Klaus Schulze, German Genius and Hero: An Early Work Primer

Today I just want to take a moment to talk about one of my musical heroes, Klaus Schulze. For most music nerds, a mere visit to his Wikipedia Page is enough to stop you in your tracks and fall on your knees. Here are some highlights from his early career: Started Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese, founding member of Ash Ra Tempel (the first record from them being my ultimate kraut rock record) with Manuel Gottsching, the father of techno, created over sixty albums over five decades, most of which are pretty good, several of which are considered ambient masterpieces. This resume makes my head spin.

Anyway, I reviewed my favorite of his solo records, Mirage, a few years ago, so I just want to post links to some of my other favorites from him. This is simply a primer to his early work, everything after is hit or miss, as anyone would be over fifty years of making music. I hope you take the time to really dig in. It pays off!

From his debut album, Irrlicht, 1972:



From Cyborg, 1973:



From Blackdance, 1974:



From Picture Music, 1975:





From Timewind, 1975:





From Moondawn, 1976:

 



From the soundtrack to Body Love, 1977:



From Mirage, 1977:

GNOD - Chaudeland (Rocket Recordings,2011)

One of the most relevant groups of the past decade, the collective GNOD was formed in Manchester around 2006. The rotating cast makes predominantly live music, recording in single takes with raw production techniques. A meaningful improvisational aspect is rarely successful these days, and is a large part of their appeal. They are extremely prolific, releasing many singles, albums, cdr's and splits.

Given the need to label a project, I'd have to put them in the Krautrock category. However, this label is very limiting due to their experimental creative apparatus. The two volumes of Chaudeland in particular, run a gamut of styles. Dark and sludgy, metallic and driving kraut rhythms give way to acid-drenched neo-folk with the ramblings of a guru / madman / asthete. The essential process of meditation follows soon afterward, with a real introspection reminiscent of a Jodorowsky presentation. Droning through to the other side , GNOD is a serious and believable operation. Nothing feels like trickery.

I'm growing more and more irritated with all the upstarts being labeled psychedelic these days. I think such misnomer is growing tiresome to many. You want a contemporary band that takes you places? Here ya go. If music is still capable of expanding your mind, this crew is your best bet.

I'm going to go ahead and say, shamelessly, that if you are attending Austin Psych Fest 2014, DO NOT MISS the most relevant band there this year.

Below are youtube clips of the full Chaudeland sessions:

LAND - Night Within (Important, 2012)

The band describe this work as, "approaching an apocalyptic noir narrative," and Night Within, despite its slate visual appeal which recalls the grey paintings of Gerhard Richter, thematically points towards a world occupied by the early postmodern detective stories of Paul Auster and the urban neon dislocation of Taxi Driver with its existential protagonist roaming the city alone late at night."

Heavy words for heavy music. The atmosphere of this record makes me think "jazz for a dark alley". There is a definite lurking menace here, a modern take on noir soundtrack. Reminiscent of the doom jazz artists like Bohren and der Club of Gore and Mount Fuji Doom Jazz Orchestra, LAND wisely forego the Angelo Badalamenti elements. They know how to create tension and build to a near crescendo. This is really intense music with a casual delivery, much like the calm and cool demeanor of a film noir character. My first thought was Alain Delon in a 60's Melville film set in a cold Scandinavian climate. 

The two composers are UK musicians Daniel Lea And Matthew Waters. These two assembled quite a cast for this faux soundtrack. Guests include David Sylvian (Japan), Daniel O'Sullivan (Ulver, Guapo, Miasma, Aethenor), Alexander Tucker (everywhere with everyone) and an ensemble of woodwinds, brass, guitar, keys, bass and drums. The album was sculpted in Reykjavik by Ben Frost.

This one will certainly sneak into my End of Year list. 

Read full review of Night Within - LAND on Boomkat.com ©

Pharaoh Overlord - #3 (Riot Season, 2005)

Well this one's a doozy, sort of a Chicken Soup for the Zen Buddhist / Krautrock & Psych Fan's soul. That doesn't include you? Hmm... weird. Anyhow, its just about perfect for my ears. Members of the monstrously cool Finnish band, Circle, Pharaoh Overlord operates off the Plane of Consistency, in a Non-place, and in Non-Duality.

