April 19, 2018

Caterpillar begins with the usual midtempo dance jam. This has a nice groove to it, and Magner messes around using the Rhodes-y patch for textural effect during the middle portions of this jam as they increase in speed. This is just okay. Prior to Aquatic Ape, they play the Miracles progression. I think this should probably be noted as a fakeout. Ape begins with a downtempo jam, and Brownstein fixates on a nice little bassline. This is pretty simple, but it has a really nice swagger to it. This turns into a swirling ball of psychedelia before breaking down to nothing around 13:30. What results is a happy little jam that almost is too obviously headed for Safety Dance from the beginning. That said, this is a pretty little ditty that I like a lot. This is Blissco, and it feels great, particularly Barber’s guitar lines here. I actually think this stretches way too long but I don’t really care. Like at all. The jam out of Safety Dance has some really nice work from Magner. The arps he plays have this choppy, rhythmic playfulness to them, and Barber/Brownstein are locked in with one another. This builds really solidly into the Caterpillar ending once they speed up. This is why I listen to the Biscuits. This isn’t best ever by any means, but the band is just absolutely locked in to this great dance pocket that’s almost impossible to get out of. Like you wouldn’t really care if they stayed in this jam forever, in a way. Fiddler is such a great song. So pretty, and this is a solid, if mostly standard. I'll count this as a jam for scoring purposes, but only just barely.

Shimmy is largely forgettable. At 17:29, Brownstein drops the ole’ standby, I-VII-VI-VII, which always sounds so, so good. Magner and Barber play their roles phenomenally here. If the preceding 10 minutes of this jam had even been mediocre I’d be listing this as a highlight, but it is worth listening to the last 2 minutes of the Shimmy track. The Rock Candy has some nice phrasing from Barber, but unfortunately the rest of the band never seems to really come together. The first few minutes of PBR are strictly type 1 jamming, but around the 12-minute mark they drop a four-on-the-floor beat and begin what initially sounds like a SITA jam. They develop this really nicely, and this is almost more Blissco! Spy is standard. Home Again is solid, if forgettable. Magner has a few portions that I really like, but ultimately this is a little too aimless for me to want to relisten.

Highlights: Ape*, Safety Dance*, PBR*