December 12, 2018

On Time is absolutely boring to start. The first several minutes of Vassillios are boring, paint by numbers jamming. However, at 10:45 the band switches to a major key and the next few minutes are really nice. This is a neat Blissco jam, even if it doesn’t last nearly long enough. After a few minutes, they switch back to a minor key and head toward Air Song. Air Song and both jams in Astronaut are all equally forgettable. Jigsaw’s first jam is relatively short and nothing all that novel. The second jam begins with a nice, upbeat theme from Brownstein and Barber. Unfortunately this is relatively short-lived. Fortunately, the drum solo is (relatively) short.

Let’s Dance has a dance jam for the first 10 minutes or so, then turns into some Brownstein slap bass for a few minutes, then back to a dance jam for the last few minutes pre-Kamaole. None of this moved me in any meaningful way. Kamaole’s jam turns into a decent dance jam. This isn’t breaking any molds, but I don’t mind it either. The Bionic Helix jam is fine, and the transition to Papercut is nice. The jam out of Papercut develops such a solid groove, and Barber here is really sublime. This is firmly inside the box, but I love it nonetheless.

Highlights: Vass**, Papercut*