KRAUTROCK Listening Klub! - New Albums Every Wednesday

the Krautrock doumentary is on BBC4 again at the weekend btw

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nf10k

None of those non-spotify links are working for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B89-69icyc

^ that documentary is all up on youtube too btw

contains a small amount of nakedness btw

hadn't seen the clips on the webpage before, specifically Klaus Schulze and his synthi

> None of those non-spotify links are working for me.

cut and paste them into url, replace the %3F with a ?

(by url i mean the place in your browser where the url displays)

I'm not sure why my links didn't work, but here we go again, I'm trying to make the link google proof, just add mediafire.com them. Is this ok. I'm trying to keep from just posting the links outright.

Carol of harvest
/?4fhe4zwr6639mvz

Liliental
/?1zwxeaah1dj2dbn

I will get these at home later. Really curious/excited about this Liliental.

I watched that documentary last night... wow, really good. So many details I didn't know. The only unfortunate thing is that the 6th clip (out of 6) features totally fucked audio, so I wasn't able to see the last ten minutes.

Docu. was on telly again last night. I noticed that the pop song that opens the programme, and which is meant to stand for everything the Krautrockers were fighting against, was a German language version of "Sound Asleep" by the Turtles, which is kind of a cool song to cover!

Suppose we give a Krautrock Listening Club and nobody comes...

So, I assume we assume that everyone's already heard a "Soon Over Babaluma" or a "Radio-Activity" so we're not bothering with the more well known stuff? Anyway, I had a whole list of albums I intended to post here but I realised they were very much in the motorik/ electronic vein of the rest of the thread so I junked them and decided to try something different. Both of these albums are by, for want of a better phrase, "jazz rock" bands - but don't run away yet, they don't sound too much like jazz rock, believe me I wouldn't do that to ya.

XHOL CARAVAN - Motherfuckers GmbH & Co. KG (1972)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IsCG0nFn9M8/SZkqJJKI6pI/AAAAAAAAAEc/AHo4AvFIJlY/s320/xhol.jpg

Recorded in 1970, between their first album (which was a sort of ramshackle mash-up of Zappa and Soft Machine, but definitely ahead of its time for Germany in 1969) and their pretty boring (IMO) second album (I think they were trying for Soft Machine "Third"). Don't know why this album works so well, as I suspect it's comprised of outtakes and rejected experiments, I mean you wouldn't expect a 9 and half minute organ solo to be much cop - but, by Odin's beard, it surely is!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GF48G0KY"">Not Spotted

ET CETERA - Et Cetera (1971)

http://www.longhairmusic.de/coveretcetera.jpg

Calling this "Krautrock" is a cheat as this is nominally at least a jazz album. What it is in fact is an album made by jazz musicians that's miles more imaginative and adventurous than the majority of what gets touted as Krautrock. This was a product of keyboardist Wolfgang Dauner, who, late 60s/early 70s, put out a lot of interesting albums in a diverting variety of styles. Better than stuff like Embryo in my opinion. I've included the three bonus tracks that came with the CD reissue, which I wouldn't normally do, because they fit with the rest of the album really well and are perhaps even more krautrocky!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9W625J1N"">Not Spotted + http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JHHJLDK1"">Lesser Spotted

... oops, something went wrong with the links there, but they still work

great thread. anyone have any of the phantom band (jaki liebzeit post-CAN outfit) re-issues? i'll try and get these posted, soon.

ah, now i see. i'll take the next open week, whenever that is.

really digging on that Liliental record, also.

really busy at work today, will be posting the records a little bit later!

Sorry for the super late post, but here it goes. There's no real theme to the three albums i decided to post and like Tom D. mentioned above I didn't want to follow with more from the big names. We are kind of getting to the more obscure and so i decided to get a little adventurous with my three.

RICHARD SCHNEIDER JR. - FATA MORGANA (1980)
http://discohorror.com/pics/fata%20morgana%20.jpg

First up is an album following the more jazz rock cosmic vibe of last week's post. Richard Schneider Jr.'s Fata Morgana from 1980 is easily one of my favorite albums because it incorporates so many elements of some of my favorite music from that time. The acoustic guitar is from his earlier release Dreamlike Land is there, but he leaves the Latin bossa vibes of that release behind. There is definitely more structure than many other krautrock albums in this thread and there are moments when fusion and jazz rock elements come through, but the cosmic element pervades the entire album. An incredible album to say the least and one worth coming back to over and over again.
Not A Spotify Link

THOMAS DINGER - FÜR MICH (1982)
http://discohorror.com/pics/thomas%20dinger.jpeg

This album I'm less fond of, but I only came across it recently (thanks to Jaxon). It's the only solo album put out by krautrock legend Klaus Dinger's little brother, Thomas Dinger. Thomas is credited for vocals, playing drums and writing on several Neu! and La Düsseldorf albums and you can definitely hear the influence of those groups in the album's most winning track "Für Dich". However, the use of samples of animal sounds is pretty interesting and there are definitely unique elements. Worth a listen at least.
Not A Spotify Link

TYNDALL - TRAUMLAND (1981)
http://discohorror.com/pics/tyndall%20traumland.jpg

The second album from German synthesizer duo Jurgen Krehan and Rudolf Langer. This is really the only Tyndall album I can listen to with any sincerity. The other ones remind me too much of awful classical musicians exercising their chops on massive modular boards and are far too cheesy for my taste. This one has some really redeeming moments though with "Unterwegs" in particular shining through. The album is minimal arpeggiated synth krautrock but has much more of a melodic slant than Conrad Schnitzler. While the other albums, and this one at times can be compared to other minimal synth experimenters of the time like Jean Michel Jarre there's a certain element that makes me think of it more as krautrock,
Not A Spotify Link

