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Review from Soundmagnet
Ancient Astronauts is the title of the new Motorpsycho work, and the story behind the new album is no less unusual: During the pandemic, the band released two albums, but were also involved in two special projects. On the one hand in a film project by the Norwegian theater group DeUtvalgte, whose aim is to visually implement Motorpsycho's music.
The second saw the band perform live to the dance performance Sacrificing by Homan Sharifi and Impure Dance Company. Two songs from this project made it onto the new album, namely Mona Lisa/Azrael and Chariot of the Sun.
DeUtvalgte, on the other hand, found the dance performance accompanied by Motorpsycho so impressive that they also wanted to use the music for their film project. Ex-Motorpsycho member Helge "Deathprod" Sten was also in the audience and liked the music so much that he offered to produce the album. The recording was then live, apart from a few overdubs and vocals, in the summer of 2021 at the Amper Tone Studio in Oslo, but only with a cast of three people, as Reine Fiske was unable to travel from Stockholm to Oslo due to Covid travel restrictions.
The cover consists of scenes from the film project shot on an August dawn in Skottbu, Norway.
A ladder to infinity
With the appropriately titled opener The Ladder, the listener gets into the album, accompanied by spherical keyboards and ominous chorales. After about a minute the guitars join in with a wildly progressive sonic whirl. As soon as the vocals start, it becomes a bit calmer again, the song alternates between relaxed and fast moving parts. In the middle part there is extensive instrumental and psychedelic indulgence, both on guitars and on organs and the rhythm section, until the song fades away in the same way it began.
The Beauty of the Angel of Death
After the short, spacey interlude The Flower Of Awareness, the track continues with Mona Lisa/Azrael, which is introduced with epic synth strings. A sad melody in slow three-four time creates a grippingly melancholic atmosphere. The vocals float gently over the quiet and delicately played acoustic guitars. After about four minutes the song suddenly picks up speed, with jazzy drumming and hectic riffs. It has real live character and that very special jam vibe. Great!
Acoustic wide screen cinema
The finale is Chariot Of The Sun – To Phaeton On The Occasion Of Sunrise (Theme From An Imagined Movie), a 22-minute epic that makes a really good movie soundtrack and leaves the listener wondering what the end result will be film project mentioned above.
The first quarter consists of soft tones, from the sixth minute rocking riffs and twin guitar parts set in, accompanied by a shuffle rhythm and various effects, followed by crazy solo escapades. Words cannot describe this song, it is rather a landscape of sound, a cinematic instrumental marvel, an acoustic monument.
Conclusion
Motorpsycho have always been in their own league, and with Ancient Astronauts they once again deliver a complex, progressive album that piles up cinematic soundscapes and imaginary soundscapes and fires the imagination with musical finesse and variety.
9/10
(Translated by Google)
The album has been included in Rollong Stone Italian edition's list of "Discs to listen to in August 2022".
@Johnny – In repsonse to your response to my post … fair enough. I did something I never used to do, which is describe Sabbath as heavy metal. For years I'd go around saying things like "Metal really started with Motorhead" and "Punk really started with the Pistols" – typically arrogant UK-centric statements. Anyway, it seems the retrospective attribution of genre is all the rage these days, partly, I think, because of the plethora of sub-genres of all types that have arisen since the 70s, and partly because people seem to have a desire to lump all their favourite artists in their favourite genre (at least that appears to be the case in prog circles). Consequently we now hear that Kate Bush is prog, Deep Purple are metal and so on. I stand guilty of having committed this crime here – I am suitably embarrassed. Furthermore, I should admit I never got into 80s metal, and few of the 70s progenitors. You clearly had a deeper relationship with the genre.
@Johnny – I think it's a little unfair to characterise metal as being unable to cope with "odd" tunings etc. given the explosion of prog metal and that genre's musicians who seem to be obsessed with overly complicated music to the exclusion (at least as far as my personal experience is concerned) of emotion and feeling. Of course, I accept that for thousands of people this kind of music does have emotion, but to me it is the older metal, with its generally more standard formats that feels more able to tap into deeper feelings. Not that I actually listen to much metal and if I do, it's usually Sabbath. m/
I have to say, the fact the one reviewer (Metal Temple) is totally flummoxed by the album, while another (Classic Rock) seems to find the same elements cause for celebration, gives me great pleasure and makes me even more excited to hear it. I have a feeling this is somehow going to be yet another unusual outlier within the Motorpsycho oeuvre.
