March 19, 2008

By 2008 standards, this is a little weak but not without its merits. RLH is pretty good and hovers largely in the dance zone, although it's a bit saggy in places. As Treemaculate notes, inverted Ladies is a turgid, awkward slow build. The Munchkins jam beautifully unfolds into some nearly jangle-pop blissco which was quite lovely.

Not much to say about Vacation. Boom Shanker is pleasant but barely raises above background music. The triple decker Astronaut sandwich is full of highs and lows. The composed sections really suffer. The jam into Tempest from the second Astronaut segment is a real high point, although Tempest itself is a little lifeless until they bring it back around to RLH. This was the first The City and it's quite tentative as a result.

This is a 3.5 for me. A few great moments I wish I could rescue from an otherwise shaky show.

Plan B begins the show with a type 1 jam. However, this is eventually extended into an uptempo minor key dance jam. The first several minutes of the dance portion of this jam are very good. However, after they switch to a major key for the transition to Run Like Hell, the last 8-10 minutes of this jam are largely forgettable. The first RLH jam short breakbeat jam, with a dark, dissonant sound. Unfortunately, the theme they’re playing is not all that interesting. There is then an extended uptempo dance jam which shifts back to a major key for the last few minutes. I got basically nothing from this jam. The second RLH jam begins with solid potential. The theme that they have going the first few minutes out of the song are relatively interesting, with some unique interplay between Magner and Barber. However, Magner and Barber tip the band’s hand towards Ladies far too quickly, and what results is a several minutes long Ladies ending jam. Lots of potential, and missed opportunity here. The Ladies jam begins with Allen using thirst quenchers and Marc playing a driving bassline. The band crafts a neat little trance theme, and Barber’s melody around 12:30 is fantastic. This eventually shifts uptempo into faster, darker trance, and subsequently into dark and ominous DNB. This jam was mostly fine, but I felt like the period around 12:30 had potential to develop into a fuller, more drawn out theme. The Munchkin jam begins with the usual dark-ish trance jam, and frankly this never really develops much beyond a lot of treading water. The peak is mostly well-done, although I felt they could have built this more before hitting the peak riff.

Vacation is just an awful song. Just awful. No jam, and awful song. Boom Shanker features Marc playing the Towers of Dub bassline, as he typically does in “dub” sections of jams. Magner busts out the pan flute and the next couple minutes have a great vibe to them. However, instead of playing this out, Allen drops a four-on-the-floor beat and the band simply turns this vibe into a dance theme. This was neat and a little unexpected. Astronaut begins with a SITA jam that quickly turns into an absolutely gorgeous piece of Blissco. At times, this is almost a little corny, but it really works for them. Notably, the original lyrics for the chorus in The City are, “15 floors above the city,” which is interesting. The jam out of The City begins with some jam funk. This is very similar to a Story jam, and is equally forgettable. This turns into an also-forgettable-uptempo jam before returning to the SITA section of Astronaut. The jam out of SITA has so, so much potential. The chord progression they land on is extremely similar to 04/20/09 Crickets, and while this is sublime for 4 or 5 minutes, they never really develop it enough to truly get to that next level. Beautiful and poignant regardless , even as a missed opportunity. The last jam out of Tempest into RLH turns into a triumphant major key jam, but is otherwise boring. No jam out of RLH and an instant drop into Astronaut (without the ending riff).

Highlights: Plan B, Ladies, Boom Shanker, Astronaut (2*)