KRAUTROCK Listening Klub! - New Albums Every Wednesday

DOM - Edge of Time (1971)

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"You will meet me there at the edge of time
the fire-sea licking my feet
gas and damp,
wind and rain,
snow, heat, waters, ice and pain
damned souls cry "forgiveness!"
the past will be future and future will be past
not one thing in our world that will ever last
only you and me
until eternity shall that spirit
one containing two
wander through space and peace we knew"

One of those albums you can really get lost into. A concept album about an acid trip, and it does sound like it. A very creative interpretation, expressing and evoking a host of different states of consciousness and deep internal emotion. The album is a trip to listen to, especially if you're already under a psychedelic influence, as this is psychedelic, tangential, breathing, pulsing, exploratory music. It took me a while to really appreciate, so i suggest at least a few spins (preferably in different mind states, and when you can really be present with the music).

The music is mostly a mixture of krautrock flavors, psychedelic folk, electronic textures/effects, and ambient atmospheres, with the latter being the most pervasive. The music is very dreamy and psychedelic, and is imbued with a melancholic atmosphere not unlike many other more reflective kraut bands of the era. There is no electric guitar here, mostly just acoustic guitar, organ, percussion, flute, some harp-like instrument, bells, probably a few other instruments. The music is mostly instrumental, though there is a bit of soft spoken word type talking.

Not A Spotify Link (and they're not from Denmark despite the filename, and ignore the bonus tracks!)

Silberbart - 4 Times Sound Razing
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Really, really, really heavy freakout rock stuff. Really. Kind of reminds me of Guru Guru's Hinten but with ridiculous vocals and more straight-up rocking out, almost metallic, especially on "Chub Chub Cherry." But then there's "Brain Brain," which goes all kraut-y and subtle until the guitars tear reality like a paper curtain.

Not A Spotify Link

A.R. & Machines (Achim Reichel) - Die grüne Reise

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Originally issued by Polydor in Germany in 1971, Reichel played all the instruments here, and produced the entire thing himself in partnership with Frank Dostal, who also penned the English lyrics and had previously done time with Reichel in the popular West German beatgruppe, The Rattles. The Green Journey is a masterpiece of doubly/triply-tracked, tape-machined, echo-plexed and looped space-guitar-madness, with a host of skronk, thunderous percussion, tribal whoops, and head-busting, three-dimensional, lysergic lyrics. As the artist himself proclaimed, "I was just trying something out with my guitar, when out of the blue, the Akai X-3300 began to repeat endless cascades of guitar echoes. My guitar suddenly sounded like ten." Initially, The Green Voyage was intended as "a soundtrack for an imaginary movie," and this has now been achieved by some 60 students of the Lippe and H�xter's University of Applied Sciences, who, over the course of two terms produced a 42-minute video for the ten album tracks.

This record isn't as "krauty" as his later releases, especially Echo.

Not A Spotify link

God I hope all of these links work. Apologies for the lateness of the post, but all of my records are on the east coast, this computer sucks, and I had to jack the links from blogs.

Blimey. I actually haven't heard any of these.

i've been meaning to check out Achim Reichel for a long time. nice picks.

I know the Dom and A.R. & Machines very well but don't know Silberbart at all.

Just catching up to that last Popol Vuh album... first track is awesome but the rest I have mixed feelings about. I think most the album is set to simmer but it never boils - wish a few of these tracks would coalesce into something that was bigger, more crushing. But instead they just kinda noodle around. That said, the whole is better than the parts. Also, it reminded me of Fairport Convention in spots (not a bad thing but it also suffered by comparison).

I really enjoyed that popol vuh, and I had not heard it before.

People still listening to the krautrock klub albums?

I grabbed the Silberbart but haven't listened to it yet.
Been sidetracked by a ninety minute Springsteen mix project.

i've been playing along. for some reason i always overlook that a.r. & machines album so thanks for reminding me to pull it out- i want to see that film!

only was able to casually listen to dom, but i was into what i did hear. will check out the silberbart next.