"Test Flight", "Blackout" and "Laivaus 17" are motorik psych funk kraut blues numbers, driving exercises in repetition that create a definitively trance-like state of mind. "Autobahn" takes us into the muck with nasty noisy drone made from gnarly feedback (emulating the more cosmic side of Can), "Octagon" brings us back down to earth with a funky side snare beat that pounds out an electric guitar jam you might like if you dig White Hills. But, the piece de resistance here is the closing track, "Journey", a fine tribute to classic Neu and the earliest Kraftwerk material.

Drive your car to Pharaoh Overlord. Its a journey between two places. Who needs a beginning and an end?

Download it Here and listen on Spotify.

Brainticket - Celestial Ocean (Hallelujah, 1974)

“Celestial Ocean” is both an adventure and voyage for explorers of the human experience. In other words, the walls are breathing. Or maybe it is the projection of your own vibration as the air comes in and then out again. Either way this album is pure cosmic indulgence on a “space is deep” kind of level. Whoever has taken strong psychedelics will try and convince someone that this or that is the best music to fall into the depths of time and space. But the truth is, any kind of music or sound can seem completely psychedelic when under the influence. And with that said, there is a difference between just any kind of music and musicnauts who actually prepare to take you into the abyss and then do it with grace. Brainticket are one of those musical groups.

Brainticket is a collection of middle European musicians, primarily consisting of German and Swiss descent. The band started releasing albums in the early seventies. The two albums that precede “Celestial Ocean” were “Cottonwood Hill”(1971) and “Psychonaut”(1972). These albums gave guidance to what would be expected. Which means it is not safe to expect something in particular of the sound of Brainticket. Just know that the 1974 release of “Celestial Ocean” expanded the already vastness of life and all perceptions of it. The album tells a story of an ancient Egyptian king traveling on a ship that courses though the afterlife, inspired by the Egyptian book of the dead. One thing should be understood, Brainticket takes themselves seriously when presenting the subject matter of other and ancient worlds with space ships and dreams. Some people get turned off when musicians and artists wholeheartedly believe in what they feel no matter how unreal it may seem. Most roll the psychedelic mumbo jumbo off as being playful and goofy, like a “arn't I just the strangest thing” sorta way, not Brainticket.

Kaleidoscopic sounds twist around synthesized rhythms that continually grow and decay while creating a unknown landscape as a cacophony of voices clutter and vanish in the same breath. Yeah, it's really like that. The album is presented in a book end form, opening with “Egyptian Kings” and closing with a reprise of the beginning track, titled “Visions”. Everything in between is an absolute pleasure. At times it creates a yoga or meditation environment. Nobody thinks flutes are cool anymore. Well, they have their place along side with such complementary instruments as organs, zithers and odd sound generators. O.K. This review was my own indulgence in describing the pure psychedelic force that is Brainticket. All I really had to say was that the band is called Brainticket and don't take more than you can handle. But seriously, this should get the party started if the kind of party you like is the one where everyone lies naked on the floor and forget they have bodies and lose all concepts of reality. Just moans of ecstasy and fear as the collective consciousness merrily drifts up and down the celestial ocean. Yo! I said it. Yo! Buy the ticket, take the ride.

--Sean Dail

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GNOD Drop Out with WHITE HILLS II (Rocket Recordings, 2010)

A joint effort with some of the best psychedelic, komische, tripped out crazy krautrock you'll ever hear. These two outfits sound like Neu, Tangerine Dream and Cluster playing together in a very small room. Dizzying soundscapes behind dense motorik drumming. Too too too tasty.

