Achtung! Here's another kool krautrock reissue brought to us by the Lion label, continuing their noble efforts in that area recently represented by reissues of Sergius Golowin, Guru Guru, and Emtidi. This is one that some of us here (well, Allan) had been looking forward to for a while - he'd been trying to find a copy of a previous, out of print, import only reissue of this album ever since hearing part of it on his own kraut/psych/prog radio show Klaus To The Edge (co-DJ Alison had played a track), so it's nice to have this new domestic reissue! The deal with Tetragon is that they performed a wonderfully proggy, mostly instrumental, technically accomplished style of krautrock, very much inspired by classical keyboards of British proto-prog act The Nice (Keith Emerson's band before ELP, dontcha know), as well as by Soft Machine, the electric jazz experiments of Miles Davis, and the heavier sort of psychedelic blues rock a la Cream.
Originally a teenage three-piece (keys/bass/drums) named Trikolon, formed in 1967, in 1971 they added a guitarist and thus became Tetragon. Their keyboard dominated sound (Hammond organ, clavinet, piano) now had distorted wah wah guitar to increase its heft and complexity. That same year saw the release of Tetragon's sole album on their own label Soma, in an edition of just 400 copies, housed in a lovely green cover to match the ecologically "green" nature theme of the title. It's a virtuoso performance, particularly considering each track was recorded in just a few takes, with no overdubs! While some krautrock music we dig is all about drugged out primitivism, this is the sort of thing that benefits from the players' tasteful musicianship. The first track, "Fugue" sorta sets the tone for this melodically moody, yet grooving, album. It's 16 minutes long, and based on a piece by J.S. Bach (though we don't think Bach ever envisioned an electronically-effected drum solo, or wild acid rock guitar soloing!). Elsewhere on the album, Tetragon also adapt some of Gershwin's music from West Side Story (via jazz drummer Buddy Rich's arrangement, apparently) on the 13+ minute "A Short Story". But not every track here is long - there's the mere 19 second bizarre electronic outburst of "Jokus" to balance things out.
This is another album to feed our fantasy of someday opening another store called "1971" that ONLY sells reissues of records originally released in 1971! Whaddya think? It could happen. Maybe we will change Aquarius to that format.
As we've come to expect from Lion, this reissue is quite nicely done, with lengthy, informative liner notes and photos in the cd booklet, plus on the disc itself a significant bonus track, the live 14+ minute mega-jam "Doors In Between" from '72.
We highlighted the Lion Productions reissue of Nature, the (until now) sole album from way-cool, keyboard-heavy, progged-out krautrock obscurities Tetragon, just a few weeks ago, and now here's ANOTHER, entirely unreleased album from the same band unearthed by krautrock specialists Garden Of Delights! If anything, this one's even more badass. Recorded live in the studio towards the end of 1971 (just a few months after Nature came out), these five tracks here meant for release on LP at the time, but that never happened, the efforts of Tetragon's four very talented musicians never getting the exposure they deserved back in they day (heck even the album that they did manage to get released was done in a VERY small pressing). Well it was 1971, so record buyers were presumably a bit overwhelmed. Still, Nature and now Stretch are worthy of being part of the class of '71, a year we consider one of the best ever in the history of recorded music - particularly of the psych/prog/kraut variety.
Stretch is all-instrumental, the band members just goin' off, doin' their thing, which was virtuoso, jazz-fusion inflected prog influenced by Miles Davis, The Nice and ELP, various Canterbury bands... and especially here, British jazz-rock organist Brian Auger. There's lots of solo action, as well as much precision ensemble playing. With wild widdly Hammond organ jamming, acid rock fuzz guitar, a heavy backbeat, and tons of technical chops, this simply cooks.
Of the 5 tracks on Stretch, which, um, stretch over 43 minutes, Tetragon do two covers: "Listen Here" by Eddie Harris and "Dragon Song" by John McLaughlin. Though perhaps as far as Tetragon were concerned, they were Brian Auger covers, 'cause their hero had previously done both of these songs on albums of his own, and Tetragon were inspired by his arrangements. The Eddie Harris one in particular is super funky but fuzzed, a heavy groove with drum solo breakdown, well actually everybody gets a solo. Of the three originals, "Snowstorm" is actually smokin' hot, "The Light" a laidback wah'd out groove, and "Hovering Stones" the most proggy and changeable, ranging from frantic keyboard runs in lockstep with martial drumming to more blissed-out solo sections. If you liked that Supersister reissue we recently highlighted, we'd imagine you'd be into this too. Likewise of course if you dug the other, original Tetragon disc!
Garden Of Delights reissue cds are even more exhaustive than Lion's, this includes uber-detailed liner notes in both English and German, plus vintage photos, and even the cover art from every single recording that the members of Tetragon were ever later associated with, including jazz-rockers Passport and folksters Falkenstein.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Kraftwerk songs "interpreted" on the piano, with extensive liner notes explaining Thaemlitz's approach. Quite beautiful, although the Kraftwerk component is not always immediately obvious. One of several now domestically-priced releases from the European electronica label of the moment, Mille Plateaux.
New record from the duo of Mani Neumeier (of Guru Guru fame) and Luigi Archetti, features guest Dieter Moebius of Cluster.
Why does anyone bother with the current crop of "stoner rock" when there's so much better stuff made back in the original stoner age (the '70s) now being reissued?? If you're into the Man's Ruin roster, and prone to buying albums by the latest Swedish Kyuss
Finally, now you can not only proclaim your love for Andee's record label and all the killer bands who have released records on tUMULt: Weakling, Leviathan, Iran, Hammers Of Misfortune, Harvey Milk, Bathtub Shitter, Souled American, but also your disdain for all other bands! Or maybe just ALL bands...
This two button set features one button with the ubiquitous tUMULt upside down cross logo, a logo so heavy it seems to have slid down the button, to settle near the bottom, the other featuring the ever popular "I hate your band" legend printed all by its lonesome. Perfect as a non verbal response to the age old query "So, what did you think of my band" or even "How did you like the cd I gave you". Just point, and problem solved! So c'mon, represent!!
Both buttons are extra big too, not tiny band button sized, but also not huge weird soccer mom button size either, just a little bit bigger than your typical 1" button (they're 1.5" just so you know), so they're small enough to decorate your favorite denim vest or trucker hat or tube top, but big enough to make the rest of your buttons cower in terror! ----* ----* Selected New Arrivals : ----*
Whoo-hoo! Epic awesome proggy proto-metal krautrock alert!! Germany's oddly named Twenty Sixty Six And Then concocted these heavy, organ-overloaded tracks back in 1972, jamming hard and crazy in that they-don't-make-'em-like-they-used-to mode we love, bringing to mind such much better known bands as Iron Butterfly, early ELP (or The Nice), Deep Purple Mk1, Jethro Tull and Uriah Heep, plus fellow krauts like Out Of Focus, Necronomicon, Murphy Blend, Hairy Chapter and Birth Control. It's groovy and dramatic, sometimes jazzy, often complex, definitely getting pretty wild and rippin', with kinda hoarse, bluesy vocals in English, lots of Iommi-worthy guitar soloing, a dose of Mellotron, and FLUTE!!! What's not to like? Psychedelic "hairy funk" heaviness, with both soft melodies and a harder edge, like on the mathy attack of the 9+ minute "Autumn", that reminds us also of some of our fave '70s Italian prog, too, like I Teoremi.
We should note, for accuracy's sake, that we're pretty sure this cd reissue contains the same tracks as the (out of print) one done by the Second Battle label back in 1994, called Reflections!, featuring in fact alternate, extended versions of all but one of the songs from the band's Reflections On The Future lp originally released in 1972, plus 4 bonus tracks from the same era. Which is just fine by us, if confusingly not precisely how this reissue presents itself.
Always thought this was one of the best over-the-top (yet melodic) heavies in the prog-kraut canon, nice to have it available on cd again... Connoisseurs of obscure, unfettered krautROCK will find this essential.
Even if we weren't already aware that the early '70s output of the German record label Kuckuck was pretty darn cool, being a significant part of the whole incredible krautrock thing, we'd be eager to hear this new compilation, following as it does B-Music's other recent celebrations of labels like BYG in France (The BYG Deal comp) and Belter in Spain (the Absolute Belter comp), all of 'em awesome. This well-researched collection, part of the B-Music / Finders Keepers "krautsider music" series, is a tribute to the vision and dedication of the Kuckuck label's founder, Eckart Rahn (about whom several fascinating pages of the text and photo filled cd booklet are devoted). Presented with distinctive graphic style, Kuckuck's always adventurous and ever eclectic roster made records ranging from progressive pop to acid folk to out there kosmische electronics, in other words krautrock at its finest.
There's nine bands represented across the 20 tracks here. You get, among others, the heavy blues rock of Armageddon, the proto-New Age bliss of AQ fave Deuter, Antiteater's soundtracks to Rainer Werner Fassbinder films, the brilliant minimalist hypnorock of Out Of Focus (another AQ fave), the Moog synthesizer experimentation of American composer Sam Spence, and proggy pop pioneers Ihre Kinder (plus various spinoffs), and more. Of the several artists we hadn't ever heard before, Sam Spence was particularly intriguing, especially since the liner notes explain that his Moogs were paid for by the National Football League, for whom he made film soundtracks! We'd be curious to hear more of his Kuckuck recordings based on the two tracks from him included here, which sound something like a more tripped out Perrey and/or Kingsley.
