Mirna Ray (UK) for Krautrock

Hi,

Please do not take my comments on this as indifferent or otherwise. I'm not a part of the selection of anything committee here on PA (and don't really want to be I don't think!!!) and my words have so much weight as pounds and pounds of cotton or air.

I like this, and it reminds me, at times of Can in the early days, and sometimes Neu as well, but a bit different. Both of them were NOT riff driven, and were (probably) more wide open in their early improvisations, whereas I found that what you did in this album was nice, and very interesting, I had the feeling that it lacked the letting go free form side of it, which was one of the most important parts of the foundation of what "krautrock" was, but has not become in these later years.

However, that's not suggesting that everything has to be in the same vein, and you can see a great example with Damo in the Jaki Liebezeit tribute special. It's not about a riff or a sound, it's about just moving ... expressing ... and something to hold on to (like a drum beat or a riff) tends to hold it all down, and take away, what I would consider the freedom for the music. Let's say that the rhyme and the meters don't matter, so to speak, and you just flow with the moment.

In theater terms, I think what you have in this album is a "guided improvisation", which I suppose fits what is here described on PA as "krautrock", though having experienced improvisation during my theater days, I can tell you the difference between a complete free form (as in early krautrock) or a guided improvisation, which has its roots in something that is continuing, and becomes, it seems, the "source" of the piece, or the one thing that folks attach themselves to.

I heard the whole thing, and appreciated it a lot. It's been a long time that something that was VERY CLOSE to what "krautrock" was in the early days, and it kept my attention, though as I suggested earlier, it would be more interesting if it DID NOT have a point of reference for all the players, and just let go. However, I would state here that is MY OPINION, and one that enjoys and appreciates the freedoms and explorations into nowhere lands of music, and any art form out there.

There aren't many folks that courageous as far as I can tell, or have heard.

It is a very nice album, and I enjoyed it a lot, and having words to say something about it, is neat for me, though how I feel about it, might intimidate a groups of folks into thinking that I am imagining a definition for "krautrock" that is impossible to find these days, because of all the commercialism surrounding music and the constant limitations to the size of the works ... thus a strong improvisation would not exactly be limited to 5 minutes (so to speak) and would fly further on, not knowing where it is going to go, which is the better part of all true improvisations. A riff, or a constant "control" (as the case in the drums) tends to limit the freedom of it all, which the drummer could/would add touches and feels, instead of beats. But, these days, a drummer not interested in the beats? Wow ... what a concept, no?

Nice album. I heard it a few times, and it brought back some nice memories ... which is something that made it different from a lot of the other "krautrock" additions here, for me ... but this would be a really nice one, and perhaps we will hear much more in the future ...


Edited by moshkito - 15 hours 32 minutes ago at 22:07