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As Punj and supernaut says.
Very good points about lack of cohesiveness, variation and flow on albums. Sungravy as a stand alone track may not be in the top three category, but it is exactly what you need there and then: To go straight from the The Wheel to Grindstone on TM would be too much. And you absolutely need the calm and acoustic Delusion and A Little Light to cleanse you palate and take a deep breath before NOX and to come down and catch your breath again (or to get a little light) after. Generally I find their album sequencing and variation spot on.
Another interesting point is the one of saturation. Some people seem to struggle to appreciate Kingdom of Oblivion as it sounds too familiar to the Gullvåg trilogy, it came too soon and so on. The lack of appreciation of latter-day MP seem for some to be reinforced by the fact that the typical MP songs these days are not short traditional songs but parts stitched together or a stream of indistinguishable riffing, jamming and progging. Underdeveloped, aimless and pointless, and lacks the urgency and directness of the youthful 90’s work some ppl lamented somewhere on these forums. (Not me, it doesn’t ring true with me at all.)
But anyways, it got me thinking a little bit. I am wondering if the “aimless, pointless and lack of urgency†is a consequence of the song writing process. A little while ago I listened to Torgny Amdam’s podcast ‘Lage musikk’ (‘Make music’) with Bent. It is only in Norwegian so I am not sure to what extent what’s said here have been repeated to non-Norwegians. Here Bent talks about the song writing process of the last 5-10 years. It goes something like this: Typically Bent will sit down in front of the telly with an electric guitar or keys and record on his phone until the voice memory (and his head) is full of sketches, chords, riffs and ideas, text lines maybe. This will obviously have no premeditated idea of direction or style, nor any self-censoring. He will then go on to work out demos on Pro Tools, developing the material and piecing parts together. According to Bent, putting the different parts together is an intuitive process, he ‘knows’ when the song is right and when there’s a record there. Every now and then Bent is stuck and may involve Snah to get additional input to get unstuck, add new pieces, glue pieces together. He refers to making music as research or exploration.
Bent specifically says that the method now is different from the writing process in the 90’s which was much more classical song writing. Bent also states that he is bored of what he refers to as the Beatles school of song writing (short, conventional, “perfect†pop songs) and feels that there is not more to get from that for him personally or in music generally. Been there, done to death, moved on.
And what else can you do other than to respect that?
And then there's this: https://www.dansenshus.com/forestillinger/sacrificing
It doesn't say "cancelled" or "postponed" yet as far as I can see and tickets seems to be for sale, whatever that may mean these days. Anyways, if it happens, now or later, it bodes for another fascinating arty side dish, inspired by Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
15.05.2021 – NO Trondheim, Verkstedhallen https://fb.me/e/1ludBSUGM
16.05.2021 – NO Trondheim, Verkstedhallen https://fb.me/e/6sD9A1PVt
27.05.2021 – NO Oslo, Dansens hus (with dancer/choreographer Hooman Sharifi/Impure Company)
28.05.2021 – NO Oslo, Dansens hus
29.05.2021 – NO Oslo, Dansens hus
30.05.2021 – NO Oslo, Dansens hus
22.11.2021 – NO Oslo, Blitz, https://fb.me/e/MOFqq0do
23.11.2021 – NO Oslo, Blitz
24.11.2021 – NO Oslo, Blitz
25.11.2021 – NO Oslo, Blitz
26.11.2021 – NO Oslo, Blitz
04.12.2021 – NO Trondheim, Byscenen https://fb.me/e/4d1fOPkAQ
As much as I agree with everything you say Punj, I am afraid my position on this is one of resignation…
Re. the Spotify/Tidal discussion above.
A little bit of consumer information, as researched on the world wide web (pt. 1): Spotify has announced that they will roll out Spotify HiFi, a "CD quality, lossless audio format" service "in selected markets" later this year.
A little bit of consumer information (pt. 2): How much the artist get per stream varies, depending on location, royalty rates, currency and other variables. Here are some typical per-stream figures: Napster $0,019 / Tidal $0,01283 / Apple Music $0,00783 / Spotify $0,00437 / Youtube $0,00069, meaning that you will have to play in the region of 80 MP-songs in order for our heroes to get 1 USD using Tidal, while you have to play your selected MP-song on repeat 230 times for the same to happen if you use Spotify (if my maths is up to scratch). Subscription rates varies as well, I guess you get what you pay for.
So make up your own mind.
Speaking for myself, I would love if they (our band) tidied up their digital presence a bit so the entire discography were available on streaming services, including COTF, boxsets and EP's which is currently missing on both Spotify and Tidal. As for most of you, my physical format collection is pretty complete so any streaming I do comes on top of that. The band is not losing any money by my streaming. And a lot of my music consumption happens when I am not anywhere near my record player.
@Mark It is up for pre-ordering if you follow the link at the top of the thread. It says "Bestill med Paypal" = order using Paypal a bit down the page. Only in Norwegian it seems, but should be doable with a little help from your friend Google translate. Good luck!
Yes it is quite the price tag, but you get the full luxury treatment with coloured vinyl, linernotes and all it seems, and I guess the project has a bit of cultural value in it self, curating and making available a part of the cultural heritage that has previously been unavailable or near-forgotten. A love-child conceived by people who care about music. Also, the price reflects Norwegian cost and wage levels I guess…
@Punj Lizard If Idles, Black Midi, Astrosaur, Smerz, Ultraflex and Valkyrien Allstars is what Bent listened to I really have no idea what the album is going to sound like….
Same thing with me only with the Pulsator box. A nice little email chat with Cecilie on motorpsycho@online.no and – voila! – there it was in my mailbox a week later. She explained that notifications from Paypal didn't always get through to them. So it seems it's the evil corporate Paypal b***ards to blame and not the mighty Motorpsycho organisation!
Don't know about Håkon Gullvåg's religious allegiances, if any, but he has painted a few altarpieces in new churces in Norway, such as this one
Håkon Gullvåg's altarpiece in Seegard church
so he is obviously working with religious symbols, motifs and themes in many contexts. Fits in well with the musical and lyrical grandiosity in the trilogy, me thinks, even if MP don't make Christian references as such.
Ole Paus & Motorpsycho on NRK2
In case you have nothing better to do this evening – The Nidarosdomen gig is shown again on NRK2 @ 22:40 CET tonight, and available on the NRK website later.
It will be shown on Norwegian television NRK2 Saturday 15 August @ 22:40. It will also be available on their (NRK) website. Highly recommended!
Time to update this thread, isn't it? Seems there will be a Ole Paus & Motorpsycho gig at Nidarosdomen, Trondheim as part of a rejigged Olavsfest on 1 August this year. Streamed to a digital device near you for free. Have a look here.
Fair to say the former members of Pestilence have embarked on different musical journeys. This is gold.
