Wandered into the Preservation Pub sort of randomly late Friday and caught the latter chunk of a really good set by Asheville's Discordian Society. Yes they're a jam band or a groove band or whatever, but they actually really jam and groove. My problem with a lot of post-Dead groove stuff is that the noodliness tends to extend to the rhythm sections and the song structures generally. The great first-wave jam bands (thinking not just of the Dead, but Country Joe, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Fort Mudge Memorial Dump) were built on mad R&B vamps and tight turns that provided the fuel for the spaces in between, which could be filled in by guitars or organs or whatever. The Discordian guys are much more in the mold of those bands than they are like Widespread Panic or whatever jam band it was that made you decide you hate jam bands. They're deliberately silly in the manner of a lot of classic psychedelia, but the precision of their playing belies the good-time goofball vibe. These guys have practiced. And the bass/guitar/drums/keys/sax lineup gives them a lot of room to work with.
Their website doesn't list another Knoxville date any time soon, but they're worth watching out for.
