peak over the next 8 minutes. The Crickets funk jam is enhanced by the 11/9 trance synth and the droning trance synths from Magner, which creates a unique effect. Shortly after the 7 minute mark the jam breaks down into a loungey theme that builds patiently into a Don intro. The Don jam is extremely patient as well, in keeping with the theme of the set. It begins with a standard theme but gradually breaks down into ambient minimalism over the first few minutes. The jam builds back up into a gorgeous Don theme (the best of the year, and one of my personal favorites of all time). It hits a spectacular uncomposed peak before breaking down into a kind of mashup with the ending of Don and Crickets. Barber plays the Don ending riff while Sammy and Brownstein play the rhythm to the Crickets funk, and after a few measures the whole band commits to the Crickets ending. The encore was surely a crowd pleaser: the first (and only) Jamillia of the year, followed by a rousing Morph.

I’m not even sure if this is a controversial opinion, but I’ve long thought that this show is superior to 11/10. Some highlights, and more, below.

Highlights:

Hot Air Balloon > Floes

The Floes jam should 100% be included in this consideration. Just a spectacular segment, with gorgeous minimal jamming going into Floes, and a holographic dnb Floes.

M.E.M.P.H.I.S. > Crickets

The main jam in M.E.M.P.H.I.S. could be included in this, but it’s really the super-patient build into the Crickets peak that makes this segment.

Mr. Don

Although it does segue into the end of Crickets, the entire jam is a Don jam in essence. Probably the best one of the year too. Fantastic Barber theme in the Don peak.

Unspoken Rhyme

One of the best ever versions, if not the very GOAT. The back half of the jam is particularly excellent, but the whole thing is great.

Basis

A fantastic version. The intro jam has all the excitement that 11/3 lacked. The main jam is a hair better too, although none of it touches 10/27.

Hope

A kind of atypical jam that begins in dub territory and features heavy piano presence up until the very last second.

Stray Observations:

I believe this is the first Home Again to use the verse from Brownstein’s “Home” as the Home Again Reprise (Home Again Again?)

This is both the first split Crickets and the first three part Crickets.

This is the first Jamillia since 10/1/99, a gap of 66 shows. It is the only one of the year.