MOVIES

Now this is certainly an unexpected gem from the autumn years of Krautrock. It is credited to Holger Czukay alone, but Irmin Schmidt, Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit are all present and very recognizable here, so in my mind this might as well be a lost Can album. It is the same kind of freaked out hypnotic jam rock, augmented by more modern technological gadgets but still retaining a clear link to the past. The first track "Cool In The Pool" starts off as a Talking Heads-ish new wave/funk song with a comically sleazy vocal performance from Czukay which gradually becomes more disjointed and strange as random samples and instrumental snippets squeeze their way into places where they wouldn't normally belong, and the effect is positively exhilarating. I actually appreciate how messy the production is because it adds to the overcrowded, chaotic feel, but I do have one minor complaint: what is that awful beeping tone that's faintly audible whenever Holger plays his French horn? Is that just on my end? Ah well, I still love this song, but tracks two and four are the real meat of the album: two magnificent lengthy psychedelic jams in the old Can style. "Oh Lord Give Us More Money" sounds like a slowed down but no less driving version of "Vernal Equinox" while "Hollywood Symphony" is slower to start but turns out to be a sublime buildup and release of tension and intensity. Karoli plays his characteristic heavenly sustained guitar lines, Schmidt wrings all manner of hellish sounds from his keyboards, Liebezeit once again proves himself to be a master of complicated polyrhythms and tuplets, and Czukay is busy cramming the pieces chock-full of dialogue samples, strange off-kilter melodic lines and maniacal screaming. Krautrock Valhalla! "Persian Love" is the only track that kind of passes me by unnoticed, but that's hardly a complaint considering the strength of the rest of the material.