Motorpsycho

[polmico]

^ That announcement on the Stickman site does leave off some info.

The Facebook post includes this detail:

"Recorded live in Amper Tone studio in Oslo in the summer of 2021, the band's upcoming album is slated for release on August 19, 2022." [emphasis mine]

That's very exciting. No details about any extra personnel, but I'm kind of hoping it's just the three of them. There might even be plenty of "kick out the marmalade, motherfuckers" moments.

[JAMOOL]

That's awesome. I've been playing their recent records a lot lately. They've always had proggy influences but man it feels like they've been hitting it particularly hard since The Tower. It rules.

[markwoll]

Preorder time:
Rune Grammofon
Motorpsycho: Ancient Astronauts (LP/CD)
Motorpsycho: Ancient Astronauts (LP/CD)

kr149.00

Comes as a 180g black vinyl edition and limited 180g pink vinyl edition.
Gatefold cover and printed innersleeve.

PLEASE NOTE: The pink vinyl edition is strictly limited to one copy per customer.

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.

Released 19.08.22

[polmico]

https://www.stickman-records.com/sho...nt-astronauts/

[JKL2000]

https://www.stickman-records.com/sho...nt-astronauts/

Thank you! CD preordered. Psyched!

[doh]

Thanks for the link as I was also able to order a bunch of older ones I couldn't find anywhere.

[polmico]

I’ll tell myself that I can wait for a US distributor to get the album and avoid the extra ordering-from-Europe fees.

But I also lie to myself about these things.

[JKL2000]

^ With the last album, it took a while for US distributors to get it, so I'm hoping it will arrive quickly from Stickmen. I think the price for the CD isn't bad, even with the shipping. Vinyl might be another story.

[Klonk]

^ With the last album, it took a while for US distributors to get it, so I'm hoping it will arrive quickly from Stickmen. I think the price for the CD isn't bad, even with the shipping. Vinyl might be another story.

Took about a month for me from Stickmen. Got The All is One and Ancient Astronauts a few days ago. That NOX suite is fantastic, but I'm really digging the latest one

[JKL2000]

I haven’t listened to the new one yet, but yesterday I listened to “Phanerothyme” because Spotify played a song from it that sounded good. Great album! That’s the earliest one I’ve listened to, and it’s as good as the recent stuff.

[polmico]

^ Boy howdy, that's a great album. It's certainly my favorite of the pop-psych albums they made (Let Them Eat Cake and It's a Love Cult being the other two albums in that vein). Just too many great songs to really name a favorite, but Ryan's "Blindfolded" is a strong contender.

And as much as I love "Go to California" here, the shortened version on the best of album Super Sonic Scientists might be even better, more impactful. Ach! Can't choose!

I've been obsessively listening to the In the Tank album they did with Jaga Jazzist recently. The version of "Pills, Powders and Passion Plays" on the album is gorgeous. Not sure where it might be available--it wasn't released by Stickman or Rune--but if you can find it, grab it!

[JKL2000]

I listened to the new album last night. Except for the somewhat challenging vocals on that one song, the album sounded very good. Especially the 22-minute instrumental track! (Well, there is some wordless harmonizing at one point.)

[polmico]

Received Ancient Astronauts yesterday via Stickman.

First thoughts are "wow."

"Mona Liza/Azrael" feels at first like a pretty typical "start quiet, pause, explode" Motorpsycho song, something like "Big Black Dog" from Here Be Monsters. But the sheer lunacy of the drumming and the on-the-edge-of-sheer-noise guitar solo send this thing to somewhere beyond normal space. Just a few knuckleheads in space, sure, but, goddamn, what a fucking journey.

How do they keep doing it?

Why do they keep doing it, too? Who else would want to???

[polmico]

Posted to the band’s FB page:

We say thank you to @tomasjarmyr for 6 years
of service on board the mothership, and wish him happy trails in his future escapades as everyone’s favourite free lance session drummer!
We wish you good luck, Tomas - may you find more purpose, joy, creative satisfaction and happiness out there than we were able to offer!
Love ya for all that you brought to this,
godspeed!
B&HM

[JAMOOL]

too bad, dude was an amazing drummer, him and Kapstead were so good you could listen to the albums for the drums alone. that said it's never bad for them to get someone new in which forces them to change their style up. love their current direction obviously but this band is always more fun when they try something different.

[markwoll]

Rune Grammofon

25 - 30% deduction on these items in our Webshop now!

