KRAUTROCK

Some parts in music character at which Florian Fricke aimed. Especially, music that drew the flow of the search for some unknown areas and the directionality at which the band had aimed might have been expressed if it thought about an essential part.

The creativity of Florian Fricke that had both a superior capability might have been expressed in the field of classics as opening the creation since time when Popol Vuh debuted before the activity as Popol Vuh. The change in the music character and getting rid of from an electronic element in "Hosianna Mantra" meant the flow and establishment that expanded the width of the band enough from the debut in the activity in the especially 70's.

Methodology of expression of music mainly composed of acoustic as band. Element of various music added to it. And, it is necessary to have developed an original methodology by doing the part of ethnical and the construction of the sound. Getting rid of the electronic element selected as a flow of the music character was a method of the expression by uniting an exactly mental part for the band and a mysterious part. The album that concretely showed it will have been "Hosianna Mantra".

A consistent flow doing might have been development natural as development from an electronic part emphasized the culture of the Orient and the West and the music characters by them while assuming an acoustic part to be a subject. And, it is impressive of the admiration that flows incessantly as a theme added to opening a mental element that continues from "Hosianna Mantra". Or, it suggests a variety of and the theme of the Bible is introduced including the mystery. Those parts might be being succeeded also by this album. A mystery part including the impression of the Old Testament is expressed as for this album. However, it might be also true to conceive some senses of relief compared with a past work. As for this album that gives the extension of the width of the sound and the expression to the construction of a consistent flow, a kind of light is included. Especially, the song of Djong Yun that listens in this album might have a certain kind of sense of relief. Flow to which psychedelic and mysterious element are taken while following construction of done consistent music character. And, the solemnity and the sense of relief cohabit. These are satisfactorily demonstrated with this album.

"Steh Auf,Zieh Mich Dir Nach" is a melody with the part of a complete solemnity. Melody that is reminiscent of music of the Orient where the atmosphere is continued. Part of rhythm and guitar that repeats four rhythms and five rhythms. Part of decoration with metallic cymbals. The song of Djong Yun might be a symbol of Popol Vuh at this time. Transparent feeling of guitar that appears after it shifts to rhythm of shuffle. The guitar of Daniel Fichelscher consistently constructs a good flow.

"Schonste Der Weiber" continues atmosphere with the arpeggio and the expression of feelings of a beautiful guitar. Beautiful chorus in close relation to consistent expression of feelings. Part of obbligati of guitar. These continue flowing. And, bright light by the transposition of Chord emphasizes the part of admiration further.

"In Den Nachten Auf Den Gassen" is a chorus and progress of perfect piano Chord. A piano melody is decided to the flow with a mysterious composition.

"Du Sohn Davids 1" is a flow of the guitar in close relation to the chorus of quiet admiration. And, a piano melody that continues atmosphere. The performance creates one space exactly in union.

As for "In Den Nachten Auf Den Gassen 2", the element of a few psychedelic and Blues might be included in the melody with expression of feelings. The overall atmosphere of this album continues. It succeeds in the content of the impression of the solemnity Chord is transposed in the tune.

"Der Winter Ist Vorbei" is a flow that is reminiscent of the music of India by guest's musician by the part of the sitar and Tabla. Sense of relief caused by chorus and guitar in close relation to the flow. Expression of sense of relief that adds element of various music to done consistent theme exactly. And, it is overwhelmingly a song of beautiful Djong Yun. The tune expresses complete ensemble and the mystery.

The progress of Chord that there is a transparent feeling in the sound of a beautiful guitar of 12 bowstrings pulls "Ja,Deine Liebe Ist Suber Ais Wein". Effective sense of relief caused by cymbals. How to take song that doesn't obstruct tune. The composition that puts the melody with expression of feelings on the flow of a few Folk and expresses it might be splendid.

In "Du Sohn Davids 2", the melody of a quiet flow and the sitar is features. Solemn and mystery part that flows consistently. Chorus of admiration. The element of a few Folk and psychedelic is taken and it turns up the volume gradually. The chorus tells the theme of this album.

