11/9/00 - Thursday, The Terrace Club - Princeton, NJ

All time stamps reference the soundboard version.

Image: a DJ spins a set at the intimate Terrace Club (https://www.drinkingtobedone.com/diversa-terrace-club/)

Review:

The show opens with the biggest bustout of the tour: Mary Had a Little Lamb. Though not seen in over a hundred shows, it is well-played. Magellan is tracked out as the longest version of the year (although it has a couple minutes of banter tracked on, which always fools me). It has a longer than usual middle jam, beginning as ambient space and leading to a more experimental passage. The main jam is pretty cool. Barber plays around with a few catchy riffs while Magner experiments with the more industrial sounding synths. Barber remains the dominant factor throughout the jam, but the build to the peak is another level. He utilizes an awesome distortion effect and reprises the main theme from the jam in the peak, a gimmick for which I am admittedly a huge sucker. There is a bit of slop in the peak but that hardly detracts from such a stellar version. The Jigsaw Earth is a spectacular version. I should make my biases known—this is my favorite half-hour of Biscuits music ever. The first jam, pre-chase, is special. It isn’t much longer than usual, as this section had grown a good bit in the past month, but it is considerably more thematic and focused than any other version. Both Barber and Magner are completely locked in, bouncing ideas off each other and trading the lead. The second jam is by far the most exploratory. The jam begins with Barber, and soon Magner, locked into the theme that defines the entire jam. Magner begins to incorporate Gates of Hell lines (the defining feature of the jam) and Sammy’s feather light percussion soon gives way to a distinctive breakbeat pattern. The jam builds and layers on atmosphere, in one of the most patient explorations of a theme I have ever heard. At 11:30 Barber adds a little distortion to his distinctive riff, and shortly after the 12 minute mark he begins to shift to a gorgeously psychedelic effect that I have elsewhere described as an electronic violin (the only other time I’ve noticed it, 10/20/00). The next 90 seconds of this theme are utter perfection. Around 13:30, he begins to play a busier riff, and there are some hiccups: a few dead notes and some general sloppiness. This improves at 14:20, when he begins to shift back to a more traditional guitar sound and reprises the theme from earlier. The jam builds to a magnificent crescendo from 16:30-17:00. It reaches a peak too powerful to sustain, and the transition back into the chase riff is a missed opportunity. The next jam is a more trance/rock theme. Magner latches onto an interesting theme, but Barber takes a little time to find an interesting complement. The tone of the jam changes dramatically just shy of the 22 minute mark. Barber takes the lead forcefully, playing a percussive riff that Sammy immediately picks up on, allowing Barber to build the theme up to what may be the greatest uncomposed peak riff the Biscuits have ever played. The final jam is the dub section, easily the greatest iteration of this section played before or since. While every band member deserves some credit, this is a Barber-led exploration the whole way through. There are two distinct themes: the first based around a descending riff beginning around 29:15, and the second around a catchy ascending riff beginning about a minute later. Every second of this jam sounds deliberate and flawless. The jam builds up to another phenomenal uncomposed peak beginning around the 33 minute mark that drops flawlessly into the ending of Jigsaw Earth. The Voices that follows is another strong version. Barber develops some catchy licks in the intro jam and in the main jam, which also has some cool vocoder work from Magner. Kamaole is a strong version as well. It features a drawn out jam with Magner utilizing some old school trance effects. It has a great build to a bliss peak, and it sounds briefly like the jam will segue into a Bernstein & Chasnoff ending (though those endings are so similar it is likely a coincidence).

