November 17, 2017

best AC2B since Allen joined the band

This was a show I learned about pretty quickly into my discovery of tDB, but honestly it didn't really vibe with me upon first listen (to be fair, at that point I was more stuck on 1.0 sbds). After wading into the depths of the Set Break Period pretty intensively, I thought I'd revisit this one. It is indeed as great as everyone makes it out to be. It's still not a favorite of mine largely due to personal setlist preferences, but the playing is unbelievably tight and very light on dull patches.

I leave these reviews more as a personal listening log but I also don't wanna keep repeating all the same stuff Treemaculate says; I won't bother breaking this down jam by jam. The first set nudges out the second ever so slightly, as the first three songs are an immediate tour de force of high octane jamming. There are some moments Allen is so fast and precise you really do forget that's still a human behind a kit. AC2B occasionally breaks into some wankery, but the conclusion has to be one of the best landings they've stuck for a set ending sequence ever.

The second set is very good, but not as consistent. The fat slab of Helicopters that opens the set is probably the best of the bunch, which has a remarkable diversity of jam styles. At times it goes duntzgeon, other times Blissco. I swear I hear a faint Spraypaint tease in there when Magner gets the choir patch going. Magellan contains some of the second set's most exciting moments but also most of the unpolished. The transitions to/from composed sections to the jams can be a bit rough on the ears. However, once that vocoder jam takes flight all is forgiven. The end jam is pretty unremarkable by comparison, but how couldn't it be? Tricycle is always a great peak song, and this is no exception. However, this too becomes a little too hard of an act to follow and the last jam before returning to Helix is a little out of breath.

Although it didn't gel with me on first listen, it's probably the correct general instinct to recommend this show to someone moving from beginner to intermediate Biscuits knowledge. Great playing and great creativity, but I can't shake the feeling you need some context to appreciate it. I'm personally giving this show a 4.5 but I wouldn't fault anyone who calls this a straight 5.

Definitely my favorite 3.0 show. Short, monstrous setlist with heavenly long quality jams from opener to encore. Scary good, seemingly effortless. The sound on the 24bits is like fine champagne. I think this band is going places.

Strobelights comes out of the gate with a focused, uptempo jam. Brownstein and Magner do a great job of communicating here, and for the most part in the early portion of the jam, Barber smartly just gets out of the way and allows Magner to take the lead. Around the 10:20 mark, the band begins a new section of this improv, leaving the deep pocket of the first section for a more trance-centric theme. Allen’s heavy kick drum punctuates this section of music, and the band spends the first minute of this new segment building a foundation. When Allen drops in the clap on the 2 and 4 around the 11:30 mark, the band has settled into a great little groove. Around the 13:30 mark, they have developed this into a full on trance-death-march, complete with e-drum madness. There is some really cool stuff here. I’m generally not a huge fan of DNB jams by 2.0 and 3.0, but this one is different. The band’s focus here is deliberate, particularly from Magner. He has a series of synth leads that serve to push the band forward in an evolving way. Barber plays off of Brownstein in mostly interesting ways here. The jam out of Trucker’s Choice begins with a sort of downtempo blues/funk meets electronic funk. This is fairly compelling, largely because of the fantastic groove that Allen and Brownstein jointly lock into. Barber here is playing really well, and while this wouldn’t normally be the type of jam I’d enjoy, its efficacy is undeniable. Around the 12-minute mark they leave this slower jam in favor of an uptempo jam that is undeniably an AC2B intro jam from the very start. It’s not quite as egregious as some intro jams, but it’s clear that this is what Brownstein is playing from the second the house beat drops. This leads to a “techno” AC2B, which I’m always a fan of. The 1st jam in AC2B begins with Allen dropping a heavy e-kick once again. The band takes a while to settle into this one, but around the 6-minute mark they find a natural pocket. Magner plays arpeggios with a modulating cutoff that have a wonderful psychedelic effect for the upper registry, which explodes into a synth lead vaguely reminiscent of “I Can See Clearly Now the Rain is Gone” without feeling corny. Around 7:50 Allen drops the clap on 2 and 4, while filling with other e-drum sounds here and there. The band hastens with intention, and by the 8:30 mark, this is a full on trance jam that could head toward Crickets or Reactor without being a surprise. They develop a really nice Blissco theme that features some great harmonies from Magner and an excellent lead riff from Barber. This is the highlight of the night without a doubt. This jam culminates with an intense and triumphant peak. Interestingly the 2nd jam begins with an entirely antithetical feel. The band immediately gets into a dark, discordant jam that feels like a deliberate contrast to what’s come before it. Suddenly, and without warning, at the 16:30 mark they drop into a groove with a rhythmic arp that is somehow both jarring but appropriate at the same time. This works incredibly well, and Allen’s drumwork (including e-drums) here is fantastic. At 18:08 this shifts to another theme, an uptempo dance jam that again has its own distinctive themes, all solid. This portion is less rewarding than those that preceded it, but still very solid. Around the 22:33 mark they take things down and head toward the jammier sounding ending of AC2B. This is another Blissco-y theme, and they build the peak absolutely fantastically, with a very natural transition back into the AC2B ending theme. What a fantastic 27 minutes of music.

