December 09, 2006

What a nice way to finish off a terrific 5 show week long mini west coast tour. Put these Cali shows from December on your to d-load list. All 5 are very good with only a couple of average sections in there.

There is a lot to cover but Treemaculate did a good job at that.

''M.E.M.P.H.I.S. ~> Crickets ~> Digital Buddha ~> The Great Abyss'' to close the show is what I want to shout from high atop my chimney.

from the outro MEMPHISH jam until the end is one of my favorite chunks o' funk from 2006. There will be books written about this Crix(the peak ending OMG)~>Buddha which runs nearly an hour not even counting the main Memphis as well as the closing Abyss. This Crix is tremendous. I love me some molasses tempo Crix and this one delivers. Barber gets into Yoda mode around a couple of minutes before the 2nd jam and well, there is so much going on between them it's unreal. Equivalent to the Dead's "Beautiful Jam" in a way. This Crix is a definite nipple contractor. I guess that's a full Digi Buddha(?), still nothing to complain about as the groove here is recauculous. The disco bus has arrived.

The Triumph>>> and HDPF are excellent as well in the 1st. Finger Pickin' Good ; Kentucky Fried Barber. Are we not the luckiest fans in the Milky Way or what!

Recs for '06: {Attended or have copies, no cut n' pastin' :) }

['Caterpillar ~>RLH ~>Abyss ~> Caterpillar' !! from May 27th Penn's Landing] ['Bazaar ~> Basis' New Year's + 'Therapy ~> Orch'] [Set 2 from Nov. 03 at the Calvin in MASS- A++] [July 2nd Late Night at High Sierra!] ['Seville jam' in 'Boop' as well as most of the 2nd on May 13th in Albany] ['Robots ~><~ Waves' ~> March 10th from Florida (extremely underrated)] [SET 1 from Nov.08 at Small's] [June 22nd from the outdoor stage at the Stone Pony- 'Morph~>Boop~>Morph / Dribble out~>HAB~>Dribble~>HAB'] ['Basis ~> Iman ~> Basis ~> Helix' from April 29th in Athens] [Nov.24 NYC- SET MFn' 2 !!] [ALLGOOD July 14th- ''Shimmy ~> Abyss ~> Cyclone ~> Munchkin" this set is very psychedelic =beautifully not chaotically. A must] & the underdog champion of the year: [November 17th from Lawrence. {Mulberry!!!!!!!!!!!!! ; Rock ~> Run ~> ~Rock ; best Pillin' ; 'Jigsaw into Abyss'}]

"Here, we shower ourselves in Lightness"

The Triumph jam turns into a joyous, upbeat dance jam as they move fluidly from a DNB jam to a dance jam. This is not bad, but just never really felt like they hit the next level to me. The first Jigsaw jam is fantastic. The band crafts a multi-chord progression that has a very interesting feel to it. Magner in particular is on fire in this jam. Second jam is a dub jam that doesn’t do a whole lot for me. The Boom Shanker jam is very good, even if it’s pretty straightforward. First House Dog jam is like a thousand other HDPF 1 jams. Second jam is pretty solid, with an Abyss tease from Magner (or maybe just the Abyss patch) littered throughout.

Lithium again. Ugh. At least this one they jam into Munchkin, which is maybe my favorite ending composition. First Memphis jam is pretty much standard. The second jam slowly develops into the Crickets middle. I didn’t find much here compelling, and the Crickets peak was a little underwhelming, particularly Barber. I’m torn on the Crickets jam. While I enjoy this a lot, this is really just a downtempo I-Man type 1 jam. Like it literally just sounds like they’re going to drop into a dub I-Man or something. Very neat in that respect, so I’ll give it a highlight. The second Crickets jam has an absolutely fantastic theme throughout. I’m not even sure how to describe this, but it feels like a chase scene in a science fiction movie. Great vibes, all around. The Buddha is listed on the setlist as inverted, but that’s definitely not the case. The jam in the middle is a great dance jam. This isn’t too far outside the box, but they have an undeniable groove that’s impossible not to bob your head to. Abyss has no jam in it. Why? Plan B encore has a short jam that doesn’t get any chance to breathe, and Safety Dance here is standard. There is a notable (and beautiful) little piece of piano and guitar at the end of Plan B prior to Safety Dance that’s wonderful. This isn’t really a “jam,” but it’s very pretty.

Highlights: Jigsaw (1*), Shanker, HDPF (2), Crickets (1, 2**), Buddha**