December 28, 2007

Lai begins the show with an absolutely awesome jam. This turns digital and e-drum heavy, and is reminiscent of many Memphis first jams of this era. Magner and Brownstein have some great communication here, and as they get closer to the peak, Barber has some heavenly riffs. This is one of my favorite versions of Little Lai, and it’s truly remarkable because the first 4-5 minutes of this are almost entirely throwaway, before the band sort of regroups. The Caterpillar jam is mostly solid. I enjoyed this, even if a lot of it is sort of paint by numbers. The addition of THam is always welcome, and I think he’s the best fit for TDB’s sound of all their guests. The jam back into Caterpillar ending features Magner on the Gates of Hell patch. This is the first time I can remember in 2007 that he used this. The ending section here is solid, though I can’t say I’m all that interested in the jam preceding it. Surprisingly, the Alter Ego jam here is actually pretty solid, and oddly enough I think the peak riff/progression is really well done.

Helicopters to begin the second set has a really solid dance jam. This is nothing terribly groundbreaking, but it’s very solid. Magner busts out the pan flute patch at one point and they drop into a dub jam before the switch to Boom Shanker. The jam out of Boom Shanker into Basis ending is 20+ minutes long and never goes anywhere at all. The two positive things I can say here are that the transition from dub into trance is insanely fluid, and Magner is on fire the entire segment. However, this felt like forever and I was happy when Basis finally hit and put me out of my misery. The jam out of B&C is similarly uninteresting, though thankfully significantly shorter. The last couple of minutes prior to the switch to Voices Insane are really cool, but they really don’t do anything with this other than Magner playing some neat stuff. Voices and Orch both have unremarkable jams to end the set. Mastermind is not a good song. The verse isn’t even terrible, but the chorus just feels out of place and it is also sung particularly badly. The jam here is a forgettable breakbeat jam that really goes nowhere to end the show.

Highlights: Lai**, Caterpillar, Helicopters