Notes From The Drop Zone - 7/10/21

Mulberry’s Dream opened the show and provided the band a safe excuse to stretch their legs and rip a cool guitar solo. After this, the show was kicked into high gear (although I definitely didn’t realize at the time). Reactor is one of a select few songs that I actively hope to avoid at shows—I love the song itself, but the jams rarely do anything for me and more often than not are a bit overly aggressive and sloppy. Not so last night. After a shaky composition (it felt very slowed down—has it always been this slow?) the jam got off to a great start. The first theme was a pretty standard, but notable for being well-executed, build to Reactor peak territory. Instead of playing a short standalone, which I expected, the band broke the theme down into a dub exploration (as I write this, I realize there was a lot of dub last night, which may have put some people off. Not me). From here, the jam gained energy and rebuilt into a blissco theme going into The Champions. The Reactor was an excellent version, reminding me strongly of another definitive Reactor, 12/29/18, because of the multiple themes and twists within the song. The jam out of Champions, however, was pure undeniable gas. The band spent very little time plodding around in type one before stripping the jam down into minimalist techno. The jam into the Tractorbeam segment is completely indescribable, so I won;t attempt to describe it. LISTEN TO IT. Out of the Tractorbeam segment, we were treated to a very patient build to Crickets, not always a guarantee. The Crickets funk jam was short and unremarkable, and at this point I was fully expecting the cliché inverted Crickets > Reactor, but the band pulled the rug out from under me and drop segued into TRUCKER’S CHOICE (my first since 6/2/16, and the first since 11/17/17, which I missed by about 10 minutes). Some will likely complain that the band should have played an inverted Crickets, but I was all about this bait and switch, and, realistically, a standalone Trucker’s Choice isn’t that much less jamming than a 7 minute Crickets > Reactor.

Like the previous night, I thought the second set was a little less consistent than the first, while still offering plenty of highs. The Dribble was fun, of course, but it was the same Dribble jam we’ve all heard many times. The outro was not a mind-blowing jam either; it did not get deep but it was the perfect vehicle to lead into a huge Anthem. The Anthem struck me, off the top of my head, as the best outro since 10/17/20. The band broke down into slow grooves and dub themes, yet managed to not tip their hand for a few minutes. Eventually the destination of Gamma Goblins was revealed, and the band continued to play around with that theme for a bit. I was a big fan of the use of samples in Gamma Goblins (I was told later that these were Terrence McKenna samples, but I have not confirmed) as it gave it a more authentic Simon Posford flavor. After Gamma Goblins, the band broke down completely and launched into a Tractorbeam segment. Here I must interject to say that the purpose of this blog has always been to present unfiltered thoughts on shows as they happen live (and since this year, shows that I attend). I must address this because at the time I was not pleased with how they segued into the Tractorbeam segment. I am a staunch defender of the peter down segues (prime example, the night previous with the Spacebird > Terje), but this was not a peter down; the band stopped playing abruptly. Despite this, I enjoyed the segment and the jam out of it a lot. However, after the show, when I learned that this Tractorbeam segment was in fact a NEW TDB ORIGINAL, all was forgiven: totally fine that they didn’t segue into a new original the first time it was played. And I won’t get into it too much here, but man, do I feel vindicated right now. Trust the process. The jam out of Tractorbeam was very solid. It had the feel of a Munchkin intro for a goodly portion of it, but Brownie soon began to creep in with that distinct Abraxas bass line. The transition into Abraxas was a bit clunky but not unforgivably so, and the song itself was played with aplomb. The jam out of Abraxas showed potential (I unapologetically enjoy ambient Biscuits, and I felt this could have gone somewhere if they had let it), but it was cut short pretty abruptly for a Story intro. I was hoping for Sound 1 this weekend, and thought I might get it here, but no such luck. Once I had gotten over my disappointment of hearing a full Story in such a short amount of time, I actually enjoyed it: not deep at all, but the buildup to the peak was a solid cathartic release for the weekend. The We Like To Party encore wasn’t as strong as the Humu > RLH of the previous night, but what could be? Like the Story ending, it provided a strong, high energy exclamation point to a great weekend.

The first set was easily my favorite of the weekend, and of the year so far. The second set had its ups and downs but was a win overall in my book. Can’t wait to relisten. If this is not the show of the year, it’s at least the first show where I’ve left feeling the potential of 2021 to return to the greatness of fall 2020.

Highlights:

Champions > Tractorbeam

Ferocious TDB techno. I want more of this, all of the time.

Reactor > Champions

A worthy entry into the pantheon of great post-2010 Reactors. Three well-executed themes.

Anthem > Gamma Goblins

Dub haters will obviously want to stay away, but I loved this. Nice swampy Biscuits.

Tractorbeam > Abraxas

A really strong build to Abraxas that doesn’t give away the destination right away. Doesn’t peak as hard as I’d like, but that’s a secondary concern

Tractorbeam

Tractorbeam

Stray Observations:

This is the first TDB original Tractorbeam.

This is the first second first-set Tractorbeam in a run. ;)

THANK YOU FOR BRINGING BACK THE ABLETON JAMS.

PLEASE BRING BACK REGULARLY RELEASED SOUNDBOARD RECORDINGS.

OK THANKS B4L.

—Mr. Zan