Helix begins with a solid dance groove. Barber focuses on minimal riffs, and he plays off Brownstein well here. They develop a fairly paint-by-numbers jam for the first several minutes, but at 10:10 they transition into a new theme. This is a little more subdued and has a dreamlike quality to it. By 12:40 this has coalesced into a very nice theme, with the band firing on all cylinders. At 13:15 they move on to another segment of improv, and nearly everything cuts out with the exception of whole notes from Brownstein and Barber and a measured, deliberate house beat from Allen. Magner provides a atmospheric pad to round out this transitional theme. Around the 16-minute mark, Magner brings in a rolling arpeggiated patch that seems to hint at progressing the piece forward. Allen’s drumbeat builds, subtly, with intensity. They continue to build this theme, and the tension they build in this jam is fantastic. They continue to press forward, giving the feel that they’re leading to something very specific. Sadly, they don’t stick this landing for me, and it feels like they sort of build to nothing. This was tension without release, and while I enjoyed it, I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as I could have. First Magellan jam is okay. The second jam begins with a dissonant piece with each instrument playing notes only to offset those played by the other musicians. Around 11:10, Barber comes up with this dark, playful little lick that has an almost mischievous quality. Allen is fantastic here, with an array of tomwork and e-drums (using bongo effects) that works in a major way. At 12:45, the band shifts directions a couple different times, and for a minute it feels like they’re just going to be directionless. However, just a minute later, Barber and Brownstein lock in for a nice little progression, and Magner plays around above them using his vocoder. They develop this into a trance jam with a very unique quality and feel to it. Despite the trance beat and vocoder, this is so distinctly still a Magellan jam, and that’s notable in and of itself. That said, this piece of really lovely and I can’t get enough of what an interesting vibe they manage to craft here. They develop this into a very natural peak into the Magellan riff, and manage to do so without an awkward transition. Majestic stuff. The third Magellan jam begins with the typical type 1 jam, but around 24:30, they branch out into type 2 territory and develop this spacey theme, featuring a great little riff from Barber. Magner has some really creative playing here with a kind of sine-square lead, and he plays around with resonance, making some cool noises along the way. Allen’s drumwork is perfectly fitting for this, and they develop a solid groove that kind of chunks along. Around the 28:30 mark, Barber dips into his “siren” sound effect, but here it works really, really well. This has such a weird quality to it that it stands out in a significant way. I’m not normally a fan of the siren, but here with Magner’s pads and Allen’s drums painting the soundscape in a different than normal way, it really works. They eventually leave this theme and head toward Tricycle. The Tricycle peak is fine. The jam out features Magner with a Habanera tease. Neat. The jam back into Helix is fairly unremarkable, but still not bad. If I had to grade this, I’d call it a B- or C+. If that’s the worst show of the night, you’ve just had a remarkable show. Caterpillar encore is fine. In 10 minutes they don’t have much time to craft a decent jam, but typically I don’t expect much from encores. This is again, forgettable, but who cares at this point.

Highlights: Strobelights, Overture, Truckers Choice, AC2B (1,2), Helix, Magellan (2,3)