April 23, 2009

The Helicopters jam to open the show is fine. It feels like Barber is a little too noisy in this jam, and while I like the "rolling" arp Magner uses throughout, he doesn't really go anywhere with this. Barber at least has some cool lines around the 9:45 mark, but they're fairly short-lived. The Home Again jam begins feeling like it will just stick to type 1, but they eventually open this up, and Barber is mostly playing chords throughout the early portions of this type 2 jam. This has a nice, spacey feel to it. Around the 6:00 mark, Barber switches to some leads. Around the 7:00 mark, Magner hops on to one of the arp patches from the 4/20 Crickets. Love this patch. Allen switches things up shortly thereafter with a DNB beat. This is unexpected and cool.

This RLH intro is an all-timer. Good god this is great. From the first note, the band is absolutely locked in. This begins with Barber just playing the root while Magner builds up some electronic madness around him. Brownstein is on the MIDI keyboard for the early portion of this jam, and this has an incredible, digital, spacey sound to it. Around the 2:00 mark, the band settles into a fantastic groove, buoyed by Marc's bass sounds. The next few minutes they just play around with these themes, and while that might not sound that interesting, it absolutely is. They launch into the second stage of this jam at 6:06 when Magner comes in with the "harder" lead patch. Magner has some absolutely ridiculous leads in this section, and layered atop Marc's driving basslines, the effect is a hypnotic dance groove that is impossible not to move to. To be clear, this is already an all-time great jam at this point. However, Marc takes things to the next level at 7:46 by adding the second measure to his riff with the ascending bass notes. Just absolutely awesome. If somebody asks for a great dance jam from this band, you can show them this. Magner's leads continue to be absolutely remarkable, and while Barber is mostly resigned to rhythm work here, he is smart enough to let the rest of the band continue to do its amazing thematic work. This second section is my favorite part of the jam, and lasts from 7:46 up through 11:30, when Barber starts throwing in some "funk" wahwah guitar hits. They stay in this "funk" section for a minute or two before switching to a major key for the long build into RLH. The 15-minute mark up through the 21-minute mark is just a standard RLH build, but it's phenomenally played and it's clear the band is just having a great time. A+ all-around.

The jam out of RLH begins at the 23:14 mark, and Magner initially has this great sound with the LFO turned way up, so it sounds like a weird alien noise. Brownstein plays a simple enough bass progression and Barber just picks along with a simple riff of his own. They let this vamp for a minute or so before Magner comes in with a brilliant melody at the 24:33 mark. This is absolutely majestic and fits the vibe of this jam so well. This has a mysterious, almost haunting feel to it, and the rest of the band allows Magner the space to just feel this out for a bit. Honestly, I'd probably be ranking this jam highly based on just this section of the jam, but then at the 26:30 mark, they switch to something new which is just as ridiculous. Brownstein makes a deliberate effort in switching keys, and the rest of the band follows him. This shifts into wonderful major key Blissco territory. The resulting jam is hypnotic and remains psychedelic and spacey while still having a happy, joyful quality to it. Barber plays this descending riff that is marvelous, and the entire band just jams on this theme for a bit before beginning the intro for Humu. Awesome, awesome stuff. Somehow this is just as good as the intro jam, despite being totally different.

The first minute or so of the Humu jam is sort of just noise, particularly from Barber. Around the 6:30 mark they sort of resolve into a breakbeat jam. Magner has some nice leads here, and while I wasn’t in love with this, the play from Magner and Allen really makes this jam a highlight for me. Very digital and clever play from these two. As they shift uptempo into a dance jam, the band slides very smoothly into a drawn out, funky Spacebird intro. Very cool. The Spacebird jam into the end of RLH is fine, but forgettable.

B&C is a forgettable jambandy jam. Chemical Warfare Brigade has a short, similarly forgettable jam. The first few minutes of the Rockafella jam are borderline annoying, with Brownstein's bass hitting some real obnoxious frequencies. There is a segment of the jam at 12:20 where Magner starts playing a resonant synth lead. I enjoyed this even though it only lasts for a minute or so. Following this, the band shifts uptempo into a breakbeat jam. This gets a little more interesting, and while I did note this as a highlight, I’ve always felt this version of Rockafella is a bit overrated. I’ve seen people call this the best ever, and while I enjoyed the second half of the jam, the first section is almost entirely forgettable. High Speed Racer expands into a jam for the first (and, I think, only) time ever. This expands into a dance jam which has Magner using a another resonant synth lead from the start. At the 8:00 mark, Allen cuts the snare and the band develops a very cool dance theme, with Magner as lead. This is absolutely awesome, and Barber's textural, atmospheric guitar work fits perfectly. This dancy theme is absolutely fantastic, and this just builds and builds throughout the remainder of the HSR track. This is borderline duntzgeon jamming, and leads to a perfect segue into AC2B. Awesome stuff. AC2B has two forgettable jams. Mirrors is jamless. I really wanted to like the Caterpillar encore. There were parts where the band got very far out there just in terms of noise, Magner was doing some cool things, but overall this felt directionless to me. The peak is well done, but other than that I don’t consider this a highlight. Still, great show all around.

Highlights: Home Again, RLH (Intro**, 1**), Humu, Rockafella, High Speed Racer**

I fell in love with Louisville ever since exactly 20 years from this month The Dead played 'Louie Louie' in Louisville at the Freedom Hall.

Don't Get It Twisted; This Is A Psychedelic Dance Party. To be honest, Barber doesn't really slay as much at all this night. Well, of course he does but MUCH less than the rest of this sick tour. But when he does, it's very tasteful, mostly minimal and very much for the better of the song and set. A team effort in every way on this night.

But anyhoo, love the trancefusion DnB 'Helix' starter, it's really interesting with Mags setting up some sexy vibes. The meat of this great show (IMO) is the Helix and the long n' luscious segment from the RLH portion through HUMU where they really peak something fierce, especially with Barber's sexy and funky entrance during RLH at the 11:00min mark approximately. It's kinda like Jon didn't find a guitar until mid "RLH" It's a great long and patient "RLH'...a TERRIFIC version where they then drip down into a sick {humu*~>Spacebird*}~>RLH.

• perhaps the best part of the show.

9/10 1st set. terrific but more importantly, diverse and pretty original (mostly) "happy dance set" sick UNTZ and very heavy keyboard set.

For the 2nd set you have to go for the H.A.M.... "High Speed"~>"AC2B"~>"Mirrors" I thought this was a very cool combo when I heard it then and still feel the same. Barber shreds the 'jam~>into ''AC2B" sick. Don't omit the encore, this Caterpillar can groove!

8/10 2nd set

[Gnosticism is an outsider proposition, an introvert's game]

peasse n luhv

the Helix opener deserves to be on the all timers list, in my opinion. it doesn't clock in over 10 minutes of jamming, but this falls into the quality over quantity category. The band came out ready to slaughter. To me, i remember feeling like they were making up for their sub-par performance the year prior at the Forecastle Festival - also in Louisville - to which i feel like they more than made up for it. Especially if you factor in the barn-burner they played in Covington the night after this.

Aside from the standalone Home Again filler, Set I was easily a 5 star '09 Biscuits set. The RLH was exactly what i was searching for in my Biscuits at the time. And the techno Humu was excellent vibes.