Most of this first set is forgettable. Pilin’ it High is played standard for a change, which is interesting, though I prefer High(er). Jam here is meh. The jam out of Strobelights into Air Song, and the jam in Air Song, do nothing for me. There’s a single point in Air Song (around the 16-minute mark) where it feels like they’re about to ramp things up. Barber has this great little descending riff that he creates from nothing, but nothing comes of it. The Vassillios jam feels like it has potential, but never gets anywhere interesting enough for me. They have an awesome pocket that they establish, but then they just stay there and do nothing with it. Feels like a missed opportunity. Moshi-Fameus has some really cool aspects. I never feel like these reach full potential, as Magner only has so many hands. Magellan is terrible placement in a set like this. Stupid.

The Shimmy has a wonderful, haunting theme from Magner around the 9-minute mark. This is like horror movie soundtrack stuff. Unfortunately, Allen drops into an e-kick immediately thereafter, and they abort this theme altogether. Very sad, as this was really cool stuff. This turns into a largely straightforward trance jam. With that said, around the 14:20 mark, Magner comes up with an awesome riff that takes this to the next level for me. They’re not breaking any new ground here, but this is really solid nonetheless. As the band gets closer to Cyclone, Barber crafts a great minimalist riff. Again, nothing crazy, but well-played and solid. The jam out of Cyclone back into Shimmy is a lot of the same – nothing incredibly out-of-the-box, but a nice little jam that keeps my attention. Magner has some great noises here, including this plucky synth that he abuses to great effect. Honestly this sound sounds like one of the EDM noises that were very popular in the mainstream in the early ‘10s.

Memphis first jam is pretty typical. Barber does his rock God thing, but this doesn’t develop enough for my tastes. The jam out, however, has some great parts. The early part has some great Magner melodies, but as it develops further I think they lose a little steam. I liked this, but wouldn’t re-listen to it. The Shem-Rah jam has some elements of Blissco, but they never quite hit that next level. They clearly have a very established theme here, I just don’t know that this is a memorable theme. I’m going to label this as a highlight, but I don’t think it’s quite as good as it could have been. Kamaole’s jam is about the same, to be honest. Again, I’ll say it’s a highlight, but this feels like another almost-but-not-quite-there jam for me. On Time is not my favorite encore, and this is a lot of midtempo funk I can do without.

Highlights: Shimmy, Cyclone, Shem-Rah, Kamaole

February 05, 2016

Reviews

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Treemaculate

All-Timers