PLATTE

Studio album number six from the retro-Krautrockers of Electric Orange is even more heavily in debt than usual to the groovier explorations of CAN, sometimes to an almost slavish degree, in tracks like "Holzbock": seven-plus minutes of perfectly simulated Jaki Liebezeit rhythms and spiky one-chord Michael Karoli guitars. The expanded CD even includes a bonus cut with the explicit title "Dedicated to MK", but all the free-form organ vamping makes it more an "Homage to IS" (Can keyboardist Irmin Schmidt).

In truth the young quartet from Aachen isn't really aping Can; they're proudly maintaining a historical legacy of likeminded instrumental wanderlust. And, honestly, the band couldn't have chosen a better guide, even if they never had any hope of achieving the same level of influence or fame.

Don't expect anything too deep or challenging here. The music, even in longer workouts like the 20- minute "Kwark", is structured like a casual jam session instead of the more intuitive 'instant composition' practiced by their role models. But on a strictly superficial level the album is very satisfying: an often thrilling and always affectionate '70s throwback with a very contemporary sound (not a contradiction, for these guys).

What's ultimately missing is that vital spark of Inner Space originality, and the excitement of true discovery. But even secondhand Krautrock can be an adventure worth taking.