Alternative Music Talk

Ahh, the familiar, yet expansive, confines of krautrock. A genre where it seems everyone had a hand in everyone’s recordings. It’s boss, for the most part with some latter ‘70s stuff getting into uncomfortable and cheesy territory – either too proggy or simply electronic. But the late ‘60s and early portion of the ‘70s was given over to music that was pretty closely tied to American and British psychedelia in addition to having some composerly concepts tossed in. And while the vast majority of Tangerine Dream’s catalog is just a bit short of abhorrent to me, it’s first album, entitled Electronic Meditation, seems like a balance of krautrock’s older, more traditional tendencies with the burgeoning electronica that would soon decimate the genre. Read more

Being born to an acclaimed local teacher and musician who would eventually become a player in the court of the Maharaja probably had at least a little to do with the fact that Ali Akbar Khan become one of the most well known proponents if Indian classical music in the world. Watching his father, and witnessing the respect that he no doubt garnered, Khan would begin vocal training at a young age. And after moving through a series of different instruments, including percussion, he decided that he was most comfortable on the sarod – a string instrument mostly used in Northern Indian classical music. Read more

Traversing the world’s ignored, forgotten and misplaced hard rock bands from the ‘60s and ‘70s reveals how much trash there was sitting around. I can’t even comprehend how all of these guys knew enough bass players and drummers to get this all together. Despite that, occasionally stumbling upon anything that possesses a bit of promise ends up being the highlight of my LCD lit day and night. Having to venture to Sweden, though, seems like a long haul to figure out what’s what with a band called Krokodil. Read more

The future of Germanic rock and the world’s predilection for more experimental leaning combos might be drastically different if not for Ohr label honcho, Rolf Ulrich Kaiser and his sometimes blatantly duplicitous business dealings. After watching the continuation of some other worldly and problematic conduct, Bruno Wendel and Gunter Korber left Ohr to found Brain Records in 1971. While relatively unknown to the passing enthusiast, Brain would go on to release genre defining work by the likes of Neu!, Klaus Schulze, Guru Guru and some other folks. And while some of those efforts probably have ended up being relegated to a life of obscurity, a few have found a new light in this digital age. Read more

Combing some of the backing ideologies that make up the A Frames as well as Climax Golden Twins, the resulting AFCGT is simply well thought out noise. Maybe thought out isn’t the right phrase - this is all guttural, responsive and chaotic. But some of the changes – in meter and key – that the band works out are clearly based on premeditated concepts. What the group does between those shifts, though, might not fit neatly into any sort of traditional notion of song or song craft. Regardless of that, though, what the band cranks out, while not danceable in any situation does have an odd lilting rhythm to it. Read more

Noise into a breakdown...

The ballooning spate of hard rock and slight psych groups at the end of the ‘60s and into the ‘70s yielded such a huge catalog of useless dreck that it, often times, isn’t really worth the time to wade through the resultant products. It’s not the fact that these folks weren’t talented, but how many variations on the James Gang do you need? Probably none. But that Cleveland band, while probably only impacting the world at large by giving us Joe Walsh was pretty big in its home town. So big, in fact, that they were able to drag a few other Northeastern Ohio acts along to the national stage. One of these groups was the Damnation of Adam Blessing. Read more

Figuring out which kraut related bands one should delve into is never an easy decision. It is, however, made a bit easier if one’s inclinations towards the use of electronics and synthesizers, in general, isn’t too strong. That being said, there are countless bands to be ignored if the electro-rock thing isn’t up one’s alley. And for that very reason, I ignored Popol Vuh for a pretty long time. Any write up of the group – invariably led by pianist and all around arranger Florian Fricke – gets into his pioneering use of electronics. And while that doesn’t really do it for me, not all of the work in the pretty expansive Popol Vuh catalog is overwhelmed by analog synths and the like. Read more

Despite the fact that these guys have more make up on than your grandma, they're still pretty decent. I do wonder, though, how many of 'em are still alive.

Coming of age at roughly the same time as some of those proto punkers in England, Philip Charles Lithman found himself so in love with the British take on electric blues, he snagged a guitar and tried to come up with something on his own. At the age of twenty two, Lithman would make his way across Atlantic to San Francisco,though. And of all the people he could have in fact come into contact with during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Lithman met a few guys who would eventually become the Residents. Since most write ups of this guitarist usually veer towards some history of that weirdo group, I’ll refrain. But the connection made upon that initial meeting would probably be the most important relationship in Lithman’s career. Read more