The construction of a beautiful piano melody and the guitar progresses to "Tranke Mich Mit Deinen Kussen" attended with the element of psychedelic and Blues. The whole continues atmosphere as the part of Rock with power twining a little.

Part of mental on which they worked exactly. Flow that mystery part is emphasized. And, the construction of a certain kind of sense of relief and the theme might be especially expressed by this album.

Wow. After Ege Bamyasi perfected "schizophrenic" Can, they went in a very different direction for Future Days- while Ege Bamyasi was tense and nervous, drums skittering about and bass hanging on as Suzuki mumbled garbled words over it, Future Days is relaxed and warm, like a summer's day on a warm beach, just sitting, watching, and thinking, as waves roll, seagulls cry, and the mind wanders.

Future Days, the title track, starts with some ambient noise before becoming locked into a shaky Indian-sounding percussion groove, as bass occasionally rumbles and quiet guitars form a calm, subdued atmosphere. However, the shocking thing is Suzuki's voice- on earlier albums, it was the forefront, a worried, nervous stream of words. Here, it is just more background noise, and instead of creating a strained feeling, it's loose and lost in the drums. At the end, it becomes a distorted yell, still dominated by drums and wavering guitar noises, and soon the Indian percussion returns for a few seconds, before fading into nothingness, reminiscent of the end of Oh Yeah from Tago Mago. Spray is a long, improvised piece, with more African-sounding percussion, coming off like a slightly less happy version of the title track. Moonshake is a relatively good song, and though it contrasts with the mood by going back to the style of Ege Bamyasi, with a mechanical drum rhythm, pulsing bass, and various sound effects skittering around with Suzuki's vocals, somewhere between the new and old style.

And then... the centerpiece, Bel Air. Twenty minutes of ambient Can-jam, like a more developed Future Days. But does it work? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! Though there's not much to say in words, I can say that it feels relaxing, like being on the beach and just lying in the sun. There are two minor "orgasmic" parts; at 4:42 when bass and drums line up with Damo's elated whines, and about 9 and a half minutes in, where the music dies in bird cries, and slowly comes back. So, this album is a true great of ambient music, krautrock, whatever you call it, it's amazing. Recommended to fans of Can, light, airy ambient music, and all things relaxing.

The record of existence and the activity of Ash Ra Tempel and Manuel Gottsching can be caught as a very important point in the band in active Germany in the 1970's. And, this album was announced as the first solo album of Manuel Gottsching in 1984. In the part of the music character expressed in this album, the directionality that had to be expressed exactly as the part of the richness of the creativity of Manuel Gottsching might have been established. And, it is necessary to consider the existence of Klaus Schulze who is the old friend of Manuel Gottsching as one of the details of the method of expressing this album.

Expression of music character in synthesizer that Klaus Schulze established it as flow of this situation. Or, the method of the expression concerning music from another angle in Tangerine Dream. Of course, the flow of "Inventions For Electric Guitar" from the music character that contains an initial element of psychedelic for Ash Ra Tempel from which the creation of Manuel Gottsching is splendidly substantially expressed will be evaluated as establishment of one field.

This album is recorded in the studio of Manuel Gottsching on December 12, 1981. The theory said production as the theory actually by the time of about one hour with the recorder material of 2Track remains. However, if the entire content of the album is considered, it is a melody and a rhythm of the repeated synthesizer. And, it is guessed that it was recorded partially separately for the part where Solo of the guitar in the latter half was added to be in most short time. And, the tune will be able to be caught as a composition of almost one though it divides into the part of nine for convenience' sake as a distribution of the name of a song.

This album is recorded in 1981. However, this sound source is said at that time that the shade of meaning of the demo tape was strong according to the theory. Therefore, this sound source is said that Munuel Gottsching had kept it for about three years after it is recorded. However, Manuel Gottsching and Klaus Schulze that had met again in 1984 had details announced at once as an album with some stories it adhered to the sound source.

