Trampled by Turtles: Stars and Satellites

I've had a bad case of cabin fever this winter.  I itch to set out on the road with some hiking boots, my acoustic guitar, and a friend or two.  A week of adventure and meditation sounds like a far better idea than taking my upcoming final exams.

These are thoughts of the girl who has been trapped in science labs all semester.

Lucky for me, Stars and Satellites, the new album from the progressive bluegrass group Trampled by Turtles, provides me a brief mental getaway from the drudgery fun that is memorizing dozens of chemical reactions.

But seriously.  Stars and Satellites can whisk you away from the sidewalk and bring you deep into the mountains.  There is an artful blend of a quiet, intimate dynamic and an energetic, orchestral quality to the music, sometimes even in the same track.

The second track on the album, Alone, exemplifies this quality.  The elevation and transformation of sound that the music undergoes in this track is both uplifting and beautiful.

And exquisite, delicate beauty, while not always closely associated with bluegrass genre, is thoroughly present in this album.

Trampled by Turtles is an expert in evocation.  The opening track, Midnight on the Interstate, has a country charm that suggests a starry and cool summer night, while other tracks such as Beautiful, evoke intimate, personal sentiments.

There is also a fair share of energized, bouncy bluegrass tracks that will have you bobbing your head along to the banjo.  Risk, an instrumental, and Sorry, a song that has a nice juxtaposition between sassy lyrics about a muddled and morbid love affair and a fun, bouncy tune.  Other tracks of note are Walt Whitman and Widower's Heart.

Although I am becoming a scientist, listening to this album makes me want to trade in my Bunson Burner for a banjo.

Elizabeth

Phish 31 December 2011 at Madison Square Garden, NYC

MSG was teeming with excitement before the show, with wild costumes and glitter galore.  Although this was the first New Year's Eve show I would be spending with Phish, it marked my 25th Phish concert.

The lights went down and the band launched into AC/DC Bag - a usual starter for what I hoped would be an unusual show.  Trey showed us an intelligible jam that was precise and exciting.  The opening chords to Wolfman's Brother cut persuasively through the remnants of the jam and reeled the band back in tightly.

I had been hoping to hear Scent of a Mule all weekend, and on Saturday I finally got my wish.  Not only is it structurally complex and a high-energy number, but it's the only country song I know that has laser beams in it.  Who could ask for more?

Page took advantage of the opportunity to roam the stage during Lawn Boy to punt some of the stray balloons on stage back into the audience.  After the slowed-down breather, the band went into the danceable Gotta Jibboo.  I always love a good Jibboo, and this was no exception.  Although it was about a half-hour into the set, this was the first jam that really set in for me.  This is a song that showcases how the band creates a cohesive sound when they jam, but each member improvises simultaneously.

Farmhouse and Pebbles and Marbles were both first times for me, which speaks to the band's large repetoire.  Pebbles and Marbles was definitely a highlight of the show.  I love the song itself, and it was played especially well.  In fact, it's been on repeat in my head and my iTunes since the show.

The Ocelot that followed, however, has not.  It was good as far as Ocelots go, but it's never been my favorite song.  (To their credit, baby ocelots are probably the cutest thing ever.)

A flawless Fluffhead capped off the set.  Note the Auld Lang Syne tease from Trey:

Phish - 12/31/11 "Fluffhead" from Phish on Vimeo.

The second set began appropriately with Party Time.  The muddled guitar during the outro contrasted nicely with the clear opening chords to Light.  This jam has recieved attention and praise, and I have to agree - there's some cool musical exploration going on.  After the typical type 1 jam is exhausted, the bass slides into this hypnotic chromatic trance, unlike the clean-cut structure of the song.  All of a sudden it's modulated and moody, as if we slipped into another dimension of the song.  Definitely cool.

The transition from Light to Golden Age seemed jumbled and unnatural.  It definitely seemed like Trey fought hard to start it up, and the rest of the band had to scramble to arrange themselves around him.  Once the song got going, I had no complaints.  Page was the starring soloist during the jam, which he turned into a funkfest for a few brief moments.  Truth be told, my favorite version of Golden Age is its debut back from Albany in '09.

I had high hopes when Mike started plunking out Ghost, but they never really came to fruition.  It was tasty, but kind of quick and not anything mind-blowingly special like last year's NYE Ghost.  I had the opportunity to sit down at the Live Phish tent during SBIX and mess with the mix.  By the end of the weekend, I was practically an expert.

A hot Sneakin' Sally and 46 Days promptly made up for my residual dissapointment left from Ghost.  During Sally, Trey and Mike sang along to their instrumental solos, which is reminiscent of what traditional jazz musicians do.  They can improvise and accompany themselves with their voice - the assumption being that they are so intimately attune to music and their instrument that they already know what they are improvising will sound like before they play it.  Wild.

During the 46 Days solo, the energy that pulsated through the crowd caught my attention.  Perched in first row of the 300's behind the stage, I had a nice view of everyone in the Garden dancing and enjoying the music... practically in unison.  It was a surreal moment and definitely one of the highlights from the show.  A fun, raucus Suzy Greenburg finished the set.

