Trey Anastasio - Plasma May 15, 2003 - Hear/Say By Jesse Jarnow Album Review - Plasma Trey Anastasio's self-titled 2002 disc managed to pack a whole lotta exhaustive sprawl into its 50-some-odd minutes. Tired sounding rock riffs failed to illustrate the Phish leader's self-proclaimed desire to make his horn-driven band sound like King Sunny Ade's effortlessly interlocking orchestras. Plasma, a two-disc live set highlighting the same unit, features the same amount of cuts though clocks in at well over twice the length - and manages to be nowhere near as tiring or middle-of-the-road. The songs are still negligible and tend to blend into each other, but the band crests through endless summery permutations. Syncopated horn chunklets and manic percussion delve occasionally into exuberant dissonance, but mostly just mine the grooves. Like the album, there's not much linear development over the course of the jams, but that's kinda the point. And this time 'round (with the exception of the solo-wank of "Inner Tube"), it doesn't feel uselessly aimless, at least. It's still nowhere as airy as King Sunny - there's way too much low-end in Anastasio's guitar for that - but it gets closer to that idealistic zero gravity rainbow that Anastasio seems to be shooting the band toward. With a few more tours, these guys (and gal) could really be somethin'. Grade: B+ Article © 2003 Hear/Say