Blissard

this is my personal favorite among their albums.I play it every day.the other reviewers have given the infoon the band and so on,read all of them.this is for fans of (especially)Sonic Youth,but also Pixies,Tangerine Dream,Floyd and heavy metal.sometimes it's punk/hardcore too.Blissard has something for everyone.it's a masterpiece without a doubt.and I'm not saying that toooften about anything.all alt rock/stoners and music lovers need this album.Motorpsycho is Europe's best band since 1994.i wish people would find out.

This was a difficult album for Motorpsycho – and it is a challenging album for the listeners. It starts pretty straightforward (although technically it starts at -8:35 – you have to rewind the CD to get the hidden opening track). The regularly scheduled opening track, Sinful, Windborne, is a pretty straight forward rocker with a very catchy melody, although they sometimes punctuate it with noisy cascading guitars. Drug Thing follows, and it is faster, slightly more aggressive in the verses, but the chorus relieves the tension the verses build in a glorious way. Greener is sung by Snah, but is the main goosebump inducing song on the album for me. It features understated verses, intense tension building bridges, and a chorus that really elevates the song to new levels (I could say soaring heights, but the clichés are building too thick by now). ‘s Numbness follows, still following a fairly poppy or melodic sound with some great harmonies and the best use of an organ on a Motorpsycho song since Mountain. The first half is rounded out by the pop song The Nerve Tattoo, which is an indictment of the record industry (“The eloquence of trash, the persuasiveness of cash…”) – “but that’s ok, it doesn’t matter anyway.” It is in many ways descriptive of Motorpsycho’s career as much as their attitude.Someone, I think it was Johan Harstad, who wrote a book about Blissard, pointed out that the second half of the album is when the fan gets separated from the casual listener, as it definitely goes in a new direction. I never looked at it that way, although True Middle is definitely a break with what had been. It is a moody piece, featuring the poetry of Matt Burt (just like on Plan #1 from Demon Box), slowly building, creating tension, then releasing it. However, the theory that the second half in itself is distinctly different than the first really almost gets shattered by the next song, STG (or Sonic Teenage Guennivere), which while it clearly goes into Sonic Youth inspired experimental terrain still at its heart remains a fairly straightforward rocker. Manmower follows, and while it is a brooding song, it is the second half’s equivalent to Greener (also placed at the beginning of Side D, just like Greener was the beginning of side B). Fool’s Gold is a lo-fi song, nice and acoustic, and it really fits following Manmower. The final tune, Nathan Daniel’s Tune From Hawaii comes out of left field, and is really a quiet, brooding, minimalist soundscape. With all the energy that is on this album, this melody comes as a nice, meditative ending that couldn’t be further away from the beginning of the album energywise.I have loved Blissard since it came out – but then again, I have loved just about any Motorpsycho album upon their release, so I am not sure how much of a yardstick that is. The newest release of Blissard is a 4 cd box that really shows how much trouble they had getting this album together. Some of the outtakes or earlier versions of the songs are well worth listening to – but I am glad they ended up with the final mix they did. I would really like to give this album 4.5 stars – it’s not quite perfect, but it is getting close at times – and it’s another album very well worth having in your record collection.

To explore Motorpsycho - doubtless one of the most challenging, innovative rock bands still active - it is not only advisable to start with Blissard, their most accessible album to date. It might even be a necessity if one wants get to grips with the bands formidable, fantastic and ferocious work. Placed somewhere between kraut-rock, progressive rock, jazz avantgardism and power pop, the Norwegian sometime-quartet, sometime-trio has stunned an European audience starved for intelligent music - yet they remain relatively unknown outside their hardcore audience.If more people had a taste of "Blissard", that could change. With absolute showstoppers such as "Nerve Tattoo", but also including more esoteric compositions such as "Nathan Daniel's Tune From Hawaii" (!) and "S.T.G.", this is both an album to sing along to and an album fairly representative of the band. Start here - and you won't stop until most of the Motorpsycho albums stand firmly on your livingroom shelf. Take it from one who's tried.

This is probably one of the greatest record released by an european band in the '90s. Lovers of bands like Broken Social Scene and Built To Spill for instance, should check this out immediatly. Try downloading tracks like "Sinful, Windborne", "The Nerve Tattoo" and "S.T.G", and I guarantee you'll end up buying all their albums.

