FUTURE DAYS

These are two of the first words that flood my mind when thinking about Can's enigmatic Future Days. Vastly different from any other Can album, before or after, this is one that evokes mixed opinions. Abandoned is the very psychedelic, chaotic, trance-like funky jamming in favor of a very atmospheric, airy, and smooth-ambient experience.

Future Days starts out mellow as angelic waves wash over and erode the listener's mind. The instruments are, for the most part, very subdued and repetitive, save the celestial keyboard tones provided by Irmin Schmidt. Jaki Leibezeit's drumming is as brilliant, minimal, and robotic as ever before. Damo Suzuki continues to chants in his almost incoherent and yet beautiful way, this time bringing out an almost post-New Age feel, which is how I sort of think of Future Days. I can easily picture a bunch of astronauts on advanced spacecraft dancing and relaxing to something very much like this album. Spray spirals out of chartered space and into the blank void, showing a more chaotic side of the album. The following song, Moonshake, which closes the first side is an extremely danceable, fun, and catchy song, that definitely sounds like futuristic dance music. Many people feel this song is out of place, and I agree, but that only enhances the album in my view.

The second side, entirely comprised of the epic Bel-Air is similar to the first song Future Days, but much more visual. This is easily Can at their most symphonic, and they execute it brilliantly. Since the entire side is one song, it feels much longer and more coherent than the A side. Damo's vocals get dreamier, and the band gets trancier, as the cosmos is funneled into the speakers and projected majestically.

If you are looking for an introduction to Krautrock, and are more adjusted to the symphonic side of progressive music, this would be a great introduction. Afterward, looking into Can's somewhat accessible albums like Ege Bamyasi, Soon Over Babaluma (their last great album), and Soundtracks might be a logical follow-up rather than diving into the maelstrom masterpiece Tago Mago. If you are open-minded and enjoy most psychedelic music, than Tago Mago needs no preparation, but many people cannot easily digest it.

Basically, this album is essential to all fans of progressive rock, krautrock, ambience, spacey/ethereal music. And since virtually everyone on ProgArchives is a fan of at least one of those genres, definitely at least consider investigating the celestial wonder that is Future Days.

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