June 12, 2014

Really intriguing, nasty show from Summer 2014, an underrated vault of treasures from the band's fallow period. Both Ts have given a pretty good play by play, so I'll avoid that. If you have a taste for the trippy, sloppy stew of mid 2010s Biscuits, you're in luck. However, both sets (but particularly the 2nd set) run out of steam in a pretty debilitating way. The SQ is also good but not great, with the drums and highs a little too compressed. But don't let that deter you, as the good so outweighs the bad. Spaga>TVM is almost an hour of music on their own. As someone who likes the drum & bass jams, the first half was quite a treat. The atmospheric second half after the drop is a "Let Barber Cook" moment, where everyone else throws out all manner of rhythmic and melodic accompaniment to shore up Barber's unchained shredding. It shouldn't work, but it does. This shifting, slippery character can also be found in the similarly massive TVM. They act like they're ready to dig into the verses, but then Barber decides to take it for a little bit of a walk. The funk jam gives way to something a little too determined to be "blissco" until it too dissolves into some funhouse mirror antics. It almost sounds like Funiculi, Funiculi at one point. Plan B and Little Lai are OK, but are merely filler in comparison to these two behemoths. I was hoping from the HDPF that the second set would be an even better, weirder outing than the first set. This is the best later-day HDPF I think I've ever heard. There's a sense of adventure here that is often lacking from post-Sammy House Dogs. Unfortunately, the second set is screwy after that. The ShemMan mashup is uncanny valley territory for me; there were times I thought it was going to work, but it didn't. I think Brownie should've jettisoned the slap bass once I-Man fully takes over the mashup. Segueing into Sugar Plum Fairies in June almost seems like an admission they didn't know what to with where they wound up on this one. The second chunk of I-Man resets the stage with spare, swirling atmospherics before building up into a stomping climax transitioning back into Spaga. This segment is great. Unfortunately, it uses up what gas was left in the tank. Magellan>BE is a transition that seems really thought provoking on paper, but it lifelessly flops across the finish line. Jigsaw is a better closer, albeit on the compressed side.

Overall, I'd rank it a 4. Some parts that would be a 5 or a strong 4.5 that are weighed down by some 3 or even 2.5-level yawners.

This was the run that demonstrated that if they were not "back on track" and ready to take the next decade by the horns, it did at the very least give the scene plenty of optimism and the strong possibility that their new game plan would indeed demonstrate a huge will to keep growing and chop more wood so that the musicianship would inevitably catch up with this fresh outlook thus having the perfect combination to give it good for the long haul.

A lot of hit and miss in 2014 but this weekend was one of the most important and happy runs ever...and that had not been present for a while minus a great show here and there since around late summer / early fall of 2010. We had consistency to hold on to, and it was palpable. They were smiling a lot again. Starting the process of eliminating some vices that were no longer fun seemed to have happened but I wasn't there backstage, buses or in the practice rooms.

Oh, and this opening ''Spaga ~> The Very Moon'' mirrors the previous sentiment. Dynamite.

<> Party easy, drive safe, and return with a smile on your face. <>

Spaga begins with the typical DNB jam that has moments that sound really neat, but ultimately this portion of the jam is forgettable. Around the 13-minute mark they drop to half-time and a much more interesting theme develops almost immediately. They continue with this nice downtempo groove for several minutes, and they hit a great pocket. This turns into a really neat major key jam and turns into a pretty solid Blissco jam. Neat! They eventually peak into nothing, and drop out nearly completely. They rebuild into a cool little TVM intro jam. TVM first jam is a pretty typical type 1. The Very Funk turns into this weird little jam that has a sort of “carnival” sound to it. Around 18:30, they build a four-on-the-floor theme, featuring Magner playing this descending chord progression. This builds very nicely and turns into a very cool jam. Barber has some great lead phrasing here, and the peak they create is very natural. They leave this and begin an very unique jam that leads toward Plan B. This features Allen’s tomwork and a less digital sound from the band as a whole. While this is really neat, it’s clear that with a minute or so before the transition, the band is trying to figure out how exactly to make the transition. I think they recover really nicely with a build, ultimately a dropout, and finally just starting the song. The “Plan B jam” here is fine. It’s a short jam, and basically a type 1 jam. Nothing outstanding, but not awful. The Lai jam is mostly Magner noodling around. I don’t think this is bad, but frankly I’ll never listen to it again.

The first HDPF jam has Magner using his weird detuned string patch, which I always love. I think this jam is pretty milquetoast overall, but I do love that patch. The second jam is phenomenal, and considering how rarely HDPF 2nd jams wind up being interesting, this is noteworthy in and of itself. The band are all playing different sounds and noises that provide a very psychedelic feel to the first half of the jam. The ending of the jam ditches the overt psychedelia, but they manage to carry the momentum and this continues to be really interesting throughout to the ending. The I-Man intro jam begins with a Shem-Rah intro jam, and turns into a full-on midtempo dance groove. I wouldn’t call this a highlight, but it’s a fun little groove. The first jam is a pretty straightforward type 1 jam for the majority of it, although it ends with a nice little groove that they carry back into the verse in a unique way. The second jam is again pretty straightforward, and only lasts a couple minutes. This is closer to a “bridge” jam. The third jam is a little bit more extended, but I don’t care for the first several minutes of this. That said, around the 18-minute mark, they hit on to a really neat theme. Around the 20-minute mark, they have a really cool theme that sounds like it could be an alternate version of an SITA jam. The jam out of Sugarplum Fairies begins with a great little theme, but unfortunately never leads anywhere. The fourth I-Man jam is absolutely beautiful. They play this relaxed, major key theme that becomes a gorgeous Blissco jam. After this (unfortunately short) jam, they get into a faster, darker jam which leads back to the end of Spaga. The 2nd Spaga jam is a short-ish type 1 jam that is still decent despite being just a few minutes long. The “jam” in Magellan is too short and too uninteresting. The “jam” into Bazaar is really more of just a vamp until they start playing Bazaar Escape. The first jam in the Jigsaw encore is nice, even if it’s pretty short. The second jam is far too short to even be useful.

Highlights: Spaga*, TVM (2*), HDPF (2*), I-Man (3, 4*), Jigsaw