December 27, 2014

So much to love in this show, even if it falls just a hair short of perfection. The first Shimmy jam is really incredible, building out from Magner and Allen's digi-noise soundscape into a mad dash that seems to tease at I-Man until dissolving into a funky Sugarplum Fairies. I personally love what I recall someone on Phantasy Tour called the "silky slop funk" of this era, which the Story jam has in spades. Magner makes some fun noises with a very basic square wave synth while Barber wahs all over the place. It shifts into a bolero-like cadence before the drop back into Shimmy. The standalone Shelby provides some obligatory Guitar God Time for Barber. Everyone else almost sounds like Spafford in this jam, which YMMV as to whether or not that's desirable.

Set 2 contains this show's most brilliant moments but also its patches of wankery. Thankfully, the brilliance doesn't take long to make itself known: the jamming in Buddha is classic high-energy Bisco at its finest, with Magner gradually ceding more control to Barber as the jam peaks. Normally I'm easily sold on a Sven dnb jam but this one doesn't do anything we haven't heard a million times. However, it spools out into a really nasty, trippy low-pass filter jam that patiently builds toward something appropriately celestial for a seamless glide into Crlckets. It takes a little while for the Crickets jam to coalesce, but they keep it spacey enough that nothing feels forced or too wanky. As the tempo picks up, Magner plays some mysterious chords on a crystal pad which finally snaps Barber into gear. The last four minutes of the jam cover a ton of territory in a short time. It's beautiful. Unfortunately, this seems to have come at the cost of the Munchkin jam, which really muddles and plods until right before they commit to the transition back into Crickets. This next Crickets jam aims for something hypnotic, but it overstays its welcome. The drum & bass back into Sven more than makes up for the less-zesty Sven jam at the start of the palindrome. Once Magner hits those big piano chords, it's in full triumph mode. The second Sven jam wades back into the silky slop funk with maximum indulgence. As always, Magner guides us home with the angelic choir pads once the return of Buddha reaches inevitability. And what a galloping return it is. You might as well stop there, because the Mulberry's encore is quite by the books. Overall, this palindrome would be on a list of all-timers for me if it wasn't for those concentrated flabby spots in the middle.

Nevertheless, the creativity heavily outweighs the wanky or nondescript elements throughout the show. It's the 2014 show I've enjoyed the most so far, at least. An easy 4.5.

Tunnel is as close to standard as can be. The Shimmy jam is exactly what I want from Shimmy jams. Dark, Phrygian jamming with Magner and Brownstein connecting on some sinister sounding Middle-Eastern dance grooves. Barber’s playing here is tasteful, and he lets Magner really create an environment of mysterious darkness. The Story jam is typical middling funk for the first several minutes. They eventually head back toward Shimmy ending, and while this jam doesn’t move me much, it really highlights how similar Bombs is to Shimmy. I legit thought this was a Bombs jam for the significant majority of the jam. Shelby’s jam to end the set does nothing much for me.

Buddha begins with a very digital jam. They drop to half-time for a short spell, but wind up back in a four-on-the-floor beat that gets quicker and more deliberate. Magner’s phrasing is phenomenal here, and layered over Barber’s quick strumming riffs. Really nice stuff. I’m normally not a big Svenghali fan, but this is nice version. The DNB is decent and doesn’t overstay its welcome, and the drop to half-time is well done. Magner busts out the pan flute patch shortly, which is always welcome to my ears. The Crickets first jam is very pleasant. It’s not mindblowing by any means, but it’s exactly what I want from Crickets first jams. It’s laid back, spacey, ethereal trance jamming, with Barber more focused on sitting in the pocket and strumming something interesting than anything else. At 7:49 they change keys to head toward Munchkin, leaving them a lot of time to play with the transitional jam. The rest of the jam is very solid, though I prefer the pre-transitional jam portion. The Munchkin jam is another solid jam, but they’re not stepping too far outside the box here. Pretty standard dance jam. The second Crickets jam has some great stuff from Magner. I think the first few minutes are basically throwaway, but around the 7-minute mark they get into some more interesting stuff. I think this is mostly solid for the rest of it. The jam out of Svenghali begins with a very lowkey jam, with some beautiful major key phrasing from Barber. Around the 7-minute mark, they sadly ditch this pretty sounding jam for an upbeat trance jam. This turns into a pretty solid jam, even if there’s a little more “trance funk” than I would typically care for. Mulberry’s is a pretty basic type 1 jam.

Highlights: Shimmy, Buddha*, Crickets (1*, 2), Munchkin, Svenghali