(Download here – right click, ‘save file as’)
Break off a good 40 minutes of your day, lay down with a pair of headphones of the best speakers you have, maybe sit down to a meal, do something relaxing which will allow you to focus. Listen to this fucking jam. As suggested to us by DJ Wyllys himself, this ultra nasty yam slowly builds and works itself across the planet, buying from a wide variety of influences. Has a suggested pairing “with some indica”, this is definitely a defining jam for the boys. Wyllys recalled to us over Twitter how “The venue was gorgeous. Outdoor, open air natural amphitheater with pine trees wrapping the circumference. Lights off trees!” Where the fuck is Truckee, California? Near Reno and Carson City on the California/Nevada border. Absolutely gorgeous country. Trailing on the heels of the legendary Crystal Ballroom show the night before, this smoking California classic is one to experience. Hear the Kitchen tease right at the beginning? Just a hint of it, a touch of spice to taste. Bayliss vox a little rusty on the AUD, but that is to be expected of this time frame (when BB is still nailing down that angelic voice of his). Plunger is familiar, almost unchanged over its tenure, but is only a quick interlude, ushered in to a Spanish/Classic Rock sounding guitar alone. Gently joined by the rest of the band as they add emphasis to this almost “rustling western” tone breaks itself into a reverberating, wave. There is a ton of drive in the middle of this jam, Kris mastering the crash while Jake lays into some more “lingering” leads by Jake standards. Then, almost seamlessly, the band is right back into the Spanish influence that tickles on the edges of Plunger.
A chugging, thudding jam plods its way through Plunger, where performances from Farag and Kris add excellent build up – a bliss jam momentarily before backing into the plodding rock thump. Yes – all over the place, this jam goes from that thump to dance/spacey at the same time. A gorgeous, submarine jam ensues with large, ambient noise, laid back barely distorted guitars on gentle phases barefoot their way through this until a subtle hook begins to form an underlying layer. The apex is absolute goosebumps creating swirl of guitars, sound, piano uplifting joy. The type of thing that makes you feel like you could high five every stranger for blocks while jogging for miles. It demands your attention and trails perfectly into a gorgeous Joel break down.
You think it is over? It ain’t over until Umphrey’s says so. Once again into a Kitchen jam, the band only touches this motif lightly before Stasik lays down the fucking funk. The Kitchen itself is really weird, this strange jazz club lounge version. It is fast a strange and we enjoy every dancey weird minute of it. The harmonizing on the Rainbow Country is excellent and reminds us how heavily reggae played an influence in the Umphrey’s sound, traces of Thin Air obvious throughout. Anchor Drops and the end of Kitchen round out this insanity, making this almost 1 hour of continuous playing with no breaks, a testiment to the marathon that can be Umphrey’s McGee. Mind blown? Why don’t we play it again? Rage rest repeat.
The whole show was masterfully captured via AUD by Tye Furman, and can be found here. The UMLive can be found here.