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@ toresan: Longest title? No. X. Find out yourself on "The All Is One".
btw.: A Phanerothyme vinyl reissue is long overdue – somebody should put it on the agenda!
I haven't read it yet (I've only seen the headline and the first couple of lines) but there is a short article in the latest Prog magazine titled MOTORPSYCHO GO FOUR FOR FOUR!
Johnny, i agree… Phanerothyme is one of the few LPs still missing in my collection (together with Timothys and Barracuda….)
Prog Magazine July 2022:
MOTORPSYCHO GO
FOUR FOR FOUR!
August’s Ancient Astronauts will be the
Norwegians’ fourth album in as many years.
Progressive psychedelic rockers Motorpsycho are to
release their next LP, Ancient Astronauts, on August 19
through Rune Grammofon. It will be the prolific Norwegian
trio’s fourth full-length studio album in four consecutive years,
following 2019’s The Crucible, 2020’s The All Is One and last year’s
Kingdom Of Oblivion.
Ancient Astronauts was recorded at Amber Tone Studios in
Oslo, Norway, during the summer of 2021. As a result of travel
restrictions at the time, the band’s longtime collaborator –
Stockholm-based guitarist and keyboardist Reine Fiske – had to
record his parts remotely.
Unlike their conventional recording sessions, tracking for
Ancient Astronauts was predominantly done live. The band played
together in the studio to get the instrumental takes, before later
adding overdubs and vocal lines.
Musically, Motorpsycho describe the resulting album as “at
times fairly frantic and angular yet grandiose and hypnotic. This
is a very explorative offering without a whole lot of choruses.”
Ancient Astronauts’ cover is a still from a film project that
the band are currently working on, and was shot at dawn in the
remote Norwegian village of Skotbu last August. Full details of the
film are yet to emerge, as are updates on their tour plans, which
follow on from their most recent European dates in May.
For all the latest updates on Ancient Astronauts and the band’s
other activities, go to http://www.motorpsycho.no.
Just want to add: that edition of Prog also features a great article in memory of Alan White, whose passing deserves a mention. Rest in peace, Alan – great drummer and great man.
@ suntripper. Nice of you to mention Alan White here. I first saw Alan play with Yes in 1977 and have seen him with them a couple of dozen times more since then. As much as I preferred Bill Bruford's style, Alan was a truly great drummer who made those early Yes songs his own and thereafter really put his own stamp on the band's sound on Tales, Relayer, GFTO and everything since. Not a lot of people know that before Yes he played with both John Lennon and George Harrison! Sadly, shortly before his death, his storage was raided and the kit he played when he was with Lennon was stolen. Apparently he was a really lovely man as well as a great drummer. RIP.
@Punj Lizard: Yes, one of the real good guys – and it comes across. Notable that he was Jon Anderson's best man. Technically, Bruford might be better but I actually prefer listening to Alan (and, as a drummer, I expect I've probably just committed some terrible faux-pas as far as the purists are concerned) and I think the post-Close to the Edge material benefitted from his style. He was no slouch, mind you, as Sound Chaser, for example, will demonstrate. I don't know whether you bought Progeny (I'm guessing, yes!) but I remember a review saying that it was Alan that was the revelation on those shows – really driving the band. You were lucky to see them in 1977. My first was a Drama-era show. While Trevor Horn was abysmal, the band, including Alan at the height of his powers, were really on form.
Sorry, guys, for the deviation, but if Neil Peart can have a whole thread (and who can forget that one?!) then this is the least Alan deserves.
Pre-order started @ Rune Grammofon.
And additional info has turned up on Rune Gram's homepage:
Considering the tight run of albums since the first part of the “Gullvåg Trilogy” in 2017 – three double and a single album in less than four years – the 16 months wait for Ancient Astronauts must feel like an eternity for the fans. And once again we are amazed at the creative forces and consistently high quality at work here.
Much of the music here somehow continue in the manner of the band’s popular long form “N.O.X.” suite from The All Is One (2019) album, including “Mona Lisa/Azrael” and “Chariot Of The Sun – To Phaeton On The Occasion Of Sunrise (Theme From An Imagined Movie)”, the latter clocking in at 22 minutes, being the band´s longest instrumental track to date. Most of Ancient Astronauts was recorded in Amper Tone studio in Oslo during five days in August with old compadre Deathprod at the helm as producer. All four tracks are basically the band playing live in the studio, with the odd keyboards, bits of guitar and the vocals added afterwards. Some of it is in turns pretty frantic and angular or grandiose and hypnotic and is mined from the same sources as the band’s more explorative music from recent years. Meaning there aren’t many choruses to hang on to here, but plenty of mouthwatering music for fans and progheads alike. The album was mixed by Andrew Scheps.
"All four tracks are basically the band playing live in the studio".
I love that they are recording the album the jazz way. I guess this is a result of them playing the tracks live several times before entering the studio, and everything was already fitting together. The jazzy feeling is entering the album tracks.
The new teaser on Instagram is sounding great.
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