KRAUTROCK

Although the A side isn't that great, including the opening track, Angel and Mother (a boring ballad), the B side promises a really great show. A Young Man's Gash is a forgotten album. But I hope it back to life.

Delightful work by this hardly known German band. It's not common experience for me, but this is an album that hits the spot immediately. To the point that I could leave it on endless repeat.

Different genres are effortlessly transcended here. A bit of Psychedelic, Stoner-Rock, Grunge, Jamming in a package that pleases immensely. Leaves me feeling as if I just dropped in on friends who happen to be great musicians having some fun. Or in other words, one of the best garage bands I can recall and I don't mean it as a put down.

The distortion pedal, some feedback is applied in a sensible way, creating great sound without any hint of Metal, or Heavy-Rock. The bass is also using much distortion to the effect of a thunderous, yet non-aggressive bottom line. The keys add some colour, but not used as lead instruments. Some noodling here and there wouldn't be missed, but not really disturbing either.

The whole delivery is very carefree and relaxed, no sign of struggling here, only pure fun. And it works really well. Long pieces with some structure that still permit a lot of stretching out provide a nice balance.

Comparisons here would be rather futile, but let me say this. I am left with the impression as if Randy California, Frank Marino along with Mel Schacker (Grand Funk) had dropped in on Gong on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The end result is honest, heartfelt, pure fun!

It may never be considered a carefully arranged Prog masterpiece, but for the enjoyment I derived from this recording, a solid 4 is appropriate.

Via his suite, strong unstableness created with dissonant mellotron harmonies and scattered old-fashioned percussion sounds, and fantastic nightmare along with short-breathed problematic music structure, can be heard definitely. Yes fully massive his crazy explosive classic flavour gets in the beginning of the first track "Distance Between Us Part 1". Don's piano concerto is excellent, only that can make us comfortable, whilst mellotronic blows behind us are quite killa and exclusive, merged with conga-tic percussive (but unpolished) tribalism, and such a leaning can be felt especially in the third track "Dance Of The Goblins", flooded with dramatic mellotron tragedy launcher based upon ethnic ritualistic structure. Everything out of musical order or uncommon sense can be accepted, without any fanfare of common people. No fastidious fuss is needed for us under his ironic theatre madness. Only what we can tell theoretically via his suite is that cheap sound effects and unsettled development of the suite have reminded me an intensive pulse for Krautrock. And at last, amazingly as a natural consequence, his four long tracks are connected to the last experience titled "Autumn Mist", that Don might gather all of his musical / literal messages in his brain and his heart together into the tearful mystic mist.

In conclusion, this obscure album should be a full-blown tragic theatre filled with mellotronic grave and tribal percussion indolence. Not strongly recommended for every Krautrock fan but let me say for discordance freaks, please enjoy with leaving yourself along to Don's imaginary dramatic space.

Their style trully represents the outlandish sound of the major Kraut Rock bands, being a hybrid of storming Heavy Prog and Psychedelic Folk with the atmosphere changing from jamming and intense musicianship to melancholic and hypnotic folky tunes.The opening side contains four cuts of pounding and energetic Psych/Prog with dominant guitar solos, loose grooves and heavy-driving flutes with a JETHRO TULL flavor, while there are plenty of impressive breaks and edgy interplays to be met as well.Hints of Classical influences and the pure Psych/Folk piece ''Knight of third degree'' with its long percussion-led parts show the diverse sound of the group.The English vocals are rather limited and the focus remains on a very dynamic and powerful combination of guitars and flutes with a confident rhythm section supporting.The flipside contains the sidelong eponymous track, which clocks at 17 minutes, and sums up Rufus Zuphall's main influences and at times extremely psychedelic style.Lots of flute sections, hypnotic drums and smooth guitars combine with passionate instrumental textures with heavy guitars, flute solos and and endless batlles between them, while there are plenty of bluesy and Folk references through the epic.Some obcure vocal passages and the drum solo at the beginning are the epic's weaker moments.

The Long Hair CD reissue comes with an extra six tracks, caught live in Aachen in June 72' in one of the last performances of Rufus Zuphall.A couple of them appeared later in other releases of the band (''Avalon Suite'', ''Prickel Pit''), while the line-up includes bassist Manfred Spangenberg and guitarist Thomas Kittel in the place of Helmut Lieblang.The sound has little to do with the debut of the band, these pieces contain mainly British-flavored Heavy/Blues Rock with emphasis on the guitar parts of Krause and rather limited flute parts, while the vocals are even closer to British-styled groups with little originality.

Despite not belonging among the monumental releases of the Kraut Rock movement, Rufus Zuphall's debut is a strong album of flute/guitar-led Progressive Rock with tons of energy and some pounding instrumental themes of nice inspiration.Recommended, a good starting point for everyone who wants to come in touch with the early-70's German Progressive Rock scene.

Que 90s dance music with beeping electric signals, scratching old school dj manoeuvres and that early Liam Howlett infatuated industrial palette. Laser beams interfere and a pair of mice start jumping on the old piano. Stops - and the funky earthy percussion takes over and somehow dives into the dance beats once again. Something or someone's signalling in Morse code now, and everything seems to be ready for an ending.