I think I'm gonna play Brain Brain on the radio show this week.
Maybe.

You should! Practically guaranteed to get at least one bewildered/amazed caller!

Nice choices. Was getting a bit too Popol Vuh and/or Motorik there. Having said that, the Dom album's never impressed me. Silberbart isn't really my bag either, but if you like that sort of post-Hendrix heavy acid rock freakout thing then it's a really very very good example of a post-Hendrix heavy acid rock freakout thing! Wonder whatever happened to that band? Achim Reichel album is, at its worst, entertainingly nutty and, at its best, pretty mindblowing. Technically, 1971 after all, it's awesome and bits of it will have you wondering how on earth he did it!

Von Kelson you are up

My picks are all from the heavy psych side, which is more my cup of meat. All descriptions from The Crack in the Cosmic Egg:

Golem - Orion Awakes
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A space-rockin' hybrid of Gila and instrumental Hendrix type moves, Golem were another band from the lost Pyramid Records archive. Totally instrumental, and a feast for guitar fans, Golem's style was highly derivative, yet also full of invention. On first listen Golem come across as a lost classic of Krautrock without a doubt, with a music that blends everything from Neu! to Novalis, and all crammed full of solos. But, after a few listens, it's easy to see that this was never intended as an album originally, as it's distinctly taken from at least three different sessions, each with a different studio sound and style. The slightly new-wave edge that dogs the last track would indicate that the recordings here vary from around 1972 to 1976, however no firm details are known.

Lots of guitar work, but also a lot of heavy synths on this one. Good stuff.
Not a Spotify Link

Gomorrha - I Turned To See Whose Voice It Was
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Gomorrha's finest moment however was I TURNED TO SEE WHOSE VOICE IT WAS, where Gomorrha's identity had become firmly established: complex psychedelic rock fronted by angry guitars and organ, that could be simultaneously aggressive and spacious, with bizarre lyrics about life, religion, death, etc. They presented a unique, adventurous and constantly surprising form of rock music that has become an island unto itself.

A bit more of a hippie/free jazz vibe - a proggier version of Agitation Free, in a way.
Not a Spotify Link

Guru Guru - UFO
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Formed in Zurich in summer 1968 by former Irene Schweizer trio musicians: Mani Neumeier (drums) and Uli Trepte (bass) as Guru Guru Groove. the history is abridged here, but they were quick to develop an original music from their free-jazz roots, moving on and developing a new type of psychedelic rock music. Ex Agitation Free Ax Genrich joined a guitarist who could do unbelievable things with his instrument - he could even make it talk! Instantly Guru Guru were one of the hottest bands on the scene and were promptly signed by Ohr Records, making the extraordinary free-form rock album UFO. This proved to be amongst the ultimate musical acid-trips, with greatly condensed versions of music thrashed out in concert jams. Titles like "Stone In" and "Der LSD-Marsh" instantly tell us where they were at! With rattling drums, scuttling, shuddering bass, and a swamp full of guitars, with vocals used mainly for effect, incredible through and through, right down to the ultimate space-trip, "UFO" itself!

Couldn't leave this one out, since no one has posted it yet. Probably the best guitar freakout album of the genre.
Not a Spotify Link

I love Guru Guru. I have heard the Golem before but cant remember much about it other than i liked it. Not familiar with Gomorrha at all. Tom D probably will though..

... I think I almost bought that album but I'd had my fingers burned too many times by then. Don't know Golem. Fave Guru Guru's are "Hinten" and "Kanguru".

this thread makes me want to take a lot of acid and listen to krautrock all summer

UFO is awesome! gonna check out gomorrha. the a.r & machines from last week was also pretty cool so thank you for that.