Dunno why they didn't include some Murphy Blend, too, but it's a fine comp anyhow! Any Finders Keepers follower or krautrock fancier should be keen on this. Can't go too wrong with Kuckuck.
Second volume in Soul Jazz's stellar Deutsche Elektronische Musik series, collecting classic and rarities of, as the rest of the title helpfully explains: "Experimental German Rock & Electronic Music", which is probably better known to all of us as KRAUTROCK! The tracks here are from the years 1972-83 and features, like the first volume, a good balance of classic artists/tracks and more obscure rarities. All it should take is a list of artists to get most folks pretty excited: A.R. & Machines, Can, Agitation Free, Roedelius, Popol Vuh, Amon Duul II, Faust, Asmus Tietchens, Neu!, Gila, Conrad Schnitzler, Michael Rother, Pyrolator, You, D.A.F., Harald Grosskopf, and loads more. Odds are if you're already a krautrock obsessive, there's a good chance you have most of these tracks already. But even so, as a krautrock mix, it's pretty tough to beat, and who knows, there are definitely a few artists and tracks you might not have heard.
And as a primer / introduction, it's pretty bad ass, a good balance of driving motorik grooves, swirling kosmische shimmer, dreamy electronic ambience, avant electronic experimentation, wispy new age drift, brooding, proggy psychedelia, swirling analog synthscapery, pulsing hypnorock mesmer, electronic flecked, rhythmic space rock, the compilation touching on all of the different sounds these artists explored under the umbrella of 'krautrock'. There are a few oddballs, which in most cases adds to the weirdness and coolness of the comps, but in one specific case, ends up being maybe our only complaint. One oddball is Niagra for instance, who we had not heard before, but whose track here is super dense and rhythmic and gloriously psychedelic. But then there's D.A.F.'s "Co Co Pino", which is a cool new wave-y blast of hysterical vocals, skronking sax and funky rhythms, which on its own would be awesome, but in the context of the otherwise sort of tranced out hypnotic flow of the mix, ends up being a strange slightly disruptive sonic hiccup. But overall, a killer comp, an awesome krautrock mixtape, that is WAY recommended for krautrock newbies, along with the first volume, but even if you're a grizzled old krautrock vet, mixes are all about song choice and song order, and even the krautrockers around here who already have most of these records, have been digging this mix BIG TIME!
The cd version comes in a jewel case, and full color slipcover, with a BIG booklet, loaded with liner notes and photos, and then like most Soul Jazz compilation releases, the vinyl version is split into two halves, both double lps, each available separately.
Second volume in Soul Jazz's stellar Deutsche Elektronische Musik series, collecting classic and rarities of, as the rest of the title helpfully explains: "Experimental German Rock & Electronic Music", which is probably better known to all of us as KRAUTROCK! The tracks here are from the years 1972-83 and features, like the first volume, a good balance of classic artists/tracks and more obscure rarities. All it should take is a list of artists to get most folks pretty excited: A.R. & Machines, Can, Agitation Free, Roedelius, Popol Vuh, Amon Duul II, Faust, Asmus Tietchens, Neu!, Gila, Conrad Schnitzler, Michael Rother, Pyrolator, You, D.A.F., Harald Grosskopf, and loads more. Odds are if you're already a krautrock obsessive, there's a good chance you have most of these tracks already. But even so, as a krautrock mix, it's pretty tough to beat, and who knows, there are definitely a few artists and tracks you might not have heard.
And as a primer / introduction, it's pretty bad ass, a good balance of driving motorik grooves, swirling kosmische shimmer, dreamy electronic ambience, avant electronic experimentation, wispy new age drift, brooding, proggy psychedelia, swirling analog synthscapery, pulsing hypnorock mesmer, electronic flecked, rhythmic space rock, the compilation touching on all of the different sounds these artists explored under the umbrella of 'krautrock'. There are a few oddballs, which in most cases adds to the weirdness and coolness of the comps, but in one specific case, ends up being maybe our only complaint. One oddball is Niagra for instance, who we had not heard before, but whose track here is super dense and rhythmic and gloriously psychedelic. But then there's D.A.F.'s "Co Co Pino", which is a cool new wave-y blast of hysterical vocals, skronking sax and funky rhythms, which on its own would be awesome, but in the context of the otherwise sort of tranced out hypnotic flow of the mix, ends up being a strange slightly disruptive sonic hiccup. But overall, a killer comp, an awesome krautrock mixtape, that is WAY recommended for krautrock newbies, along with the first volume, but even if you're a grizzled old krautrock vet, mixes are all about song choice and song order, and even the krautrockers around here who already have most of these records, have been digging this mix BIG TIME!
The cd version comes in a jewel case, and full color slipcover, with a BIG booklet, loaded with liner notes and photos, and then like most Soul Jazz compilation releases, the vinyl version is split into two halves, both double lps, each available separately.
Second volume in Soul Jazz's stellar Deutsche Elektronische Musik series, collecting classic and rarities of, as the rest of the title helpfully explains: "Experimental German Rock & Electronic Music", which is probably better known to all of us as KRAUTROCK! The tracks here are from the years 1972-83 and features, like the first volume, a good balance of classic artists/tracks and more obscure rarities. All it should take is a list of artists to get most folks pretty excited: A.R. & Machines, Can, Agitation Free, Roedelius, Popol Vuh, Amon Duul II, Faust, Asmus Tietchens, Neu!, Gila, Conrad Schnitzler, Michael Rother, Pyrolator, You, D.A.F., Harald Grosskopf, and loads more. Odds are if you're already a krautrock obsessive, there's a good chance you have most of these tracks already. But even so, as a krautrock mix, it's pretty tough to beat, and who knows, there are definitely a few artists and tracks you might not have heard.
And as a primer / introduction, it's pretty bad ass, a good balance of driving motorik grooves, swirling kosmische shimmer, dreamy electronic ambience, avant electronic experimentation, wispy new age drift, brooding, proggy psychedelia, swirling analog synthscapery, pulsing hypnorock mesmer, electronic flecked, rhythmic space rock, the compilation touching on all of the different sounds these artists explored under the umbrella of 'krautrock'. There are a few oddballs, which in most cases adds to the weirdness and coolness of the comps, but in one specific case, ends up being maybe our only complaint. One oddball is Niagra for instance, who we had not heard before, but whose track here is super dense and rhythmic and gloriously psychedelic. But then there's D.A.F.'s "Co Co Pino", which is a cool new wave-y blast of hysterical vocals, skronking sax and funky rhythms, which on its own would be awesome, but in the context of the otherwise sort of tranced out hypnotic flow of the mix, ends up being a strange slightly disruptive sonic hiccup. But overall, a killer comp, an awesome krautrock mixtape, that is WAY recommended for krautrock newbies, along with the first volume, but even if you're a grizzled old krautrock vet, mixes are all about song choice and song order, and even the krautrockers around here who already have most of these records, have been digging this mix BIG TIME!
The cd version comes in a jewel case, and full color slipcover, with a BIG booklet, loaded with liner notes and photos, and then like most Soul Jazz compilation releases, the vinyl version is split into two halves, both double lps, each available separately.
Leave it to the fine folks at the Soul Jazz Label to bring us a stellar Krautrock compilation that is as heavy on obscurities as it is on classics. Don't let the fact that the Neu!, Faust and Amon Duul tracks will probably be familiar to the most casual krautrock listener, or that pretty much all the classic bands in the canon (save for Kraftwerk and Klaus Schulze) are represented, deter you from this well-researched and beautifully sequenced compilation. Why? Well, because this compilation does a great job of showcasing the many diverse facets of the music that defined krautrock: Kosmishe electronica, hippie commune folk, motorik rhythms, proggy jazz-funk and lysergic cinematographic soundscapes. There are plenty of rarities from bands we've barely heard of such as Between, E.M.A.K., Michael Bundt, and Ibliss, as well as bands and artists we love like Kollectiv (aka Kollektiv), Conrad Schnitzler, Deuter and Gila that perhaps casual fans may not know much about. Plus many of the more well known groups are represented by less well known tracks or later periods. The Can tracks, for example. "Aspectacle" and "I Want More" are from later records, while the great Tangerine Dream track "No Man's Land" is from an early eighties record, a less seminal period for most classic Krautrock, but one filled with plenty of amazing discoveries for those brave enough to wade through some crud. Thankfully Soul Jazz did that work for us! Here is the full listing of bands: Can (2 tracks), Between, Harmonia (2 tracks) Gila, Kollectiv, Michael Bundt, E.M.A.K., Popol Vuh (2 tracks), Conrad Schnitzler, La Dusseldorf, Faust, Neu!, Cluster, Ibliss, Moebius, Roedelius, Amon Duul II (2 tracks) Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, and Deuter.
Comes with a full color booklet showcasing the history of the bands and music. Perfect for both newbies and longtime fans! Awesome!
