KRAUTROCK Listening Klub! - New Albums Every Wednesday

21/07 - Ian
28/07 - psychgawsple
04/08 - pfunkboy
11/08 - Tom D
18/08 - von kelson

what happened to this week's jams?

and this weeks???

did this go the way of the reggae listening club?

Ian didn't show up, will reschedule him.
I'd like to keep it going, you all up for keeping it going?

21/07 - Ian
28/07 - psychgawsple
04/08 - Ian
11/08 - Tom D
18/08 - von kelson
35/08 - pfunkboy

i'd like to keep it going too. will post mine in a few...

alright here goes... aiming for a couple albums of later period kraut electronics, maybe even some new agey/smoother stuff than most of the earlier selections but in a good way. and one is only tangentially german, but hope you guys dig these...

harald grosskopf - synthesist (1980)

http://i.imgur.com/S4xkH.jpg

(from mutant sounds)
"German drummer and synthesist. Grosskopf is member of Ashra and has some kind of a cult status and he has been around for quite a while too. He has played with Agitation Free, the Cosmic Jokers, Ash Ra Tempel, Ashra and Manuel Goettsching, Klaus Schulze, Bernd Kistenmacher, among others, released several solo albums and is still actively involved in the production and playing for many artists. His albums are a must for Berlin School completist and simply a great listen.Here's his first solo recording!Absolutely stunning synth album!"

not spotify

michael shrieve - transfer station blue (1986)

http://dreamchimney.com/slvs/Transfer_Station_Blue_20090727125818.jpg

can't find a good writeup on this one. it's a sort-of solo album from shrieve, who was at one point the drummer for santana (in the 70s i believe) BUT don't let that dissuade you if that doesn't exactly sound promising. klaus schulze has really a pretty amazing presence on this album, credited with 'Yamaha C.S.80, Fairlight GDS, PPG Wave 2.3 synthesizers', and the percussion is also pretty incredible. lots of people think that lindstrom stole all his moves on 'where you go i go too' from this record, and i can definitely see why. also- the album was originally brought to my attention b/c the title track was used in dj harvey's 'sarcastic disco vol. 1' mix.

not spotify

leda - welcome to joyland (1979)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/2670125600_ffb91b9e8c.jpg?v=0

pretty amazing and often overlooked album from peter baumann, a former member of tangerine dream. recorded under a psuedonym in the late 70s, i also am having some difficulty finding any good writeups on this one but trust me! it is excellent.

not spotify

sorry for the delay, esp for all the europeans on a much different time zone than me

These all look really interesting. A friend of mine was getting rid of a copy of Synthesist I think.
I thought it looked cool. The Ashra connection is enough to encourage me to ask if he's still got it.

Synthesist is a really good album. Great pick

ahhh! i knew i forgot something!! fml. i'll remember this time. i'm setting a reminder on my retarded computer calendar.

oh and just a warning, the leda one is pretty much italo disco. so if that's not really your thing, be prepared. if it is, you will definitely be rewarded

Love that creepy cover for the Leda album, and German italodisco sounds great!

oh and just a warning, the leda one is pretty much italo disco. so if that's not really your thing, be prepared. if it is, you will definitely be rewarded

Okay, I'm not much into the new agey side of kraut, but this sounds like an amazing idea. Will definitely try to listen to this one.

I recognise that creepy Leda cover. In fact I seem to think I recognise all of these albums from bargain bins of yore, and yet I've never heard any of them. Harald = much better drummer than Klaus Schulze!

ive only heard of the harald one

i'm going for a more dance-oriented approach to the digging this week, but i definitely love the more proggy/psychedelic side of things that has already been explored on this thread so i hope i'm not harshing anyone's mellow. i'd totally understand if some of you hated the last two, but it's a side of kraut i've been exploring more frequently lately and thought it'd at least add a little diversity.

also totally would have posted that conrad schnitzler if someone hadn't already beat me to the punch

i really like transfer station blue. it was an interesting divergence for shrieve. for those santana haters out there - try 'caravanserai': easily their best album - latin but jazzy; no hits; just great playing.

I like that Shrieve record too, thanks for introducing it to me, and no problem on the electronic bent to your selections, I'm all for it!

Harald Grosskopf album is really good - enough to have his old bosses, Gottsching and Schulze looking over their shoulders I would have thought - dude should have made more albums (maybe he did?)

Liked the 1st side of the Michael Shrieve album but lost interest when the guitars came in.

I confess i don't really know what Italo Disco is (I know, what am I doing on ILM?) Leda album sounds to me like an attempt to make a pop album - and better than Peter Baumann's own efforts at making a pop album!

Hello Krautrock listening club!
This week I have a few minor suggestions for you all even though you might dislike them severely because you're not into fairies and wizards and whatever.

1. Witthuser & Westrupp: Trips Und Traume
http://zengiz.mydnd.com/images/trips-und-traume.jpeg
blogged: http://spoiledmetropolis.blogspot.com/2007/06/witthuser-westrup-trips-und-traume-1971.html

I think this to be a strangely affecting listen, given that things in 'other' languages don't usually resonate with me emotionally, but a few of the songs here do. Really beautiful stuff, IMO, and a kinda goof track about smoking doobies too.

Will post two more albums as workday allows.

11/08 - Tom D
18/08 - von kelson

Anyone for afters? I cant take a turn for a couple of weeks due to metal poll.

Surprised to find that there's stuff in my collection that hasn't been posted yet, so I'll gladly take a turn.

