Norway's Motorpsycho offered perhaps the most eclectic take on the cliches of psychedelic hard-rock on monumental albums such as Demon Box (1993), bordering on progressive-rock.
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I norvegesi Motorpsycho esordiscono all'insegna di un hard-rock psichedelico
che riparte dalle storiche scorribande di Blue Cheer e Hawkwind.
Uno stile prolisso e logorroico
affonda l'album Lobotomizer (Voices Of Wonder, 1991),
ma il mini-album Soothe (Voices of Wonder, 1992),
poi allungato con l'aggiunta di Have Fun e Loaded per diventare
l'album Soothing Songs for Ruth (Voices of Wonder, 1992),
lascia presagire sviluppi tanto megalomani quanto originali.
Bent Saether e Snah Ryan, nonostante enormi carenze tecniche, hanno la mano
facile con gli strumenti e possono metabolizzare qualsiasi cosa in una
composizione complessa. Il metodo trionfa forse nel brano piu` romantico,
Sister Confusion, anche se e` la lunga Lighthouse Girl a
far intuire cosa diventeranno da grandi.
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The double-LP Demon Box (Voices of Wonder, 1993), featuring keyboardist
Helge "Deathprod" Sten,
boasts the band's classic style, a style both bold and florid,
however derivative of hard rock of the 1970s.
The loud distortion and the trivial melody of Nothing To Say is
typical of the method. The sinister limping screamed grunge of Feedtime
and the pounding punk-rock slam-dance of Babylon
represent its extreme manifestations.
The seven-minute Plan #1 adds enough instrumental chaos to increase
the dramatic content.
The 17-minute Demon Box is structured in three parts:
a six-minute deluge of truculent panzer guitar riffs,
five minutes of chaotic musique concrete, and then a reprise of the main theme
via a tidal wave of epic guitar riffs.
However, variety is the principle presiding over
the medieval dance of Waiting For The One
the poppy frenzy of Sunchild,
the dreamy, stoned acoustic folk lament of Tuesday Morning,
the cover of Moondog's street chant All Is Loneliness,
the devilish moans and noises of Step Inside Again.
The five-song EP Mountain (1993) added Mountain to the major canon.
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Il doppio Demon Box (Voices of Wonder, 1993), con il tastierista
Helge "Deathprod" Sten,
sfoggia lo stile classico del gruppo, spavaldo e rigoglioso,
ma terribilmente epigonico nei confronti dell'hard-rock degli anni '70.
Mountain riesce a superare gli stereotipi del genere, ma gran parte
del disco ci precipita dentro a testa bassa. A salvarsi sono soprattutto i
brani meno legati a quella tradizione, dalla ballata solare di
Waiting For The One al grunge scuro di Feedtime.
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The double album Timothy's Monster (Harvest, 1994) introduced a calmer,
more sophisticated group of musicians.
The pastoral overture of Feel,
the simple country-pop of Now It's Time To Skate,
the slow, restrained On My Pillow,
the brooding, seven-minute psychedelic pastiche Kill Some Day,
the singalong Beatiful Sister
display musical ambitions that are perhaps beyond the group's skills.
A more solid sound propels the hypnotic and anthemic Leave It Like That,
with echoes of Modern Lovers and Stooges, the conventional garage-pop of
Trapdoor, the Breeders-like nervous, fractured pop of
A Shrugh & a Fistfull.
The 10-minute Giftland straddles the line between the two personalities,
rich in guitar riffs but also in quasi-symphonic magniloquence.
Watersound also fuses the two tones, turning a melancholy shuffle into
a demented boogie in what is, perhaps, the best trick on the album.
The second disc of Timothy's Monster contains only four lengthy
tracks.
The longest and best one, The Wheel (17 minutes),
builds up slowly to a grunge-y furor, then slides down into acid distortions,
Blue Cheer-grade grooves and martial tempos.
GrindStone (seven minutes) is a maelstrom of Black Sabbath-ian riffs
accelerated to frantic speed and of psychotic screams.
The Golden Core (13 minutes) is, instead, another quiet track,
a lengthy coda to a song that doesn't exist
(Bel Canto's Anneli Drecker on backing vocals).
Overall, this is a weak double-album that would have been a great mini-album.
The EP containing The Nerve Tattoo and Mad Sun transformed
wild impetus into aesthetic self-indulgence, whereas
Blissard (Columbia, 1996), featuring Sinful and Manmower,
offers confused and awkward progressive-rock that relishes both
psychedelic jams and folk ballads.