Leave it to the fine folks at the Soul Jazz Label to bring us a stellar Krautrock compilation that is as heavy on obscurities as it is on classics. Don't let the fact that the Neu!, Faust and Amon Duul tracks will probably be familiar to the most casual krautrock listener, or that pretty much all the classic bands in the canon (save for Kraftwerk and Klaus Schulze) are represented, deter you from this well-researched and beautifully sequenced compilation. Why? Well, because this compilation does a great job of showcasing the many diverse facets of the music that defined krautrock: Kosmishe electronica, hippie commune folk, moterik rhythms, proggy jazz-funk and lysergic cinemagraphic soundscapes. There are plenty of rareties from bands we've barely heard of such as Between, E.M.A.K., Michael Bundt, and Ibliss, as well as bands and artists we love like Kollectiv (aka Kollektiv), Conrad Schnitzler, Deuter and Gila that perhaps casual fans may not know much about. Plus many of the more well known groups are represented by less well known tracks or later periods. The Can tracks, for example. "Aspectacle" and "I Want More" are from later records, while the great Tangerine Dream track "No Man's Land" is from an early eighties record, a less seminal period for most classic Krautrock, but one filled with plenty of amazing discoveries for those brave enough to wade through some crud. Thankfully SouL Jazz did that work for us! Here is the full listing of bands for this volume: Can, Between, Harmonia (2 tracks) Gila, Kollectiv, Michael Bundt, E.M.A.K., Popol Vuh, Conrad Schnitzler, La Dusseldorf, Faust, and Neu!.
Comes with a full color booklet showcasing the history of the bands and music. Perfect for both newbies and longtime fans! Awesome!
Leave it to the fine folks at the Soul Jazz Label to bring us a stellar Krautrock compilation that is as heavy on obscurities as it is on classics. Don't let the fact that the Neu!, Faust and Amon Duul tracks will probably be familiar to the most casual krautrock listener, or that pretty much all the classic bands in the canon (save for Kraftwerk and Klaus Schulze) are represented, deter you from this well-researched and beautifully sequenced compilation. Why? Well, because this compilation does a great job of showcasing the many diverse facets of the music that defined krautrock: Kosmishe electronica, hippie commune folk, moterik rhythms, proggy jazz-funk and lysergic cinemagraphic soundscapes. There are plenty of rareties from bands we've barely heard of such as Between, E.M.A.K., Michael Bundt, and Ibliss, as well as bands and artists we love like Kollectiv (aka Kollektiv), Conrad Schnitzler, Deuter and Gila that perhaps casual fans may not know much about. Plus many of the more well known groups are represented by less well known tracks or later periods. The Can tracks, for example. "Aspectacle" and "I Want More" are from later records, while the great Tangerine Dream track "No Man's Land" is from an early eighties record, a less seminal period for most classic Krautrock, but one filled with plenty of amazing discoveries for those brave enough to wade through some crud. Thankfully SouL Jazz did that work for us! Here is the full listing of bands for this volume: Can, Popol Vuh, Cluster, Ibliss, Moebius, Roedelius, Amon Duul II (2 tracks) Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, and Deuter.
Comes with a full color booklet showcasing the history of the bands and music. Perfect for both newbies and longtime fans! Awesome!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
"The Story of Volkslied Into Krautrock Goes On"...yes, the third and fourth volumes of the previously vinyl-only "Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium" series are compiled onto cd. 29 tracks of crazee German '60s beat music.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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The cd edition of the"Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium" lps vol. 1 & 2, crazy German beat music from the late 60's, before the punks went cosmic, the same scene that spawned the Monks (who appeared on a later edition in the Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium series). Cryptic liner notes indicate that there's indeed some pre-Can (then called Inner Space), pre-Amon Duul etc. musicians on here.
Where to begin with a review of a cd-rom that includes over 1,500 articles and reviews? Well, this is what I can tell you upon first examination of this disc, but many many hours could be spent exploring the material to be found here. Basically, this is an cross-platform (Mac and PC) cd-rom archive of every issue of Archie Patterson's Eurock fanzine, from 1973 to today, 45 issues worth. Eurock, as you might guess, specializes in European progressive rock sounds (although you'll also find coverage of scenes in Japan, Mexico, and other non-European places). Beginning in '73, it was initially focused on the contemporary krautrock scene (with features on Can, Amon Duul, Tangerine Dream in issue #1!), but as you browse through the issues you'll find stuff on Magma, Kraftwerk, RIO, Guru Guru, and then soon you'll be reading about Franco Battiato, Nektar, Lars Hollmer...it's endless. The Wire review of this of course bagged on the exclusion of much UK prog-rock (as if you'd rather read about Gentle Giant than Le Orme), but Patterson could hardly go back in a time machine and add stuff to the old issues of his zine -- what they wrote then is what you get now, and that's the beauty of it, the sense of "being there", of discovery, and all that...I almost wish that the magazine had been archived PDF fashion, so that you could actually see the original page layout and funky fonts. At least there's a gallery of cover art (unfortunately not viewable at full-size), for fans of the '70 underground press aesthetic.
Oh, and there's some bonus video material as well, an Urban Sax concert (sorry, haven't investigated that yet...) and a cut each from Amon Dull II ("Eye-Shaking King", goddamn!) and Popul Vuh from German TV. Very cool! Oh, and then the regular audio portion of this cd is some inoffensive New Agey symphonic music from one Hiro Kawahara, which might have its uses when trying to relax after several hours of computer-screen staring eyestrain that this cd-rom will surely cause. A fantastic item for folks interested in this sort of stuff (you know who you are)!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Krautrock legends get their props with this comp, featuring Michael Rother (ex-Neu!), James Plotkin, Autechre, Legendary Pink Dots, Dead Voices On Air, and others...but no Stereolab! What?
Achtung! Last chance to get with the In-Kraut, if you haven't already! This excellent series' third (and, sadly, final) volume offers up another twenty tracks of rare, super groovy dancefloor filling fodder from West Germany, circa 1967 to 1974, all of it pretty amazing and also amusing, in that it's generally waaay over the top and ultra-kitschy. In fact some of these tracks are so ridiculous, sooo deliberately go-go ga-ga "psychedelic" and "hip" and "groovy" that it's almost like they're parodies of these sort of swingin' sixties sounds, a la Austin Powers - who if he were German, would be getting down to exactly these sorts of swinging tunes.
If you're already an In-Kraut initiate you know what to expect: a mix of instrumentals and vocal numbers (speaking of vocal numbers, "Butterflies Never Cry" by Georgees is INSANE, utterly out of hand) done by big band-ish combos looking to wow the hipster denizens of Deutschland's discotheques back in the day. Which means this stuff is delightfully dated and far out at once, with fuzzy acid rock guitars slipped in alongside the funky beats, jazzy, zazzy horns, and lush orchestral maneuvers.
Other than the Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra (whose "World Is Gone" is almost as disturbing as it is gleefully goofy and groovy) we don't really recognize too many of the artists here, except a few who also appeared on previous In-Kraut installments, most are totally unknown to us, yet awesome, which is a reason to buy a compilation like this. Some names: Daisy Clan, The Rainbow Orchestra, Inga, Ambros Seelos, Rolf Kuhn, Certain Lions & Tigers, Adam & Eve, Acid, Heinz Kiessling, The German Top Five, Memphis Black, Karl Schiller... and a bunch more. Just a few of the highlights include the Beatles composition "A Hard Day's Night" as performed by Katja Ebstein (which could have been a standout on that recent Easy Beatles collection), and a quite, uh, horny rendition of Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" done by Dieter Zimmermann (and band), in the tradition of the Deep Purple cover that appeared on vol. 2.
From pop-rock covers to original soundtrack themes, there's plenty of shuffling grooves and slinky instrumentals (Acid's "Hipguard" would thrill Christine 23 Onna) to make this the perfect lava-lamp / mirror-ball crossover collection. Ja, vol. 3 is as strong the first two, highly recommended. You can't listen to this and NOT be having fun!
And as usual with these In-Kraut comps, the cd booklet is packed with graphics and text pertaining to each track. It's quite clear that the compilers know their stuff!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Subtitled "German Psychedelic Underground 1968-1974." From the purveyors of the "Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium" lps and the "Electric Loosers" cds, this collection moves a few years ahead from the 60's German beat groups of those comps to full-on cosmic krautrock rarities. There's an unreleased early Can track on here ("Kama Sutra), also the likes of Exmagma, Electric Sandwich, Limbus 4, and many others--all very obscure and very psychedelic!!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Japanese artists cover their favorite Kraftwerk tunes. Participants include Melt Banana, Zeni Geva, Buffalo Daughter and a bunch of others we're not familiar with, but who seem to be part of the Japanese avant-pop electronica scene. The whole thing is great, absolutely recommended.
The psych rock maven appropriately known as The Psychomaniac is back with another killer comp, one of the best we've heard from his comp-happy label in fact. Super groovy, super fuzzy, super psychedelic!! First off, though, you might be wondering, what happened to Psych Bites Volume One? Why start with the second volume in the series? Well there indeed is a Volume One, and it's probably very cool, but we haven't had a chance to check it out yet. Also that one's entirely devoted to Australian bands, so this new, geographically unfettered volume isn't precisely a sequel to the first. We'd like to review vol.1 too, but for the moment prefer to direct your attention to this disc, which has SO MUCH GOOD STUFF on it, it's kinda ridiculous. Stuff that, when you hear it, you'll be wondering, why haven't I heard this before? (Maybe you have, we knew a few of these tracks, but there's twenty of 'em here, so not to worry.) Recorded circa 1968-1974, with 1970 most heavily represented, and from all over the world, England, Germany (West -and- East), Holland, USA, Quebec, all the way to Nigeria, the unifying factor being only that these tracks are obscure classics to the max. And full of fuzz, let's not forget.
