Posts Tagged ‘Krautrock’

Album of the day: Cluster – Qua

Posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Cluster - Qua

Lovingly pinched from BBC Music: Forty years young as a band next year, Cluster’s venerability is not unique in terms of the movement they are most often associated with – the Krautrock scene of 1970s Germany, which was footloose, sincerely experimental and in many cases highly influential. Yet their synthesiser-driven approach to avant-garde rock, sometimes ambient and abstract to the point of being beyond ‘rock’ as it is generally understood, was at one time like pretty much nothing else in existence. Small wonder that Brian Eno, who also developed radical concepts of ‘ambient music’ in the 70s, sought out the duo of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius for a series of collaborations.

All of which is a lofty legacy to live up to as Cluster, both members now of pensionable age, release their first studio album since 1995. Seventeen tracks long and requiring a hardy level of concentration, it won’t change the face of music, but given that these fellows have already played a part in doing just that, such a request would be unseemly. Qua is timeless in its lack of concern for the world outside the studio; save perhaps for some minor details regarding electronic technology, this could have been made at any time in the last two decades at least, and is no worse for that.

Continue reading:  BBC – Music – Review of Cluster – Qua.

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Posted in 2010, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | 2 Comments »

Album of the day: Loop – Fade Out (reissue)

Posted on Friday, February 12th, 2010

Praise for Loop’s Fade Out from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records:  When people think of spaced out, drone-y drug rock, Spacemen 3 seem to get all the love, which is of course fair, Spacemen 3 totally rule, their music is magical, especially for some of us who will probably only ever ...read more

Album of the day: Agitation Free – Malesch

Posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Praise from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records for Agitation Free’s Malesch: for those unfamiliar with Agitation Free, here’s the deal… They got their start as a hippie commune band, with ties to Guru Guru, Tangerine Dream, and Amon Duul. Their debut, Malesch (Arabic for “it doesn’t matter, take it easy”), is ...read more

From Neu! To Kraftwerk: Football, Motorik And The Pulse Of Modernity

Posted on Sunday, February 7th, 2010

When we started The Quietus we made the fairly arbitrary decision that modern popular music started with Kraftwerk’s Autobahn in 1974. John Doran talks to Michael Rother, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Karl Bartos about the build up to this flash point in musical history.
There are many terms that always crop up ...read more

Album of the day: Harmonia – Deluxe

Posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Praise for Harmonia’s Deluxe from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records: A while ago we raved about the reissue of Harmonia’s first album Musik Von Harmonia and now Lilith has thankfully reissued Harmonia’s follow-up release from 1975, Deluxe. Although we loved Harmonia’s first album, Deluxe is, dare we say, even better!!
Made up ...read more

Album of the day: Far East Family Band – Parallel World

Posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Praise from Volcanic Tongue for Far East Family Band’s Parallel World:  CD issue of what’s regarded as the most perfectly realised of the collaborations between the post-Far Out Far East Family Band and visionary Kraut cosmonaut Klaus Schulze.
Recorded in 1976 on the back of Schulze’s classic Black Dance LP, Parallel ...read more

Album of the day: Circle – Tulikoira (Reissue)

Posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Praise for Circle’s Tulikoira from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records:  This 2005 Circle album, out of print for a bit, is now newly reissued on CD, this time its jewel case wrapped in a spiffy slipcase, featuring some cool new artwork (and a “no posers” symbol)!
NWOFHM. That’s what it says on ...read more

Album of the Day: Sylvester Anfang – II

Posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010

Lovingly picnched from Experimusic: Never judge a record by its cover? Well this time the cover art is perfectly apt for describing the sounds that will bellow out of your unwitting speakers. Featuring 8 cosmic, sun-drenched, skree-heavy slabs of melodic psychedelic waft, Sylvester Anfang are the perfect embodiment of the ...read more

Foxy Digitalis Interviews EXPO 70

Posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010

Lovingly pinched from Foxy Digitalis: What can one say about Expo ‘70 that hasn’t been said before? With each release Justin Wright’s continuously evolving space/kraut/drone project continues to garner more praise, making each new release a must grab for fans of experimental and psychedelic music.
Apparently Justin thought it was time ...read more

Album of the day: Expo 70 – Sonic Messenger

Posted on Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

Lovingly stolen from SanFrancisco’s Aquarius Records: More epic and dense heart-of-the-sun blissed out heavy space drones from Expo 70. And the thing is, we’re running out of superlatives, we can only gush so much before we run out of new things to say, which is especially difficult when every record ...read more

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