It was said that this music character that had been announced as an album of Manuel Gottsching had not been so evaluated at that time. Music's expressed one construction with the album. Exhilaration one feels for repetition and rhythm to make good use of synthesizer. And, the melody with some coming in succession. These are by contraries fields of techno and minimal. And, it is recognized again by the height of the evaluation by DJ. It is said that Sueno Latino of House Team of Italy actually formally takes charge of Remix of this album and some Version exists.

"E2-E4" is a repetition of the rhythm that catches the age. And, the sound of the part of Bass and the decorated upper register. Flow of obbligati to consider strings. The part of minimal and techno is splendidly put on a complete rhythm and it expresses it. The melody of the repetition that shines further when five minutes are passed comes in succession in the tune. The flow that gradually gives the change to the melody and the sound of the decoration while stabilizing a basic rhythm is reminiscent of the kaleidoscope by the sound. The tune changes gradually in facing ten minutes. The rhythm and the melody that flows in the space increase the anacatesthesia and exhilaration one feels. The change in the program by rhythm Box might be indeed splendid. Construction of flow that more electronic element is emphasized from the first part of 13 minutes delimited by convenience. The melody and the transparent feeling expressed by the sketch change one after another every about five minutes. When 20 minutes are passed, a steady melody increases the anacatesthesia further for 25 minutes. The element of techno and the part of the transformer might be the gaga parts that Manuel Gottsching exactly produces. A glossy guitar appears when 30 minutes are passed. The rhythm of techno and minimal with a steady melody runs about the space with solo of the guitar. When 35 minutes are passed, the rhythm receives the top further emphatically. Part where cutting of guitar came in succession and part where melody combines with rhythm. The tune that progresses with various respects is decided for 40-45 minutes. 55 minutes from the last 50 minutes advance in the reverberation of the tune and the part of reverberations. However, the emphasized construction of the rhythm, techno, and the part of minimal are consistently united.

I might feel the establishment of the music character that this album expressed different as a situation. However, this album that Manuel Gottsching expressed might be a historical page caught from another angle as one of the music characters with an electronic element of Germany.

I want to dedicate this to my Krautrock/Canterbury friend Tom Ozric who is probably baking in 30 plus degree weather today while i freeze in -15 this morning.AGITATION FREE are one of the more legendary Krautrock bands who had a huge influence on many groups over the years."Early incarnations featured the likes of Christoph Franke(drums) who went on to TANGERINE DREAM,Ax Genrich(guitar) who after 3 months was nabbed by GURU GURU,and John L. "the madman of Berlin" a notorious eccentric who also played with ASH RA TEMPEL". The lineup on this live album features Lutz Ulbrich who would go on to play with ASHRA and Michael Hoenig who would later join TANGERINE DREAM. This particular recording features live music from 1973 and 1974,it wasn't released until after the band broke up. "Soundpool" opens with waves of spacey sounds before it turns electronic and experimental.Spacey winds after 4 minutes.Guitars,bass and drums all kick in before 5 minutes.This is so amazing.I didn't see this coming. "Laila II" builds slowly.This is very relaxed with guitar and drums too.Great sound after 3 minutes as the guitars,bass and drums dominate.They're jamming at this point.Experimental sounds join in before 9 minutes as it settles some.Love the guitar and sound 10 minutes in.It settles down more before 12 minutes with some nice bass. "Looping IV" features no music really but a dark,cold soundscpae that changes and evolves throughout the 23 minutes.The tempo picks up half way through with much more going on as well. It slowly starts to settle back down until it's really spacey late. There's a bonus track called "Schwingspure".It's spacey early with different sounds coming and going.It turns powerful 3 minutes in then the tempo picks up.Some nice guitar here. Without a doubt this is an excellent addition to your Krautrock collection.Easily 4 stars.

— First review of this album —

(From PA blog "Japanese Progressive Rock presented by DamoX")

Come on and say, everyone, "Mamma mia!"