UFO is really great, a lot more unhinged than pretty much all the other Guru Guru albums.
Reminds me most of Tangerine Dream's Electronic Meditation.

there's so much stuff in the 'a crack in the cosmic egg' book that i've been meaning to check out but could never find, so thanks for picking stuff like this! stoked for both golem and gommorha

A Golem song just came up on shuffle and I thought it was Wooden Shjips.
I know that's not too crazy, but it still surprised me. Record is cool, it's hard for me to pay attention through a whole instro lp sometimes, tho.

gomorrha is amazing, thanks for posting that!

wikipedia discography page for conrad schnitzler is a laff - "partial discography" lists 99 albums!

I wonder if there exists someone who has all of his records....

who wants a friday bonus pick?

OK, have one lying around I didn't use first time, give me a minute or two

ok!

Friday Bonus:

DEUTER - Aum

http://www.frenzy-distortion.de/Bigware_Shop_2_0/picture/o719843.jpg

1972 album from Georg Deuter. A lot of people prefer his 1st album, which is more Krautrocky I suppose, it's good but this is better. Herr Deuter ended up as an avowed "New Age" musician but I will try not to hold that against him - after all Roedelius, Popol Vuh and other worthies have flirted with New Age. This album has New Age elements, some of it reminds me of what Popol Vuh were doing 6/7 years after this was released. Album flows together really well, you don't really notice just how sparse the instrumentation is.

Non spotify link

... don't know if this is on Spotify, it wouldn't surprise me if it was though.

It isn't. I've not even heard of it.

Listening to Dom now - the electronics and effects are awesome. It's very woozy and trippy, but I don't feel like it's overly tainted with the hippiness that some peripheral kraut bands tarnish themselves with.

my neighbor is in the band von himmel (contemporary krautrock group), told him about this thread and he said DOM is his favorite krautrock album of all time, will listen tonight

*the Dom album posted above

Oh man, 'Let Me Explain' is on now. IMMENSE.

Why ignore the bonus tracks when they're THIS GOOD?

Oh, I've just checked, and it was recorded one hell of a long time afterwards. But it is great.

Should've specified I actually haven't heard the bonus tracks in a long time, I've got the earlier reissue with only four tracks.

emil.y it's your go
30/06 - emil.y
7/07 - Matt #2
14/07 - Alan N
21/07 - pfunkboy

Okay, cool. Should have them up by mid-afternoon, though I am still fluctuating over one album choice. If I mail you in advance of putting them up do you think you could track down links? I could probably find some but have no way of checking they're the right thing.

sure, you know my email or you can pass via msn

The Cosmic Jokers - Planeten Sit-In

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In 1972, Rolf Ulrich Kaiser founded "Die Kosmischen Kuriere" where will be signed all the Cosmic jokers albums. The COSMIC JOKERS is not really a band but a reunion of several German musicians and personalities from the 70s psychedelic and esoteric philosophies (the mystic Sergius Golowin in the Lord Krishna project or the gipsy folk artist Walter Wegmuller in Tarot). The interest of this side project was to create a cosmic music with a virtual musical tribe to develop the world consciousness thanks to LSD. The COSMIC musical team gathered around the same message a bunch of well known musicians from the Berlin scene (Klaus Schulze, Manuel Gottsching...). The COSMIC JOKERS is an extreme musical trip, a unique adventure throw time and space. The music is for a large part improvised with proto-electronic gadgets combined to bluesy & spacey musical sentences built around the talented Manuel Gottsching's electric guitar style (always spacey and bluesy). This is real German acid music, a 'music of paradise', transcending music, breaking of the materialistic world, a protest against the reality. The combination of acid, music and fun acted as a catalyst for Kaiser's visionary powers.
- from Prog Archives

La Dusseldorf - La Dusseldorf

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La Düsseldorfisn’t even the most revered La Düsseldorf work, ceding that title to Viva, which contains the frothy 19-minute opus, “Cha Cha 2000” and decidedly Neu!-like cover art. But Dinger never crafted a more glowingly seamless full-length than La Düsseldorf. Built on four lengthy tracks, La Düsseldorf laid floorboards over Neu!’s famous rhythm-mongering and fearlessly stacked punk’s rallying instincts, disco’s body-reverent trance, and pop’s vain sheen on top.
- from Stylus

