Red Square, Albany, NY - 3/4/06 - CAUTION, Long Review

[hoby]

The Slip @ Red Square, Albany, NY – 3/4/06

Intro jam with Brad’s extended ¼” plug solo>
Airplane/Primitive *
Even Rats
Mudslide
Vesuvius Fountains **
I Hate Love
Soft Machine
Wolof @ >
The Shouters
Children of December
Sleepy Head
Before You Was Born
As Long As There’s One of Us Still Standing
Poor Boy

* new tune-tentative title
** 2nd time played-tentative title
@ w/percussion jam with members of other bands


I don’t even know where to begin. If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you know I can get somewhat, um, involved. That tendency might be somewhat curbed this time out because BAM pretty much destroyed my frontal lobes last night, so my higher thought functions are running on ¼ impulse power. But I’ll do the best I can while Scotty cross-circuits to B, or something.

Anyway, another new venue, another teeny, tiny stage. Every time I think I’ve seen them cram onto the smallest possible space, the next stage seems even smaller. Truth be told, this one probably isn’t as small as Savannah’s. The space has low ceilings and brick walls, so Sam was contending with lots of rambunctious low end. The stage is a small step above the floor so sight lines are tough unless you’re tall or close to the stage where the spot lights bake you to a delicate crunch. I was able to find a comfortable space to the side of the stage, behind Andrew.

Got to talk to all four of the lads (BAM + Sam) before the show and everyone seemed happy, healthy, and eager to play. The northern wilds of Montreal would appear to be agreeing with the brothers Barr.

The introductory jam piece was absolutely wonderful. Andrew started things off by triggering some interlocking patterns on his drum pad and then weaving in and around them on his kit, transforming what could be robotic drumbox stuff into a complex bed of time division. Marc laid down chords on the black strat and added bass via his pedals while Brad played an extended solo on the ¼” plug from his guitar cable, feeding it through his EH box (heard some Fuji-type modulation going on there) and a delay, at least. I can’t begin to describe how cool this was to watch and hear. I’d seen him do this at Pearl Street a while back, but he has obviously mastered this “instrument” since then.

This lead into the first of several new (for me) tunes: Airplane/Primitive. The title is still tentative. Upbeat, dueling chording from Brad and Marc (still on the Strat and midi pedals). This one is an instrumental for 90% of its length and then ends with some vocals from Brad. Sorry I can’t tell you much more than that. I was enjoying it too much to take notes. (That happened a lot last night.)

Next came Even Rats (great as always), a discussion of the song’s appearance in the game Guitar Hero on PS2, and a hyperspeed tease of Sorry from Marc in response to the insistent requests from the front row.

After a little more relaxed banter and breath catching, Brad started the next journey off with a deep reverse delay solo with Andrew answering with synth tones from his drum pad. This slid into a heavy Mudslide; slowed down a little and heavier than versions from its first time in rotation, with Brad singing in a lower register which suited the song quite well. I remember Brad saying he wasn’t too happy with this tune and soon after that it was retired, but this is a nice comeback.

Next was another new one: Vesuvius Fountains (another tentative title.) This was only the second time they had played this Brad vocal number. From what I remember, I would say it leans towards the slow ballad end of the spectrum. If it helps anyone else identify it, it contains the line “my most secluded place.”

This was followed by I Hate Love. I love this song. It encompasses everything I think is great about the Nathan/Slip collaboration. They played this when I took my buddy to see them for the first time and he described it as “Van Morrison fronts Radiohead.”

After another breath-catching, Brad suggested Soft Machine. Marc’s reaction appeared to be not entirely enthusiastic, causing Brad to ask “Too soon?” but the decision was made to go ahead. Part of why I have always loved this tune is because of all the different ways they get to it. This time around, we started with Andrew going berserk. It was awesome to behold. It reminded me of a cross between Coltrane’s Drum Thing and the cataclysmic explosion of a planet’s core. Or something like that. Brad and Marc responded by playing these lightly dancing chim-ey figures on guitar and Danelectro bass (capo-ed all the way up on the neck), respectively. And then, via some powerfully tight strumming, we slid into the Soft machine. Yum.

Another pause and Marc starts playing a tight percolating bass figure that forms the basis of a tune I know intimately and yet cannot name. This is incredibly frustrating. I have heard this tune so often live and on disc, there’s no way I cannot know what it is. It’s not until later that Brad reminds me, playfully aghast, that I’ve forgotten Wolof. At the time, though, no title comes to mind. Anyway, Marc is playing this line and Andrew starts messing with the time; speeding up, slowing down, turning it upside down and inside out. Then he reaches over his monitor wedge and fires up his Time Tapper. Yes, that’s what it’s called, printed right on the top panel. This thing is a riot. It’s basically the rhythm accompaniment module form one of those big-ass home organs, in its own faux wooden cabinet. Press the rocker buttons and get instant cheesy rhythms including “rock”, “samba”, “waltz”, etc. So anyway, he fires that thing up, picks a rhythm style, and starts messing with its tempo knob. All the while, Marc is gamely holding on, tweaking and turning the bass figure in response to what Andrew is doing. Around this point, members of the other bands on the bill (Sam Champion and Apollo Sunshine) rummage through Andrew’s suitcase of perc noisemakers, pull out their favored weapons, and step up on stage. A fun perc jam ensues, with Marc finally just stopping to watch. After a sufficient amount of banging and shaking of things has taken place, Marc restarts the Wolof line and off we go. It was Wolof, it was hot, and it kept getting turned up a notch. ‘Nuff said.

