December 01, 2001

The first jam in The Very Moon is a standard, type one vehicle. The funk jam spends a good amount of time leaving type one, settling into a great fall 01 poppy trance theme, before shifting seemingly towards I-Man. After a crescendo the jam breaks down into chaos, rebuilding into a tense theme. Barber introduces the band, and the theme builds to an uncomposed peak. Shortly after, Sammy brings the tempo down for a smooth segue into the end of 7-11. The towel jam is nice and drawn out, but still type one. 7-11 has another chaotic and percussion-heavy trance jam. Magner and Barber make good use of some of their more abrasive effects. It settles down into a more traditional trance jam, before building up to a strong Confrontation peak. The Confrontation jam is really pretty and blissful, but too short. The Sound 1 jam is gorgeous, beginning in standard, melancholy Sound 1 territory, dissolving into ambience, and building to a triumphant, glorious Munchkin intro. The Munchkin jam is strong even for 01. It’s reminiscent of 12/3/00 with strong dnb elements throughout.

Three Days opens the second set, played for the first time since September. It has a pretty strong jam section, settling into an atmospheric trance section after a minute or two of heavy percussion. Excellent peak section. Jigsaw has a cool moment in the first chase jam with some Overture teases. The second has a pretty fun, almost dubby groove. The third jam uses a haunting synth effect from Magner, and soon devolves into some haunted house/carnival music before settling into trance. The jam seems to be heading straight to Shimmy, but shifts into the major mode for an airy passage before returning to Shimmy. Shimmy is inverted, and there isn’t really a jam before a DJ segue into Jamilia. Jamilia builds up to an utterly chaotic Boop middle, with confusion compounded by Brownie yelling something during the peak and into the song. Boop funk is standard. The jam out of Boop is really cool, minimalist and restrained. Magner’s background synths lead very well into the crescendo before the jam re-enters Jigsaw territory. The Jigsaw dub jam is actually very solid, with a gorgeous and blissful Barber-dominated theme. Shelby has a strong theme and some great Barber/Magner interplay for a fairly standard version. Sugarplum Fairies makes its first appearance of the year, and it is standard. Home Again is standard.

3/5. There isn’t really anything “next-level,” but there are plenty of great moments, mostly in the first set but scattered throughout really. The Very Moon > 7-11 and Sound 1 > Munchkin register as the highlights.

Stray Observations: This is the first inverted 7-11. There are Overture teases in Jigsaw. This is the first inverted Shimmy since 10/26/00. Like all inverted Shimmies minus that version, it is “inverted” without the ending verse and chorus.