Another double album, Angels & Daemons At Play (Columbia, 1997),
that collects three previous EP, boasts only one truly good piece,
Starmelt-Lovelight.
The double Trust Us (Columbia, 1998) unleashes
Ozone and Hey Jane, but the inspiration is even weaker.
A presumption of eclectism ends up undermining these monumental works.
Tussler (Stickman, 1993) is a soundtrack for a western movie.
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Il singolo Another Ugly Tune e il doppio album
Timothy's Monster (Harvest, 1994) consacrano la stagione d'oro,
caratterizzata ora da una ricerca timbrica e armonica piu` adulta, che sboccia
in brani meno sensazionali e piu` intellettuali come
Kill Some Day, Leave It Like That e Wearing Yr Smell.
Le lunghe suite di The Wheel, Grindstone e
The Golden Core che dominano il disco si ispirano in egual misura
al progressive-rock e all'hard-rock melodico dei tardi Led Zeppelin.
L'EP di The Nerve Tattoo e Mad Sun ha trasformato il selvaggio
in narcissismo.
ma Blissard (Columbia, 1996), con Sinful e Manmower,
propone un progressive-rock confuso e approssimativo,
che si crogiola tanto nelle jam psichedeliche quanto nelle ballate folk.
Un altro doppio album, Angels & Daemons At Play (Columbia, 1997),
che raccoglie in realta` tre precedenti EP svedesi, annovera soltanto una
buona canzone, Starmelt-Lovelight.
Il doppio Trust Us (Columbia, 1998) sfodera ancora
Ozone e Hey Jane, ma l'ispirazione e` sempre piu` fievole.
L'eccesso di eclettismo finisce per disintegrare questi lavori monumentali.
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Roadwork Vol 1 (Roadwork, 1999) is a live album that contains extended
versions of their tracks.
Then, suddenly,
with Let Them Eat Cake (Stickman, 2000)
the Motorpsycho abandoned psychedelic rock and turned to art-pop,
like many of their idols did in the late 1960s.
Songs like The Other Fool are so baroquely
orchestrated to recall
Flaming Lips and
Mercury Rev.
Tracks:
The Other Fool,
Upstairs-Downstairs,
Big Surprise,
Walkin' With J.,
Never Let You Out,
Whip That Ghost,
Stained Glass,
My Best Friend,
30/30.
The mini-album BArracuda (Stickman, 2001) basically collects the
leftovers of those sessions.
Continuing their descent into art-pop, Motorpsycho's
Phanerothyme (Stickman, 2001) focuses on
arrangements and casually samples the history of rock music for melodic
ideas. The result,
from the orchestral country lullaby Bedroom Eyes
to the baroque fugue When You're Dead (banjo, harpsichord, flugelhorn),
is certainly eclectic, but "pop" requires, first and foremost, good
melodies, and only the
Byrds-ian psychedelic folk-rock of Go To California and the
Beach Boys-ian pop of Blindfolded get close to being hummable
and not only pretentious.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Claudio Lancia)
Roadwork Vol 1 (Roadwork, 1999) è un album dal vivo che contiene alcune versioni estese di loro composizioni.
Con Let Them Eat Cake (Stickman, 2000) i Motorpsycho abbandonano il rock psichedelico ed il contrasto art-pop, come fecero molti loro idoli nei tardi anni ’60. Canzoni come The Other Fool sono orchestrate in maniera così barocca da richiamare alla mente i Flaming Lips ed i Mercury Rev.
Il mini-album Barracuda (Stickman, 2001) contiene altre registrazioni di quelle sessioni.
Continuando la propria incursione nell’art-pop, con Phanerothyme (Stickman, 2001) i Motorpsycho si focalizzano su arrangiamenti e ripescaggi dalla storia del rock per idee melodiche. Il risultato, dalla ninna nanna country-orchestrale di Bedroom Eyes alla fuga barocca di When You're Dead , è certamente eclettico, ma il "pop" richiede innanzitutto belle melodie, e solamente il folk-rock psichedelico-Byrdsiano di Go To California ed il pop alla Beach Boys di Blindfolded si avvicinano ad essere canticchiabili e non solo pretenziosi.
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It's A Love Cult (Stickman, 2002) is even more devoid of contents.
In The Fishtank (Konkurrent, 2003) is an improvised collaboration with Norwegian horns-based combo Jaga Jazzist.
Theme De Yo Yo is an interesting cross between Deep Purple and the MG's.
The 20-minute jam Tristano delivers an intriguing sequence of free-form cacophony, tribal/cerimonial rhythms, and gargantuan, propulsive group improvisation.