The band began the third set with a big sing-along with Cavern before getting to the real meat of the set: Steam>Auld Lang Syne>Down With Disease.  The theme of the new year's prank was objects and people floating away - like steam.  This was also the first instance that I paid any attention to the lyrics and found them to be a little disturbing.  The funkiness of the music offsets them, but anything about murder and wolves and bones hissing into oil is a little creepy.

After a high-pitched countdown to 2012, the band launched into a tricked-out version of Auld Lang Syne.  We've seen some DWD magic in the past year, and so far, 2012 has continued the streak.  At less than twelve minutes, it had time to develop musical ideas and linger on some sweet spots.

Velvet Sea provided an introspective moment after 3+ hours of music.  I love how this song needs so little to be powerful.  It gave us all a minute to cool down, rest our dancing shoes and reflect on how awesome 2012 will be.  At one point Trey kind of tripped through First Tube for a painful minute but then adjusted his key and kept on truckin'.  The rest of the song was right on.

Slave to the Traffic Light was the encore and a gentle, dreamlike ending to the show.  While I'm sure most of us didn't float off to sleep after we left MSG, the setlist built a nice arc that coud have sent me there.

Despite the rumors that Phish won't tour as much in 2012, I can't help but hope to hear lots more of the band in the upcoming year.  After a four-night run like this, who couldn't?

See you guys on the road.

Phish 29 Dec 2011 at Madison Square Garden, NYC

Wow.

The first set opened appropriately with The Sloth, which has become my own personal theme song this vacation.  The Sloth was a welcome set opener, but not a big surprise.  The following YEM, however, was a bit unexpected.  It was especially fun when Trey and Mike bounced around on their trampolines to face the back of the stadium.  We waved like crazy.  There was a nice bass breakdown that led into the vocal jam.

After a rockin' Back on the Train, Page brought in the organ for Moma Dance.

An awesome and electric Maze, Roses are Free, and Halley's Comet were packed into the set before a concluding Antelope.  It made me think of the version at Super Ball IX when Trey brought up the winners of the Runaway Jim road race (full name: The 101st Running of the First Annual Runaway Jim 5k Road Race).  It was hot as blazes that Saturday, and running a 5k on a broiling pavement NASCAR racetrack may not have been my brightest idea.  Thinking about it makes me shudder... but that might just be because I'm in sloth mode.

Crosseyed & Painless opened the second set.  They pulled the same move during the 1-1-11 show too, but I didin't even mind.

Lifeboy was a real treat to hear live, and provided an introspective moment for us all to cool down after Simple.


The real highlight of the second set (and the show, for that matter) was Mike's Song>Chalkdust Torture>I am Hydrogen>Weekapaug Groove.  That was the jam that kept on giving.

Hydrogen first sounded like a well-placed tease during Chalkdust, but the band artfully eased into the slowed-down tune in a purposeful way.

Loving Cup capped off a great show.  These were the boys that I remembered seeing at Superball.  Wednesday night's show seemed to be played by a totally different band in comparison.

After last night, it's killing me to have to wait another 30 hours for the new year's show.  Maybe I'll pass the time at the Garden.
See you tonight!

Phish 28 December 2011 at Madison Square Garden, NYC

Phish returned to the Garden last night to capitalize on the week virtually everyone has off (and to rock our socks off).  I hung out in the 300's section, but managed to snap a few good photos while suffering from murky sound quality:

In the interest of time, I've included a few of my notes from last night next to the setlist.

Set 1
Awesome glowstick war started when the band walked on stage and the lights went out.  It was fun to surprise them when they're usually the ones entertaining us.
Free - a great way to open a four-night run at Madison Square Garden.  Appropriately epic.
Glide> - I'm glad, glad, glad they played this one.
Possum - Trey kind of snuck into this Possum.  The band overdid this song over the summer, but I was glad to hear it last night.
Cities - always a bouncy and fun sing-along.
Curtis Loew
Stash - fun but really short.
Contact> - I loved this one.  My favorite out of the set.  I love the solo section before the last verse that totally gets into a down and dirty funk.
Sample
Kill Devil Falls
Bathtub Gin

Set 2
Birds of a Feather - interesting set opener.  Got me thinking that the entire show had sort of an offbeat song selection, which I liked.  There definitely wasn't much filler - every song felt purposeful.
Tweezer 
My Friend My Friend
Rock and Roll - a welcome change of pace after the creepy MFMF.  The crowd ate this one up.
NICU
Bouncing 'Round the Room - I heard some others complaining about how Boncing sort of slowed down the set, but I got into it.
Harry Hood - I love a good Hood.
Bug - kind of a let down after a great Hood.  They killed this one at SBIX, but didn't quite bring Bug up to that level again this time.

Encore - the most fun I had all night.  After a so-so show, the encore made up for it in song selection and energy.
Tube
Rocky Top
Tweezer Reprise

See you tonight!
Elizabeth

Mike Gordon Band at the Calvin 12/10/11 (Northampton, MA)

One of the major perks of kicking around Northampton for the majority of the year is all the stellar musicians who come to play.  To my delight, Mike Gordon came to town this weekend as part of his band's five-date 2011 fall tour.