Let's touch on a few of the many highlights. The disc begins with a band with the bizarre name of Zappatta Schmidt, doing a horn-fueled, sweat-soaked, funky-drummed groover called "Someone In The Crowd" that's like if Otis Redding showed up on that old Chains and Black Exhaust comp... badass! That's followed by "Tomorrow Night", performed by the hopefully-named Chartbusters, more ye olde "hairy funk" with jamming organ, which might sound familiar though 'cause it's an Atomic Rooster cover, and a good one. We can't skip Spencer Mac's "Blues Up In Downtown", which keeps the party goin'. And that's followed by Milwaukee's Motown signings the Messengers telling us what it's like "In The Jungle"... good grief, we're mentioning ALL the tracks so far. Well, here's a few further highlights, though it's hard to choose, as you can see...
Gotta mention the kuriously monikered Kannibal Komix (aka Die Anderen) who offer up their klassic "Neurotic Reaction", which sounds like a cross between something by The Count Five and The Sweet, part freakbeat, part proto-glam, all unhinged and awesome. Heard it before on another comp or two, but always kool to hear it again. Another one we already knew was Ofo The Black Company's Afro-funk fuzz bomb "Allah Wakkbar" from '72 (a standout on the Love's A Real Thing comp from Luaka Bop, and also heard on Afrostrut's Nigeria 70 collection). But what's neat is that the almost as freaky flipside to that single, "Beautiful Daddy", is also included here too, new to us! (This disc also includes more Afro-rock from London-based Danta.) Madeline Chartrand's mesmeric "Ani-Kuni" we know we've heard somewhere before, as well, but can't remember where, so glad to have it here. Tranced out Native American chant meets space age psych, with some electric sitar thrown in for good measure. A treasure.
What else? There's the swinging sixties freakouts of Blackbirds 2000's "Let's Do It Together" and Janie's "Psycho", the latter being the sort of get everyone in the studio and get high and see what funny things wind up on the tape party that Kim Fowley was partial to, too. Oh, and this disc also provides a healthy dose of krautrockers: Frumpy, Krokodil, Orange Peel, and the prae-kraut pandaemonium of The Rattles. All good stuff. And the cd booklet provides notes on everything, plus full color graphix.
So, if you have been digging the comps done by the B-Music crew, or Psychic Circle, or similar various artists international fuzz-psych collections like Obsession, Neurotic Reaction, Cherrystone's Rocks, the best of those Electric Asylum comps (also put together by ol' Psychomaniac), etc., etc. then this is for you!
This is the first in a series of Bureau B releases, designed to shine a spotlight on the kinds of music the label specialize in, a sort of reissue sampler, highlighting tracks from various reissues on Bureau B. On each compilation, a modern musician curates a collection highlighting some of their favorites, and for the inaugural installment, the choice of Tim Gane from Stereolab seems like a no brainer, since Stereolab essentially trafficked in unabashed krautrock (especially Neu!) worship, thus, for Kollektion 1, Gane digs deep into the archives of legendary seventies krautrock label Sky Records, just check out the artists: Hans Joachim Roedelius, Moebius, Cluster, Gunter Schickert, Eno, Michael Rother, Beerbohm, Asmus Tietchens, Riechmann, it definitely has aQuarius written all over it. And the song selection is pretty ace too, there's the woozy, melancholic pulsating space music of Asmus Tietchens' opening track, the motorik guitar-groove of Michael Rother's "Feuerland", Eno's oozing psychedelic kraut-pop epic "The Belldog", Moebius' jaunty and playful "Conditionierer", the hushed kraut folk of Schickert's "In Der Zeit", a skeletal ballad wreathed in birdsong, Roedelius' swirling prismatic synths cape "Geradewohl", Riechmann's "Himmelblau" a soaring kosmische kraut symphony, and on and on and on. Every track here a gem, and in some ways, a pretty perfect krautrock primer. Can't wait for future installments, with the next few curated by Lloyd Cole, Richard Fearless from Death In Vegas and Holger Hiller. Includes notes on each artists, as well as liner notes by Asmus Tietchens.
On a single cd, or split between two volumes on vinyl.
This is the first in a series of Bureau B releases, designed to shine a spotlight on the kinds of music the label specialize in, a sort of reissue sampler, highlighting tracks from various reissues on Bureau B. On each compilation, a modern musician curates a collection highlighting some of their favorites, and for the inaugural installment, the choice of Tim Gane from Stereolab seems like a no brainer, since Stereolab essentially trafficked in unabashed krautrock (especially Neu!) worship, thus, for Kollektion 1, Gane digs deep into the archives of legendary seventies krautrock label Sky Records, just check out the artists: Hans Joachim Roedelius, Moebius, Cluster, Gunter Schickert, Eno, Michael Rother, Beerbohm, Asmus Tietchens, Riechmann, it definitely has aQuarius written all over it. And the song selection is pretty ace too, there's the woozy, melancholic pulsating space music of Asmus Tietchens' opening track, the motorik guitar-groove of Michael Rother's "Feuerland", Eno's oozing psychedelic kraut-pop epic "The Belldog", Moebius' jaunty and playful "Conditionierer", the hushed kraut folk of Schickert's "In Der Zeit", a skeletal ballad wreathed in birdsong, Roedelius' swirling prismatic synths cape "Geradewohl", Riechmann's "Himmelblau" a soaring kosmische kraut symphony, and on and on and on. Every track here a gem, and in some ways, a pretty perfect krautrock primer. Can't wait for future installments, with the next few curated by Lloyd Cole, Richard Fearless from Death In Vegas and Holger Hiller. Includes notes on each artists, as well as liner notes by Asmus Tietchens.
On a single cd, or split between two volumes on vinyl.
This is the first in a series of Bureau B releases, designed to shine a spotlight on the kinds of music the label specialize in, a sort of reissue sampler, highlighting tracks from various reissues on Bureau B. On each compilation, a modern musician curates a collection highlighting some of their favorites, and for the inaugural installment, the choice of Tim Gane from Stereolab seems like a no brainer, since Stereolab essentially trafficked in unabashed krautrock (especially Neu!) worship, thus, for Kollektion 1, Gane digs deep into the archives of legendary seventies krautrock label Sky Records, just check out the artists: Hans Joachim Roedelius, Moebius, Cluster, Gunter Schickert, Eno, Michael Rother, Beerbohm, Asmus Tietchens, Riechmann, it definitely has aQuarius written all over it. And the song selection is pretty ace too, there's the woozy, melancholic pulsating space music of Asmus Tietchens' opening track, the motorik guitar-groove of Michael Rother's "Feuerland", Eno's oozing psychedelic kraut-pop epic "The Belldog", Moebius' jaunty and playful "Conditionierer", the hushed kraut folk of Schickert's "In Der Zeit", a skeletal ballad wreathed in birdsong, Roedelius' swirling prismatic synths cape "Geradewohl", Riechmann's "Himmelblau" a soaring kosmische kraut symphony, and on and on and on. Every track here a gem, and in some ways, a pretty perfect krautrock primer. Can't wait for future installments, with the next few curated by Lloyd Cole, Richard Fearless from Death In Vegas and Holger Hiller. Includes notes on each artists, as well as liner notes by Asmus Tietchens.
On a single cd, or split between two volumes on vinyl.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Bargain price import double cd sampler of some pretty cool, cosmic 70's German rock. You get two hours worth of the likes of Popol Vuh, Guru Guru, Birth Control, Witthuser & Westrupp, Holderlin and many more (obscure) bands. It's got a way cheesy cover, but it's also great deal.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Volume 2 features The Nazgul, Temple, Golem, Cozmic Corridors.
The Tower Recordings' Matt Valentine teams up with some of his freedrone pals for a disc of lengthy, blissed out ur-drones and psychedelic ragas. Subtle, slow burning melodies, and buzzing steel string hum are woven into dense swirling drug psych ambience. Various bits of percussion are sprinkled like glitter throughout, sparkling like distant stars amidst the thick whir of bombinating guitars, and fuzzy stringed buzz. From fiery and fierce to drifting and barely there, this is indeed a divine disc of mesmer,
And holy crap is it super trippy to watch this picture disc spin, the colors and shapes, the perfect visual representation of the mind melting sounds within!
It's pretty obvious why the folks at B-music (like DJs Andy Votel and Dom Thomas) dig these particular collectible exploito obscurities so much, and why they're so excited to be reissuing 'em in their new "Germanic Miner" series dedicated to "krautsider music"! What could be more B-musical than these two faux soundtracks concocted in the late sixties by a couple of creative German producers, operating at the weird, wacked out intersection of kitschy library music and freaky krautrock? One's a slice of slinky, sorta-scary "horrotica", the other a spaced out sci-fi fest for the Barbarella set. Both are delirious, demented party-pleasers.
The Vampires Of Dartmoore and their Dracula's Music Cabinet conjures a sexy frightmare of hip swinging, bloodsucking sounds. "Mord Im Ohio Express (Murder In The Ohio Express)" seems kinda surfy, but mostly this is about groovy porno lounge music, with smoky horns and jazzy percussion, interwoven with screams and creepy sound effects, moaning and groaning, dogs barking and something going boing boing boing... It's a very NON-academic application of musique concrete technique, noises worked into the songs, such as the rumbling explosions that punctuate "Eine Handvoll Nitro (A Handful Of Nitro)". The mix is fairly chaotic, stuff fading in and out, levels up and down. If this WAS a movie soundtrack, it would have been a pretty crazy movie. Tracks reference Hitchcock, Dr. Caligari, and Frankenstein's monster. And sex. Definitely sex.
