Psych /
Solo
5CD Box Edition. When it comes to the world of Krautrock, Michael Rother stands as a true legend. Besides once being in an early rendition of Kraftwerk, the German music hero helped lead celebrated group's Neu! and Harmonia, with the latter even once recording an entire collaborative album with ambient great Brian Eno. But besides this lengthy list of accomplishments, Rother also has released a long series of solo albums — and it's those works are now celebrated with an expansive new box set. Th…
North Atlantic Raven
Previously unreleased album by German trio Sand, composed and recorded in 1973, '75, and '76. The once-croaking raven now flies silently over the ocean, higher and higher. Where are you rolling, sun-ball, and why don't you fall? The sandy Golem crumbled into dust. His brave struggle against the mighty forces of darkness soon dissolved in voiceless space. There is something magical and inexplicable in creation, and Sand absolutely manifest these mysterious phenomena. Storytellers, musicians, sham…
Nachtfalter
Günter Schickert's debut Samtvogel (1975) was one of the most significant guitar albums of the krautrock era. Points of comparison from today's perspective are Syd Barrett or Pink Floyd's more adventurous early recordings. Schickert's follow-up, Überfällig (1980) was released on the legendary Sky label. Once again a milestone recording, it showcased Schickert's hypnotic echo guitar which developed into one of the hallmarks of the krautrock sound. Schickert's new album Nachtfalter, translating as…
Last Wave
LP version. Bureau B presents a reissue of Bernard Xolotl's fifth album Last Wave, originally released only on cassette in 1982. This is French electronic music from California. He named himself after the Aztec god of lightning and death; his music is influenced by the Berlin school of electronic music. As a teen, Xolotl (b. 1951) was introduced to electronic music through the works of Musique Concrete composers like Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer, although he found the early recordings of Pi…
Live In Koeln Sartory Saal 1975
Featuring two tracks from the previous year’s Autobahn including an epic sidelong rendition of the title cut this 1975 live set from Koeln is one of the finest of the legendary Kraftwerk group’s career. Rounded out by “Ruckzuck”, the first track from the very first Kraftwerk record from 1970, this beautiful set of brilliant motorik jams is crucial for any fan of krautrock and the work of Ralf and Florian.
Tanz Der Lemminge
There aren't many double art-rock albums from the early '70s that have stood the test of time, but then again, there aren't many albums like Tanz, and there certainly aren't many groups like Amon Düül II. While exact agreement over which of their classic albums is the absolute standout may never be reached, in terms of ambition combined with good musicianship and good humor, the group's third album, is probably the best candidate still. The musical emphasis is more on expansive arrangements and …
Lemmingmania
Originally released in 1974, 'Lemmingmania' is a compilation made up of, mostly rare AD II singles. Vocalist Renate Knaup's vocals are astounding, especially when guitarist Chris Karrer jumps in and shares the vocal duties with her. Brings to mind [sort of] like Germany's reply to Jefferson Airplane
Wolf City
Distilling the insane sprawl of the "Yeti" and "Tanz" into a more concise, song-based affair, Amon Duul refine their sound without watering it down and turn out one of their best albums (they began this process on the previous quite good in its own right transitional album "Carnival In Babylon". The new formula is clear from the opening bars of "Surrounded By The Stars". Chugging guitars build to ecstatic organ swells. The first side continues in solid form with the appropriately bubbly "Green B…
Kollektiv
Here are one of the true hidden gems to come out of the 70's German underground scene. Kollektiv produced an incomparable, unmistakeable sound with echoes of Organisation, Neu and early Kraftwerk: spacey but melodic, elevated yet rocking, innovative: progressive in the best sense, consequent in the realisation of intent, forging new musical territory without denying its roots. Electronically alienated by echo, ring modulators, octavoice, vibrators and sound filters, their music truly sounds like…
The Pink Years Albums: 1970-1973
Esoteric Recordings Reactive label is pleased to announce the release of a newly re-mastered 4 CD clamshell boxed set which gathers together the first four legendary albums by Tangerine Dream, originally released on the Ohr label in Germany between 1970 and 1973, known by fans as “The Pink Years” albums.“Electronic Meditation” was recorded in Berlin in October 1969 and featured the first Tangerine Dream line-up of Edgar Froese (guitars, organ, tapes, sound effects), Klaus Schulze (drums, percuss…
Sukram Gurk
'Sukram Gurk' was the title chosen for the Siloah second LP. It was the name of Markus Krug spelled backwards. Markus' name was chosen because it was the one that sounded better phonetically to the ears of the trio. The sound of the album takes it all one step further, turning into an electric storm, yet retaining the free psychedelic improvisation feel of its predecessor. The Wah Wah reissue is made in cooperation with Thom Argauer family, it has been cut from the original master tapes, has ori…
Siloah
Coming out of the boiling Munich scene of the sixties that also gave us the original Amon Düül (Thom Argauer had played in a dixieland band with Chris Karrer in the late 60s, actually), Siloah are one of the best kept secrets of the krautrock production. Siloah had a hard core including Thom Argauer, Manuela von Perfall, Heinrich 'Tiny' Stricker and Wolfgang Görner, plus a host of guests coming and going, everybody was free to join and play at any time, guest members often joining from the Baums…
Zeit
Sold out at the label, few copies in stock. Originally released in 1972, Zeit would be Tangerine Dream's third full length album, and the first to feature the main trio of Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann, and Chris Fanke. The German electronic group pioneered the entire dark ambient genre with this work, whose title translates to "time," and was based on the philosophy that "time was in fact motionless and only existed in our own minds." Also worth noting is that Popol Vuh's Florian Fricke plays Moo…
Revival II - The Electronic Tapes 1979-1982
Some artists like Cluster, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze have become quite popular and synonymous with the Kosmische Electronic music that rode the wave alongside the Krautrock explosion, but also nestled within the explosion of creative electronic music emerging from Germany in the early 70s, others have been left in the vaults of obscurity and discovered only by those jumping into their time capsules and searching high and low for some of the less heard acts. And obscure does not mean for …
The Faust Tapes
Faust stand among the most influential creative forces to have emerged from Germany in the late '60s and early '70s. Along with Can, Agitation Free, Neu! and others, they rejected the Anglo-American norms of rock 'n' roll to start a back-to-basics and uniquely Teutonic revolution in sound – later dubbed by the UK press with the semi-derogatory term "krautrock." They would reach near-mythical status through a series of classic albums recorded between 1970 and 1973 at their secluded Wümme studio.A…
Thrice Mice!
This solely album of Hamburg's six piece is a crossover of progressive- and jazz rock, notably with influences as wide-ranging as Blodwyn Pig and Curved Air. Long jammings by highly talented musicians, all blending into an unique sound with the distinct spirit of krautrock. Comes with insert including band story and rare photos.
Solar Music - Live
Remastered reissue of German prog rock band Grobschnitt's 1978 live
masterpiece "Solar Music-Live" is without a doubt one of the most intense, and downright mindblowing German Acid Krautrock live
album of the 70s. Ranging from blistering guitar solos to intricate
jazz patterns weaved into subtle spacey keyboard dynamics coupled with
vocals that range from beautiful melody to monstrous freak out vocals
straight from the void, "Solar Music-Live" has everything
acidhead/space rock fans, prog…
Night Works
"This disc offers the only known recording of the first version of Gila, a group that gigged constantly to build a considerable reputation as a formidable live act. Taken from a live Cologne radio broadcast from February 26, 1972 (a few months before the group's demise), Night Works is all that one could hope for, long space rock acid jamming and much better fidelity than one would get from a recording by an audience member. Swirling organ tones and acid guitar burnouts surge out of the throbbin…
Close encounter with their third one
Superb live recordings of a heavily underrated early '70s band from Germany, playing a sophisticated style of progressive krautedelic jazz-rock, mostly instrumental. Eiliff's guitarist (and sitar playr) Houschäng Nejadpour would later become part of an embryonic line-up of Kraftwerk. This LP is pressed in an edition of 1.000 copies.
Monster Movie
Exact LP repro edition of The Can iconic hi-energy debut LP, privately self released on their own Music Factory imprint in 1969. A grey-area edition of this stone classic. "Though Monster Movie was the first full-length album in what would become a sprawling and often genre-defining discography, Can were on a level well ahead of the curve even in their most formative days. Recorded and released in 1969, Monster Movie bears many of the trademarks that Can would explore as they went on, as well as…