AANK

 

In recent days, Kombynat Robotron from Kiel, Germany, released their seventh album. I must admit that I have always enjoyed their music, which consists mainly of improvised psychedelic jams with motoric beats and heavy guitars.

For this album they signed to London's Fuzz Club label and developed their sound. They left the jams behind and gave the songs more structure. The sound moved away from krautrock a la Can to more riff oriented guitars and influences of stoner rock. There are still enough psychedelic elements in their songs and they remind me on Hawkwind. In their weakest moments, however, they sound like Rammstein for the poor. I'm not sure if I still want to follow their music. Maybe I should just listen to it again.

New Songs On Sunday

 

I haven't found many new songs this week that are worth talking about. What has fascinated me, however, is the debut album by Nick Höppner, owner of the Ostgut Ton label and Berlin Berghain DJ and Alex Kassian. The two met during the pandemic and developed plans for an album, which has now been released under the name H.A.R.D.

It is an album away from their club activities and convinces with songs that have clear references to krautrock, ambient and guitar-driven music. With its slowly building and effects-laden dreamscape, Circles could be from the better days of Tangerine Dream.

On No Harm, the two manage to approach the sound of Neu! and Can without it becoming embarrassing for them. The whole album is actually recommended, but will be overlooked by the masses

Monday's Long Song

 

Last Friday the sad news arrived that Damo Suzuki died at the age of 74. He was Can's lead singer on three albums. Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay detected him as a street musician in Cologne and inveted him for a gig at the same evening. His trademark was a special kind of psychedelic singing between whispering and singing. 

Rest in peace Damo

Can - Oh Yeah

Monday's Long Song

 

Another obscure sound for this series. Tolerance was a short living band from Japan in the late 70's. Formed by Junko Tange and Masami Yoshikawa in Tokyo to make only two albums. Both are re-released during the last days. They made a sound that was inspired by German bands like Neu!, Can and Amon Düül and the free music theories of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Not everything by them is easy to listen but Pulse Static (Tranquilla) is outstanding because the combine motorik rhythms from a drum machine with analog instruments to something I would name pre-techno because this kind of music was made three decades later by European electronic artists.

Violet Drive

Kerala Dust is a band formed in London in 2016 and now living and producing in Berlin. As they said about themself, they grew up with the sound of Tom Waits, Can and Velvet Underground you can hear references to them in their sound. They added to their rhythmic sound a bit of Talking Heads and dancefloor and you have a melange that is incredible. They released their last album earlier this year but I forgot to listen to it. But now I found the time to enjoy their unique kind of music. 

 

Pendo

 

During the last years I featured Kombynat Robotron, a four piece freaked-out krautrock band from Kiel ´, Germany because they made a very unique spaced out recordings. I really love their songs because they make so beautiful retro sounds like less other artists in their genre. Atmospheric guitars on a free and solid Can inspired basement can take you to a short trip into another galaxy of sound. This one is from a lockdown-session month ago and it seems fresher than many other new releases I heard during the last months.

Losing My Edge

 

James Murphy released as LCD Soundsystem 20 years ago an epic dancefloor record with Losing My Edge their first single and I have to say it overwhelmed me when I first listened to it. It was an almost eight minute long tour de force of dance beats trying to educate his influences and a brief history of his own musical education. This song is always an inspiration to me what happened from the early Can to nowadays music. A monument is music for me.

LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge

Monday's Long Song

 

Sonic Youth announced the release of In/Out/In in March this year. It a collection of five songs recorded in the first ten years of this century. As an appetizer they released In & Out a song they recorded during a soundcheck in 2010 and in their home in Hoboken. The song subtly resembles Can playing in a cave, with dripping stalactites from Kim's wordless buzzing tone. This song shows the potential they had before they have dissolved one year later. A little masterpiece and already at the beginning of the year a highlight.

Monday's Long Song

 

Irmin Schmidt, the last living member of Can is going to release lost live recordings from Can during the next months. The first one he released was a full concert from 1975 in Stuttgart. I remember that some older friends would like to take me to this concert but my parents didn't allowed because it took place in the middle of the week. And now I am able to listen what I missed. Can moved at this evening away from their early works and drifted into long and inspired jams. The quality is more than acceptable for a better bootleg and shows the magic of their sound. Excellent stuff and still worth to listen even after almost 50 years. 

