At Left, German sauerkraut- fittingly, in a Can.
Episode 14 of Radio Anthrocide explored the wonders of German hippiedom, perhaps the freest and most deliberately archaic Progressive "scene" ever mounted anywhere; with epic jams and scads of drugs and seemingly everything hinging on how good a groove the drummer and bassist could bring off...Krautrock really is "music for your mind", and a fine and lengthy trip Saturday night was, if I may say so myself.
The show started- fittingly, cacophonously- in mid-frenzied guitar solo with The Can plunging headlong into my favorite song of theirs, "Mother Sky". This track is from the lesser-known Soundtracks album, and was actually produced for Skolimowsky's total bummer of a coming-of-age film Deep End. You'll have to see the movie for insight about what I'm talking about, but it doesn't fit the joyous, rambunctious insanity that The Can brought to their music, some of the most beat-friendly and groove-thick avant-rock you'll ever hear. It's best to see The Can in their natural element, that is playing live; check this video out here and behold the magic. I love everything about them here, but especially the ridiculous precision of Jaki on the drum kit and the frenzy of Damo leading the festivities; the girl acking the has pipe towards the end of the video is also worth the price of admission on this one, IMHO.
We heard from lots of different kinds of Krautrockers- Deuter, who followed The Can, may have gone on to some truly reprehensible New Age nonsense, but his first two albums- and especially D from which tonight's track was taken- are in the best spirit of the "Kosmiche" music Ohr Records' founder Rolf Kaiser was going for with his idea of a peculiarly "German" type of Acid Rock, and not the homogenized American-sounds being foisted upon the world even then (culminating, many years later, in David Hasselhoff becoming a major music star in the country; of course, this is also the country that came up with Richard Clayderman all by itself, so maybe it's unfair to blame us for this catastrophe). Keeping with that, it might be worth discussing Walter Wegmuller's truly epic album Tarot, from which we heard "Der Narr" and "Der Magier" ("The Fool" and "The Magician", respecitvely). A freakish, mind-bending incredibly-vast project that came complete with a full deck of Tarot cards designed by Wegmuller himself in the original double-LP vinyl package, this is almost a who's-who of Kosmische musicians playing with the Swiss artist Wegmuller, who didn't even actually play any instruments (or even "sing" very much): Manuel Gottsching of Ash Ra Temple and Klaus Schulze of...a lot of bands are the most recognizable names, but it was clear that if Wegmuller wanted to make some crazy album about the Tarot deck, he was going to be supplied with the best Kosmische musicians to get the job done right.
There is so much that could be said about this program, but it would be criminal not to mention Grobschnitt's contribution, the middle three sections to their absolutely epic 57-minute guitar jam, Solar Music: Live. Truly one of the most awe-inspiring live albums ever recorded, Stefan Danielak and Gerd Kuhn trade guitar parts for the better part of an hour, and only rarely do things bog down or get momentarily boring. Not wanting to eat up a full one-fourth of the show playing one extended track, I picked the three most rocking middle parts and think that was sufficient, however...I strongly encourage you to go out and find- and listen to- the entire magnum opus. This is truly an exhausting display of technical proficiency and improvisation not likely to ever be heard again.
The usual obscurities were featured, including an ex-Eloy members one-and-doner called Ego On The Rocks, with a terrifically abstruse little number called "Un(all)gemeine Besterzung", which seems to have no translation possible to English. I was particularly thrilled, however, to bring listeners the super-rare sounds of Ejwuusl Wessahqqan, which was basically four German students/musicians who were locked in the basement of a house in Munich sometime in 1974, given prodigious amounts of drug supplies, and told to improvise some music. Lots was made, and what I consider to be one of the "freest" albums ever made was the self-titled (and lone release) from this splendid bunch of German young people. In many ways, this is the "ultimate" or certainly most "pure" Krautrock experience, and even though it often drags and is certainly not fit for anyone not truly into the Krautrock demi-monde, this is an album I often fall back on when there simply is too much "normal" music in my transom for the day.
Anyway, that's all for this week and I will see you- as always- at 8pm PST on Cascade Community Radio, this week with the (promised) and dread...FUSION SHOW!!! Be there and be REAL square this week, baby! - TKR
Setlist For Radio Anthrocide#14 Die Krautrock Zeigen
1) The Can- "Mother Sky"
2) Deuter- "Babylon"
3) Electric Sandwich- "China"
4) Cluster- "Hollywood"
5) Neu!- "Negativland"
6) Grobschnitt- "Solar Music II"/"Muhlheim Special"/"Otto Pankrock"
7) Walter Wegmuller- "Der Narr"/"Derr Magier"
8) Dzyan- "Back To Where We Come From"
9) Gaa- "Uranus"
10) Ash Ra Tempel- "Amboss"
11) Gonter Schikert- "Arabische Nacht"
12) Kraftwerk- "Klingklang"
13) Faust- "BBC 1.3.73"
14) Birth Control- "Gamma Ray" (Recorded live, FRG Television, 1973)
15) Ego On The Rocks- "Un(all)gemeine Besterzung"
16) Achim Reichel & Machines- "Das Echo der Zeit"
17) Ejwuusl Wessahqqan- "Die Orangefarbene Wuste Sudwetlich Von Ignarh"
18) Virus- "Revelation"
19) Guru Guru- "Der Elektrolurch"
20) Erlkoenig- "Thoughts"
No comments:
Post a Comment