SMC: Timothy's Monster ~ Motorpsycho

OutOfBreath

OK, now that I whined myself into going first, I have uploaded a file onto the account. It is Motorpsycho's double album "Timothy's Monster" from 1994.

Now it is not exactly new, but I figure most of you people have never heard of them. And I think they are fucking brilliant, as does norwegian music critics in general. Their tragedy is being norwegian I think. They are still going strong, but this is one of their finest albums.

Disc 1 is more regular kinda songs, while disc 2 is where they pull out their prog side. Disc 1 is 11 songs, and disc 2 is 4, and they are the same length.

Tracks (highly recommended marked with *)

Disc 1
1. Feel *
2. Trapdoor
3. Leave It Like That
4. A Shrug And A Fistful *
5. Kill Some Day *
6. On My Pillow
7. Beautiful Sister
8. Wearing Your Smell
9. Now It's Time To Skate
10. Giftland *
11. Watersound ***

Disc 2
1. The Wheel
2. Sungravy
3. Grindstone
4. The Golden Core *

As for describing their music, they are not easily placable, as their style varies enormously from record to record, but they are firmly hard rock with some progressive leanings. On this album they are more hard rock with a dash of pop thrown into it at times (disc 1), and start to show their prog side (disc 2). I know Captain Beefheart is often thrown around as reference, but I dont know Captain Beefheart. If the lyrics are at times kinda lame, it's because they are norwegian. Bear with them.

Motorpsycho is a 3-piece band mind you. They can produce a mind-boggling wall of sound for a 3-piece. Take it from someone who went to the local show on the last 3 tours.

I have marked off the songs I like the most, so take note. Especially Watersound which is excellent as a closer for disc 1. And if you just sit back and listen, The Golden Core is also brilliant. Clocks in at 13 minutes, but well worth it. (if you can dig prog build-up. The climax fits the title in my view)

So, uhm, should I say anything else? I dunno. You guys oughtta listen to it first, and then ask me anything, or just state what you think of them. For me, this is my number 2 band after Pearl Jam.

(edit) Here is the link to their official home page: http://motorpsycho.fix.no/thisis/index.html

Peace
Dan

psycosmic

ok, here's one thing you need to know about the SMC... no matter how obscure you think a band is, there will always be someone who knows them as well

i remember borrowing this from a friend AGES ago... i probably still have the tape somewhere but i don't even own a cassette player anymore...

so yes, i very much look forward to rediscovering this album again...

oh, and motorpsycho are also a very good live band...

OutOfBreath

Wow, who'd have thunk it? Sure you ain't norwegian, or at least scandinavian? I'll be impressed if you've heard of them otherwise

But yeah, this is a great album. And Motorpsycho kicks ass live. Hell, they're so good I've been to see their country side-project 2 times as well.

Peace
Dan

psycosmic

OutOfBreath wrote:

Sure you ain't norwegian, or at least scandinavian?

yes, i'm pretty sure
but i'm german so that might explain something...

OutOfBreath

psycosmic wrote:

yes, i'm pretty sure
but i'm german so that might explain something...

Ah, of course. Almost forgot that they are known in the underground in Germany and Netherlands.

Peace
Dan

transplant

extra props if they took their name from Dylan's Motorpsycho Nightmare.

sounds very interesting. I just burned it to disc, will be listening today.

OutOfBreath

transplant wrote:

extra props if they took their name from Dylan's Motorpsycho Nightmare.

sounds very interesting. I just burned it to disc, will be listening today.

Actually, I think they took their name from a really bad B horror-movie they once saw. Think it involved a chainsaw and a "psycho"....

Peace
Dan

AndySlash

I have their covers of 'California Dreamin' and 'Six Days on the Road' and one of their songs- s.t.g.- on my computer. Never heard an album, so I look forward to this one.

barcoach

Does any of you have any advice as to what's the best method to decompress this file on a Mac computer??... have tried Stuffit and Zipit with no success at all -stuffit doesn't accept it, zipit turns it into a zip file but then gives a blank folder-, any help will be highly appreciated.

transplant

barcoach wrote:

Does any of you have any advice as to what's the best method to decompress this file on a Mac computer??... have tried Stuffit and Zipit with no success at all -stuffit doesn't accept it, zipit turns it into a zip file but then gives a blank folder-, any help will be highly appreciated.

search for UnRarX. that is what I use.

OutOfBreath

AndySlash wrote:

I have their covers of 'California Dreamin' and 'Six Days on the Road' and one of their songs- s.t.g.- on my computer. Never heard an album, so I look forward to this one.

Heh, you've gotten a varied selection then. California Dreamin from their early angry metal days, Six days on the road from their country side-project and stg which is from one of the more proggy records.