Equally bizarre, if less R-rated, is the Science Fiction Dance Party. Again, it's groovy, jazzy, sometimes fuzzy "instro-hipster" style stuff, laced with loads of goofy outer space sound effects and rocketship radio drama theatrics. It sounds like music for a cocktail party and/or acid test on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. You can imagine Robbie the Robot getting down to this. Distorted alien and/or computer voices abound, song titles include "Visitors Of A.D. 2022", "The Whistling Astronaut", and "Hit Parade In The Light Year 25" (which doesn't even make sense, don't they know that light years are a measure of distance?). As well as whistling, there's some screams here too, as spacemen are presumably being zapped with rayguns, but the music remains jaunty. Even the song "Death Rays Out Of The Universe" is inexplicably upbeat. So, it's all very silly, but a lot of fun.
Both albums feature bonus tracks (2 previously unreleased "Petting Party" jams on Vampires, 4 extra tracks on Science Fiction that come back to earth to delve into disco and Eastern exotica instead). The slipcased cds of these are now domestic releases (we waited instead of getting the expensive imports) but the LP versions remain imports.
Varghkoghargasmal. When we first discovered this German one man band, it was via a cassette, with a black and white photocopied cover, a washed out image of some wintry forest landscape, accompanied by the legend 'wooden metal'. Needless to say we were totally intrigued, only to discover, that there wasn't anything really that metal about it, or wooden even. Not sure if 'wooden' referred to the trees, or to acoustic guitars, but none of that mattered once we head the music inside. A twisted confusional mix of slowed down Dick Dale style surf riffage, stumbling drums, haunting melodies, warbly organs, all wrapped around a simple motorik almost krautrock groove. We had no idea what to call it, or really even what to think, other than being totally smitten, transfixed and ensorcelled. Definitely ensorcelled.
So here we have the brand new album from Avenger, the man solely responsible for Varghkoghargasmal, and if anything, it's even more haunting and mysterious, more creepy and strange, and somehow way more beautiful.
It's a difficult sound to explain, the guitars are clean, but are often still playing in a black metal style, frantic riffing or rapid picking, but just as often the guitars are spidery and minor key, unfurling lugubrious tendrils of creepy twang, or reverbed shimmer. The vocals are minimal, a hushed whisper here and there, a Viking style chant during one song, but it's mostly left to the music, which is incredibly evocative, it's like some sort of acoustic black metal, mixed with slowed down surf rock, dark languorous krautrock, and a distinct Morricone vibe as well. And then there are the drums, which by design or by happenstance, are a definite sonic focal point, as they are WAY up in the mix, and they are all over the place, the fills are chaotic, the rhythms stumble and stutter, but in their imperfections lie a truly unique sort of emotion and feeling not found in most music. The drums anchor everything, locking into foresty krautrock grooves, sputtering into dense little tumbling squalls, the prefect framework for Avenger's rickety moonlit jams.
Most of the songs creep and crawl, sometimes behind a curtain of rainfall, the sound of the forest spirits, flickering firelight, fireflies lighting up the canopy overhead, pianos pick out mournful melodies, the drums, lurching along, a perfectly imperfect accompaniment, organs wheeze, synths whir, steel strings twang, the whole thing so impossibly transcendent, effortlessly evoking ancient atmospheres and deep emotions. When the band lock into a more rocking groove, and the rhythm builds into something propulsive, the guitars stretch out into long streaks of buzzing melodies, the organ plays along like some old time music box, and the sound transforms before your ears and transports you to some truly mysterious otherworld.
There are some black metal references for sure, mostly the ambient bits of Burzum, and some of the riffing recalls suicidal black metal, albeit played with no distortion and more melancholy really than miserable, some of the more frenzied parts even sound like Iron Maiden played on acoustic guitars, and sometimes the guitars manage to sound like banjos, but still the creepiest and prettiest moments occur when the sound winds down into something much more minimal and muted, letting the keyboards weave fluttery melodies, over whirring drones and spare guitar melodies, only occasionally flecked with little flurries of haphazard drumming.
One of the few records that we can unequivocally describe as being utterly unlike anything else you will ever hear! Hauntingly beautiful, beautifully bizarre, and WAY WAY recommended.
First off, Violence Fog is Allan's new favorite band name ever (sorry, Dirty Lust). As soon as he (me, I) saw it listed in one of our supplier's catalogs, I had to order it. Plus, the description said that it had flutes on it, so I knew that Andee would
LP number three from these local psychedelic cosmonauts, and like the two previous ones (both of which we made Records Of The Week), the nearly unpronounceable weltraumruckfuhrungsubereinkommen, finds VH delving ever deeper into the cosmic ether, but unlike those past outings, this new one is way less raw, more polished and focused, the recording too, at least in places, much more high fidelity, the sound lush and layered and expansive, the closest they've come to capturing a majestic ur-drone / psychedelic raga bliss out. Still hugely beholden to their krautrock forebears, VH deliver an ever shifting soundworld of dense tangled drumming, flurries of murky rhythmic drift, wreathed in clouds of high end shimmer, which blossoms into straight up psych-kraut drift, all fluttery flutes and loose percussion, not to mention billowing clouds of sitar like buzz, while elsewhere, loping motorik rhythms, drift in and out of dense washes of electronic squiggles, distant melodies, blurred chordal shimmer and soft-noise ambience, all woven into a heady, hypnotic sprawl, anchored by slo-mo caveman drumming, not to mention occasional blasts of kosmische trip out, wedded to mysterious percussion, and woozy spaced out FX, not to mention swaths of keening guitardrone melody, scraped strings, buried tabla like rhythms, everything wreathed in alien electronics, and soft swirls of divine druggy ambience. As always, gorgeous, fantastically tripped out stuff.
LIMITED TO 250 COPIES! We have less than ten that we got direct from the band. If/when we run out, it'll take a little while to get more from the label overseas, and they'll likely be more expensive. So grab one quick while you can, or be prepared to be patient and to pay a bit more...
Packaged in hand screened sleeves, screen printed in two different colors. ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just search for the item, then click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart! 20 GUILDERS "New Songs And Wrong Songs For Patricia" (Gulden) cd 14.98 ABDUL-RAUF, LEILA "Cold And Cloud" (Saadi Saati / Pesanta Urfolk) lp 19.98 ANIMA MORTE "The Nightmare Becomes Reality" (Transubstans) lp 19.98 ANNIE GIRL & THE FLIGHT "s/t" (Calar Music) lp 14.98 APHEX TWIN "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" (Apollo / R&S) 2lp 29.00 AQUA NEBULA OSCILLATOR "Spiritus Mundi" (Tee Pee) cd 14.98 BEGGARS "s/t" (Lotus House) 2cd 13.98 BLACK FLAG "What The..." (SST) cd 10.98 BLOOD ORANGE "Cupid Deluxe" (Domino) 2lp 25.00 BOARDS OF CANADA "Twoism" (Warp) lp 21.00 BONNIE PRINCE BILLY "s/t" (Royal Stable) lp/cassette 15.98/8.98 BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, THE / TEENAGE MONSTER (WALTER GREENE) "OST" (Monstrous Movie Music) cd 27.00 BRAN (...) POS "Den Of Ordure And Iridescence" (Resipiscent) lp 15.98 BUDD, HAROLD "Budd Box" (All Saints) 7cd box 58.00 BURNING TREE "Lammergyer" (Utech) lp 19.98 CAIRO GANG, THE "Tiny Rebels" (Empty Cellar Records) lp 11.98 CALLAHAN, BILL "Dream River" (Drag City) lp 17.98 CARPENTER, JOHN "Assault On Precinct 13" (Death Waltz) cassette 9.98 CHATHAM, RHYS "Outdoor Spell" (Northern Spy) cd/lp 9.98/12.98 CHURCH OF MISERY "Thy Kingdom Scum" (Rise Above / Metal Blade) 2lp 32.00 CLOSED ROOM "s/t" (Valse Sinistre Productions) cd 12.98 CORYELL, LARRY "Barefoot Boy" (BGP) cd 11.98 COUM