Anteater

mojo: Didn't know you were a fan of her: awesome! I'm still surprised more people don't talk about her around here though, especially now that we're at the end of the year.


There's something deliciously liberating about a band just cutting the fuck loose and attempting to record something as grandiose and psychedelic as some of the great early 70's jazz entrepreneurs were prone to do once the acid dropped and the coke went up like smoke. Conjuring this sort of demon, complete with lots of free jazz zaniness amidst the crushing tides of sound, illuminated by moments of zen like serenity and vocals that get under your skin....its certainly no walk in the park, especially when 95% of music listeners out there have ADD and probably don't give much of a **** to begin with about your music.

I suppose that's partly why I have nothing but respect for a band like Motorpsycho, who took flight in the late 80's as a enterprising, adept psychedelic grunge band in Norway around the same time as Soundgarden and Nirvana were coming into their own here in the U.S. Unlike their westside peers though, Motorpsycho have never stopped evolving or recording new, oftentimes fascinating material for the better part of the last twenty years. Simply put, they are the quintessential Indie rock group of the modern era, worshiped in their own country as gods...but probably deserve a larger international audience.

Moving on to The Death Defying Unicorn, its a double LP done in collaboration with jazz keyboardist Ståle Storløkken (of Supersilent fame) and functions as a spacehopping fable of sorts for its titular character expressed through the fractal lens of musicality that sounds more at home on a Sun Ra or Black Sabbath record than something that Motorpsycho would have done in the past. Heavy, fuzz blasted riffs collide with squealing saxophones, lilting orchestral strings and unsettling vocal extrapolations straight out of an acid folk extravaganza....and its a journey unlike any other I've had this year.

When you listen to The Death Defying Unicorn for the first time, keep in mind that these guys were cutting their teeth at bars covering Husker Du and Sonic Youth before I was even born. That they've gone from that to this in the space of two decades is nothing short of frightening....and magnificent.

P.S. -- HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

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