December 30, 2009

{{ Yep, it's one of those ''stay out of Barber's way tonight''. He's straight up channeling. }} Never miss a Dec. 30th Show. Total number of in-between-song-breaks = 0

[C pile] OK to Good:: Highwire, Digital Buddha

[B pile] Very Good to Excellent:: Little Lai, Portal, Crystal Ball, The Great Abyss,

[A pile] MVP / Monumental / Touchdown:: Crickets, RLH

(I) <> LLai - starts basic enough but at the halfway point until the 'Portal' handoff they ramp up tempo and take off into a fantastically controlled happy bliss jam....Barber is en fuego. nice unfinished Lai.... <> Portal - always liked this song and wish they played it more and change it's architecture more. Cool video and making of as well. This is how you feel after a night of 50 mg of pure MDMA or a 3 day STP trip... Mr.Mags takes care of a lot of this tune's direction & feel. Barber fuzz + Mags' synth, then there's the drum part. The drums in this tune are insane. I cannot even mimick the drumming playing air-drums. Great upwards key change halfway in towards the top of the mtn. Every good climb involves a great axe. 10:45 untz-trancin' wrapped in a gorgeous bottom end by Marc and Allen...yep, this almost an A pile tune, very close. >> <> Crix (inv) - Yes. There are only one or two "better" Crix in this fabulous year. Allen engages warp speed space jam of the highest order...and they danced. At 2 minutes in, you're already a dancin' fool. Nothing like an inverted Crickets...you get the Blissco RIGHT AWAY, no easing into it. This is very much like the climax ending to "Portal" in a way, eh? Perfect. 23 minutes left to stretch out and get creepy. The first 13 minutes or so of this 23 minute ending is a nice mellow wheel jam until the beginning of the tune at around 21:25 (nugsDOTnet time) For the final 5 minutes I just want to say what an honor it is to listen to each just absolutely kill it. Nothing going 100mph or the like, just a heart felt mid tempo exploration. Everyone is somewhere else yet all together at the same time. THE DARK ARTS, RUN!!!! <> Crystal Ball (middle>end) - what a brilliant choice! I heard some "Safety Dance" teases in there but thank the Lord they this way. For me, The intro is all about Barber and Marc switching "roles" For a while Marc's playing fast in solo phrasing you might call it(?) and Barber is the backbeat just strumming and adding the bottom end without the bottom. In my head that last statement made sense, good luck on your end. Very percussion-heavy near-ending jam. Some nice evil afrobeat action going on behind the kit.

Set 1:: 9.60 / 10

''Run Like Hell'' - Here is the meat. You might prefer some other heady 2.0 versions like 2009-04-23 / 2007-05-21 / 2008-03-01 or 2009-06-28 but please never forget this absolute gem of a version. The intro of around 12 minutes is quite easily put....heroin for your ears. Mr. Aucoin sets up the final 10 minute jam by cutting down the beat to half which is great, for now each member's expressions will be more articulate and meaningful....if it goes well of course. It starts rather eerie and round and round until they break the egg shell and groovy on up the end this gem with a bit more gusto. Simple jam, yet it sets up 'The Great Abyss" nicely >>> <> The Great Abyss - Magner. The structure of the song is what it is. It's a great bridge song to keep chained segments flowing. It kicks ass but most 2.0 GA's do. Sexy outro into >> <> Buddha (middle) - average in comparison to the rest of the set / show. ----the next 3 tunes are with The New Deal's Jamie Shields (keys)---- <> Lunar Pursuit - A Lunar Pursuit with Magner and Shields!? sounds scrumptious. The Hammond B-3 sounds phenomenal complimenting Magner's input. It's such a BIG version. At 10 minutes in, there is one great groove developing. The keys complimenting each other like lifelong bandmates. It's "just" another electronica/dance jam but there are surprises at every corner in between every expression. <> Orch Theme - Now were in Jamie's wheelhouse. Psytrance with 2 of the best electronic jambands of the past 25 years. It's a short one but it there's still a lot of meat left on those bones. 5:20 till the end is Barber in a good solo mode all the way through while the keyboard duo really sound good, even in a ''small'' role of ambiance/mood. They can't all be touchdowns and the highest peaks. <> RLH (end) - Time for Barber to empty the bank and just tear this 'ole building down. A beautiful ending to the song of the night, next to the best show of the NY's run in possibly their greatest year on tour.

2 set:: 9.70 / 10

There are no mistakes and it’s never boring on the edge of imagination, which is only pure spirit having a bit of fun.

Be well.