April 26, 2006

Home Again to start the show is fine. The jam never really gets outside of type 1 territory, but this isn’t outright bad. Reactor here is dark and fast trance, the way it ought to be. The Triumph jam here is dark DNB, and while this normally isn’t my bag, this is very solid. The jam out of Triumph into AC2B sounds like it could get kind of cool, but they just never hit the next level for me. First AC2B jam stays type 1 for basically the whole thing. The second jam is very jambandy, and frankly a lot of this is boring to me.

B&C begins the second set with a long, exploratory jam. Allen drops a couple thirst quenchers in here, and gets into some other e-drum play, and the band has a very solid groove for much of this. This eventually develops into a darker, mysterious-sounding dance jam. This is really cool and showcases some great interplay between Magner and Brownstein. I think Allen’s drumwork here is also pretty interesting. He switches up the drumbeat quite a bit here in a way that he eventually got away from. I’m not sure if this was a deliberate decision by the band, but this adds such a great dimension to the band’s sound that I wish they’d let him play out a bit more, more often. The Shimmy jam is okay. I felt like this got a little monotonous to me, but I could see how others would enjoy it. The Abyss jam is fantastic. Thematic, patient, interesting, wonderful. Not much else to say. This is what you listen to the band for; enjoy it. The first Dribble jam is one that I actually enjoyed. I’m not typically a fan of Dribble first jams, but this one is solid and has a great little theme from Barber littered through, with a great natural build back into the middle section. The second Dribble jam is absolutely glorious Magner-led Blissco. This is so happy, so upbeat, and so wonderful, that it should be heard by any Biscuits fan. The entire band here is just locked in and together they create the most joyous jam. Wonderful stuff. The Fiddler encore is great. They have an extended Fiddler jam, and this turns into more than the usual short type 1 jam. This is a full blown jam, and they develop some wonderful themes here – particularly Barber. This is patient, melodic, and very pretty. Blissco, baby. Honestly, this has to be in the conversation for best Fiddler ever.

Just a phenomenal show, all around.

Highlights: Reactor, Triumph (1), B&C*, Abyss**, Dribble (1, 2**), Fiddler**