Upon my first listening to this album, it was so surprising almost unclassified 'sound magma' could be blown out from their inner space. Although each of them played as he wanted to do, the sounds can be well harmonized and bear some comfort for the audience - even Makoto's violin like a noise of a saw (sorry), or Atsushi's Indo-voices like an elephant's growling (sorry again). At any rate, the key instruments should be all - Oriental drums & percussion sounds, down-tempo dancing bass ones, dry violin noises, aggressive and violent guitar solo by Speed Guru, etc. etc. pop in suddenly and disappear by turns. Naturally, here come lots of scenes with the essence of Kraut, psych, spacey, heavy, Indo-Raga...absolutely overflowing. Here are too many many elements to be categorized into an apparent subgenre easily. Hmm, however wait, wonder if there's a sharing of musical styles between them? For example, Tatsuya and Atsushi should play with Indo-Raga and avantgarde style, and on the contrary, Makoto with heavily psychedelic one...? Joking aside, their plays and sounds are very rich and very spiritualized to let us audience get remarkably rich imagination. Wonderfully, we can hear various sound colours in the album; a part sounds like King Crimson's dry guitar and violin blended in 'Starless And Bible Black', or another sounds like a crazy synth noise in Alberto Ginastera's 'Toccata'...very interesting and fantastic. And trust me, the most enjoyable and pleasant persons around this album should be SEIKAZOKU themselves I wanna say. Namely, the extremely perfect and ideal improvised battles they can show to us. (Oh, anyway, the titles of the songs we cannot understand at all!)

The more times you listen to this album, the more you can be addicted by SEIKAZOKU. Highly guaranteed!

Can - Tago Mago (1971)

A breakthrough on many fronts...

Tago Mago is the most controversial of their 'classic period'. Originally released as a double lp it had a strange structure. The first side has three psycho-beat/acid-rock/proto-punk/krautrock tracks, side two had the 18 minute Hallelujah that was basically a jam on just one rhythm with all influences of side one and some extra space influences. Side three was 17 minutes of pure horror soundscapes that would drive most people you know mad and side four has yet another 12 minutes of out-of-the-box experimentation and on shorter gentle track. As you can see by now, this is a very progressive ground-braking concept! I myself think the idea of Can must have been to make a great single record (lp1, side 1 and 2) and give some extra highly unusual experiments on the second lp. Therefore the second lp is far less accessible then the first one. I'll describe both record more accurate now.

The songs on side 1 and 2 all have an abstract psychedelic feel with intense vocals, the best of rhythms with perfect cooperation of drums and bass (Can is the most rhythmical prog act of the history in opinion) and acid like guitars with lot's of distortion. The vocals are confronting, especially on the acid Mushroom that is a song which rhythmic session can still be called modern today, but the vocals are way to extreme for today's standards. Somehow some things Can did never aged and were reinvented by other groups years later (until the day of today). Oh Yeah has more psychedelic and space influences and has again a killer rhythm! The tension of this song is build up by just playing heavier and heavier reaching a great climax. Side two has the 18 minute Hallelujah which is special because of keeping you attention for 18 minutes, though the rhythm section is basically unchanged throughout the song. The band explores ways to get the jam bag into the music and succeeds very well. Some spacey sounds and effects are interesting and It concludes the first record nicely. All tracks of lp 1 have a sort of distinct sound that has this never-ageing vibe. This is the true power of this record, many generations might be surprised how innovative seventies Krautrock was, especially this record.

The second record is different. There are strong avant-garde influences on this one. Aumgn (named after the esoteric cries of most wicked man on earth, Allester Crowly) is a sum of dark instrumental and vocal experiments. People with imaginative minds will find themselves to be on a lot of places during this special experience. People who like drugs should not skip this one! The controversy of using 'black magic' terms and 'spiritual' vocals is truly powerful and shows that Can wasn't going to leave one idea aside because of the social/cultural problems it could have gave them. On Aumgn Can uses guitar delays, a lot's of diffent drums, monk-like uuuuhhs and other sound effects that are sometimes hard to understand. Peking O. uses has yet some more experiments, this time with drum-computers. This is totally not my taste, but it's interesting to listen too for some times. Bring me Coffee or Tea is a song that could have made it to the first record of more conventional Can tracks with some nice guitar work and even melodic chord progressions.

