PHALLUS DEI

Phallus Dei is one of the earliest and most defining releases of kraut rock. The music is loud, noisy and anarchistic rock of a very improvisational nature, sharing its musical ethic with that of free jazz. It is preferably consumed together with a good stash of psychedelic mushrooms!

Kanaan is a briljant opener. In just 4 minutes it brings the best kraut rock has on offer. Entrancing grooves, spacey effects, semi-dissonant spooky sounds and weird non-melodic vocals, almost spoken word in this case. Esoteric melodies and rhythms complete it. Dem Guten is even better, certainly the use of the violins stands out here. The vocals are even stranger, very theatrical, almost operatic at times. Well, nothing is really normal in this music, also the guitars are very unconventional and somehow bring Captain Beefheart to mind.

One of the main attraction of kraut rock is the abundant use of wild and percussion-heavy rhythms. Phallus Dei has plenty of those. All songs have a dominating repetitive pace, sometimes funky, sometimes jazzy, sometimes rocking hard, sometimes Eastern, but always very stirring and entrancing. The centrepiece is the 21 minute title track, a loose jam with lots of inspired and original musicianship.

Phallus Dei is an essential album in the kraut scene and highly recommended to prog enthusiasts in general. Even if it might not be an album you will enjoy right away, it will certainly give your harmonic senses a good shake. And maybe your booty as well.