11/22/00 - Wednesday, 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

https://archive.org/details/db2000-11-22.mastered.flac/

Image: The interior of the 9:30 Club (Live For Live Music)

Review:

The show opens with fall 2000 powerhouse Svenghali. The jam starts off as a traditional dark dnb vehicle but gradually incorporates more experimental and digital synth effects. After a bizarre crescendo around the 10 minute mark the jam begins to break down, and melts into a Story intro. The Story jam dives headfirst into weird territory, with sinister percussive elements and early 99 style synths. Magner soon develops a catchy keyboard line, and the rest of the band follows to build upon a powerful trance theme. This breaks down shortly after the 10 minute mark, and more dissonant chaos follows. This resolves into a cool, vaguely Vassilios-esque, groove, laden with trance and acid synths. It builds to a blissful peak and breaks down. Barber delivers the ending riff to Story (technically the peak, although it is played very softly), but instead the jam breaks down into a Down to the Bottom intro. Cool concept following an excellent jam, although the execution was a little rough. The Down to the Bottom jam gets off to a frenetic start, and explores a wider variety of different ideas than typical. It begins with breakbeats, and toes the line between a groove theme and a dnb jam. It settles into a groove at the track change, and begins to build up to a Basis intro. Magner uses a harsh digital synth to great effect, and Barber hits some cool riffs. The jam is excellent overall, but the transition is very sudden. Basis has a short, percussive middle jam. The jam out of Basis is atypical and largely amelodic. Magner stays mostly on atonal synths until just before the 13 minute mark, when he develops an absolutely evil theme. It only lasts for a couple minutes, but it is excellent while it does. It settles into another tense groove, before building up to a Barber-led crescendo. The jam attains the feel of a Basis ending, briefly interrupted around 17:40 when Sammy briefly introduces a percussive pattern akin to a Dribble ending, and builds to a strong Basis peak. Vassilios follows Basis (it has a >, but even calling it a drop segue is a bit generous). Like the most recent version from 11/16, Vassilios has a drawn-out jam in the middle section. This version is considerably more interesting and thematic than the 11/16 version, with a great Barber theme going back into the ending of Vassilios. The jam out, in keeping with the theme of the set, is completely bizarre. It breaks down and leaves Vassilios territory very quickly. Barber uses a fuzzy distortion effect over some odd synth choices from Magner, all while someone (I can’t even tell who) contributes some strange distorted vocoder effects. Sammy begins to move back toward a breakbeat rhythm around the 14 minute mark, and the jam begins to build in energy. Magner sticks with the flute patch for the rest of the jam, and Barber leads back into a beautiful Svenghali peak. After the Svenghali ending, Barber plays the Story “peak” again, and leads the band back into the ending of Story, sans jam. An odd choice to end a strong and very unconventional set.

Set two’s M.E.M.P.H.I.S. opener is mellow and restrained. Magner layers ambient wave synths and adds trance riffs over top. Shortly after the 6 minute mark, Magner crafts a theme that builds up over several minutes to the ending. Barber takes over shortly afterward, and the buildup to the peak is eminently patient. The outro groove is pleasant and mellow. Sammy adds some occasional breakbeats, shifting the jam towards a more unconventional rhythm. Barber signals towards House Dog at the track change, and the rest of the band pull off the transition masterfully about 30 seconds later. The first jam is spacey and drawn out like most of the versions from the tour, although it isn’t as interesting as some of the others. The second jam has some weird Magner effects in the first half, but the second is a Barber-dominated build into a barnburner of an ending. The Morph jam is a type one version, but spaced out enough to make it interesting. Magner’s Gates of Hell usage gives the jam some flavor (though a bit much at times), and his trance synth usage beginning around the 5 minute mark keeps the theme moving. Three Wishes follows, always perplexing in the mid-set two slot to me. Munchkin has a cool type one theme based around a synth line from Magner that becomes increasingly spacey over the first few minutes. It breaks down into a more tense type two passage, which builds in intensity until it returns to triumphant Munchkin territory around the 10-11 minute mark. It builds to a satisfying Munchkin ending to close the set. The Fiddler which fills the encore slot is actually a pretty fantastic version. The first jam is standard, but the second one breaks down into a brief space passage before building up to a thrilling peak.

The second set is fairly unremarkable, but the first is one of the more unconventional and unique sets of the tour. I would have a hard time ranking it, but I certainly found it interesting.

Highlights:

Down to the Bottom > Basis

I struggled between this jam and the second place choice for best jam of the show. Down to the Bottom > Basis is more exploratory, with an unconventional breakbeat jam in between two songs that rarely feature them, so it gets the nod. The transition from breakbeat to Basis groove is excellent, though I wish it could have lasted longer.

Svenghali > Story

A pretty excellent and experimental Svenghali jam, with an unconventional “peak” in the middle. The segue into Story is solid as well.

Basis

I vastly prefer the jump-on-a-horse-and-pillage style of the 10/27 Basis to this more brooding-misunderstood-genius style jam. Nevertheless, its uniqueness makes it worth hearing. It’s considerably more groove-oriented than the typical fall 2000 Basis, and it features a Dribble ending theme before the final build to the peak.

Vassilios > Svenghali

In a set full of strange and experimental jams, this one might be the most so. It spends almost no time in Vassilios territory before diving into a type two theme replete with bizarre sound effects and synth choices. The drawn out Vassilios middle jam is a nice bonus.

Story > Down to the Bottom

Some points were deducted for the rough transition, but the jam before is still absolutely meritorious. It moves through a handful of distinct themes, most notably the triumphant trance build in the middle and the psychotic breakdown at the end.

Stray Observations:

This was the band’s first show at the 9:30 Club. The venue would become a regular stop for the band, who have played 16 shows at the venue, most recently 1/12/18.

There is a kind of Pat & Dex fakeout leading into Three Wishes.

There is a Magellan tease in Fiddler.