Head Entrance (1997)
9
Indict Me / Lovecraft / Blood Butterfly / Slip Inside This House
/ Five Senses / Into the Void / Reasons/Outside the Door #2
A
few weeks ago, I’d never even heard this band’s music, and now
I’m already convinced Head Entrance is at least a minor rock
classic and possibly the most impressive slice of neo-psychedelic music I’ve
heard so far. I recently discovered Danish garage band Baby Woodrose, and
since On Trial is Lorenzo Woodrose’s former band (he was their drummer)
a friend gave me Head Entrance to check out. There’s not that
much information to be found about this band, apart from the facts that they’re
Danish, have been around since the late ‘80’s, released a bunch
of hard to find albums and have a soft spot for late ‘60’s/early
‘70’s rock. Most striking is the psychedelic influence, coming
from both the garage scene (13th Floor Elevators, Love, etc) as the sonically
challenging psychedelic/acid rock of (early) Pink Floyd, The Doors, Blue Cheer
and the Jefferson Airplane. On top of that, the album’s heavier moments
are occasionally reminiscent of stoner rock, while you might argue that they’re
likely to have heard some Alice in Chains or early, Spine of God-era
Monster Magnet as well. Let it be clear: this is not your average, instantly
likeable rock abum. Containing a mere seven songs and clocking in at 50 minutes,
the five-piece regularly stretches out into trippy territory, with multiple
guitar lines flirting with each other and disorienting sound effects appearing
and disappearing. Despite what the above might suggest, the band never loses
its focus, as pointless noodling is replaced by the songs’ inherent
logic, which defies the traditional notions of songwriting, but is there nevertheless.
Even though the album is firmly rooted in several decades of edgy rock music, it is strikingly original, making it ultra-hard to find fitting descriptions that do justice to the songs. Opener “Indict Me” immediately starts off the album on a high note, with an endlessly repeated guitar figure that contains hints of Eastern melodies, while the passionate, sneeringly delivered vocals are equally creative. All this is wrapped up in a fascinating production that’s a suitable combination of lo-fi fuzziness and sonic complication (even though the liner notes mention is was recorded on an 8-track machine in their rehearsal room). “Lovecraft” (indeed a reference to guru H.P. Lovecraft, who’s also quoted in the liner notes) is more concise, but it’s also a remarkable garage track, combining some nifty, jangling guitar interplay and great vocals by singer Bo. Some of the songs are required listening for those who are into Timothy Leary’s ethics of mind-expansion (with lyrics such as “Flowers blosson ‘round my pillows, starts are burning in my eyes, looking past the dead reflection, where demon dancers come to shine” (“Blood Butterfly”) and “Five senses stunned as we’re looking up, because the sky is pulling its tricks on us” (“Five Senses”)) and the confusing zone between consciousness and unconsciousness, the meaning of dreams and hallucinations. While the percussion-heavy “Blood Butterfly” and the ‘unreal’ atmosphere of “Into the Void” (it must be the ‘watery’ guitar sound) are examples of the band at their most psychedelic, a song like “Five Senses” is quite heavy, entering the realm of twisted stoner (and what is stoner but led-heavy psychedelica?). Like several other songs, it progresses like a pseudo-mantra, reaching an intense climax with an incendiary solo that seems to be a wink to Love’s “A House Is Not a Motel.” Whereas the mentioned tracks are already a reason to check this out, the band contains two 10-minute tracks that are perhaps even more stunning. First they offer an interpretation of the 13th Floor Elevators’ “Slip Inside This House,” a dirge that’s crammed with sound effects, boasts a creepy – nearly psychotic – atmosphere (Erikson wasn’t your average guy to begin with, of course) and some solos that seem to defy the Western notion of melodicism altogether, opting for some sort of free-floating direction instead. The two-parted closing track is perhaps even more ambitious, an epic monster featuring some searing guitar parts, multiple climaxes, intense vocals (the moment when he reaches the “A reason to DIIIIIEEEEEE”-part is ridiculously exciting) and a monumental noise eruption that constantly verges of the border of sanity and insanity, control and chaos, before it transcends into the 2-minute coda of ‘Outside the Door #2” with cool lines such as “Let’s make up religions just to convert to something painful once it hurts.” I’m well aware that this review has the capacity to be particularly non-insightful, even nonsensical. But hey, blame it on On Trial, who succeeded in creating an ungraspable album that’s intriguing for no less than 50 minutes and 15 seconds. I know I sound like a wise-ass when I claim that it’s no longer true the majority of first-class European music isn’t necessarily coming from Britain – not enough continental stuff reaches the English-speaking countries anyway – but maybe it’s time for you guys out there to make an effort for a change. This band has at least made one great album and it’s waiting to be heard.
