June 13, 2008

This was my second disco biscuits concert. Another one for the books the boys opened up guns blazing and the rest is history to show till this day is still in my top five!

The Memphis first jam — and essentially this entire first segment — is the stuff legends are made of. Magner’s dark, textural synths paint an incredible, dark, multifaceted picture. Barber and Brownstein mostly just sit in the background here, but the way they push this jam along is perfect. Allen throws out some great e-drums throughout the jam, and basically the only thing that drives me nuts about this jam is a 4- to 8-bar section where Magner loses the beat entirely. Other than that, this is absolutely perfect and exactly what you want from a Memphis first jam. The second jam is more of the same: pure awesomeness. Magner is again on full display with a plucky, string lead, and Barber waits until the perfect time to take the lead back. Brownstein’s baselines here are basically perfect dance grooves in a bunch of different variations. Great stuff by everybody, and they absolutely destroy the peak into Helicopters. Barber here is on fire, and this continues through to the jam out of Helicopters.

The jam into the Ladies peak requires its own paragraph, as this is one of my favorite pieces of music the band has ever done. From the beginning of the Ladies track, the band is very clearly headed for the ending of Ladies. Ordinarily, this would leave me a little less interested, as they’re exiting type 2 space and headed toward type 1 space. In this case, however, the entire band is just firing on all cylinders. Brownstein’s descending theme sets the tone, and Allen throws in a mixture of different beats, heavily utilizing hi-hat and snare patterns here to break up the otherwise monotonous four-on-the-floor beat. At 1:31, Barber hits on the theme which becomes the centerpiece for the remainder of this jam. This is a little bit of a riff on the usual Ladies theme, but unique enough that you might find yourself humming this little riff the rest of the day after hearing it. Over the next few minutes, Barber varies this theme several times, but as they get to the peak he changes it in such clever, quick ways that it almost feels rehearsed. As they hit the peak, it feels like they keep going up, up, and up. During the absolute top of the peak, Barber’s fretboard is figuratively smoking as he comes up with rapid-fire riffs as the rest of the band just stays in the background, drenched in awe. Fantastic stuff!

The jam out of Ladies is the first non-highlight for me, and even this is still pretty cool. They have a great, Magner-led theme that simply doesn’t have chance to breathe before they drop into Safety Dance. The Nughuffer jam is very solid. This is mostly buoyed by Magner’s dark, syncopated patch that sets the tone for the entire jam. However, the real all-star here is Brownstein’s story. This is probably the single best Nughuffer story in the history of the band. Brownstein regales the Bonnaroo crowd with the story of the band being pulled over and cited for possession of marijuana on the way to the gig. In addition to the subject matter, the entire band plays some neat stuff during the story to build the atmosphere. Great stuff. KITNO is standard. Rock Candy has a meat jam with Magner using the Virus synth to full effect. The return to Rock Candy out of Crickets begins with a fairly forgettable jam, but around the 0:30 mark in the second Rock Candy track, the band has a great theme that is worth checking out. Crystal Ball and Floes both have shortish, tom-heavy jams that just don’t do much for me. The Basis intro, similarly, just is uninteresting and not all that unique. The main Basis jam is fine, but mostly feels like filler. I noted it as a highlight as there were parts I enjoyed, but this is nowhere near the rest of the highlights in this show.

Highlights: Memphis (1**, 2**), Helicopters**, Nughuffer**, Rock Candy*, Crickets