Woods

 It was in 1977 when Michael Rother released his first album Flammende Herzen a masterpiece in late krautrock inspired guitar masterpiece. It is an all time favorite of mine since I heard it the first time and it was the first idea that came to my mind when I listened to Hans Hjelm's first solo album Factory Reset a few days ago. Hjelm is probably known as the main guitar player by Stockholm's finest psychedelic band Kungens Män. Educated to play a jazz guitar in the 90's in North Texas he played all instruments except drums on this album and it surprised me massive because I didn't expected to hear this kind of music again. Free formed sparkling guitar chords with reminiscenses to Can and psych-rock over a floor of warm synths is what this instrumental album makes so much different to many other. This could be a classic in others times.

Ardor

 

Another find during the last days was Flying Moon In Space a band based in Leipzig, Germany. Known as a live band with sprawling improvisations it seems that they squeezed their music in more strictly forms. Their references spread from Can to Neu! and from Brian Eno to Godspeed You! Black Emperor and they create a new  psychedelic and spacey sound. I am enthused about it and looking forward to the release of their album

Monday's Long Song

Rockpalast was the first TV-show presenting live music by popular bands. First only on radio and later in their highest times live on Saturday evening all over Europe. One of the first bands played live for them was Can in November 1970. This concert was released a few months ago and it shows how great the band could be on stage.

Can - Paperhouse (Live Soest November 1970)

V.II

El Paraiso is the record label that gave us Kanaan I featured last Monday and one of that holds up the flag of psychedelic rock. Another band from this label that is worth to be featured is Papir, a three-piece band from Copenhagen, Denmark and active since a few years. Based on a powerful drum sound they create instrumental journeys in psychedelic sounds with hypnotic grooves they probably learned by Can to develop into powerful fuzzy psychedelic guitar. Their melodic side is borrowed by Michael Rother. This is music that don't need vocals because you can lose yourself in this sound. Their mannirism is that their albums and songs has no names because they only use roman numerals instead.

Papir - V.II

Forgotten Krautrock

The creative power of the German Krautrock scene was immense. Many artist of this era got their achievement from Great Britain first were they were named as a massive influence to many bands. A lot of albums from the Krautrock era were classics and others are forgotten. In 1979 Dieter Moebius, one of the most important protagonists of avant-garde electronic music in Germany and former part of Cluster and Harmonia released his first of three collaborations with legendary sound engineer of German Underground Conny Plank. Rastakraut Pasta is the result of a playground when musicians combine diverse elements of Krautrock, some avant-garde pop, new German electronica with even sporadic echoes of reggae. The results are songs dominated by great dubby bass-lines mostly played by Can's Holger Czukay, straight drums and the electronic excursions of Moebius. Never heard like this before and after.

Moebius & Plank - Two Oldtimers
Moebius & Plank - Feedback 66
Moebius & Plank - Rastakraut Pasta

Infinity Of Now

A few weeks ago a friend of mine recommended The Heliocentrics new album Infinity Of Now to me. I was not sure if it was my cup of tea and forgot about it. The recent days I remembered his words and I found the time to check this album out. And I have to admit that it is a superb album. The Heliocentrics are a London based jazz collective playing together for more than a decade and their sound is very unique. Their musical cosmos spreads from the asymmetric sound of Sun Ra over to Pierre Henry's Gong, Can and reals psychedelic sounds. Every song is different to the others. Hanging By A Tread is dominated by Afro-Latin drums, a psychedelic blues guitar, a steamy organ on a funk bass line.

 
People Wake Up! is an almost 10 minutes long beast and one of the most tripped-out songs I listened to the last months. An electric guitar that reminds to Keith Levine circa at PIL's Metal Box era, a doom dubby bassline, sirens, flute and strings and other psych effect makes this song outstanding.

Purchased Because Of The Cover

In 1973 Roxy Music released their second album For Your Pleasure and another album with a great artwork. As known from their first album another model on the cover. What makes this cover special was the artwork with Brian Ferry's then girlfriend Amanda Lear in front of a skyline at night with a black panther at the leach. I knew Roxy Music from their debut and I bought this album without listening to one song. The music is different to their debut and only Do The Strand is like their first successful appearance. Now they had more time and equipment to create a sound that was included by Can and the slower songs are radical new and far away what they called a song in these days.

Roxy Music - Do The Strand
Roxy Music - The Bogus Man
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure

Until The Lights Go Out

During the last years more and more bands from Italy showed up with new and fresh material mostly in the category of psychedelic music. One of those is Julie's Haircut from Reggia Romana. They released their ninth album a few weeks ago and it is very good and don't have to hide behind productions from other countries ruling this genre. Their music is spread between Mercury Rev and Spiritualized one one side and Can and JAMC on the other. It is great to hear that they make a very true and unique sound of their influences. Great songs with a motorik beat and some feedbacks make this record worth playing.