VOL I & VOL II

KONTRAST was the project of former OUT OF FOCUS guitarist Remigius Drechsier, in fact there are two other former OUT OF FOCUS members on here as well. They released one album back in 1986 which is "Volume I" on this compilation, while "Volume II" is some unreleased tracks from the same era. I really commend this band for trying to keep the spirit of Krautrock alive in the eighties, although this was such an obscure release that few even heard about it.There is a lot of spoken words and experimental passages along with improvs where they seem to play without focus (haha). This is great though, like a modern take on what OUT OF FOCUS were doing back in the day mixed with an EMBRYO vibe. Some very trippy tracks where they jam endlessly along with a lot of humour in the spoken word bits.

"Volume I" begins with the 25 1/2 minute "Suite For A Young Girl".This is trippy with flute, bass, guitar, percussion and sax. Some samples open and close this track. A female scream 13 1/2 minutes that comes and goes possibly because she can't believe the song is still going on and on. Haha. A story is told at 19 1/2 minutes and it's funny like the line "I must admit I love the very idea of myself". A killer opener. "Trip" features a beat with vibes and picked guitar. Some samples too. After 5 1/2 minutes we get to listen to a brief story then the music returns. I love this one too. "Opus Dope Us" features lazy sax lines with vibes and a beat. Sound like clapping too. Some female vocal sounds that interplay with horns. "Let's Fetz" opens with laughing and yelling before a beat with horns comes in. "Volume II" opens with "Little Solitude" which is a brief soundscape of water sounds and whistling. "Hip Me" has some catchy sax melodies with percussion.

"Order" is another spoken word story with laid back music. This is a story about a 1,000 mark phone bill. Paul who wrote the lyrics here and on tracks 1 & 9 put a lot of thought and talent into the stories which may come off as silly but they are so well done. The idea behind the 1,000 mark phone bill is how a guy could trick a young female into building up this huge phone bill by talking to him, then forcing her into prostitution to pay it off. So yes it's darker than it appears. Thanks Remigius for that info. "Good Wax Home" has some humerous female vocal melodies as sax, keys and a beat come in.The sax gets pretty dissonant. "Race To Heaven" features spoken words with music.This song sounds great when he stops speaking.The music stops 9 1/2 minutes in as the sounds of waves end it.

This is a very interesting compilation and I have nothing but praise for the band in doing this in the eighties when it wasn't the popular thing to do. Easily 4 stars and something every Krautrock fan should check out.