Peace
Dan

transplant

OutOfBreath wrote:

California Dreamin from their early angry metal days, Dan

I listened to the first disc casually as I was running errands yesterday, sounded great but I couldn't give it a 'proper' listen due to my co-pilot's tendency to turn everything she has never heard down in volume.

put on disc 2 on my way to work and wholly shit yes. what an ecclectic bunch of tracks. Track 3 is what I'm all about. what about their early angry metal days? any good? Track 2 is beautiful, Track 1 gives me a 'National Anthem' REM/Up type of feel. Just love that bassline. Looking forward to getting back to the first disc but in the meantime, disc 2 will work just fine.

there is a lot of music to digest in one week, I'll give it my best shot.

OutOfBreath

Their early angry metal days produced the first of the agreed upon 3 masterpieces they have spawned. Aptly titled Demon Box, it's the most depressive, monumental collection of dark brooding proggish metal ever produced I think. I can provide people with anything else they'd want of these guys, since I have it all except their first dabbling record (Lobotomizer)which isn't very good.

Roughly, I'd categorize their periods and albums as follows:

Metal period: 8 soothing songs for Rut(92) (containing california dreaming), Demon Box(93)
Hard Rock/Prog: Timothy's Monster disc 1(94), Blissard(95), Angels and Demons At Play(97)
Prog: Trust Us(98), Timothy's Monster disc 2(94)

And to evryone's surprise, in 2000 they went:
Jazzy poppish orchestrated: Let Them Eat Cake(00), Phanerotyme(01), It's a Love Cult(02)

and of course: Their country side-project, The International Tussler Society has released 2 albums. (check the acronym ) And a collaboration with a jazz band, and 2 live records, one of which is a rock vs jazz jam at a jazz festival.

The "big 3" is Demon Box, Timothy's Monster and Trust Us, that represents 3 different periods for them musically.

These guys are versatile musically, the only thing binding it together is that no matter what they play, it's good, and they put their characteristic mark on it. Some call this band the best kept secret of the norwegian music industry, and I tend to agree.

Glad you liked it transplant. Track 3 on disc 2 is more in the vein of their angry metal days, yes. And they have always, as i said, been very versatile. they've been through every kind of rock, prog, country, jazz, psychedelia, you name it.

Peace
Dan

barcoach

transplant wrote:

search for UnRarX. that is what I use.

Hey! Hope I don't bother you too much... but I downloaded UnRarX and when trying to open, it asks for another application to do so... you know why this is? Another question would be if you think this would work in Mac OS 9, 'cause all the information on the site is about Mac OS X.
Ok, I promise this is the last question I ask, 'cause I don't want to use the valuable space to discuss music, discussing technical crap. If it doesn't work, then -regretfully- I'll have to skip this pick

transplant

barcoach, check your PM.

5th spin of disc 2. I love it.

I don't know if Demon Box is out of print, Amazon didn't seem to have any input on it. I am not going to lie, I would love to hear this. I would also like to purchase it, however if it is out of print or something, I'll just spend my money on others.

OutOfBreath

Hmm. I found it on amazon myself. 60$ though. Not exactly cheap...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005YTSI/sr=8-10/qid=1140552577/ref=pd_bbs_10/103-7622548-9578218?%5Fencoding=UTF8

But if you want, I can send over some samples of it before you buy it, or whatever your fancy.

Peace
Dan

transplant

huh. I thought 2 cups of coffee in the morning was sufficient.

for $60.00 yeah, I'll take whatever ya give me. my loyalty to the artists only goes so far...........

psycosmic

i also have Let Them Eat Cake... definitely more jazzy and orchestrated than this album... i think the marie antoinette quote is a great album title...

i haven't listened enough for a review but i think it's always been a strength of motorpsycho to write great pop songs underneath all the prog and ecclecticism... it's definitely not easy listening but always hook ladden enough to make for a pleasant listening experience...

barcoach, if you don't get it to work i can re-zip the files and upload them for you, just let me know...

transplant

I guess I have a lot to say regarding this. I am beyond intrigued by them and how they can vary their style. I wonder if this hurts or helps them. I often wonder if the general listening public would support a band like this thru their genre bending ways.

Regarding this specific selection, I am also curious as to why they made this a double CD. Disc 2 is so different, I would think it would be better off as a stand-alone release. though I wish most bands that release doubles would release them separate in 6 months increments for example (unless it's a concept album).

I love the music on both. very clear, crisp, many different instruments appear to be represented. I like this. Lyrically, I don't really care either way. Unless a band is known for it, I don't pay too much attention. This leads me to my next question.

