Motorpsycho - Supersonic Scientists – A Young Person’s Guide to…

  by Keith How

published: 23 / 12 / 2015

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Review

Motorpsycho are Norway’s most successful alternative rock band, so how do you distillate a twenty-five year career into a double album anthology? Naturally you call in Helge Sten (known rather scarily as Deathprod) to do some remastering and then compile the collection. Surely this is asking for trouble? To make things worse the track listing is in non-chronological order, which is actually a rather clever idea. I came to Motorpsycho as a complete beginner. Most Scandanavian bands are death metal. Right? Wrong! Motorpsycho are not what I was expecting at all. The production is uncluttered and crisp as the Nordic air, and with a career spanning all those years and with numerous line-up changes Motorpsycho reveal a consistency that is rare for bands with such a long history. Tracks such as 'Starhammer' show a remarkable creative spark. With a stupendous instrumental section bookended by a more aggressive beginning and end, this cut showcases real ability. Across the two discs there is, however, a restraint and thoughtfulness that is very attractive. Sometimes heavy but never metal, sometimes psychedelic but never flower power, this collection comes as a bit of a revelation. Motorpsycho are a trio consisting of Bent Saether, Kenneth Kapstad and Hans Magnus Ryan, and over the years they have augmented their line up with numerous musicians including the above mentioned Deathprod. They are certainly difficult to categorise which is a good thing.'Starmelt' has an American indie feel to it, while 'The Other Fool' has a string section and the listener might imagine the Beatles could have sounded like this had things turned out differently. You cannot pin these boys down at all. 'Go to California' is pure 1967 with wonderful harmonies and flute, and is a joy to listen to and a complete surprise. Unconvinced? Sit back and let 'Cornucopia' carry you along with its driving bass and great guitar solo or just chill into the ambience of 'The Golden Core', which is an amazing ten minute progressive excursion you will not want to miss. These tracks are drawn from fifteeen studio albums and flow beautifully in and out of the various styles and flavours they have explored. There is much to delight in here and if, perhaps, your music listening has grown a little stale you might find 'Supersonic Scientists' a wonderful distraction. I know I have.

Track Listing:-

1 Nothing To Say
2 Little Lucid Moments
3 Vortex Surfer
4 Dominoes
5 Starhammer
6 The Nerve Tatto
7 Starmelt/Loveligh
8 In Our Tree
9 The Other Fool
10 The Afterglow
11 Go To California
12 Cloudwalker
13 Cornucopia (... Or Satan, Uh... Something)
14 Serpentine
15 The Golden Core

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/motorpsychone
http://motorpsycho.no/

Label Links:-

http://www.runegrammofon.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Rune-Grammofo

Have a Listen:-