Psychedelia & Kraut / Krautrock

After his adventure with My Solid Ground, Ingo Werner formed Baba Yaga. Named after the Slavic folklore character his new adventure seemed to be more a solo project. On this second LP Ingo Werner chose to join forces with santur, sitar, tabla player Nemat Darman, an Iranian musician who also contributed congas, cymbal, gong, timpani, drums and vibraphone, and record the whole album as a duo. Werner would play EMS, Davoli and Solina-string synthesizer, clavinet, electric piano and grand piano, be…

After his adventure with My Solid Ground, Ingo Werner formed Baba Yaga. Named after the Slavic folklore character his new adventure seemed to be more a solo project (he plays electric piano, piano, mellotron, synthesizer, organ, clavinet, bassoon and gong, besides being the composer of the music), but it is made with the cooperation of other musicians - most notably Bernd Weidmann who, in addition to singing and playing bass also contibuted with some lyrics. Other musicians in the recording are …

Nine-CD box version. Cluster's influence on the development of electronic music cannot be overstated. The original trio of Conrad Schnitzler, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, and Dieter Moebius released two seminal albums as Kluster before Roedelius and Moebius replaced the "K" with a "C" and continued as a duo. They produced eight albums in their most innovative period between 1971 and 1981, two of them together with Brian Eno. Cluster anticipated much of what would later emerge in such varied style…

Popol Vuh’s batch of Werner Herzog soundtracks receive a “definitive” vinyl reissue thanks to Wah Wah, that provide fresh pressings of a number of out-of-print albums from the kosmische icons. start our second series of Popol Vuh reissues with the fantastic Das Hohelied Salomos, which takes it over from where Einsjäger Und Siebenjäger left it. It features the classic trio of Florian Fricke, Daniel Fichelscher and Djong Yun, plus the help of Amon Düül's Al Gromer. The theme of the album is t…

All but unknown to most but the most hardcore Can fanatics, 1978's Out of Reach is one of the group's rarest albums. This is due in large part to the fact that bassist Holger Czukay left the band before the recording sessions, and drummer Jaki Liebezeit has a greatly reduced role, leaving most of the rhythm duties to percussionist-come-lately Reebop Kwaku Baah. As on the group's proper swan song, 1977's Saw Delight, new bassist Rosko Gee largely leads the group, and his jazz-inflected playing is…

1977's Saw Delight is the German progressive group's farewell. Percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah and bassist Rosko Gee from a late-era lineup of Traffic to add a sort of Afro-Cuban jazz feel to their sound. Similarly, Rosko Gee's handling of the bass duties (which he performs superbly throughout, adding an almost Mingus-like rhythmic intensity to even the loosest songs) frees Holger Czukay to add electronics and sound effects to the proceedings. The opening "Don't Say No" recalls the controlled fu…

The second of Can's three Virgin albums, 1976's Flow Motion, is a divisive record in the group's canon. It was their most commercially successful album (the opening track, "I Want More," was released as a single in the U.K. and actually charted, thanks to its smoothly percolating near-disco groove, which makes it resemble a late-period Roxy Music hit), but many fans dismiss it as the group's feint toward commercial success. That fluke hit aside, the charge doesn't really hold water. There's a ne…

If you got a quid for each time Can were referenced as influencing a given band or artist, we'd have taken the Bank Of England down years ago. Remastered to a clarity that will come as a shock to those who've been suffering the original cd releases, 1975's 'Landed' is notable for marking the return to Can's debut line-up (barring Malcolm Mooney of course), following the love-sick Damo Suzuki's departure. Their 7th full-length release, 'Landed' also saw the band getting their mitts on a 16 track …

Brothers Manfred and Wolfgang Schunke were pioneers of the Kunstkopf Stereophonie (artificial head, dummy head) binaural recording system. This recording technique was created in the Technical University of Berlin in 1974 with the aim to reproduce real stereo sound as the human ears perceive it. Human ears listen to the sounds in a concrete way that is affected not only by the sound frequencies themselves but also by the position of the listener in respect to the different sound sources. The Sch…

