May 12, 2006

SJSS is standard. Morph is not bad, although it remains in mostly type 1 territory for nearly the entirety of the jam. House Dog 1 is forgettable, but House Dog 2 is quite nice. Barber has some unique phrasing and energy throughout this that I liked a lot. Strawberry Girl has an actual jam in it, albeit one that goes nowhere and does nothing. Neither Robots jam does much for me here, nor is either one long enough to really develop.

Plan B has a small jam in it. Nothing too crazy happening here. The jam out of Shimmy is dark, trancy, and fantastic. Very hypnotic groove going on here, and the entire band just feels locked in. Cyclone is fine. I didn’t hate this, but none of it really grabbed me in any meaningful way. The jam in the middle of I-Man is fantastic. This is dark, ominous, and really creative in a lot of ways. Magner has some great textural effects and plays off of Barber in clever ways. This is by far the best jam of the night. Last I-Man jam here is not bad, but not something that grabbed me either. Sounds a little bit like they’re riffing on Abraxas for a little while. Shimmy peak is pretty well done. Caterpillar encore is very welcome, especially given that they’re willing to flesh this one out a bit. Magner drops the Gates of Hell for like 10 seconds. What a tease. I don’t think this stands out much, but definitely preferable over a 5-minute jam and extended ending vamp.

Highlights: HDPF (2), Shimmy, I-Man (1**)