krautrock

Having no real peers musically can either render a band as some sort of towering, popular success or relegate it to a non-entity. Can isn’t really either, but a bit of both.

There were groups that attempted to work out some of the same musical concepts that the German based ensemble approached – thus the English speaking nations referring to whatever was going on over there as krautrock. But Can’s amalgam of minimalism, psychedelia, strangled poetry and free improv had no peers. Surely, Faust is thought of in the same breath – as well it should be. That group, though, seems to have stumbled upon its sound as opposed to subtly changing over time and arriving at a startling monument to creativity in the form of something like Tago Mago. Read more

The myth surrounding Faust is only superseded by the wash of mystery that convolutes any attempt to distill what was actually going on in New York City’s underground, experimental music scene during the ‘60s. Part of the problem is due to the fact that everyone wants to recall their own greatness and inventiveness. That’s all well and good, but I’d be interested to know how LaMonte Young, John Cale and Tony Conrad got along together.

With those three personalities kicking around – and the latter two eventually working/hanging out with Lou Reed in various capacities – the landscape from whence the Velvet Underground sprung wasn’t as flat, dark and empty as some would be led to believe. Read more

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

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