The lovely SuperDee reminds us that The Slip played Children of December on Conan O’Brien’s show last night, a big step in the natural progression of any band:

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Between their opening for My Morning Jacket’s last tour and this appearance on Conan, whomever’s pulling the Slip strings is doing a damn fine job.

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  1. I’m not one to be a hater and I’ll hold off judgement until I hear their full album, but really what’s such the big deal about these guys? That song seems like the long lost B-side for Mr. Jones. If that’s what “post-jam” is selling, I’m not buying it yet.

  2. Some Dude — the album’s good and I think you’re just seeing a lot of “oh wow, I didn’t actually think I liked these guys but it’s a fairly cohesive album, first two tracks rule, etc.” That was my hangup — before they sounded like a half-assed vocally-poetic MMW or something. I really didn’t get it at all…

    I know one thing — don’t use THIS performance as a guide. The sound sucked and they sound a little nervous to me…

  3. yeah, there was a cut in the middle and the end was cut short too so we didn’t get the rock’n’roll androo barr part… brad’s voice was slightly raw and the vocals were turned up too high so we didn’t get to hear the instruments well enough. i thought they LOOKED beautiful. if i was a 16-year-old girl, i’d be in love. but then again, i am already in love with them. and then AGAIN, what 16-year-old girl is up at 1am on a school night? precisely the kind of girl we’d like to have in love with the slip, i suppose. i ramble…

  4. I’m a bit conflicted…This is definitely a pretty shitty performance from an otherwise good band. I was never a huge fan of The Slip, but then I saw them open for MMJ and was thoroughly impressed, especially on this very song they’re playing here.

    But since this is a hippie kinda blog I’ll pose the question to you, SomeDude: Could you truly judge a band like Phish based on their album and a Conan appearance?

  5. Me too, Ace. I absolutely love the new album, but I’m very disappointed in this performance. They sound pretty rough, which I’m sure has to do with a great many factors that Dee and others have already touched on. Bottom line, I wish is was a more solid performance because I wish nothing but the best for them; they’re a great bunch of guys that have worked their asses off for 10 years and deserve as much success as possible.

    As for the cut, it doesn’t surprise me. In the times I’ve done the show, they have asked the bands to limit song length to between 3:30 & 4 mins, which coincidentally is the length of this performance, with the cut. I did find a Coldplay clip where they got 4:30, but, you know, that’s Coldplay.

  6. I’m not ready to malnourish my puppy or prepare my stash of bunk molly just yet, but I think the album is pretty damn good. I bought it after it ended up on literally everyone’s “Best Of” list on Jambase and have definitely enjoyed it. I’ll have to pay closer attention to what Keller Williams and the bassist from Hot Buttered Rum String Band have to say more in the future. In fact, Eisnerhower may be my favorite album by a band that once sounded like 1,000 other jazzy jambands who played the Wetlands every night between 1996-1998 after listening to way too much Man Child era Herbie Hancock. (Seriously, ulu anyone?)

  7. Ace totally with you on that theory. I missed them at that MMJ and the lone time I saw them was way back in the day in the basement of the Wetlands – and from what everyone says they’re not even the same band I saw ages ago, and frankly don’t remember much of that performance anyway. But here’s the thing I heard Phish on the radio long before I saw them for the first time back in fall of ’94 and really dug Hoist a lot, so what does that say?

    I’m all for giving these guys that benefit of the doubt based on all the gushing I’ve read since Eisenhower came out. I just was pretty underwhelmed with this song in general – if you want to lump these guys in the same category as the Wilco, MMJ and whomever eles you want to consider “post-jam” lyrcs-wise you have to bring something better to the table then that.

    If one of the loyal readers of this here blog wants to point me in a direction of a show I should give a listen to I’ll definitely make it my mission to give it my full attention before passing final judgement.

  8. always pains me to hear people trying to pass judgment on the slip… i’ve loved this band for so many years and it’s the culmination of all of this that just makes me love them more with each year. it’s so hard to just take a five minute snippet to make these decisions. the thing about the slip is they are just special and when you are in their presence and the stars are aligned, everything is just perfect for those moments.

    not sure if it’s taped but if you can find a copy of any of the shows they did at the independent in san francisco, you’ll find your rock’n’roll band…

  9. ulu….now there’s a band from the wetlands days….remember the super mario theme?

    i’ll come to the slip’s defense here. i too saw them tons back in the day…and here and there ever since the wetlands days. this band has *never* disappointed in the studio.

    it’s been fun to watch them transform like this…naturally, slowly even. i can recall a couple years ago seeing them at mexicali blues and there were maybe 20 people there and they were about halfway between a jamband and the ‘indie pop’ sound they now have mastered. i was taken back because it was obvious that their tastes had gone with mine…one foot in the past….one foot in the present…

    hey! who said that?

    speaking of trey, the slip certainly IMHO did a better job of building toward this ‘indie pop’ sound better than trey. i think that while some people think that that isn’t that hard to do, remember at one point trey was regarded with almost jedi-like fanfare from people like me who thought he could *never* do wrong….well he did and it certainly is hard to write this type of music well *and* write jazzy jamband ish well too.

    i had a happy coincidence at mountain jam this past june having not seen the slip in years and being completely blown away at how much they had refined that new sound of theirs…i think this is the show that also blew jim james from mmj away also….had him blabbing to rolling stone that the slip were the next big thing.

    they might not be the next big thing but i’m along for the ride now….here’s to hoping these guys make music for a long time and continue to develop a massive oeuvre of music that represents them and not just ‘one’ sound.

  10. wow – hot topic…I hate being the first on the dancefloor, but now that everybody’s chimed in, I’ll weigh in too.

    Been seeing the Slip quite frequently since the early, early days…I taped a few early 97 shows and those masters are the only tape in existence (maybe I should convert those and get them out there?) Ace – roadtrip to my parents basement in Boston?

    Anyway – I would say the slip is the band that has really grown alongside me. Ten years ago I was a really into experimental, free form jazz and that Sun Ra stuff they touched upon. In the late 90s, I was into the staple “jamband” improv model they were deep in…and as I got older, and half us hippies got jobs, put on black t-shirts and used MMJ, Radiohead and YLT as a gateway drugs to the outside world, the Slip morphed right there with us.

    Look at Bonnaroo 02 and Bonnaroo 06 line-ups…the Slips progresion is right on stride. I actually spoke to Brad after their set at Roo 03 – and we talked about how things were changing for them…you could feel it in the song structures. And then like a month later I ran into Marc at Radiohead at Great Woods…I knew good things were coming 🙂

    We’re we talking about the Conan video? Yeah, thats a pretty weak clip – but I never exactly loved any of Phish’s tv performances. Grab a copy of Eisenhower if you haven’t already – it’s not Kid A, but its the best “jamband” record I own.

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