LPs:
The Tower NOK 219,-
The All Is One NOK 259,-
Kingdom Of Oblivion NOK 219,-
Ancient Astronauts NOK 199,-
Heavy Metal Fruit NOK 219,-
The Death Defying Unicorn NOK 219,-
Behind The Sun NOK 219,-
Demon Box NOK 219,-
Salad Days Vol 1 (box set) NOK 1199,-
Salad Days Vol 2 (box set) NOK 899,-

CDs:
The Tower NOK 119,-
The Crucible NOK 99,-
The All Is One NOK 119,-
Kingdom Of Oblivion NOK 99,-
Timothy´s Monster (box set) NOK 199,-
Demon Box (box set) NOK 199,-
Angels And Daemons At Play (box set) NOK 199,-
Heavy Metal Fruit NOK 99,-
Roadworks Vol. 4 NOK 99,-
The Death Defying Unicorn NOK 119,-
Still Life With Eggplant NOK 99,-
Behind The Sun NOK 99,-
Supersonic Scientists NOK 119,-
Here Be Monsters NOK 119,-



Rune Grammofon

Akersgata 7
0158 OSLO
Norway

[polmico]

^I imagine that it will be many years before those titles get re-released if they ever do. Grab ‘em before they go OOP (are there three letters music collectors find more distasteful???).

[markwoll]

^I imagine that it will be many years before those titles get re-released if they ever do. Grab ‘em before they go OOP (are there three letters music collectors find more distasteful???).

99 NOK is $9.49
199 NOK is $19.08
259 NOK is $24.83

shipping is the question.
I have ordered from them before and it wasn't too bad for international, and the order arrived pretty quick in good shape.

[JKL2000]

Thanks for the heads up, Mark! I snagged The Tower and The Death Defying Unicorn. The shipping is very reasonable - the total WITH shipping for these came to $30, and those are both 2CD sets! I'm psyched to get these because Motorpsycho was one of my big lockdown-era discoveries. I've heard them both, but it'll be good to have the CDs. I like my collection of Norwegian prog CDs!

^I imagine that it will be many years before those titles get re-released if they ever do. Grab ‘em before they go OOP (are there three letters music collectors find more distasteful???).

You must be right, and yet there are some recent releases for sale there. I guess if things are OOP, and they're trying to sell off what's left in stock, I guess they wouldn't be planning on repressing them right?

I almost placed another, larger order for some Elephant9 and Hedwig Mollestad, but I didn't want to start going wild. The CD of Arrival of the New Elders is Out of Stock -- otherwise, I would have bought a copy of that. Have to check Discogs for that.

EDIT: I just checked Amazon, and several Elephant9 releases are unavailable on CD. For some reason Elephant9 - Greatest Show On Earth
is available on Amazon NEW for $8 from a vendor called Rarewaves. I had to go for that!

[JAMOOL]

the good news is their vinyl seems to be pretty well in demand, so I would imagine a lot of it will get reissued...eventually. Pharenothyme recently got a reissue. hoping Timothy's Monster is in the works as well. fwiw this is one band that very much seems to pay attention to their vinyl packaging, I think they very much consider it the main format for all their albums.

I recently got way into The All is One - I thought The Tower was their high watermark, but this one may be even better. anyone else think "N.O.X." should've just been a separate album? it's massive and honestly a little weird that it's stuffed in between what is kind of another full LP. I mean, not that I'm complaining, but I feel like N.O.X. on its own might've turned a lot of heads. feels like these guys are too awesome for their own good sometimes.

[polmico]

^N.O.X. could certainly work as its own album. For the purposes of CD, it should be contained to its own disc, but that’s not a big deal.

Some of what became N.O.X. was worked out by Snah and Bent on Begynnelser.

[polmico]

New album coming in June. Not much more info than that.

[polmico]

New album is called Yay!

A twenty second teaser was uploaded on social media today. Not a lot to go on, but it sounded like something from the Let Them Eat Cake period. I guess we’ll know more when the fullmsingle is released in May.

[JKL2000]

^ What does that period sound like?

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ What does that period sound like?

Jed, there's this:

Let Them Eat Cake, Phanerothyme and It's a Love Cult (2000-03) make up a sort of trilogy in which their music takes on much more of a prominently psychedelic (or even retro) feel, sporting some highly refined arrangements for strings and a more detailed attention to ensemble production.[/B]

Cake especially remains one of the defining 'psycho records, not because it's successful at "sounding retro" but because it's a case study of how they approach source influence material; i.e. not like something to be imitated but to be comprehended, interpreted and respected through dedicated inspiration.

For example, "Whip That Ghost" is a homage to the Allman Bros.' "Whipping Post" 'though less solo exhibitionist, whereas "Stained Glass" echoes some of the acoustic cacophonies of Jefferson Airplane's Crown of Creation. They showcased an affinity for employing and adapting established talents from music culture of the current, in allowing one Baard Slagsvold orchestrate texture and atmosphere - him being a highly acclaimed multi-resource from Norwegian sophisti-jazz/pop/folk-combo Tre Små Kinesere. This, of course, was somewhat due to Motorpsycho having signed with Rune Grammofon, whose magnate Rune Kristoffersen knew the ins and outs of Norwegian production nomenclatures seen through his own merits with 80s band Fra Lippo Lippi.