Take Led Zeppelin, add some Sonic Youth, some perfect pop and you've got a great album that covers a lot of ground - fantastic ecstatic guitars, and a modern fresh sound that makes the whole album exciting. Only motorpsycho could put on a record the melodic soft lullaby "Nathaniel's tune from Hawaii" Too bad mpsycho seems happy with their limited commercial success - such music is too good to remain unknown. Go see them live if you can: they played the US at SXSW in Austin, TX and blew everyone away (the audience, as well as all other bands who played a gig). Get a hand on "Timothy's Monster", on "Angels and Deamons at Play" and on their latest "Trust US". You will send me an email and thank me for it...

Ritengo Blissard uno dei full lenght più riusciti dei Motorpsycho. Il combo norvegese in questo lavoro sceglie la strada dell'energia e Gebhardt dietro i tamburi dirige con un furore ed un energia senza precedenti. I brani sono caratterizzati da un songwriting maggiormente curato e gli arrangiamenti sono più curati ma questo non toglie efficacia alcuna al prodotto finale, anzi....Bastano The nerve tattoo ed S.T.G a far capire l'andazzo del disco e sono 2 tra i brani più belli scritti dai Motorpsycho.Blissard è un disco che ogni fan della band deve avere nel proprio scaffale ma lo consiglio vivamente agli amanti del rock che vogliono esplorare strade differenti. Il packaging del vinile vale da solo il prezzo del biglietto: picture disc (2 vinili) e cartonato di alta qualità.

Auf dem schmalen Grat zwischen brüchiger Intimität und grenzenloser Euphorie: das Rock`N`Roll-Wunder aus Norwegen fügte mit "Blissard" "nur" ein weiteres Juwel ihrer immer größer und umfassender werdenden Diskographie hinzu. Fühlte sich der tolle Vorgänger "Timothy`s Monster" wie ein Tauziehen zwischen Heavy/ Progressive- und Indierock an, bei dem am Ende ein rundes, schlüssiges Konzept siegte, so ist "Blissard" sehr fragmentiert und ungleichmäßig gewachsen, wie pelziges Moos an einer feuchten Felswand. Das Album hat weder einen klassischen Beginn, noch ein abschließendes Ende. Wie durch eine dünne Wand aus Nebel dringen die ersten Klänge des Opener "Sinful- Wind Borne", um ihn dann schlagartig beginnen zu lassen. "Drug Thing" und "Greener" führen den euphorischen Start weiter, ehe danach mit "`S Numbness" das Album langsam in eine progressivere Phase behutsam hinübergleitet. Und ehe man sich versieht, klingt das Album mit warmen Folk-Klängen aus. Motorpsycho stehen auf "Blissard" von Beginn unter Strom, so, als ob es ih allerletztes Album wäre. Die Songs sing gespickt von musikalischen Einfallsreichtum, Stilsicherheit, Variantenreichtum, sowie einer spürbaren emotionalen Extravaganz und Sehnsucht, dass der musikalische "Rahmen" Indierock schon fast lächerlich erscheint und in jeder Sekunde droht von der Band selbst gesprengt zu werden. Motorpsycho wollen auf diesem Album am liebsten alles gleichzeitig anpacken. Und um es vorweg zu nehmen: es gelingt ihnen nicht. Was auch nicht schlimm ist, denn auf "Blissard" verschwindet ein Song im Nächsten, werden menschliche Empfindungen von einer sehr einfühlsamen bis ekstatischen Art und Weise transportiert und im nächsten Moment trotzdem gerockt, was das Zeug hält. Musik, die Leben retten kann...

Ich bewerte lediglich die Qualität der Pressung, da die Musik selbstverständlich über jeden Zweifel erhaben ist.Klanglich und presstechnisch top, kaum Nebengeräusche, kein Höhen/Seitenschlag. Das goldene Vinyl sieht nett aus. Stickman-Pressungen sind scheinbar generell von sehr guter Qualität.

Was gibt es über Motopsycho zu sagen? Eine fantastische Band, die sich öfters neu erfindet. Wer sie einmal live gesehen hat, wird ein lebenslanger Fan. Blissard ist ein Wahnsinnsalbum, ein Muss.

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