Reader comments: Ralph A. Rjeily: Guy have you ever heard the other stuff they made ? they got two more that you just
have to hear. |
New Day Rising (1999)
8
Flashin' Ghast / As If… / Pot of Gold / Long Time Gone / Doubt
/ Cast It Aside / Sleeper / Do You See Her? / New Day Rising
/ Outside the Door
"FREE
DOPE FREE MUSIC !!!" is what you'll read when you scam the liner notes,
but once you've heard the album, the inclusion of this slogan isn't that surprising
anymore (well, the album cover also gives it away, of course). On Trial are
probably very much into pot and LSD, as their swirling psychedelic rock evokes
the atmosphere that the 13th Floor Elevators (the first real psych rock band?)
conjured up more than three decades ago. Alternately tough and floating, brimming
with tight energy and careless sprawl, the band offers a nice slice of escapist
rock with New Day Rising. The most striking aspect of the album is
that it's - except for the two tracks that end the album - much more direct
and muscular than Head Entrance. Instead of free-floating songs and
occasionally awkward melodies and structures, you get material that's much
more straightforward and based on the classic rock style. I don't know whether
it's the sole reason, but apparently drummer Guf (Lorenzo Woodrose) became
more prominent as a songwriter (and vocalist) and if you heard his current
band Baby Woodrose, you'll know what that means. While both On Trial and Baby
Woodrose basically dabble in the same influences, they're different bands,
On Trial being the album band with the darker sound, attitude and experimentation,
while Baby Woodrose is the crispier, soulful single-machine, the ecstatic
trip to On Trial's heroin haze. But, even though the album's more song-based
(and indeed, not as jam-oriented) than Head Entrance, this still ain't
your average high-energy rock album: a lot of effort has crept into the amount
of psychedelic effects, multi-tracked vocals and intertwining guitar parts.
The result is an album that comes off as both soothing and a slap against
the head. H.G. Wells' Time Machine is immediately used when "Flashin'
Ghast" with its swaying rhythm and prominent Vox organ take the '90's perspective
back to its roots while managing to go forward at the same time. Yes, notions
such as time and identity really get blurry after you've been exposed to New
Day Rising (by the way, is using a Hüsker Dü-title a tribute to said band
because they used a Danish name (that's what I've been told anyway)?). Songs
like "As If…" and "Do You See Her?" walk the thin line between Guf's later
project and an adoration for garage psych, yet they have enough interesting
things to offer: just check out the dazzling guitar interplay during the former
and the way in which the latter manages too be too heavy to be a 'real' Nugget,
but too poppy to have been included on Head Entrance. The band's stoner
credentials are further stressed by the massive pounding of songs like "Pot
of Gold" (taking Monster Magnet's acid-fried rock and the Stooges' raw power
to the max), "Long Time Gone" ("What?? The MC5 are Danish?") and the
in-your-face rock 'n' roll of "Cast It Inside," songs that simply rock
like a motherfucker, inject the good old mould with a perfect dose of venom.
