November 23, 2018

Talk about a tale of two sets! The first set created some high expectations. The 7-11 is pretty good, although Barber doesn't always sound engaged. As it approaches Above the Waves (nugs has it listed as just Waves, lol), things really start to shape up. Magner and Allen shore up an energy field of electronics for Barber to plot some languorous licks over. This Waves has everything. There's even a significant amount of embellishment on the composed parts that made me smile. The jam wastes no time in immediately slowing down, which often (especially in this period of Biscuits history) is not a good omen. Yet, here it is. Magner's pad washes and Brownie's assertive steering keep Barber on task for the dubbier portion of the jam, until they break into a passage a little too bittersweet to call Blissco. Barber wrings out some pure poetry here. Brownie initiates the transition into Minions maybe a little too soon (and everyone else seems to be resisting him for a good minute), but Minions is pretty solid in its own right. The Minions jam sounds more like the midtempo funk one would expect from Story of the World, which probably explains why the SOTW from Set 2 sounds so uninspired. Here, it works. Voices is pretty textbook, but it provides a little shot of energy into what has otherwise been a fairly subdued (if well crafted) set.

The second set, I really can't recommend. A shame, since it looked promising on paper. At best, it's anonymous (I-Man). At worst, it's sloppy and plodding (Cydonia onward). I'm glad they seemed to have shelved the Muse cover, because it always sounded forced. I usually like a good mid-tempo SOTW jam when well-placed, but the one here is anemic. It sounds like Brownie is the only one who is really trying to make the whole thing work.

Kind of a bummer to have such a limp second set, but these things happen for whatever reason. I still say the first set, especially the Waves, demands a good listen.

7-11 “Towel” jam is mostly filler here. Second 7-11 jam has at least a few minutes that I genuinely enjoy, especially the two-chord section around the 19-minute mark. The note choice from Barber here is wonderful (for the most part) even if his tone is occasionally garbage, and Magner’s contributions are really fantastic. The Waves jam turns into a dub jam around the 17-minute mark. I think dub jams have a tendency to turn into a lot of the same sounding stuff, but this one is a little different. Barber has some really nice lead riffs, and Magner plays off him really nicely as well. By the 20-minute mark, they’ve shifted uptempo and land on some really nice Blissco stuff. This is great. Minions is mostly filler here. Voices is standard to close the set.

Sweating Bullets is standard to start the set. Resurrection is long and pretty uninteresting until they near the I-Man transition. There’s not a lot here that hooked me. At one portion, Magner started using the plucky arpeggiated patch, which usually draws me in. However, the surrounding music was so blasé that I didn’t even really care here. The first I-Man jam is the usual type 1 fare, but I actually really enjoy this. Barber hits a fantastic groove with his riff here. Cydonia is (sadly) very boring as far as the jam goes, and the Story jam is the usual “funk” tripe. Garbage way to end the show, followed by a jamless WIS.

Highlights: 7-11*, Waves*, I-Man (1)