Navigating through Krautrock

Tago Mago is amazing, also Monster Movie and Soundtracks

But it isn't, it's probably the single most celebrated album in their catalogue!

Well...it probably was in the early 1990's. But Future Days is not even close to being the most celebrated in their catalogue at this point. Once Liebezeit's quote got out there, and Cope didn't even include it among the essential Can records (the single biggest oversight in Krautrocksampler), it really took a backseat to Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi.

Tell me a bit more about that Cluster album, grimly. There's a fantastic track on the new Optimo mix which has made me want to investigate further.

future days is only their most celebrated because it makes a nice t-shirt. Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi are by far more critically (and fan) favored. But Future Days is my fave.

Hear hear

"future days is only their most celebrated because it makes a nice t-shirt. "

truthbomb

"ege bamyasi makes a nice stew with bits of beef and carrots and that..."

has anyone read this article by Klaus D. Mueller from Perfect Sound Forever?

http://www.furious.com/perfect/krautrock.html

totally dismissive of a lot of things- what a crabby dude. but i do agree with his opinions re: julian cope/krautrocksampler, that guy does an awful lot of blathering about mediocre records

re: mueller, it seemed like pretty standard "I CAST DOWN YOUR IDOLS THUSLY!" contrarian bullshit in 1997, it still does now.

but you are all missing the point here, having to pick between different CAN albums (at least Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi and Future Days) is like having to pick between one's children. there is such a thing as loving them just as much for different reasons. I think.

i have no problem picking tago mago. the other two are good, but neither has anything like the first two sides of tago mago. not that anyone else does either

wasn't suggesting the article was new, just surprised there was no mention of it anywhere on this thread, especially with all that cope-talk

I just read it: It doesn't seem so far from anything, really.

Imagine somebody from Germany writing a fanbook about UK punk (1976-1978), and going off to ask Vini Reilly about it.

For all that both are personal opinions, (the Cope book and the mueller article, I don't have the other books), neither states that the other should not exist.

It's like the recent thread about the 'critically reviled by musicians, but loved by the hipsters' thread. Or was that the other way around?

Wish that Crack in the Cosmic Egg book mentioned was available - been out of print for over ten years. Met one of the Freemans recently. Nice guy and great record store - Ultima Thule.

there's a half-arsed version online.

also this:
http://tmachine.chat.ru/germ/progrtop.htm

though asbjornsen is wrong about 75% of the time, that's a sort of reliability.

I've got that one! The daft Norwegian one, that is!

future days is only their most celebrated because it makes a nice t-shirt. Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi are by far more critically (and fan) favored.

I'd much rather have a Tago Mago T-shirt.

visit the spoon records site and you can have one!

http://euros.spoonrecords.com/images/tago_t-shirt200.jpg

For anyone like me who doesn't actually have the Julian Cope book and doesn't want to shell out $200 on ebay for it, this guy put up two pdfs of every page from the book. Not perfect, but better than nothing.

I've got it, I didn't know it was worth any money!

underrated = Guru Guru's Kanguru

I don't think that was in Krautrocksampler either, and it's their best album

When Cope's book came out in the 90s, a lot of that stuff was nearly impossible to find. Since then a lot of it has been reissued domestically (seemingly all but Känguru, argh). I wonder if more of it will creep up peoples' all-time lists. 47 have made my top 1000.

http://www.fastnbulbous.com/krautrocksampler.htm

Does anyone here know much about Michael Bundt? On the basis of two tracks I found on different compilations (La Chasse Aux Microbes and The Brain of Oskar Panizza) he sounds fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHIuweZBc_A

I'd like to put in a word for Ash Ra Tempel, especially the 1st 2 records. Massive.

Yeah that Michael Bundt track was the greatest find on that Soul Jazz comp, for me. Don't know much more about him than what's provided in the booklet. The album's hard to find, expensive and dubious bootlegs a plenty - good news is that it will be reissued shortly!

Oh it's already out! :)

I'm throwing a pool party and am also going to DJ. It's going to have funk and disco songs, some classic rock deep cuts and synth pop ditties. ould like to spice it up with a few tracks of the "Kraut" genre, but what would you recommend that is accessible / shorter in length - something for chill out time? Seriously.

I'm So Green or Moonshake by Can are two glaringly obvious choices.

Neu!

"Isi" (5:05) - perfect sound forever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiMQ5r5y78g

Cool in the Pool by Holger Czukay!

Kraftwerk - "Ruckzuck"
Harmonia - "Dino"

Can's 'Ege Bamyasi' lp has several great options for this.

is 8 mins too long? if not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Iks5VYXfI

I Want More by Can, surely?

"Caramba" by Cluster

Oh, chill out time? Anything off Zuckerzeit, it's all short and popsy

"Aspectacle" is a great funky late Can deep cut

"Isi" is just tremendous - several of their other tunes like "Neuschnee" are also mighty chill. Also if you want to go to La Dusseldorf please find the track "Lilenthal" (off La! Neu? - Blue, which is kind of the fifth La Dusseldorf album), it's really one of the most beautiful, stunning pieces Dinger has ever done

yeah, along with "isi", i was thinking of recommending "neuschnee" (4:07) and "weissensee" (6:46). the latter's especially suitable for chill out.

man cool in the pool just owns this q!

I just reposted a bunch of krautrock articles (inc ones by Simon Reynolds. Or from The Wire, Mojo ) on this thread 1970-1979 WTF - The Hard 'n' Heavy 'n' Loud + Krautrock, Arty, Noisy, Weird, Funky, Punky Shit - Albums Poll! - VOTING THREAD! Closes Mar 8th 11.59 PM UK Time - All ILXORS/LURKERS WELCOME

Links to other krautrock articles here. The articles are quite big so dont want to repost them again here.

Soul Jazz has a pair of 2CD krautrock compilations. I've never really dug deep, are they a good starting point or are there better options?

Vol. 1: http://www.souljazzrecords.co.uk/releases/?id=18676
Vol. 2: http://www.souljazzrecords.co.uk/releases/?id=31014

as far as comps go those are pretty good, definitely cover a lot of the high points/key tracks

Yeah, I got the first one and it's pretty good. A good balance of well known and less known stuff. Didn't know until now that htey put out a volume 2.

The 2nd one pretty good as well! I don't know abt only 4 min of halleluwah but its good to encounter those a.r & machines tracks outside of crackly vinyl rips.

Those Soul Jazz comps are spectacular - a perfect gateway for me.

I don't know why but it's all just clicked for me after years of dabbling in Can and Kraftwerk. I'm ready to dig deeper. I've found a scanned copy of Copey's book and Fastnbulbous's krautrock guide is very helpful. I'm still not sold on the long flutey jams but the kosmische musik is where it's at.

were there any good krautrock bands from Berlin?

Not really krautrock but Tangerine Dream were from Berlin

Agitation Free possibly?