Embryo: Opal (1970
http://prettygoeswithpretty.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54eeeec0788340120a95c3e56970b-pi
No Allmusic review. As I understand it Embryo eventually morphed into something jazzier and more influenced by world music (correct me if I'm wrong). A run of later albums from the group featured horn player Mal Waldron, who had previously accompanied Billie Holiday (!). This is their debut, from 1970, and to me it sounds at times a lot closer to Amon Düül's heavier and more focused moments—with saxophone. Psychedelic free jazz. The final, 26-minute "Läuft" was not on the original issue of the album
Link
Manuel Göttsching: Inventions for Electric Guitar (1975)http://images-jp.amazon.com/images/P/B00000708P.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Allmusic review:
This album is sometimes credited to Ash Ra Tempel, but the music was composed and performed by Manuel Göttsching alone. All sounds were created with guitar, but Göttsching's use of echo, delay, and assorted treatments give these pieces the flavor of sequenced synthesizer music, occasionally reminiscent of Tangerine Dream's work from the period. The opening "Echo Waves" is a trance-inducing space guitar masterpiece, with repeating rhythm figures and gradual phase shifts creating a warped sense of time. The first 14 minutes of the track consist of short, subtly changing melodic phrases, until Göttsching questionably chooses to close with a searing, acid-fried guitar solo. "Quasarsphere" is much more contemplative, with Göttsching processing his guitar to sound like a synthesizer in the vein of Robert Fripp. The closing "Pluralis" consists of endless variations constructed around a simple guitar sequence; it possesses a structure similar to "Echo Waves" (down to the late-breaking blast of psychedelic soloing) with a bit more space and a slower tempo. In some respects a precursor to the groundbreaking proto-techno of E2-E4, Inventions for Electric Guitar is an essential document for space rock enthusiasts.
I had to scroll through this thread to make sure I didn't pick this album up via ILM. I don't know where I came across this last year but it was a true find. This is a gorgeous all-guitar ambient record. I like this more than any of the Ash Ra Tempel stuff I've heard so far.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 14:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Sorry for the double post - the Embryo image didn't load the first time around.
OTM on "Opal". In fact, OTM on both!
― Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 14:20 (thirteen years ago) link
I think I'll grab the Gottsching album for the cover alone
BTW; last weeks albums were really good
― frogbs, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 14:21 (thirteen years ago) link
seriously excellent smirk for the ages he's got there
has this been posted about elsewhere? it's enjoyable ambient guitar musichttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-GUSF-Y6As
― Ralpharina (La Lechera), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 14:29 (thirteen years ago) link
i guess it's not krautrock if it's from clevelandunless it is
anyway, not sure i could carry a week of this, but i am enjoying listening (and reading)
― Ralpharina (La Lechera), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 14:37 (thirteen years ago) link
that gottsching album is a big fave of mine.
― original bgm, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 15:45 (thirteen years ago) link
There are other excellent Ashra/Gottsching ambient guitar albums. You should hear Blackouts, New Age of Earth, Dream and Desire, E2-E4, among others.
― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:06 (thirteen years ago) link
... stick around, you just might
― Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Tho, of course, none of them have has much guitar as "Inventions"!
― Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:08 (thirteen years ago) link
blackouts might! (my fave btw)
― original bgm, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:09 (thirteen years ago) link
"Inventions" is ALL guitar tho. Said it before, but i prefer Ashra to Ash Ra Tempel.
― Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:11 (thirteen years ago) link
oh, never realized that inventions has no synths at all!
I definitely prefer ashra. guitar loops + snyths = gateway to pleasure
― original bgm, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Think in this thread (club?), the electronic/ambient/motorik side of K'Rock tends to be predominate at the expense of the psych/ freakout/ jazzrockin' sides
― Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:17 (thirteen years ago) link
it does. needs some to balance it up
― Algerian Goalkeeper, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Can't help it if that's what the kidz prefer
― Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:22 (thirteen years ago) link
damn pesky kids?
