June 22, 2006

“When I was a kid I inhaled frequently. That was the point.” – Barack Obama

The first Morph jam has a pretty cool segment from around 4 mins in which we hear Brownie in his usual hi-tech Morph basslines on full while Magner is in fine spirits just throwing the weirdest, spaciest and trippy inclusions he can muster. I dig this ''Morph > Betty Boop Little > Morph out''' segment very much. From around the 5 minute mark in the 1st Morph jam we get an increase of speed, tempo and excitement every few bars until a very satisfying fast space disco groove of pretty damn high caliber. For a Morph~Boop~Morph jam, 30 minutes might seem relatively short but it's an all meat no fat type situation if that's your thing....it's my thing as I love this trio. The 1st Boop jam is beautifully carpeted bass beneath a calm, collective Barber show, nothing mind-blowing but excellent all the same (IMO) the ending improv is Magner doing the cathedral pipe organ ambiance, with a kick drum from hell, a repeating fun bassline and Barber's just crawling mach 3 along the seabed like a rock lobster filling the remaining gaps with tasty weird and wonderful rhythm work. The Morph ending starts with a monster tempo and bang in one second they arrive into full fledge aggressive Blissco. This is some heady action complete with Han Solo gun fights...lazers everywhere. Magner is not only the MVP of this split Morph but also club president as we climb towards the ""Morph, morph from Dusseldorf, changing all the time..."" final section. Heat!

That's what I see as the primo spot of the 1st set. ~~ Now the whole second set is a winner minus a few area but all is very good tonight. I will take a look at the ""Mindless > Hot Air > Dribble > Balloon"" although I think the Shimmy > Nughuffer is excellent, just as mind-melting (so I flipped a Canadian coin, the one you use for the parkway) ....especially Nugs(><) holy shit. This is the definitive 2006 best version hands down. That combo deserves it's own essay.

Big Red starts this manic beginning off in a cool way, great instincts from this face from outer space as a the "fresh new guy" wow. The 1st time I saw Allen was during the much underrated 3 night run at Higher Ground in April. To say we were impressed, tearful, so thankful, excited for the future, beyond impressed are all just words. Not only was he a beat machine of perfect timing and perfectly lined up style wise but he had the funk factor sewn up tight. This man with an Andromedan passport was being playful and improvising THIS WELL only 6 months in!!!!?????????????

Lastly on Allen, I believe he consciously stays with the percussive framework that Sammy had invented and incorporated but into his own style. If you have any doubt on how Big Red affected the other bandmates into a new fresh horizon, well then, just look at pre- Allen '03>'05 and compare it to '06>'09 (to present day actually) and those are all the receipts you need.

Still in the first Dribble. It's a non-stop aggressive pocket jam for the whole tune. No huge complexities, just a long straight up Biscuits jam that takes you where you need to be. HAB starts in a little frenzy until normalcy forces the calm hand as we walk through ""the light of the moon, too soon, In a hot air balloon, he crossed the sea"". D n' B basic approach jam once the 1st chunk of lyrics are finished. This is a Magner section with a baby grand sounding clear, playful and suggestive to the others on where to go perhaps. (but I can't read minds quite yet) It's not the most expansive jam ever but very good as Barber comes in tastefully and plays Mr. Mags wingman if you will. The second Dribble jam is happy Barber hitting all of the feel good peaks. At 2:30 ish there is a hardcore jam for the hardcore. Wow! Allen and Brownie really gelled into one organism as they land on ""In a native centered world, one picks the fruit right off the trees"". On the HAB's second entry we are amidst a basic bass jam while Sammy handles the flow of time. Really beautiful jamming followed by a Barber solo that's cleaner than the soles on a lazy man's shoes. To me, nothing has been forced in this great quattro. No forced segues at the wrong time, not too much meandering etc... Just the facts. Perfect Math rock as we land on the outro as ""He went from his cell to the sky"" Last jam of the night 5 minutes long basically consists of circulating around the HAB ending theme [Coda?] and the regular end is played.

personal observation: the SBD has Barber a tad low in the mix, making Magner sound 3 times louder. No real complain but if you are EQing this show, bump up the middle range of the spectrum around the upper mids and vocals between the 5KHz and 8KHz window. That should / might bump up his vocals and guitar.

1st set:: 7.00 / 10 2nd set:: 7.85 / 10

MVP: Aron Magner. followed by the Brownie/Aucoin bombing crew.

{{ To know is human, but to grok is divine.}}

Highwire > IRW are both standard. Morph has an interesting jam. Not necessarily in a great way. It feels like Magner is just playing in the wrong key here for a part of this. However, they eventually seem to get back on the same page. First Boop jam is the same as always. Second jam has a couple parts I thought would get to the next level, but never did. Reactor has some cool stuff from Magner, but that’s about it.

The Shimmy jam to open second set is nice. Great dance groove. This begins as a dark trance jam and develops into a more straightforward dance jam. I think Brownstein is probably MVP of this jam as he keeps the band locked in and focused. The Nughuffer jam gets dark and psychedelic in the absolute best way. This is super cool! The Dribble first jam is fantastic. This honestly sounds very similar to what later became Catalyst. Not exactly the same, mind you, but similar. Very cool. The jam out of HAB, as well as the jam back into HAB, do very little for me, although the multiple teases in the return to Dribble are neat.

Highlights: Shimmy, Nughuffer**, Dribble**

Second Dribble has Little Shimmy and Highwire teases.

Second Hot Air Ballon has Bach Inventio 13 Tease