March 31, 2001

This is one of the first shows I heard, one of the first I received in the form of CDs sent to me in the mail. This show was key in cementing my love for the band.

I remember looking at the setlist and thinking, what the fuck is this? Set one ends with a song named Jigsaw Earth, right... And they open the second set with the same song? Wait, they play the song three times in the same show? Hmm this ought to be interesting...!

Interesting indeed. The second set is absolutely off the chain, balls-to-the-wall intense psychedelic freakiness, especially the Jigsaw > Ape > Jigsaw > Ape. The demented bass lines are fantastic! Sammy is relentless. The playing is uncharacteristically chaotic and rough around the edges, but God is it awesome. Clearly they were intent on pushing the envelope - my newbie ears picked up on that easily enough.

As for set 1... Lots of relaxed playing here, no one is in a rush, there is no struggle, the music just effortlessly flows. This Down To The Bottom... WOW. I mean, really. In contrast to the chaos of set 2, this jam is so well-coordinated and patient. By 16:30 we're in pretty deep and the playing is really mesmerizing. When it goes hard on the type 2 (they begin to alternate between two chords), and then when Barber locks in on the perfect pattern of notes (18:30)... it's intensely palpable just how next-level this is.

Hope continues in the same vein, simultaneously both noodly and tightly knit. Group mind improv.

Dribble is sublime. Barber steps up to the plate and hits a home run. Hits you right in the humanity.

This is a must-hear show as far as I'm concerned, and one of the best of a truly great year.

The show opens with a mellow and psychedelic intro. It never reaches any huge peaks, but it builds to a kind of frenzied crescendo in its own way. Brownstein signals the eventual segue into Down to the Bottom pretty early on. Down to the Bottom is excellent. The jam begins as airy trance. Magner has a feather touch the entire time. The jam soon begins to break down, and around the 20 minute mark settles into a drawn out and thematic Hope intro. Excellent segue into Hope. The Hope is a top-shelf version, blending all of the best styles that were utilized in Hope jams for the past 8 months. It begins as a vaguely dubby, chill exploration, with some great Barber themes, and then evolves into a more tense dnb type passage. Around 11:30 it settles back into a more steady groove as it builds to the ending theme. What is perhaps the best ever Hope is followed by one of my favorite ~30 minute stretches of Biscuits music ever. The Dribble jam opens with some experimental percussion, over which Barber settles on a gorgeous theme. This theme evolves, reaching a glorious crescendo around the 11-12 minute mark and settling down around 12:45 into a rock groove. This second half of the jam isn’t anywhere near as cool as the first, but it’s still solid, and builds to a strong M.E.M.P.H.I.S. ending. The M.E.M.P.H.I.S. outro is a slow burn for sure, and the first several minutes, while cool and atmospheric, aren’t terribly interesting. Just before the 7 minute mark, Barber takes over, and breathes new life into the jam. He delivers a strong, thematic crescendo going into Jigsaw Earth.

Jigsaw has a demented little pre-chase jam. Magner in particular contributes to the chaotic atmosphere in the buildup to the chase section. The main jam is a weird one for sure. After a mostly inconsequential atmospheric theme, the band enters a tense instrumental theme complete with a playful vocal jam. It resolves into a pleasant Aquatic Ape intro. The jam out of Ape isn’t terribly interesting. It begins as a standard Ape dnb jam and transforms into trance. Magner’s synths keep the continuity, but overall the jam doesn’t build on any significant themes. The dub jam is sweet. It starts off with a pretty simple groove a la 3/27/01. After a few short minutes, the tempo drops slightly, which is often the sign that the band is bailing on the theme, but here it works in their favor. They build on a demented theme, with some vocalizer and wild synth work from Magner. In the final seconds the jam begins to subtly return to dnb, and the Ape ending with it. The Spy debut between the verses of M.E.M.P.H.I.S. (and the ensuing confusion going back into the second verse) is the most significant thing about it. The jam starts off slow, with some playful vocal improv, but soon evolves into a very unique sounding jam, with Magner on a modified version of the 11/9 synth. It builds up to a Dribble ending. In between the Dribble hits the band builds an unconventionally blissful theme, perhaps calling back to the happy Dribble jam from the first set.

5/5. A stunning first set (one of the best of the year) makes up for a weaker second set (which still has plenty to offer), and puts this into contention for show of the year.

Stray Observations: In the Down to the Bottom intro, Brownie wishes a happy birthday to the band’s archivist, Brett Maxwell Dawson, who wrote the setlist (and broke the recent trend of shows consisting mostly of standalones). As the band is celebrating both Max’s and Barber’s birthdays, they are in a particularly celebratory mood this night. This comes through especially in the second set, but there are some giggles in the beginning of Hope, as well as the inspired banter before Dribble. This is the only Biscuits show played on this date.