Do bands ever receive any backlash from their respective countries for not singing in their native tongue? From listening to this disc, it is obvious they don't make a point of dominating a song from a singing standpoint. I find myself listening for specific words and you know, they could be singing in Greek and I am not sure i'd notice. I can obviously understand from a marketing standpoint why they would sing in English however right now there seems to be a 'coolness' to bands like Dungen and specifically Sigur Ros and I often wonder if this band could follow. I hope this didn't seem like an ignorant question, I have just always wondered this.

Anyway, songs I like a lot are Feel, On My Pillow, Giftland, The Wheel, Sungravy, and Grindstone. Both CD's are very listenable however these tracks stand out.

I will be exploring this band without a doubt. Great selection.

OutOfBreath

transplant wrote:

I guess I have a lot to say regarding this. I am beyond intrigued by them and how they can vary their style. I wonder if this hurts or helps them. I often wonder if the general listening public would support a band like this thru their genre bending ways.

That way you dont get mtv-popular, but build up a fanatically devout fanbase instead. You get such a fanatic fan-base that when the national youth-radiostation arranges a vote for "the millennium song" that was gonna be played for 12 hours straight new years 2000, motorpsycho won, because their fans stole the whole thing. Thus the millenium song was "Vortex Surfer" by Motorpsycho

Regarding this specific selection, I am also curious as to why they made this a double CD. Disc 2 is so different, I would think it would be better off as a stand-alone release. though I wish most bands that release doubles would release them separate in 6 months increments for example (unless it's a concept album).

Why? I dunno. Motorpsycho has more the apporach to recording that when they have some material they record and release it. In this case it exceeded the space of one cd, and they probably decided to keep one of the discs more poppy and leave the prog for the second disc. Me, I like double albums really. The 6 months in between builds up expectation just to let you a bit down, when what you get is something similar to the last one. And it's not the first nor last time motorpsycho has gone double. Most their records are doubles in the sense of vinyls (which they are fanatically devout to. All releases are also in vinyl). timothy was actually a triple vinyl i think. According to themselves, the only record they went into studio and made from scratch like a "real" rock band is the "Blissard" album.

I love the music on both. very clear, crisp, many different instruments appear to be represented. I like this. Lyrically, I don't really care either way. Unless a band is known for it, I don't pay too much attention. This leads me to my next question.

Do bands ever receive any backlash from their respective countries for not singing in their native tongue? From listening to this disc, it is obvious they don't make a point of dominating a song from a singing standpoint. I find myself listening for specific words and you know, they could be singing in Greek and I am not sure i'd notice. I can obviously understand from a marketing standpoint why they would sing in English however right now there seems to be a 'coolness' to bands like Dungen and specifically Sigur Ros and I often wonder if this band could follow. I hope this didn't seem like an ignorant question, I have just always wondered this.

Nah, we dont care. The bands that do sing in Norwegian get some extra props for it, but anyone knows that if you're gonna have the outside chance of selling a lot of records, it has to be english. Norway only have 4 million people after all. (That being said, there are good bands that use norwegian that enjoy a degree of success) We embrace any music that is remotely good coming from Norwegians in any language. So, no, it's not really a problem, or something we actively think about.

Anyway, songs I like a lot are Feel, On My Pillow, Giftland, The Wheel, Sungravy, and Grindstone. Both CD's are very listenable however these tracks stand out.

I will be exploring this band without a doubt. Great selection.

Glad you liked it This record is the introduction to these guys, because you get a little taste of all the directions they go in. If you provide me with an e-mail adress, I'll be happy to send you some more of their stuff. Just say the word.

(edit) If you want more in the vein of "Giftland" and "The Wheel" you should go for Trust Us. If you want more "Grindstone"like material, you should go for Demon Box. I recommend checking out both.

You see, a band can get around from having some fanatic fans. Fans that spread their music on other bands' message boards...

Peace
Dan

OutOfBreath

psycosmic wrote:

i also have Let Them Eat Cake... definitely more jazzy and orchestrated than this album... i think the marie antoinette quote is a great album title...

i haven't listened enough for a review but i think it's always been a strength of motorpsycho to write great pop songs underneath all the prog and ecclecticism... it's definitely not easy listening but always hook ladden enough to make for a pleasant listening experience...

That's exactly it. You nailed it, psychosmic. They always have those hooks no matter what genre they play. Let Them Eat Cake is also a great album, but quite different from the albums before it. Motorpsycho are real musical chameleons though, and you can always hear that it's them at the core.

Let Them Eat Cake and Phanerotyme albums hailed them in as "students' music". No matter where I go, one of those two appear at some point.

And who wants easy listening? A more challenging listen makes for a lot more long-time enjoyment when the intial thrill is over. I was force-fed motorpsycho for several years at parties by my friends who were really into them at the time. In the end, I caved myself and joined the ranks of the fanatics.

Peace
Dan