D

George DEUTER, better known by own last name alone has been one of the most prolific new age artists over the last five decades with a particular meditative style that has found the sounds of the orient in perfect harmony with Western instrumentation but in the beginning DEUTER was very much a part of the exploding Krautrock scene that took Germany by storm in the late 60s and early 70s.

Starting out at a very young age, DEUTER mastered as many instruments as he could lay his hands upon but took the more sensible career choice as a journalist however after a near fatal car accident, the life changing event convinced a 24-year old DEUTER that his true passion was in making music. Ever since, DEUTER has been one of the pioneers of mixing nature sounds with acoustic and electronic music and once he jumped into the world of music it didn't take him long to release his first album simply titled D.

Acting as a one-man band, DEUTER performs all the instruments which includes guitar, bass, flute, sitar, synthesizers and percussion. In addition he handled the entire production. The album was released on the Kuckuck label in 1971 and featured one of the most spaced out collage effects of sounds that had ever been heard in the early world of Krautrock. Part electronic space exploration in the vein of early Klaus Schulze, Cluster and Tangerine Dream and part indo-raga with hypnotic buzzing drones, DEUTER crafted a fascinating journey into a transcendental state with the added bonus of fuzzed out guitars and a bit of rock heft that crept in from time to time.

This album was constructed by means of a multi-track tape machine while living in an ashram. DEUTER would famously delve into the spiritual practices of India and adopted the pseudonym Chaitanya Hari. D begins with the 15-minute trip to "Babylon" which finds electronic space loops and ambient placidity interact with fuzzy heavy psych guitars, Indian classical motifs, bombastic percussive drive and pastoral folk sequences. Add to that a complete detachment into the world of musique concrète and it doesn't take long to ascertain that D was and still remains one of the farthest out trips you can experience within the entire early Krautrock scene.

One of the true psychedelic underground journeys that takes you to the Far East, around the world and out to space, DEUTER single-handedly crafted one of the trippiest dreamscape albums of the early 70s with masterful sound manipulations, timeless tribal sensibilities and the perfect soundtrack for a lysergic astral body experience. While DEUTER would soon tame it all down and craft a more warm and fuzzy style of new age music, at least in the beginning his destiny was to compile an impressive array of sounds to provide a sonic representation of spiritual enlightenment unlike any other. My vote for one of the best farthest out trips.