11/08 - Tom D
18/08 - von kelson
25/08

anyone else? Happy to keep club going as long as there is interest.

i can't do 25/8 but will be happy for the week after that

Record #2:
http://www.psychedelicfolk.com/files/kalacakra.jpg
http://sharebee.com/d7d736fb
Kalacakra's "Crawling To Lhasa" is a much darker psych folk affair with more obvious eastern influence.
The incomprehensible, mumbled and slurred vocals are a nice touch.

from 72.

i love that kalacakra album, as well as fairies and wizards and whatever

I've heard a lot about Kalacakra, but never heard it before so look forward to listening this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwHQlv4tuA&

CAN

What's with the last two tracks on the Kalacakra album? They are obv. not from 1972!

Bonus tracks dude.

Indeed, but have they got anything to do with Kalacakra? They sound like they're from the 90s.

flutes certainly were an important instrument for these hippie bands, weren't they?

Unfortunately, IMO. Quite easy to get a tune out of a flute - not easy to play well of course.

1. CAN - Soon Over Babaluma (1974)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2T15FI3POt8/SScbf7V-KJI/AAAAAAAADYs/x_tnF6u3G5Y/s400/Can_Soon+Over+Babaluma*.jpg

OK, let's begin with a classic. It's where I began with Can because it was the first Can album I ever bought. Before this, I'd heard "I Want More" because my sister had the single (it was a hit and they were on Top of the Pops) and I'm sure John Peel once played "Mother Sky", because I distinctly remember hearing a track with a one note octave bassline plonking away endlessly (or maybe I remembered it from that film "Deep End", about a guy who looked like David Bowie and lived in a swimming pool (in the course of which Jane Asher got her tits out, but I digress)). This was long before the internet, kiddywinks. Anyway I don't know what I was expectiing but I was not expecting upside down reggae with gypsy violins and a wobbly bassline wobbling in and out of focus, or a twisted mumbly tango in cod-Italian - and that was just the first two tracks. This is the least straightforward Can album in a career not exactly renowned for being straightforward: instruments rarely sound the way they're supposed to; rhythms slither inside and outside or else mercilessly STOMP ON YOUR BRAIN; the rulebook on sound engineering and production is well and truly ripped up (not always a good thing - "Splash" would be so much better if the rhythm section was produced the way the rhythm section used to be produced on the early Can records). You haven't asked me, but I'm going to tell you anyway: the second side of this album and the title track of "Future Days" are the best things Can ever did. There I said it.

Spotted

Lesser Spotted

2. AMON DÜÜL - Paradieswärts Düül (1971)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oi_cYAgvy0I/R4Bv63dP7PI/AAAAAAAAAik/6BdpbFuC_Kg/s400/Amon%2BD%C3%BC%C3%BCl%2B-%2BParadiesw%C3%A4rts%2BD%C3%BC%C3%BCl_n.jpg

Talking of flutes, here's the Other Amon Düül, who smoked lots of pot, had cool haircuts and made a bunch of albums that only intense young men with beards and a complete collection of Boredoms albums can appreciate - except they also made an album the rest of might be able to appreciate, "Paradieswärts Düül". This album shows that Amon Düül actually had some talent after all: they are no virtuosos of course and they struggle with boring musicianly stuff like how to end a song... but Rainer Bauer is actually a much better singer than anyone in Amon Düül II (except Renate) and, particularly with the opening track on the album, "Love is Peace" and the two sides of their single included here, they come up with an slow motion enervated sort of psychedelic folk-rock which is novel and affectting. (Yes, you read that right, some strange person or persons actually thought it would be a good idea for Amon Düül to release a single!)

Spotless

3 . EDGAR FROESE - Epsilon in Malaysian Pale (1975)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_41Q3K6TRmxk/Sq1X_dlrXkI/AAAAAAAAFRE/bOpxTynmKAA/s800/EF.png

I sometimes think this might be my favourite Tangerine Dream/ Tangerine Dream-related album of all. Recorded between "Phaedra" and "Rubycon" (I think it's fair to say old Edgar was on a bit of a roll at the time!), so that'll give you some idea of the contents. Mellotron fans will love this album, esp. the title track. Apparently this was a big favourite of Iggy & Bowie's during their sojourn in Berlin chasing drag queens.

Spotless

great choices

^^^^^^^Agreed.
I just listened to the top two in the last five days, never heard the third! Can't wait, frankly.

you're in for a treat

uh thank you for alerting me to the fact that can were on totp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l2K9Zigc0w

u r simon reynolds and i want my thirty dollars

;)

Obv. Michael Karoli was too embarrassed to appear on TOTP so they got Lou Reed to do it instead

Holger and Irmin = almost ancient enough to be Radio 1 DJs

oh man... paradieswarts duul. probably my favorite on the hippie end of the kraut spectrum.

never heard that particular froese album, so i'm definitely excited about that one too

I sometimes think this might be my favourite Tangerine Dream/ Tangerine Dream-related album of all.

pretty much! though mp3's of live TD from 1970-74 definitely make all the things they decided to put out on vinyl seem too cautious

the second side of this album and the title track of "Future Days" are the best things Can ever did

not so sure about future days but i agree wholeheartedly about chain reaction/quantum physics: so slinky and beautiful. definitely their last great album amongst so many.

haven't heard the amon so looking forward to that.

epsilon - i don't like this as much as aqua but they're fairly similar, i suppose. as for TD - how about ricochet: that was my 1st intro to them and still pretty fantastic.

Love "Epsilon...". Just look out for the 2004 "remake" Froese put together. It doesn't hold up.

I have a feeling that listening to these mpfrees of Epsilon just can't compare with it on vinyl.
I guess I should start checking the Tangerine Dream section again.

guess I should start checking the Tangerine Dream section again.

be very very careful, most of it really does not hold up. it's important to keep perspective and hear what was actually finding the commercial audiences in the cosmic 70's, but it's been reassuring how the better bands have finally been finding the audience