Strange Arrangement 3.15.11

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Words & Photos By J-man

The turnout at Quixote's was typical and dismal. The evening got a late start shortly after midnight with Strange Arrangement. It would be my first experience with Strange Arrangement. I had heard about the band from being approached by their management at Wuhnurth Music Festival in Indiana and through Ultraviolet Hippopotamus. Coming off of their new album "Polygraph" there was a buzz surrounding the band, setting the perfect stage for the evening.

The music was straight forward jamband music. The transitions were smooth and the instrumentation was good. For having such a small turn-out, the energy was high. The folks in the crowd seemed to be familiar with the out-of-town band, going crazy during the peaks and still focused attentively during the lows. There was very limited variation from what I had heard from other bands within the genre. This seems to be a major issue on the jamband scene, where many band's lack separating identifiable characteristics. It's not to say that this specific variable will limit the overall musical potential of the band, but in a sea of similarity, recognition could present itself on a limited level.

After just over an hour, a set break was called to order. Dave and Paul from Greensky turned out and made their way to the stage to set up their gear. We assessed the situation and gaged our focus for the second set. Feeling that we had seen all that we needed to see, we made our way to the exit and called it an evening. I want to re-iterate: we enjoyed Strange Arrangement and thought that they were pretty solid, we had just seen it all before.

www.strangement.com

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