The nearly 30 minute jam that opens set two is probably the most inscrutable piece of music the band has ever performed. It is the culmination of every dnb influence the band has had up to this point. It begins with a distinctive Brownstein bass line, which informs the structure of the first nine minutes (and makes periodic reappearances throughout the jam). Sammy soon launches into a breakbeat rhythm, and Barber creeps in with the distinctive muted distortion. Magner uses a variety of synths, every one of them atonal. Barber finds a simple theme, and around the 5 minute mark begins to increase the distortion. Shortly after, Magner introduces a glitchy synth effect that carries through the background of the jam. Sammy breaks down and rebuilds the breakbeat rhythm a couple times, with Brownstein’s distinctive bass line giving some continuity, as the jam ebbs and flows. It breaks down more fully around the 10 minute mark; Magner plays around with some digital synths and Barber gradually returns to the muted distortion effect. Just shy of 11 minutes, Barber fades to the background, Magner introduces some more ambient effects, and the tempo picks up dramatically. After a bizarre and chaotic passage around 13-15 minutes in, the jam begins to settle into a more melodic passage. It builds to a sort of crescendo before breaking down into more of a steady groove around 18:30. After a few more breakdowns, the jam once again enters into a dnb passage. It builds and breaks down again, and at the 23 minute mark Magner debuts a new synth effect, one that has always intrigued me and is so peculiar to the fall 2000 sound. I don’t know the name for it, but it has always reminded me of a digital symphony. The new synth effect gives a distinct character to the final theme of the jam, which comes to a head around the 24-25 minute mark and begins to break down shortly thereafter, dissolving into ambience and finally dropping into Chemical Warfare Brigade. The band, perhaps inspired by the jaw-dropping half hour of improv that they had just performed, delivers a stronger-than-average version of CWB, with some excellent themes from Barber in the buildup to the peak. A perfunctory version of Widow in the Rain is followed by Spaga. The jam starts as a mellow dnb vehicle, and to the band’s credit it sounds absolutely nothing like the various dnb themes in the jam that opened the set. It’s patient and ethereal, with Magner on atmospheric synths and Barber settling into a simple theme immediately. Magner joins in on the trance synths around the 6 minute mark and before long the jam has shifted into a full-blown trance jam (Sammy has by now become quite adept at shifting seamlessly between jungle and trance). The jam builds up around a simple Magner theme (to which he layers on the flute patch synth to great effect) building up to a huge Waves peak. The jam out of Waves gets off to an atypical start, with Sammy introducing breakbeat flourishes to the rhythm almost immediately. Barber uses a heavy distortion and the jam builds to a cacophonous crescendo before settling into a more regular theme around 11:30. The jam reforms into a standard dnb theme, and Magner settles into an infectious synth line around 13:30 which forms the structure of much of the remainder of the jam. The theme ebbs and flows, but it always seems to return to this idea. Sadly, the band was likely short on time, and this theme was not allowed to develop to its natural conclusion. Although Sammy signals the ending of Spaga very abruptly, there are no missteps as the band segues back into the composition.

Although rather bland on paper, this show is easily the most extraordinary of the tour. It’s a bit uneven, but Jigsaw Earth and the set two jam are more than enough to put this show into contention for best of the tour.

Highlights:

Jigsaw Earth

Nowhere near as exploratory as the set two jam, and while that may be reason enough to relegate it to second place, I’ve been clear about my biases. There are three main jams, each completely distinct and covering a wide array of styles. Even the most discriminating Biscuits fan should be able to find something they enjoy here.

Jam

Did the band make a conscious decision that they would open the second set with thirty minutes of improvisation? Did a short intro jam evolve beyond what was originally intended? Whatever the goal was here, the effect is undeniable. This is experimentation on par with the Akira and Koyaanisqatsi jams, and will reward multiple perusals as would any classic film or book.

Spaga > Waves (><) > Spaga

I’d have a hard time deciding between the Spaga > Waves and the Waves > Spaga. The former is a better executed build and peak, while the latter is the cooler theme. My gut instinct is to go with the latter, but it’s really a coin toss.

Voices Insane

Another strong fall 2000 Voices. Great Barber work in the intro and main jams, and great vocoder from Magner.

Chemical Warfare Brigade

Nothing out of the ordinary (unless you count the jam preceding it, which I don’t), but Barber is totally feeling this peak.

Magellan

A fairly significant version with two longer-than-average jams and some experimental Magner synth work in the main jam.

Stray Observations:

This is the first Mary Had a Little Lamb since 5/14/99, a gap of 104 shows.

After Magellan, Barber says it's good to be back in Princeton, and references a show that the band had played at another eating club years ago. No record of this show survives.

This is the longest standalone Jigsaw Earth ever played, beating the previous record holder 8/26/00 by almost 7 minutes.