Classic Rock magazine have given the album 7/10. The review appeared at the Rune Grammofon site.
Expansive, experimental live-in-the-studio masterwork. Trondheim's Motorpsycho have been making eye-popping music since the 90s, with each album or EP more expressive than the last. It's hard to convey the enormity of their mix of prog and psychedelic rock, although something like 2016's Here Be Monsters is probably as good a place as any to start if you're looking to have your metaphorical lid flipped. Ancient Astronauts is a lockdown album like no other. It was originally devised in part for a piece by the Impure Dance Company, a few songs from which became the springboard for the AA album. The album comprises only four songs, one of which clocks in at 2:14 and another at 22:22, and it's magnificent, from full-blown fuzz-pedal rock monster to drones and shimmering interplay, highs and stupefying lows. As the PR says: "An explorative album without a whole lot of choruses!"
Metal Temple gives it a poor 5/10, rating it "mediocre"!
The album was recorded in Amper Tone studio in Oslo in the summer of 2021. Since COVID was still making international travel very difficult, Stockholm-based Reine Fiske wasn’t in the studio with the three core MOTORPSYCHO members, making this the first album in years that they recorded as a three-piece. Recorded mainly in live takes with only a few overdubs and the vocals added afterwards, this is essentially the band playing live in the studio. The cover consists of stills from the movie project, filmed at dawn in early August at Skottbu in Norway. The title “Ancient Astronauts” remains a bit of a mystery: are they following clues left by earlier travelers or are they perhaps leaving some themselves? The album contains four songs.
“The Ladder” is the first cut. The rhythm and pacing of this song is as odd as the chord progressions, especially in the vocals. There are periods of disconnect with the instruments, and then periods of reciprocity. The fuzzy guitar solo ushers in a darker sound as the sonority picks up. Like a ladder, it builds as it ascends. “The Flower of Awareness” is much shorter, but no less weird. There is very little sonority, what you would expect the sound of a flower to make…virtually none. “Mona Lisa Azrael” is a 12-minute opus. Gentle, weeping tones marked the beginning, with strings and a slow drum beat. Vocals also roll in slow, and melancholy. At the four-minute mark, it picks up a little, with tense percussion. A jam ensures from there, with thick bass notes in unison with the drums, while eerie leads are played over top, and there is a long fade-out at the end.
The lengthy, 22-minute “Chariot of the Sun to Phaeton on the Occasion of Sunrise (Theme from an Imagined Movie)” closes the album. There is a very long fade-in with the slow building of layers. It isn’t until the six-minute mark until we get a clear sound. Bass guitar begins to thump away in a groovy rhythm, and gradually more instruments are added, until the 12-minute mark, when the sound gets fairly chaotic. The sound then drops until the 18-minute mark, followed by a brief moment of sonority, and then it drops again through the end. What a strange album. The band are obviously talented, but what are they really going for in these four songs? Perhaps the title of the album is indeed the end result…a mystery in every sense of that word.
Songwriting: 5
Musicianship: 7
Memorability: 3
Production: 7
Review from Dump Magazine (NL)
The Normans are back. The trio releases an album almost every year. This is number twenty-four. Their sound is so original that it is difficult to put a stamp on it. Their mix of psychedelia, jazz, ambient and at times stoner rock remains adventurous. There are four songs on the record. The disc opens with 'The Ladder' . After some intro sounds, we are immediately treated to a stunning interplay of guitar, bass and drums. There you hear how well the gentlemen are attuned to each other. The clean voice with only some reverb as an effect has a sensitive vibration. Further in the song firm guitar work with a heavy fuzz. 'The Flower of Awareness' are some mysteriously terrifying sounds. Fortunately short-lived. However, they are not an intro to the next song 'Mona Liza Azrael'. A sad song on a very slow rhythm. The synths and bells emphasize the sadness even more. We get four minutes of a rhythm on one string with synths in the background. Then suddenly all brakes are released and there follows a complicated rhythm with a strong solo. The song becomes a psychedelic trip that ends just as it started: with sounds.