Russian punk music enters the room with jolly freaky violin joining the festivities. The beats grow sluggish and we get froggy bits of interweaving noises and back into the breach again we go with the surging punk energy that oddly enough now sports an altogether more ethereal touch. Ending with the wind the song fades away.

Acoustical fun, bouncy blues bass with a jumpy and slightly kling klangy feel to it. Recorded inside a skip probably. The mumbling Japanese laid back gibberish ornamenting the semi blues electronic music have a strange crooner facet to them that I really dig. Then the see saw guitars start, and we get twirled around with yet another chill out vocal spree.

The space toddlers arrive in plastic chains armed with tiny Casio synths and a metal banjo. They are about to go work in the mines, and they play this marching electronic ditty every morning.

Avantguarde drumming pounding away sounding like logs hitting a wash bucket - starts things up nicely - juicing up with some Crimsonesque angular guitar patterns, and then there's the guy in the back sounding like a deeply moving fog horn. There's a small silence before the storm, and we hear the rattlesnake jitter. Pounding again, we get the marching almost Zeuhlish beats blasting their way through a rocking storm of what could've been the soundtrack music to a fisherman's trance party.

Weeehooo!!!!! I'm gonna stop now. This was just an experiment in trying to write exactly what I felt and heard while listening to this Japanese venture. I've reviewed these guys before, and what you can expect from the music is a modern parallel to the Dadaistic movement. African masks, rancid butter, Hawaiian barbecues, Jacques Cousteau, lions and tigers, Karate and ninja moves. All of this you'll find inside this baby.

What I picked up on with Omoide Hatoba was their ability to take what Faust once did and mold it into something uniquely their own. I genuinely believe that. You can search long and hard for modern acts who've picked up the baton from Faust - even in Germany you'll struggle to find any real traces. Sure you do get a fair few copycats who've overdosed on the Krautrock track off of IV, but you rarely come across bands who've managed to take the eccentricity, off-kilter and at times extremely bizarre universe of Faust into a contemporary setting. You have to fly half way around the world to experience that with Omoide Hatoba.

Music like this plays around with your head. It goes from goofy RIO to beautiful ambient electronics in a heartbeat - only to zip straight into some Indian groove with tablas and the works, and then pop right into some chomping industrial dub step.

As much as this sounds like a personal vacation to the loony bin, there's still something that engages me with this band. This is not strange for the sake of being strange, no no no, in my mind this is music that tries to break down fences, but through music - not just arbitrary fun on instruments. There's a difference.

According to their blog and photo gallery, looks like they'd got inspired much upon recording / producing their debut album by lots of impressive, courageous medalists. Their enthusiastic, profound riffs remind us the pleasure for sports with peace and friendship. Anyway their soundscape, as above mentioned, leans toward the pioneers of Krautrock especially like Neu! or Popol Vuh, whereas the phrases have not only sticky, dry-fruity, hypnotic flavour but also promising, powerful, and hearty atmosphere deeply in their core of sound, amazingly. Namely, not simply Krautrock-ish as it is said, but pretty hopeful about the future as their original strategy.

All tracks were created with simple riffs seasoned with deep echoes and earthy depth, whilst upon the centre of their intention should be enthusiasm and pleasure for future obviously. Via The Olympics and the sports there, they give us the feeling of not only the players but also the audience / fans, along with their original Krautrock named SIINAI. What can you see beyond the other side of the mountain with five rings? Guess it be a flood of comfort and hope (for Olympic games and their future both!).

To some people this could sound weird. They are not singing so much. I will name this music "discussion rock" or some form of political musical theatre. If you haven't done that, search for the group's name on Youtube and you will find one fantastic video when they were singing a song. This full record has not distinct ends between the songs and the themes, both musical and lyrical seems to come back all the time som this is really a concept record. Their sound is not very complicated, it's heavy and clear. The most distinct instrument is the organ which gives the music deep. Mostly they discuss things or scream phrases but the instrumentation is varied and sweat. "Fliessbandbaby, Manchmal Träum Ich" has different passages and a bit of Beethoven's Für Elize. Some parts have much of a comedy in it. "Ford Capri" is a joyfull piece and "Hey Johnny" seams to reply rock'n'roll music. Over all this is very interesting music to listen to. I like their anger and the way this record is unique. Perhaps not for the common progger. Listen for yourselves and do a review so I se what you think! I like it!

The now legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan once spoke about the parallels between a great big symphony orchestra in harmony and the elegance of a flock of birds swooping round the sky screen. Completely oblivious to the fact, Karajan successfully describes one of the key albums of the Krautrock movement - a record notorious for being indescripable.

When Yeti takes off to wherever - far away - completely over yonder, and then some, this be-winged flock of musicians use the power of improvisation. Now I know what you're thinking, but this is so far from your everyday psych jam, it's insane. Yeti is truly in a class of its own. While Karajan's symphony orchestra had him at the helm - holding onto those invisible strings tying all of the involved penguin suited players together to make a grand musical whole, you get the feel with Amon Düül ll that nobody's behind the steering wheel, or maybe all are at the same time?