The band began the first set with Dig Further Down, a tune off the 2008 album The Green Sparrow.  Scott Murawski broke a guitar string as the song began, which led to an impromptu jam session after the first chorus while he quickly worked to replace it.

I managed to snag a spot on the rail for the night, and recognized the difference in standing five hundred feet away from the musicians and five.  I quickly realized how much fun the band was having while they were delivering an incredible show.  I got to see the eye contact they shared, the motions Mike made them to solo, and the silly faces they made at each other.  It was definitely an experience different from standing on the lawn at a Phish show. 

Of course, Mike wouldn't put his name on anything that didn't contain at least one absurdist moment.  At the beginning of Meat, he tapped his iPhone a few times and big pink letters slowly moved across the screen.  Discreetly, he propped it up against one of his amps until an entire sentence had flashed by: This song is backwards.  He read it, nodded, and began.  It seemed semi-ritualistic, like it was something that needed to be done before the song began to establish an ambiance.

And with that, the slow, funked out tune began.  During the jam that proceeded after the first few verses, each member of the band took a little time to show off.  The real magic happened during a face-off between Scott and Mike.  With each line, the pair built off of each other's ideas to create a sound and theme that was spontaneous and satisfactory.  The song wound down shortly afterward with a percussion solo.  

Andleman's Yard, another track off the Green Sparrow, provided a moment of clarity and confusion to me.  Mike and Murawski locked into different grooves with distinct time signatures, in effect creating a sound that was both hypnotic and engaging.  I attempted to study the music that flowed around me in an effort to capture the element of the sound that that I found so intriguing. 

Green laser beams erupted from a tiny black sphere that Mike carefully placed on the amplifier behind him before the beginning of Barika, an upbeat and instrumental song that sounded like a trip to the islands.  Craig Myers, the percussionist, played the fundamental melody with a Kamel N'goni, a traditional harp instrument from Mali.  The other members of the band enhanced what he was playing by emphasizing certain beats and soloing over the base of sound he provided.  It was totally unpredictable, fun, and one of the best songs of the night.

More fun and shades of Page McConnell emerged when The Band's arrangement Don't Do It began.  The keyboardist, Tom Cleary took vocals and led the band through a rockin' rendition of the classic tune.

I grinned with delight when I heard the opening notes of the Beltless Buckler, a track from Mike's 2003 album, Inside In (one of my favorite albums ever).  It was a treat to hear the band bring new life into the studio version that I had coded into my memory so well.  During the last chorus, certain beats slammed through the floor and into the soles of my boots.  


Soulfood Man, another Inside In tune, ended the ninety-minute set.  I saw Mike motion and smile to Tom Cleary, the keyboardist, and initiate a musical exchange in which they were able to take the energy and intensity of the music up, and played off that for the rest of the song.

Couch Lady began the second set.  It seemed like the bass and guitar took the lead at once, while both of their lines complimented and grounded each other.  The element of uniqueness that is incorporated into the music is what has me hooked.  The guitarist is not the star of these songs - unlikely combinations of instruments, time signatures, and modes keeps them going.  And I love it.

Jones, a funky Max Creek song, was led by Scott Murawski and flowed through Down to the Nightclub and into a highly-energized rendition of Can't Stand Still.  Spontaneous jumping by various members of the band emphasized the theme of the song - quite literally. 

I tweeted earlier this week about how I think my middle school Aerosmith phase has come out of remission, and have subsequently spent my time rocking out (and wishing I were Alicia Silverstone).  Mike did his best Steven Tyler impression during Jones by belting a line from the chorus of Last Child a few times during the jam.  It felt spontaneous, inspired, and semi-freaky.

A cool-down session began with What Things Seem, my favorite track off of Moss, the band's latest solo album.  Mike's ambiental reckonings and steady bassline contrasted nicely with the psychadelic shredding via Murawski.  A deconstructive jam happened somewhat abruptly in the middle of the song, beginning with a sweet sliiide up the neck of the bass.  After a few poignant moments of exploration had been reached, Mike laid on a restorative lick and launched back into the verse.  

Another Door ended the set on an improvisational note.  Mike picked up a tamborine, shook it around for a second, and handed it to an unsuspecting Scott.  Mike grinned at him and nodded, as if it were encouragement to go with it.  Eventually, he locked into a steady and colorful beat while Mike played around with a small electronic box that he had been playing around with all night.  It seemed like it responded to touch, so he would jab at it in weird rhythmic patterns, which would somehow end up in the mix of sound projected to the audience.  Cool magic technology.

When the band came back onstage for a highly-demanded encore, Mike asked the audience: "Do you guys want to hear a jazzy tune or to continue the funk?" After getting an overwhelming demand for more funk, they launched into C+C Music Factory's Things That Make You Go Hmmm...  The retro beats had everybody gettin' jiggy with it as Craig rapped the verses and Mike sang the choruses.

The band laid their instruments down after four unabashed hours of musical development and took well-deserved bows.  As they were leaving the stage, members of the crowd called out to Mike that they would see him at Madison Square Garden in a few weeks and couldn't wait.  Neither can I.