Interesting note about this show. This and Vermont were the first shows with Magner on a Virus. One of his keyboards was down and he wound up using a keyboard from one of the guys from Future Rock. Fun stuff. There’s a beautiful Magellan intro jam that is mostly a “space” jam, which lasts 2-3 minutes. I’ll note it as a highlight. First Magellan jam is fine. This is the usual tom-heavy, airy piano jam which culminates in a swelling peak. This is mostly well-done, and while I don’t think this is too far outside the usual box, I enjoyed this. The second jam is essentially more of the same, though I found this less interesting. The third jam is much more interesting almost immediately. This has some really interesting interplay between Magner and Barber, and eventually shifts into an uptempo dance jam. This is such a great dynamic shift from that which preceded it, and as they switch to a more major key sound, there’s a great highwire act that they have where it’s not really clear if they’re going darker or lighter for a bit. Very cool stuff. The Humu jam begins with a delightful island feel. This is wonderful stuff and bordeline Blissco, but they unfortunately ditch it after only 3 minutes. This gives way to a poignant little jam with a lot of emotion behind it. Barber’s work here is absolutely sublime, particularly the portion after 1:30. The band crafts this melancholic sound that has a very Portal to an Empty Head feel to it. This is beautiful, though not necessarily in the traditional Blissco way. Just a gorgeous section of music. There’s no “jam” between Magellan and Stir It Up, just the vamp in the closing section of the song. The jam out of Stir It Up is basically another vamp on the Stir It Up theme, but this is really pretty. If this were longer, or if they went a little further, this would be a definite highlight. However, they return to Magellan pretty quickly, although instead of Magellan ending, they play Magellan Reprise. The Ladies jam is immediately a trance onslaught. Magner has some great lead melodies here, but truth be told this is just a full-on duntzgeon jam, and the real stars here are Brownstein and Allen, crafting a perfect pocket for Barber and Magner to play around with. This eventually develops into a jam with some great chord movement that again, has a melancholic feel to it. This is really wonderful once again, and develops naturally into the darkness of the ending of Robots. This again kind of feels like Portal. Not sure why they were so into this progression this show, but it works.

The Robots jam to begin the set sounds about how you would expect a jam into Trucker’s from Robots. The jam out of Trucker’s Choice, similarly, sounds how you would expect it to sound. Neither of these jams does much for me. There is a portion near the beginning of the second Robots track where Allen drops a lot of e-drums, and this turns into a “hip-hop” jam a la Memphis. However, even this portion doesn’t really feel like the band is clicking. Barber teases the Trucker’s ending at one point, but they instead drop back into Robots. The jam out of Robots into Pilin turns into the typical drum and bass, which is mostly forgettable, with the exception of Magner providing some absolutely awesome noises over the top of everything. This is overtly psychedelic in a really cool way. Unfortunately this segment is pretty short before they begin Pilin’ it Higher. The Pilin jam is a cacophonous DNB jam, and even though I feel this is a bit aimless, I dig the overall vibe here. Felt like Barber could have been better, which kept this from becoming a highlight, but otherwise I enjoyed it. The usual forgettable TVM first jam is replaced by them stepping outside the box a little bit. This is mostly Magner pushing the band ahead with some specific chord hits. This develops into an interesting little take on the TVM first jam, and I liked this. The second jam begins with the standard The Very Funk jam, but quickly shifts uptempo and toward a darker sound. Magner layers a staccato gated patch over the top of the jam and the rest of the band sort of just hangs out in the background. This eventually turns into an extremely bass heavy jam. Brownstein uses his synth bass effect on top of Allen’s e-kick, and this honestly is almost too bass heavy. There is a really cool bass heavy jam out of the unfinished Orch Theme, and while this is pretty obviously going to Air Song for a couple minutes before they drop it, I enjoyed this anyway. Sadly, the Air Song jam to end the show is mostly aimless noodling from Barber. Meh. Encore is jamless.

Highlights: Magellan (Intro, 1, 3*), Humu**, Ladies**, Pilin, TVM (1), Orch

April 05, 2008

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