December 11, 2019

Magellan is fine. Kamaole starts off a little too vanilla for my liking, but it develops into something wonderful. They build a patient jam that works out so well, and it’s fantastic. They botch the peak a little bit, but who cares? 42 gets digital and weird in a great way. The Rock Candy jam, similarly, has a great electronic sound and Barber hits such a fantastic pocket at parts. A real head-bobbing jam, though as it gets closer to the comeback to 42 I found my interest waning. HDPF > Gangster > Tractorbeam > HDPF really has only one highlight for me, which is the pre-Tractorbeam jam out of Gangster (including the ambient section). There was a lot of potential after the switch from 3/4 to 4/4 in the HDPF > Gangster jam. Around the 18-minute mark, Magner hits this beautifully sinister melody that he for some reason drops almost instantly. What the fuck, Magner? The Gangster composed portion is not quite my tempo. A little too slow and feels like it should be bumped up 5-10 BPM. The Gangster > HDPF (or Tractorbeam > HDPF) is fine, but there were parts that felt it was leading to something really cool. Missed opportunity. The Helix and Spectacle are fine, but nothing noteworthy.

Highlights: Kamaole*, 42*, Rock Candy, Gangster