Disco Biscuits
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The Disco Biscuits are a band in the jam-band scene from Philadelphia. The band is comprised of Jon Gutwillig (guitar), Marc Brownstein, (bass), Aron Magner (keyboards), and Sam Altman (drums).
They are different from the standard Phish or Grateful Dead-type jam band in that they infuse electronic beats and jams into their music. This style is referred to as trance-fusion.
The Disco Biscuits are also well-known for their ability to run long sets together, sometimes even playing their songs backwards, in styles referred to as "inverted" and "dyslexic." An inverted version of a song occurs when the band starts a song by playing its ending segment, followed immediately by its beginning segment and a jam that segues out of that song and into another. A dyslexic song is played the same way as an inverted one, with its main difference being that the pieces of the song are not played consecutively (e.g. ending of 1 -> 2, 3, 4, beginning of 1 -> 5). Another technique employed by the band is a fakeout, which occurs when the band plays a jam that usually leads into one song, but segues into another unexpectedly.
Due to the separation of their segments, inverted and dyslexic songs can begin on one night's show and end the next night. The nature of their setlists is both a blessing and a curse; while the myriad variations on their songs are interesting to hardcore fans of the band, this also makes their music highly inaccessible to people who are not already familiar with their catalog. Unfortunately, listening to their studio work provides little preparation for their live shows, since their setlists typically contain very few tunes from these albums. This forces the listener to be immediately willing to immerse themselves in the Disco Biscuits' large catalog, which can prove to be a rather overwhelming task for novices to undertake.
The Disco Biscuits announced on 11/5/04 that drummer, Sam Altman, is leaving the band to attend medical school. The band will be only touring sporadically from now on.
Discography
- Encephalous Crime (self-released, 1996)
- Uncivilized Area (1998)
- They Missed the Perfume (2001)
- Seņor Boombox (2002)
External Links
The Disco Biscuits homepage (http://www.discobiscuits.com) (tourdates, live downloads)
Disco Biscuits fan site (http://www.discobiscuits.net) (lyrics, tabs, setlists, FAQ)
BiscoRadio (http://www.biscoradio.com) (24/7 Streaming Disco Biscuits radio)
All Music Guide (http://www.allmusic.com) (more information)