'Golden Blue Ball' is an enormous song. The synth that really comes in around 2 minutes in the song is hypnotic. I've always wanted to open a dj set of cosmic jams with it. Also loving the direction the listening club is going. Looking forward to listening to TYNDALL.

well for some reason in the last 24 hours, the site www.eggcityradio.com that posted the thomas dinger album has gone under. i'll work on another link and repost it later today

new link for the thomas dinger album:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WOZGFBSI

The cover of that Tyndall album scares me, but I'll give it a go

I was going to post that T. Dinger album but I'm glad someone else did, it's a really good album by the way!

richard schneider album rules. and this was my first ever listen but I KNOW I've heard "fata morgana" (the track) before, but for the life of me, I can't recall where. a mix, I guess?

Really enjoying this Richard Schneider album. Definitely one of the unexpected highlights of this listening club so far.

The other ones remind me too much of awful classical musicians exercising their chops on massive modular boards and are far too cheesy for my taste

(Re: Tyndall) Interesting 'cos one of the better things about this album, from my point of view, is that it sounds sort of awkward and a bit amateurish - some of it is pretty awful but overall I enjoyed it! Obv. I'm missing something with the Richard Schneider album, just sounds bland and anonymous to me, best thing is Jaki Liebezeit's drumming on the title track, tho the album as a whole makes the Phantomband sound like "Tago Mago". Thanks for all contributions as always!

Maybe you would like 'Dreamland' Richard Schneider's previous record from 77. It's a almost like kraut rock aimed at a beach party, a odd record, silly and serious. Hello Beach Girls!!

@ Tom D. yeah the amateurish feeling of Tyndall can be charming, with mixed results obviously. some great moments and some utterly awful ones. unfortunately i think the other 3 albums have much more of the latter, but you can easily track them down on the interweb.

is the thread dead? i think frogbs was up (bump)

I'd love to do one if I could jump on the list. And if anyone is still interested.

I'd like to see this thread continue.

Algerian Goalkeeper sends me with a message. Wk, if you'd like to go next then that would be fine, as frogbs is currently off-board. Would be interested to see what you want to put up myself.

That Tyndall album sounds way better at 45, not very useful information with a download I grant you.

So should I wait until next Wednesday, or is that idea out the window?

i guess whoever was moderating the thread before has gone MIA, i'll take over the posting of the queue for now. why don't we resume on wednesday if that works for u wk?

5/11 - wk
5/18 - ??
5/25 - ??

i'll take 5/18.

5/11 - wk
5/18 - dronestreet
5/25 - ??

Count me in

5/11 - wk
5/18 - dronestreet
5/25 - Tom D.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2VJCjTxApSA/Sihnek0E0dI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/7s_5BlBougU/s1600/SandGolem.jpg

Sand - Golem

This is one of the darkest Krautrock albums and to my ears one of the strangest. A lot of the German groups were making "out" kinds of music but usually with some kind of fairly clear precedents (west coast jams, Mothers of Invention or Fugs, free jazz or fusion, Stockhausen, etc). But where were these guys coming from? They sound almost oppressively gloomy and yet at the same time somehow childlike in a sparse and ramshackle way. Klaus Schulze's binaural recording has a distant, roomy quality that balances out the sometimes thin and scratchy sound of the band and gives the whole thing a uniquely atmospheric feeling.

Not a Spotify Link

Kluster - Klopfzeichen
http://www.enricobassi.it/krauto_pic002.JPG

Here's another dark one that seems to anticipate industrial music with its metallic clangs and plinky spring reverb sounds. It's somewhat in the spirit of the first Tangerine Dream album (also featuring Conrad Schnitzler) but more focused and spartan in a way that I think works really well.

Not a Spotify Link

Floh De Cologne - Profitgeier
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_p-E9PrNygBo/SaRC60tn9qI/AAAAAAAAQoU/7RSl8SJk6lM/s400/Floh_de_Cologne_1971.jpg

This is kind of a hard one to take but I love the way the band sounds. They have lots of cool riffs and a fat bass and guitar sound that remind me of The Deviants. But like the Deviants, the goofy singing and spoken word can be off-putting. But if you have a high tolerance for that kind of nonsense and if you don't understand German (I imagine that understanding the rock opera lyrics might only make it worse) it's worth checking out.

Not a Spotify Link

Any chance you can upload these to mediafire or some such? That sharebee site wants my email and home address so it can send me junk mail.

Thanks for posting Sand! I love that record. Great short write ups too. I haven't heard that Kluster record and haven't listened to Floh De Cologne in many years. We're at a nice mix of cosmic and pre industrial music.

Yeah, that Sand record is pretty excellent. Pretty unique sounding. I remember listening to it on headphones for the first time, and thinking that noise was coming in from the street...only to find out it was the record. Good stuff.

next two weeks have been spoken for. any takers for june 1st?

5/18 - dronestreet
5/25 - Tom D.
6/1 - ??

Any chance you can upload these to mediafire or some such? That sharebee site wants my email and home address so it can send me junk mail.

Hey, sorry I missed this. Don't click on the giant flashing download button, but just on one of the green links that say zshare, badongo, megaupload, rapidshare, etc.

I'll gladly take another week!!

really like the T. Dinger lp--thanks!

5/18 - dronestreet
5/25 - Tom D.
6/1 - JacobSanders
6/8 - ??

sign me up again, why not..

whoops, left my files at home...i'll be posting records when i get back there in a bit.