TRANSMISSIONS "Home Aged & The 18 Month Hope" (Dais) lp 22.00 CYBOTRON "Motor City Machine Music: An Exploration Of Cybotron" (BGP) cd 14.98 DAMNATIONS HAMMER "Disciples Of The Hex" (I Hate Records) cd 16.98 DANTESCO "We Don't Fear Your God" (Inframundo) cd 13.98 DAVIS, MILES "Kind Of Blue" (Columbia) lp 25.00 DAVIS, MILES & THENOLIOUS MONK "Miles & Monk At Newport" (Columbia) lp 25.00 DBUK "The Red Cross Is Giving Out Misinformation / Immaculately Warded Children" (Pesanta Urfolk) 7" 9.98 DE MEESTER, LOUIS "Alpha Recordings" (Dead Cert) lp 24.00 DEMENT, IRIS "Infamous Angel" (Plain) lp 16.98 DESTROYER "Five Spanish Songs" (Merge) 12" 13.98 DOT WIGGIN BAND "Ready! Get! Go!" (Alternative Tentacles) lp 14.98 ENDING PEOPLE "Fill Your Lungs" (Cash Cow Production) lp 14.98 ENTRANCE BAND, THE "Face The Sun" (Beyond) lp 19.98 ERICKSON, ROKY "Don't Slander Me" (Light In The Attic) 2lp 28.00 ERICKSON, ROKY "Gremlins Have Pictures" (Light In The Attic) 2lp + 7" 26.00 EXTINCTION DE LOS INSECTOS "Untitled" (Lupus / Chingaste La Confianza) lp 19.98 FALCON (EX-CIRCLE) "Beer & Ribs b/w Sunset Street" (Full Contact) 7" 8.98 FIGURE STUDY "Lesson One / Pirouette" (Dark Entries) 7" 6.00 FIGURE STUDY "s/t" (Dark Entries) lp 14.98 FLAMIN' GROOVIES "Shake Some Action" (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98 FONTAINE, BRIGITTE "Comme A La Radio" (Superior Viaduct) cd 15.98 FONTAINE, BRIGITTE "Est... Folle" (Superior Viaduct) cd 15.98 FOUR TET "Beautiful Rewind" (Text) cd/lp 14.98/23.00 FUZZ "s/t" (Easy Rider) cassette 12.98 GENERALISSIMO "s/t" (Arbeit Macht Dinge) 3" + cassette 5.98 GHOST "Opus Eponymous" (Rise Above / Metal Blade) lp 25.00 GLAXO BABIES "Nine Months To The Disco" (Superior Viaduct) cd/lp 14.98/15.98 GOODBYE & AMEN (GUIDO & MAURIZIO DE ANGELIS) "OST" (Intermezzo Media) cd 29.00 GORGUTS "Colored Sands" (Season Of Mist) cd 14.98 GROUP RHODA "12th House" (Not Not Fun) cd/lp 13.98/14.98 GUNN, STEVE & MIKE GANGLOFF "Melodies For A Savage Fix" (Important) lp 24.00 GUTTERIDGE, PETER "Pure" (540 Records / Xpressway) 2lp 28.00 HAZLEWOOD, LEE "Lee Hazlewood Industries: There's A Dream I've Been Saving 1966-1971" (Light In the Attic) 4cd + book + dvd + flexidisc 91.00 HIDDEN MASTERS "Of This & Other Worlds" (Rise Above / Metal Blade) cd/lp 14.98/32.00 HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER "OST" (Intrada / Universal) 2cd 27.00 HOT AND COLD "Any Monkey Is Dangerous" (Maybe Mars) cd 12.98 HUNX & HIS PUNX "Street Punk" (Hardly Art) cd/lp 12.98/13.98 HUSERE GRAV "You Are Transparent" (Crucial Blast) cd+zine+button 9.99 IKEDA, RYOJI "Supercodex" (Raster-Noton) cd 17.98 ILLUSTRATION SONORE "Undisciplined Strips Of Emotions" (Medical) lp INHALT "Occupations" (Dark Entries) 12" 11.98 JACUZZI BOYS "s/t" (Hardly Art) cd/lp 12.98/13.98 JANDEK "Athens Saturday" (Corwood) 2cd 12.98 KEITH, RODD "Black Phoenix Blues" (Roaratorio) lp 17.98 KINIT HER "Storm Of Radiance" (Pesanta Urfolk) 2lp 26.00 LARAAJI "Essence/Universe" (All Saints) cd/lp 15.98/23.00 LAUREL HALO "Chance Of Rain" (Hyperdub) cd 15.98 LEATHER STRIP "Teenage Demos" (Dark Entries) lp 14.98 LIVING MUSIC "To Allen Ginsberg" (Roundtable) lp 22.00 LORD NASTY "Phuck Em And Forget Em" (self-released) cd-r 11.98 LORELLE MEETS THE OBSOLETE "Live In Mexico City" (Captcha) lp 17.98 LORNA DUNE "Miamisphere" (Lo Bit Landscapes) 12" 11.98 LOS SIQUICOS LITORALENOS "Sonido Chipadelico" (Sham Palace) lp 17.98 LOW / SHEARWATER "Stay / Novacane" (Sub Pop) 7" 5.98 MAGIK MARKERS "Surrender To The Fantasy" (Drag City) lp 19.98 MAJEURE "Romance Language" (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 12" 19.98 MANSFIELD, JOE "Beat Box Obsession" (Get On Down) book+cassette 70.00 MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKAKKE "Far West" (Important Records) lp 17.98 MAZZY STAR "Seasons Of Your Day" (Rhymes Of An Hour / Fontana) cd/lp 15.98/29.00 MCDOWELL, FRED & ANNIE MAE "My Home Is In The Delta" (Sutro Park) lp 14.98 MELNYK, LUBOMYR "Three Solo Pieces" (Unseen Worlds) cd/lp 16.98/23.00 MEN, THE "Campfire Songs" (Sacred Bones) 12" 16.98 MGMT "s/t" (Columbia) lp 31.00 MIMINOKOTO "Chofu, Ekoda, Koenji [Live In & Around Tokyo]" (Plunk's Plan) cd 14.98 MINOT "An Era Of Institutional Failure" (self-released) cd-r 11.98 MIRKWOOD "s/t" (Machu Picchu) lp 22.00 MITTOO, JACKIE "In Cold Blood" (Striker Lee / Ernie B's) lp 17.98 MOCKASIN, CONNAN "Caramel" (Mexican Summer) lp 22.00 MOORE, ANGELO "Sacrifice" (self-released) cd 8.98 MORBID / MAYHEM "A Tribute To The Black Emperors" (Warhammer) cd 10.98 MOTION SICKNESS OF TIME TRAVEL "Ballade For A Beaver Moon" (Motion Sickness Of Time Travel) cd-r 15.98 MR. WILCOX "s/t" (Self Released) cd 7.98 NEW PANTS "Boxset 1998-2011" (Maybe Mars) 7cd box 90.00 NILSEN, BJ "Eye Of The Microphone" (Touch) cd 15.98 NOCTOOA "Adaptation" (Owl & Troll) cd 11.98 NOSTALGIST "Monochromantic" (Nostalgium Directive) 7" 8.98 NOTHING "The Grey Subaudible" (Nostalgium Directive) cassette 8.98 NOVELLER "No Dreams" (Important) cd 14.98 O.RANG "Herd Of Instinct" (Sleuth) lp 24.00 OBSESSED, THE "The Church Within" (Columbia) cd 15.98 OOZING WOUND "Retrash" (Thrill Jockey) lp 19.98 OSCILLATION, THE "From Tomorrow" (All Time Low) cd/lp 14.98/17.98 PAINKILLER "The Prophecy" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 PENNY PENNY "Shaka Bundu" (Awesome Tapes From Africa) 2lp 29.00 QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE "...Like Clockwork (Black-On-Black Edition)" (Matador) 2lp 24.00 QUELLA VILLA ACCANTO AL CIMINTERO (WALTER RIZZATI) "OST" (Beat Records) cd 29.00 RADIOACTIVITY "s/t" (Dirtnap Records) lp 16.98 RAJATTTAJAT "Awopbopaloopop Alopbam Raja" (Ektro) cd 14.98 ROCKEY, PALMER "Rockey's Style (Movie Album)" (Trunk) cd 16.98 RUSSELL, ARTHUR "Another Thought" (Arc Light Editions) lp 28.00 SATAN PANONSKI "Hard Blood Shock" (S-S) lp 15.98 SAVAGE, JON & STUART BAKER "Punk 45: The Singles Cover Art Of Punk 1976-80" (Soul Jazz) book 39.95 SCHICKERT, GUNTER "Kinder In Der Wildnis" (Bureau B) cd/lp 17.98/23.00 SKORNIK, GUY "Pour Pauwels" (Lion) cd 14.98 SOUNDGARDEN "Screaming Life / FOPP" (Sub Pop) cd 12.98 SOUNDS OF THE CITY EXPERIENCE "s/t" (Jazzman) cd 17.98 SPACE LADY, THE "Greatest Hits" (Night School) cd/lp 14.98/21.00 SPINAL TAP "From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: This Is Spinal Tap" (The Control Group) lp 31.00 SSLEEPERHOLD "Ruleth" (Holodeck) lp 17.98 STARSKATE "Goodnight Nobody" (Goth Horse) lp 11.98 STEEL POLE BATH TUB "Tulip" (Boner) cassette 8.98 TALABOT, JOHN "DJ Kicks" (K7 Records) cd 15.98 TARTUFI "These Factory Days" (Southern) 2lp 23.00 TINDERSTICKS "Les Salauds (OST)" (Lucky Dog) lp 29.00 TOTALLY RADD!! 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STINGER "1986-1991" (Drag City) 2cd 16.98 VILE, KURT "It's A Big World Out There (And I'm Scared)" (Matador) 12" 11.98 VILE, KURT "Walkin On A Pretty Daze (Deluxe Edition)" (Matador) 2cd 15.98 VOIDS "Burial In The Sky" (Popnihil Recordings) cassette 8.98 VON BRAUND, STEVE MAXWELL "Monster Planet" (Dual Planet) lp 27.00 WALKER, PETER "Has Anybody Seen Our Freedoms?" (Delmore Recording Society) lp 21.00 WHEN PROPHECY FAILS "Baffling Configurations" (self-released) cassette 4.98 WHITE, EMILY JANE "Blood/Line" (Important Records) cd 14.98 WIKKID "The Intro (1 Man Black Metal Band Bay Area California)" (self-released) cd ep 4.98 WILDHONEY "Like Me" (Nostalgium Directive) 7" 5.50 YO LA TENGO "Fade (Deluxe Edition)" (Matador) 2cd 16.98 YOUNGS, RICHARD "Calmont Breakdown" (Fourth Dimension) cd 17.98 ZABRISKIE POINT "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Double LP Expanded Edition" (Watertower Music / Warner Archive) 2lp 33.00
Obscure, awesome 1971 krautrock proto-metal reissued! And they're called Weed. Need we say more? As always, we will say more, 'cause we've got to mention that the heavy electric organ bombast on this album is cranked out by none other than Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep fame, over in Germany on vacation or something. He appears here under the fairly transparent pseudonym of "Ken Lesley"! Having mentioned that, we realize we should probably review some actual Uriah Heep albums on our site one of these days, but this did just get reissued so we're writing about it now. (Sooner or later we will write up some Heep, but suffice to say that their first five albums RULE, circa '70-'73, though they go downhill pretty steeply after that. If you dig Deep Purple and haven't checked out the early Heep, you should.)