While Head Entrance was entirely dominated by its most challenging
songs (the disorienting psych of "Indict Me," "Blood Butterfly" and the extended
jams), these bite-sized cuts are actually highlights on New Day Rising,
as the slow and moody "Doubt" sounds fine and menacing, but also quite
monotonous. The disorienting "Sleeper," which sounds as if the band had been
listening closely to Neil Young's Sleeps with Angels, does a better
job at that, but those who got into the band because of the challenging trips
will have to wait until they reach the title-track, an Eastern-tinged mantra
with nauseating multi-tracked vocals and a shitload of special effects. It
would've ended the album on a high, but unfortunately, that honour goes to
the rather superfluous "Outside the Door," basically an experiment on too
much drugs that's no match for the mighty "Reasons/Outside the Door #2" that
left you baffled after having experienced Head Entrance. Still, New
Day Rising shows On Trial in fine form, is worthy of its title and is
gefundenes fressen for those who think that not McCartney/Lennon or
Jagger/Richards, but Erickson, Barrett and Lee should be worshipped like Gods.
Blinded by the Sun (2002)
8
Blinded by the Sun / Miles Away / Everything / Downer / Too
Late / Poor Soul / Driver / So Close / Slippin' and Slidin'
/ Kolos / Kosmonaut
What
is it with these guys? Even though I'm usually quite cranky at this hour in
the morning (8:32 AM), it seems that these guys are allergic to making bad
or even mediocre albums. Basically, if you like New Day Rising, you're
gonna dig this one as well. Like that album, Blinded by the Sun has
a tendency towards shorter, tougher songs than the ones so elaborately displayed
on Head Entrance. The production is probably more elaborate here as
well, while there's a bigger variety in styles and sounds. Some people collect
stamps, others collect naughty toys or records, these guys seem to collect
guitar pedals. Guf's influence is still increasing (he wrote more than half
of the lyrics) and it shows, as about half of the album are tack-hard cuts
of late '60s/early '70s psych rock, mixed up with hard rock, pop and even
folksy stuff. The title track continues the more accessible direction of many
of NDR's songs: it's muscular, yet melodic, tough, yet accessible.
It's the same deal with most other tracks: "Everything" is a marvellous fuzzed-out
rocker with vocalist Bo resembling the MC5's Rob Tyner so much it's scary,
while "Driver" (an obscure cover) is ultra-catchy hippie music. Those songs
are not even the hardest rocking tunes, the ones that are guaranteed to set
their live shows ablaze. No, for those opportunities, there are cuts like
the call to arms-rock of "Miles Away" that comes complete with sirens and
all; the exquisite six minute-beast "Downer" (most likely to impress the stoners
in the audience, think of Monster Magnet-meets-Pentagram) with its awesome
guitar sounds and the simple, in-your-face hard rock of "Poor Soul." It's
not a 50-minute rave-up, though, as the broadened sound palette also includes
quieter, moodier material. The half-acoustic "Too Late," sung by Guf, is as
atmospheric as this kind of stuff gets, dark and fatalistic. The real
winner here, however, is "So Close," a wonderfully realized slice of lush
L.A. psych-pop. With those melancholic vocals and additional trumpets it's
a dead ringer for Love's folk-psych. With the exception of "Downer," all the
songs are easily digestible and short, but in good old fashion, there's a
reward for trip addicts at the end of the album, with two +10 minute space
travels inviting the listener to enjoy the view from up above. "Slippin' and
Slidin'" is a mantra-like dirge that takes a while to build up, but manages
to create a weird, melancholy atmosphere and when those compressed vocals
kick in, the visions are complete. "Kolos" is darker and heavier and despite
being less melodic, there's damn fine guitar stuff goin' on and that acceleration
and intensification probably leads to stunning results in a live setting.
The brief "Kosmonaut" serves as a hard-rocking coda to that drone. Blinded
by the Sun isn't a departure from New Day Rising like that album
differed from Head Entrance before it, but because of the uniformly
strong songs, terrific musicianship and occasionally beautiful moments, it
ranks as an excellent album. Not as idiosyncratic as Head Entrance
(God, I can't seem to keep my mouth shut about that one), but a lot more satisfying
than most of today's self-conscious drivel that's being sold as "da new thing."
Whatever, I'm sticking with On Trial.
Head (2003)
9
Reverberation (Doubt) / A House Is Not a Motel / You're Gonna Miss Me
/ TV Eye / Starship / Parchment Farm / Interstellar Overdrive
/ Five Years Ahead of My Time / Be Forewarned / Signed D.C.