In The Fishtank 10 (Konkurrent, 2003) is an improvised collaboration
with the Jaga Jazzist Horns.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Luca Cantoreggi)
It's A Love Cult (Stickman, 2002) è ancor più privo di contenuti.
In The Fishtank (Konkurrent, 2003) è una collaborazione improvvisata con il combo norvegese Jaga Jazzist Horns. Theme De Yo Yo è un incrocio interessante fra i Deep Purple e gli MG’s.
La jam di 20 minuti Tristano consegna un’intrigante sequenza di cacofonia free-form, ritmi tribali/cerimoniali e gigantesche e propulsive improvvisazioni di gruppo.
Helge "Deathprod" Sten ha registrato anche con gli improvvisatori Supersilent.
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Helge "Deathprod" Sten has also recorded with improvisors
Supersilent.
With Black Hole Blank Canvas (2006)
Bent Saether and Snah Ryan returned to a more vibrant garage sound
(17 songs, none longer than nine minutes).
Motorpsycho's
Little Lucid Moments (Rune Grammofon, 2008), instead, contained four
colossal suites that represent the best they had to offer after
so many years of refining the format of California's melodic acid-rock.
The 21-minute monolith
Little Lucid Moments opens with four minutes of a languid psychedelic
lullaby, but it soon delves into a frenzied screamed chunk of prog-rock. After
ten minutes it has become a country-inflected shuffle with multi-part
vocals a` la Yes, followed by a section of
pure galactic bliss with a strong rhythmic underpinning, like a punk version
of the Allman Brothers.
Year Zero (the shortest piece here at "only" eleven minutes) reverses
the structure, using a brief jam to introduce its simple melodic leitmotiv
and then using a longer jam to destroy it.
The Alchemyst couples a rootsy, Little Feat-ian riff and a grunge-y seesawing riff before the two collide and explode.
The music eventually collapses into a mellow delirious minimalist pattern
that simply fades away.
The 14-minute She Left On The Sun Ship takes four minutes to coalesce
the sparse sounds of the beginning into a charging rhythm and a catchy melody.
song. From the seventh minute on the music overflows in all directions,
dwarfing the multi-part vocal harmonies but maintaining a cohesive structure.
The album is virtually a recapitulation of jam-oriented rock music from the Grateful Dead to Pink Floyd to the Jefferson Airplane to Traffic to Wishbone Ash to Quicksilver to...
There are great moments but also some trivial elements (notably the melodies).
What is missing is a sense of mission, of purpose, of originality.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Tobia D’Onofrio)
Con Black Hole Blank Canvas (2006) Bent Saether e Snah Ryan ritornano ad un sound garage più vibrante (17 canzoni, nessuna più lunga di nove minuti).
Little Lucid Moments (Rune Grammofon, 2008), invece, contiene quattro suite colossali che rappresentano quanto di meglio i Motorpsycho abbiano da offrire, dopo tanti anni passati a rifinire il format dell’acid-rock californiano. Il blocco monolitico di ventuno minuti Little Lucid Moments si apre con quattro minuti di languida ninna nanna psichedelica, ma sprofonda presto in un urlato e frenetico macigno di prog-rock. Dopo dieci minuti è diventato un miscuglio tendente verso il country con cantato a più parti alla Yes, seguito da una sezione di pura meraviglia galattica con un forte sostegno ritmico, come una versione punk degli Allman Brothers. Year Zero (il pezzo più breve con "soli" undici minuti) inverte la struttura utilizzando una breve jam per introdurre il suo semplice leitmotiv melodico e poi distruggendolo con una nuova jam più lunga. The Alchemyst unisce un riff roots alla Little Feat ed un altro altalenante riff grunge, prima che i due collidano ed esplodano. Alla fine la musica collassa in un posato e delirante pattern minimalista che semplicemente si dissolve nel nulla. She Left On The Sun Ship (14 minuti) impiega quattro minuti per fondere i radi suoni iniziali in ritmo galoppante e melodia orecchiabile. Dal settimo minuto in poi la musica straripa da tutte le parti, diminuendo le multiple armonie vocali ma mantenendo una struttura compatta. L’album è virtualmente un riassunto della musica rock orientata verso l’improvvisazione, dai Grateful Dead ai Pink Floyd dai Jefferson Airplane ai Traffic dai Wishbone Ash ai Quicksilver ecc… Ci sono momenti grandiosi ma anche altri banali (soprattutto le melodie). Quello che manca è la sensazione di una missione, di uno scopo e di originalità.
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The mini-album Child of the Future (2009) was one of their humblest
recordings.
