The Krautrock Space

Wolf City is brilliant, but I would say that Vive la Trance is the "last" of their Krautrock records. Feels very much like a sister album to Wolf City. The song orientated structure melts together with that fleeting feel of the Kosmische spirit. I just listened to Carnival in Babylon before and I just love Hawknose Harlequin.

On another note: Does anybody here own Popol Vuh´s In den Gärten Pharaohs? The way the title track incorporates the sound of water at first - and then again at the end, is a stroke of genius. Quite different than say how Neu! used water in their albums - sounds more like waves hitting a beach to me. 

Anyway I love both artists.

That someone wouldn´t be Moshkito by any chance - Anyway, you should try Vive la Trance. I think it´s a very fine album that somehow gets lost in between a multitude of great records they released during the wonderful 70s.

And I agree with you about Florian. Even before he started making "yogi" albums pondering the universe and our human spirituality, he was indeed making music that sounded so special and yeah spiritual. 

Connie Veit just so happens to be one of my fave guitarist to come out of Germany alongside Manuel Göttsching and Weinzieri. I really like what he did in Gila as well.  

You just made me put on Gila´s second album, and it´s waaay past my bed time - you naughty man.. Oh well, what´s not to like about a record that sounds a bit like Popol Vuh with Connie on guitar - and a very bright moon illuminating my room. Who needs sleep anyways... 

 

Nope ... that would definitly would not be "Moshkito" ... but if there is one song that almost single handedly signaled the end of the "krautrock" age, I really think that "Apocaliptyc Bore" is it ... and if you never EVER have segwayed this with Scorpions title song from "Fly to the Rainbow" ... and you will get the idea real quick ... AD2 and many other bands were already disappointed and disillusioned with the romantic concepts for music and arts and the whole commune thing ... and it shows in their art ... and Apocaliptyc Bore is almost a good bye to the old days ... and it shows ... because the majority of the experimentation and long cuts pretty much ended ... and the band became more song oriented. The opposite side was Scorpions take on it? ... let's get stoned and have a party ... and not take the whole thing so seriously !!! ...

 

1975 and after, the whole Krautrock scene changed and got corrupted, ripped off and parts of it became commercial and left behind the true experiments in music ... and to me, the "new" bands that came out after that were not that adventurous and while Kraftwerk was ok, listening to Roedelius, Rother and so many others on their own was vastly superior to the commercial stuff that Kraftwerk did --- which to my ears, is not "krautrock" at all.

 

Likewise, Guru Guru had its own anthem, in the last cut of "Tango Fango", but that is not something that most of us can understand or relate to ... and yet, it was one of the most political comments ever done, in a very satirical and with it style ... that we ... the "progressive" folks, can't even listen to or appreciate ... and to think that the Germany's were not together yet when that came out ... and in the end, the "hero" was the music, not the political philosophies, which is a massive statement by itself, but not something that most progressive folks are willing to discuss ... it's actually very with it and quite enormous  and deserves mention with the greatest of artistic comments and appreciation, but instead it is ignored.

 

And this is one of the reasons why I fight so hard to raise the consciousness of music, with electric instruments that our generation helped design and create ... it's an art form ... that will forever live like so many others! ... but we have to stop discussing it as just stuff that we like! ...

Good to see you posting Mosh - I really miss these things on PA. I agree with you about Apocalyptic Bore - as it sounds like an exorcism, or some last minute convulsions. It´s like you´ve been talking on the phone for a couple of years - and then you´re cut off from a most interesting conversation, and suddenly all things around you turns into whatever everybody else is talking about. The world becomes real and fathomable. That made sense in my head - just so you know.

BUT - I got a phone-call in  form of Bee as Such, which made me think that it didn´t just whither away into obscurity - that thing these musicians were striving for - the art as you put it - I rate some of these experiments just as high, and sometimes the music takes on new form and becomes art. - But Amon Düül ll´s new album certainly proves that embers burn long after the initial fire has burned out. Now we just need other people ready to pick up the baton, and I think somebody has done that. We just need to open up to stuff that isn´t labelled 70s or Floyd-Genesis-Crimson-Can-Rush-Neu!-Mahavishnu etc etc - you probably catch my drift. 

 

Glad to see someone else who appreciates that POSPER album.Amazing album. Listening to ASH RA TEMPEL's "Schwingungen" tonight and i love how experimental this one is.So different from the debut with John L singing in his almost drugged out style.He kind of reminds me of Moody or Damo from CAN the way he performs here.

Also listened to AMON DUUL II's "Carnival In Babylon" a couple of times today and it's much better than a lot of people give it credit for.Mine has a bonus track called "Skylight" that is terrific.

 

I have not yet picked up that CD ... it's on my agenda in a couple of weeks. I've said all along, that the only thing that AD2 needed was someone like me to get over there and kick a few folks in the butt to get some more experiments going ... with one important side effect ... the experiments, would generally mean that Renate would be left out a bit, maybe? ... but I sure would like to tell her to grab a broom, a vacuum cleaner, some boots and add it all on top of the music and watch the others play harder to stay up with her! ... not sure my surrealistic humor would go well, but what the heck!

 

As for the others:

Floyd is over ... no Richard.

Genesis is over ... too many egos

Crimson is over ... Robert has said so, and what he can get with a band to make KC is not worth it anymore ... I would only see them if it was all the folks from the first 2 albums ... not anyone else!

Can is over ... since Michael Karoli passed away. And Holger doesn't think that early music was worth anything.

Rush is over ... too famous and way too pop/prog defined now

Neu .... not sure anyone wants to redo the old playing around with knobs

Mahavishnu ... John is not over himself that others have played faster than him and meant less to the music!

 

But there are a few folks that are still at it ... I really think that Klaus Schulze is better than ever! Tangerine Dream is still very good even though I would like to tell Edgar that it is time to go smoke a joint and enjoy life a bit and then come back to the music ... and Manuel Gottsching is still good ... though I think that he could use starting to work with the ladies again ... so he does not become so repetitive!

You know Pedro, I really get what you´re saying - and I certainly don´t subscribe to instantly propelling oneself into the past trying to gain whatever former strength you had back then. It doesn´t work that way, and if you don´t play music for yourself first, but still keeping the naive approach to the music - retaining that ability to play with sounds and ideas - you´ll wind up on repeat or far worse, and I don´t think that´s what music is all about anyhow...

And I agree - that those bands you mention maybe have reached their peak

Schulze and Göttsching are also still faves of mine, but to be honest, I´m keeping myself quite busy with the La Vie Electronique series and The private tapes

Addressing the question: How about music nowadays - where do we find the real deal? And does it even exist?

You betcha! I´ve been overwhelmed by the amount of new bands I´ve been getting into! You should really try at least 4 modern records that recently has rejuvenated my faith in music: