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That Danish review is actually spot on. This is easily the weakest Motorpsycho album in many, many, many years. There are not enough good ideas here to justify a double album by a long shot. The few decent riffs and ideas are buried in a stilted, messy and tiresome mix (the loudness wars have ended, but no one has notified Andrew Scheps), the vocal mixing especially lends it an unappealing sheen. Some of the stuff is just flat out off-putting in its blandness (chorus of title track – yuck! Could have been just any of 10000000 boring stoner rock bands).
I have held off on commenting until I had given it enough spins, but even getting to that point proved hard. I find myself humming the main riff of a few songs which is sign that there is some quality still, but every time I play it I am reminded why I dislike it. One of the least interesting and memorable Motorpsycho albums ever. Skillful and technically brilliant, but (almost) completely soulless. Everything that Motorpsycho was never about. 3/6 sounds about right.
I am not going to give up on them because of this, of course. I think the Gullvåg trilogy gave us some of the best stuff sonce the 90s (The Tower in its entirety plus NOX especially) but this time they forgot to bring the songs, and the few song sketches are buried in a tiresome, numbing riffathon. The next one might be the best album yet. And a few of the songs might prove better live without that awful production.
Nothing to complain about there! Sounds promising, but as always it is impossible to judge the New album based on that one track. Sounds familiar, but inspired enough. Expectations rising.
It’s all good, and I, for one, completely understand what you are saying. I had the same reaction with Heavy Metal Fruit. When that came out, it seemed like the whole universe went bananas and there was yatzy all the way around, whereas my reaction was…»meh…nice as always, but more form than content».
I do really like The All Is One, but I can’t quite agree with the reviews which say that «this time everything gels» and the title track being the best thing in years and whatnot (it’s not, it’s probably even the weakest track on the album). I’ve learned to just shrug at all the opinions – I know what I like and the world will eventually follow.
Well, although I sort of agree that saying «we suck at repeating ourselves» smells a little of self-mythologizing, I have to disagree that they are not continuing to change or develop. Especially the last three albums have taken them to some new places IMHO. Take a song like Ship of Fools – where did that come from? And N.O.X. really sounds like nothing else they’ve done before.
I think the Kenneth years did show some signs of stagnation – there was a lot of energy in those first few albums, but stylistically not much new came out of those years except maybe The Death Defying Unicorn, and even that was a fairly overt nod to prog conventions.
Honestly, I think the addition of Tomas is a godsend. He has more of an avant garde outlook it seems. Both Bent and Snah are over 50, and it is extremely rare for any artist to truly develop into new areas at that age. Usually it’s more a case of ever refining the «formula» that they have arrived at.
And I forgot to sing my praise for Tomas. It was love at first listen for me when he appeared on The Tower, and his work on Ship of Foolswas remarkable. But what he does on N.O.X. is in a league of its own. Supremely musical, with bone-crushing strength, technical finesse and an impeccable sense of when to go minimal and when to unleash it all. Each Motorpsycho drummer era has its own charms, but Tomas can do it all.
Anyone else getting a heavy mid-period Led Zeppelin vibe from the songs on the «home stretch»? Particularly Dreams of Fancy and Like Chrome, which really remind me of Rain Song and Ten Years Gone, respectively.
I am stil lukewarm about the opening title track. The lyrics especially just strike me as just too obvious and frankly, bland…they read like a column or an essay in Morgenbladet (Norwegian semi-high brow weekly newspaper), and musically I also find it very bland, like a distillation of latter-day Motorpsychisms. Same Old Rock also fails to excite me much, but it’s picking up from The Magpie and on. That track, and for that matter, most of the regular tracks, share a certain spund and vibe very reminiscent of the Behind the Sun/Motorpnakotic Fragments era, which isn’t too surprising given Reine Fiske’s presence. Dreams of Fancy is probably my favourite of the «song» tracks. It has some of that majestic Radiance Freq feel to it, but drags a little once they get into a more typical drive with the drums. Overall, the non-N.O.X. tracks aren’t all that impressive IMHO. They are nice, but more in a Motorpnakotic kind of way – good supplements to the catalogue, and all of them contenders for an album, but not strong enough altogether.
So for me, the success of the album stands and falls on N.O.X. As we all know, it is outstanding, phenomenal, radical and something truly new and unique in the Motorpsycho catalogue. In a way, it’s a return to the radical, extreme experiments of Demon Box or The Wheel, but updated in a way that could only really happen in 2020, even though you can point to hints in previous songs and eras, both from Motorpsycho or other inspirations.
If I were to rate the album overall I’d give it 5 out of 6 and rate is just below The Tower, which I feel was a more consistently inspired album (no real duds on that one, and plenty of new and truly awe-inspiring moments), but N.O.X.might be the single best thing they’ve done since the 90s.
My very immediate impressions:
– the «regular» tracks are nice, but none that stand out as doing something new or particularly strong. May grow though, but nothing that struck me like the best Tower tracks. Dreams of Fancy was probably the one I liked the best.
– N.O.X.: OMFG. At first listen, it seemed a bit predictable as in the overall sound being exactly what I would expect from a 40-minute work featuring those guests, but repeated and attentive (as in headphones on and nothing else happening except a good cup of Ethiopian coffee and some red wine) listening reveals boundless depths. I am speechless, numb, filled with goosebumps, awe and choking up all at once. It might seem like a K9 suite on speed and played by Manuel Gottsching, but that’s only scratching the surface. The stretch from Ascension through Night of Pan is just incomprehensibly great and fucked up in the best way.
To do something like this 30+ years into their career and pushing 50 years is just extraordinary, and with this work I think Motorpsycho just arrived on the throne as GOAT. Can anyone in music history compare with this level of consistent greatness? Miles Davis probably qualifies, but that’s the lnly one I can think of.
As already mentioned, track 2 shares a title with a Roy Harper song from his masterpiece «Stormcock». I had tried briefly to get into this album before via streaming but it never really grabbed me. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a CD copy in a thrift shop. Among piles and piles of crap (how many people received Helmut Lotti CDs for Christmas in the late 90s/early 2000s?), oddly enough this quite esoteric title showed up.
It has been on constant rotation in the car since then. Once again it didn’t grab me at first, but after almost 10 rounds it finally began to sink in and I almost got the shivers. My God, what a fantastic record! Highly, highly recommended.
Saturday night, live @ someplace
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Un Chien d’Espace (K9+++ version feat Hogwash)
Bartok of the Universe —>
On the Toad Again
Heartattack Mac
Feel (acoustic)
Mad Sun (acoustic, feat Geb)
Wishing Well acoustic, feat Geb)
Nature’s Way (acoustic)
Manmower
Kill Some Day (Song for a Bro tease)
In Our Tree
The Magic and the Wonder
Hey Jane —>
The Alchemyst
———————-
The House at Pooneil Corners
Mantrick Muffin Stomp
Demon Box (feat Deathprod and feat Step Inside)
Grindstone
The Golden Core
Saturday night. Somewhat overwhelmed by last night’s mind-blowing set, which featured pretty much every aspect you love about Motorpsycho, it’s hard to know what to expect. You got some unexpected nuggets (Home of the Brave, Radiance Freq), but above all, it was the pacing of the set, without absolutely no weak spots, and a band in peak form, that made it an out-of-this-world experience. A little hung-over, and both mentally and physically drained by last night, expectations are actually not too high. You already got what you came for, and then some. But knowing what Motorpsycho can do, and especially on two consecutive nights in the same town, you can’t help but hoping somewhere way, way back in your head, that they somehow, magically, will top it all tonight.
You get the feeling that everyone was here last night, and everyone else is equally exhausted, because it’s unusally subdued and quiet in the house for a Saturday night. This fits the band perfectly, as you get a sense that the band is feeling quite dark as they enter the stage and you hear a synth-like drone. Snah plays the little motif that signals the opening of that all-time epic to end all epics. The K9 suite. Only this time, it turns out to be K10, K1.000.000, K9 to the power of 100. Snah has brought out the Fender Rhodes and the Space Echo for a return to the 1998 arrangement, but again, words cannot quite describe what is going on here. It starts out sneakingly, perfect for the slightly weary audience, warming them up slowly. As the chuggah-chuggah of the «The rounder we go» section builds, suddenly you notice a shift in the bass rhythm, and lo and behold, out of nowhere Hogwash appears! Spacewash! Dogwash! After about 35 mins total, the dog lands back on ground, and you just know that when you expect nothing, Motorpsycho delivers everything.
You all needed that warming up to get loose, and you are ready for some heaviness now. Another latter-day masterpice, Bartok of the Universe swings with lethal power, and segues directly into…ON THE TOAD AGAIN! The heaviness factor is ridiculous, outstoning any stoner band ever. And as if that wasn’t enough, Heartattack Mac blows your eardrums out and again the mighty Moog Taurus is employed to devastating effect. By this time everyone needs to calm down a little, so everyone is excited to see the band bringing out their acoustic guitars for the first time on this double night. Feel is an obvious starter to this acoustic mini set, and never fails to bring a smile. Bent then introduces a special guest, none other than Gebhardt(!) on banjo, and they play a beautiful version of Mad Sun and then Wishing Well, building in intensity. There are smiles and good vibes all around. Geb leaves and Snah takes over the mic for a beautiful version of Nature’s Way, the first cover so far these two nights. The subdued atmosphere continues with a note perfect version of Manmower, devoid of any pointless jamming which this gem of a song does not need.
We are about 1 hr 30 mins into the set now and we need a shift in atmosphere. It is Saturday night after all! Bent assures us that we need not worry, they are planning on playing for a looong time tonight. He starts out on bass teasing the riff from Song for a Bro, and your heart sinks somewhat in fear of an over-indulgent jam-band version, but it really is a tease, as it only serves as a build-up to launch into Kill Some Day. This is another one of those gems where they pull something extraordinary out of something seemingly somwhat mundane, via the ecstatic middle section. Next up is a forgotten little gem from BHBC, In Our Tree, and another more recent gem with Snah taking the lead vocals on The Magic and The Wonder. And then the familiar notes of Hey Jane has everyone singing along. It *is* Saturday night, after all. This section of «hits» is only a matter of preparing us though, for the onslaught that’s to come. The Alchemyst serves as a signifier. That’s what they are…alchemysts…turning the sometimes ordinary into something quite extraordinary and golden. It builds to a great climax as always, and ends the main set after about 2 hrs. But Bent assures us they will be back. You get the sense they have prepared something special.
And special it is indeed. They open with The House at Pooneil Corners. OMG!! Like Home of the Brave the night before, a track you never expected to hear again. The band playing as if possessed, you get the sense they are both having fun but also rediscovering, in real time, what they started out with – the excitement, energy, desperation and wonder. It continues with another surprise, a blinding version of Mantrick Muffin Stomp. Tucked away as a deep album track on the deep album side to end all deep album sides (side C of Trust Us), this nugget was in fact the first Motorpsycho track that knocked me out, and for that reason alone worth a place on my dream setlist.
But wait, who is that rustling around in the background? Isn’t it…it *is*!! Deathprod! Can it really be that…
Bent says «we never expected to do this ever, ever again, but in such good company, why not?»
You know what’s going to come. The Demon Box. Eyes closed, you want to experience this with every fiber of your body, so you focus only on the sounds and physical sensations from the sheer sound pressure. The middle section gets a bit of Step Inside and several other song quotes from dr Bent’s rock history archives. Perfect.
Can it get any better now? Yes, it can. It gets heavier, louder, and noisier with a devastating Grindstone, Bent screaming «you’ll shatter, you’ll shatter» and finally Deathprod manipulating the sounds and sending them around the room. You get the sense they have somewhat planned this, as they repeat the album segue from the ultimate abrasive tune, Grindstone, into the ultimate sound-of-God tune. The Golden Core. The very moment that Deathprod’s screeching sound manipulation halts, Snah rings out the first chord and summons the faithful to mass.
It is pointless to try to put into words what this song does. I will only say that if you were trying to put into music what it must feel like to see the gates of Heaven opening and the beauty of God revealing itself, it would sound like the climax of The Golden Core.
After the song’s end, everyone is calm and quiet. No cheering, but lots of quiet weeping. Everyone knows it’s over, nothing more to say. We all go home and try to fathom what just went down the past two days.
This is such a difficult challenge! Because the ultimate Motorpsycho concert is a very unpredictable affair – the most mind-blowing setlist on paper can turn out to be an uninspired and tedious affair in real life, and vice versa. The best setlist is always the one *they* want to play at any given time, give or take the X factor that you never know when is going to appear. But all that said, I can try to compile something that would be a great starting point and could potentially be the best gig ever. So it’s going to be a mishmash of tried-and-true stalwarts that just *have* to be there, some real surprises, and some songs that I would just love to hear them play live again. It’s obviously going to be 90s-heavy, but I will try to feature something from every phase.
And I decided to cheat a litte….I pretend this is a double gig, Fri and Sat night. Those are always the best, and a little easier to spread the epics and the oddballs a little…
Friday night, live @ someplace:
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Home of the Brave —>
S.T.G.
Psychotzar —>
Starhammer
Greener
Watersound
Sideway Spiral III
She Left on the Sunship—>
The Wheel—>
Ship of Fools
———————
Radiance Freq.
Superstooge
Plan #1
————————
Vortex Surfer
————————
Friday night. The band comes on and the air is thick with expectation. Bent simply says «good evening» quietly into the mic, then launches into the bass riff from Home of the Brave. Hair stands up on end, and the band has got you by the balls from the first note. It’s extremely heavy, loud and sweaty. People are struggling to come to grips with what just hit them…are they really playing HOME OF THE BRAVE!!?? It segues directly into STG. The band sticks with something familiar, a hard rocking classic that *never* fails to work live. The noise section in the breakdown is extremely skronky, 1998-style, but then gives way to a long, drawn out, spacey jam in a 20-minute version. It’s pretty clear already that the band is in the zone tonight. After the spaciness of the end section of STG, the band brings it back down to the ground with the Sabbath-like riff of Psychotzar, never letting go of the grip they have on their audience. The last section again gives way to some searching, jamming stuff before launching directly into Starhammer, played 2019-style, about 13 mins long. Already this set has seen a *lot* of variation in mood and loudness, but it has been rather heavy and jammy, so it’s time to bring in something familiar. Snah takes the microphone for the «evergreen» Greener, and next up Watersound has everybody swaying with their eyes closed, then pogoing along as the crescendo towards the end comes in. About 60 minutes into the set, Sideway Spiral is played as it was on the 2000-tour, with a repetitive build-up to glorious peak as it goes into the final verse, with some very effective visuals on the background screen. Everyone is extatic at this point as every song has been quite sublime, although there haven’t been any big surprises except for the opening. It’s also time to get rocking again, so the band has chosen a much-neglected number from the early Kenneth era, namely the superb She Left on the Sunship. On the record, it was marred by a slightly confusing ending, but in this setting it works perfectly as an introduction into The Wheel, which starts out probingly, but builds and builds. It’s clear that we are in the thick of the main set now, with the band in a jammy mood. It gets heavier and heavier, the Moog Taurus shaking the foundation of the building, and after about 20 minutes of riding The Wheel, and letting the last chord ring out, we hear the familiar sounds of the playbox opening of Ship of Fools. One of their latter-day masterpieces, you can sense that they really *mean* it, man, when they assure us that they won’t crew any ship of fools. Thomas builds up a drum storm to the glorious, climactic ending. And thus ends the main set after about 1 hr 55 mins.
Of course, everyone knows this isn’t all, so we patiently clap them back, routinely, for the first encore. Wait, what’s that sound….singing glass?? Hadeland’s finest?? OMG, can it really be?? Yes, it really is!! The lost masterpiece in Motorpsycho’s catalogue, unfairly neglected for 20+ years. I nearly break into tears as I hear that droning DGDGAD tuning and Bent croaking «Hey Creator mind, we want in, we want in». It is just as glorious as expected. It is followed directly by the ultimate traktor-bass riff of Superstooge. It is another track that *never* fails to deliver live, and the audience knows and feels it. The symbiosis between band and audience is at an all-time high now, which the band feeds on and prods them into completely unchartered territory in the jam section. I can’t find the words to describe it other than this; it is Motorpsycho-music, and the finest there is. It’s clear that the band planned this encore, because the moment the final note of Superstooge is hit, we hear the classis «the lyrics….you know something? God loves you. And he has a plan for your life». Ah, the mighty Plan #1. Perhaps the very first, undisputable Motorpsycho classic. The first track where they kind of sort of knew they had something special going on. This night it’s obvious it means something special to everyone attending, as the band members desperately play their hearts out. The crowd roars its approval as the song ends, and the wave of applause forces the band back on stage. I am guessing we will hear one of two tracks, and I am correct. Vortex Surfer is probably the only right choice tonight, the only track that could perfectly cap this spectacular set. 2 hrs 45 mins of light and shade, concise and jammy, beautiful and abrasive, loud and quiet. The band has been in a somewhat psychedelic and jammy mood, but never lost sight of the nerve and songcraft at heart of their creations. What else could one want? We will see tomorrow…
Now that’s what I’m talking about! Shame about the sound on the Frankfurt 98 show, but you can easily get an impression of the energy and excellence on display. IMHO, Motorpsycho reached two absolute peaks during the 90s. The first was in late ‘93 and early ‘94, with the ultra-heavy stuff slowly giving way to something a little more ethereal and light. This is nicely displayed on the Vera ‘93 set on the Demon Box deluxe set, and This Is Motorpsycho. Deathprod in full bloom, classics appearing daily in the form of The Golden Core, The Wheel etc.
The second peak was the spring ‘98 tour. They were soooo fucking good at that point, even the singing was occasionally great…
BTW, isn’t that So What show from December 96, and not 97 as it says?
Many thanks for yet another nugget! Sad to hear that the vaults are almost empty. I am hoping that before the barrell is thoroughly sraped there will be some material from 1994 and 1998, my two favourite years. And let’s not forget 1996, when the indie Motorpsycho of 1995 gave way to something both a little harder rocking and spacier.
Devotional, got any more reviews coming up? I really enjoyed them.