Get It Here

La Dusseldorf - Viva (Radar, 1978)

O.K, I really love the post WW2 rock that came out of Germany. I mean these kids had to reinvent their image to the world after the Nazis tainted the national identity of the German people. Think about it, the older generation was wiped out from war and the kids had very little musical role models outside of the U.K and the states. They knew they wanted to sound distinct from other cultural movements in the late sixties, not just the folk based psych rock that was on the rise. So these young cabbage heads looked to themselves and in the industrial remains of their home, they formed what would later be known as KrautRock.

“Viva” by La Dusseldorf is classic kraut in it's true nature. La Dusseldorf carries a steady punk rhythm that has the likeness of Neu! Primarily because both bands had the privilege of sharing vocalist/guitarist Klaus Dinger. Although Neu! called it quits in 75', Klaus carried on to form La Dusseldorf. “Viva” was their most popular album with key tracks such as “Rheinita” and “Cha Cha 2000”. Both tracks were singles from the album. With the punk pulse synthesized into a dream chant, “Viva” is continuously being played on my stereo. This album carries a sense of hope throughout it, by yelling positive anthem lines about how people need to pick themselves up and create a healthier world rather than constantly poisoning it. Besides, any album that blurs sounds to point were it is hard to tell if what you are hearing is guitar fuzz, screaming or some kind of early synth pad, it will always be inviting the listener to engage themselves as to what is really going on. Auf Weidersehen

Get Viva Here

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Sean Dail came to the world first as a thought and then in the flesh. He enjoys music and other creations of humanity that display the spectrum of emotion and thought. With an understanding of the dichotomy of reality, Dail is willing and able to convey works that share both the world of idea's and the struggle to survive. He also enjoys waking up in the mornings and thinking about how he should eat more oat meal.

Belong - Common Era (Kranky, 2011)

New Orleans duo Michael Jones and Turk Dietrich have finally delivered their second full-length in a decade. With their first album, October Language, they impressed me with droning soundscapes all meticulously convoluted as if played through hundreds of warbly tape decks simultaneously.

With this release they've joined the Kranky roster and it is obvious why. Seems as though these two spent the last few years hanging out with Cloudland Canyon and Ulrich Schnauss. This is all krautrock / shoegaze, and its successfully lovely. These tracks are for driving, windows down, feeling as if all is right with the world... if the world preferred hearing everything infinitely processed like I do. Definitely spring mixtape material.

Get Warbly

Or:

Mugstar - Lime (2010, Important Records)

I can't believe I only recently discovered a Psych / Krautrock band who's claim to fame is that they were the last Peel Session. Truth. Mugstar is melting my face on some cosmic plane right now (they almost make me want to get into that hippie nonsense). These Liverpool boys are the most interesting band of their genre at the moment. Many others are trying but missing the mark. This is no exaggeration.

Imagine sprawling eight to thirteen minute minimal jams that refuse to become redundant. Guitars, bass, drums, synth and sax creating a mindbending and hypnotic trance. Mugstar is possessed by Neu, Pink Floyd and Hawkwind. One can also hear Steve Reich, Sonic Youth and Oneida. Put it all together and crank the volume.

As Joseph Stannard of WIRE said "Given the streamlined nature of their trip, it'd perhaps be accurate to describe Mugstar as DMT where contemporaries such as Wooden Shjips or The Heads are striving to be acid".

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Or:

The Necks - Chemist (2005, Fish of Milk)

The 13th album by Australian improvisational trio The Necks is my favorite of their catalog. Here they changed the formula. Instead of hour long tracks as on their prior outings, they opted for three 20 minute tracks.

The typical modus operandi for this band is to begin simply with a thematic phrase and explore it as deeply as possible over a lengthy period of time. There aren't many obvious changes in this process. However, to the attuned and refined ear, these minute changes will actually feel intense and dramatic over the course of the interminable forms. Their tact, patience and subtlety puts them in the categories of Minimalist compostion and Krautrock.

The improvisations feel completely natural in these lush, heavy and emotional recordings. The Necks provide an outstanding example of artful repetition. Hybridizing elements of the ECM label, 70's Minimal Prog and 80's Serial music layered in a crust of Doom and darkness. Essentially, this band is making Jazz by true definition.

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