Reviews of 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)
“This is definitely the best album of 2006. Maybe, it’s to early to say this as it’s only June, but what Movements released as “Grains Of Oats” is one of the best garage psych albums I ever heard. They simply melted best stuff from different directions, from Doors to US garage and rearranged it all on their own fantastic way. If you compare “Grains Of Oats” with their previous 10″ album, I can say they sounded there like they were on speed and here they sound like they’re on LSD, or some strange Scandinavian mushrooms. I really don’t remember when I last heard album that was done so great. Simply all is great – songs, arrangements, weird psych keyboard, furious and acid guitar leads, vocal – all this as one is solid monument album that should be in your collection. Just play it and take a trip.”
/Vanya (Nobrainzine)
“Anbefales!
Nok en gang skjer det! Den svenske byen Göteborg fortsetter å skjemme oss bort med fantastiske fonogrammer.
Fra før har vi The Soundtrack Of Our Lives (SOOL) og Union Carbide Productions (UCP), og nå har de forsyne meg skjenket oss nok et fortryllende band med disse, for meg iallfall, hittil ukjente puristene i The Movements, for dette er i sannhet det største kicket jeg har hatt på lenge.
Grains of Oats er et album som absolutt burde appellere til fans av nettopp SOOL, og hvis du i tillegg er lur og slumper til å digge gullkorn fra helter som The Strollers, The Seeds, Music Machine, norske Indikation og The Cheaters, og ikke minst The Doors på sitt mest poppa, er dette noe du umiddelbart bare skal trykke ukritisk til ditt bryst.
The Movements har, i likhet med de nevnte referansene, hørt masse på sekstitallets mod-scene, merseybeat, tilgjengelig pop-psychedelia og garantert alt fra sine bysbrødre i SOOL og Silverbullit. Dermed høres det både helt sykt autentisk sekstitall og moderne ut, uten at det på noen måte spriker. De har dessuten et nivå på låtene sine som tenderer til å være uvirkelig bra.
Låten Cry For You hadde vært en låt Sky Saxon fra The Seeds hadde skrytt av å lage selv, den mektige psychedeliske droneren Beeing ville uten problem tålt en sammenlikning med alle sine sjangermessige åndsbrødre, og det helt forferdelig tøffe sistesporet, Space Opticy, har dessuten den tøffeste bass- og orgelintroen siden The Stranglers’ Hanging Around.
Soundet er også et kapittel for seg selv, nær sagt selvsagt rattet av Björn Olsson, den uhyre viktige og geniale bakmannen til byskollegene i UCP og SOOL. Det låter både luftig og mektig, låtene er spekket med masse fiffige detaljer, og jeg har ikke hørt et så tøft og surklete orgelsound siden The Creeps’ Now Dig This. På toppen av det hele har de en av de beste trommisene på denne siden av Ringo. Han slår til og med i virvler! Nei, du og du, for et helt idiotisk bra band. Måtte de bli dritsvære.
/Egon Holstad (Nordlys)
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. –
/ The Barman (The I-94 Bar)