/ Citadel / I Have Always Been Here Before
Fuck,
yes. Have you ever seen High Fidelity, the adaptation of Nick Hornby's
novel? It's about people like you and me: nerds, music geeks, people who think
making superfluous lists is more fun than politics, candlelight dinners and
the seventh season of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Anyway, do you remember
the introduction? A record player, a shiny surface turning, a needle touching
the black, shiny vinyl, the hiss, and then… THE 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS'
"You're Gonna Miss Me"! It's a great opening, not only because it starts off
the movie with such a great song - a classic in rock, nothing less - but for
the sheer fact it's there, at the start of this big-ass movie featuring
big-ass actor John Cusack. From that moment onwards, that movie couldn't go
wrong anymore. I would have loved if there had been more music talk instead
of those love stories, but okay. It reminded me how my body gets electrified
when hearing that song. Danish band On Trial cover that song, "You're Gonna
Miss Me," and managed to evoke an identical reaction. It takes literally three
seconds of that song to take me to the stage where I jump up, pump my
fist into the air, whistle, wiggle my fat butt, call my girlfriend, tell her
that rock and roll is my religion and give the finger to the man. It's fierce,
passionate, it rocks, it swings, it's religious fervour translated into sonic
waves. Head originally was a five song 10" EP released in 1999, but
last year, the band added 8 more songs (and left off a live version of "Slip
Inside This House," if I'm correct) and none of them is less than excellent.
Of course you already knew the band's main influences because they wear 'em
on their sleeves, but from the first song onwards, it's clear this is not
gonna be some lame cash-in effort. It's a tribute to their heroes, a way of
giving back the inspiration. Most songs - at least the ones I was familiar
with - are pretty faithful and usually even more raw and straightforward,
but it's definitely an On Trial album and not just a 48-minute exercise in
imitation. Even though these songs were recorded in a span of several years
- which is audible, as the songs from each session have their own distinctive
sound - there's a unity that holds 'em together. Perhaps the most recent material
contains less surprising choices, but boy do they crackle with energy! Their
cover of "Parchment Farm" ("Mose Allison by ways of Blue Cheer"), released
as a single, is appropriately muddy and a blues-soaked and perhaps one of
their songs that resembles the vintage 1970 sound the most. The single's B-side
is an ultra-psychedelic take on Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive," so
crammed with disorienting, drugged, fucked-up effects that even Syd Barrett
would've raised an eyebrow or two. And it's heavy! Black Sabbath heavy!
Most of the five cuts that precede these two are classics in their own way:
"Reverberation" could be filed under swirling psych, the kind Kula Shaker
attempted to create but never quite pulled off this successfully. Love's "A
House Is Not a Motel" lacks the original's restraint, making the classic solo
at the end less of a surprise, but they manage to conjure up the same atmosphere
with great performances, so I ain't complaining. The Stooges' "TV Eye" is
an almost lethal blast, driven by super-charged turbo-bass and deliciously
snotty vocals and the way it segues into the MC5's version of Sun Ra's "Starship"
is pure gold. Man, squealing feedback rarely sounded this good. The last five
songs were - I think - all recorded before or during the New Day Rising-sessions.
Funny coincidence: Love's "Signed D.C." - wet dream alert from guitar aficionados!
- was also covered by Hüsker Dü's Grant Hart. The two biggest revelations,
to me at least, were songs by bands I've never heard: Third Bardo's "Five
Years Ahead of My Time" and Macabre's "Be Forewarned." The first one starts
off with shimmering guitars and then transcends into a deliriously distorted
rocker, the second one is a fantastic slice of hypnotic rock, sounding melancholic
- yes, nearly macabre - and Bo's vocals are simply great on top of that relentlessly
churning riff. This is garage rock as intense as it gets, this is garage rock
that makes dozens of wannabes piss their pants, this is rock and roll how
I like it. What else can you say about songs that sound like they're
the greatest thing ever while you blast 'em at maximum volume? The album then
adds two four-track recordings, one of a fine, but not great, Stones-song
("Citadel"), the other one a desolate piece of folk-rock by Roky Erickson,
perhaps the single biggest influence on the band's music and vision. Brimming
with energy, dedication, psychedelic uh… experiments, insane guitar
antics and all-round performances, Head manages to achieve several
goals at one: it makes you curious about some bands (I am so gonna
check out Macabre/Pentagram, even if it turns out it was a shit band and I'm
gonna dust off those Stooges/MC5/Love/13thFE-albums), shows a band doing what
they're best at (stir up some vigorous rock music) and ends up being one of
the best all covers-albums I have ever heard. On Trial? Fuckin' A!
