SUPERNOVA

IBLISS was a short lived band that formed in 1971 in the German Rhineland region and is probably more famous for who was in the band rather than the music itself. In the fertile cross-pollinating musical streams of Krautrock, IBLISS was the next step of Basil Hammoudi who was in the band Organisation that morphed into the more familiar Kraftwerk. Likewise IBLISS contains another Kraftwerk connection in the form of drummer Andreas Homann who was on the debut Kraftwerk album. IBLISS differentiated itself from the multitude of Kraut bands of the era with the inclusion of a heavy percussive drive that was heavily influenced by Middle Eastern rhythms courtesy of Hammoudi having been born and raised in Iraq. In this regard their sole album SUPERNOVA has the same percussion heavy grooves as the first Agitation Free album, however IBLISS (the Arabic word for "devilish") is much more of a loose jammy type of album that focuses on meditative bass laden grooves with heavy drumming circles providing the backbone for psychedelic flute and sax solos.

While most of the album is a repetitive groovy vibe that allows the flute and sax to go gangbuster, there are also psychedelic electronic passages that eschew the jazz-fusion meets bellydance themes and enters into true lysergic arenas. While Andreas Homann is the main drummer, so strong is the percussion drive that three other members contribute as well. Basil Hammoudi not only dishes out beautiful spacey flute flutterings but various percussive sounds as does brothers bassist Norbert and guitarist Wolfgang Buellmeyer. Only Rainer Buechel has entered the percussion-free zone and stands as a sax and flute guy exclusively. The original album release was rather limited and first copy editions are quite rare with only 1000 or so having been created and has become quite the collector's item however a new remastered CD has been released most recently on Garden Of Delights and the sound quality is excellent.

This is one of the Krautrock albums you will either love or not. This is not one of those sophisticated monster freakout type bonanzas of the Amon Duul II type but rather a fairly repetitive light and fluffy jam session that offers up strong percussive beats with cheerful flute melodies along side with a jazz-fusiony saxophone presence that emerges from time to time. Rhythmically it reminds me a lot of the minimalism that Neu! would soon make their own although more varied along with an overall fusion sound somewhat reminiscent of early Embryo but never as sophisticated. These are minimalistic trance inducing tunes that never break into complex song structures but rather remain within a parade of pleasant percussion laden grooves with happy melodies along for the ride. All is instrumental for the most part but vocal utterings do emerge in cheers coming from the background.

While i readily admit that IBLISS was not the most talented band in the early 70s Krautrock movement, i find their sole album SUPERNOVA to be mesmerizing and a cheerful little listen nonetheless. This is basically four long jams that never stray into super proggy territory but stay well-grounded in the Earthly realms rather than straying too far into the sonic ethers although there are scant moments of airy passages. Despite the rather easy to digest sounds on board, this band still found a home on the Nurse With Wound List most likely for its unorthodox experimental voyaging into hitherto untried genre mixing however it still qualifies as a fairly euphoric heady musical experience. Personally i love this one.