It's satori, A musical meeting, where everything seems preconceived even if it's happening on a dime.....short moments of musical bliss that defy descriptions such as elaborate improvs and successful jamming. Satori seems about right to me.

Listening to this music is exactly like looking at flocks of birds - at least during the loosy goosy sections that are scattered throughout the playing time of Yeti. Hell even the more together tracks on here, like Archangels Thunderbird and Eye Shaking King, are full of experimentations and laissez faire instrumentation whilst still holding on to things like verses and bridges. These two tracks are additionally extremely heavy. The guitar riffs coming out of John Weinzierl sound like a psychedelic power saw running amok. He throws these things haphazardly around in the music, which in turn grows wonderfully immense like a buzzing swarm of locusts. I've said this time and again, you can use this album as paint-peeler. It will literally have your room unwrapping itself like organic Andy Warholy banana wall paper. The heaviness is actually all around - even on the breathtaking second LP, where the improvisations really come to the fore with Yeti, Yeti Talks To Yogi and Sandoz In The Rain.

Another marvellous attribute to this saucy thing is the rhythm section. The rampaging Peter Leopold on drums, who pulls brilliant and magical things out his sleeve, that you just can't copy. Impossible! He was never the most technical drummer, but I'll challenge any modern prog rock Neil Peart aficionado to replicate the grooves he manage to cook up on this thing. Opposite Leopold we are treated to the bobbing bass lines of Dave Anderson, who quite easily could be mistaken for a more fuzzy and labyrinthian version of Richard Sinclair. Anyway these guys work together like bees and honey - asphalt and tar.

Finishing up the broad and delirious tapestry of Amon Düül ll we find the thick underlying organs, the heiiyya heyyiaa Indian wails of Renate, and the equally baffling male vocal work that sounds like a large cat on anabolic steroids. Slapped onto parts of Yeti, these vocal stints feel like a giant Indian ghost jumping on top the music, like was it an actual tangible sonic sprinting mustang.

I love the way the album starts too. Opening up with Soap Shop Rock, the path is quickly paved with everything under the sun, and preferably a violin to boot. Chris Karrer does a magnificent job acting as janitor during most of Yeti - either picking up said violin or joining in with the guitar fun during the long wobbly stints of the improvisations. I kinda prefer him on the violin though, and Soap Shop Rock is surely testimony to that. Truth be told, I don't think I've ever heard the instrument being played like Career does. Slicing, jaggedy, droning, screeching - sounding remarkably close to the kind of folk music you'll find on the rings of Saturn.

I find this album mesmerising. It takes my breath away. Quite literally. It pumps out of the speakers like a deranged explosive expressionism - transforming back and forth through wild psychedelic sections and alluring sprinkling acoustic bits. Yet that doesn't quite relegate how Yeti sounds......and feels. Back then in Germany, there was a generation of musicians who tried to free themselves of the surrounding musical world - especially the western one, and then start from scratch - invent their own language. Carte blanche and all that.

Nothing exists in a vacuum though. As much as I'd like to say that Krautrock, and Yeti in particular, sprang out the foreheads of the musicians like some ancient Greek mythological birth, I can't deny the obvious links this music has to what happened in the US and Britain during the second part of the 60s. The heavy psychedelic tendencies along with a fondness for Indian and other such Eastern touches run straight through Amon Düül ll's DNA code. Yet what they did was to create their own take on it - move it around, stretch around - cram that baby right through the shoe! I'm inclined to say that Yeti does the 60s better than the 60s ever did. It's just far more out-there, weird and intense. I could spend days on end listening to this album while looking up at the skies - hoping for an ascending army of feathers.

This is a classic. It genuinely is. It sets the bar high. This is how far you can take music - how untethered it can get, whilst still being unbelievably tight and together and beautiful and soaring.................................................. If you haven't heard it yet, then make haste and run to the shops! Godspeed. The guy in the dress awaits holding a sickle... 732 stars

Obviously influenced by the British Hard Rock bands of the time, Gift played a powerful Hard Rock with strong progressive flourishes and lots of jamming parts in the Kraut Rock tradition of many German Hard/Psych Rock acts, despite their tracks being actually rather short.The music is very energetic and edgy all the way with a pounding rhythm section and numerous impressive guitar leads, while Treichel prooved to be an excellent singer with his quite British-accented voice.While the negative point of the album tends to be the similarity between the pieces of the album, the combination between these angular Hard Rock riifs with the inventive grooves and the tyipcal Kraut-styled middle-part jams is mostly working well.Expressive vocals with good choruses, fiery solos and a good dose of changing tempos result a bunch of dynamic and adventurous compositions.Often the album retains a grandiose, emphatic and haunting atmosphere, based on Baur's classy guitar exercises, while a couple of tracks feature some good flute parts of unknown origin.

Guitar-based Hard Prog of good quality.The alternation between down- and uptempo grooves along with the standard Kraut Rock atmosphere in the instrumental parts are sure to satisfy all listeners of trully dynamic rockin' vibes.Recommended.