ILM Artist Poll No. 77 · CAN · Results Thread

then again, I think I voted for all the individual tracks on Landed, but it didn't make my albums list, LOL

The albums that followed in the ranking with two votes each (a triple tie for 9 actually) were:

9. Can (1979) 61 2
10. Delay 1968 61 2
11. Landed 61 2
12. The Lost Tapes 58 2
13. Flow Motion 56 2

The rest only got one vote

http://i.imgur.com/XK5nSbk.jpg
TIE 50. Aumgn 3 votes, 64 points.
From: Tago Mago (1971)
https://youtu.be/9vayV9M7ctU

http://i.imgur.com/2AhPQr7.jpg
TIE 50. Little Star of Bethlehem 3 votes, 64 points.
From: Delay 1968 (1981)
https://youtu.be/jxZon0BGvt4

was expecting a higher showing for "aumgn"! it still scares the shit out of me

http://i.imgur.com/M0pY6v2.jpg
49. Tape Kebab 3 votes, 68 points.
From: The Peel Sessions (1995)
https://youtu.be/jwO7Th4i1fo

Wow I haven't the slightest idea what's gonna place, let alone what order everything is gonna be in

TAPE KEBAB

when i listened to everything over the past two weeks this very quickly emerged as my favorite song that was new to me

http://i.imgur.com/TEJliaU.jpg
48. Aspectacle 3 votes, 69 points.
From: Can (1979)
https://youtu.be/y6uSFUeV6R0

Couldn't find the yt for that one so I only linked to the drum break. It's on spotify (Tape kebab isn't though and it's a great one)

Here's the Tidal links for Aspectacle.

tidal.com/track/34510593 and tidal.com/track/34505714

I'm pleased I cranked out a last minute ballot, as that's 2 of mine already (Aumgn and Aspectacle). Aumgn starts off a little anonymous but is totally redeemed by the bonkers final third.

Oh and any time you wanna spill the beans on that font, Moka, I'm all ears. Nice work!

I shouldve voted; Aspectacle wouldve been in my top 10

Oh and any time you wanna spill the beans on that font, Moka, I'm all ears. Nice work!

― Sushi and the Banchan (Spectrist),

The 'title' font is VAL Bold and 'subtitles are Proxima Nova in several weights :)

http://i.imgur.com/XefSov9.jpg
47. Outside My Door 5 votes, 70 points.
From: Monster Movie (1969)
https://youtu.be/_0B33EP4RPE

These graphics are beautiful

These graphics are beautiful

― nate woolls

Can't take full credit for them as these are not my illustrations I'm just finding and adapting (most of Can's titles are very odd to interpret though) most of this come from magazines and sci-fi art from the 70s.

my preferred aesthetic

Love the Aumgn graphic :)

http://i.imgur.com/0ZsijuO.jpg
46. Hunters & Collectors 5 votes, 72 points.
From: Landed (1975)

Tape Kebab sounding very nice on a first lesson.

Love the Aumgn graphic :)

― Option 1 : Do Nothing (Mr Andy M)

I was thinking 'Aumgn'!? What does that even mean? Is it a wordplay on Ohm? I dunno... Opening half sounds like monks invoking an ancient demon monster, second half sounds like an action sequence in the jungle... so I couldn't decide on what image to use... I went with robot fighting a dinosaur monsters.

Tape Kebab was one of my favourite discoveries but didn't quite make my ballot. Not too surprising there wasn't any consensus in the albums beyond the top 6

i deleted "hunters & collectors" last minute from my ballot. great guitar solo, essentially

But so much more. The whole arrangement on that remains shockingly futuristic. It has the complexity of serious prog and yet places it in a more-new-wave-than-new-wave pop context.

Anyone know who's singing the falsetto background vocals on that?

