MITTELWINTERNACHT '71

Nevertheless, it's my pleasure to find such an obscure album wrapped in mystery and eccentricity, and quite surprising that this stuff had been recorded and produced during only two days. Firstly look at their sleeve, that is filled with something horrible (looks like the black sun rising above the dark horizon). Should be enough for us to realize their instability. The snap attack titled "Zodiak", veiled in infernal depth with perverse percussive shower, can be so-called Krautrock I consider. We can be overcome by feeling like a sad disillusionment created with depressive electronic deluge and exciting palpitation of cheesy percussion. "Die Pulsar Kommt" reminds me fuzzy, cloudy loud electric guitar feedback like Les Rallizes Dénudés ... fantastic texture, but that's all. "E-mass", the longest track in this album, is simply noise ambiance with tiny tremors indeed but can absorb my mind into the E-massive mud depth. The last one "Technorganische" is flooded with a mixture of electronic percussion noises and pitching / rolling electro-atmosphere gradually altering by itself. Those eternal, endless noisy champs may be suitable for the end of the winter night and chilling nightmare.

Sadly as mentioned at first, this terrific material cannot be categorize into Krautrock easily. On the other hand, it's definitely an excellent noise ambient one created over 40 years ago. Recommendation and neatness are different matters so this neat noise ambiance cannot recommended as a Krautrock. But let me say, I love it.

The big giveaway with this one is simply the duo's names: Christopher French and Edward Fraser. They might have tried a little harder surely? I wonder what Tangerine Dream's Christophe Franke and Edgar Froese had to say about this? Even the cover looks a little 'Alpha Centauri' doesn't it? Look at where the globe is placed! Coincidence? I think not.

The recording sounds very ''Alpha Centauri' right from the beginning with big booming drums lifted straight from 'Fly and Collision of Comas Sola'. After this though things take a turn for fans of the doom laden. Instruments are so heavily treated and effected it becomes atonal, sounding like sequences from 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.

'Die Pulsar Kommt' continues in a similar vein only this time with enormous flange effects. It all gets a bit repetitive the longer it goes on, but this is a pretty good album where atmosphere comes before musical craft.

A very dark and creepy album indeed, which unfortunately doesn't always hold itself together very well.

In fact this sounds like quite a lot of 'Industrial Ambient' cd's that I bought in the early 90's like Schloss Tegal, Brighter Death Now, Deutsch Nepal, Megaptera and Archon Satani.

Just don't expect an ELP extravaganza!