8/26/00 - Saturday, Camp Bisco II

https://archive.org/details/db2000-08-26RM.flac

Image: Visor Brownie and haircut Barber on stage at night two of Camp Bisco

The show opens with a drawn out, experimental intro jam. There is little musical coherence to it at first, but not necessarily in a bad way, as it is essentially a warm-up that builds up from nothing. It gradually coalesces around the trippy synth line that Magner establishes in the beginning, and shifts into high gear when Barber begins to develop the descending riff just shy of the six minute mark, and filter it through the f2k distortion pedal that he was beginning to use. The climax of the jam, beginning around 8:20, is a fist-pumping triumphant culmination of the theme that had been gradually building. A masterfully executed transition into Mr. Don is just the icing on the cake. Easily the best jam and segue into Mr. Don ever performed (apologies to 7/13/07). The often extremely short “middle” jam in Don feels rather longer than usual, clocking in at nearly three minutes. The main jam contrasts tense and spacey synths from Magner with jazzy noodling from Barber. They reach some sinister moments of interplay from 18:20 until about 21:30, after which the jam begins to settle into a Trooper intro. This is the first Trooper since 10/1/99, and it is a psychedelic masterpiece. Magner’s synth lines from the start of the jam are so simple yet haunting and evocative. Here, unlike in the Don jam, Barber and Magner are completely simpatico right away. Barber provides the perfect complements to Magner’s atmosphere, and latches onto a beautiful riff around 11:30. The ensuing theme toes the line between beauty and evil, and culminates in a masterful return to Trooper. Barber’s solo in the ending is great as well. A fantastic opening segment. The first debut of the evening, Brownstein’s Home Again, follows. The dulcet tones of the composed section lead into a mellow jam, which quickly moves towards a jungle jam, reminiscent of how Electron played it the week previous. The pleasant tone eventually yields to the madness that was more typical of these dnb jams. Around the eleven minute mark the band settles into a steady theme that builds up to an excellent 7-11 intro. The 7-11 is notably different from earlier versions in a number of ways: the jam into the song (based on the chorus) resembles the composed intro to the song that would not become standard until late 2002, the lyrics are slightly different (no longer referencing a breakup), and, most notably, the jam section is completely different. Rather than the traditional “drop” into the jam section, this jam develops gradually and organically out of the composed section where the second verse would be. This type one groove gradually develops into, unsurprisingly, a dnb jam. Where most of these jams are tense, dark and experimental, this one is brimming with joy and features notably more Barber presence than Magner. It’s a joyous and triumphant jam overall, but in particular Sammy and Brownie linking up for the 1-2-3-4 hits for every other measure just before the track change brought a smile to my face. Fantastic build to a Home Again ending, capping a fantastic segment. The Jigsaw Earth that follows is the longest version yet, a kind of precursor to the song’s golden age in fall 2000. There is a short jam before the chase section that is not particularly remarkable. The jam after the first chase section is on the shorter side too; it takes the place of the Jigsaw “trance” jam, but it’s considerably more mellow than say 12/4/99. The jam after the second chase is groovy and dubbed out from the get go, but it quickly resolves into another chase. Finally after this chase section we get an interesting jam longer than a couple minutes. It carves out a cool dubby space, but moves through a lot of territory, including a brief dnb interlude, building to a wild and chaotic crescendo that drops into the final verse. Overall a strong Jigsaw; not quite as strong as many of the fall tour versions, but definitely hinting in that direction. After Jigsaw, Mauricio takes the stage to sit-in on Munchkin. I will likely take some flak for this, but I strongly believe the band should have left the Mauricio configuration behind with the Triscuits. I suppose it can be forgiven here, as this was only the third Munchkin (and Mauricio co-wrote the song, along with Crickets), but I am eager to hear these develop with the core four. This version is easily the best so far though. Sammy on drums helps the percussion not feel as thin as a typical Mauricio version, and the Brownie vocal samples lend the jam a special ambiance. The jam gets fairly deep in the middle, even though the return back to the song could hardly be called a peak. After the Munchkin, the Disco Biscuits depart the stage, and Mauricio remains behind to play their setbreak.