Heavy Metal Fruit (Rune Grammofon, 2010), on the other hand, employed
their entire arsenal of tricks in majestic compositions such as the
13-minute Starhammer (rude Hendrix-ian riffs next to
granitic keyboard riffs but weakened by a rather aimless coda)
and the 20-minute four-movement suite Gullible's Travails
(one of their mellow melodic moments, with a
dreamy section reminiscent of early Genesis
followed by a virulent instrumental boogie section that brings back the
melodic theme with soaring keyboards and all the bells and whistles of pop
music).
Their garage-rock roots surface in the
Steppenwolf-ian romp X-3 (although
burdened again with an anemic coda).
The frenzied beginning of WBAT is an excellent example of
jazz-blues-rock fusion, but its descent into rough southern boogie and
poppy power-ballad is misguided, a recurring problem in their albums.
Anyway, there was little "metal" left in their magic potion.
The ambitious double-disc
The Death Defying Unicorn (2012) was a collaboration of the Motorpsycho
trio (now consisting of Saether, Ryan and drummer Kenneth Kapstad) with
Supersilent's keyboardist Stale Storlokken that included jazz violinist Ola Kvernberg,
the chamber string ensemble Trondheimsolistene and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.
The result mostly sound like a version of latter-day King Crimson for chamber
orchestra.
On the compositional front the highlight is
the 16-minute Through the Veil, which spans an impressive range of
styles
(minimalist repetition, stormy hard-rock, jazzy horn fanfares,
psychedelic melodies, pulsating symphonic horror, and finally suspense-filled
swinging liquid jamming).
On the melodic front the peak is
the ten-minute Into the Gyre, a series of delicate variations on a folkish and neoclassical melody before the noisy detour of the second half.
Overall, an impressive and adventurous attempt at symphonic jazz-rock.
Motorpsycho returned to its rock roots on Still Life With Eggplant (2013), which contains the trivial ten-minute Hell Part 1-3,
whose bluesy overture turns into a poppy tune,
and the confused
17-minute Ratcatcher, which is basically a collage of facile stereotypes
(and easily ten minutes too long what it has to say).
Parts 4 to 7 of Hell showed up on
Behind the Sun (2014), but parts 4 to 6 fail to excite with
their predictable refrain and diluted jamming,
a bland repetition of Motorpsycho stereotypes, tamed;
and the all-out attack of Part 7 is too little to justify the album.
The Motorpnakotic Fragments (2014) collects leftovers from the previous albums.
Here Be Monsters (2016) is even more lightweight than
Behind the Sun, at times feasible as supermarket muzak, with only
occasional bursts of energy. The 18-minute Big Black Dog embodies
the split ego of the band, switching from a gentle pastoral folk litany to
a bombastic swirling dance with a crescendo of symphonic keyboards and then to
a distorted psychedelic melody, ending with a sort of military march.
Begynnelser (2017) was composed (mostly on mellotron and acoustic guitar)
as a soundtrack for a play by Carl Frode Tiller.
The Tower (2017), another double disc,
includes elegant and labyrinthine compositions like
the 15-minute A Pacific Sonata
(a folkish guitar lullaby a` la Donovan that segues into a
dreamy and jazzy guitar solo
leading to a crescendo of Soft Machine-like jamming)
and especially
the 14-minute Ship of Fools, one of their most effective fantasias
(crunchy guitar riff, Deep Purple-ish locomotive rhythm,
light psychedelic litany, sinister voodoo-esque drumming,
and bombastic operatic ending)
counterbalanced by the Yes-style power-ballad The Tower (with a
torrential guitar solo)
and the trance-y ten-minute Intrepid Explorer, which begins in a
whisper but grows into a high-speed raga propelled by thundering drums.
The Crucible (2019), with new drummer Tomas Jarmyr,
delivers three lengthy pieces. If Psychotzar is a confused attempt
at sounding both intimidating and catchy
(a cascade of booming syncopated riffs to enhance a trivial melody)
and
the lengthy ballad
Lux Aeterna is yet another tribute to the classic prog-rock sound of
King Crimson and Yes (somewhere between Moonchild and Long Distance Runaround), with a dissonant jazz-rock instrumental break,
the 21-minute The Crucible is a mash-up of their well-honed repertory of
Steppenwolf
(the energetic opening),
Allman Brothers
Allman Brothers (the subsequent jamming),
Crosby Stills & Nash (the ecstatic melody),
and Jimi Hendrix
(the distorted guitar solo) before returning to the Steppenwolf-ian gallop
and ending with more of the ecstatic litany.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da xxx)
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