Blink: Glass

People often shudder (sometimes with good reason) when the topic of jam bands shows up in conversation. But there's a difference, however subtle, between improvising over a set of changes vs. a long-form exploration involving not only structure (read: harmony, melody, rhythm) but also texture.

Blink takes four chords and tries to draw them out, seeking to pull fragments into different shapes. Attentive ears might think of Godspeed You Black Emperor or Sonic Youth. Though both the symphonic and skronky aspects of those two bands are dialed back a bit, Blink does add tension by employing the slow build. After some clanky percussion frames the tentative introduction of the melodic material (via Greg Ward's sax), the complement of instruments moves in to occasionally take hold of the partially formed sonic shape, pulling it slightly out of balance. When that shape has taken all of the torque it can stand, the band explodes and the sheets of sound fly.

Screw the neighbors...play this track at maximum volume.