A deer darts through the forest. Sunbeams penetrate the leaves of the trees. The eyes of the deer are blinded in an irregular way. Everything is good and bad. (nice chords on a clean guitar supported by synths and background backing)
Suddenly dark clouds appear in front of the sun, the wind picks up and makes the animal restless. The deer is being hunted. By what? By who? She slaloms through the trees. It's going to be a race against time. After ten minutes, it stops abruptly. Has the deer been caught? Has the danger passed? Did she make it? The wind dies down, the sun reappears…
Chariot of the Sun – To Phaeton On The Occasion Of Surrise (Theme of an inmagined movie) is a great song. A twenty-two minute psychedelic trip with a climax in the middle that reverberates for a long time.
MOTORPSYCHO is and remains special. The musical well from which they get their songs is clearly not empty. These musical geniuses continue to surprise.
Guido Grymon Prez.
Dump Magazine review of Ancient Astronauts
(Translated by Google translate)
Not so positive from Italian blog site Reverendo Lys:
A visual and a theatrical project together with the Impure Dance Company. And, in addition to this, the "usual" new album, made, however, without the contribution of Reine Fiske. All this in full pandemic and related restrictions. In short, it certainly cannot be said that the Motorpsycho remained on the sofa waiting for everyone to be free to use up their inexhaustible reserve of energy. Reserve from which they draw for this Ancient Astronauts, full of the usual libations of the Norwegian group, including the slightly moldy Viking gamalost of which their pantry is always full.
There are four songs in all (one of which, short, of only "ambient noise", if the oxymoron is allowed, NdLYS), with an entire facade occupied by Chariots of the Sun – To Phaeton on the Occasion of Sunrise (Theme from an Imagined Movie), temporarily destined for the scepter of the longest song written by the Norwegian trio. However, it has ceased to amaze for a while, and this must be said without diminishing its HUGE value and the abnormal and volcanic creativity that distinguishes it. However, beyond the merits that I have always recognized for the Motorpsycho, Ancient Astronauts does not offer much more than a regenerating bath in slightly stagnant waters, forcing us to decline that ancient title in its ancient meaning. And after all, their attachment to folk-prog is so tough that we could hardly expect anything prodigious except in terms of the perennial and seasonal flowering of these gems to which our sense of smell has now become a bit addicted while still sensing their aroma.
We will fill the rooms once again. And the nostrils will enjoy it.
But the meat, the meat needs more.
Reverendo Lys review of Ancient Astronauts
(Translated by Google translate)
@johnny – I love this!
Quote:If there was a Nobel prize for rock music, MP would be close contenders for the first nomination. Exaggerated? Fan view? Probably. But…Motorpsycho do not just "copy" or "replay" or "milk" 70s rock, be it progressive, heavy, folky or whatever. Motorpsycho do to 70s rock musically what Bob Dylan has done to the american folk blues canon: took it up, wrestled with it, re-shaped it, re-interpreted it and spit it out as something intelligent, new and still recognizably old at the same time – and definitively their own.
And I completely agree with you and suntripper regarding the inadequacy of language to describe the, er, ineffable. :lol:
@suntripper – I have to say that poetry, a few exceptions aside, leaves me cold. And it took me years before I really started to appreciate lyrics (thank you Miss Mitchell with your pills and powders and passion plays). But outside of the musical setting I just don't feel it. Anyway, yes I read Autobiography of a Yogi and a couple of Hesse books, including Siddartha. Loved Siddartha and Steppenwolf. For some reason I never read The Glass Bead Game (Das Glasperlenspiel), though people kept telling me I should. I'm not familiar with Zanoni at all. I read Von Daniken's Chariot of the Gods back in the early 70s. It was a fantastic read, as I remember. Exciting ideas and possibilities to the mind of a 13-year-old kid or anyone with a vivid imagination.
