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Unfortunately Gong are playing on the same night as Motorpsycho in London and a bunch of people in the prog community have already committed to that gig. Hopefully the venue is small enough not to make any difference.
04.04.2019 – NO Bodø, Sinus
10.04.2019 – NO Haugesund, Høvleriet
11.04.2019 – NO Bergen, Hulen
12.04.2019 – NO Bergen, Hulen
13.04.2019 – NO Stavanger, Folken
02.05.2019 – NO Tromsø, Driv
03.05.2019 – NO Trondheim, Verkstedhallen
04.05.2019 – NO Ã…lesund, Terminalen
10.05.2019 – NO Hamar, Gregers
11.05.2019 – NO Oslo, Sentrum Scene
14.05.2019 – DK Aarhus, Train
15.05.2019 – DK Copenhagen, Hotel Cecil
16.05.2019 – DE Hamburg, Markthalle (w. Elder – 25 Years Stickman anniversary)
17.05.2019 – UK London, 229 The Venue 2
19.05.2019 – NL Utrecht, Tivoli Vredenburg
21.05.2019 – NL Groningen, Vera
22.05.2019 – BE Leuven, Het Depot
23.05.2019 – DE Hannover, Faust
24.05.2019 – DE Wiesbaden, Schlachthof
25.05.2019 – CH Lausanne, Les Docks
27.05.2019 – AT Wien, Arena
28.05.2019 – IT Trezzo Sull'adda (MI), Live Music Club
29.05.2019 – IT Bologna, Zona Roveri Music Factory
30.05.2019 – IT Avellino, Teatro Partenio
31.05.2019 – IT Roma, Orion
01.06.2019 – IT Genova, Goa Boa Preview
02.06.2019 – DE Reutlingen, Kulturzentrum franz.K
28.06.2019 – NO Trondheim, Trondheim Rocks
31.07.2019 – NO Trondheim, Byscenen / Olavsfestdagene – Motorpsycho with friends
10.08.2019 – NO Oslo, Øyafestivalen – Motorpsycho with friends
20.09.2019 – GR Athens, Fuzz Club
28.09.2019 – DK Odense, Posten
29.09.2019 – DE Bremen, Schlachthof
01.10.2019 РDE K̦ln, Gloria
15.10.2019 – DE Frankfurt am Main, Mousonturm
16.10.2019 – DE Leipzig, Conne Island
17.10.2019 – DE Berlin, Festsaal Kreuzberg
(Athens added to this list)
Other rock musicians that I know loved and were influenced by Stravinsky include Frank Zappa and Jon Anderson (Yes). (No doubt there are others.) Does the future hold a Stravinsky-influenced MP album?
20.09.2019 – GR Athens, Fuzz Club
Is this a first time in Greece? I think the website mentions that they're returning after a long absence.
There are now even more dates to fill Рbetween Athens and Odense; and between K̦ln and Frankfurt.
In autumn 2017 I think they had a two-week break after a number of Norwegian dates, which is when Kristoffer Lo then joined them to rehearse before the rest-of-Europe tour.
@schnu and Tomcat – I've bought all four albums by Camera and a ticket to see them in April. Will check out Verstärker and Chikn. Cheers
From Roger Trenwith at The Progressive Aspect
Album ReviewsMotorpsycho – The Crucible Published on 4th March 2019
Motorpsycho – The Crucible
Article by: Roger Trenwith
Motorpsycho are now 30 years and 22 albums (excluding live albums and sundry collaborations) into their multi-faceted existence. As you would expect from such seasoned veterans, everything they release exudes an easy confidence, but perhaps more unexpectedly they still manage to surprise. This band never release the same album twice, and although there is a thematic link to last year’s sprawling operatic opus The Tower, we soon realise that we are entering the gaping maw of a new and distinctive prog rock monster, going by the name of The Crucible.
Psychotzar opens proceedings with a fist fight between Yes at their most energised and Black Sabbath. Neither seems to be getting the upper hand so they call it quits, snort a pile of spacedust and let the music do the talking. The riff is quite relentless over which some killer lead lines fly around like shards of white-hot sunspit. It’s getting quite warm in here.
Musing on mortality and our place in the grand scheme of things, as is the wont of anyone over 50, sets the tone as our Nordic warriors call out from the lyrics of the satisfyingly cosmic Lux Aeterna. It is a song that lulls the listener into a sense of false cosiness, when out of nowhere, just over halfway into its eleven minutes a thoroughly barking guitar solo knocks you off your feet at 120 mph, sounding uncannily like a scuzzy outtake from Grace For Drowning. If Mr Wilson was wielding a chain in a Viking biker gang from Mars, he might sound like this. Soon, Mellotrons struggle manfully and eventually succeed in stamping the melody back on this bucking bronco of a tune, as guitars froth and strain at the leash.
