PLATTE

Can you find a holzbock on platte?

I don't know if the song titles have any sense. It doesn't matter - the main thing is to judge the musical output in the end. Here we have an album with some band jams mastered by Eroc at his 'ranch'. Originally released as a long player in 2003 - platte is a german expression for vinyl - the digitalized version from 2007 contains two bonus tracks. ELECTRIC ORANGE is delivering a special unique album - something I've never heard before. Either you love it or not. Fans of Hammond drenched music must be satisfied. But don't expect rock songs as usual. The basis of this album are hypnotic beats, pointed out monotonous with intention and the band members are spinning a fine web around them with their instruments.

kwark, nearly 20 trance minutes long, has a gloomy meandering begin. The song is absolutely Hammond infected but also with spacy guitars and raises in waves. holzbock with an impelling rhythm work remembers much at CAN. columb is my favourite - melancholic trippy with a floating beat because of the use of old drums. Probably suitable for a film music about camel riding across the Sahara - fantastic! Dedicated to mk with a swirling Hammond, caused by a Leslie I suppose, is recorded in memory of Michael Karoli from CAN who sadly died in 2001. This song was released on a Manikin Records sampler before. On flurstück something like a rhythm machine gives a minimalistic beat only accompanied by harmonium and flügel. The bonus tracks are rounding up the album with more variety.

Don't listen to this stuff only for one or two times - you will lose. The more I hear this the more I like it. Very creative album. References to the old kraut and psych times are intended but ELECTRIC ORANGE are delivering something new. 3.5 stars really.

3.5 stars. For me this is a step up from the previous album "Abgelaufen!" but it's not quite worth 4 stars. I suppose i've been spoiled by their excellent "Morbus" release, it's hard not to compare their earlier albums to "Morbus" when it was the first record by them that I had heard.

"Kwark" is the 20 minute opener. It has a mid-paced trippy beat throughout. The organ becomes more prominant 3 1/2 minutes in and the overall sound is building. Great sound 7 minutes in and later at the 9 minute mark, as we get some good organ runs as the drums pound away.

"Holzbock" is more uptempo with a catchy beat. I agree with Rivertree that this song recalls CAN. Guitar before 1 1/2 minutes joins in. Organ comes in before 4 minutes. "Columb" is the 11 minute closer. This is my favourite of the three tracks. It's led by heavy drums as organ and synths create an almost haunting atmosphere. Mellotron 7 1/2 minutes in.

I don't know but this record and the previous one just don't seem very inspired after listening to Morbus. It's like the latter is in colour, while the other two are in black and white.

Studio album number six from the retro-Krautrockers of Electric Orange is even more heavily in debt than usual to the groovier explorations of CAN, sometimes to an almost slavish degree, in tracks like "Holzbock": seven-plus minutes of perfectly simulated Jaki Liebezeit rhythms and spiky one-chord Michael Karoli guitars. The expanded CD even includes a bonus cut with the explicit title "Dedicated to MK", but all the free-form organ vamping makes it more an "Homage to IS" (Can keyboardist Irmin Schmidt).

In truth the young quartet from Aachen isn't really aping Can; they're proudly maintaining a historical legacy of likeminded instrumental wanderlust. And, honestly, the band couldn't have chosen a better guide, even if they never had any hope of achieving the same level of influence or fame.

Don't expect anything too deep or challenging here. The music, even in longer workouts like the 20- minute "Kwark", is structured like a casual jam session instead of the more intuitive 'instant composition' practiced by their role models. But on a strictly superficial level the album is very satisfying: an often thrilling and always affectionate '70s throwback with a very contemporary sound (not a contradiction, for these guys).

What's ultimately missing is that vital spark of Inner Space originality, and the excitement of true discovery. But even secondhand Krautrock can be an adventure worth taking.