Wolof winds down into a beautiful space of radar pings and satellite blips (courtesy of Brad and Marc playing harmonics and hiiiigh up on their necks), a soft, quiet place that slowly became the Shouters. This song moves me deeply. It is such a powerful thing, especially at this time in our nation’s history. If you’ve heard the tune, you know what I mean. On the gear geek side, Brad’s guitar wasn’t sustaining quite as much as he needed, so instead of being able to just finger a chord and have it ring for as long as he needed, he would sometimes need to strum, which he did with the head of the handheld SM58 he was singing into. Helluva guitar pick.

Another pause and then: Children of December. A typically raucous, fun rendition, made all the more interesting by Andrew’s stylistic nods to the continuous rolling tom-tom fills of Keith Moon. I asked him afterwards if he’d been listening to old Who records, and he replied that he has been thinking about Moonie quite a bit lately. Our man Andrew is probably one of the few living humans who can pull that off without it sounding like he’s TRYING to be Keith Moon.

The set closed with another new one for me, Sleepy Head – another beautiful Nathan/Slip tune - all finger-picking and Americana.

3 separate encores this night – The first was Before You Was Born, a song that will always have a warm place in my heart because it’s my wife’s favorite tune. This one was mellow and jazzy, with Brad laying down sweet leads on his Gibson and Marc firing off one of his trademark 12 fingered solos.

Next came As Long As There’s One of Us Still Standing – a classic Nathan Moore Dylan-esque anthem calling us all out to the barricades one more time.

Finally, Poor Boy. I guess at this point you could call it a Slip standard and this one featured the classic swampy moanin’ slide blues intro from Brad.

(Somewhere in the latter part of the show, Marc was playing a fine solo with an electronic toy, which he held up to the pickups on his white bass. I can picture the scene quite clearly, but cannot remember which song it was part of.)

So that’s what happened in Albany. I didn’t see any tapers there and that’s a cryin’ shame.

I thought this show was a great, great representation of what this band is about. Comfortably mixing the familiar with the new and stretching it all every which way with nod to their influences and a spirit of adventure while constantly searching for THE sound.

<beating dead horse>
I know it’s all subjective and everyone is entitled to like what they like, but if you’re not enjoying what the Slip are playing right now, it’s nobody’s “fault” but yours. Notice, please the quotation marks. There is not literally fault involved, but I don’t think you can point at the band if you’re not digging what they’re doing. They are artists doing what true artists MUST do: laying themselves out there every night, courting the muse and going where she leads them. Either their journey calls to you also or it doesn’t.
</beating dead horse>

Me? I think they’re the bees’ knees! The cat’s pajamas! They leave me flummoxed and flabbergasted. In my book, they maketh the blind to see and the lame to walk. Us boys don’t know, but the little girls understand. Blah, blah, woof, woof. You know what I mean, jelly bean.

hoby

[bouche]

nice read. I wish I could have left my life for a few days to catch all of the shows after Montreal. The Slip are completely on their game and I'm not sure how long it'll take for the rest of the world to catch on.

[tim]

wow...that's probably the best review i've read at either here or graffiti.

[lumpy]

Thanks for the review. It's usually hard for me to be excited about shows on the other side of the country - but right now it's better that they're not playing California, because I have too much work and not enough money to hit the shows.

I hope some more recordings surface, it's such a treat to listen to how they (the band, the songs, the tour) evolve.

[diesel]

well, if we dont have a recording, we could always just read hoby's reviews. awesome, thanks.

[JEFFfromNC]

Very Nice!!!!
Thanks for taking the time to share!!!

[Phrazz]

Hoby, you are a raconteur extraordinaire and your extensive knowledge of Slip songs as well as music in general, along with an amazing ability to pay attention, nice interjection of humor and obvious ability to take detailed notes puts you in a category by yourself. You could give lessons to the Jambase kids, and have a future in the industry as a writer. I think you should drop Jann Wenner a line.

Phrazz

[hoby]

Thank you one and all for your kind words. It makes me feel good, truly.

Hoby, you are a raconteur extraordinaire and your extensive knowledge of Slip songs as well as music in general, along with an amazing ability to pay attention, nice interjection of humor and obvious ability to take detailed notes puts you in a category by yourself. You could give lessons to the Jambase kids, and have a future in the industry as a writer. I think you should drop Jann Wenner a line.
Phrazz

Phrazz, my friend, coming from you that is a compliment of the highest order, since I derive so much enjoyment from your breadth of knowledge on so many topics and use of the language to express the resulting thoughts.

[GROUP HUG!! ]

I was approached after Saturday's show by a nice young woman who was planning to review the show for Jambase, asking for details that I was all too happy to give. l also told her to look for my review here. Don't know what will come of that.

Wenner, huh? Don't know that he'd be interested in what I have to say. Do they cover the Slip?

I did get a phone call about 25 years ago from the Editor of Musician Magazine. (Anyone else old enough to remember that one? Great, great mag.) He was calling in response to a letter I'd written, asking me to write some more, but alas, I was too unsure of myself to follow up. One of MANY instances where my self-doubt kept me from an exciting path.

Anyway, thanks again everyone for reading and for the feedback. As a service to the community, I'd be thrilled to quit my jobs and accept the position of band scribe; traveling to and documenting all shows for those who can't be there.

The question is: Are there grants available for such things?

Peace,

hoby