EOTO and New Monsoon @ the Fillmore

EOTO is the live looping project from the String Cheese Incident rhythm section. I went to the show mostly to check them out. I've only seen Michael Travis behind the drum kit, so I was totally unprepared for how talented he is playing every other instrument while orchestrating songs. He can play keys, guitar, bass, and random percussion instruments. He also really has a firm grasp of sonic manipulation. He builds up pretty fantastic loops in real time, while Jason Hann relentlessly wails away at the kit. I was pretty engrossed just from a technology standpoint. Pretty inspiring stuff if you geek out on looping. It didn't hurt that Micheal Kang played this set with them, though he primarily just added texture instead being up front. Only at the end did he rock out. I would have preferred a lot more of that.

In last year or so, New Monsoon has had to completely revamp their rhythm section. Marshall Harrell replaced Ron Johnson who replaced Ben on bass, and then their original drummer left to join Blue Man Group. He was replaced with a 22 year old firecracker named Sean Hutchinson, who kicked this band into high gear. He was going batshit most of the time, which is somewhat unusual for a jam band drummer, but it totally engaged me. Thus, I enjoyed them much more then I anticipated. An excellent rhythm section and the nonstop rotation of special guests made the show totally worthy of the Fillmore. The SF Jam Band scene is getting pretty powerful.