OZRIC TENTACLES

OZRIC TENTACLES - England (1985)
Psychedelic & Space Rock
Classic album: Erpland (90)

A band from another time, OZRIC TENTACLES (commonly known as the OZRICS) are certainly one of the best British bands around in the 90’s, whose music can loosely be described as a ‘’pagan psychedelic punk folk band’’. Formed in 1983 with a debt to jazz fusion as well as space rock, the band originally included founder member and guitarist Ed Wynne, drummer Nick Van Gelder, keyboard player Joie Hinton, bassist Roly Wynne and second guitarist Gavin Griffiths (through Griffiths left in 1984). In 1987, Marv Pepler replaced Van Gelder, and synthesizer player Steve Everett was also added. Inspired by a myriad of musical genres and a number of lineup changes, the music style is very hard to categorize : it is a brillant mix of their own instrumental twist on the 70’s trippy instrumental GONG, AMON DÜÜL II, HAWKWIND, Kraut-rockers KRAAN to Steve HILLAGE space-rock style. Such is its COMPLEXITY...! OZRIC's music carries on the tradition of the finest aspects of space rock with spinning in a land of space-out synthesizers versus stratospheric guitars, skanking bass and tribal drums, floating flute, lots of high energy riffing.

Beginning with 1984’s ’’Erpsongs’’, the band have released a series of cassettes (sold at gigs and via a fan club) and put out 25 albums as of 2006. Throughout, the basic motivation behind band’s existence developed their own cottage industry - studio, record label (Stretchy), tour bus - selling around a million albums worldwide despite never having major label backing. Their first label release was "Pungent Effulgent" in 1989, which was also re-released in the early 2000s, packaged with "Strangeitude". OZRIC TENTACLES’ first major release, ‘’Erpland’’ (an album dedicated to Erp) was an instrumental tour de force recorded by a ten-unit ensemble including two electronic keyboards, a sampler, four percussionists, flute, bass and guitar, and displaying an almost baroque elegance. ‘’Strangeitude’’ (1991) blended as many sources but also added dance beats to its galloping symphonic poems and colorful festivals of sounds. ‘’Jurassic Shift’’ (1993) continued to move towards the taste of the time via increasing nods to ambient, cosmic, new-age and ethnic music. ‘’Waterfalls Cities’’ closed out the decade in 1999. OZRIC TENTACLES surfaced in 2000 to release ‘’Hidden Step’’, followed by the EP ‘’Pyramidon’’. The new live double album, ‘’Live at the Pongmasters Ball’’ was recorded at their sold-out show at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire earlier this year. The DVD of this show will be released in September 2002.

With a legacy of brilliant instrumental work over the last twenty years, the OZRIC's combine progressive jazz & reggae rhythms with spacey synth & gripping guitar work to create a musical landscape of color, depth & motion.

DISCOGRAPHY :

Erpsongs (85) / Tantric Obstacles (85) / There Is Nothing (86) / Live Ethereal Cereal (86) / Sliding Gliding Worlds (88) / Pungent Effulgent (89) / The Bits Between the Bits (89) / Erpland (90) / Sploosh / Live Throbbe - EP (91) / Strangeitude (91) / Live Underslunky (92) / Afterswish (92) / Ozric Tentacles (93) / Jurassic Shift (93) / Arborescence (94) / Vitamen Enhanced (94) / Become the Other (95) / Curious Corn (97) / Spice Doubt (98) / Floating Seeds (99) / Waterfall Cities (99) / The Hidden Step (00) / Swirly Termination (00) / Pyramidion - EP (01) / Live at the Pongmasters Ball (02) / Spirals In Hyperspace (04) / Eternal Wheel - Best of (04) / Waterfall Cities / Hidden Step (05) / The Floor's Too Far Away (06)

BEST ALBUMS : Erpland (90) / Strangeitude (91) / Jurassic Shift (93)