Conclusion. This album has survived the test of time in a brilliant way. Record one is a masterful Can creation and record two is heaven for people who like true experimentation, avant-garde and even music beyond that. I'll rate lp one with four stars and record two with another four stars. The latter doesn't get it's stars for nice listening and have a great sunday afternoon, but because of it's motivation and innovation. This is a very important (I might say essential) record for progressive music: it will appeal to fans of Krautrock, psychedelic rock, psycho-beat, highly rhythmical music, jam-music, avant-garde and experimental music. For others this might be too psychedelic and hard to get into. I myself like the first record very much and have to be in a really good mood to listen to the second, though the latter strikes me as one of the most daring recordings of prog history! Four stars, well deserved!

Amon Duul II - Phallus Dei (1969)

Krautrock, the beginning..

This album is hard to rate. You won't find any other psychedelic proto-gothic albums dating from '69, but the recording is horrible! The ideas of Amon Duul II are clearly super original, highly innovate and very bombastic. Maybe they just were there just to soon! The recording was done in two days, which is the main problem of the album.

Though the songs on side one (on my vinyl copy it's called side two) are recorded with a just acceptable quality, the big 21 minute epic Phallus Dei has it's plain ugly moments with out of pitch string arrangements, sound-blurs and in-distinctive passages. For this reason I got mainly into side one (the side with four tracks). Another problem this albums has is it's lack of great musicianship. Some of the parts sound quite amateurish, unlike their late sixties colleagues from England and America. This might be due to the short recording time.

Kanaan is an up-tempo proto punk, proto gothic (due to the vocal arrangements) tracks with a pinchy rhythm and with abstract vocals. Great atmosphere! Other tracks follow the sound of the first one with some new details like a ding-ding vocal solo and some high pitched vocals. On side two there are more experiments with soundscapes and classical influences.

Conclusion. An album that proves the genius vision these musicians had, but it didn't become the album to change the world because of the lack of a proper recording and some poor musicianship. I would wish they had recorded this album some years later, I would be very interesting in buying it again! The ideas and vision of this album is as special as King Crimson's début. Still no more then three stars for this one, but ooowh this so interesting if you interested in music history, Krautrock, psychedelic rock, sound-scapes and even gothic music.

If you are just dying to take a giant step out of musical commercialism, and hear something off the wall, but brilliant at the same time, this album is your ticket to ride. There is nothing quite like it in the world of seventies music, and must be approached with an open mind-its musical journeys are astounding and an incredible experience. On this release, Dzyan fully reject any kind of catchy,or commercialised sound, and go their own way,though their two previous albums are just as great. Electric Silence combines varied influences in a unique way, there is jazz-rock mixed with more directly ethnic influences, like sitar, and also use of synthesisers. No vocals, and they do not need them-to say that the music speaks for itself would be an understatement-this is one of the coolest albums to come out of the seventies, progressive, or otherwise. Someone who likes to get high on music itself, (like me), will find Electric Silence a feast for the ears-there is so much going on musically that sometimes words do not properly convey the experience. If you are in the mood to step out of your musical norm, take the Electric Silence musical trip-if it is new to you, that is the only thing you will regret. presdoug

