BABY SCOOTER

"BabyScooter" is another EP from Motorpsycho originally released in 1997. It was released as the first of a series of EPs, the 2nd was "Have Spacesuit Will Travel" and the 3rd was "Lovelight", all 3 released in very limited quantities. Later that same year, the 3 EPs were released together as the album "Angels and Daemons At Play", thus making the 3 EPs collector's items, but also rendering them obsolete.

"Sideway Spiral" kicks off this EP with a very psychedelic sounding tune. The vocals and supporting wordless vocals are processed and supported with a processed strummed guitar and other synth sounds. A nice organ finishes off the track with wild percussive sounds.

"Walking On the Water" is a more traditional sounding track with a great heavy guitar and bass riff starting off. This track sounds more like Motorpsycho of the past, but there are more progressive leanings here with some tricky rhythm patterns and a sense of psychedelia. This track is a very nice mix of traditional and progressive sounds and a wicked drum break. Excellent track.

"Heartattack Mac" builds itself off of a solo guitar playing at first, then the rest of the band suddenly erupting in what becomes a great stoner/psychedelic rock feel. That funky scratching sound in the background is a nice touch. This one also has the gruff vocals I love from this band. This track is very heavy, but I love it. The second instrumental break has some great dissonance in the beginning, and then dueling guitars play off of each other as they build to an explosive wall of sound before it all falls apart to a softer interlude and continuing hints of another explosion threaten, but never quite happen. At over 7 minutes, this could have even gone on longer.

"Pills, Powders and Passionplays" is a more psychedelic/jazz vibe. Nice acoustic guitar and drum circle sounding track which even adds a Beatle-esque sound when the sitar joins in, or it sounds like a sitar, but one isn't noted in the credits, so I'm not sure what it is.

"In the Family" goes back to the progressive/hard rock sound accentuated with a nice heavy bass. A great progressive interlude in the middle builds off of U2 style repetitive guitar notes, but with a lot more intensity. It all falls apart in a feedback frenzy and then an oscillating sound persists to the end.

This is an excellent EP with not a single weak track at all. However, it is a good idea to search for the full album, because this 23 minute EP will only leave you wanting more. Excellent music is what is on this EP and you hear the beginnings of the band experimenting with progressive and psychedelic music. If this EP wasn't obsolete, it would have easily won 4 or 5 stars, but don't pass it up if you do see it. This is quality hard progressive music. But get the full album if you can.