But so much more. The whole arrangement on that remains shockingly futuristic. It has the complexity of serious prog and yet places it in a more-new-wave-than-new-wave pop context.

this is true! felt bad reducing it to the noodly parts which i love so much

wow @ tape kebab

http://i.imgur.com/c8zRFc0.jpg
46. Connection 4 votes, 79 points.
From: Unlimited Edition (1976)
https://youtu.be/yYgaTix1bmU

^ Didn't vote for this but probably should have. Banger.

yep, total mooney-era banger

http://i.imgur.com/TgohI2C.jpg
45. Messer, Scissors, Fork & Light 5 votes, 83 points.
From: The Lost Tapes (2012)
https://youtu.be/yYgaTix1bmU

numbers should say 45 and 44 for this one, sorry hehe

Yesssssss love this song. You could make a bunch of equally awesome songs by just expanding on various parts of MSF&L

http://i.imgur.com/x7p7A58.jpg
43. Flow Motion 4 votes, 86 points.
From: Flow Motion (1976)
https://youtu.be/YyinAGNsm7k

there's a youtube comment that compares this song to a dinosaur sinking into a tarpit

otm

There's always a tension/push/pull about the best CAN songs imo. That's another thing I like about this band -- they exploit the serious sonic appeal of that dynamic.

http://i.imgur.com/LnqmSPF.jpg
42. The Empress & the Ukraine King 3 votes, 88 points, 1 Nº1 Vote.
From: Limited Edition (1974)

I actually didn't remember this one and it's amazing. First and last Nº1 vote of the day.

And to wrap it up... drumroll please:

http://i.imgur.com/1qJvgdC.jpg
41. Gomorrah 5 votes, 90 points.
From: Limited Edition (1974)

Shout out to the person who had that number one!

gomorrah is so fuckin good

I've never heard Tape Kebab. It's gorgeous.

Poking around Can obscurities on Youtube, I just stumbled on I'm Hiding My Nightingale. Really cool Inner Space track from 1968. https://youtu.be/aeo7_aiogbc

yay, glad gomorrah placed

^ they perform 'I'm Hiding My Nightingale' in a film (Kamasutra - Vollendung Der Liebe), if you didn't find that clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=KR4tra9Nyq8

Only track not on spotify is Tape Kebab. Haven't heard anything else from peel sessions is it worth it?

yep. pretty much every track rules

Just catching up while on family vacation...

I didn't vote for Ege Bamyasi – it's not that I don't like it—several songs are classics and ended up on my ballot—but it was the first thing I heard by them and never quite lived up to what I had expected based on the review of the Spoon (or Restless Retro?) reissues in Musician Magazine (I think) in the early 90s. In retrospect it still seems smaller and less unhinged than Tago Mago and not edited or electronic enough in comparison to Future Days. Good tunes tho.

Unlimited Edition, OTOH, hit me in all the right places right off the bat. Where "Pinch" had a great, great drum part, I wasn't sure where it really took me. "Gomorrah" as an opener was pretty much everything I had hoped Can would be: electronic, organic, epic, and a little mysterious.

also would have voted "Shikaku Maru Ten" in my top 20 if I'd known it.

So for the longest time 'I'm So Green' was my favorite CAN song and easily of the 70's. Every now and then I reevaluate my opinion and it lands on "Vitamin C". Today is "Moonshake"... that would be probably my first pick to get outsiders into CAN, the whole Future Days album is amazing, but that's the sampler choice for me. A morsel of the genius behind this band.

"Future Days", "Hallelluwah", "Mother Sky" are of course massive and as shown in this poll the consensus picks for what the band has to offer, but I think of them more as album highlights. For me, when isolating songs for a "best of the decade" I tend to favor those that in my mind work in a pop format. I might entertain the idea that CAN is not really that kind of band but it totally is: "turtles have short legs", "moonshake", "vitamin c", "i'm so green", "i want more", "spoon"... there's plenty of material that is top 10 chart material somewhere in heaven.

oh and I was the #1 for Moonshake, I can't count the times I have felt a bit low or washed out, put that song on, and felt restored and recharged. It has ... voodoo qualities.

― MatthewK

I'm a bit sleep deprived at the moment and 100% agree. I was feeling drowsy, driving to do some chores and played this one and immediately started feeling refreshed.

I often think "One More Night" is my favourite Can track - it's the most low-key on Ege Bamyasi but feels like it could go forever.

"One More Night" is a great example of the surprising emotional depth of much of Can's work. It's basically a one chord vamp in 7/4 time, the only hooks are a muttered chant and an oblique keyboard phrase - but it conveys a strange introspection and even sense of loss mostly through texture and rhythmic patterns.

Glad to see it get some love, I mean obviously it’s such a stacked album but man that tune in particular just really hits me. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there some really great track on Lost Tapes which is like an extended jam off of it?

There's a live version where Holger Czukay spontaneously comes up with five or six killer basslines .