Favorite Proto-Prog Album

Then what is it? Since this theoretic band does not actually exist then there would be some characteristic that makes them more Krautrock than Psych Prog or Advant Prog or Jazz Rock or combinations thereof. If this is so obvious and such a no-brainer that it is a reflex reaction to automatically say "Krautrock" when this ficticious Italian band is first heard then how is this so when there is such diversity in musical styles and directions within the German bands that (unforunately) get dumped into this illnamed catch-all miasma that is laughingly called a "genre" by all except that bands that started it. What are the musical simularities between Can, Amon Düül, Popol Vuh, Faust, Guru Guru (and even Tangerin Dream and Kraftwerk if you're feeling real lazy) that make anyone say that a 2013 band from Italy is Krautrock?

 

You asked why do we call it Krautrock and I answered - that is the historically accurate reason - laziness - pure unadulterated journalistic laziness ... in the 1970s if it was rock and came from Germany it got called Krautrock by lazy British journalists and ever since then we have invented a "genre" around that zenophobic insult, but its still a lazy generalisation.

Consider this a public warning. Behave yourself and be polite or go away. The choice is yours, the final decision is mine.

 

Now, it is perfectly acceptable for you to disagree with me,and perfectly acceptable for your opinion to be different to mine. We are not casting words in stone here, this is not a unilateral declaration that will last for eternity. It's music, that's all.

quite.

 

Now you may be thinking: "Ah ,Wallace! I caught you out: was it not you who said that the origional coinage of
"protoprog" is the one that stands. Why not  this then?"

Good question.

 

First you must understand two things:

1/ a prog masterman is always ABOVE YOUR STATION and ,in the first place, as Ive said on many an ocassion, he does not have to justify himself.

2/When said Masterman feels magnanimous enough to do just this...he can BEND THE RULES..

 

In this case I bend the rule because music journalists /critics are worthless whereas record dealers of the time are not - the press, with the ultimate stomping-power of  THE PRESS,  FABRICATED  the history (most had ancillary experience if any at all); the dealers, however,  were right there around the scene with the artists defining it.(And if you are out to start arguing that the dealers were far behind - in time- the emerging scene,  dont try.)

 

The initial all-encompassing, simply silly  journo definition is part of history, yes.  I suppose - a" definition" had to come out of somewhere even if out a horse's rumphole -  but it is not definite.

 

Krautrock came out of sound labs in '68. I believe there were two main ones - Zodiac Free Arts in Berlin being the actual start.

 

Krautrock is about the movement, but like proto I see it mainly as being  the sound. If Eloy had been around as early  as when the journos first coined the term, they surely would have included it in their definition merely because it  WOULD HAVE BEEN an example of the emergent Teutonic rock scene. But, of course, today no one sees Eloy as being Krautrock -  they were  Germans clearly based on the anglo hard/symphonic model.

 

Now, what can make an Italian group Krautrock SINCE KRAUTROCK IS ABOUT THE SOUND  and the sound is borderless, is if it has some or one of the (different) distinct Kraut sounds: motorik-beat (robotic,stripped to basics -what would become minimal-techno   ), cosmic (evolking great spaces,chaos) avantrock improv including  collage/concrete type trickery, maybe drones , raw electronics.

 

 

So then oh great Prog Masterman,  your saying that all the current spacerock bands can be called Krautrock-style/sound?

 Yes, if they are retro/good-enough-sounding, most faithful to the origional. (And there are precious few of those.)

 

Yes.