September 21, 2017

Pygmy begins with the typical midtempo jam. Barber has some nice phrasing in this, and I don’t think this is mindblowing by any means but it’s generally solid. Magner plays around for a bit with a Rhodes patch that gives some great atmosphere to the band’s improv. The chord change into the intro of Spaga is brilliant. While listening, I didn’t know what was coming here next and thought this was just a phenomenally played change in the jam. Admittedly, I wish it were that over Spaga, but that doesn’t change how effective this segue is. Well done. I will also say that playing a Spaga ending only is probably my favorite way to hear the song. The Overture jam is not bad. I typically don’t care for their DNB jams, though this one they craft into an overwhelming crescendo in a fairly interesting way. Again, not reinventing the wheel here, but solid. The AC2B jam begins with the typical midtempo jam. Around the 5:30 mark, Barber starts playing this riff with a repeated single note. This is such a classic Barber riff. Simple, mundane, but fits into everything around him so perfectly. He builds on this a bit, but sadly they head another direction a minute or two later. Around the 9:30 mark, the band drops things down to a near halt. Allen’s playing is primarily textural for a few measures, before building up into a four-on-the-floor beat at the 10-minute mark. This develops into a really nice, atmospheric, spacey dance jam. Barber here knows enough to just keep looping this minimalist little riff over Marc’s corresponding minimal bassline. This jam embodies a lot of the “less is more” philosophy behind TDB. Slow, gradual change can often be more effective than the machine gun approach of some bands, and the former is on full display here. Around 13:30, the band makes the next rotation, with Magner adding in a lead that evokes feelings of science-fiction movies. Barber modifies his riff slightly to follow suit. I will say that when Magner drops out with this lead around 14:20, it’s somewhat jarring, as the entirety of the reverb on the top end just dissipates in a single moment. Overall, I really like this jam, even if it’s fairly typical dance fare. Abyss is another very solid dance jam. In what seems to be a theme for this first set, this isn’t overly imaginative, but each member of the band seems to be in lockstep as far as crafting a unified sound. Around the 9-minute mark, Magner switches to a unique, haunting lead. This sound is frankly unexpected, and I really like the melody he plays here. The last few minutes of this jam are a marked switch to an AC2B return jam, and this part is fairly forgettable. The AC2B ending jam doesn’t do much for me here. It’s not bad by any means, but this just isn’t as interesting as everything else in the set. It’s a lowkey, airy jam that I think they often nail in AC2B second jams, but this just isn’t one of those times.

The first several minutes of Morph are fairly predictable. There are portions later in the jam that feed like they’re going someplace interesting. In particular, around the 12:40 mark, Magner has a great repeating riff that seems to color the edges of the jam, and it feels like he’s begging somebody to listen to him. Brownstein seems to add in a second chord in response, but they abandon this almost immediately. Sad. The first Boop jam is middling funk. Skip. The first five minutes or so of the Boop second jam are pretty bland fast trance. Not much interesting here, though around 12:30 they cut to a much slower jam with a lot of tom fills, and this almost instantly gets more interesting. Magner adopts an eerie lead that fits in perfectly with the tom-heavy jam. This is the highlight of the show for me. There’s almost a Middle Eastern feel to this, and the segue into Buddha is probably the coolest > Buddha I’ve ever heard. Very cool stuff. The Buddha jam doesn’t do much for me. I think Brownstein is trying to do a little too much here. I generally like what Magner is doing; Barber too. However, Marc’s playing leaves a lot to be desired here. The jam out of Abraxas begins with a somewhat lowkey vibe from the entire band. Barber’s melody reminds me a tiny bit of the 12/14/08 Vassillios during part of this. It’s not the exact same, but a similar cadence and melody. Marc here feels like he’s again trying to do a bit too much, and frankly I think this jam would be better off if he were just limiting himself a little bit more. At 10:47, Magner develops a really neat theme, but he ditches it almost immediately. This is a shame as this felt like it had a lot of potential. He returns to a resonant saw wave and plays around with the resonance and LFO for a few bars. Around the 12-minute mark, they shift dramatically and the entire band locks in for a Billie Jean jam. Eh. The remainder of the jam (3 minutes or so) honestly sounds like they’re headed to Strobelights. I think they do a good job of slamming into Morph, but the jam itself leaves me wanting more. This jam felt like a lot of missed opportunity. There were basically three distinct sections of the jam (pre-Billie Jean, Billie Jean, and post-Billie Jean), and each section had potential but ultimately fizzled out. Home Again > Buddha looks great on paper, and the Home Again jam begins pretty solidly. Around the 6-minute mark, the ascending ARP that Magner has is absolutely awesome, and creates a psychedelic swirling effect that works great with Barber’s repetitive guitar line. This turns into a great mass of sound jam. Around the 11-minute mark, they shift uptempo and head toward Buddha ending. The jam gets weirdly “jammy,” including using Magner on piano, which is somewhat atypical for a jam so clearly headed for Buddha ending. I like the ending regardless. Overall, this was a very solid show. Clear highlight of the Boop 2 jam, but the rest was generally very solid.

Highlights: Pygmy, Overture, AC2B (1), Abyss, Boop (2**), Home Again*