― Algerian Goalkeeper, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:23 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm with the kids on this one
― Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:24 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't qualify as a kid, but comparatively i am definitely a noobjazz/psych/freakout for up times and ambient drone for down times ime
― Ralpharina (La Lechera), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:42 (thirteen years ago) link
The good Ash Ra Tempel freakouts are without compare, tho. I mean...AMBOSS is freaking huge.But I haven't listened to the rock jams much since I've discovered the electric inventions, it is true.
― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Hey, check the Embryo record for jazz/psyche/freakout! There was a lot of Popol Vuh/Guru Guru/Amon Duul II on this thread earlier, too...
Definitely want to check more Gottsching. E2-E4 was posted on this thread a while back but iirc it was only a spotify link so I couldn't listen to it.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:51 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6HVroMFP6M
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:53 (thirteen years ago) link
^Dude, this is awesome
― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 17:03 (thirteen years ago) link
been wanting to get into Embryo for a while now
― hapshash jar tempo (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 18:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Curious to know if anyone out there has heard any of their later material. Like a lot of krautrock bands, their discography is vast and they went through a lot of changes. Their drummer is the only consistent member. This is all I've heard from them, personally.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 18:06 (thirteen years ago) link
That Earthstar album is so incredibly massive. Love it
― frogbs, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 19:21 (thirteen years ago) link
I have an Earthstar record called for Humans Only and I've been wanting to check more of their music. Just downloaded it. I hope it's as blissful as the one I have.
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 17 March 2011 01:15 (thirteen years ago) link
I have been listening to Opal a lot lately. Weird.
Rocksession is really good, sort of longer-form jazz rock freakout stuff. Great trippin' embryo-ear cover, too.
― There's nothing left alive but a pair of ashy thighs (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Thursday, 17 March 2011 01:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Thanks for the Embryo. Haven't heard them before.
Inventions is my favorite Ashra/Gottsching album. I like it much better than E2-E4 and it rivals Rainbow Dome Musick for total supremacy.
― van smack, Thursday, 17 March 2011 01:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Curious to know if anyone out there has heard any of their later material.
Yes. It's OK. It is what it is, it's jazz rock. Some good tracks here and there. Agree that "Rocksession" is quite consistent however. Oh, they dabble in ethnic/Eastern textures on quite a few albums, which can be interesting (tho I prefer Wolfgang Dauner and Dzyan's similar efforts).
Thanks to scott pgwp for restoring my faith in this thread and in the notion that there might be some "Krautrock" out there that I haven't heard yet that might actually be worth hearing! Thought we were kinda scraping the bottom of the barrel towards the end last time round. Deutsche Wertarbeit is totally up my strasse, could say that it's shading into Neue Deutsche Welle a bit (1981 after all), also reminds me of Chris Carter in places! Great sounds on that Earthstar album! There's a bit of wandering about aimlessly trying to find a tune, a la Klaus Schulze, but I can forgive that.
― Tom D (Tom D.), Thursday, 17 March 2011 12:17 (thirteen years ago) link
... sorry it was van smack not scott who posted those albums!
― Tom D (Tom D.), Thursday, 17 March 2011 12:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Must have been von smack, right? ;)Will get that Deutsche Wertarbeit album tonight, curious after all the praise (somehow I've never seen this thread?!)Bought Opal] a couple of years ago but it's (was?) not up my Straße, I'll try again. Sounded way too "crowded" (krauted lol sorry) for my taste
― willem, Thursday, 17 March 2011 12:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Catching up to that Earthstar record posted a couple weeks back... some of it sounds like it could be dropped directly into an Emeralds album and no one would blink.
Is it somebody else's turn this week?
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Tuesday, 22 March 2011 16:44 (thirteen years ago) link
Neil S is this week. Where is NEIL?
