June 05, 2009

tpace and Treemaculate have described this show in detail, so I'll try not to repeat them too much. This is an excellent, high-energy tour de force show. It's Barber's night, primarily, with a lot of soaring, burning guitar crunch throughout. Both opening standalones are perhaps definitive standalone 2.0 versions of their respective songs. There's a bit of a tracking issue on the nugs sbd (go figure) that messes up the flow of the ending of the show, but other than that there's seldom a blemish on the first set.

Second set is also quite strong, although not as consistent as the first. The Basis is both the strongest and weakest point in the second set, as it appears a bit abruptly and takes a while to figure out where it wants to go. But once it does, good lord is it a blazing firestorm. Barber is shredding out of control. Mirrors>Crickets cools down the pace somewhat, bringing the show to a natural denouement.

It feels insane to give this show anything but a 5. I'd say this is also a good show to drop on a Biscuits n00b as the first set shows an incredible amount of range in a short amount of time executed nearly flawlessly.

{{ tip #22-a:: Brushing your teeth during your shower can slice five minutes off your morning routine; ten, if you also make your doodie in there. }}

This is best standalone Fiddler ever played (IMO) very close to the exciting 4-20-2008 Asheville show opener. The Type 1 jam at first is equal in emotion and dedication to the beautiful lyrics which are delivered with great passion and tenor, Barber is putting the lyrics to guitar, wonderfully. And that final Barber solo rhythm is all smiles. The bass section in the middle has always been very nice and pleasant. Such beauty and longing. I can feel Corrinado's pain as he thinks of Leora, knowing he soon has to pay the Piper.

Manilla Trane = Elon Musk. Manilla's beautiful wife, Leora = Amber Heard (aka The squirming coil...I left on your bed)

mvp to Brownie for his bass mastery on Vass~>HAB~>Gangster. Also, Magner is in top form this evening, especially in 'Vass" and the 'Balloon' jam a little while later. Such beautiful minimal acid jazz themes as Barber interjects his magic perfectly in between each keyboard sample, sweep or longer psychedelic phrasing. unreal. Nobody roller coasters a solo like 'The Gut'. The 'Gangster' has the opening electronica dance-off which melts into a nice rhythm but not much exploratory insanity or the like. It's solid yet fairly slightly above average. HAB 2 - Allen uses his pad to great effect here without overwhelming the sound. The Baber solo is quite nice, no too frenzied but a mid-tempo lovely jam. It does reach a few summits :) (II) A good 'ole '09 MEMPHIS. The 2nd jam is where it's at. Very psychedelic, manic and a bit of a Hawkwind taste. Very enjoyable funk keyboards and more great padwork by the Andromedan alien on the stool. OK, this 'Basis' is such a great highlight, it might be this evening's MVP. It is ALL good and worthy of a 50th listen by you. Mirrors~> Crickets - Is not lazy or real uninteresting in any real way, aux contraire, it has a terrific segue. Worth relistening but not a real powerhouse combo to end the show. The Crickets is great. The encore is truly great! Superb way to blow out the candles.

This gem of a show is one of the most beautiful around. It calls back to the late 90's, psychill stoner rock where climbing up and down the emotional ladder with such simplicity and command. Flash Gordon! are we ever lucky to have the Biscuits. True statement.

Greybeard, STRAIGHT FROM THE NUTTER.

