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Well a record moves one or it doesn't. How to explain why and why not? Although I could name a personal top 5 MP albums list, I'm also always happy to listen to any record outside of those 5. Except for Here Be Monsters. I never really got into this one (except for IMS, what a ride!), but it surely is a favourite for many. Ok Big Black Dog is great, too.
Me too I love when Bent fires up the traktorbass, but would I still do so if it was a constant feature? TAIO's polished production… hmmm…. is it really so? Does it sound more polished and less raw than previous records? I find the only connection (besides the cover art) to TH and TT is the production. Not the music. Sonically I'd say it's my favourite of the three. Though the kick drum on The Tower is sooooo good when in a car. There's a sub ooomph in this close quartered listening environment that I don't hear at home. I think it's not as strong on TC and TAIO but I might be wrong.
Those hypnotic Bent/Tomas grooves shine oh so brightly in NOX II and IV. When it comes to rawness, yes it's held under control – instead of bashing away – for the sake of the listening experience, as in "the path is the goal" (does that work in english? it's a german saying) or in a "less is more" manner. It's like a story arc and patience is the key. Dynamics, layers, subtleness, the strong points of this band being played out in a surgeon's manner.
The very untypical (polished? cheesy? sugary?) keyboard sound at the end of Ouroboros is sooo beautiful. It comes from somewhere way out of the psychoverse but it fits in so amazingly well. Things and tricks like these help them deviate from any signature (as in "stale") motorpsound. Too many bands rely too much on one sound, being afraid of losing some sort of uniqueness.
And one more note about the drums. How brilliant is Tomas' playing during the violin solo in Circles pt I? Maybe it's the not-so-raw production that made me focus on the upfront violin till recently. I really only just noticed them drums in detail lately. But that's the beauty of it. Peeling away layer by layer. Not because of a muffled mix, but because so much is happening at the same time, something upfront, something underneath, all deserving but not fighting for attention, due to being cleverly arranged and mixed. When my brain finally digested this amazing adventurous elaborated violin part, it finally could shift to the drums.
BUT all in all, dunno really about this one. If it wasn't for NOX, if sides 1 & 4 would've been all the album…. can't really say. But blah, who cares about hypotheticals. I enjoy it very much. I have to admit though, I still haven't listened to it as it was intended. It's always either the NOX half or the not-NOX half. Back to back, yes, but not in the proper sequence. Maybe I should do that…
There‘s extensive production credits on the vinyl edition (where when why who) but no detailed notes on who played what.
"We suck at repeating ourselves"
…I understand this in two ways.
One: as a conscious decision. They don't want to ride the same train over the years. If two or three consecutive albums sound similar, then I assume there were too many good ideas for one album. See SLWE and BTS for example. LLM and HMF maybe, too. Or this Gulvag trilogy. You wouldn't want to throw away great stuff just because you did somewhat similar last year. Also didn't they say once they usually pan out the next 2 or 3 years?
Two: Spontaneity. Band meets, jams, throws ideas around, has a certain sense for asthetics and – despite exceptional musicianship – limitations due to musical persona. Meaning, you might play all kinds of stuff but it's always YOU playing YOUR way according to YOUR taste. Of course styles and riffs of days and songs long gone pop up again. It's natural.
MP don't stagnate, nor is their journey a straight line never looking back. It's a wild ride all over the place, looping, catapulting, with the occasional backflips. So there's no will to repeat, but also no stubborn determination to never ever do the same thing again. Hey let's do an acoustic number again, an epic, a jazzy thing, a rocker. Let's get in guests we've worked with before. It's the psychoverse, living and breathing. What happens, happens. So yes, I see Bent's point.