Live (2004)
8
Higher / Flashing Ghast / Do You See Her / Blinded by the Sun / Blood
Butterfly / Jam / Sleeper / Everything / Downer / Lovecraft
/ Driver / Parchment Farm
Live,
On Trial's second live album (the first one being the limited edition double
album Psychedelic Freakout Party from 2001), was recorded in Christiania,
Copenhagen's self-governed community of love and anarchy and prolongs a prolific
period in the band's career that started with the release of Blinded by
the Sun in 2002 and the all covers-album Head last year. On its
website, label Molten Records boasts On Trial is the greatest Danish export
product since Carlsberg and that might not be that far from the truth, as
Live offers more than enough proof of their capabilities as songwriters
and musicians. It functions as one extended journey through On Trial's
psychedelic universe (just take a look at the album cover: EYES, BRIGHT COLORS,
SKULLS and a MUSHROOM!), picks songs from their last three studio albums,
adds the obligatory jam and also a high-energy cover of Mose Allison's "Parchment
Farm," done in the way The Who delivered a great version of "Young Man's Blues"
more than three decades ago: with balls. Big ones. With the focus mainly on
the last two albums, there are just a few cuts you could file under the really
"far-out psych", but their combination of jam-based rock and garage power
is equally mesmerizing. Single "Higher" starts off the album with the band
in full MC5-style: straightforward, no nonsense rock 'n' roll with fuzz guitars,
fiery call & response-vocals and a delirious guitar solo to top things off.
The other more conventional songs are mostly from the band's latest album
Blinded by the Sun, ensuring most of 'em clock in under four minutes
without any time to waste on excess: "Blinded by the Sun" has the sound that
ex-drummer Lorenzo Woodrose also pursues with his current band, Baby Woodrose,
as the song nearly sounds like a lost '60's nugget with brief psych solo.
Also "Downer" and "Driver" are among the album's most rocking cuts, the first
one with the most distorted guitar sound (The Stooges on hallucinogens?) and
terrific guitar interplay, the second with its classic riff and cool use of
wah wah. It seems that the material from 1999 album New Day Rising
is less immediately rocking, indeed situating itself between Head Entrance's
trippy character and Sun's directness. Both "Flashing Ghast" and "Do
You See Her" are excellent songs by a band taking their inspiration from both
the garage scene as well as innovators like Pink Floyd (and no, I'm not talking
about The Wall and Animals - this band once covered "Interstellar
Overdrive," remember?) and the Doors (for some reason, that lick in "Do You
See Her" always reminds me of "The End"), with vocalist Bo resembling both
Michael Stipe and The Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes (no shit!). Also tracks
like "Everything" and the wonderful "Lovecraft" constantly walk the thin line
between the two approaches. There are in fact only two instances where the
band stays in spacey territory for a longer time: the atmospheric "Blood Butterfly"
with its cool guitar effects and rumbling percussion is an absolute highlight
here and paves the way for a seven minute jam that contains some nifty dual
guitar interplay. I would've appreciated it if they'd added one of those behemoth
psych cuts ("Slip Inside This House," "Reasons"), but as it is, Live
already offers a damn fine introduction to this criminally neglected Danish
band. The only thing about this album that made me scratch my head is the
addition of overwhelming audience cheering (the label's idea, not the band's),
but as long as they come up with superb stuff like on this one, you won't
hear me complain.
Read album reviews of similar or related artists: Baby Woodrose