Tivol - "Interstellar Overbike"
(Last Visible Dog 2006, LVD 079)
Tivol - "Interstellar Overbike"
(Last Visible Dog 2006, LVD 079)
From Aural Innovations #34 (August 2006)
This album kicks some major space rock ass all over the galaxy. It may be a short album, clocking in at 36:15 but what a great 36 minutes and 15 seconds it is! Combining the wild over the top kind guitar driven rock and loopy vocals of Amon Düül II tracks like Soap Shop Rock with the psychedelic looseness of music like Ash Ra Tempel's Amboss and yes, Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive, Tivol don't exactly take it where it's never been taken before, but they do it with such passion and enthusiasm that it doesn't seem to matter. Amidst the guitar mayhem on the opening 15-minute cut, Tivoloid Part 1, we get to hear freaky electronic pulses and weird echoing vocals (in Finnish... the lyrics are printed inside the cover, in Finnish as well). The band really gets into some heavy pounding and early Hawkwind-style riffery in the middle too. Bang your spacehead, man, it's cool stuff. A burst of feedback kicks off the 16-minute Prätkäbarbaarit, leading into some sludgy, throbbing riffs and maniacal drumming. The psychedelic bass line propels this one along too, as high-pitched pulses and trippy space sounds weave in and out of the mix. Awesome stuff! The album ends with a 5-minute reprise of the opening track, this time called Tivaloid Part 2: Raivaajat, sort of a "radio single" version of Part 1. But it's still quite cool in its own right and, especially because of the vocals, which have that crazy Amon Düül II vibe to them. The album as a whole rarely slows down. It's a half-hour plus slab of mind-melting, guitar, drums and bass driven space rock, but even so, I find myself putting it on repeat and just letting it pummel me again and again. If you love your space rock heavy and psyched out, you can't go wrong with Interstellar Overbike.
For more information you can visit the Last Visible Dog web site at: http://www.lastvisibledog.com.
Email Tivol at: tivolmusic@hotmail.com.
Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald