I put 7/8 Seasons above 7/8 Wappy, don’t know why but I just love how hard Joel goes on the moog on that jam.
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I don’t know about y’all, but I am really digging all the territory this 9/10 Bridgeless covers. Their second set opening jams this summer were more often than not hot hot hot!
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After listening back to 2/19 Fir, I completely take this back, that is easily a top 5 jam of 2022
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Maybe top 3 still
7/8 Seasons def deserves some attention.
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Its not JOTY, but the Vail Nemo is the jam I have caught myself going back to the most. Short, but super sweet.
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The Dillon Plunger definitey moving up a few slots after another listen.
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Outstanding jam, that Dillon show is slightly uneven but still stands as a top 5 because GYMRH, Great American and Plunger from that show are all close to my top 10 JOTY. And Plunger > Pig → Reso > AIT is just an awesome section of UM.
My top 10 in relative order…prepare for a long post
2/19 Fir - This is the only jam I have heard (and I haven’t heard that many) from early '22 that really just feels completely and utterly locked in. The build up on this jam is so money with Jake returning to that little glitchy motif over and over.
8/25 Slacker & Crooked One - attendance bias for sure, but these two jams restored my faith in UM that they could still go hardAF and crush big peaks. The holy trinity of Bayliss, Joel and Jake trading licks on that Crooked One is quintessential UM, and the Slacker goes into deep housey territory before they pull out the big ol’ rock peak out of nowhere. Jake at 12m 
hits one of those notes that just sends chills down your spine
7/8 Seasons - To me this is just a perfect jam, Joel’s moog playing is outstanding and the band stays super patient digging so hard into the groove for 6-7 mins without pivoting to a new theme.
7/16 Mulche’s Odyssey - This type of jam–where they would just come out of the song, almost stop, and start up a new type 2 jam completely divorced from the song–has gone by the wayside for the most part so it is refreshing to hear them pull one out and execute so perfectly. It’s a dead-simple Stasik progression but they show so much restraint layering on top of it. That fake-out moment around 9:30 where it sounds like the jam may dissolve and had back to the Mulche’s ending, and then suddenly sweeps back into the soaring melody at 10:15 is so chilling and haunting and forces me to rewind to hear it again and again.
6/16 Got Your Milk - Between this, the Crooked and Seasons, I guess I am a sucker for the Joel-on-moog-peaks. Goddamn is this jam just 8 mins of pure heat, I love the way Jake’s triplets accent the 4/4 dance groove while Joel leading the melody.
9/1 Ringo - Both jams are great (Joel sounds like he is channeling a 70’s sitcom theme vibe) but the soaring build that emerges out of the ether around 7 mins in is a goddamn classic UM moment. So subtle and restrained, it just makes it so satisfying when Kris drops the snare beat back in at 9m.
8/24 Dayville Monarchy - This one has a similar to tone to one of my favorite jams of 2019, 3/21 GYMRH, with the country rock groove followed by a big BB-led peak. They both even have a drop-out to just Jake emptying his bag of country licks. But I love the way they change keys coming out of Jake’s little solo and take things in a totally different direction. This is a really freewheeling jam that feels super loose yet completely cohesive, and it delivers some of the best Jake & BB interplay of the year.
9/9 Escape Goat - Kind of a coin flip between this version, 7/15, and 9/1. All great jams but this one is the grimiest and most consistent from start to finish.
6/19 Nemo - Like @cryan024 said, just a beautiful simple Jake chord progression but it has just enough little idiosyncrasies to add interest and every member of the band juts finds their place int his jam perfectly.
Hon Mention 7/8 Phil’s & Wappy, 6/16 Plunger & Great American, 7/10 IDM, 7/14 Dump City, 7/15 New Wings, 7/16 Dayville Monarchy, 7/8 Puppet & Pure Saturation and plenty of others.
Anyway, probably gonna just take a break from the bort to get some work done for the next month, see some of yall at UMBowl I hope.
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tl;dr
1/27/11 > 11/2/11
hmu for UMBowl
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Check out this playlist “2022 Outstanding Versions ” I made on @nugsnet
nugs.net Shared Playlist : 2022 Outstanding Versions
Probably could have a few more or few less songs on here. I think a few of these would fit in well on the Outstanding Versions list.
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Haven’t been listening to much UM lately. Your announcement made me wanna throw some on though
Holy fuck this Bozeman Escape Goat
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GITP for the MPLS shows.
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9.10 Bridgeless is the best thing they’ve played since the 6.16 Plunger. Both these jams resonate with me a lot. I love how the Bridgless jam goes from funk to bliss to funk to bliss then to robot dance party before returning back to the composition. It’s a wild ride; wish I would have made the eight hour trip to the Kettlehouse. Praying to the jam gods they get another date there in the future…
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It’s a great jam, the extended jams this summer really shows what UM is capable of when they stay patient.
The Kabump is my highlight of this one though, both jams are different yet maintain a similar jazzy groovy laid back vibe and the drop into Wife Soup is super slick.
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I’ve said it before, but it seems like the second set openers (at least this summer) are more often than not the sweet spot for stellar jams from the band this year. I listened to 9.10 Bridgless>6.16 Plunger>7.8 Wappy consecutively last night and those are by far my favorites. I was thinking about making a mix of the best jams spliced out for second set openers. What else would you include besides those three? I have a strong bias towards them and will admit I haven’t revisited many other jams besides those in the last few months.
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It feels like has been the case for a couple of years now
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My top set openers
12/29/11 - BLBC
02/14/09 - AIT
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If we are talking about any years, the one that easily comes to mind is my birthday show in 2008, 2.27.2008 ITK which I will argue till the day I die is the best Kitchen of all time!
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9/16/11 Wappy and 2/15/19 Plunger are what come to mind right away for me
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and 11/1/2012 ITK. Calvin Set 2 openers were always heat
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