(3) Dripfield - 02/14/2025 vs. (14) SALT - 05/28/2025

Yeah, that Dripfield had me dancing! SALT felt pretty 'typical', altho that statement makes me cringe cuz 'typical' or not, it's a great jam!

Tough draw for the little SALT that could. I love the song and hope they continue to explore it as they did with this one. It makes a good mid-length type 1.5 banger but has room to open up and take a longer walk. Alas, a well deserved beat down by perhaps the best Dripfield of all time and worthy top 10 contender

I feel salty that San Francisco keeps going up against these monster EMG and Dripfield jams. I would have loved to see both Green River and SALT go further in the brackets, but alas, we can only have 1 winner!

I’m apparently in the minority and don’t find myself in love with this Dripfield, but maybe it just hasn’t hit me yet. There will definitely be another round to hear it again soon…

Drip Drip. Flip Fantasia

How did I miss this dripfield ???

That’s it. It’s back in rotation

Very nice SALT, goes pretty far in 16 minutes, but GR Drip is fantastic!

This Dripfield is a 1 seed in my rankings (#4 overall). Not much more to say, it's an absolute beast. This SALT is very cool, definitely worthy of the bracket. No contest here though.

Drip jam doesn’t do much for me - it’s a rocker alright but repetitive for a long time. You really only hear Rick - not much from the others so not much of a jam. Gimme both the other side of bracket (Hunger and Cakes) over this Drip

As a Pats fan I’m voting for SALT cause the Crazy Train riff fires me up lol

Sometimes matchups aren’t close but that’s okay. The SALT is monstrous and in it you can find the inspiration for the Bend Thatch that comes a few days later. A must listen, despite the Drip being a much stronger jam.

This is a matchup that shouldn’t be happening in round one. This version of Salt has more balls than many of the popularly favored darker jams. Its an active terror, chasing the listener down in increasing sinister fashion. No let up, no relief, just building tension right through the return to the song until Rick’s last stray guitar squawk. [Side note: This band needs to stop wasting Salt in 5-minute perfunctory encores]

Sadly, its really no match for the GR Dripfield. The second phase of this one may be my favorite Cotter all year and his work encircles Rick’s repetitive snake charmer chant while a droning Pete and Tweekz slowly move the earth underneath them. The effect is really hypnotic. To then pivot to one of the more gentle, pretty sections of jamming of the year. Great stuff.

This Dripfield kicked off my favorite set of the year(attended). It holds up very well on relisten.

Wow, had overlooked this Drip. Beautiful, down to the Arise-y bliss ending.

lolz. salt deez nutz

Need more Peter SALT synth in my life.

Wow, really surprised this isn't closer. Both of these are Grade A jams, and both in my Top 20. A total heartbreaker to choose a favorite kid here. Im Dripfield 2 guitar goose is in full effect. Around the midway point Peter is doing this super sick psych-rock guitar which reminded me of Gizz. Rick meanwhile is soaring over all of it as he does. The end to the jam is nice and beautiful and ethereal. SALT on the other hand is just a monster. Everybody here did something that wowed me at some point in the jam: blistering fast drumming from Cotter, super sick bouncy baseline from Trev, Peter magic on the keys, and nice semi-evil guitar shredding from Rick. I go back and forth but ultimately I do like this SALT more so it gets my vote!

I am a big fan of SALT, and really like where they go with this one from The Masonic. I had this one highlighted on my JOTY spreadsheet, but I don’t think it ended up making my bracket.

This Dripfield, however, is one of my top jams of the year… and part of the reason I feel 2/14/25 is the best show of the year. What a journey! Dripfield>Rock>Chill>Bliss! Oh, and in case you’re having trouble placing the hook in that melodic little part at the end… it sounds a lot like Suspicious Minds by Elvis to me (which would make sense on Valentine’s Day). Listen to it, and sing along slowly… “We’re caught in a trap… I can’t walk out… Because I love you too much, baby” .

Great Drip gets the nod here easily but this Salt deserves a listen because it’s so good. This Drip has the chops to make it far into the bracket watch out.

Grand Rapids Drip all day long

I've listened to this Dripfield a few times, and each time I am missing whatever everyone else finds special about it. Pretty good, it was fun live, but I think there are many many many more examples of quality improvisation from the Goose.

Going Dripfield here easily (it's my no. 13 overall). I think it might be my favorite jam in this region. I have it, Gilford FITS, and Bend Thatch all ranked very similarly. Will have to relisten before those matchups. More to come on this jam for sure.

This SALT is definitely cool and deserving of the bracket. It was on the bubble for me -- I had it at no. 70 -- but I'm glad it snuck in. It packs a punch in its short runtime, with some '94-Phish chaos, the Crazy Train tease, and a pretty gnarly peak. I grouped this jam thematically with Mountain Jam Jive Lee 6/22 and Burlington Rockdale 9/14. (The super-underrated Oakland All I Need 9/26/23 is the spiritual ancestor to all of these jams IMHO.) All three jams have a good combination of darkness and craziness, and all three get to an intense peak in a short amount of time. In each case my jaw didn't drop enough for the jam to fall into my top 64, but I still think they're awesome.

Top of the line Drip (believe the only time it's ever been a full set opener too) - sorry to a great SALT!

Damn this SALT fuckin rules.

Unfortunate that it has to go against this incredible Dripfield. Did not expect to be as blown away as I was from both of these! Drip covers so much ground so effortlessly and gets my vote. Very engaging 26 minutes of music.

Really psyched to see this SALT make the bracket, it definitely deserves it, but it cannot compete with this awesome Drip.

Under ranked Dripfield. Legit has a shot to win it all

Repeating what others have said: GOAT Drip takes this easily, but great SALT!

GOAT DRIP. Final 4 level jam but has a tough road in the bracket.

Agreed, don't skip the SALT it's VERY good. Unfortunately it's going up against the GOAT Dripfield. No contest

Dripfield here and it shouldn't be close. Two guitar Goose at its finest followed up with a lovely piano-led outro jam.

MASSIVE, RELENTLESS ASSAULT

don't skip listening to this SALT though, it's neck and neck with 9/17/24 for best version yet and has some really cool stuff going on from Peter

A truly superlative Drip against the only SALT in the running? Please don't make me choose.