Friday, November 12, 2010

Motorpsycho

Last week I mentioned in passing that I really like the band Motorpsycho. "Really like" is probably a bit of an understatement.

You've probably never heard of these guys, and you probably never will. I've never, ever, heard them mentioned by anyone from anywhere in North America. [An aside: Spending more than a couple of weeks away from North America is a lot like going out into the hills to get a good look at the stars without all the "noise" from the city blocking them out. Make of that what you will...]

Anyway, what we have are a few guys who've been steadily putting out albums for about 20 years. During that time they've gone through several sounds--from EMO-ish alt rock to psychedelic to prog and metal. One of the very interesting things about Motorpsycho's music (at least to me) is how they've never really abandoned this or that "sound." One of the really exciting things about this band (at least to me) is how they're seemingly searching for some kind of Grand Unified Theory of Rock. To me, Motorpsycho is all about synthesis.

I imagine, but I really don't know, that these guys are huge in their native Norway. I also imagine that they're pretty well-known in Northern Europe. But again, I really don't know. What I do know is that I've heard very few rock bands that have lasted as long as they have that are always trying to push the music forward.

I found a couple of tunes from their most recent album on YouTube. I don't imagine any of my regular readers will like this stuff very much. That's OK, really. We like what we like. And there's also the chance that we'll surprise each other...

This first one is actually a pretty accessible tune with it's catchy guitar and Beach-Boys-meet-Yes-inspired vocals. Until it gets totally psychedelic...




This next one is... is a mind-fuck. It's very heavy/proggy. Verses chugging along in 9/4 time often tend to blow my mind (heh). The drummer in this band is an absolute monster. I dream of playing this well. This tune makes me wish I did drugs...



Yeah.

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