whatido_formeforyou

morning teleportation - crystalline (live in salt lake city, utah, march 2011)

yesterday night i biked downtown to east austin to catch the 20th and final installment of exploded drawing @ north door, a weekly showcase of some of the best local beatmakers around. that was certainly enjoyable, let me just mention that — hobo d was spinning some records when i arrived; ‘ttv’ by telefon tel aviv, and then a slowed down version of flying lotus’s ‘massage situation,’ certainly a fine fine start to any evening. after his set, i drifted through some curtains into the nd @ 501 studios, one of the better venues on the east side, where i’ve seen flylo himself, deerhoof, plaid, eliot lipp, b. bravo & starship connection, robot koch, and plenty more. a band was setting up on stage and i was intrigued by the four organs i noticed in particular. they played some ambient chords for a while, aesthetically augmented by a theremin-like effect on one of the keyboards, and fog, lots of it. 

abruptly the band snapped into action, eventually settling into a sound that evoked a combination of maps & atlases (indie prog/math rock kind of feel), the heavy pets (ft. lauderdale jam band well-versed in numerous genres, from jazz to bluegrass, and masters at switching between them), and zoogma (funky livetronica). i also heard some beach boys vintage surf rock every now and then. what was clear was that each of morning teleportation’s tunes contained 5 or so sub-songs, different sections that functioned with a unique melody, chord structure, backing rhythm, or tempo, and i was digging their approach immediately. the transitions, always key within live music, but within technically challenging jam band music in particular, were handled with confidence that attested to the group’s many years behind them of performing and recording together. their music was perpetually fresh, distinct from pretty much anything else, and thoroughly engaging. i noticed at the merch stand that they’re playing a set at enchanted forest/rothbury this summer. so this group turned out to be a pretty big name, commanding a ten dollar cover at the front door (the entrance opposite the one i used) — they’ve performed on letterman, got signed to a record label by isaac brock of modest mouse….basically, i got lucky as fuck last night. much like this and many of the other youtube videos available, half the people at the show were singing along and feverishly dancing. didn’t bring my camera, but i’ll surely find material to post on here. they were a marvel to catch live, definitely one of the best jam/otherwise bands i’ve discovered in a long time, and a great example of the occasionally extraordinary benefits of curious ambition. 

here’s another video of the same track, performed in austin the year before. the audio might be better on that one, once you turn up the quality? doesn’t really matter, i suppose.