There are only three tracks on this album, at nine, eleven, and a staggering twenty one minutes respectively. The Prog Button has been pushed, and I noted a couple of cheeky references nicked from the Mighty Crim along the way, as well as the other references I mentioned, but this remains a trip on the travel-worn but reliable and instantly recognisable Motorpsycho mothership. There is weirdness aplenty in the mid-section of the lumbering propulsive beast of a title track, a monster that lays waste to entire galaxies as it careens about the universe. There is no let up in the energy these wily old creatures shoot at you through the speakers, the guitar fury of Snah driven by the thunderous rhythm section of Bent and Tomas exuding the toughness of an experienced prizefighter. Somehow, you can’t ever imagine this band touring 45 year-old albums on cruise ships, or anywhere else for that matter, for I suspect they will always be looking forwards.
Will they win new fans with this fine slab of sound called The Crucible? Maybe, maybe not, but frankly I doubt they care, such is the self-contained nature of this Norwegian lumbertruck of a band. If you wish your favourite ancient prog band still had the balls and inspiration to make relevant new music, or that modern prog was a bit… dirtier, then you’ll love this, is all I’m saying.
@JERO – I bought that live boxset last time I saw them. It's a real treasure trove. Have fun.
@TrustMe – Very happy for you. Fellow Brit here who only got the bug in last couple years. But heed JERO's words – the live experience is something else – I've been spending shed loads to get to shows in Europe since my first gig in Oct 17. But be sure to bring earplugs just in case – they do play effing loud.
@JERO – I'm glad to hear you found your way into Magma. They are a band who, for me, extraordinary is a perfectly apt description. I first heard them about five or six years ago when a friend posted a live video of De Futura online. I was mesmerised and decided I had to hear more. I managed to get a very cheap copy of a double live album and listened to Theusz Hamtaahk. That night I could hardly sleep. I was tossing and turning, having feverish visions of dark, dank caves on alien planets and woke up sweating. Every time I closed my eyes, the wierd chanting in my head set off more uncomfortable subconscious reactions. After that I was hooked. What music could do this? Although I never had as visceral an experience again, I still have flashbacks and often find the music transporting me to unusual places. I have managed to see Magma three times since then and they are superb live – really worth checking out. They're back on tour later this year but I don't see any dates in NL. Perhaps you can make it to Brussels.
I also highly recommend checking out albums by a Magma offshoot called One Shot. They have many of the musical elements of Magma, but no vocals and somewhat more fusion oriented. They only released a few albums about ten years ago, but they are fantastic.
I don't know if you will be able to access it or not, but here is a brilliant video from last year of Bent getting down to Magma:
I'm sorry but I'm going to break the rules (because they're older than three years – the band, not the rules
) for this band I just discovered through a friend. Camera. They're a Krautrock band from Berlin – a bit like a 21st century Neu!. Though their latest, very upbeat, album is poppier than earlier material, it's still very very good. However, I recommend first listening to their debut Radiate! (released in 2012). https://camerawithin.bandcamp.com/album/radiate-2012@bionaut – Thanks for the CH recommendations. Funnily enough, the two albums you mentioned were the next two on my list anyway! Freaky. It must be a sign!
@bionaut – Your story seems unique to me. I can't imagine there are many people who get to know a band through only their audience recordings, without at some point (or first) getting into their studio albums. I assume you don't have any of their live albums either. However, I have an old school friend who has always prioritised seeing bands live over buying their records. The first gig I ever attended was with him – we were 13 years old at the time and his mum had managed to get us front row tickets to see 10cc at the Hammersmith Odeon. This was in 1975, so it seems you and I are the same age (57). This friend always saved his pocket money to go to gigs instead of buying albums. And continued the practice when he started work. By then he could afford both, but still prioritised gigs. If someone would ask him if he'd heard a band, or if he'd be interested in a new band, his first question was "when are they playing?" not "which albums should I listen to?"
I hope that, if you do start to listen to the albums, you continue to find in them the soul you feel in the live recordings. And I hope that one day you get the chance to see them live, whether in the States or by somehow making it to Europe. I'm sure you'll have plenty of psychonauts welcoming you with open arms.
Funny you should mention Colour Haze as about an hour before I read your post I bought the albums In Her Garden and Live Vol 1 Europa Tournee 2015 (and am listening to the first of those as I write this). I saw them a couple of years ago when they were supported by My Sleeping Karma, who were the band I wanted to see that night (I'd never heard of Colour Haze before then). CH were amazing, but I was not tempted to buy any albums. Then a couple of days ago I read a 5-star review for In Her Garden and after listening on Spotify yesterday, decided to buy it. But I wanted that live vibe too, so bought the Europa Tournee 2015 album too. And to top it off I decided to get a ticket to the Sunday of Desertfest (London), where both Colour Haze and Earthless (among others that I need to check out) will be playing. That's in May, a couple of weeks before I head to mainland Europe for couple of MP shows.
