July 18, 2007

<><> Props To The Rave. One of the midwest's best and a pioneer of the jam scene in that neck of 'Merica since the early 90's. On our way back from Alpine Valley and for $20 in 1998 we saw The Big Wu, The Recipe & KVHW for 5 hours of magic there. Cheers to the Rave for supplying a consistent place for up and comers to chop wood. There are dozens and dozens of these bars / small theatre / halls. Let's help them stay afloat <><>

Astronaut(very nice opening jam as well as an interesting outro)(SITA jam, as well as the whole tune in fact is played with great patience and always leading to a nice payoff. Great tempo.) Cyclone !!!(uhm,uhm,uhm nice!) like top of the 2.0 food chain good. Mulberry is standard but the last half is pretty interesting.

Triumph(dark psychedelia but the tune is so short)~> nice drop into::
Basis1(great Barber cuts; Magner Magic)~>cool atmospheric jam into~>
VeryMoon(one hell of an ending funk jam with the Hammond B-3 fills outside of Barber's very nice focused noodling, if you know what I mean in a positive sense) ~>
Basis2(opening sequence is the continuation of the great Very Moon outro. then it gets maniacal for a while...the speakers are breathing. At 4:30, this great part 2 gets groovin'.  I'll just say the rest of Basis is very nice. no G.A.Y.F.M ending, it keeps on trucking through the end of Reactor)

Although not on the level 05-27 or 10-26 (both from this year of course),  I find this Spaga pretty damn hot. The Magner opening solo is cool but besides Mr.Mags, Barber and Allen are...hear this....superheroes in the background.  Especially in the 1st jam...it's a long and very good as it walks the line between funk and psychedelic manic rock of the highest degree. Things get electric and way psychedelic. 
Never turn your back on Spaga....he will slice n' dice you.

pretty much the end of the show right there...and a VERY good one it is.

Ratings:: 8.85 / 10

Neace & Pugs

Astronaut begins with an intro jam. While this is definitely (and obviously) headed for Astronaut from the start, I love the idea. Felt like this had potential, but never quite got there for me. The SITA jam is extended significantly beyond the typical type 1 jam. They had an absolutely awesome vibe going here, and Barber just drops the lyrics. Would have loved to see this extended more than this, but this is nice regardless. The main Astronaut jam has some great melodic work from Magner. He uses a square wave lead for a chunk of the early jam, and his phrasing here has an odyssey-like quality to it. He eventually goes more into the background, focusing on long, sweeping pads while Barber locks in some minimalist riffs. The final ascent toward the peak is very patient, and well-done. Considering the drawn out intro, drawn out SITA jam, and very good main jam, this Astronaut is definitely recommended listening, even if none of these jams on their own are “best ever” caliber. The Shanker jam is the usual dubby jam, and most of this is pretty nice, although they shift gears at 6:14, and not for the better. The first half of this jam I enjoyed a lot, while the portion at 6:14 just felt disjointed, and like a missed opportunity. I still noted this as a highlight based on the early portion of the jam. The jam out of Lai into Cyclone begins as a typical Lai jam, then abruptly shifts uptempo. They tip their hand here way, way too early, and this is effectively a long (albeit well-played) Cyclone intro jam. The jam out of Cyclone is fantastic, and extremely unique. This gets cacophonous, out there, and frankly a little nuts. Barber and Magner are both fully onboard here with making this jam just absurd in the best way. At 12:52 they ditch this insanity for a Blissco sound as they mark the beginning of the return to Lai. Barber’s tone and note choice are both wonderful here. The way that they morph this into the ending of Lai is so wonderful. Mulberry’s has the fairly standard 2 forgettable and short jams.

Reactor jam is forgettable into Triumph. The jam out of Triumph is dark and downtempo, and as they get nearer to the Basis drop, this gets very cohesive. There is a LOT of Barber wailing here, but it’s mostly controlled, so I’ll let it slide. The jam out of Basis is replaced with a spacey, ambient jam. This is great, and it slowly swells to where individual members tease sections of TVM, before sliding into TVM in an incredibly creative, clever way. Great, great stuff! The first TVM jam is a standard type 1 jam. The second jam begins with The Very Funk, and slowly turns into an uptempo dance jam. This gets better and better the closer they get to Basis. They jam out of the second ending (without playing the second ending) to Basis into Reactor. Despite this being pretty straightforward, I actually thought this worked really well. Don’t get me wrong, this is not the most creative thing they’ve ever done, but for a 3-minute jam out of the second ending section, pretty dang good. Unfortunately, neither Spaga jam does much, and the encore is obviously jamless. Solid all-around show, though.

Highlights: Astronaut (1, 2**), Boom Shanker, Cyclone**, Triumph, Basis (1**, 2), TVM (2)