August 17, 2007

what you need to know:

Day Set (Glastonbury~>Basis~>Gangsta~>Basis[G.A.Y.F.M jam) [A+] Reactor~>ORCH THEME! [A] Magellan before the Shpongle set.(<- major highlight) [A] & the Grent Went doses :) w. 10th anniversary printed on the perf paper; very clean, easy landing.

the boards are oversaturated with the sub-bass at 20 to 50Hz and the high-mids at around 2-4Hz are so low. how does this happen while STS9's sets from the same stage, outlet, soundboard, FOH, monitors etc are pristine 10 out of 10's ?

Not gonna say it was a disappointing Camp musically but.... it was in Mariaville and that's the best spot for a fest with the Mariaville Lake to get cleaned up, awaken and some great morning IN-OUT by the shore, while a branch is poking your ass.

Glastonbury without vocals is great. I think this should have become a mainstay, though I think that’s a pretty commonly held opinion. As for the jam, this gets dark and nasty. When people talk about duntzgeon jams, this is what they’re talking about. Brownstein and Magner are the clear-cut standouts here. The lead melody that Magner plays beginning at the start of the Basis track is super familiar, and I cannot for the life of me pick out what it is. Either way, this entire segment is really, truly fantastic. Great stuff all-around. Beginning around the start of the Basis track, Magner teases a chord progression, and the rest of the band slowly jumps onboard. By the 4-minute mark, this is a full on multi-chord theme, and keeps being added on to as each 4-bar section is completed. Really cool stuff, and great group improv. They essentially bring this to a gigantic improvised peak, and don’t force a resolution into an ending. I’m actually glad they did this, as I feel like it provides a great alternative to forced peaks concluding every single jam. In any event, once this section is over, the entire band slowly winds down, bringing the tempo from an upbeat dance to a downtempo Basis intro jam. The period between 5:00 – 7:00 is basically used just to slowly change tempos. I felt like this caused some stagnation, though I get why it needed to be done. There is a middle jam in Basis that goes nowhere. The main Basis jam feels like they are just sort of playing Gangster, with slight modifications. Like Barber’s rhythm and note choice literally feels like he’s playing Gangster. This is weird, because it’s still not…fully Gangster? In any event, the portion that follows this is at least not another song, and has a great hypnotic groove. If they had just started with this instead of the Gangster-y thing, this would be a phenomenal all-around jam. Instead, it’s just mostly good. The jam out of Shem-Rah has some great thematic work from Magner and Barber. After the track switches to Basis, Barber and Magner play dueling 16th note riffs for a bit, and this has a cool, dark sound to it. This develops into a second, different thematic section. Overall, this whole segment is really fantastic.

The second set here is a night and day difference from the fantastic first set. Jigsaw > Waves > Jigsaw is 3 mediocre jams, followed by a drum solo that turns into a spacey, ambient noise jam. This is still mostly just a drum solo, though it is slightly better than a drum solo. Magellan > Termites > Magellan is another 3 jams that just go nowhere, though there is a neat Trucker’s Choice tease in the Termites jam.

The third set at least recaptures some of the magic from the first set. The jam out of Rainbow Song turns into an uptempo dance jam. This isn’t anything particularly special, but it’s generally solid, and after the disappointing second set, this is a welcome change of pace. The jam in Spacebird is forgettable, and they mostly wind up in the Spacebird timing jam which never does a whole lot for me. The jam out of Reactor is similarly forgettable. However, the jam in Orch Theme is absolutely wonderful. This features Simon Posford and Zach Velmer, and this is such a distinctive, unique feel and sound. As you might imagine, this is psychedelic, interesting, and even though at times this is a little meandering, I’m totally fine with it. Definitely a highlight. Also features some vocal samples from Magner at one point. This has multiple different sections – dance, dub, dance, dub. All of it is heavily drenched in psychedelia. Awesome. The last jam out of Orch Theme turns out to be really solid as well. This is nowhere near as interesting as the New Originals jam, but pretty decent regardless.

Highlights: Glastonbury**, Basis, Shem-Rah*, Rainbow Song, Orch Theme (1**, 2)