Grains of oats
Yes, Yes and thrice Yes!! This bunch are a Swedish group and if you liked Sweden's The Strollers then you will want this disc without doubt. The Movements have a strong affinity to the 'Paint It Black' school of minor key modal scale lead lines, but played on farfisa organ rather than guitar. Add some strong fuzztone guitar, well mixed back, leaving the keyboard to carry the melody and add a confident vocal, cleanly recorded and you have a perfect modern '60s album. It is also not unduly reminsent of Sean Bonniwell's Music Machine at times, and that's no small compliment! This is a blinding set from start to finish. The Swedes and the Spanish (see Winnerys review further on) seem to be the global hubs for inventively modern 60s rooted music. From the opener 'It Starts With A Whisper', you know you will be on this ride until the end. The end comes 11 songs later with 'Space Autopsy' which is a great whirlwind of a number coloured by bleeps and various noises which conjure up a late 60s episode of the popular British science programme Tomorrow's World take on what the future will sound like. I recommend this one very strongly and you can find out how to get it via their website, don't hesitate!
Paul Martin / Shindig Magazine
www.shindig-magazine.com
Mit Stolz verkünde ich, dass vor langer Zeit meine Vorfahren väterlicherseits aus Schweden kamen. Von daher kann ich mich um achtzehn Ecken damit rühmen, dass aus dem Land meiner Vorfahren eine weitere hervorragende Band kommt.
Ohne Atempause wird direkt durch die ersten drei Stücke gerockt und georgelt, was die Saiten und Tasten hergeben, untermalt von einem enorm pulsierenden Beat und verstärkt durch erstklassigen Gesang.
Kurze Verschnaufpause, und etwas psychedelischer geht es weiter, der nächste Song bringt wieder Tempo ins Spiel und schließlich hat es sich genug durchgeatmet. Weiter ohne Punkt und Komma.
In puncto Garagenrock sind THE MOVEMENTS für mich mal wieder eine wirkliche Bereicherung. Nicht so scheppernd produziert wie viele Andere, aber trotzdem voll rauer Ungeschliffenheit. Seinen vorläufigen orgiastischen Höhepunkt findet die Platte im neunten Stück "Circle ain't round", wo ordentlich herumgelärmt wird.
Sehr angenehm verhält sich auch die Tatsache, dass alle Stücke auf den Punkt kommen. Kein stundenlanges Rumgejamme, sondern immer mit einem klaren Ziel vor Augen. Selbst der längste und letzte Song des Albums, "Space autopsy", lässt in seinen guten sechs Minuten keinerlei Langeweile aufkommen.
THE MOVEMENTS sind ganz klar auf der Überholspur unterwegs, nicht nur allein wegen des musikalischen Tempos. Was darüber hinaus noch zu gefallen weiß, ist das Coverartwork, der Bauer hat's freilich bestimmt nicht gern gesehen, aber auf alle Fälle stimmungsvoll.
9/10
Claus Wittwer / Ox Fanzine
www.ox-fanzine.de
Typical really. One of the cleverest variations on that over-claimed catergory called psych rock drops out of the sky and it takes us half of 2006 to get around to reviewing it. Apologies to all concerned (it was actually released in 2005) but half the reason for tardiness in getting a review live was that "Grains of Oats" got lodged in the car CD player and there wasn't a lot that could be done to remove it...
So you reckon you've heard it all when it comes to '60s punk (or whatever you want to term it) and you're probably right, but then something bright and shiny comes down the chute and lands in your lap. Case in point: "Grains of Oats" where its minor chord simplicity and energetic playing reel you in. You give it a few spins. And a few more and before you realise, you're hooked. The Movements don't as much teach old dogs new tricks as let loose the leash on something that sounds altogether new and fresh. The usual reference points abound but they're re-shaped, almost imperceptibly, to make many others ploughing this field sound like parodies. The Movements are a five-piece from Sweden and their album is produced by Bjorn Olsson (ex-The Soundtrack of Our Lives). You can take out of that what you will. The first two spins left me wondering because the bottom end was thin in a "non rock" way and the guitar was mixed down low. The penny eventually dropped that understatement was an important part of the charm. Gustaff Gimstedt's keyboard work is the bedrock on which this grain silo is built, and the often dominance of organ in the melody lines brings to mind Ray Manzarek. Movements singer David Henriksson has a soulful voice with great range but can also get down and dirty to match your typical sneering acid punker or blues shouter. Christian Johansson is the man whose sparing and inspired guitar pushes the music into outer dimensions. He plays with a warm, clear tone rather than cloak himself in layers of fuzz and there's much to like about his work.
Then there are the songs...hooky pop-rockers like the martial "Five Steps Ahead", Eastern-flavoured"It Starts With a Whisper" (the opener) and "Cry For You", the edgy "Looking For a Change" (my fave), the (not unexpectedly) spacey "Space Autopsy" and the airy "Being".
Drummer Thomas Sundberg has his chops down and sits just behind the beat, pushing the band on, but it's The Movements' understanding of knowing when not to play that's as important as what they do play.
And here's where Olsson's production comes into its own: Where others may have put the massed chorus of the wordy but worthy "Instead of Catching a Disease (I Caught a Thing Called Love)" right up front, the backing vocals are buried deep to throw the rest of the band into sharper relief. It's a taught rocker made moreso as Johansson whips out a tortured guitar figure midway through and a building interplay between the singer and one of the backing vocalists leads us through the outro. Simple but effective.
I read someone somewhere likening The Movements to The Strollers, a late and great Scandi band playing in a similar space where organ-driven melodies sat hand-in-glove with neat guitar figures and melodic vocals. No argument here. "Grains Of Oats" is one of the best of '06 and I'll still be playing it in '07.
I-94 Bar
www.i94bar.com
The Movements hail from Gothenburg and are further proof that there is a lot of good music coming out of Sweden if you like punk, garage or psychedelic tinged music. They have taken 1960's garage rock, thrown latterday punk and psych influences into the mix and turned the heat up under it all to come up with their own intense sound.
'Grains of Oats' is their first album and right from the off with opening cut 'It Starts With A Whisper' everything is at boiling point soundwise which along with their arrangements makes the band's songs sound very urgent. There's some chiming Farfisa organ in the mix and some searing psych or space rock guitar in there to help fry your brains. 'Cry For You' has one of those nagging organ riffs to die for and the vocals are raw and bleeding, all helped along by some thunderous drums. 'Being' calms things down a little and has a raga rock style guitar motif underpinning the majority of the song. 'Image In The Mirror' shows the punk element in their songwriting and is more of a 'straightforward' song than most. 'Ain't Gonna Let You Mess Up' is mid-tempo with another great organ riff and a big big chorus. Final track 'I Don't Wanna Be like You' is a frantic 'everything in the red' number that brings this album to a fitting end.
The Movements have taken all their influences and spun them into their own musical concoction. If you like band's cd production values to be pristine, sparkling and squeaky clean, then stay away from 'Grains Of Oats' 'cos this rocks like hell, is anything but polite and is all the better for it. If you like the sound of bands like The Sonics or even The Hives with healthy dose of psychedelia thrown into the middle of it all, then this album will be right up your street, if you don't, then you should........it'd do you good!!
Kevin Wallbank / Psychedelic Central
www.psychedeliccentral.com