8/19/00 - Saturday, Bayou Music Festival

https://archive.org/details/db2000-08-19.flac

Image: The Disco Biscuits at Bayou Music Festival, Croton Point Park (source: discobiscuits.net)

Today’s double header begins in the sleepy suburban town of Croton-on-Hudson at the Bayou Music Festival, where the Disco Biscuits played their first show with the full lineup since 1999. The Biscuits open the show, on paper, with Mindless Dribble. In reality they open with an intro jam that is so far removed from Dribble that I’m surprised it is not separately notated. It’s characterized by Sammy’s aggressive breakbeats, bizarre atmospheric effects from Magner, and a distorted guitar effect that Barber would use to great effect later in the year. It’s just over six minutes long, but it’s hard not to think of it as the precursor to a much longer and better known set opening jam from later in the year. After all that, the Dribble begins fairly typically. Magner holds down a simple theme for the first couple of minutes, but pretty soon things start to get trancey. Magner changes up the synth to a slightly more abrasive effect, and Sammy quickly abandons the standard Dribble rhythm in favor of a four on the floor beat. After an odd digital breakdown around 13:30, the jam continues through another experimental sounding passage (anchored by the steady beat) until the Dribble hits come in around 15:15 (for the first time in the jam). Barber switches over to the distortion effect, but he merely flirts with it before returning to the cleaner guitar. The next theme is tense and haunting. Sammy continues to maintain the trance beat but he changes it up every few measures. Once the Dribble hits come back in around 18:20 the jam kicks up a notch, and Barber begins to bring it around for the peak. Some more triumphant riffs around the 21 minute mark are interspersed with the typical sinister Dribble fare. Excellent conclusion and excellent Dribble overall. The Dribble outro is short and shreddy from Barber, featuring Magner pretty exclusively on the piano. It’s pretty major key, but there are a few moments where it almost sounds like it will break into more evil territory. It doesn’t quite get there, and breaks down into a Voices intro just shy of the 31 minute mark. The Voices is pretty solid; like the later 99 versions and the ones yet to come in fall 2000, it has a brief, atmospheric jam. Magellan is a very solid version. The middle jam stays type one but gets weird at some points. The main jam is in the vein of those fall 99 Magellans: a steady build on a single theme culminating in a gorgeous ending. The full-band debut of Floes is pretty solid; like the Magellan it doesn’t go anywhere new but it is pleasant and well-played. Barber finds some very catchy riffs throughout the jam, and it builds to a solid conclusion. The band somewhat recklessly starts up Waves with full knowledge of time constraints. It is played in the fall 99 style, with a vaguely dubby progression. The jam is much too short to reach anywhere groundbreaking, but it’s perfectly pleasant. The show ends in the middle of the Waves ending, after the fast verses.

All in all, a particularly solid show, especially considering it is a festival show and the first with the full lineup in over seven months. Great setlist with very little down time. Highlights below.

Highlights:

Mindless Dribble

The five and a half minute intro jam might be the most interesting part of the show, but the main jam is no slouch either. A rare type two Dribble

Floes

Full-band debut. The Floes jam is pretty and well-constructed, even if it stays within the lines.

Stray Observations:

There are Little Lai teases in the Dribble outro, possibly in honor of Brownie’s newly debuted opera.

After Voices, Barber describes the band as “Disco Biscuits in full, classic, normal form again.”

After Magellan, Brownie plugs Camp Bisco, and warns the crowd to watch out for traffic, because the Little League World Series is also in town. He also plugs the late night Electron show and, if you are listening to the soundboard, you can hear him ask the rest of the band permission to do so. That’s kind of heartwarming.

This performance of Floes is the first of the 2000 debuts to be played with the full band.

—Mr. Zan