KAPUTTER HAMSTER

Kaputter Hamster are a virtually unknown psychedelic band from Germany who disappeared about as quickly as their limited run of LP's did. Thanks to 'Amber Soundroom', we can enjoy beautiful LP re-issues without the excruciating price-tag. And what a cop-out it would be to fork out 500 Euros (or more) for this, garage sounding jam-session ?? Still, it's a cool album, where the rhythm-guitaring absolutely *shines* and the Drummer and Bass-Player form an energised, even if a bit simplistic, rhythm section. The sporadic vocals that appear throughout are quite weak, though. Think of this album as being some of the most melodic Krautrock you're likely to hear. When I listen to this album, I often think of Guru Guru, but it fails to reach the inspiration of that band and remains fairly 'safe'. The centrepiece of the album is the lengthy 'Behind The Universe' (13.22) with lots of blowing wind noises, an acoustically dominated first half in 5/4 with various percussion and light vocal humming, and then a typically psych second half with gorgeous rhythm guitaring and the band playing their hearts out. 'Shooting At The Stars' features awesome guitars - and the notorious over-mixed guitar solo where I feared for my stylus, but it's very innocent sounding and enjoyable. 'Interlude For A Dreamer' displays the band's penchant for creating an exciting, ever-shifting tune that holds together tightly and showed that the guys were intent on not being left behind in a cloud of dope-smoke, which seems to be where they ended up....but anyway, the album is pretty good and the cover-art suits the music perfectly. 3.5 stars.