Brainticket - Cottonwoodhill

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Cottonwoodhill is one of the trippiest records ever made, capturing the intensity of the peak LSD experience far more successfully than any Timothy Leary recording, and even today, when many such documents from that era can sound silly and dated, Brainticket's fascinating debut still holds hallucinogenic potency. The record has only two proper songs, "Black Sand" and "Places of Light," with a side and a half of the album taken up by the three-part "Brainticket." "Black Sand" opens the disc with a driving funk beat and powerful organ and guitar interplay, adding in vocals distorted beyond coherency. "Places of Light" begins in a slightly lighter vein as a flute leads the proceedings, a looser jazzier piece that throws in some of Dawn Muir's odd spoken word vocals. Before one realizes what has happened, the piece has faded out and there is suddenly a crashing sound, car horns, and engines starting up. "Brainticket" is a bizarre roller coaster ride through weird sound effects and electronics, an endless organ riff, and Muir's acid-rush ramblings from hushed whisper to urgent screams, as any coherency she had earlier becomes lost to mind-expanding visions. Rather than the laid-back mellow groove of some psychedelic music from this era, Cottonwoodhill has a hyper energy in the frenetic organ riff and Muir's voice, like an acid trip out of control, while at times the various sound effects take over completely.
- from Allmusic

La Düsseldorf isn’t even the most revered La Düsseldorf work, ceding that title to Viva

This is a comparatively recent development

Before anyone else (i.e. another pedant) butts in, Brainticket were not German

It is also a terribly terribly wrong development.

Oh, and I know Brainticket were (mostly) not German, and in fact I don't even count this album as krautrock (I'd say it was psychedelia). However, they are consistently listed as a krautrock band these days, and it's an amazing record, so I thought it was better to put up an album that I completely adore, rather than something like Eloy that I only like half of.

Of course, I posted a punk record after all. I don't think any of Brainticket were German. Swiss/Belgian/English based in Italy, something like that?

It is also a terribly terribly wrong development.

Absolutely!

I was sure there was at least one German member, but the only evidence I can find is wikipedia, which doesn't really count. Looking at the LP now, maybe Werni Frohlich or Wolfgang Paap? Both names sound kind of German (more so than Joel Vandroogenbroeck, anyway).

Joel Vandroogenbroeck was the band basically... probably still is

Oh yeah, definitely. There's some other project that he was involved in that I remember the guys from Ultima Thule saying was completely batshit mental, but I can't think for the moment. Can't even remember if I picked it up after that recommendation. Come on, brain.

Okay, in searching for that, I found the bit from Crack in the Cosmic Egg on Brainticket, which seems to affirm that there is at least some German connection.

Brainticket were born out of a 60's jazz group featuring Belgian born keyboardist Joel Vandroogenbroeck, and as history was made, Brainticket became (like many other bands) the project of a visionary talent.

The early primeral roots of Brainticket can be traced back to 1968, as the nucleus of 'Dee Dee, Barry and The Movements, with Joel Vandroogenbroeck (organ, flute), Ron Bryer (guitar), and Wolfgang Paap (drums), thought this was more typical soul-spiced jazz and pop, typical of the era, and far away from the music they were later to create, as what Brainticket would unleash was extraordinary!

Together with a few like-minded musicians active in the South of Germany, Joel and friends inevitably gotcaught up in the fertile Krautrock scene, and like many other bands from the area, they formed an internationalcombo that drew on a wide range of influences.

Their debut COTTONWOODHILL has long been one of the most revered of psychedelic albums. Based next in Italy, a new version of Brainticket had evolved and the second album PSYCHONAUT covered a wide range of styles.