― van smack, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 21:19 (thirteen years ago) link
uh oh sorry guys will put something together now
― Neil S, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 21:23 (thirteen years ago) link
Ashra - New Age of Earth
http://img262.imageshack.us/i/covercustombi9.jpg/
Allmusic review, which credits the record to Manuel Gottsching solo:
Opening track "Sunrain" sounds like it could soundtrack a narrativeless documentary on just that, or at least some sequence of nature photography; bright and sparkling, the synths and drum machines blend together nicely. "Ocean of Tenderness" has a similar sense of film accompaniment, being a gentle, minimal flow of keyboard shading, electronic chirps deep in the mix, and a soft lead melody that carefully unwinds throughout the lengthy track, with a low-key bass pulse appearing a few minutes in as contrast. "Deep Distance" lives up to the title nicely, combining sweetly spaced-out drones with minimal percussion that sounds like raindrops as much as anything else as lead melodies slowly come to the fore. "Nightdust," which takes up the original second side of the album, captures the original psych-jam feeling of Ash Ra Tempel more than anything else.
Spotify link
I'm on an ambient tip for this week. First choice is a lovely, lovely record from Ashra, with burbling synths and psychedelic guitar to spare. I also really like the record cover, for ages I thought it was a prehistoric monolith, only lately did I realise it's a skyscraper.
More thoughts and another choice to follow.
― Neil S, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 21:31 (thirteen years ago) link
oops album cover is:
http://rebels.img.jugem.jp/20110129_1806257.jpg
― Neil S, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 21:32 (thirteen years ago) link
One of the best ambient albums. Great choice. I also like the other cover to New Age Of Earth:http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xR09LKGOmXM/R53-luol1OI/AAAAAAAAAGw/fdMOBXKbW1E/s200/ashra.jpg
― van smack, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 21:37 (thirteen years ago) link
Eno - Moebius - Roedelius - After the Heat
http://991.com/newGallery/Brian-Eno-After-The-Heat-475340.jpg
P1tchf0rk review
After the Heat differs sharply from its predecessor in tone, as well as its English language titles and the occasional vocal presence of Eno. "Most of the day we were at the machinery," he sings on "The Belldog", alluding perhaps to the creative ferment happening in Plank's studio.
Perhaps considered a minor record in both Eno's and Cluster's large back-catalogues, but I think a really good one. It perhaps shades a little too far into inertia in paces, but there's always interesting stuff going on.
I've also managed to do a cover connection of sorts!
So, have at it!
― Neil S, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 21:43 (thirteen years ago) link
xp wow at that over cover, amazing!
― Neil S, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 21:44 (thirteen years ago) link
I like the monolith cover, too.Reminds me of Holy Mountain.
― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 21:52 (thirteen years ago) link
New Age of Earth on grooveshark for those who cannot access spotify
I have been on a virtually nonstop Gottsching kick for days thanks to this thread.
― Ralpharina (La Lechera), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 22:02 (thirteen years ago) link
Thanks LL.
― Neil S, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 22:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Here's the other one for this week
After the Heat on grvshrk but as usual the sequencing seems to be a little screwy
― Ralpharina (La Lechera), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 22:07 (thirteen years ago) link
After the Heat was sequenced differently on its original release vs later CD reissues
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 24 March 2011 02:23 (thirteen years ago) link
"After the Heat" is the first EMR album? I prefer the 2nd one.
― Tom D (Tom D.), Thursday, 24 March 2011 12:00 (thirteen years ago) link
Ashra's New Age of Earth is one of my all time favourite krautrock/kosmische records, I can't vouch for it enough!
― La descente infernale (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 24 March 2011 12:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Sorry folks, I have an album I want to share but mediafire, which I've never tried before, doesn't like me it seems. I'll keep on trying.
― AnotherDeadHero, Wednesday, 30 March 2011 18:31 (thirteen years ago) link
i get probs uploading to them too, try m3gaupl0ad
― Algerian Goalkeeper, Wednesday, 30 March 2011 18:32 (thirteen years ago) link
try multiupload because it will upload to a bunch of those share sites.
― van smack, Wednesday, 30 March 2011 23:51 (thirteen years ago) link