Uber Glue is standard. The Voices jam develops into a really nice Blissco-y theme. Around 10:45, Barber comes up with this really simple siren song type riff, and Magner layers it with a dueling lead that fits perfectly. They leave this pretty theme around the 12:30 mark. Magner is using this cool rhythmic pad that I recognize instantly from the 09/13/09 Orch. Around the 15-minute mark, this develops into a straightforward house jam. They craft a very nice groove here, and while they’re not breaking any new ground, this is very solid. The Bombs jam is decent. Not bad, but there’s nothing here that really grabs me in any meaningful way. Bazaar and Wet are standard. Meh.

Robots has a decent jam in it, though there are some weird parts. Brownstein is wildly out of key a few times, and I can’t tell if he was trying to get the group to change keys and head to Triumph or if he just made a mistake. The descending progression that the band lands on is solid, but nothing all that novel. The Triumph jam is forgettable DNB, and honestly so is the Overture jam. The second Triumph jam is better. Around 7:20 Magner finds this interesting, meandering riff that has a mysterious quality to it. The rest of the band is smart enough to get out of his way and let him just play this out for a bit. They ditch this a little too quickly for my tastes. The rest of the jam is fine, but I lost interest as it stretched on. The 2nd Robots jam never gets a chance to stretch its legs much, and seems like they’re on the ending theme way too early. The I-Man intro jam is an extended vamp on the intro theme, though Magner’s synth sounds very 70s-ish. I like the sound here, even if what they’re playing is pretty vanilla. The usual 1st jam is cut pretty short (not so much a jam as a bridge). 2nd jam is also a bridge. 3rd jam is where things start. They develop a very ominous, dreamlike jam here that sounds creepy in an inexplicable way. There are elements of dissonance and harmony both at play here. I like this a lot, and it’s extremely interesting theme building. That said, as they get more “normal” sounding, Allen’s drumwork is...odd. In a not great way. He is playing with e-drums in a way that really impacts the mix. This kills a lot of their momentum here in my view, and turns an amazing jam into a decent jam with a very cool portion. The 4th jam picks up that momentum pretty quick. This is some nice major key jamming. Nothing too inventive, but very nice overall.

Therapy and Highwire are standard.

Highlights: Voices, I-Man (3*, 4)

January 23, 2014

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