UBERFALLIG

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Interlocking electronic repetitive guitar work from the mysterious and legendary Gunter Schickert. This second record slightly neglects the weird freaky-kraut epxerimentations of Samtvogel in favour of a gorgeously hypnotic / hallucinatory trip dominated by a treated / looped guitar. Puls is a static / ecstatic guitar piece that recalls some Manuel Gottsching's circular guitar motifs and eternal cycles in Inventions for electric guitar. This opening composition is an unique minimalist electronic reverie, physically strong and haunted. The guitar leading theme is accompanied by chaotic repetitive drum pulses, various aquatic noises. The last minutes contain spacey / serene e-guitar solos. In Der Zeit is an oniric excursion throw acoustic guitar sequences, concrete noises taken from human respiration. The song is accompanied by murmured, fragile female narratives. Side B is less impressive but still captivating for the ears. It always features cloudy natural sounds, dark guitar echoes within a lethargic ambience. Surely the trippiest song of the album and a more difficult listening, including bizarre voices (which seem to be on drugs) and an obvious psychedelic approach. An intensive, expressive, imaginative musical voyage that can't be ignored, unless you dislike moody, tranquil and melancholic progressive music. Absolutely essential for fans of Manuel Gottsching's Inventions for electric guitar and Achim Reichel's echo.

Few people outside of a small fraternity of German music specialists probably even remember the name Günter Schickert, and it's no exaggeration to call his 1979 album "Überfällig" one of the lost treasures of late '70s Krautrock. For me, Schickert has remained an enigma for close to thirty years, ever since I gave up trying to decipher the dense, illegible scrawl of notes on the back of the LP (a pointless exercise anyway: it's all in German).

But he was certainly a unique talent, even within such a wildly creative music scene. Schickert's style, at least on this one album, employed multiple guitars to do (more or less) what KLAUS SCHULZE and EDGAR FROESE were at the same time doing with synthesizers and sequencers: building layers of sometimes dreamy, sometimes tense ostinato patterns over a subtle, shifting backbeat of driving percussion. The rhythms are often provided by a heavy application of echo to some unusual sound sources, transforming a single splash of water or a labored gasp of breath into a repetitive loop of hypnotic pulses.

The effect is especially striking on the two longer tracks here, the aptly titled album opener "Puls", and the almost 12-minute long "Apricot Brandy". The former has the cinematic momentum of a high-speed Hollywood chase; the latter is a psychedelic rocker accelerating from a semi-conscious dreamscape to a hyperkinetic rush of overlapping guitars and voices.

Relief is provided by the ballad "In Der Zeit", sung in an ominous half-whisper over an unadorned acoustic guitar, and in the album's haunting finale "Wanderer", a brooding piece of music perfectly matched to the empty autobahn pictured on the back cover.

Altogether the album is somewhat reminiscent of (ex-NEU!) guitarist MICHAEL ROTHER's early solo work, and in fact was originally released on the same label (the always reliable Sky Records). Schickert shared a similar approach to pristine guitar minimalism, but with a darker, more malevolent edge: he might have been the turbulent yin to Rother's more angelic yang.

It's reassuring to find that Günter Schickert hasn't been completely forgotten. And, by a funny coincidence, a translation of the album's title (Überfällig = Overdue) perfectly describes his status as a true Krautrock legend.

A darker and more aggressive alternative to Manuel Gottsching's guitar-based electronic hypnotism.

Since the well known master of looping soothing guitar runs against a blissful electronic backdrop is Manuel Gottsching, and he barely delves into the darker side of what these methods could become, it makes sense that someone else would have to do it instead. On Uberfallig, Gunter Schickert employs the same type of dreamy guitar looping but does it in a manner that sounds like some of the gloomier post-rock schema from modern artists like Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Russian Circles, but much more despondent.

The composition of "Puls" is similar to Morton Feldman's Piano and String Quartet in that it initially seems overly repetitive but reveals many subtle changes occurring constantly throughout, though this tracks is obviously profoundly sped up and in a rock format. The pace is quite fast and, because of the guitar tone, this track would feel very comfortable to anyone who is well-acquainted with modern Japanese math-rock. The track eventually explodes near the end into a very dense electronic trance complete with Pinhas-esque guitar soloing with a dreamy reverb effect that equally matches the dreaminess of the electronic base it rides inside of.

"In Der Zeit" is a lot more electronic and experimental sounding, while also being a lot denser and krautrock-inspired. Much less hypnotism is found here, but an increased amount of psychedelia and nightmarish prog-rock sensibilities are a welcome contrast to the first track. Echoes of Dzyan's music are strong. Sometimes this track can get disorienting as it waves almost randomly with ghostly vocals and tinny harpsichord-toned guitar.

As with most of the German electronic and krautrock music of the '70s, Schickert's Uberfallig will appeal mainly to people who are already established fans of these two genres, but specifically fans of Gottsching's music that want something to listen to when they aren't feeling so dreamy and optimistic.