March 17, 2001

20 minute Jigsaw kicks things off. It sounds cleaner than a typical 2000 Jigsaw but more jammed out than the average post-2001 version. Very brief (but catchy) jam before the first chase section. Some interesting Sammy breakbeat drumming in the main/second jam. Barber is kind of all over the place, and Magner mostly plays random sounds, until about 7:45 when they lock into a cool theme. The dub jam is stronger and longer. Barber’s playing is very busy and strong, and he leads the jam to a strong ending. Confrontation has a mostly standard jam, but around 4:30 Magner’s synths go haywire—not in an abrasive way, but noticeably. The following jam is a good deal more tense than typical. Around 7:30 it reaches a fever pitch, and around 8:45 begins to move to the triumphant Confro ending. Great version. The Munchkin jam is characterized by a kind of plunking sound effect from Magner. Around the 8 minute mark he moves to the more traditional trance synths, which become abrasive around 9. From here the jam covers some melancholy ground before moving towards the Munchkin ending progression. The debut of Spacebird has a much mellower intro than modern versions, but otherwise it is pretty much identical compositionally. The jam is essentially a spaced out type one venture, unsurprising given that it is a debut in an unconventional time signature. Magner’s synth playing makes for an enjoyable theme, particularly in the second half of it. Spacebird has an outro jam, which sounds almost like a deconstruction of the intro jam over an untz beat. While it pretty clearly becomes a Run Like Hell intro jam almost immediately, it still retains characteristics of Spacebird (if not outright teases or themes). The drop into Run Like Hell is strong. There’s a decently drawn out mid-verse jam, with another strong drop into the second verse. The jam out begins as an almost atonal drone, and evolves into a blissful groove going into Lai. The Lai is a short, standard version.

1/5. Wouldn’t expect anything different from the first set of the year after more than two months off. Regardless, there were moments where the band went outside the box, such as the Confro and the Munchkin.

Stray Observations: The Jigsaw opener is dedicated to Colin Bouchard, the band’s Austin fan. After Confrontation, Brownie thanks Darren for bringing the band to SXSW, and says it’s not easy to make it to Texas from Pennsylvania OR California (a reference to the band’s recent move). He references the band’s upcoming spring tour beginning on Thursday (3/22) and mentions that the band will be back in Austin at La Zona Rosa, referencing the band’s 5/3/01 show.