ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS

MOTORPSYCHO is the Norwegian group starting their musical misdeeds at the beginning of the 90's with a stoner, pop, fruity and crazy sound; prog rock, art rock in fact with scents pushed to the extreme to hit, make psychedelic hard rock reminiscent of HAWKWIND and MONSTER MAGNET. The desire for heavy rock to travel outside of musical time seems to take priority with sounds taken from TANGERINE DREAM and other KING CRIMSON, let's see what's going on with this 25th opus from the trio recorded live, Reine being blocked by the covid for check in.

"The Ladder" entry spleen, soaring in the style MOTORPSYCHO, that's good; quickly dreamlike title with Hans and his swirling guitar, Bent with cottony vocals decked out with his 18-string bass, finally Tomas who hits his drums faster than his shadow; a mouthful title that shows the extent of their talents, the dark end à la POPOL VUH that switches to "The Flower of Awareness" the gloomy interlude, a mixture of an old TANGERINE DREAM like 'Sorcerer', on a saw rusty, badly screwed jumper; memory of the LUSTMORD for those who know how to listen to a bit of extreme music, an air that connects with "Mona Lisa / Azrael" and that KING CRIMSON worthy intro of the timeless 'In The Court Of The Crimson King' with mellotron, bells, mandolin, dark sax; in short, the shivers on my arms confirm to me that this group is capable over time of structuring old sounds in 2020 fashion, with power and emotion; a 'Red' with the track 'Starless' in the background; it's stunning and vibrant at the same time; beginning of the 2nd third and after some stammering violin spleen that? explodes as they know how to do it so well; an organoleptic fusion of strong and concentrated notes from which the aromas emerge even more effective; the bass hangs up the music when the other instruments go into an apocalyptic psychedelic jam with deluges of dithyrambic notes; final again on the old sounds. Finally "Chariot of the Sun - To Phaeton on the Occasion of Sunrise (Theme from an Imaginary Movie" for a musical evolution in layers, with softness and violence, with planetary accelerations and drifts; a bucolic theme worthy of a POPOL VUH or a 'a GRATEFUL DEAD; a piece that you have to listen to, almost indescribable in fact on a trip as we no longer dare to perform; MOTORPSYCHO did it and this long minimalist intro all in finesse, this solemn rise make the music is no longer anything but personal dreamlike images; the crescendo in between never ends and captivates the mind, hits the prog molehill; the third space returns to a more latent sound before exploding again, choirs coming deepen the climate of departure, perfect as the soaring ending..

MOTORPSYCHO is psychedelia, a bit of ambient, adventurous stoner. It is a moment of musical culture unfolding sensations, musical climates, austere landscapes, wind, beds tangled with notes; it's hypnotic trance full of madness, nervous grooves, rushes full of musical adrenaline in the wake of their fabulous title 'N.O.X', titles that will serve as the background sound for a dance show; you have understood that you have here a summary of what they do best, starting from soft moments towards frenetic and hypnotic climates, starting from TANGERINE DREAM, POPOL VUH with the drifts of KING CRIMSON and other BLACK SABBATH?. A unique sound; the cover is taken from a film project which reassures about their upcoming future, the texts on enlightenment for those who also read the lyrics. MOTORPSYCHO was cited not as the best in this musical genre, but the only ones to make music in this way, a beautiful tribute that I absolutely agree with.