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F*ck! I have a gig of my own on friday 13th. Dammit. Now I'm forced to go to either Utrecht or Nijmegen.
They actually full-on admitted to fixing vocals in the liner notes accompanying the Haircuts DVD: "the odd out-of-key vocal line is still left in there, but the main offenders have been excised and replaced for your listening pleasure."
Found my copies (CD and vinyl) in the mail today, now listening. Favourites so far: Bomb-Proof (it totally lives up to the rumours spread in this little community that surround this 'legendary' Leipzig-version which until today I had never heard), Kill Devil Hills (bringing the noise) and Alchemyst (the vocals! I've never heard Bent sing this good live, so my guess is they fixed up a few parts). Actually, this version of Alchemyst far surpasses the original in terms of intensity and performance. This is gonna end up as my favorite of the Roadworks-series so far.
RW IV >>> RW I > RW III >>>>>RW II
Well, I’ve heard K9 enough times and really needed a smoke (yes, I’m an addict). I like GT on album but after 2,5 hours of psychonautic madness I was satisfied. Besides that I was the designated driver so I had to drive my friends back home, and I wanted to have a beer in our local pub and got there just in time before they closed their doors.
Anyway, I would rate show this as one of my top three MP-gigs.
Great show, but it took me a while to get into it. WBAT was a solid opener, and with Mountain they were definitely in stoner-rock territory (which the Vera crowd seemed to appreciate). Giftland was nice but has never been one of my favorites, and Visitant was a premiere for me, so it’s hard for me to say anything about the song- except that I bought the single (of course…).
But then things started to get rolling with Bomb-proof, and especially Alchemyst, which was played very playfully with lots and lots of interaction between Snah and KK. Then Bent switched to a guitar anf they started Un Chien, which was a sign for me to go on a smoking break and socialise in the downstage bar (hey, they’d been playing for nearly an hour by that time and I needed a break).
I got back after about 20 minutes and the band was still jamming relentlessly, so I made my way upfront just in time for the final part. From then on thing got better and better. First big surprise for me was Timothy’s Monster which I had never heard live before and it was great with the dual guitar attack and the noise. Loved it. Diana was loud and groovy, and although not a favorite of mine (I was actually hoping for Cornucopia if they were gonna play COTF-stuff) this song really works live. Starhammer was another banger, but it was Greener that nearly killed me. I’d forgotten how much I love that song, and they played a great (tuned down) version.
The first encore was even better, because they played Like Always, one of my absolute favorite MP-songs for ever and ever. Followed by Shrug! X-3 and Come On In! OMGWTF!
Second encore was Gullible, but I had seen enough and went to the merch and hooked up with my friends again so we could drive home (I was the designated driver…).
All in all: great show, better than any time I have seen them in the last five years. Highlights: , Bomb-Proof, Alchemyst (this is one for the ages you guys), Timothy’s, Diana Starhammer, Greener, Like Always, Shrug.
My bands:
The Eve:
Innerlogic:
http://www.myspace.com/innerlogicmusic
Girls On Top:
http://www.myspace.com/girlsontoprootkit
The Eve is the one most likely to be compared to Motorpsycho because we like to stretch out our songs and improvise, Innerlogic is post-hardcore in the vein of Jawbox/Snapcase/Helmet/Refused, Girls On Top is my full on indiepop-band.
@ Fillmore: are you sure it was the Japanese Mono that got kicked off the bill? During that era there was also a Dutch band called Mono (from Rotterdam even), so my guess would be that it was them. They were also quite a good band.
@ All: don’t be afraid of the Barracuda references. I only pinpointed to that album because of some of the grooves, but this album has a lot more to offer. Much much more.
Yesterday I received a copy of the new album. “What, you mean the official release? How could this be?” I hear you say. Well, yesterday I received an official promo* for Heavy Metal Fruit since I write for the Dutch e-zine File Under (http://www.fileunder.nl). This is a first for me since it’s the first time in the six years that I write for FU that I got an offcial promo for a Motorpsycho-record. Needless to say that I’ve been jamming this record endlessly within the last 24 hours.
To further up the excitement about this new record I would like to share some thoughts about the album with you guys**.
First of all: This just might be the Best Motorpsycho-Album Since Timothy/AADAP/Trust US/LLM (depending which is your favorite canonical album). Now, I’ve been saying this to myself and my friends since LTEC was released but with this one I’m dumbfounded. This is the most complete record they ever made. I’m not saying this lightly.