Anyway, back to Weed. Thanks to Hensley/Lesley, they DO sound a bit like Uriah Heep, especially on the killer opener "Sweet Morning Light". Despite (sarcastic?) lyrics about "sun shining bright, on everything in sight" and other seemingly positive things, the singer's depressed delivery and the downer dirginess of the heavy, groovy music creates a much darker, doomier mood! It's kinda brilliant, that contrast. Elsewhere, this album features the more mellow, melancholic acoustic balladry of "Loney Ship", one blues rocker, "Slowin' Down", and several other sorts of organ-ornate melodic kraut prog jams. It ends with another heavy highlight, the song "Weed" itself, the album's longest track at 7:14. And it's an instrumental. With a crunching, exceedingly Sabbathy main riff, or is it Led Zep? Kicks ass anyways. For the first and last tracks alone, this disc is something anyone interested in proto-doom should hear.
Also, Weed should get some sort of award as one of the earliest overt "stoner rock" bands ever, just based on their name, right? Them and Leafhound.
This 1973 krautrock rarity was reissued a few years ago as a deluxe box set complete with reproductions of the Tarot cards designed by German gypsy painter Walter Wegmuller. That uber-expensive deluxe version quickly went out of print, and now we have a
We couldn't remember why, exactly, must have read about it sometime long ago in a krautrock reference book, like the Crack In The Cosmic Egg perhaps, but we knew that as fans of early HEAVY '70s stuff - psych, prog, krautrock, proto-metal, what have you - that apparently the German band Wind's 1971 debut Seasons was one to watch out for. Well, it finally just got reissued via the Long Hair label (who have recently brought us several kraut-prog winners from Cannabis India, Mammut, and Et Cetera, amongst others) and so, already curious about it, we ordered a copy of it in...
First impression, before we even put it on, from looking at the photo on the back: damn, for a krautrock band, these guys have some seriously impressive, huge Afros!!! So, a lot of expectation/anticipation/long hair to live up to. And as it turns out, Wind don't blow it (sorry). This album is fine indeed. It hits our "heavy" buttons but also has enough melodic and groove appeal that some of the folks here at AQ who, y'know, don't spend time memorizing stuff out of krautrock reference books or obsessing about 1971 were into it too! So, we ordered some more, and here's our review...
Wind were a five piece: guitar, organ, bass, drums, the singer sometimes busting out flute (yes!) and harmonica. With the organ, they're in the "heavy progressive" mode of a lot of other early krautROCK bands, sounding as much like Deep Purple as they do Can. Both of which are cool by us, and the DO sound like both sometimes. Another once-popular krautrock band they remind us of is Birth Control (who we love, but sadly have never reviewed, relevant reissues seem scarce right now). So that means lots of thumping organ and fuzzy guitar riffs, which do indeed pound forth, especially on opener "What Do We Do Now", and later on the even heavier "Dear Little Friend", but even those songs have their shades of light as well as dark. Wind featured raw sounds and tight playing, on this record definitely conveying an impassioned feeling, in part due to the singer's often gruff, sandpapery voice, that at his toughest makes us think of Nazareth's Dan McCafferty, though at times he can be quite smooth and soulful. His harmonica blowin' on the 16 minute album-closer "Red Morningbird" gives that song an evocative Ennio Morricone / Spaghetti Western vibe, also sounding a lot like one of Can's Soundtracks tracks, and this album might be worth the price of admission alone just for that epic track. Certainly kraut-fans of Birth Control, Murphy Blend, Dies Irae, Gift, early Out Of Focus, will need to hear Wind's Seasons, and like we said it has also been catching the ears of even those here who aren't the biggest prog and proto-metal fiends.
Liner notes in German and English tell us that prior to the release of this album, the members of Wind were involved in recording an exploito-psych LP by "Corporal Gander's Fire Dog Brigade", and did an ill-fated, six-month tour of Vietnam (where there was a war going on, you may recall). But they survived all that to release this debut and another (much softer, we're told) album in '72, calling it a day not long after, having bad luck selling records despite good reviews and success on stage, having played clubs and festivals with the likes of Can, Family, East Of Eden, Pink Floyd and others.
Few bands around these parts are received with such a fanatical devotion as local heroes Wooden Shjips. Everything they touch turns to gold, and when the band puts out a single, you'd better hop on that shit PRONTO, or else you miss out... until the band graciously collects everything in one essential package. Vol. 2 puts together their most recent, already out of print singles, and like everything on Vol. 1, these songs are just as good, sometimes even BETTER than what you get on their proper full lengths. More than likely most of you probably haven't been able to obtain these songs, so what you get here is as follows: the Sub Pop 7", side 1 of the "Vampire Blues" European tour 7", a live track from yet another Euro tour 7" with the Heads, the Contact 12" on Mexican Summer, and a live track from a Yeti magazine sampler. Everyone of these songs is absolutely amazing and will no doubt bring on tears of joy.
The Sub Pop 7" kicks off with the awesome "Loose Lips", a song that would shoot off way beyond the clouds if the rhythm section didn't keep things perfectly grounded like it does. The song swirls about in classic Shjips fashion with a nice melodic organ lead driving things forward and awesome submerged vocals. Next up is "Start To Dreaming", proving once again that a Wooden Shjips B-side is nothing to be taken lightly. It's by far one of the band's most beautiful songs, starting life with a slow but steady bassline and a mournful guitar lead before the pace picks up and pretty much knocks you out with its unbelievable beauty. Goddamn.
The band's cover of Neil Young's "Vampire Blues" is next, an upbeat rocker reconfigured perfectly for the Shjips' psychedelic approach. "Death's Not Your Friend" is from the split 7" with the Heads, and the band proves they can deliver in a live setting. The song is super rhythmic and dense as hell, a total joy to listen to for both long car rides through god knows where OR solitary walks in the woods, take your pick.
"Contact" is a Shjips' styled cover of a Serge Gainsbourg song, and it moves along at a steady midtempo groove. The song is anchored by a hypnotic bassline, allowing the submerged wah guitar and French sung vocals to do their thing. Side 2 features "I Hear The Vibrations" in its superior form, the "E-Z Version". The song first appeared in a truncated version on the Vampire Blues single, which was wisely left off in favor of this take. Maybe you recall that we put it all out on the table in our original review and pretty much declared this to be the band's best song to date, a claim we still stand by. It's the kind of song that would go on forever if we had our way.
The album closes with another live tune, "Outta My Head", from the Yeti sampler. The burly bass/guitar attack is impossible to ignore while the simple drumming incorporates a jangly tambourine into its nonstop pound. The organ spits out awesome hazy melodies as the guitar blissfully distorts all over the place, and it's a great way to end the album, making you want to see these guys level some small club.
So yeah, this is not at all a hard sell, we probably didn't even have to bother with a review, but we love this band so much that we just felt like throwing in our two cents. For everyone who missed out the first time along, this is a no brainer. And if you've been living under a rock, Vol. 2 also serves as a highly worthy introduction to one of our fine city's flagshjip bands.
"Krautfolk" is what Workshop's music has been called. You're intrigued, aren't ya? Me too. While I haven't heard Workshop's supposed four other albums, this one piqued my attention immediately. It's simply the combination of elements that keeps this
In Europe this record was released on Mouse on Mars' label Sonig, and here it sees light via David Grubbs' Blue Chopsticks imprint. Yay.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Holy shit!!! This has to be our krautrock (re)discovery of the year. Definitely contender for krautrock reissue of the year!! We have been listening to this NONSTOP since it came in. We had heard OF Yatha Sidhra, a German group whose only record, A Meditation Mass, was released in 1974, but until now we had never actually heard it. Apparently the record was massive flop which is utterly shocking hearing this now. Everything we could want in a krautrock record, loooong tracks, simple tribal percussion, flute all over the place, simple effected guitar, crooned almost chantlike vocals, squalls of totally heavy super distorted freaked out psychedelia, wild drumming, tons of effects, as well as long stretches of tranquil drift and fluttery folky shimmer.
The opening movement of the Mass begins with all manner of rumbles and drones, before it slips into a lilting laid back groove, all soft guitar curlicues, spare percussion, warm languid bass, and flittering flute, the track drifts lazily, occasionally erupting into ultra brief psychedelic blowouts, the flute howling, a cacophony of frenzied drumming, only to settle right back into the mellow drift. The second movement is a little more active, the drums more propulsive, piano draped over deep dubby bass, and the flute fired up and swooping wildly, jazzy but still pretty krautrocky.
The third movement is probably our favorite, clocking in at 12 minutes, the song starts out by returning to the opening groove, loping bass, fluttery flute, spare guitar, the drums a bit more aggressive, some angular guitar solos, all wrapped up in tripped out FX, eventually the song shifts into a more upbeat shuffle, the drums getting wilder and more chaotic, the guitar going nuts, spitting out psych leads all over the place, until the band locks into a serious blowout, the guitar white hot, the drums freaking out, the bass swooping back and forth, everything doused in so many effects the whole track seems to crumple and crumble under the weight, flanger and phaser and echo have everything totally tripped out and druggy, the drums and flute engage in a wild battle, a free jazz krautrock psychedelic frenzy, before finally simmering down, and slipping into a super soft lazy lope, the flute floating over a deep bass and minimal drum workout, finishing off with another drum vs. flute freakout, everything again dripping with echo and delay, as of the whole band was slipping deeper and deeper, moving further and further away.
The final movement, revisits the opening, the band slip smoothly back into that original groove, the guitars way more effected, the drums a bit more tribal, the flute still drifting above it all, the whole band locked into a totally dreamy, blissed out krautdrone drift, with the instruments dropping out one by one, eventually leaving just the guitar, wreathed in effects to shimmer and finally fade out.
So freaking amazing. Boggles the mind that these guys, and this record aren't spoken of in hushed reverence and worshipped along with Can and Faust and all the other krautrock legends. Hopefully that will change with this reissue, and even if it doesn't, at least we know how mysterious and magical A Meditation Mass really is...
Packaged in a super spare digipak, with a big book of liner notes (in English and German) and a bunch of photos.
Ok, we figured it was about time we made YOU the Record Of The Week, after all, you've been such a loyal customer for such a long time, haven't you, so it seems like it would be a nice gesture...hahaha. No, the band is called You, and they're our latest krautrock love affair. When we got an advance copy of this disc a few weeks ago, we were immediately intrigued, just by the awesome cover art (is that a cosmic tuning fork?), brilliant basic band name, and also by the band photo (long haired guy in shades, new wavey dude in even bigger shades, stoned looking guy with 'stache) that struck us as looking so much like a hip new band from here and now (like, say, the Jonas Reinhardt fellas, with a Ripley from Wooden Shjips clone in there too) but upon closer inspection, we found it was indeed a reissue, brought to us by the excellent German label Bureau-B, known for their krautrock archaeology (Cluster/Moebius/Roedelius stuff especially) as well as for putting out newer albums from the scene, including the latest Kreidler.
Originally released in 1979, Electric Day was the first album from You (their other one, 1983's Time Code, has also been reissued, and is really just about as great, you'll find it highlighted elsewhere on this list - we came close to making 'em both Records Of The Week). On Electric Day, You consisted of synth mavens Udo Hanten and Albin Meskes along with guitarist Uli Weber and, on drums, under the alias Lhan Gopal for some reason, Harald Grosskopf (a name you might know if only 'cause his own, concurrently recorded Synthesist album was recently reissued on vinyl and highlighted here not long ago). Grosskopf had played drums with Klaus Schulze, and was in Manuel Gottsching's Ashra band at the time. Producer Conny Plank hooked him up with Hanten and Meskes, and we can hear here that they all got along famously, being "Berlin School" mates as it were.
Together on You's debut, this cosmic quartet unleashed much glorious spaced out, spooked out, futuro-zone synth shiver, with psych guitar tripping, electronic pulsations, and Grosskopf's tight percussion, no pussyfooting about it! Seriously, they really do sound quite a bit like Jonas Reinhardt (or rather, the other way around), and could also easily have been the template for a lot of other current bands we love doing the kosmic kraut/John Carpenter-y electronic rock thing, like Zombi, Majeure and Maserati, most definitely! So it's not just for completist krautrock collector types that we recommend this album, nope. And did you catch our Fripp/Eno reference? Others to cite in the "recommended if you like" realm: Heldon, Cloudland Canyon, Michael Rother, Sensations Fix, Moebius & Beerbohm, the previously mentioned Ashra, etc.
All instrumental ('cause in space no one can hear you scream), You's Electric Day begins with the title track, a busy burbling rhythm soon washed over with waves and waves of electronics, while remaining upbeat and snazzily sizzling. The 2nd track, the moodier "Magooba", gets darker and more intense, letting rip with zips and zaps and plenty of freaky guitar. Then the focus shifts back to the shuffling machine rhythms on "Son Of A True Star". That's followed by the two-part "Sequential Spectrums" which sees You setting the controls for deep dark outer space, drifting in shimmering, fizzing electronic ambience, having a bit of a Tangerine Dream, before the almost twelve minute long "Slow Go", the original album's penultimate track, kinda sums up all that came before into one epic journey, the beats tingling propulsively, waves of synth-sound building and building, in one big ecstatic celebration of "this kind of thing" for sure. But don't get too smiley and relaxed, 'cause You have a nervous-making finale in store, the jumpy, uber-distorted "Zero-Eighty-Four" being an active, sinister, suspenseful closer to the album proper...nice! And then, if you get the cd, that's followed by 4 bonus tracks (not on the vinyl, which is 180 gram however), totalling another 33 minutes of music! "E-Night" is blissful, but ultimately pretty heavy. "H.Rays Identity" features some strange sampled chanting amidst its electronic excess, while "Hallucination Engine" is sorta proto-ambient techno. And then "Yousless" sounds like it was written by/for R2D2 the Star Wars droid! All are quite worthwhile, and the whole disc is super solid stuff, making us wonder why we'd never heard about You before (that's why we love this job, the buried treasure out there seems endless, wow). This has gotta be the best unknown-to-us krautrock reissue since Riechmann's Wunderbar (also from Bureau B), at least.
There's really no other way for us to wind up this review other than saying, You rule!!
Bureau B reissued the first two albums by Berlin School synth groop You a couple years ago - 1979's Electric Day and 1983's Time Code - amazing artifacts of late period electronic krautrock, previously unknown to us, that we, and a lot of you, loved. We made Electric Day a Record Of The Week, in fact. Now Bureau B has gotten around to reissuing You's fourth album, Laserscape, from 1986 (skipping over 1984's Wonders From The Genetic Factory, but maybe they'll eventually do that one too).
The title doesn't lie - this music was in fact all recorded as the soundtrack to the large-scale, open air "laser performances" of an artist named Horst Baumann, events that we can only imagine were like a bigger version (with better music) of one of those trippy planetarium laser light shows - like the late lamented Laserium shows once held at the California Academy Of Sciences here in SF's Golden Gate Park (http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/S-F-Planetarium-Laser-Show-To-Fade-Into-2742326.php).
You's music for Baumann's Laserscape is suitably spectacular, spacey, dark, and droney. There's a lot of variety, though, in mood and flavor. There's synthetic beats on "Can You Tell Where I Am", a propulsive track that's totally something Emeralds or Umberto or Life Coach or Jonas Reinhardt or Steve Moore would be very happy with if they'd recorded. Elsewhere, You's cosmic electronics are accompanied by chamber string sounds, and even beautifully shredding classical guitar. There's Eastern-sounding moments, powerful cinematic build-ups, eerie drifty passages, and on "Travelling Hologram" a recurring choral "Ah-ah-ah" part that combines with the increasingly hectic and quirky rhythmic construction of the track to kinda remind us of, like, a computerized Magma, in a weird way. Very cool. Other tracks, more blissed out and melodic, remind us of the non-lame New Age music of Iasos. Man, we wish we could experience this with the laser visuals. But still it's good listening on its own, and you can close your eyes and try to imagine...
Perhaps needless to say, if you are already into those first two You albums, you'll dig this. It's decidedly darker, though, than Time Code, it feels to us. More of an ominous, Blade Runner vibe, as others have noted. Once again, thanks, Bureau B! (And please note, the cd version includes a 21+ minute live bonus track not on the vinyl.)
Ok, we'll assume you already just read our Record Of The Week review of You's newly reissued Electric Day album. That was this instrumental "Berlin School" of krautrock band's 1979 debut, followed up further into the Eighties by Time Code from '83. Great stuff, we like this one a lot too, you should get 'em both. And we're not just excited about these 'cause we're keen on obscure krautrock reissues (though we are). If You were a new band we'd be all over 'em too! And they really could be mistaken for a new, current band, as we alluded to in our Electric Day review. Where that one really really sounded like local fave SF synth groovers (and krautrock enthusiasts, of course) Jonas Reinhardt in their propulsive live formation, this one is even more electronic and atmospheric, some moments more like Oneothrix Point Never, Emeralds, and Arp, to cite some other modern comparisons. That's 'cause by '83, You had parted ways with guitarist Uli Weber and drummer Harald Grosskopf, and slimmed down to the founding synths and sequencers core duo of Udo Hanten and Albin Meskes. So it's even a bit more retro-futuristically Eighties computery/mechanical, with percolating robot rhythms and shimmering synths and some extra sci-fi bleepage... but, it's really not all THAT different than their earlier incarnation, Hanten and Meske's machines doing a fine job of filling in for the humans no longer in the band. There's nine tracks here (or 11 if you get the compact disc, it's got two excellent bonus cuts, about an extra 10 minutes), nicely varied, some songs more pretty and placid, others droning further into deep space than before. They can be quite melodic, for instance "Future/Past" is one of those lovely lovelies that makes us think of our favorite Cluster jams (with sequencer patterns calculated to send you into a blissed out trance, getting into proto-Aphex Twin territory). And then they also bring the John Carpenter style suspense film disco grooves on the likes of "Live Line", too. So, like Electric Day, super recommended!
You will like You, if you are at all like us.
