Review: M80 Dubstation, Conspirator, Ginger Kids & Tractorbeam (aka Disco Biscuits)
M80 Dub Station, Conspirator, Ginger Kids & Tractorbeam @ Mishawaka Ampitheater, Sept. 18
Words: Alexander Wolff
Photos: Jason Woodside
There is something inherently cool about having a ticket to a Conspirator show and finding out that the Disco Biscuits are playing. See, the kids wanted Tractorbeam – an instrumental version of tDB. Between Allen Aucoin’s robotic drumming extremities being at a family reunion back East, not to mention the fact that it wasn’t even billed as a Biscuits show, it just wasn’t in the cards. Well, the demand was high and the strings were pulled, and in the end, it was indeed Tractorbeam the kids would get.
Jon “The Barber” Gutwillig’s push-and-play dubstep outfit M80 Dubstation came off as self-indulgent and sounded abrasive, but in the very least he was having fun. Conspirator played a better show with Adam Deitch on Thursday at Cervante’s, and the Ginger Kids experimental brand of break beat club bangers didn’t do all that much for this restless crowd. The party was set to go off though, and seeing as this may be the Mishawaka Amphitheater’s last great stand it feels in a lot of ways like a bash for the end of the world.
By far the best part of this non-stop, two-hour set was that instead of playing the songs that have come to be expected from Tractorbeam shows, the Biscuits flipped the script, rearranging songs that span mostly from the last seven or eight years of new music for this uncommon all-instrumental performance. Bombs, On Time, Portal To An Empty Head, Feeling Twisted and Neck Romancer are all songs that have showed up in the last year, and Tricycle is the oldest song performed having been debuted in 2000. They kept it fresh, and certainly took risks all night.
READ ON for more of Alex’s thoughts and Jason’s photos…