The final minutes of Mauricio’s set are included in the recording, and give some continuity to the set opening Crickets. Included on the track are the closing minutes of some vaguely Shpongle-esque trance, followed by some ambient and percussive effects that could be thought of as an extended Crickets intro or prelude. Crickets, even more so than Munchkin, is a song that I am eager to hear the Biscuits tackle without Mauricio. As with Munchkin, having Sammy on drums gives the jam sections considerably more energy, but the peaks still feel hampered by the limitations of the tech. The first jam in Crickets has a pretty excellent atmospheric jam. It is the longest iteration of this section, and goes considerably deeper than past versions into a sinister passage. This breaks down around 8:20 and the jam builds itself up to a solid Crickets peak (considering the limitations). The second jam has very cool moments and overall is very solid, but doesn’t really innovate beyond the original Mauricio versions. After Crickets, Mauricio leaves the stage for the Biscuits’ debut of Confrontation. Confrontation has a pretty mellow mid-tempo trance jam that breaks down into a Barber-led passage. This part takes a while to find its footing, but by around 10:30 Barber finds a great blissful theme that gradually builds up to a stellar Helicopters intro. The Helicopters is a bizarre version: after the first two verses, there is a short ambient jam, at which point the band slips into the final verse and chorus, ending and outroing the song. The outro is a little bit slower and more mellow than a typical Helicopters jam, but slow and mellow was pretty par for the course this weekend. Barber develops some lovely blissful riffs over Magner’s melancholy organ sounds, and around the thirteen minute mark the jam begins to pick up speed heading into the end of Confrontation. The Confrontation ending is pretty excellent. The final debut of the weekend, Humu, follows. After a few minutes of very rigid type one, Magner comes in with an echoing flute synth that dominates much of the jam for the next several minutes. Sammy’s drumming goes from a fairly standard trance groove to a more thunderous rhythm, and remains so for the rest of the jam. Barber comes in with some gorgeous bliss riffs that are, like Magner’s synth line, repetitive and dominating. The whole jam is based on very simple yet effective ideas that never stray terribly far from the song structure, but are still a musically interesting exploration of the type one space. Standalone Aceetobee takes the set two closing slot, and the first jam is almost non-existent. The second jam, while it gets a little spacey in the middle, sticks pretty close to Aceetobee territory throughout. However, it is such a gorgeous Aceetobee theme, and spectacular ending, that I’m more than willing to let that slide. Excellent version. After Aceetobee, the band comes back for a long encore. Bernstein & Chasnoff starts off blissful and light on electronic elements, but the band hits a cool shuffling theme around 5:15. Pretty soon after, the tempo picks up and the rhythm becomes significantly more syncopated, gradually evolving into full blown jungle (in sharp contrast to most of the festival, this is the first jungle of set two). The theme is distinctly melancholy up until the track change, when it begins to gradually move towards bliss and builds up to a gorgeous Svenghali ending. Floes closes out the historic festival, an excellent choice in my opinion. The opening jam is never any deep exploration, but it is a cool primal rock build, and the composition is a triumphant cap to the weekend. The main jam is extremely psychedelic, for want of a better word. There are a lot of droning Magner synths, Barber uses some odd phaser/distortion type effects, and for several minutes there is little discernible structure to the jam. Around 14:30 the jam, gradually coalescing in the prior minutes, finally begins moving toward a Floes ending theme. An excellent piece of experimental music to cap a weekend full of excellent experimental music.

I’ve always thought of 8/26 as the superior show of Camp Bisco II, and while I’m inclined to agree with that assessment, I don’t think it’s as clear cut as I once did. Highlights below.

Highlights:

Jam > Mr. Don > Trooper McCue

Some of the finest psychedelic music ever crafted. The opening jam is dense and cerebral and leads to a thrilling Don intro. The Don jam is pretty tense and psychedelic, and the Trooper jam even more so. The Trooper is among the greatest ever.

Home Again > 7-11 > Home Again

Compared to Friday, Saturday is relatively light on dnb, making its use in Home Again (of all places) even more effective. The one-of-a-kind jam out of 7-11 is especially enjoyable, building up to a glorious happy dnb jam that leads back to Home Again.

Confrontation > Helicopters > Confrontation

The first set is decidedly stronger than the second, but the Confrontation debut is a spectacular showcase of Barber dominated trance rock.

Aceetobee

Another Barber showcase. One of the finest Aceetobee themes ever.

Humu

Type one throughout, but a perfect execution of the Humu theme and a strong debut.

Jigsaw Earth

Portends the golden age of Jigsaw Earth in fall 2000. After a few short mid-chase jams, the main jam is drawn out and wildly exploratory.

Honorable Mentions: Munchkin and Crickets

They aren’t anywhere near the level they would reach over the fall tour, but both versions have a little extra oomph with Sammy on drums.

Stray Observations:

This show features the Biscuits’ debut of Home Again, Confrontation, and Humu, plus the full-band debut of 7-11/Bring Your Ass to the Party. Additionally, Trooper McCue is played for the first time since 1999.

This is possibly the only proper dnb Home Again. Some of the fall tour versions retain a little bit of that flavor, but for the most part they are played with more straight up groove rock jams.

This is the first jam into 7-11, and the first intro to be reminiscent of modern versions of the song. The lyrics are slightly different, and no longer reference a breakup, and the jam section is drastically different.

This is the last 7-11 until it was played, reworked, on 6/27/01.

Barber is on one this show. His banter prior to Jigsaw Earth is some of his best work.

There is a 7-11 vocal tease in Jigsaw Earth.

I believe that the Home Again and Confrontation are the first Biscuits originals to be debuted split-up.

Prior to the encore, Brownie asks if anyone caught Brothers Past’s set, saying it was a “shameless plug” for Clay Parnell. I’m not sure what their connection was.

At four hours and sixteen minutes of music (not counting the six and a half minutes of Mauricio’s set), this may be the longest two set Biscuits show ever.

—Mr. Zan