Kluster was a short-lived project of three musicians/artists/performers: Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Konrad Schnitzler. They recorded two albums in 1970, unprecedented in their experimental radicalism. Chaotic, apocalyptic (noise) improvisations, a sound later termed industrial music. Kluster disbanded as Moebius and Roedelius found the financial risk of bringing out a third album too daunting. Schnitzler decided to go ahead on his own, releasing the material they had recorded tog…

2012 gatefold, colored-vinyl reissue of one of the most sophisticated and respectable releases in the AMT canon; originally released by Eclipse in 2000. "The sprawling 40 minute title track is based on an Occitanian folk tune, and the unearthly acoustic opening with its overtone singing sounds like something that might have made its way onto a Werner Herzog soundtrack. Indeed, once the guitars come in and the band stoke up their mighty drone, the effect is that of an amped up Popul Vuh, the Germ…

Unlimited Edition is a compilation album by CAN. The album collects unreleased music from throughout the band's history from 1968 until 1976, and both the band's major singers, Damo Suzuki and Malcolm Mooney.   Composed, written and produced by CAN. Recording by Holger Czukay & René Tinner at CAN Studio, Weilerswist, Germany.

LP version. Zwei Osterei is the second half of a recording session which took place on a single day in November 1970. Klopfzeichen is the first part. Yet the uncompromising Zwei Osterei surpasses the earlier Klopfzeichen album by some distance in terms of its harsh noisiness and near brutal sonic attacks. Everything that was left of the revolutionary verve of the late 1960s seems to have been distilled into this music with a burning glass: aesthetic destruction to liberate the mind and ears for …

A Milestone! Heavyweight 8LP boxset with four gatefold/ double album jackets including liner notes by Conrad Schnitzler, plus official, individually numbered certificate of ownership, housed in a huge heavyweight canvas box and limited to 500 copies... "The Ensemble Kluster was found by Conrad Schnitzler in 1969. It can be considered as one of the most radical and influencial german progressive, avantgarde bands. Its music-approach and playing-techniques are related to Stockhausen and the group …

First legit reissue of this debut album from 1970, predating their most commonly known Saat album from 1972. "Emtidi are best remembered nowadays for their classic album Saat, but prior to that release, the duo formed by Maik Hirschfeldt and Dolly Holmes had already released a marvelous LP. This superb debut album is filled with charming folk-oriented material. 6, 7 and 12 string acoustic guitars and beautiful flute arrangements surround the lovely female/male duet voices of Hirschfeldt and…

Often described as one the oddities in the Ohr catalogue, Sturmischer Himmel supposed the vinyl debut of Anima, the radical free-music duo of sculptor Paul Fuchs and her wife Limpe Fuchs. Recorded at a "thousand year cottage on a windy hill" and opening with ambience recording of wind and sheeps, the album is an organic collection of improvised atonal pieces ranging from the atmospheric to the wild with much use use of screaming, horns, percussions, ambience recordings, wordless vocals and all k…

Probably the rawest krautrock release. Malcolm Mooney's singing is trance inducing yet soulful, keeping the songs together when everyone else seems to freak out. Nineteen Century Man an it's over the top distortion, combined with the 'Inner Space' mantra, and it's half a minute jazz impromptu prelude Pnoom, push the listener into bliss every time.

