A MEDITATION MASS

Another great, but little known gem of Krautrock. "A Meditation Mass" is perhaps the rarest album to be found on the Brain label, and it went through two versions: the original with the diecut cover, and the one without. Don't bother tracking down the LP (either version), as they don't exactly grow on trees. Later on, when reissued on CD, The Laser's Edge issued it in '92 with the diecut cover, and in '95, Spalax in France issued it without the diecut.

If you're a fan of ASH RA TEMPEL, or early, percussion-dominated POPOL VUH, then this is for you. Given the title is "A Meditation Mass", expect the music to be laid-back, don't expect raw, aggressive, and mindblowingly intense passages like you might get with ASH RA TEMPEL at times. YATHA SIDHRA featured the guitar/keyboards (keyboards include Moog synthesizer and Hohner Pianet) of Rolf Fichter and drums/percussion of Klaus Fichter (presumably brothers) with tons of beautiful flute from Peter Elbracht and guitar/bass of Matthias Nicolai.

The album is basically one long cut divided by four parts. Lots of nice, meditative passages, with some jazzy passages at times, especially "Part 2" and "Part 3". "Part 4" is mainly themes from throughout the album revisited. The guitar work often brings to mind Manuel Göttsching, but he often played his guitar more in the style of a sitar, in an attempt to create a droning effect. And given the band name is very obviously Eastern (presumably Sanskrit), little surprise that the cover artwork is very Eastern influenced, Indian style, of course. While most of the music is instrumental, Rolf Fichter provides the occasional vocals as well, nothing intrusive. This is truly an album that needs multiple listens, because it more or less keeps the same pace throughout. There are a few exceptions, especially the jazzier sections of "Part 3", where the band tries something a little more intense. Regardless, a truly wonderful gem of Krautrock, and if you can track a copy, do so!