A brief rundown of the songs:
The record kicks off with Starhammer, which has a very soft, building intro until 1:22 when the main riff kicks in. And what a riff it is! Majestic. Wonderful. The song then veers into a heavy, proggy song until we get halfway and we’re in jamland. A very subtle jam, based on a syncopated bassdrum-pattern. Snah keeps it very minimal. The final part is astounding.
X-3 starts off as a driving rocksong in the vein of the old 90’s stuff mixed with some Barracuda-style seventiesrock. Kapstadt’s playing is very remarkble since to me it feels like he’s playing the songs in a way that Gebhardt would do.
Yes, I’m surprised about that too. Let me repeat that: Kapstadt plays like Geb would do in a lot of parts.
There has been some discussion over here about Kenneth’s frenetic drumstyle when he is in a jazz-mood. The Child Of The Future-record was based on this playing style, in my humble opinion, and LLM was also filled with it. But on Heavy Metal Fruit he keeps it mostly down-to-earth and very functional in the verses and choruses. Of course there are still moments when he goes off, like later on in The Bomb-Proof Roll or W.B.A.T. (more on these two later). But overall his playing is in the pocket and very related to the song.
Bomb-Proof is based on a 7/4 shuffle-beat and has a very trippy main-melody (“Round round round we go, always slightly faster”). The vocals on this one are very lush and harmonic, very layered, and the grande finale features a lot of voices going on at once, so I’m curious how they are going to cope with this monster in a live-situation. The jamming halfway veers into free-jazz territories before they reach the final part.
Close Your Eyes splits up the record and is the only short piece with it’s 3:40. A very nice piano-ballad with really nice vocals by Bent. A great cooling down-piece after the previous songs, and a great moodsetter for the final two.
W.B.A.T. starts off with a seventies-jazzrock group-solo, with frenetic off-beat playing by Kapstadt, Bent following suit and Snah in jazz-mode. The interaction displayed over here is astounding. I actually took this album to rehearsal yesterday with my jazz-combo (yes, I’m a jazz-guitar-player) and my drummer was floored. Suddenly, the main riff kicks in and we’re back Motorpsycho-land. The main riff reminds me somewhat of a slower Coal Mine Pony-thing, and I also have the feeling this wouldn’t have been a bad fit on the Baracuda-EP if they had made a compact song with just this riff. But they first go into a solo and it isn’t until very late into the song that the chorus comes in at 6:28. And what a chorus it is! From there on they build the sweeping, lush melody into a mega-orchestral buildup. You gotta hear this. Best song of the album for me.
And then we have the Epic-To-End-All-Epics, Gullible’s Travails. This song has so many moods, shifts, melodies and parts that I’ve not yet had the time to fully absorb this monster-piece. But I’m willing to bet that this one will go down history in the same canon as Un Chien D’Espace, Golden Core and Vortex. An unbelievable piece of progrock.
Another point of notice: the production is fantastic. This is the best sounding/recorded Motorpsycho album. Seriously. It has the audiophile-qualities and eye for detail of the pop-era albums (LTEC/Ph/IALC), combined with the looseness in playing and performance displayed on LLM and COTF.
All in all, this is Motorpsycho at it’s best. Definitely more prog, more jazz, and more diverse than ever before. This could have been a mess on a scale that The Mars Volta wouldn’t even dare reach***, but it’s because of the fantastic arrangements, immense diversity, melodies to die for and overall execution/performance that Motorpsycho is able to sidestep all the pitfalls of progrock (like boring noodling, lyrical pretention, technical display and massive cheesiness). This is progrock at it’s most creative.
So now we’re not even halfway through january and it’s very likely that I already have my favorite album of 2010. Unbelievable.
*Don’t worry, I already pre-ordered both the vinyl and CD and I promise to Stickman and Motorpsycho not to leak this promo
**Now, I’ve been a fan of MP for years and years so I could be a little biased, but I’ve tried to keeps this essay somewhat objective (though I might have failed on this point)
***Not a fan. ATDI was much better.
Kenneth reuniting with the brilliant GÃ¥te is fantastic news by the way. I really really love that band.
Well, they managed to take one of these jams and turn it into one of their poppier songs in years (Ozzylot that is).
After several days of spinning the record I take back my Barracuda comparison. It’s much more in the vein of Trust Us, with some of the LLM-sound.
I also agree that their way of arranging vocals has shifted from one voice to harmony-voicings.
Record is still growing on me. A-side still my favorite.