rating: A+ / 9.70 / 10

I’ve seen people call this the best Overture ever. This is a really solid jam, and solid enough that I listened a couple times despite my usual distaste for TDB DNB. Best ever probably belongs to something from 1.0, but this is really good. It helps that the band is not all over the place, and they’re all communicating well. Allen is, of course, insane throughout. In any event, really great start to the show. There is a short jam in Fiddler that is alright. This doesn’t get too far outside the box, but does at least get into some type 2 territory. The Vassillios jam is very cool, and while I think thematically it could be cooler, the communication between the members of the band is absolutely off the charts. Magner begins with a simple synth theme involving a three-note pattern in the second bar of this theme, and initially Barber is just vamping, but eventually he locks in with a nice response to Magner’s call. From there, Barber plays around with his response and develops the new theme of this jam, which he plays for the first time at 11:35. Brownstein catches on to this theme quickly and follows suit, and the rest of this is so completely cohesive from everybody in the band. I felt like this had another level to get to personally, but where it got was pretty awesome regardless. HAB begins with a great sine wave lead from Magner, and the rest of the band provides a great foundation for Magner to just play around with his theme. These first few minutes are nice, even if they feel a little bit like filler. This really takes off after the band switches to a minor key theme at 13:45. They tread water for a bit, but at the 17:00 mark, Magner is using a 303 lead that gives an awesome textural effect to the jam. From here on out, they develop an ascending theme that is absolutely incredible. Brownstein and Barber have great communication in developing the progression initially, and Magner takes things up a notch at the 0:45 mark by adding in an overarching theme that has a wonderful mysterious quality to it. This is such a great lead, and fits the rest of the jam perfectly. After a few bars of this, Barber plays in the midrange with a really poignant theme at the 1:26 mark. This is so, so, so, SO good. You’ll never be able to convince me that Barber is not one of the best guitarists ever - technical skills notwithstanding - because of his ability to come up with themes like these at the drop of a hat. Incredible. Gangster just drops directly into I-Man. I-Man has two short-ish jams between the first couple of verses, and both of these are essentially just riffs on the I-Man progression. The second is definitely solid, but nothing you need to relisten to. The third I-Man jam has a unique quality to this. There’s a bouncy feel to the interplay between Magner and Barber here, and the last 4 minutes of the I-Man track are really interesting. From there, this moves to a more predictable major key jam for the build and return to HAB. This major key section is similarly solid, and this jam is pretty good overall. They omit the “Flight” section of the song. Fantastic first set.

Memphis begins the second set with a very brief intro jam. Brownstein sounds like he’s playing what ultimately became the bassline for Konkrete. This could just be a coincidence as it’s a simple bassline, but cool if deliberate. The Memphis first jam begins with Magner using an arp for textural effect. This builds in a very natural way, and while this never really gets outside the box, the play is very solid and the build is really nice. The second jam in Memphis is fine. This is only 4-5 minutes before the Basis drop, and while I didn’t dislike it, there just was not enough runway here for them to really get something going before it was just an obvious Basis intro. Solid, not memorable. Basis has a middle jam, which has a real videogame-y vibe to it. Magner’s melodic work here is really cool, and the square wave lead he uses fits perfectly. The main Basis jam is solid right from the start. Allen is demolishing his e-drums, and both Magner and Barber do a great job of progressing the jam without taking the “lead.” This is one of those jams where the entire band is locked in and everybody just keeps gradually pressing the gas pedal deeper through the floor. I feel like Magner got a bit repetitive at points, but still noteworthy. The Mirrors jam is long, odyssean, and features the band creating some interesting psychedelic soundscapes. Magner does a lot of the leading in this jam, but there aren’t a lot of gaudy lead lines. Just group groove jamming with Magner at the forefront. The last 4-5 minutes are clearly headed to Crickets, but they manage to keep this really interesting anyway. Really great jam, especially from Magner. The first Crickets jam doesn’t do much for me. Feels like a long middle jam from the jump. Most of the second jam is forgettable, with the exception of the last four minutes or so. Initially they’re on a slap bass theme that I don’t find all that interesting, but near the end they get into this absolutely haunting theme that builds really organically before dropping into the end of Crickets. Finally, any time I see Sound One as an encore (or any other part of the show for that matter) it tells me Barber was having a good night. He has said on more than one occasion that he considers this the most difficult song for him to play. I’m fine with this as an encore.

Overall, this is an incredible show.

Highlights: Overture**, Vassillios*, HAB**, I-Man (3), Memphis (1), Basis (1, 2), Mirrors**, Crickets (2)