Motorpsycho - You Gotta Hang On To The Trip You're On...

I have to admit it. I'm a huge fan of Motorpsycho. So anyone who wants to read a completely objective review should better stop here. Having said that, this album is for Motorpsycho fanatics only, if you don't like Motorpsycho at least a bit you're going to hate this record anyway. This is not your ordinary annual Motorpsycho release, this is number two in their live album series. The album contains a concert from 1995 which they did with former band member Deathprod (now solo and in Supersilent) and Norwegian jazz band the Source at the jazz festival in Kongsberg, Norway. This means nine people on stage, two drummers, two bass players, trombone, sax, keyboards, guitar, and theremin/analogue synth. Not all the songs are Motorpsycho songs, in fact only three of the seven songs are theirs (all three from the amazing 'Timothy's Monster'), the rest are songs/improvisations by the Source. All this leads to the most experimental and extreme Motorpsycho record ever, as this is a sometimes very chaotic mixture between spacerock, free jazz and electronic noise. The version of Motorpsycho classic 'The Wheel' is so intense, and the brass parts compliment the repetitive guitar chords in a very strange yet fantastic way, making it the best version of 'The Wheel' I ever heard. Also 'Grindstone', a Motorpsycho metal- oldie gets the Source free jazz treatment: Imagine a huge metal guitar riff with atonal trombones and saxophones all over the place, and one drummer playing the song and the other playing some jazz rhythm underneath. Strange and alienating, but incredibly impressive if you ask me. This collaboration doesn't only work well for the Motorpsycho songs; the way the Source songs are treated is equally impressive. Especially Deathprod makes it very interesting with electronic noises, and Motorpsycho themselves improvise at least as well in the Source's songs as the Source does in Motorpsycho's. The guitar riff that Snah plays underneath the strange rhythms of the Source's 'Dreams' makes it almost seventies funk. After 'Dreams' comes the absolute Motorpsycho classic 'The Golden Core', a very melodic and intense song. The way the Source approaches this song makes it completely new and fresh, and the brass parts fit in so easily and naturally, that it seems it always had to be this way. So, as I said before, if you don't like Motorpsycho you probably don't like this either, but anyone who likes rock, jazz and strange electronics and is not afraid of experiments should check out this album. The vinyl packaging is beautiful as always with Motorpsycho releases, again a convincing recommendation in my opinion.

Bas Ickenroth