Location: Kranj / Transtation Squat / Slovenia
Date: Saturday, May 2, 2015
The English outfit Ozric Tentacles hasn’t stopped since forming in 1983. Along the way, bandleader Ed Wynne has gone through a huge number of members, and the band has put out over 20 studio albums. Ozric Tentacles, or Ozrics for short, never cared about chasing trends. Their influences reach back to the seventies, when progressive, psychedelic and space rock were in full bloom. But Ozric Tentacles stretched that formula by bringing in electronics, which is now the band’s trademark.
It took a whole 11 years for the band to come back to Slovenia. They last blew people away at Metelkova in Ljubljana in 2004, when they were promoting the album Spyrals In Hyperspace. Bassist Brandi Wynne was already in the band back then, and she’s still with them today. This tour was also meant to promote the new album Technicians of the Sacred, due out shortly.
Of course, there was no getting around a support act this time either. Israeli DJ Mantis Mash got things warmed up in a still-empty hall. He’s been a familiar face in the band’s circle for a few years and has played before them on previous occasions too. Although there are similar bands to Ozric Tentacles (e.g. Hidria Spacefolk, Quantum Fantay), the band prefers to give the slot to DJs from all sorts of other electronic parties. It probably also says a lot that you’re more likely to catch the Ozrics themselves at a trance festival than at a rock one.
Ozric Tentacles took the stage fairly late, but the crowd embraced them from the very first song. The band now performs as a quintet, with extra percussionist Paul Hankin joining in to supposedly beef up the rhythm even more. Still, Hankin was more of a side factor. The spotlight belonged to the oldest member, Ed Wynne, who handled guitar and keyboards. On guitar, Wynne mostly focused on soloing, which was loud and at times downright scratchy. The solos were mostly backed up by a wah wah pedal. The band looked relaxed on stage, and the current lineup is more than well in sync. Alongside Ed, Silas Wynne, Ed’s son, handled keyboards, and together they conjured up an indescribable atmosphere and a journey through every kind of oddball sound imaginable. The rhythm section, made up of bassist Brandi Wynne, Ed’s wife, and drummer Balázs Szende, was punchy and tight. To make the gig atmosphere even more immersive, various projections kept rolling throughout, showing off the album covers.
Over a good two hours, the Ozrics strung together a nice number of songs that more or less summed up their long career. They also dug out a track or two from the first albums, back when samples didn’t play such an important role as they do later on. Ed Wynne showed there that he can come up with inventive riffs. Naturally, a track or two from the upcoming album Technicians of the Sacred was on the menu as well, which mainly proves that the Ozrics aren’t letting up. The two new tunes don’t really bring anything new, though. Besides the new stuff, the band played some of their staples. It all kicked off with the opener Jurassic Shift, which flowed into Sploosh and Sniffing Dog. The band didn’t forget the newer songs from their albums either, like Paper Monkeys and Yumyum Tree. But the old-school fans got their money’s worth with Xingu, Coily, Eternal Wheel and the closing The Throbbe. Sure, some other well-known track or two was missing, but with such a massive discography, it’s hard to pick a best of their career.
As for the two new songs they played, the band kept its unpredictability: there’s a rhythmic twist here, a tempo change there, and they’re packed with psychedelic bits and all kinds of samples drawing on more electronic genres. Psytrance especially stands out here, lifting the Ozric Tentacles weirdness to a higher and maybe even slightly more complex level. Above all, it needs to be stressed that with their electronics, the Ozrics don’t work like those cliché electronic acts who drag one beat out into infinity. With a sense for song structure and rhythmic turnarounds, the Ozrics can make an electronic (sub)genre still very interesting.
There were some flaws to be noticed, though. Silas Wynne occasionally just hinted at his playing by wiggling his fingers in the air, as if he’d hit a button to trigger a sample. Unfortunately, certain parts of the songs were simply handled by the backing track, which, despite an otherwise engaging performance, isn’t convincing enough. Extra percussionist Paul Hankin was poorly mixed, and his parts were rarely audible. That also raises the question of whether Hankin is even necessary. Sure, he’s a capable percussionist, but the sound with him didn’t come across as any more polished. That was even more noticeable back when flutist John Egan still played with the band, though he hasn’t been with them for 10 years.
What undoubtedly kept the band on its feet was drummer Balázs Szende, who played the long repertoire with precision. And it has to be said that live drums give the band a certain originality and authenticity, lending the music some stability amid the flood of electronics.
Apart from the odd announcement, Ozric Tentacles didn’t really talk to the crowd much. The band bets more on letting the audience simply give themselves over to the music. And the Ozrics undoubtedly pulled that off. Ozric Tentacles won the crowd over with their long set, even though the band isn’t at the peak of its powers like it was more than a decade ago. In the end, you just have to admit that after three decades, the Ozrics are still one of a kind and well worth catching live.
Author: Primož Novak
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. Jurassic Shift
2. Sploosh!
3. Sniffing Dog
4. Changa Masala
5. Og-Ha-Be
6. Sultana Detrii
7. Mooncalf
8. Xingu
9. Lost in the Sky
10. Zenlike Creature
11. The Sacred Turf
12. Coily
13. Eternal Wheel
—encore—
14. The Throbbe