Neu 75 for me is one of my favourite krautrock albums[among quite a few],and starts with Isi (5:00) and starts with abourt 3 piano notes and a beat comes in and piano sound playing and sounding very songey to and the beat here is a nice beat to and the piano sound playing along very nicely and just plays all like this for the whole song everything here is great[i can see where now the french band air get some of there ideas here i think],a great song,Seeland (6:57) next starts very mellow and so relaxing a great sound and guitar sound comes in playing slowly and dreamey and the basic beat in background is wonderful i think and really helps everything go along and the guitar sound comeing in now and again as the beat on this track is more of a role but the guitar sound really is addictive and its basicly what this whole song is bout till the end very nice and dreamey great track and ends with light thunder and rain nice to,Leb' wohl (8:51) starts with piano playing fingers playing few notes all at once fadeing in and out for few seconds,and then calms down and then piano playing very slowly mellow playing with note coming in every two seconds or about and plays like this for a little bit and sounds really relaxing,and then a voice comes in like ooohing aghing sound mellow to,this track is really nice and slow,when the voice comes more in its like your laying on the grass on a hot day stareing up at the blue sky stoned or half awake like,very nice this track has got to be one of the most mellow krautrock tracks ive heard very nice and addictive it just plays like this till the end withjust over the last minute has sea waves approuching the beach which ends the track so relaxing great track,Hero (6:15) now this is my favourite track on the whole album,it starts with guitar playing nicely and nice drum sound like kind of bit punky here sound a great sound and the singing here just fits so great with the track the drumming here plays and makes the track i think with the keys and guitar playing really great towards the drums,the vocals here to me sound great just punky i think so really addictive stuff and at the last minute and half the guitar play more and punky voice more to then it calms down and then ends with birds singing in background great and relaxing a brilliant track,E-Musik (10:50) is next and starts with a krautrock beat sound which sounds great and could be good to dance to when drunk[not in bad way its got that feeling to me] dance your body away to this one waving your arms and legs silly thats the feeling this gives to me,anyway the krautrock beat just plays and drums toward to and the elctronics here sound great and at the last 6 minute mark the drums just play like drum solo kind of and sounds great and the electronics playing in background just really make this sound great and still i can see crazy dancing going on waving arms and mental legs moving and shakey head the whole body been taken over,such a great track and calms down the last 2 minutes been really calm like playing like Leb' wohl and other bits from earlier to mixed in to,great track,After Eight (4:42) starts very punky and like hero here but a bit faster and this is addictive the guitars really going for it and the drumming sounding punky to and the vocals sounding like there really enjoying thereselfs this track is so enjoyable very like hero and thats a great thing to,this track could be a good party track in away to get everyone dancing with a beer or what ever,everything about this track is just so enjoyable to me and will be to you to,everyone here sounds like they really enjoying there selfs,and then the album ends and this album deserves a second play after it finishes,its that great,one of my favourite albums actually,and i think actually my favourite krautrock album for sure,4 stars a must.

When you're asking someone to name typical krautrock bands, Kraftwerk and NEU! are among the most frequently noted for sure. As for the historical and stylistical aspect there are some relations, no wonder. Drummer Klaus Dinger has been a member of the early Kraftwerk line-up, but left the band to form NEU! in 1971. Just compare 'Ruckzuck' coming from Kraftwerk's debut (I don't count the Organisation album here) with the opener of this album named Hallogallo - there is a similar repetitive vibe which is impressing. I would count both songs among the krautrock classics. So I'm a big fan of this kind of style each band had delivered in the early 70s - the later efforts though can't touch my soul.

This album was recorded during four nights in December 1971, without using any lyrics because 'words are so specific and always deniable' (Dinger). I already mentioned the opener, along with 'Ruckzuck' later often demanded in subculture discotheques. It's the special drive, yes, definetely dancable - and Klaus Dinger has a large share with his repetitive drum style. He offers the fundament for Michael Rother's interesting spacey flavoured guitar impressions. Yeah ... German song titles - from time to time I'm in the comfortable situation to draw on my native language.

Probably the next song Sonderangebot is literally meant as a special offer - weird swirling sounds coming from the guitar. Quasi placed as an experimental hiatus - and later fading into the spacey Weissensee - a bit Pink Floyd adopted but provided with a special bluesy touch on top of it. Im Glück tells us about the happineness when riding on a sailing boat ... or when luckily getting back to the anchoring place at least, as the case may be. This one is wrapped in samples including some distorted voices originally recorded on a boat - provided with a wonderful melancholic mood.

Negativland now shows another very repetitive behaviour but changing time signatures too. In opposite to the song title there is nothing to point out as negative. Weird samples including noises, originating from a construction area, experimental guitar appearance. Lieber Honig shows whacked out vocals and the boat samples are back again surprisingly - anything but honey - this track is not quite a challenge - has more of an uninspired filler instead of that - probably others might disagree.

Anyhow - in its entirety this debut constitutes a fantastic workout - not new but NEU! In opposite to endless jams equipped with a nearly perfect proportion of experimental and catchy impressions. This album is a must have for every krautrock collector - that's it! There's nothing more to say.