April 19, 2008

It is hard for me to be objective about this show. The summer of 2008, a friend and I listened to this show essentially every day. Certain jams (I-Man, Resurrection, B&C) I can still literally sing the melodies note-for-note. This show is an absolute 5-star show for me, but where it fits into my scoring system I was very curious to find out.

This show begins with an absolutely massive version of I-Man. The intro jam begins at 1:36, and oddly enough begins with Barber teasing “Good King Wenceslas.” The intro jam lasts 10 minutes or so, and this The opening riffs from Barber are simple, tasteful, and play really well in the miles and miles of open space Magner and Brownstein provide for Barber. Brownstein basically just lays on the root note for the majority of this intro section. When Magner starts adding in some pads, it just further colors the edges of this mysterious-sounding jam. Magner eventually starts bringing in some more textural synths to accent the jam. At 5:13, the band makes an obvious shift into second gear as Allen brings in e-snares on the 2 and 4. Nearly every riff Barber plays here is absolutely perfect. At 7:17, the band shifts down for a moment, and it feels like they might finally be beginning whatever song is being jammed into. Instead, they build again, and Magner’s leads provide yet another little section of this jam. They build this up perfectly into an artificial peak, and while it’s sometimes understated, Allen’s work here is patiently and really well thought out. The first jam begins at 13:08 with a spacey sound almost immediately out of the gate. Barber is again, incredibly patient, and Magner’s almost Vangelis-like synths provide for this unique, symphonic outer space jam. Brownstein has some really interesting bass work here as well. This is like a weird combination of being underwater, but in space. They drop things down to almost nothing around the 17-minute mark to return to the middle of I-Man. If this lasted another 2-3 minutes, this would be another absolutely can’t-miss jam, rather than just being very solid.

The second jam begins at 18:22. I absolutely love this jam. For the first thirty seconds or so, Magner is playing this droning synth. At 18:47 he comes in with this bouncy synth lead which becomes the main foundation for this jam. Brownstein clues in on how neat this is immediately and plays along with Magner, creating a fantastic bass while Barber noodles around, figuring out what he’ll do here. Around 20:20, Barber lands on his sort of digital guitar distortion effect, and as it turns out this is instrumental in taking this jam to the next level. The band has a drop out and subsequent build. At 21:02 the entire band comes back in with a vengeance, and Brownstein’s bassline is literally two notes, playing the and of each beat. This is the perfect counter to Magner’s bouncy synth, and Barber literally just plays a chord on the 1 of each measure for a little bit. At 22:03, Barber comes in with a fantastic lead that becomes the lead theme for the rest of the jam. He modulates this a bit as they go on, and Magner follows Brownstein in building out the chord progression, and by the 23:00 mark, they have a full on theme that sounds like it could easily have been pre-determined. This jam is literally why people listen to the Disco Biscuits, and if the show just ended here it would have still been worth the price of admission. Oh, and they haven’t even left the first damn song of the show yet! This is crafted into an absolutely marvelous peak that shifts from a minor key to an uplifting major key Blissco peak. Incredible.

Sadly, that which goes up must inevitably come down. The jam out of I-Man is forgettable nonsense, with a “Crazy Train” jam from the entire band which I couldn’t care less about if I tried. After they finally get out of the Crazy Train jam, which only lasts a minute or two (but feels like forever), they build a spacey jam into the beginning of Spacebird. This feels like filler from everybody, and Barber is clearly not engaged here the way he was during I-Man. This actually comes together in a reasonably interesting way the last minute or so before Spacebird begins, with some neat little flourishes from Barber. Not enough to save the jam, but not totally throwaway. The jam in Spacebird itself is 10+ minutes, and they somehow manage to play that long without saying anything. Meh. World is Spinning has a very short jam in it which is very “rocky” and doesn’t do much.

The jam out of Resurrection to begin set to is one of my favorite jams of all-time. The band rides out the major key outro from Resurrection, and Barber and Magner use fairly simple major key interplay to craft an almost String Cheese-esque jam. This doesn’t sound like The Disco Biscuits, really much at all. This feels like summertime music festival jamming from a jambandy jamband, and somehow they pull this off completely. Barber’s phrasing throughout is absolutely phenomenal, and this is a real joy to listen to from start-to-finish. With that said, the melody and theme they craft as they transition into the B&C track is an all-timer. Barber’s lead theme dances up and down, and Magner waits momentarily, just playing chords for a few measures. Then at the 0:30 mark, Magner comes up with an absolutely brilliant complementary lead, this has such a wonderfully happy feel to it, and they continue to build this interplay in cleverer and cleverer ways until they start headed for Kamaole Sands. Barber’s phrasing and note choice continues to be absolutely top notch until they build a perfect peak into Kamaole Sands, which gives way to B&C. This is perfect, perfect Blissco in every single way.

The jam out of B&C begins with the opposite vibe, with a dark, mysterious, dancey theme from the band. The modulating melody Magner plays around the 6:30 mark feels like they’re headed for a duntzgeon jam, but instead this turns into one of the best thematic jams the band has ever played (lots of hyperbole in this show, I know). There is some element of this that feels pre-rehearsed. At 7:30, Allen drops out for a few measures to a re-build, and they continue this section of the jam. Magner’s lead acts as a siren, with the end of each measure going higher and higher, and this stagnates for a brief period. That is, until 8:40. The band drops down low again, and Magner comes in with this bouncy, metallic lead synth at the 9:20. Allen has cut everything but the e-drums, and Brownstein lands on a great 4-bar progression that serves as the foundation for the rest of the jam. At 9:49, Barber comes up with a perfect lead riff that feels like it had to have been pre-determined. This is just perfect. Absolutely perfect. Magner harmonizes on the top-end of the jam, and the band just lets this section repeat several times, fully aware of the perfection they’ve got going. Then, at 10:44, the entire band switches chords at the exact same time before going dropping down again, almost like they’re resetting the jam. Barber noodles around on variations of his perfect theme, and has such great additions here that it really reinforces my belief that this was planned. They return to the main section once again, and everybody plays the exact same melodies, note for note. Yeah, planned. At 12:55, they finally “exit” the jam, almost like they’re exiting a song. The last 4 minutes of the new part of the jam into Shadow are themselves fantastic, and another really unique feel. I’m not sure how to describe this portion of music, as it melancholic and ominous at the same time. This gives way into a straightforward dance jam into Shadow, and even this is absolutely fire. Barber and Magner again have some great collaborative stuff, with a little call-and-response section briefly before Magner lands on a neat little lead that carries the rest of the jam. The Shadow jam begins at 8:30 or so, and immediately has a dark, ominous feel to it. For a minute or so, they flounder, not really sure what this is going to turn into. Marc comes up with a 4-bar, 3-chord progression that the band follows for a brief moment. They eventually land on a Magner-led theme, and the theme itself is absolutely fantastic. This is odyssean and unique, and very much a product of Magner’s newish Virus synth. Overall, this turns into a great, dark jam.

Nughuffer is really the first point in the second set that’s not absolutely phenomenal. This is basically just a Nughuffer ending jam for some reason. This never really gets any more interesting, and eventually becomes a fairly predictable Shimmy peak. Shimmy is segued out of the “alarm” section and quickly becomes an uptempo dance jam. As this gets closer to Crickets, this has an almost Blissco quality to it, but it feels like this never really gels as much as it should. Magner and Barber are just barely not on the same page for me, and this doesn’t land. Afterward, there’s effectively a drop segue into November Rain ending to end the set, and the Highwire encore is standard.

Incredible show.

Highlights: I-Man (Intro**, 1*, 2**), Resurrection**, B&C**, Shadow**