CD reissue of the first Can album, originally issued in 1969. "Can's debut is the only full-length, proper release to feature original vocalist Malcolm Mooney, whose free-form ranting is matched by a raw, aggressive dynamic unlike anything else in the group's canon; driving, dissonant songs like the extraordinary 'Father Cannot Yell' and 'Outside My Door' even owe a rather surprising debt to psychedelia and garage rock. More indicative of things to come is the closer 'Yoo Doo Right,' a 20-minute…

An uneasy truce had been thrashed out by the warring factions of Can by the time they came to record 'Future Days' in 1972, yet it is the underlying musical tension that makes this album such a thrilling part of their cannon... With Damo Suzuki's ethereal vocals continuously juxtaposed by Michael Karoli's fraught guitars and Holger Czulkay's invasive bass, the remastered versions of 'Spray' and 'Bel Air' are numbly visceral in that trademark Can way, convincing you that the full spectrum of cont…

2007 remastered release. The group's fourth album, from 1972, originally issued by United Artists. "The follow-up to Tago Mago is only lesser in terms of being shorter; otherwise the Can collective delivers its expected musical recombination act with the usual power and ability. Liebezeit, at once minimalist and utterly funky, provides another base of key beat action for everyone to go off on -- from the buried, lengthy solos by Karoli on 'Pinch' to the rhythm box/keyboard action on 'Spoon'…

With Suzuki departed, vocal responsibilities were now split between Michael Karoli and Irmin Schmidt. Wisely, neither try to clone Mooney or Suzuki, instead aiming for their own low-key way around things. The guitarist half speaks/half whispers his lines on the opening groover, "Dizzy Dizzy," while on "Come Sta, La Luna" Schmidt uses a higher pitch that is mostly buried in the background. Holger Czukay sounds like he's throwing in some odd movie samples on that particular track, though perhaps i…

The first album by Guru Guru in 1970 originally released on the Ohr label. Featuring Mani Neumeier (Dr.), Ax Genrich (G) and Uli Trepte (B). Historical masterpiece! Reissued with elaborate miniature paper sleeve of the original LP (day-glow + trait ink print, coated gatefold sleeve). 2008 digital remaster version, limited to 1,000 copies.

Neu! were formed by Kraftwerk members Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger who took the sparse early Kraftwerk electronic sound and utilized many effects like lock-groove rhythms and minimalist melodies currently used by today's electronic artists. Neu! created a new kind of rhythm that bridged the gap between rock n roll's syncopation and dance music's four-to-the-floor beats. Stereolab's Tim Gane says "Neu!'s longer tracks are far closer to the future of house and techno than guitar rock." Neu!'s m…

The second and the last album by Annexus Quam originally released in 1972 on the Ohr label. Sound engineer: Dieter Dierks. Reissue with elaborate miniature paper sleeve of the original LP (full color print, coated sleeve). 2008 digital remaster version, limited to 1,000 copies!After the release of their debut album Osmose and much playing in jazz festivals, Annexus Quam fronted some personnel changes and settled down to a quintet. The band was now Hans Kämper (trombone, Spanish guitar, flute…

Recorded in Berlin, 11/14/74 as their "final reunion" a loose jamming session featuring various members of the groups' different periods: Christoph Franke, Michael Hoenig, Lutz Ulbrich, etc. Like many acts that suffer from sounding a bit stiff in the studio, the live experience is the way to hear `em let their hair down and show how rock music can be dangerous in a way that other musical genres are often not. Trad Gras Och Stenar are another example of a band far more visceral and exciting…

Truly exxential! The ultimate collection from the legendary inventors of krautrock. This 5 CD set contains ALL Faust's early classic albums, a John Peel session, and unreleased early material. The 40 page booklet is stuffed with unpublished photos, stills from Super 8 footage from the famous studio at Wumme, and revealing interviews with many of the key players in the Faust story. CDs: Faust (the famous clear first album), So Far (the famous black second album), The Faust Tapes (for the first ti…

Long out of print. Buried deep in time, this obscure artifact is something of a revelation. No group information was ever given, and no production date or location is indicated, however, it would seem that this record and the "Brast Burn" LP (also reissued by Paradigm) are both by the same group of Japanese nutters and that they were both recorded in the mid seventies in Japan. But all you really need to know is that it is stone cold fantastic, a wild and manic trip full to the brim with hypnoti…