I listened to DDU a couple of days ago and reread the lyrics. Obviously it's strongly narrative, and it seems very literary to me. Another story of transformation, it too seems to end in an epiphany of sorts (Into the Mystic), though the nature of both the journey and the realization are fairly ugly. But, the narrator does seem to have conquered the fear of death, looking it in the face.
Death appears to be a motif in both N.O.X. and Begynnelser. Of course MP didn't write Begynnelser but it's a funny (non-?)coincidence. All three are also about life, beginnings, transcending the mundane and defying death.
I really don't know if life or death are themes in Folk Flest. I just haven't engaged with it that way at all. Like Magma's music (talk about concepts!!) (by which it's clearly influenced) I just love it and have never attempted to understand it. What I really need to do is sit down and read Johan Harstad's manifesto and the rest of the stuff in the booklet.
Talk about concepts!! Magma are a bloody weird band to try to describe to people. It's not too bad as you stumble through the unusual mix of musical elements, but when you add that it's sung in Kobaian and then have to explain all that, it starts to get really difficult to convince just how bloody brilliant this band is.
Have a good Sunday all
Personally I find it very hard to be objective about bands and specific albums that I like. I accept that a widely held objective view of Tales from Topographic Oceans is that it's overblown nonsense, but to me it is glorious. Jon Anderson's lyrics have nearly always been (and especially during the 70s) hard to pin down. Very few of his lyrics build any narrative and to me it has always been the sound of the vocal tied to the lyrical (word-salad) flow that was key. To criticise TFTO for being lyrical nonsense is fine, but the same can really be applied to pretty much anything great Yes did in the 70s. Some tracks work better than others lyrically, but the pleasure I've taken in the band has been prompted by the overall sound. TFTO provides beautiful melodies, harmonies, and aural excitement, emotion, power and fragility in spades. And although for some it might be too long (you're not first person I know to have made their own shortened versions of the album, Johnny – it seems to have been quite a popular exercise for some Yes fans :lol: ), for me I wouldn't cut a moment of it. Each track has a distinct flavour and themes which works well given the subject matter. And while it's easy to dismiss the subject matter for its source in the questionable Autobiography of a Yogi, the specific inspiration is Hindu scripture (the sastras) as described in the footnote to which Anderson refers. In that regard I suppose it could fairly be called pseudo-esoteric, but the same could be applied to artists of all stripes that have been inspired by philosophies of the East – The Beatles, Herman Hesse, and more. Some of it, being more high-brow or having had a greater cultural influence will be considered profound, some of it will be considered a load of airy-fairy bollocks. But arguments could be made for both. I love TFTO, start to finish and don't care what the widely held (so-called) objective reviews say.
The Lamb, as Johnny says, is a different beast. But is it? We might be tempted to accept it more readily because it can be linked to the Western scientific delving into the mind, the subconsious, the surreal that has been given credence by Freud, Jung and the many more brilliant pshychoanalysts all the way up to Zizek and beyond. It sounds more serious because it has a link to scientific analysis. Fair enough. But religious philosophies have also been studied seriously for thousands of years even though the route to understanding has been different to that used by scientists and psychoanalysts. It has been an inner journey – certainly open to abuse and being promulgated in ways that are intended to bamboozle. Personally I love the Lamb probably as much as TFTO, but in this case, there is a narrative (that you don't find in TFTO) and that narrative is highly compelling. But they have a common ending, a common resolution. IT. Nous somme du soleil. Both give us a sense of having come out the end of a transformation, but the endpoint of that transformation is a place beyond space and time, beyond duality. The presence of both these albums and their endpoints, remarkably, make it clear that it is not the specific process we go through that gets us there, but that the point beyond duality was always there and merely has to be grasped.
Dear oh dear, what a load of guff! Ha ha. Anyway. I think Dark Side of the Moon, with it's exploration of the human condition offers a similar conclusion in Eclipse.
As for Motorpsycho's contributions to the world of concept albums, I'm going to have to go for a long walk in the woods to meditate on it. :wink:
